The One She Loved

Chapter fifteen,

meh.

Luvie sat on the couch, her arms folded across her chest as her leg bounced up and down. Her family surrounded her in the living room, still trying to wrap their minds around the newly revealed secret she had been hiding from them.

The whole drive home, her dad yelled at her—and Marc wasn't one to usually raise his voice, let alone curse at her.

Luvie couldn't tell if her father's anger stemmed from her not responding to any of their calls or texts, or if he was upset that Asanté was the reason behind her not responding.

"Sioni, why didn't you just tell us the truth?" Candice grimaced, holding her hands out. "Is that who you've been hanging out with this whole time?"

"Yes," Luvie answered in a mumbled tone, keeping her attention on the floor. "And you know why I didn't say anything—look how they reacted!" She frowned, gesturing her hand towards her brothers.

"Sioni, how can you like someone who is related to the nigga that killed our uncle? A-aren't you the same person who swore up and down that you hated that man!?" Naheim raised his voice, the rest of their brothers nodding in agreement.

"I did! I did hate him once upon a time! But things change, once you get to know someone, you can't judge them off the actions of someone else! He's not his brother and I'd wish y'all would understand that!"

"His brother murdered our uncle, Sioni! Why the fuck would you want to associate with anyone from that damn family? I don't give a fuck about his sob story or whatever bullshit he's feeding you—that nigga is bad news You need to stay the fuck away from him!" Nazim yelled at her, causing Luvie to suck her teeth and mug him.

"How did y'all even find me?" Luvie tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him. Nazim clenched his jaw and looked over at Sameer. Luvie followed his gaze and scoffed, "Of course—so much for keeping promises, huh?" she shook her head, getting up from the couch.

"Sioni, I had no choice! You wasn't answering our texts or calls, that's not like you! You had us worried and I thought maybe you were wit' him and something bad happened," Sameer defended, stepping in front of her to stop her from walking away.

"I don't care! I told you that in confidence, Sameer—you know," Luvie paused, turning to face her family. "I tried to be understanding of y'all feelings because I once felt that way, but the fact that y'all are not even trying to hear me out and talk to the guy yourselves is actually pathetic."

Luvie bitterly laughed, gesturing her hand around at her family. "For once, someone other than my family understands the pain that Dante has caused—and it happens to be his brother. You may not like him but I do, he understands me—the same guy that y'all want me to hate is the same guy that has been defending and being protective over me since Sameer went off to college,"

"Defending someone who's been nothing but rude and nasty towards him, yet he didn't hold a grudge against me. You want me to hate the very guy who just stood up to five men—because he didn't like the way y'all were being rough wit' me,"

Luvie shook her head in disappointment, eyeing each one of her brothers with disgust. The room fell into utter silence, everyone exchanging glances with one another. Luvie scoffed and turned around, ready to head towards her room until one of her brothers spoke up.

"Sioni," Majin called her, Luvie huffed and whipped around to face him, an annoyed expression plastered across her face. "Even after all of that, you ignored the fact that his mom threatened to call the police on us—the same person who victim blamed us and made us out to be the aggressor—someone who clear as day didn't give a fuck about your testimony,"