Page 23 of Soft On Her
“Did you two crazy motha fuckas kill Deja?” He accused, speaking with so much force that he was biting into his bottom lip. I swear that moment brought back so much nostalgia. Milaniwould often slip her security detail and sneak out with me, and my father would get on both of us about our poor decisions. I smiled at the memories, immediately giving my father the wrong signal.
“My fucking God, Sneaux. You didn’t have to kill her. Now we are going to have to take out her entire family. I was probably going to have to do that anyways,” he vented, pacing back and forth.
“Where did y’all dump the body?”
“What?” We sputtered in unison.
“Dad, we didn’t kill anybody,” I clarified.
“However, if she doesn’t want to move on from Sneaux, I won’t make any promises,” Milani cut in, and my father paused, leaning his head to the side while scanning Milani’s face.
“It’s all starting to make sense. Milani, you’re the fiancée,” he rambled to himself. His usual coping mechanism when he was stressed and putting a plan together.
“Dad, what’s going on? What happened to Deja?”
“Deja went to your lounge with AC’s fiancée last night. Somehow, Deja never left the lounge, and they haven’t heard from her all day. Her phone’s location still has her at the lounge, and they would like to search the premises. Deja hasn’t even checked on her daughter, and they are saying she would never not check in on her daughter. Antonio Clayton is on my line complaining about you driving through AC’s security gate, breaking into his house, and leaving with his fiancée, who I now realize is Milani. The last time I checked, nobody knew where Milani was. Now she’s spread out on your dining room table, and I gotta listen to motha fuckas bitch in my ear before I go to bed. You know I take sleeping meds and tap out before ten. It’s 10:30. I’m supposed to be asleep. Then I see Levi smoking on his parents’ porch next door, and he tells me that somebody shot atyou last night. That’s news to fucking me! You been on and off the property all day and never told me shit.”
“We don’t know where Deja is. I didn’t even stay until the lounge closed. After I got shot at, we came back home.”
“Luis, the entire estate can hear you. You didn’t even bother to close the door,” my mom lectured as she entered the house wearing her robe with a glass of wine in hand. She paused when she noticed Milani standing beside me, her expression hardening instantly. “What the hell is she doing here?”
“That’s what I’m in here trying to figure out,” my father replied.
“Sneaux, I want her off my property!” My mother seethed.
“What?” I puzzled.
“NOW!” She screeched.
“Milani’s not leaving. She’s here to stay.”
“Oh no she’s not!” My mother badgered, and I could see Milani shrinking beside me. I gripped her hand to assure her that I had her back no matter what.
“Sneaux, there are things that you were too young to be privy to. I think what your mother is saying is we need some time to figure things out. We know how much you girls love each other, but we would be more comfortable if Milani stays at a hotel until we figure some things out.”
“No, I…”
“It’s okay, Sneaux. I can stay at a hotel while you work things out with your family. We are doing a lot extremely fast. I don’t mind at all,” Milani tried to assure me, but I wasn’t hearing it.
“Thank you for being mature about the situation. We will give you guys a few minutes of privacy. Sneaux, come to my office once you get one of the men to transport Milani to a hotel. Whoever transports her will be her security detail until further notice. I’ll explain everything to you in private,” my father suggested, softening his tone.
I nodded, and Milani leaned her hand on my shoulder, her palms growing sweaty in my hands. She pulled her hand out of my grasp once my parents closed the front door.
“Since I have known Bill just as long as you, would you mind me taking him?” Milani wondered aloud, plopping back down in her seat.
“Nah. I promised you a vacation, and that’s what we are about to do. I know my parents. They are about to hit me with some family, loyalty, tradition, alliance, blah blah bullshit. I’m not going for it right now. You have had enough stress for the week. Let me grab my passport and text the pilot,” I explained, pulling out my phone. “We can address whatever bullshit they want to relive from the past after our vacation. They clearly feel like they have some reason that’s good enough to separate us, and I’m not going for it.”
“No, Sneaux. We can’t do that,” Milani refuted while I typed away on my phone.
“Yes, we can. Where did you put your passport?”
“I’m not telling you. Just have Bill take me to a hotel, please,” she whined as I hit send on the message.
Me: I need your services, and I’m not in the mood to argue. I’m headed to the airstrip now. Aruba. Untraceable. If not, I’ll send these pictures to your husband and David’s wife.
Attached were pictures of my father’s private pilot, Patrice, out with David Ellis. They were drunk, and she was tucked into one of the back booths at Terrel’s strip club getting finger fucked like David wasn’t married to a woman who would kill both of them. Terrel’s immature ass took the pictures and sent them to me and Levi. He was talking shit about nobody being loyal, but Isaved them for leverage that came in handy. A reply from Patrice came through moments later confirming that she was on her way to the airstrip. The plans were set in motion.
Tossing my phone onto the table. I cupped Milani’s face in the palm of my hands.
