the final few steps between us, blocking me from getting to the door. “But I want to. We could be good together.”
“No.” I gently pushed passed her and opened the door. “Out. Now.” I thrust my arm out. “Now!”
Tenise started laughing. “Alright, alright. Geeze, Vin. Take a joke. Rory put me up to it. He said you would be all weird if I came on to you.” She shook her head. “Take care and I’ll see you soon I’m sure. I hope Jenny is okay.” And just like that, she left the apartment.
Slamming the door shut behind her, I leaned against it and let out a slow breath. I wasn’t sure how I would tell Rory about what just happened, but I couldn’t dwell on that at the moment. I needed to see Gigi. I needed to figure out what was going on and how to fix it.
Leaving my apartment, I locked up and decided to take the stairs so I wouldn’t see Tenise again. I wasn’t even aware of getting to my car or driving to Gigi’s. I was stuck in my head. I needed to make things right. I thought back over the past couple of months, but I couldn’t figure out what I had done. We had talked about the misunderstanding when Rory’s mom died, and how I never went to see her. She was good after that. She felt it was stupid that she had been upset but I understood. I would have reacted the same way if it had been the other way around. I finally got her talking and then all of a sudden, something happened where she was ignoring me again.
When I pulled up in front of Gigi’s place, I let out a sigh of relief at seeing her vehicle in the driveway. I parked the car and bounded up the steps. Once I reached the door, I slowly pushed it open before I stepped inside only to find Meadow and Shade in the living room.
“Vince.” Meadow stood, coming toward me. “You can’t be here.”
“Why the hell not?” I was thrown off by her words, knowing she had always been rooting for Gigi and I. “Where is she?”
Meadow looked away.
Shade stepped between me and Meadow. He was bigger than me. Much bigger. And older. But it didn’t stop me. I refused to back down where Gigi was concerned.
“Tell me where she is. Please. I’ve called her, texted her. I don’t know what I did wrong. It’s been three days. I need to know what happened.” I didn’t give a shit how desperate I sounded. Something happened and Gigi was pushing me away again, but I knew that she needed me just the same. Did I say something wrong? Did I do something? I tried thinking back over the weeks we had been together, but nothing came to mind. It had been perfect. Or so I thought.
“Vince,” Meadow said gently. “She doesn’t want to see you.”
My chest tightened. It felt like someone took a knife and stabbed me repeatedly.
“She…why not? What did I do?” I took a step toward the hall that led to Gigi’s bedroom when Shade stepped in front of me.
“Not a good idea, kid,” he murmured.
“I need to know what I did wrong so I can make up for it. Wouldn’t you do anything for Meadow? Wouldn’t you do whatever you could to show her how much you love her?”
Meadow’s breath caught.
“Yes,” he said without even hesitating. “I would.”
“Then please, I need to see her. I need to show her…I need to tell her that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for whatever it is that I did.” My heart was beating rapidly, threatening to explode from my chest the longer Gigi wasn’t in my arms.
“Vince.”
My head snapped around.
Gigi stood at her doorway.
“Baby, please.” I took a step toward her, but Shade cupped my shoulder, stopping me.
Her eyes were red, her cheeks mottled with pink like she had been crying.
“What’s wrong, Queenie? Tell me what I did. Please tell me what I did,” I pleaded, silently begging for her to tell me to go to her.
“Come here,” she finally said.
Shade stepped out of the way.
I ran past him and down the hall before barreling into Gigi.
She fell back but not before I caught her around the waist and shoved my face into the crook of her neck.
“I’m sorry.” I picked her up and carried her into her room before kicking the door closed behind me. “I don’t know what I did but I’m