“Oh, you don’t have time for my shit?” He scoffed, letting out a belly-deep laugh. “You—you don’t have time for my shit?” He continued, laughing like it hurt, and my frown deepened. I looked over my shoulder at Cora who was standing by the door that was halfway open. She was worried now, her cellphone in hand. I shook my head at her, and she lowered it, still panic-ridden.
Facing Derek again, I asked, “Do you need to talk about something with me? We can talk in private.”
“Oh, trust me,” he growled. “Trust me, Cane. I have a lot to fucking say to you. Mr. Big CEO!” Derek ran a hand over his face, so roughly that I thought he would hiss with pain. He then brought the hand up to his forehead, using the palm of it to smack himself repeatedly.
“Derek!” I barked.
“Fuck!” He roared.
I rushed toward him. “What the fuck is your problem? Why are you even here? You’re supposed to be getting ready to take your daughter to school in the morning!”
He took a step sideways, breathing raggedly. “You know, on the drive here, I kept trying to figure out exactly how I could get to you. I kept wondering what I could possibly do to ruin your fucking life and your trust, just as much as you’ve ruined mine.” His nostrils flared, and he lunged toward me, and that’s when I figured out why he was here.
The anger was written deep in his irises, his teeth bared, hands like shackles.
He knew.
“Kandy,” he seethed, wrapping a hand around my throat and squeezing tight. “My daughter!”
“D-Derek,” I wheezed, clawing at his hand, trying my damnedest to shove him off, but he was built like a fucking machine. Though we were nearly the same height, he had more mass and body strength on me. I was no match for him.
“You fucking pussy! Fucking my daughter behind my back! My little girl! I should fucking murder you right now!” He snatched something from his waist and pressed it into my temple. It was warm, like he’d been holding it only seconds before facing me. He pressed the barrel of the gun to my head, and I heard a shrill cry behind me. “Maybe I will, huh? Kill you? I mean, out of all the people…all the men in this world…” He breathed through flared nostrils like a heated bull. “You, Cane?” His voice came out broken and tears lined the rims of his eyes, like he hated this just as much as I did, hated seeing the pain in my eyes, knowing I couldn’t breathe, but also knowing that Kandy was more important than any of those feelings.
He finally released my throat, shoving me away from him. I landed on the grass, breathing raggedly, my gelled hair hanging over my forehead now as I held up an arm. He staggered backward, sliding the gun back into his holster.
“Derek,” I wheezed, but I couldn’t get up. Why the fuck couldn’t I get up? My legs had given out on me. My heart was beating out of my goddamn chest. He was my friend—my best fucking friend—and he had just put a gun to my head. I deserved this. I did. I knew it…but never thought it would come to this.
“You have no idea how badly I want to end you right now, but for the sake of my family, I won’t.” His jaw clenched, and his head shook slowly as I regained steady ground. He turned his back to me and started to walk off, but I made a foolish mistake.
“Derek, wait. It’s not like that! You know me, man! Kandy is—” I grabbed his shoulder to try and stop him, get him to hear me out, but he turned in a flash, lifting his arm and slamming his fist right into my face.
“Fuck you, Cane,” was the last thing I heard before the back of my head hit concrete and all I saw was black.