Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Fitz was on the phone with his mother. “Where did you get that from, Mommy?” Fitz grilled his mother as he whispered into the phone, pacing back and forth.
Fitz sat on the edge of the tub in the huge marble bathroom. His mother had just sent him a picture of a sleeping Bianca, informing him that Caesar had sent that to her some weeks ago. He’d always suspected that his mother was sneaking behind his back, talking to Caesar, even though she said she had not.
“I told you that he had a woman that he was in love with.”
Fitz was messed up for a minute, but now what could he do? He had fallen hard for Bianca himself, and, on another note, he could really understand how Caesar could love this girl so much. She was an amazing lady.
What he did know was that he no longer had a brother. In his eyes, Caesar was dead to him and had been buried back at that cemetery with his sister. The fact of the matter was that Caesar may have cared deeply for Bianca, but he was willing to bet his life that Caesar would never, or could never, love Bianca like he could.
He pulled himself together and exited the bathroom. It didn’t bother him that this may have been his brother’s woman. She had told him she had been in love with someone, but they were separated for complicated reasons now that she was in Florida. He just hadn’t known it was his brother.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, noticing that something just didn’t seem right.
“Yes! It is! In fact, better than okay. What are you smiling about?” Fitz asked Bianca as he got back under the covers with her and took her into his arms.
“Just happy that my homeboy, the one I told you about yesterday—”
“Yeah, the one you brought back from the OD?”
“Yes. He’s checking himself into rehab. I’m so glad. He really almost let the dope addiction kill him.”
“Well, why you didn’t just call the ambulance?” he asked.
“Babe, that was going to be my last resort. I know if I would’ve called the ambulance, they would’ve filed a report, or the hospital would have, and he would’ve gone to jail.”
“Good point.”
“But literally, like, five seconds before I was about to give up, he came around. But I was thinking, I’m sure he would have rather be convicted by twelve than carried by six, that’s for sure.”
Fitz chuckled, looking at Bianca, thinking how beautiful she was and how things could go so well for the two of them in the future. He liked everything about her, and he wanted her to be his. He asked, “What’s that nigga story? I don’t want you around them people.”
“He just got demons, and they are cold-blooded, too.”
“Man, what kind of demons make you put that shit in your arm?” Fitz said, not having any sympathy at all.
“Well, his was big time,” she said.
“They usually are.”
“I’m going to make a long story short.”
“Please do,” he said.
“Well, V, he got a lot of money, was madly in love with his woman,” she started.
“Typical shit.”
“Then he started messing with her brother, who he was getting a bunch of money with. One day, they fucking—”
“Chicks?”
“No, each other!”
“Mm-hmm. It happens,” he said.
“And the sister comes in and catches them in the act, goes plum crazy, threatens to expose the brother. And the brother just kills her.”
Fitz was speechless. She was waiting for a response, but there was silence. He said nothing. Nada. Not a word.
“Babe, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, you said what?”
“I said the brother killed the sister, and my boy been carrying around the guilt for all these years, trying to conceal his pain and guilt with the drugs. But anyway, he’s going to rehab. He said that he found a program that will have a bed available in the next forty-eight hours, and I’m welcome to stay at his place if I want. It’s a whole lot nicer than the apartment I rented.”
Fitz shook his head. “You not staying at his place. You moving in with me when we get back.”
“Umm, I hear you, but I don’t know. I have my own spot now, and I’m trying to stand on my own two feet,” she told him.
“Listen, before you say anything, I want this to be serious. I’m going to get you a nice-ass promise ring, and I’m promising you that I’m going to be different than the rest. I’m going to be committed to you, and we going to work to make this whole relationship official. Baby steps, I know, right? But I just want to be with you. To be around you, to spoil you, to build with you, to live with you, to grow with you and love you.”
It warmed her heart to hear that someone like Fitz could really love her and want all these things with her. “Look, I want these things too, but I must get closure first from my past relationship,” she said.
“What relationship?” he asked abruptly. She noticed he had a weird look on his face.
“The one I had in Virginia. Remember, I told you about it?”
“Yeah, I know all about it. You call that a relationship?” he said.
“Yes, we were very much in love before I moved here.”
He sucked his teeth. “Are you serious? I mean fucking serious?” he snapped.
“Yes!” Now she was getting pissed.
“You can’t be fucking serious,” he said with a chuckle.
Bianca was in shock. She was dumbfounded, and she had no type of understanding as to why Fitz’s entire demeanor had changed. “What are you talking about?” she finally had to ask.
“You really don’t know?” He answered her question with a question.
“No, I don’t.” She glared at Fitz.
“I just don’t understand. How can you possibly consider a relationship with a man who is
