“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Your man, Caesar, he’s a fucking punk-ass nigga. He’s gay. Been undercover in the closet his whole entire life.”
“What?” Bianca said, her mouth gaping open. “Why do you wanna lie about him? You don’t even know him!”
At that point, Fitz broke it all down to her, about how Papi had sent the picture of the two of them from yesterday to his mother, and then she had sent back a picture of Caesar with Bianca.
“Babe,” he said, “Caesar is my brother. And you . . . you were the only woman that nigga ever been with in his life,” Fitz let out. “There, if you didn’t know, now you do, and furthermore,” he went in, “that nigga is a fucking pussy. He’s soft in every aspect. I’m not hating, just giving you the real deal shit. He’s never going to protect you from harm, hurt, or danger. Get in trouble, watch how that nigga flee.” He said it with such fiery malice.
Bianca burst into tears. His words were like sharp daggers that went through her heart. She sobbed, and when Fitz saw her tears, it tore him up to see her falling apart. Fitz felt awful and helpless that he had spilled the beans. He immediately took her in his arms, realizing he had really hurt her feelings. “Baby, my apologies, but I had to be real with you, always. I just gotta be!” He wiped her tears away as they flowed endlessly down her face. “I know the truth hurt. I know it do.” He did his best to console her from the blow he had just delivered.
Bianca was trying to figure out if it was the words, or the truth of the matter that hurt most. In her heart, she knew that Fitz was right. It all added up. The anal sex all the time, him needing the Mollies and Ecstasy just to perform and have sex with her, and rarely ever having any vaginal sex. How had she not put it all together? Indeed, love was blind. Why would Caesar do her like that?
She shook her head, angry, mad, and disappointed, knowing it was true that everybody played the fool sometimes, but it hurt like hell that she wasn’t the exception to the rule.
CHAPTER 30
The news that Fitz had delivered knocked the wind out of her. The hardest part was pretending to be okay around Papi and the rest of the staff. Fitz and Bianca laid out at the pool for the reminder of the day. Though he held her hand, there was silence for the most part between the two. Both were in deep thought.
Bianca thought about the way Fitz made love to her. It was indeed mind blowing, and the intimacy and passion that they had shared was nothing she had ever felt from Caesar. She was confused. How could this have gotten past her? Was something wrong with her? Was she falling off of her game? Could she even trust her judgment now?
Fitz didn’t want to leave the island, because at least he was there with her, and he knew she couldn’t run away from him there. Once back in Miami, it wasn’t a real lock. He felt she could disappear and he’d never hear from her again. But, at the same time, he had some unfinished business to take care of, and he needed to get back.
Fitz noticed her deep in thought, and he went and put his arms around her. “I know you are doing so much soul searching, and you are questioning your judgment and you’re unsure of everything, but rest assured. The one thing you can be sure of is this . . . with me, with us. It’s real! I give you my word.” He looked her dead in the eye and gave her a tongue kiss that almost took the breath out of her.
And that’s all it took to convince her. Intense passion like that didn’t come along every day, that’s for sure!
Once the two set their feet back on Miami soil, they kissed and went their separate ways. Fitz said he had something to do, but he promised to be back home to her by dinner.
Meanwhile, she was just arriving to Viper’s house to see him off to rehab when Fitz called to check on her. She entered Viper’s apartment and sat on the couch to talk to him while Viper was in his room, packing.
“So, tomorrow, we’re going to get promise rings,” he said.
“You sound kind of excited.”
“I am,” he said. “I never did anything like this before, and though I was taught to never wear my heart on my sleeve, I do trust you with my heart.”
She heard a voice in the background. “Flight 643 to Richmond, Virginia.” And then the phone went dead.
What the fuck? She tried to call Fitz back at least ten times. Each time, it went straight to voice mail. She sat, trying to put things together, then Viper called out to her.
“Hey, sis.”
“Yes,” she said, making her way to his bedroom.
“Look, come get this key and this shit for me.”
She entered his room, and what was staring at her stopped her dead in her tracks. “What the fuck?” she uttered in disbelief. She was astonished. Frozen in space, she couldn’t move. Her feet felt like concrete blocks as she stared up at the big, Mona Lisa–style picture looking back at her.
“Oh my God!”
“Isn’t Annalise beautiful?”
She was in shock, because though it was Annalise in the picture, she was the spitting image of Caesar, just with hair and makeup. She looked just like him.
“Um, I have to go,” she said in a strangled tone as she backed out of the bedroom. She ran out of the building, into her car, then drove straight home. As she raced across the Causeway, everything was coming together.
The second she got home, she threw a few things in a duffle bag, along with some cash, and
