“Shut up!”
“No, I won’t shut up. Hyacinth, I’ve been with Kenny for almost nine months. We been fucking in your house that whole time. He’s been lying to you. And, clearly, he’s been lying to me too. I can’t believe I cheated on my husband with your sorry ass.”
The laughter that bubbled up out of Hyacinth must have had a maniacal sound to it, because they both turned to her with a look of shock and fear.
“Hyacinth? Baby?” Kenny moved to come closer, but stopped when she turned to face him. At least he had the decency to put on some shorts.
“No. You don’t get to call me baby. Fuck you and the bitch you rode in on.” If she had the strength to do so, she’d cry and wail and ask why this happened to her. But in the end, why did it matter? It wasn’t her fault he cheated. That was all on him and the woman who spread her legs for a man who denied her at the first opportunity. She ignored him standing there as she pulled out two suitcases.
“Hyacinth, what are you doing? Baby, we can talk about this?”
Not bothering to answer him, she threw clothes, shoes, and toiletries into her bags. Grabbing some pictures of family and friends, plus a favorite photo of her and her parents smiling together at her college graduation, Hyacinth prepared to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m the only person you got out here.”
Suitcases packed, she grabbed them up and began rolling them through the apartment. That headache she had was gone at this point. Pushed away by the utter heartbreak she was experiencing. Then again, if it was so easy for him to cheat on her for nine fucking months, he wasn’t worth her time.
Kenny stood at the door to prevent her from leaving. “Come on, girl. Just stay. We can talk about this.”
Hyacinth was an easy-going person. It was never her intent to be the loudest, boldest, baddest person in the room. Her friends always said she was the most relaxed person they knew, and she would agree. Not much got her angry, but for those who had seen her in this state, they knew to back the hell up. Clearly, Kenny still needed to learn that lesson.
Her eyes were full of fire and brimstone as he stood in front of the door, trying to stop her from exiting. She did not know where the other woman was at, because Hyacinth had completely blocked her presence from her mind.
“I’ll be going to the doctor immediately to get checked out. If you gave me anything, I will find you and I will fucking kill you. What you have done with that woman was a threat to my life. You were raw dogging her on the regular. Who knows what other parts of you were shared with other women?” She took a deep breath before briefly closing her eyes. “Actually, don’t answer that because if I have to call my father to come handle you, trust and believe, he will not be alone. You played me. You won this round. But you can best believe I will not be coming back for a repeat. When I come back for the rest of my shit, don’t be here. I don’t care where you are, but if I see you again, we’re gonna have problems.” Hyacinth hoisted her boho bag over her shoulder and motioned with one hand. “Now, get the fuck out of my way.”
Ever since, he’d tried to reach out and apologize several times. She would block his number and he would get a new one. That he was trying again to reach out meant nothing. Those flowers he sent her went into the trash the moment they arrived. She wanted nothing from hi. The more he tried, the angrier she became. If he would just leave her the hell alone, the happier she would be.
Hyacinth removed every text message and blocked the number he called from. He was no longer worth her time or energy.
Now she was wide awake and annoyed. No sense in trying to take a nap now. The time on her phone reflected just after two o’clock. She had to be back at the restaurant by five o’clock that evening. Maybe she’d do a bit of research on her new boss. She grabbed her laptop and went straight to the internet search page.Rhys Mannetti.
Military veteran.
Never been married.
No children.
The middle child of three boys.
There were a few pictures of him with women, but most were of him by himself.
A picture of him with a man named Maxwell Bishop at some hoity toity hotel in Washington, DC, came up first. The guy Maxwell looked like fine wine and on his arm was a beautiful, brown-skinned woman.
Another photo had him smiling with a man named Tristan Lucarelli at an event in Providence, Rhode Island. Both men belonged on a magazine cover, as did Rhys. And when you put them all together, they looked like danger personified.
But to Hyacinth, Rhys was the one who kept catching her eye. His green eyes seemed to jump out of the page at her. But no matter how much she wanted to continue to stare at his handsome face on her computer, she needed to get dressed. When she looked down on her phone, she saw that there was less than two hours before she had to return to the restaurant. Hyacinth was surprised by how much time she spent staring at Rhys’s photos.
This was not the time to get caught up in thinking about another man. After her break-up with Kenny, it took her a long time to get back to herself again. Rhys may be fine as hell, but he also was the restaurant owner, her boss, and surely not interested in her.
Right?
Chapter 4
Rhys found himself waiting for Hyacinth to arrive. If his brothers could see him now, they’d never let him hear the end of it. For him to be this caught up with a woman after only meeting her once was unheard of. He rubbed a hand down his face as he sat behind his desk in an office at the back of the restaurant. This was unlike him. But even as that thought entered his head, he knew there was something about Hyacinth that called to him.
Number one, she was part of a damn Garden Club?
Wasn’t that kind of shit for little old ladies who walked around with thick gloves and big hats with sheer mesh that covered their faces?