Without thinking, I punch her in the face, my fist hurting like hell, but I don’t stop there. I push her to the ground, sitting on her stomach and keep hitting her. Yes, I may have anger management issues.
Suddenly, I’m grabbed and pulled back roughly. “What the f**k is going on here?!” Kade growls.
“No one talks to my f**king best friend like that!” I yell in anger, the adrenaline making me almost jump up and down. I don’t even want to repeat what she said about Layla’s baby. My godson or daughter. I'll probably hit the bitch again.
Everyone suddenly looks at Layla. Kade lets me go and goes over to Ashley.
“Layla?” Chase asks. I hear Layla mumbling something to Chase.
“Kade, get her the f**k out of here,” Chase booms. I flinch. The man can be scary sometimes.
Kade says nothing as he escorts Ashley outside, but his eyes dart to mine once before he leaves. I look away.
“Why the hell is Kade friends with her? She'll be back,” James mutters.
“Why the hell did everyone f**k her?” I blurt out. Like really, what the f**k?
“Nikki, I understand you gotta stick up for Layla, but she's f**king pregnant. She can’t be your partner in crime anymore anytime you lose your shit!” Chase explodes.
I look over at Layla. “Sorry,” I mouth to her. She gives me a small smile.
“Come on, Nikki, let’s get you cleaned up, you got blood everywhere. Who would have thought you could lay a bitch out like that?” James chuckles as he takes my arm and escorts me down the hall to the bathroom.
“Actually, she does this often,” Layla yells after us, giggling a little.
James starts laughing, his whole body shaking. I’m so glad everyone is so amused.
“I’ve never seen a girl fight like that before. Usually it’s all hair pulling and slapping,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me. I think that might be respect I see in his eyes.
“Yeah, well, I’m small. So I took some self-defense and kickboxing classes. I don’t ever want to be a victim,” I tell him frankly.
“Good, might come in handy,” James says, looking amused and at the same time deep in thought. “Want to know the funniest part about this? The song ‘Girl Fight’ was playing while you were beating her.” James throws his head back to laugh, and I can’t help but laugh along with him. I didn’t even notice the song playing. How fitting.
He cleans up my hands, since Ashley’s blood is all over them, and my knuckles are bright red. I have a quick shower and change into my red silk pajamas. I put some ice on my hand, which is now getting slightly swollen.
After the fight, people start leaving, and the party pretty much dies down. Fights usually do wreck the mood of everything. Layla and Chase are the last to leave. They help with the cleaning up before they do.
An hour or two later, Kade comes home and storms into my room, not even bothering to knock.
“Why the f**k would you do that to her? No matter what was said, she didn’t deserve that! Her face is a mess, Nikki!” he growls accusingly.
“She deserved it! She should keep her mouth shut and not talk about shit she has no right to! Just because she wants you doesn’t give her the right to say things about Layla!” I hiss back at him.
Kade looks at me, disbelieving. “She doesn’t want me, we’re just friends.”
“Yeah, right! She told me she wants you Kade, I’m not just making this shit up!” I decide to quickly tell him what she said about Layla.
“Nik, I’ve known Ashley her whole life. She loves kids, she’s not going to say that about my soon to be sister in law. You probably misunderstood, I know how you like drama.” With that infuriating and completely incorrect statement, he storms out and slams the door. What the f**k? I don’t deserve this shit. He doesn’t believe me, fine.
Fuck him.
KADE
I know Ashley can be a bitch, I’m not completely oblivious, but I also know her better than anyone else on this planet. The things Nikki claims Ashley told her is something I could never believe she'd say. She's never been that nasty before, ever, and I've known her since she was a kid. Even if Ashley did run her mouth, she didn’t deserve the ass kicking Nikki gave her. Ashley doesn’t deserve to be hit, ever. I know for a fact her mother used to raise her hands to Ashley.
Ashley’s older brother Damon was my best friend in the world. We met when we were five years old, in pre-primary. We stayed friends all the way through primary school and high school, until he enlisted the moment he turned eighteen. I was pissed. He kind of sprung it on me. I think he knew I wouldn’t want him to go. I know Damon and Ashley didn’t have the best childhood, their mother was always saying mean shit to them and putting them down. Damon spent a lot of time at our place growing up.
“I want to make something of myself, Kade. Someone I can be proud of,” was what he said when he told me about enlisting. I knew I was being selfish but f**k if I didn’t want him to go. He wasn’t my brother by blood, but he was still my brother. I still remember the day he left like it was yesterday. We spent the day together, pretending that tomorrow both our lives wouldn’t change drastically. We kept in contact, writing letters and what not, but it wasn’t the same. I missed my buddy. Two years later, Damon died in battle. At the tender age of f**king twenty. I was devastated. Fuck, I still am devastated.
My best friend.
NIKKI
The next morning I’m dragging my feet about the kitchen, making myself a strong coffee. I live and breathe the stuff, unlike Layla, who's just plain weird. Kade emerges from his room and I completely ignore him.