Free Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken by Michelle Hardin

hadn’t been until Reanna was about twenty, and Tamara was eighteen, that they went back to Harlem, and reunited with Ronaldo once again. They got an apartment together, and hadn’t been apart since. They were a family … all each other had.
    “I adore you, my gorgeous best friend,” Reanna whispered, hugging him tighter. “We did good.” It wasn’t rare that she and Ronaldo would take a second to reflect on all that they’d accomplished, despite a host of obstacles that tried to knock them off track. They did it every night after work. It was their way of staying humble, grateful, and remembering their journey from poverty to wealth.
    “We’ve done amazing, Rea,” he agreed, giving her cheek a smooch before pulling back and sitting in his seat. “Best part about it is we did it by ourselves.”
    Reanna mirrored the smile that spread across his face. “I agree,” she said softly, sitting back in her seat. “That is the best part.” Especially considering she hated her parents, may they rest in peace … or in hell. That was up to God, not her. Personally, she preferred that her parents rot in hell. “You ready to get home?”
    “Ugh …” Ronaldo stretched his limbs dramatically and he stood up from the chair with an old man grunt. This was funny to Reanna. The man was only twenty-eight, yet every time he stood, he sounded like he was sixty-eight. “ Yass, girl . Let’s go home. Long drive from Manhattan to Pleasant View.”
    Reanna closed down her computer, packed it in her bag, and stood from her seat. It would indeed be a long drive, but one well worth it. Their home in Pleasant View was everything dreams were made of. So much so that when she, Ronaldo, and her sister had first laid eyes on the stunning two-story, mini mansion, they’d bought it without hesitation.
    “Man, I can’t wait to get home, eat, take a warm bath …” Mmm, just thinking about relaxing back in her beautiful tub surrounded by bubbles, with a giant glass of champagne had her feeling relaxed already. “It’ll be nice to get tonight to relax a bit before tomorrow night.”
    “What’s tomorrow night?” Ronaldo asked, a frown covering his face. “We don’t work tomorrow night, do we?”
    When Ronaldo asked her the question, Reanna glanced up from her desk, momentarily confused about what he was talking about. However, after remembering she’d been thinking out loud, she nodded.
    “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, didn’t I?” She hadn’t planned on telling him either. For some odd reason, Ronaldo had a problem with Kyle. And every time Reanna told him that she was doing something with, or for the man, Ronaldo threw a fit. “It’s nothing really, Ronaldo.”
    The look he gave her indicated that he immediately knew what she was about to say. Of course he did. He always knew.
    Rolling her eyes, she quickly grabbed her purse and headed out of the office. “Don’t start, Ron. We had a good day.”
    Ronaldo was right on her tail, already yelling. “Tell me you are not about to give up your whole damn weekend to play babysitter’s club for that asshole again, Rea! What is wrong with you?”
    “Nothing,” she answered through clenched teeth.
    There was nothing wrong with her. Why would there be? She was just a friend, doing a favor for her friend. Why did something have to be wrong with her because of that?
    “Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Rea, I ain’t dumb.”
    “Yes, you are,” she shot over her shoulder.
    He snorted. “Oh really? That’s how we’re acting now?”
    She shrugged, refusing to talk to him about it. He wouldn’t understand anyway. In order to truly understand what she had with Kyle, one would have to fully understand the man that Kyle was, and that wasn’t an easy task. Kyle was too complex to be completely understood; even she still struggled with that, understanding him, understanding their … relationship. Where it was going, or where it wasn’t going. And until she figured it out, she would