“You wanted to talk?” Though her voice didn’t rise, Lucky couldn’t mistake the anger in Zain’s tone. It had shifted from inferno to freezing.

“Did you have to pour cold water on me?” Lucky stammered as he jerked off the bed, his upper body soaked.

“Oh!” Her eyes widened in mock surprise. “You’re complaining that it’s cold?”

She picked up the bin to return to the bathroom, planning to come back with hot water instead. However, her husband knew her all too well and grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.

“Uh uh! Halake, don’t touch me! You’re this close…” She placed the thumb and index finger of her free hand close together to show him how close to the edge he was. “…this close to a body bag.”

Zain tried to tug her hand away but he refused to let her go. The bin fell to the carpeted floor with a loud thump but neither noticed.

“Baby, can we please talk about this like grown ass folks?” he asked, still clad in only navy blue boxers as he stood to his feet. Usually the sight of his naked body towering over her would’ve turned her on. Now, all she could think of was how easy it’d be to rip into the naked expanse of his skin with a sharp blade.

“Yes, Halake, Sir…” Zain curled her lips derisively. “…lie to me.”

“Baby, it was just a one night thing,” he pleaded, “five months ago.”

“Mm hm!”

“I was drunk out of my mind!”

“Mm hm!” She wasn’t even trying to listen to the pile of rubbish he continued to spoon-feed her. She could only think of the fact that he’d actually done this to her. Where there were tears before, her anger slowly simmered into rage at every excuse he attempted to make.

“We were in a strip club. Polo decided to play me. He hired one of their girls.”

“Mm hm!”

“I woke up with that girl next to me…” Lucky’s words drifted off as he realized that his words weren’t getting past the barrier Zain had erected. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Are you finished?” she returned. Taking his silence to mean that he was done with his empty excuses, she pointed to the door. “Good! Now get out of my house.”

Releasing her wrist, he ran his palm over his close cut head, frustration evident in his furrowed brow. “Can you stop being crazy for a minute and let me…”

“Are you calling me crazy?” Her voice rose with every word. “Are you calling me crazy? You think you know crazy!”

With determined strides, she walked to the vanity and pulled open the top drawer. The scissors lay right where she’d left them when she’d helped the twins with their art project. Lucky’s eyes widened when she began to walk towards him, twirling the scissors like a gun. Her lips twisted into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes before she rushed him, aiming straight for his heart.

His reflexes were faster than hers. With lightning precision Lucky dislodged the weapon in her hand and pinned her to the wall, using one hand to hold her wrists above her head and his other against her throat. Any other woman would’ve been scared to have this giant of a man breathing over her. Not Zain.

She was crazy, but even crazy she knew that Lucky would never hurt her – at least not physically.

“I’m sorry baby.” He kept his brown eyes locked on hers, their depths reflecting deep sorrow as his body kept her pinned against the wall. “So, so sorry!”

“Halake…” She drew out his name so it’d get through his thick skull. “…get out of this house or I will kill you.”

“I’m not going anywhere because I love you,” he declared. “I’m going to stay right here, in this house – with you – until you’re ready to talk this shit out.”

They stared at each other, taking deep gasping breaths, each unrelenting in their determination to win this battle of wills.