“Depends on your intentions for doing so. Nobody does something for nothing,” she said finally.

Marcus just stared at her for a moment and said nothing. Billy had the face of an angel and the eyes of a lioness. She acted so hard, but Marcus could see the hurt lingering under the surface. He himself was no stranger to pain and this only made him want to know her more. To know what it was that made her so angry and try to help her get past it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Billy asked.

“Just wondering,” Marcus said, still looking into her eyes.

“Wondering what?”

“What man was foolish enough to stomp your heart into so many little pieces?”

“What makes you say that?” she asked, a little surprised at how intuitive Marcus was.

“The kind of pain in your eyes don’t come easy, love. You’ve got ‘broken heart’ written all over your face, and I was just wondering what I could do to help put the pieces back together.”

“You can’t do anything for me that I can’t do for myself, Marcus.”

“What makes you so sure, if you’re not willing to let me try?”

“I’m good,” she said, standing.

Marcus grabbed her arm and stopped her from walking away. “Damn, Billy, you act like I did something to you. I’m not the enemy. Whatever that chickenhead-ass nigga did to you can be undone.”

Billy’s eyes flashed a rage that Marcus couldn’t understand. “You don’t know shit about me.” She snatched her arm away. “That ‘chickenhead-ass nigga’ you’re talking about was the love of my life and that’s something you’ll never know anything about!” With tears beginning to well up in her eyes, Billy turned and ran from the VIP area.

Marcus stood to go after her, but was stopped by Yoshi’s gentle hand on his shoulder. “Don’t,” she told him.

“Yoshi, I didn’t do anything,” he said, letting her know that he hadn’t intentionally hurt her friend.

“I know you didn’t. Guys are a real sore spot with Billy.” Yoshi went on to tell Marcus the story of her relationship with Sol and how it ended. When her story was done, he felt like a world-class dickhead.

“I had no idea,” he said, eyes cast to the ground.

Yoshi patted his cheek. “I know you didn’t, boo. Let me go talk to her.” Yoshi left the VIP area and went in search of her friend.