Who's That Lady? Read Online Free PDF

Crystal stormed into Monica’s dorm room. “Where have you been? Don’t you know how important it is for Key to see you?”
    “You and Shonté are his family. He doesn’t need me.”
    “Of course he needs you. He loves you!”
    “Actually, we were having some problems anyway. I don’t see the point in going on.”
    “How can you do this to him now? Can’t you work on your problems when he’s better?”
    But Monica remained aloof. Crystal understood when she saw Monica in the student union with the school’s star basketball player a few days later.
    She and Shonté discussed Monica furiously. “That bitch!” Shonté raged. “I could kill her.”
    “How can she do this to him now? She couldn’t even wait for him to get out of the hospital to dump him?”
    Key stopped asking about Monica. Crystal guessed he must have heard something from some of his other friends who still stopped in from time to time. He was beginning some therapy treatments and nearing the date of release from the hospital.
    She was alone in his room one day when an orderly brought him back from the physical therapy clinic in his wheelchair. He looked drawn and ashen, but waved away her offer of juice.
    “Taylor, tell me the truth,” he demanded without preamble. “She’s not coming back, is she?”
    “Who?” she asked, although she knew perfectly well.
    His impatient cluck told her he wasn’t going to play games.
    “I’m sorry, Key,” was all she could say.
    His mouth trembled and his head sank for a moment. Then he rallied. “She can’t handle sickness. When I get out of here, I’ll talk to her. I’ll make her see.” His voice cracked with desperation.
    Crystal gazed at him with acute anguish tearing her up inside. Slowly she shook her head. “I saw her with Shaka Morrison.”
    Key collapsed in the wheelchair. He beat the arm of the chair with his clenched fist while silent tears ran down his face. She went to him and stroked his head without a word.
    Neither of them ever spoke of the incident again. Key learned to walk again and went back to school. The first time he ran into Monica, he greeted her with a blank look as if he couldn’t quite remember her name. But Crystal knew what that cost him.
    A rush of anger made Crystal’s hands shake in the hot soapy dishwater. Even after all these years, the memory still infuriated her. Had some female managed to get close enough to hurt him like that again? She scrubbed more furiously at a soapy dish.
    She had been devoted to Key and Shonté from her first meeting with them. She wasn’t about to let anything hurt either one of them if she could help it.

CHAPTER 3
    It was almost midnight when Shonté crept into the condo. Crystal heard her moving about on the first floor, then climbing the stairs. Her bedroom door opened and Shonté peeked into the darkened room.
    “Cee? Awake?”
    “Yeah. Come on in.”
    The other girl tripped in and perched on the foot of Crystal’s bed. Crystal sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest. Light from the hallway highlighted Shonté’s profile.
    “I’m sorry I talked to you so mean, Cee. Forgive me?”
    Affection flooded through Crystal as she smiled at her friend. “Of course I do, Shonté. I’ll try not to be so bossy. You can do what you want with your life,” she added, remembering Key’s admonition.
    Shont é exhaled with a long sigh. “It’s just that Trevor is so exciting. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help it when I’m around him. Besides, he’s not the type who would worry about my past.”
    Crystal gave a grunt of exasperation. “You made a couple of mistakes. You were young. It’s nobody’s business.”
    Shonté nodded, but without much conviction. “I know, but my mistakes aren’t something you can forget.”
    “You do use protection, don’t you?” Crystal asked.
    Shonté waved her hand impatiently. “Of course. The point is, I don’t even think about my past with him. Besides, he makes me feel like something