“I love you too, stingray.”
I TAKE Kai to the hospital despite her protests that she is okay. But when the nurse wheels her back for tests, she tells me to go check on the team. She says she’s fine, and I can come back in twenty minutes when the test is done. That I need to show my face in front of the team. Show them I put them first. That they need a leader like me.
I don’t argue, because they need a leader like her too. Our team would be stupid not to see how good we would make as a team together.
I walk the hallways, looking for members of my team to check on, albeit reluctantly.
Clifton is the first room I come to. He looks well; I’m surprised he hasn’t been released yet. So I duck inside, deciding to test my theory.
“How are you holding up?” I ask.
“Better than the rest of the team. I’m lucky the docs hadn’t released me yet when the attack happened.”
“Don’t worry, we are going to get the bastard who did this.”
He nods with a smile, “I know we will.”
“I have a question for you, Clifton.”
He sits up higher in the bed. “Okay, shoot.”
“Would there be an objection to Kai and I running the Black organization together?”
He stills for a moment. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because we wouldn’t trust that you would put us first.”
“But can’t you see we are better leaders together? We play off each other strengths and weaknesses.”
He shakes his head. “When people love each other, it’s not all flowers and chocolates. Couples fight, they bicker. They disagree. And they put each other first.”
I frown.
“I like you, Enzo. I still think you would make a better leader than Kai, but right now, you are letting your feelings show too much. You love her, but I don’t think she loves you back.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Just something she said earlier to the team that Vance told me about.”
I frown. I will have to talk to her later because it’s clear he won’t tell me.
“You have to let her go if you want to be the leader, because right now, Kai would have to fuck up really bad for you to have a chance at being Black again. The only way to get your job back is to stop loving Kai.”
Stop loving Kai? Not possible. If this is how the team feels, then I guess I’m out of a job. Because there is nothing that could make me stop loving her.
18
KAI
I SAID I LOVE YOU.
I swore I’d never say those words again. At least, not to Enzo.
But I said them.
And I don’t regret it.