She trailed her fingers up my arm to rest on my neck. “I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine. I won’t share either. And smelling that perfume on your sheets...that hurt, and we weren’t together. If that happens again, I won’t stay, even if I want to.”
“I don’t like you threatening me with leaving.”
Her brows rose. “Imagine coming to my bed and finding it smelling like cologne. Imagine it. Tell me you wouldn’t walk away.”
“You really want me imagining something that will make me homicidal? Because that’s what will happen if some asshole finds his way into your bed. I know my pet, my loyal, beautiful pet. You’d never invite someone there when you’re with me. So I find the scent of cologne in your sheets, I’ll know something horrific happened, and I’ll tear apart the world to find the—”
She pressed her fingertips to my lips. “I’m sorry I asked.” Then she giggled. The sound traveled through the little bit of air between us, landing like a stone on my chest.
“Don’t say shit like that to me, mama. I’m not levelheaded when it comes to you.”
“I’ve noticed.” Her cheeks glowed red, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she seemed happy. “I should get dressed. I didn’t make breakfast yet and the boys are probably starving.”
I propped myself on my elbow, tracing the rounded curve of her cheek. “Things have changed. You get that, right? You don’t have to cook and clean, Zadie.”
She bit her bottom lip, eyes drifting to the side. “But...I want to. Not every day, and I’ll skip cleaning, but I do like cooking for you. It makes me happy to do it. Unless you don’t like my cooking…”
Dry laughing at her obvious fish for a compliment, I gave it to her. “Best home cooking I’ve ever had. Marco and Julien would revolt if I told you not to cook for us anymore.”
“Then it’s settled.”
The two of us threw on our clothes, Zadie spent some time in the bathroom, and we headed downstairs. Julien was slumped over the kitchen island, staring into his mug of coffee. Vanessa and Marco were nowhere in sight. Hopefully he’d gotten her out of here. I’d make it clear when we were alone she wasn’t welcome in this house anymore. Marco could get her dank pussy elsewhere.
“Good morning,” Zadie chirped.
Julien’s head shot up. He took in her wrinkled clothes, wild curls, swollen lips, and looked at me, all mellow and light on my feet. One look, and he got it. A slow smile spread across his face. I gave him shit, but Julien was my boy. I didn’t have to say the words for him to know I’d been wanting Zadie for a while now. He didn’t have to say a syllable for me to know he was happy it had finally happened.
“All right, all right. About time.” His smile fell. “Does this mean no more dinners? I don’t think I can survive on dollar ramen anymore. I can’t fucking do it, Zadie.”
She peeked around the open refrigerator door. “Don’t worry your pretty little head for even a second. I’ll still be here.”
Julien grinned at me. “Your girlfriend called me pretty.”
“Yeah.”Girlfriend.Motherfuck, that was a head trip. I met Zadie’s eyes over Julien’s head. They were bright, sparkling, and her cheeks had taken on a permanent blush. “She can compliment you all she wants. It’s you who has to watch that shit. Maybe don’t even make eye contact. Even better, address her as Ms. Night.”
Zadie laughed as she passed me with an armload of veggies and eggs. “If you address me as Ms. Night, I’ll poison your food,” she singsonged.
Julien threw out his arms. “I thought you were saving that for Amir.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Who told you I don’t have enough for all three of you?”
Laughing, I pulled up a stool beside Julien and joined him in watching my girl cook. Fuck, she was pretty. It grated on me to see her and Julien having an inside joke, but at the same time, I liked that he liked her. We had both been with enough low-quality women the other couldn’t stand. No fucking need to repeat those mistakes.
My phone vibrated with a text from my brother and reality struck. As much as I wanted to toss Zadie back into bed and lick the pain away from her sweet pussy, I had a job to do. I had money to collect, people to deal with, and Reno to answer to.
I’d give myself an hour of this. My girl, my house, my kitchen. An hour of being the guy who deserved a girl like Zadie. Who got to have lazy Saturdays. Who wasn’t beholden to a power-drunk brother who’d sooner blow up the whole town than rein in his reckless brutality.
I walked into Reno’s warehouse, one of his guys by my side. When I collected money, I took backup, but I never involved Julien or Marco. They were as clean as I could keep them, and they’d stay that way.
Reno wasn’t in his office, but I opened up his safe to drop my weekly deposit. He’d count it later. He trusted me implicitly, but when it came to his money, he didn’t leave room for error. That was the one thing he was on top of. Money was god in his books, and he’d sacrifice anything to get more of it.
Blood was his sacrifice of choice. Not his blood, though.
I found him in a room in the back, the place where he took those who made him unhappy. He was pacing around a bloody man tied to a chair. Reno’s knuckles were cut up, his forehead sweaty. He’d been at this for a while.
When I caught his attention, he grinned. “Yo, man. Your runs go good?”
“Yes. No problems.” I nodded to the man who was too swollen to identify. “What’s up with him?”