Page 83 of Vega

I had to check myself again. I was too smart to sit there acting like I didn’t recognize the typical Stockholm bullshit happening in real time. My kidnapper offered to buy groceries, and suddenly the neglected child in me wanted to start assigning him emotional significance.

Absolutely not.

VEGARRO “VEGA” MORETTI

Wise, Prodigy, Lux, and Lowe were supposed to scoop me so we could meet with the Cartiers. I planned to meet them outside. I didn’t want them to know I had spent the night because there was no real need for me to. I had my own crib, but I wanted to be as close to Sonnet as possible, for her protection, but more so because I just wanted to be near her.

But the second I opened the front door, Lux stood on the other side.

“I gotta piss.” Before I could stop him, he pushed past me.

The scent of weed followed him through the foyer as he hurried toward the half bath. He made it three steps before noticing Sonnet sitting at the kitchen island. One leg was tucked beneath her while she stared at the laptop in front of her and ate from a plate.

Lux stopped. “Oh, it’s food in this bitch?”

Sonnet turned around. I watched his expression change when he finally got a good look at her. His eyes widened slightly before a grin spread across his face.

“You must be Sonnet.” He walked toward her and extended his hand. “I’m Lux.”

“Didn’t you have to piss?” I asked behind him.

“I can hold it.”

Sonnet smiled as she shook his hand.

“What you eatin’?” Lux asked.

“A jerk-shrimp Alfredo omelet.”

His eyebrows rose. “A what?”

“I made an Alfredo sauce with jerk-seasoned shrimp, spinach, peppers, and cheese, then folded it inside the eggs.”

I really didn’t know what to expect when Sonnet said she could cook. But I was impressed as soon as I had taken the first bite. Sonnet could cook, and she cooked with love, like she understood how food was supposed to taste when somebody took their time with it. That omelet belonged on the brunch menu of one of those restaurants that served cocktails before noon and automatically added twenty percent gratuity.

She was beautiful, brilliant, funny, and able to cook like that. She was becoming more iconic by the minute and entirely too wifeable.

Lux looked at her plate like she had described heaven.

“You want one?” she offered.

His eyes ballooned. “Hell yeah.”

“You forgot we had business?” I reminded him.

He shrugged a shoulder. “We got time to eat.”

Ignoring me, Lux pulled out his phone and made a call. The moment someone answered, he announced, “Vega got jerk-shrimp Alfredo omelets in the house.”

Then he hung up. I groaned because I knew what was coming. Seconds later, the front door opened and Wise, Prodigy, and Lowe walked inside.

Sonnet slid from the stool.

“You feel like cooking for all these greedy niggas?” I asked her.

She laughed. “It’s fine. You bought enough shrimp and eggs to feed a small village.”

Prodigy approached her first. “I’m Prodigy.”