Page 59 of Widow Mayker

“Precisely. There’s just something about falling out of the sky that doesn’t sit right with me.” In fact, my stomach turned just thinking about it.

He chuckled. “Aight, that’s cool. So, you wouldn’t fall out of the sky wit’ me?”

“Hell, nah!” I laughed, and he joined me.

“I’m fuckin’ wit’ you, baby. Tell me something else that you’re afraid of.”

Sighing, I crossed my legs and revealed, “You.”

“The only time you should be afraid of me, is if you cross me. Which brings me to my next point. We gon’ learn to trust each other.”

I snickered. “That’s impossible, Kody. I’m incapable of trusting anyone.”

He smirked. “That’s not true. You trust Cooley and Adir.”

“Yeah, but they’re them.”

Kody unbuttoned his suit jacket and got more comfortable. He placed his large, tattooed emblazoned hand on my crossed thighs and said, “If you are capable of trusting them, then you’re capable of trusting me.”

“Nooo… I’m not.”

“If I’m considering trusting you, you gotta meet me halfway, baby.”

“I said—”

“I know what you said,” he emphasized. “What I’m sayin’ is I get it, aight? Trust ain’t something I have for many either. If it you ain’t the niggas in the front seats, my mama, or Kim, it’s likely I don’t trust yo’ ass.”

“Okay, then,” I replied. “You just proved my point.”

“Nah, the point is, we are capable of trusting. It’s just who we choose to put our trust in, my Heir.”

He stared at me. So intently, I broke eye contact. Still, I felt his eyes staring into the side of my face. His fingers caressed my chin and coaxed me to look at him again.

“You’re beautiful as fuck. I asked you once if you’d let me give a fuck about you. Tell me you will and mean it this time.”

Against everything I felt, his fingers caressing my chin was the only feeling that rang true. I wanted Kody to give a fuck about me. Despite every single misgiving warning me to tell this man no, I couldn’t.

“I will,” I finally confirmed.

He unsnapped my seat belt and murmured, “Come here.”

I climbed into his lap and accepted his mouth against mine. His tongue slipped between my lips and, as he thoroughly kissed me, I held his head steady and kissed him just as passionately.

Forty-five minutes later, after our lunch was served, Kody asked a question that doused gasoline on me and brought me back to reality.

“When was the last meaningful interaction you had wit’ ya father?”

Before I could reign in the look on my face, Kody chuckled.

“Unfortunately, in order for us to venture into this new territory of trust, we gotta lay some old shit to rest.”

“Yeah, but…” I sighed and pushed some food around my plate. My appetite had effectively fled. Going back there was unfamiliar. At all costs, I avoided that shit. Now, here Kody was all but demanding that I open up the flood gates.

“How ‘bout I start,” he offered. “It was a few weeks before I learned of his betrayal. Peru was like a second home to my father. Although he was born and raised in Florida, he loved traveling and Peru just happened to be the place that stuck to him the most. We were there looking at some property that he wanted to move K. M. Liquors and Wine to. Serra da Mantiqueira was exquisite and alluring. However, I wasn’t sold on moving the company. My great-grandfather worked too hard for the business he built. All the land he’d acquired over the years was to expand K. M. Liquors and Wine, domestically, and not overseas.” He grinned. “I’m getting off topic. While we were there, my father and I visited this local jewelry boutique. I can still envision the diamonds on some of the pieces we looked at. There was this one ring that he picked out, it had to be crafted in heaven or something, it was so magnificent.”

Kody paused and tapped his fingers against the table. His eyes weren’t on me but on his half-eaten plate. Reflecting on the past seemed to do the same to him that it did to me.

“My father picked out the ring for my mama and had it engraved with only one love. I’ve never considered women in the way my father considered my mama. He loved her. I asked him what it took to get to that level of love, and his answer was selflessness and patience. Selflessness because a man is not always right in the way he handles a woman. It takes putting ya own I don’t do that type of shit to the side, and saying for her, I will. Patience because women are naturally soft. Their emotions are naturally gentle. You can’t deal with a woman like you would a nigga off the street, or the next business deal. You handle her with patience.”