Page 67 of Love Sanctioned

I was about to walk off when I heard her voice. “And Winston?”

“Will be taken care of,” I tossed over my shoulder, heading out of the gym doors at the same time Kal descended the stairs and Killah sank his last three pointer.

With my fist to my mouth, I silently sat in the back of the truck, thinking the entire way back to the pier. Winston could no longer be trusted because it was now obvious he feared another more than me. He stood in my face and lied to me, without blinking, and that made me wonder how many other times he had done so. He had to feel his betrayal and see there was no coming back from it.

“I want his fat ass to feel his death before it comes. Quick death is too fucking easy,” I said aloud.

“What?” Killah parked his car next to mine and Kal’s trucks.

“She said Winston warned her about me, not to mention the list with my name is his list, federally funded. He sat in that office and lied to me. His intention was for me to kill her or her to kill me. That way he was never fingered.”

“Nigga had knockoff cleaning products. Hell yeah he’s a liar.”

“I want him dead, but I want him thoroughly tortured. Let me see him first though, get a good look at him while he hands Curr over to me.”

“No problem. I’ll grab him this weekend.”

We exited Killah’s truck. Kal headed to his own while I walked around to the driver side to talk to Killah for a moment.

“I’ll be in touch. I gotta go pick up my daughter.” Kal hopped in his truck and pulled off.

“Yo, you good?” Killah’s voice brought me back to the space we were in.

“Yeah. Just thinking about everything.”

He studied me for a moment. “Get in, let’s go get a drink. I’ll pull up on Jordyn later.”

“Nah, I’m straight. If you wanna do something, go by the house and get your sister and the lil nigga. I’m trying to reenact my honeymoon and both of those motherfuckers are straight up cockblockers.”

Killah laughed. “You had four days of your wife to yourself. Plus you know she was theirs before she was yours. Learn how to share.”

“Hell nah,” I tossed over my shoulder as I walked to my car. When I had the door open, I flipped his “sharing is caring” ass off. Because what was sharing when it came to what belonged to me?

His laughter filled the sweltering night before I closed the door. I didn’t even bother lowering the window for him. He had me so messed up. I pulled out of the pier gates a few seconds later with him in tow. He followed me up the road for a bit before hitting a left to merge onto the highway while I took Hollis straight down to my house.

When I made it home, I was surprised to see Junnie wasn’t there at all. The house was quiet and smelled of food. That wasn’t a normal thing, especially because neither me nor Junior ever cooked or even tried. He went over to Grams or ordered something.

After inspecting the first floor, I climbed the steps two at a time until I reached the top. Once there, I was greeted by what I already knew as Junior’s Rod Wave filled playlist. Per him, it helped him sleep. I didn’t bother checking to see if he was sleeping because nine times out of ten he was. If I didn’t hear cursing at the game or see an array of different lights attempting to escape his room through the bottom of the door, he was.

I continued to my bedroom where as soon as I opened the door, I found Syn sprawled out in a brown lounge fit. A smile indented itself into my lips, then my eyes traveled to Alexa on the nightstand. The time was nine thirty-one, not late at all for me, and usually not her either. I glanced around my room, seeing several duffle bags near my closet. That needed to be handled too. I was gonna have the contractor come through this week. I already knew what needed to happen. The second floor had four bedrooms, including my own. The plan was to have the bedroom between mine and Junior’s turned into a closet for all her shit. That left a bedroom for the nursery. Her office space would be on the first floor in the study, leaving a bedroom down there also.

I knelt down, kissing the side of her face. “Damn, baby, you out already?”

She began to stir. “What time is it?” Her sleep filled voice sounded through the room as I stood up straight. I noticed her sketchpad and transparent pencil bag on my side of the bed, which let me know she’d fallen asleep while drawing.

“Nine-thirty. Gone ahead back to sleep. I’m about to go downstairs and eat. I’ll be back up.”

“No, I’m up. I didn’t intend to fall asleep. Why the hell is there no TV in here?” She sat up with a scowl. Every time she used to spend the night she had the same gripe.

“You know why.” I walked out of the room, starving. I didn’t realize I was until the smell of food hit my nose at the threshold.

I was in the kitchen for all of two minutes before I heard her slippers against the floor behind me. “Sit down. I’ll warm your food.”

“I thought you said Junnie was coming by?”

“She said she was, then she called and said she was tired and would come through Saturday. I ended up cooking dinner, then working on a dress Patience asked me about.”

“You get through it?” I asked, watching her move from washing her hands at the sink to the microwave.