Page 73 of Love Sanctioned

He shook his head then pulled me into a hug. “This shit will blow over. Don’t let Charles scare you. Let me walk you to your car.” He kissed my forehead.

I nodded, then grabbed my purse and we left his office, headed to the front.

“You want me to get you an order of hot wings to-go? Wait, shit, is that bad for the baby?” He put his fist to his lips as soon as we reached the front door.

I giggled. “No, crazy, I don’t think so.”

He held the door open for me while I reached for my key fob on the side of my purse.

“See, shit, you don’t know either.”

I pushed his shoulder then bypassed where he was standing to go to my car. I hit the locks, then the automatic start. I was a few feet away when I turned to say something to Kolton but a big blast knocked me back.

The only thing I heard after that was Kolton saying my name, but he sounded so far away. I was surrounded by the sounds of car alarms and screaming people but I could see and my head was banging.

Then I heard him closer, saying my name repeatedly before everything went dark.

When I opened my eyes again, I didn’t hear my brother but instead my husband. His tone was cloaked in anger. I could also hear fear under it. We were inside a massive hospital room with the lights low.

I blinked a few times, trying to make out his frame. He stood with his back to me ,staring out of the window.

“I don’t give a fuck if his fat ass is in a sewer. Find him, now,” he yelled into the phone before I saw it fly across the room onto the let out.

“Easy there, handsome. You can’t just go around just throwing phones,” I said slowly, a cough escaping my lips just as I finished.

Posydiann turned around quickly, which meant he heard me. He rushed to the bed and gripped my hand. His face hovered over mine as those weighted eyes jumped around my features. “You scared the fuck out of me, Syn.”

“I didn’t mean to. What happened?” Every time I tried to remember why I was here, I went blank besides the sound of my brother’s voice.

“You don’t remember what happened?”

“No. I was leaving Kolton’s when I…” My brain stalled and I just blinked.

“You automatically started your car and it blew up when you were walking toward it. Knocked you back and you hit your head and got a few cu⁠—”

“The baby?” I interrupted his statement, my hand going to my stomach.

“Is fine. His mother has a big ass head.”

“Her mother and my head is not big.”

He laughed. “Nah baby, that motherfucker is kind of big, but I’m grateful your hair seemingly took the brunt of it.”

I stared at him. I was about to say something slick, but the realization of where we were settled in. His uncle died here.

“I love you, Posydiann Murphy.”

“You don’t have any damn choice. You better.”

A few minutes later, the doctors came into the room to check on me. During that time, Psy called his family, letting them know I was fine while also going out to the waiting room to get my brother and mother, or so I thought. When the doctors were finished, my mother and Kolton entered the room followed by Killah. They stayed there until I was discharged. I was grateful for that because the one thing I wasn’t up for was a random hospital stay.

I was thoroughly exhausted when we made it to the house, but the last thing I wanted was to climb another flight of stairs and get into another bed. I elected to sit on the couch with a nice throw and a good movie. That ended up being about thirty minutes of The Bodyguard with Junior asking a million questions before Grams and Psy’s mother came over to check on me as well. They were sweet, Grams nearly force feeding me poundcake and telling me not to cook “nan nigga” in this house a meal until I felt like it. Their time and conversation was valuable, especially when I knew my husband was struggling.

Posydiann was a protector by nature, so all of this on top of what my father had already done was weighing on him. It bothered me to see him bothered when there was nothing I could do about it.

“He called me when I was at KB’s. He said he’d teach me a lesson for going against him,” I said, lying in bed wrapped in Posydiann’s arms hours later. I was all caked and movied out, so he carried me up to the bedroom to try to sleep. After a shower and having my soul eaten out of me, attaining sleep was going terribly. My brain wouldn’t shut off and apparently neither could his.

“That fat motherfucker is dead, Syn. I put that on my life.”