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She rubbed her temples with her eyes closed, but when they popped open again, she looked at me. A win for me.

“I’m just saying, . . . how do I know that if I follow these feelings for you, one day I won’t find myself in a prison cell or something because of you?”

“Because, like I said, I’m protectin’ us both, so that won’t even happen. Besides, it ain’t gonna be nothin’ you can do to betray me like her. I’ma be doin’ things the right way. You deserve to be wit’ that version of me that owns some businesses and stays in the house.”

“She didn’t?”

The question threw me off guard, but I played it off cool. I didn’t even have to think too hard to produce an answer. “No. She met me at a time where she knew what I was up to, and she encouraged it. Now she wanna use that same shit to set me up? Nah. She showed me her character and let me know that she never deserved the best parts of me. She was a chapter in my life, and now it’s closing. I’m ready to be a new man, and I can’t do that with a shitty woman by my side.”

Someone cleared their throat. I looked to the left of me and saw the server standing there, looking like an idiot with some plates in his hand. “S-sorry to interrupt. I have your appetizers ready.”

Slowly, I sat up and glared at him. “Can’t you see we talkin’? Put the plates down and move around.” I waved him off.

“Where w-would you like me t-to put the plates?” he asked.

My jaw clenched as I stared at his goofy ass. He’d been a pain in my ass since I got to this mothafucka. “On the table. Why I gotta tell you how to do yo’ job? Shit don’t even make sense.”

“Uhm, sir? You’re on the table⁠—”

“Man, give me the plates,” I snapped. He quickly handed them to me. Before he could rush away, I said, “And clean this mess up. What kind of establishment is this?” I gestured toward the bottle of wine, silverware, and plates I knocked off the table when I lay down on it. “And bring us more wine. My girl’s glass is empty ’cause you stressin’ her out.”

“Right away.” The server picked up as much as he could before he scurried away.

I shook my head as I climbed off the table and placed a plate in front of Yara. “Can you believe that guy?”

“Gino, you have got to stop.” Her voice was a mixture of amusement and scolding. Another reason she so easily captured my heart. She allowed me to be myself while still trying to get me to be the best version of myself. She was exactly what I needed before I even knew I needed it.

“Stop what, Yaya? Stop wishin’ I knew what ya pussy tasted like?”

She gasped and covered her mouth, and I chuckled. I loved getting a reaction out of her.

After a minute, she said, “Can we focus on the conversation, please?”

Her voice still held a note of amusement, and there was an undertone of lust. I grinned. “By all means.”

“I still don’t know how I’m supposed to trust that I won’t end up like Aniya.”

“You won’t for several reasons. First being that I promise to never do you like that. I’m a man of my word. I ain’t ever promise no shit like that to Aniya.”

“But you made vows to her.”

I thought about it. “True. Aight, look. I won’t sit here and pretend like I’m not breakin’ promises to her. You want me to accept blame for this shit? Cool. Anything for you, Yaya, and I mean that. Just because Aniya is plottin’ against me don’t mean I had to take the route of plottin’ against her. I’ll take responsibility for that. You right. I made vows to her, and even though she broke hers don’t mean I gotta break mine.

“I do want you to understand somethin’, though, and tellin’ you this is steppin’ into territory I ain’t even wanna touch wit’ you, but I will if it’ll help you understand the situation I’m in. If I didn’t play things out like this, then one of us would have ended up dead, and I can assure you it wouldn’t have been me. Could I have gone on the run and let the bitch live? Yeah, but that would make me a bitch, and I ain’t ever that. It was either set her up to take the fall for all the shit she wanted me to take the fall for or kill her, to put it bluntly.

“And if I ran like a bitch, then I wouldn’t have been able to get to know you. I met you not long after I found out what Aniya was up to, and runnin’ was never really an option before, but if it came down to it, then I was prepared to do it. But when I met you, Yara Fairchild, that was completely off the table. I spent the last year workin’ my ass off to make sure this shit played out a certain way, not only for my livelihood, but so that I could build a life wit’ you. Do you believe me when I say that?”

Tears clouded her eyes. I could tell this was a lot for her to take in. This was the only moment in my life that I wished I wasn’t so intense. I wished my life wasn’t so complicated just so I could make things easier for her, but if she was going to be with me, I needed her to know what it came with. I was a lot to handle, but I would always be honest and make sure she was protected from any bullshit I had going on. She was safe with me. I prayed she would give me the time to prove that to her.

“God, this is a lot.” She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling.

I looked up there, too, before my gaze landed back on her. “Don’t bring Him into this, Yaya.”

She peered at me. “Who?”

“God. He has enough goin’ on,” I clarified.

She snorted. “I really don’t know what to do with you, Gino. I swear I don’t.”