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Sasha shot me a grateful, albeit shaky smile. “Thanks, Darius.”
While the others fell into other lines of conversation, Kami met my gaze and the tiny smile she gave me was everything.
While I knew enough about the other two at the table like what their families did and how they contributed to the growth and maintenance of the Medlock empire, I didn’t know Kas or Sasha the way Lavena did. I didn’t spend time with them. Our conversations usually consisted of passing greetings, maybe the odd statement. They weren’t my friends.
Kami was different.
Kami was my obsession.
She was the anomaly in our mix.
Her very existence created a vortex in my world that pulled everything to her, including me, yet everything about her warned me to stay away.
She was too young.
She was my sister’s best friend.
She was innocent.
The list went on for miles, all the logical reasons why Kamari Reid was better off with someone else, someone normal, someone who could give her … normal things. What could I possibly give her?
The world.
I would give her the fucking world.
I would give her everything, except safety and the promise of happiness. I couldn’t guarantee either.
My burnt chicken was nudged into the creamy sauce puddles around it by my fork. It left a streak across the plate.
I wasn’t in the habit of playing with my food. It wasn’t a prison thing, but a mom thing. Marcella Medlock would have had our hides if everything on the plate wasn’t gone.
My mom may have been a wildly successful entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest women in four cities in her own rights, but she was a normal mom. We had bedtimes, curfews, chores, and even had to do our homework every night. We didn’t have maids or cooks. We have two private jets, one for business and one for personal and none of us were allowed to touch them unless it was a family trip. We worked for our own money and had our own bills from the moment we were old enough to recognize what money was. I’d had a job since I was six helping my dad. Every weekend and after school, I would be at his office helping him with sorting and organizing paperwork, filling the staff kitchen, keeping the printer running and delivering the mail. The tasks increased as I got older until I was sitting in meetings and offering opinions. One day, I would eventually besitting in my father’s place, and it would be my kids starting in the mailroom, but I knew how to work and how to deal with problems, all problems. That was what I did — I solved them.
Kami was a problem I had no training on. I was completely out of my depths. At least with Liya, we had chemistry. We had some pretty good sex. On paper, she was exactly the sort of woman someone in my position needed. I wouldn’t have been worried about her being alone — or I guess given that she was sleeping with half the city, maybe I had some worry — but I wouldn’t have worried about her being left alone to defend herself. Liya would still have had her family to protect her. Kami’s parents were law abiding dentists. They would be in as much in danger as she was, and I couldn’t ask her to do that to them. I couldn’t ask her to choose my world over their lives, and I sure as shit didn’t expect her to agree.
I set my fork down and sat back. I watched Kas unspool a story with her entire body, her arms waving, fingers dancing in the air, her sleek, black hair shining in the warm light of the fire. Her brown eyes were wide as if even she was baffled by the whole thing. I hadn’t been paying attention to the start of the tale, but I heard enough to gather it was something to do with her younger brother and her father trying to build a treehouse, maybe a shed. It was unclear, but the end had the others gasping when the whole thing collapsed under a heavy wind. It made me grateful that Howard was a better lawyer than he was an apparent carpenter.
“That reminds me of when my dad and Enzo tried to build shelves for the weights at the gym.” Sasha emphasized the ridiculousness of the decision with a role of her eyes. “I told them the brackets weren’t strong enough for all those weights, but do they listen?”
“They never listen,” Kas agreed, shaking her head.
“The whole damn wall came down!” Sasha finished. “And they damaged the floor. Mom was pissed!”
“My mom walked out, saw the mess and immediately walked right back into the house.” Kas laughed. “But you could hear her just going off in Japanese.”
“So, don’t call Howard or Morpheus to put up my bookshelves,” Kami noted, head bobbing in acceptance.
“You should ask Lance,” Sasha teased, digging an elbow into Kami’s side. “I bet he wouldloveto help put up anything you ask him to.”
Even in the semi darkness, Kami’s cheeks darkened. “You guys are making way too much out of this. He’s just really sweet and helpful.”
“You think everyone is sweet and helpful,” Kas muttered, waving her fork at Kami across the table. “Like that prick I told you to stay away from.”
Intrigued, I found myself leaning forward, listening attentively for more on this prick.
Kami huffed. “First, you guys badger me to date. I do and you tell me not him.”
“He attacked you!” Sasha exclaimed, arms leaping into the air in outrage. “The guy was a fucking psycho, Kami.”
