Chapter 8
Later That Evening
With no rhyme or reason, I found myself in my feelings, and I hated it.
Having Charlie under my roof but not having her was playing with my head. However, the why didn’t make sense. Since she’d gotten here, that woman had been counting down the days to when she could go, so what did I think she’d say to me asking her to stay?”
I set myself up, so I was keeping my distance.
“Why you in here pouting like a little bitch?”
I looked up and scoffed seeing Boss, Snoopy, and Buck walking toward me.
“Tonight was date night or something?” I joked.
“Don’t get your shit pushed back, little brother.”
Boss mugged me, and I cracked up and pushed the peanuts toward him when he was seated.
As soon as their butts hit the seat, LaToya came over and placed beers in front of them. This was a club owned bar, and she made it her job to remember all our orders. She got tipped well because of it. Baby girl was thirsty for some Riding Rebels’ dick, but she didn’t let that fact stop her from making her money.
Boss thanked her with a twenty-dollar bill, and that was only the first for the night.
“You never answered my question. What’s wrong with you, and why Tech telling me you dodging him? You asked him for some information, he got it, but you ain’t nowhere to be found. You running from your girl?”
“Hell nah, I ain’t running. I’m just…” My words trailed off, and I sighed. “I’m being open as fuck and truly need to calm down.”
“You know what you gotta do before you can pursue what I see in your eyes.”
I nodded because he was right.
Charlie was mine, but I couldn’t touch her until she became a widow. After everything that happened with Izzy, I vowed to never touch another woman that was attached. With Izzy, I didn’t know about her situation with my father, but he’d dropped hints as soon as I brought her home, so I should have. Charlie still walked around with her wedding rings on, so I really needed to chill because I didn’t go back on my word, least of all to myself. This week had been pure torture, and instead of running, I needed to face everything head on.
The last thing I was, was a simp, so I pulled out my cell phone and called Tech.
“Damn, thought your ass was dead. Made me leave my spot and you go ghost.”
“Stop crying and pull up. I’m at the bar.”
“Should make your ass come to me.”
I hung up on him because he knew that was the last thing I was going to do.
The faster I solved the mystery of Charlie’s ex, the faster she could be on her way and out of my system. I probably made myself look like a fool, and I would never get the petrified look on her face out of my head. It didn’t take Tech long to walk through the doors.
I raised my hand, and he sauntered our way.
“Dang, no invite?” Tech slapped hands with us all and copped a seat.
LaToya switched over with refills and a beer for Tech.
“If I didn’t vet her myself, I would think she was the ops. Her ass pops up at the right time, every time.” Boss held up his beer and looked into the opening, then sniffed.
“You’re a fool.” I laughed, then turned to Tech. “What you got for me?”
He handed me a folder that was thick and heavy.
Once I had it in my possession, I looked at him, but his face was blank. Whatever he found would set me off. Instead of torturing myself about who Charlie could really be, I opened the folder, and the air left my lungs. Gideon-motherfucking-Baxter.
I slid the family portrait over to Boss who was seated next to me.
“Nah.” Boss burst into laughter. “Yo, are you serious?” He looked at Tech, waiting for an answer.
“Yup. I found out that her pops owed debts out the ass, so her father gave her hand in marriage in exchange for her working off his debts. Gideon’s had her for the last seven years. Outside of appearances, no one had any information on her. Do you think he sent her here?”
I’d had the same thought initially, but it immediately went away.
“Doubt it. The bruises Doc and I saw weren’t for show. She got up enough courage to leave. Her landing here was divine intervention, or witchcraft.”
I licked my lips and shook my head as I went deeper into the file.
Gideon Baxter was the son of the woman that our father killed our mother over. I vowed to erase their entire bloodline, but Boss had talked me out of it. However, what he did to Char—Cecilia was grounds for death, and I would make it happen. This was no longer just about her but my mother too. His mother played victim and got my mother’s life taken away, so I wouldn’t take it easy on him.
Boss hit my arm, and I looked up from the document that held his home and office information.
“You need to talk to her?—”
“He’s dying, so I don’t know what we need to talk about.”
“Don’t cut me off. You need to talk to her so she knows the full truth. I’m pretty sure that she thinks you’re joking or blowing smoke about your plans, but you need to let her know your connection. If it comes from anyone but you, she’s going to think this whole thing was to keep her here for him . Let her know it all, Helix.”
I squinted at my brother using my first name.
He looked at me without blinking, and because I wasn’t trying to pay for new furniture for the bar, I let him have it. I gave my attention back to the file, and my brows dipped. It seemed like Gideon had in fact put out a bounty on Cecilia’s head.
He was willing to pay two million dollars to get her back, but the part that stuck out the most to me was the fact that he never mentioned Hendrix.
“I got to go.” I popped up from my seat, holding the folder close to my chest, and my brother followed suit.
“Don’t do nothing stupid that’s going to leave us wide open.”
Boss grabbed my arm, and I snatched away from him, getting into his personal space.
“Man, stop acting like I don’t know how to handle myself! Back up off me.”
Boss’s eyes scanned mine, then he stepped back and smirked.
His reaction took some of the air out of my chest. I wasn’t afraid of him, but Boss was one of the few men that could go toe-to-toe with me. He put his hands up in mock surrender, and I scoffed. Turning on my heels, I left the bar and went to my truck. I had no idea what I was going to say to Cecilia when I saw her, but telling her about what happened to our mother was out of the question.
That was a wound I didn’t want to open until I was ready to divulge the trauma.
“Arrow?” Cecilia poked her head into the hallway that led to the front door from the kitchen.
She was covered in flour, and my chest tightened at a feeling that didn’t match the anger I felt only seconds ago.
“I thought you were eating pizza and wings.”
She shrugged and said, “That was the plan, but when it got late and you still weren’t here, I changed my mind.”
I walked toward her, and she had been rooted until I got close enough for us to breathe the same air.
Cecilia stepped back but hit the wall. I had her trapped, and my mind came up with several scenarios, yet none of them had anything to do with what I’d learned at the bar. I shook my head because I could feel my body waking up, and that was the last thing we needed. A serious conversation needed to be had, and I wouldn’t be able to focus if my dick was hard. I brushed flour from her chin, and the anger returned when she flinched at my touch.
Dropping my hand, I stepped back to give her some breathing room.
“Tell me again where you got the name Hendrix. That’s not really common…”
She looked at me with lowered lids, chewed on her bottom lip, then straightened up like she needed strength against something.
“From my father-in-law. He said it was the name of the strongest man he knew, and only the strong survived in his family. Gideon hates the name, so I always suspected there was some bad history with the person who had the name. It’s probably why Gideon hates our baby. I tried naming him something else, but when I got his birth certificate, Hendrix was on there instead of Celio like I wanted.”
“Hmm, okay. I didn’t eat, so what did you make?”
She hesitated, smiled, then led the way to the kitchen.
My kitchen was fit for a five-star restaurant, and Cecilia had shit everywhere. She attempted to move things around, but the damage was done. I had to give it to her because it smelled good as hell, but my eye twitched at the sight of the mess.
After a careful review of the space, I could tell she found her home in the paper towels as well.
“At home, we had a chef, and I wasn’t allowed to cook because my husband believed I would poison him. I’m flexing my muscles now that I don’t have him breathing down my neck.”
“If given the chance, would you have tried to poison him?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. Him, his mama, and his stepdaddy. I would have eliminated them all and not think twice about it.”
The island separated us, as we held eye contact.
I felt deep in my soul that she would have taken Gideon out a long time ago if she had been given the time and opportunity. My dad, though, was mine. I had the chance to take him out once at fifteen, but chickened out, but that wouldn’t be the case now. I was going to handle them one-by-one. Mrs. Baxter would be last though.
I hoped she was up-to-date with prayers on whatever God she worshipped, because her time was coming.
“Was this the first time you attempted to leave him?”
Before I was done asking my question, she was shaking her head.
“No. I tried once before but made the mistake of trusting someone I thought was a friend. She helped me set everything up, but on the day I was supposed to walk away for good, she arrived with Gi—my husband in the back seat.” Tears formed in her eyes but never fell. “He held me in that little shack for seven straight days.”
“I want you to know that when I get my hands on him, it’s a wrap. The fact that he’s Hendrix’s father will not matter to me when he and I are face-to-face.”
Her right shoulder lifted into a shrug.
I didn’t need her permission because the death was happening, but I wanted to make sure that when the deed was done, she wouldn’t be surprised. Cecilia turned around and got back to kneading the dough that was in front of her. I was tempted to let her know that I knew who she was, but the little bit of time we spent together told me that she would shut down and run whether she had the car or not. However, I thought about my pursuit of her and felt like I needed to come clean, because the last thing I wanted her to think was I wanted her as some revenge against Gideon. Yeah, I couldn’t keep my mouth closed no matter how much I wanted.
I cleared my throat, and she looked up from the pizza sauce.
“What’s wrong? Why did your whole demeanor change?”
“I need to talk to you, but I need you to listen to hear me and not listen to respond and react. Can you do that?”
She squinted and set the spatula down.
“I don’t know… You’re scaring me.”
I nodded and took a seat at one of the stools I kept around the island. I cleared the space in front of me and set the file on the island. Cecilia looked at it, and she gripped the counter as I opened it and slid the picture from the top over to her.
She hissed, stumbled, and burst into tears.