Chapter 23 #2
“Thank you for allowing them to move in on such short notice. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it,” Remedy thanked Raquel once more as they parted from the hug they shared.
“Oh, baby, stop thanking me.” Raquel waved her off with her warm smile and nurturing spirit. “We’re just doing the Lord’s work, and I am grateful that Kross connected us.”
“Me too. He’s a really good friend.” Remedy smiled at the thought of Kross.
Raquel eyed her with an amused look in her eyes. Remedy referring to Kross as a friend was comical to her, especially since the two were walking around the city with matching hickeys.
“Those mosquitos got you too, huh?” she questioned, causing Remedy’s brows to immediately bump together in confusion.
Raquel pointed to Remedy’s neck, referring to the hickeys that were still in the process of fading.
It had completely slipped Remedy’s mind that she was about to meet with Kross’ mother.
If she remembered, she definitely would have covered up what her son left behind.
Quickly, Remedy’s hand went to her neck in an attempt to cover the hickeys.
“Yeah, these mosquitos been brutal,” she laughed nervously.
It was just her luck that Kross’ black-on-black Maybach came rolling through and parked right at the curb of the duplex. The tricked-out sound system he had in his car had the bass thumping and vibrating the street.
“My son and his music,” Raquel sighed in disdain as she began marching over to chastise him. From the front yard, Remedy watched as Raquel chewed Kross out for how loud his music was and the vulgar lyrics he had his son listening to in the back seat.
“Raq, chill. He know better than to say any of the curse words,” Kross laughed as he helped Aniyis out of the car.
Remedy was happy to see that Aniyis had progressed to crutches since the last time she saw him when she did his hair. Raquel led Aniyis inside the duplex, giving Kross and Remedy a chance to catch up.
“You too player for a nigga now? Give a nigga some good pussy, then you get him some roses just to not hit him up all day?” He smirked as he leaned against the hood of his Maybach.
Laughter escaped Remedy as she shook her head. “It ain’t like that. I’ve just been busy, and so have you,” she mentioned while motioning her head toward Aniyis.
“I feel you, shawty.”
A spree of butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she eyed him.
It never failed; he was going to look good as fuck every time she saw him.
His crisp white tee gripped his muscles as he sagged his Amiri jeans slightly.
He brought the fit together with a pair of porcelain white Air Forces.
As he peered down at her with his bottom lip crannied between his gold slugs, all the memories of their passionate rendezvous flashed in her head.
“My people taking care of your mama and little brother? You don’t need anything, right?”
“Your mom and her husband have been more than helpful.” She smiled before looking over her shoulder to see Andres helping Melo and Ava move some boxes inside. “I really can’t thank you enough.”
“You good, shawty. But what was all that you were saying about not being able to fix your problems?” he teased her.
Remedy rolled her eyes as he relished in his victory. “Yeah, whatever, nigga,” she said, waving him off.
Once he came back down from his high horse, his deep brown eyes seared into her again. She was effortlessly beautiful, even when she was just dressed in a pair of leggings and ribbed tank top. He reached over and brushed away some of the hair that got stuck in her lip gloss due to the wind.
“I’m fucking with the black. It’s sexy,” he complimented, referring to her now jet-black tresses she had styled in a sleek side part. As promised, he paid for her hair to be fixed, and he got a few attachments sent to his phone once it was done.
“Thank you.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “But you do need a cut. Starting to look a little rough out here. I can’t have that.”
Kross chuckled as he ran his hand over his deep waves. “I been waiting on you to get me right, shawty.”
“Oh, so I’m you’re barber now?”
“It seems like that’s the only way I can get an hour of your time, so yeah, you’re my barber now.” His smoothness had her face tinted red as her rosy cheekbones perked up with a smile.
“My shop is closed for the day.”
A smirk etched his face as he returned with a quick response. “Good thing I’m asking for a house call. I got some moves I gotta make, and you gotta help your folks unpack, so I’ll send you the addy in a few hours. How that sound?”
“Hm, I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll see you later, Remedy,” he scoffed, indicating that she didn’t have a choice but to come through to his house to cut his hair.
Before he left, he had to say goodbye to Raquel and Aniyis. Remedy led the way inside, and Kross spent the entire walk gawking at how her ass ate up the leggings she had on. They went their separate ways, and Remedy went to aid her people while Kross located his.
“Aye, Ma. I’m out. Make sure ‘Niyis calls me before he goes to bed,” Kross told his mother as he sat a kiss on Aniyis’ head.
“I will,” Raquel agreed. “Where you headed? Out with your friend?” she followed up with an amused chuckle.
Kross shook his head with a laugh of his own. He completely forgot how nosy his mother could be at times. “Nah, I got some business I gotta handle.”
“Hm. Answer me this, son. How did you guys manage to get bit by the same mosquito around the same time at the same spot?” Raquel bumped her brows together at him.
Instead of responding to her, he simply wrapped up saying goodbye to Aniyis and left the duplex in laughter since his mother never failed to put two and two together.
After a couple hours, Remedy managed to get Ava and Melo settled before advising them that they would resume moving the rest of their belongings tomorrow since it was getting late.
She hugged them goodbye, then drove the moving truck back home.
Kross had gotten back to her with his address half an hour ago, and he was just waiting for her to pull up.
He was lucky that she had a second set of clippers at home, or she wouldn’t have agreed to his house call since it would have required her to drive all the way to the shop.
Since she spent the majority of her day packing and unloading boxes in the hot Miami sun, she took a shower and got changed into her gray Skims slip dress.
After applying some make-up, she grabbed her tools and hit the door.
She was sure the doorbell notification Tone got on his phone about her slipping out of the house close to midnight earned her a few phone calls, but that was the least of her worries since she had him blocked and her phone on Do Not Disturb.
The drive to Kross’ condo wasn’t too long. Once she arrived, she called for him to come down and get her. She fell into his embrace as he wrapped his strong arms around her.
“You look good as fuck in this dress.” His baritone voice rattled her ears as his hands cupped her rounded ass.
“None of my clients get to feel up on me and tell me I look good as fuck.”
Kross smacked his lips as he took the case of tools from her hand so she could follow him to the elevator.
“None of your clients ever had you riding dick on the 35th floor with their chain on either, so I guess I ain’t just one of your lil clients.
” A smirk full of sheer arrogance gallivanted across his handsome face as he wrapped an arm around her petite waist.
She had no witty response to come back with, so she chuckled while shaking her head.
After riding the elevator up to the fourth floor, he used his key to open the door so they could enter the condo.
Upon stepping inside, Remedy was hit with the calming aroma of warm vanilla.
It was second nature for her eyes to scope around the condo just so she could get familiar with her surroundings.
The condo was decorated so nicely, she knew there had definitely been a woman’s touch in the décor since there was no way in hell Kross would’ve thought to combine neutral colors and pampas grass in his home.
As he led her further into the home, she was able to become familiar with the woman who had a say in the décor. Cassie’s photos that were framed against the walls caught her eyes immediately.
“Wow, she was gorgeous,” she ogled at Cassie’s timeless beauty.
Kross halted walking to gaze at the canvas photo of himself and Cassie. Despite the confusion she had him in at the moment, her pictures were never coming down. He still loved her, and at times, looking at the photos and reflecting on memories were the only things that made his heart stop aching.
“Yeah, she was,” he agreed with a small smile. They were a beautiful family to say the least. After seeing photos of them together with Aniyis while visiting Kross in prison, Remedy could understand why he visited her grave with a bouquet of roses every Sunday. They were in love.
Kross pulled a chair from the dining room table and got it set up so she could start his hair cut.
She put her gloves on and draped him with a cape and a neck strip before she locked in and started getting him right.
This was only his second time getting a haircut from her, but this time, her energy was different.
She was a lot more fluid and comfortable this time around, most likely because he was no longer public enemy number one and she had grown to like him a lot.
After fading out his temples, she stood before him, lining him up so he would have a sharp edge.
His hands came from underneath the cape and fused to her curvaceous hips, prompting her to stop and shoot him a stale face. “Now, if I push your line back ‘cause you’re playing, I don’t wanna hear shit about it,” she warned him.
He smacked his lips. “I would fuck you up.”
“Alright then. Move your hands.”