Chapter 1
Chapter
One
KENDRIX
“Mr. Thompson, you have no idea how much this means to me. I didn’t know where else to go. David has gotten progressively worse, and I’m afraid that he will hurt our children now.” Sharlene said from across the table. She asked me to meet her here and though I was busy, some things you make time for.
She kept looking over her shoulder at something, and it broke my heart because my mama used to have that same look in her eyes.
Fear.
“You don’t have to thank me at all, Sharlene. Listen, we will ensure you and your family are safe. I will get you in contact with a friend of mine for you to talk to, and she’ll have some precautionary steps you can take to ensure your safety.”
Pulling out a blank card, I wrote down the number and handed it along with a check for a lot of money so she could make the trip to see the person who would give her exactly what she needed.
“Now tell me where David is. Did you leave him at home, or did he go to work?” She shuttered at the mention of her husband.
“No he called out, claiming he was under the weather, but that’s code for too damn drunk to move off the couch. I sent my children with a family friend, and they are in virtual school. I have worked remotely since I started running out of excuses as to why I would show up with a black eye to the job. That allowed me the freedom to go off the grid if necessary; now, I won’t take up more of your time. Everything you asked for is in the files, along with pictures, video evidence, and a few police reports. Thank you again for meeting me and setting up the hotel accommodations; I swear I will pay you back when I can.” I shot my hand up in protest and smiled at her.
“No can do, ma’am. Your money is no good here. Please follow the person’s directions; that is enough payment for me. A friend will escort you to the hotel and watch guard until you are free from this mess. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope to never see you again. ”
Sharlene smiled brightly at that, and it took all of the home training Gran Lucy drilled in my head to stop me from cringing at the sight of her missing tooth.
My friend and business partner Seth Chow entered my office to ensure Sharlene arrived safely. I dapped him up, and they left as quickly as she came in. I wanted to meet with clients in under ten minutes to avoid being seen by too many people.
Looking around my decorated office, the college degrees—a J.D. in law and a M.S. in criminal justice—made that ever-present ache in my chest lessen. I needed to believe my contribution made a difference in these women's lives. No matter what their faces looked like, I always saw only one bloody and battered woman in their place.
My phone buzzing on the table urged me to hurry and pick it up before I missed our daily talk. I pressed all the necessary buttons and smiled when I heard that familiar voice.
“Hi baby, how’s your day going?”
“It’s good, mama, busy. I’m hungry. I need to go get some food because I skipped breakfast and lunch.”
Scanning the room to ensure I had everything, I locked up and entered the passcode into the keypad. The walk to my car took a few extra minutes since I always parked a couple of blocks over. Since I met with all my clients here, I had to take safety precautions to ensure no one else knew about this location.
We were on the phone for thirty minutes before time was up. My heart urged me to lay eyes on the love of my life even though she probably wouldn’t want to see me. The radio started playing this song, which I related to more than I wanted to. I know she probably called me this shit a million times over the years. “Toxic” by Kenyon Dixon said all the words my mouth never uttered to her.
My life is complex, and I don’t even have the words to try and undo all the complexities when God knows I want to; I need to if I will ever be able to call her mine.
You won’t; she already walked away once into someone else's arms.
She pledged her heart to me years ago, and I did the same. Time has been dwindling; soon enough, everyone who contributed to our demise must answer for that.
PHOENIX
“Chef, someone is at the front ready to see you; he said he wants to give you your flowers.” Madison, my good friend and waitress, said.
“Thank you, Maddy; let them know I will be out soon.” I smiled at her and finished up my current recipe.
The brown butter pancakes were straightforward: 2 cups of flour, one tsp of baking soda, ⒈／⒉ stick of butter, 1/3tbp of cinnamon, and 1/3tbp of brown sugar. It was the first meal Granny Lucy taught me how to make, even though she didn’t measure anything.
She always told me, “You don’t need a recipe when you have a heart; keep going until your heart tells you to stop.”
As a chef, I need direct steps for my cooks to follow.
I almost forgot about the customers waiting for me; I hated making them wait too long. After I washed my hands and dusted off any excess flour from my clothes, I came face to face with someone I wasn’t expecting to see.
Cameron .
My date from last night, we met when he walked in here ready to cut up because his order came out wrong. He insisted on seeing the chef and then apologized for his behavior once he laid eyes on me. That was over four weeks ago, and he finally wore me down after coming in for a week straight to get my attention.
It was cute, and he was easy on the eyes, tall, successful, and funny.
“Cameron, what a surprise it’s you out here messing with my work; you couldn’t stay away, could you?” I bite my lip to conceal the smile that wants to come across my face at the genuine male attention .
His eyes trailed over my body, and though it didn’t feel the same as a certain someone, it still gave me goosebumps.
Stop thinking about him, Phoenix; he isn’t worried about you.
“I wanted to thank the chef for her blessed hands and see your beautiful face.”
“Thank you. You couldn’t get enough last night, right? I didn’t expect to see you so soon. How was your meal?” The only things left on his plate were bones and a used napkin.
The smile he tried to hide appeared anyway; the maroon Hensley shirt stretched across his broad chest. When he asked me for a hug last night, I could feel the muscles, which felt nice. His hair was in a small afro, 70’s style that matched his vintage look. Those eyes that looked genuinely happy to see me sported a pair of glasses. My work schedule prevents me from entertaining men as much as I would like, not to mention the other problem.
“My meal was almost as delicious as you look right now, but I don’t want to distract you too much. I wanted to see those beautiful eyes of yours. Have a great day, Ms. Phoenix, and I hope to be on your mind like you have been on mine lately.” He took my hand and kissed the back of it; his lips caused goosebumps to appear .
“Okay,” I whispered, suddenly aware of the attention he was drawing to us.
He finally let go of my hand and smirked at me before throwing more than enough money on the table for his meal and left right out the door.
Alright, Cameron, you did it… you got my attention.
After shaking my head to rid myself of that handsome distraction, I walked around the restaurant and chatted with the customers. Most of them were reoccurring ones I knew by first name, while others promised to return until they tasted everything on the menu.
As I returned to the kitchen and finished my signature dishes, time seemed to fly. Before I knew it, everyone was heading out the door. Because this place was my baby, I was the last to leave to ensure everything was ready for the next day.
Just Expresso is my cousin Brian’s café, and I have been the head chef here since we opened almost five years ago. He had a vision for the retro jukebox joints, and the walls were vibrant red with black and white checkered flooring. All the waiting staff here wore candy cane-stripped dresses with roller skates. The very few men wore red tops and white bottoms. He got the idea from our grandmother. She mentioned how much she loved going to the local diner with her friends back in the day, but with segregation, the white people got the nicer ones while nonwhite establishments were more rundown.
I’ll venture off and get my place one day, but until then, I was comfortable with my role here. After cleaning up the kitchen and prepping ingredients for tomorrow, I walked into the café and noticed a lone figure sitting at one of the booths.
What the hell?
“We are closed, sir; I must ask you to leave now.”
I’m surprised my voice came out braver than I felt at this moment.
“How many times I gotta tell you to stop being the last one in this place, Phoenix? It’s not safe for you to be here alone.” I swallowed before removing my hairnet and letting it free from the bun it’d been in all day.
“Kendrix, what are you doing here?” He looked up at me from the phone, and I willed myself not to fall victim to the glint in his eyes. The way he scanned my body carefully as if he was looking for any self-induced injuries, almost made me smile.
I accidentally cut my fingers moving too fast in the kitchen multiple times.
He said nothing but stood up to his 6’3ft height and stalked over to me. I took two steps back, and he kept walking until my back hit the bar with nowhere else to go.
“Answer my question, Kendrix, and back up. We wouldn’t want you to make another mistake.” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice, and he flinched like my words affected him.
It made my heart happy to make him feel just a fraction of my pain.
His locs were in a messy bun, which was my favorite look on him; I remember when they first reached shoulder length. The suit he wore was cut perfectly for him, and the pure strength and muscles in his arms as they caged me in made me clench my legs immediately. Why do I keep letting him play with me like this?
Because your heart can never resist him.
I love him; I always have, but sometimes love isn’t enough. My standards are higher than they have ever been, and he doesn’t have any more chances to mess with my heart.
The cologne he wore smelt like leather and sex. I wanted to inhale so it could invade my every sense, but he would love that too much. My eyes tried to avoid looking in his direction, but his husky built towered over me. There was nowhere else to look, but at him, so stubbornly, I stared at his tie.
“Phoenix, since you don’t follow directions very well, I will be here every day to make sure you get home safe. Now go get your stuff so we can go.” He barked out, and the anger that was simmering every time I saw him lately boiled up and spilled over .
“First of all, I am a grown woman, Kendrix; you don’t tell me what to do. Second, I am more than capable of fighting off any creep that tries it, and third, let’s not act like you care about me. Please move so I can leave before I make you.” He raised one eyebrow and pulled his head in closer to speak right near my lips, so close that if I darted my tongue out, I would lick his in the process.
“You are indeed a grown woman, Phoenix, but I have vowed to protect you, so if you can’t make smart choices, I will make them for you. I won’t even dignify that statement with a response because you know I more than care about you, so don’t ever use that minuscule word to describe how I feel about you. Lastly, I would love to see you try to make me, but again, it’s getting late, and I’m ready to go to sleep. Go grab your shit and let’s go, I won’t say it again.” He huffed out, and the throbbing in between my legs prevented me from saying anything because it would come out in the form of a moan.
I turned my head to the side and accidentally grazed his lips in the process. He pressed his lips to my ear before lightly sucking on my earlobe. I stupidly angled my head to give him more access.
“Don’t play with me, Jewel; now I am going to assume that it was an accident. You better believe the next time your pretty mouth touches mine; I’ll have you begging for more than just a kiss. Now, I am going to move back, and you need to be careful about the next few steps you take. Are you ready, baby?”
“Don’t call me that, Kendrix. You don’t get to call me that anymore. My feet hurt, and I am ready to go, so move…please.” I breathed out, upset with myself for how turned-on I felt at this moment.
He kissed right below my ear and whispered before moving away. “I love it when you beg.”
Oh my Lord.
I hightailed it to the back to grab my things and avoided his eye, which was hard because he was holding the door open. Walking straight out the door to the parking lot where my car was, I reached for the door when his voice stopped me.
“Don’t you dare,” I froze in place.
He walked up behind me, literally right up against me, and opened the door. The heat of his body melted away some of my anger and embarrassment from allowing him to affect me.
“Get in the car, Jewel,” I said nothing and climbed in. I quickly put my seatbelt on and started it up to peel out of there. He nodded, shut the door before climbing in his car, and flicked his lights at me to start driving.
He was so infuriating and sweet, but I would rather die before admitting that to him. I turned on my music so my thoughts wouldn’t be consumed with him until I made it home. I parked in the driveway of my three-bedroom home in the suburbs outside of Slatesville, which was a 45-minute drive, so I don’t know why he insisted on making sure I got home.
I barely noticed when he exited the car to open my door. He grabbed my workbag before holding my hand to walk me to the door. My hand felt protected in his huge one, but my body never needed protection… it was my heart. In the future, I need to minimize his opportunities to touch me; it breaks down my resolve.
When we got to my front door, Kendrix waited until I locked it before he let go of my hand. I walked through the threshold and turned around to ensure he wasn’t following me inside. He stood there and stared at me, not saying a word with his lips, but his eyes spoke a language I didn’t know how to understand anymore.
“Goodnight, Phoenix; I’ll see you tomorrow.” I nodded, shut, and locked the door before pressing my back against it.
I could still feel his presence on the other side, so I stayed there for a moment to soak it in without judgment; once the sound of his car starting up filled the quiet neighborhood, that’s when I finally took a much-needed cold shower.