Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
PHOENIX
A Month Later
“Chef, are you sure you are fine with being back here? I got your text, and I am nervous for you. What is going on? You know you can talk to me.” Madison said, pacing back and forth after I showed up to work, ready to return to my routine.
Kendrix was against the plan, but my stalker, if that is what we were calling him, has been missing in action since I moved in with Kendrix. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think that I was completely in the clear, having watched enough crime TV shows, the villains always waited until the victim returned to their regularly scheduled program to lure them into their trap.
“Maddy, I know you are scared, but I refuse to hide. I still want you to act as head chef. I will play the background for a minute until this all dies down.” I smiled reassuringly in her direction, but my hands were trained on the task at hand. We were serving empanadas on the menu for the dish of the week, and cooking has always been my happy place.
“Okay, well, I am not leaving here until Kendrix comes inside to get you.” The restaurant closed in a few hours, so I asked Kendrix to let me come in during the lunch shift to help out. He has been working from home when they had no doors to bust down or people to arrest.
I walked in from the back of the kitchen to talk to the customers, and some of my regulars chatted with me. I felt a pair of eyes on me, but when I looked around, I didn’t notice anyone staring at me. A customer, Mr. Randall, who had been here since he lost his wife three years ago, asked me to refill his coffee. On the way to the kitchen, I was approached by a woman.
“Hello, is there anything I can help you with?” Her brown skin was beautiful, and her high-waisted skirt and powder blue blouse gave her an air of arrogance. She looked like she came from money.
She didn’t say anything for a second, but she stared down at me from the few inches she had on me. Something about this exchange felt different. I tried to go back in my memory to see if I had met her somewhere, but I came up blank.
“You can tell Kendrix to return my calls; my name is Amanda.” She smirked at me. My mouth itched to ask her what she wanted with him, but I had something better for her.
I flashed her an arrogant smile which hers faltered at, checkmate sis. “No problem, Amanda. I will tell him tonight in bed to call you when he has time. Is there anything pertaining to the restaurant I can help you with? We aim to please here at Just Expresso .” I watched her for a few beats and noticed the squint in her eyes, though she kept her composure at my words.
“That will be all.” She gave me one last faux smile and strutted out of the door.
Amanda was pretty but reeked of desperation; a woman shouldn’t show up to another woman’s job to check her about a man. Kendrix is very smart and simply wouldn’t play with his life this way, so I wasn’t worried about him cheating, but something about that exchange rubbed me the wrong way.
“Hi darling, I don’t understand why you couldn’t have met me at a nicer establishment, but here I am. What did you want to talk to me about?” My mother, Destiny McClain, walked into the place like she owned it. Staring at her from across the table, she could walk away without me caring how loud of a scene she’d cause if this conversation went left. This place was my safe haven, so I believed it would be better to have this long-overdue conversation here. She lived for drama my entire life; at my granddaddy’s funeral, she threw a fit and tried to get in a fight with Granny.
“I am comfortable here, and there aren’t many places that Kendrix feels comfortable with me attending without him by my side.” I sipped my coffee and observed her; we weren’t here for a nice lunch date. I wanted to know why she hated me so much that she would cause Kendrix to stay away from me.
“What are you doing with him? I thought you were dating another young man.” Her facial expression didn’t change from the pleasant smile she wore. But her raised brow told me I caught her off guard a bit.
“What young man are you referring to?” We barely talk, so how does she know about any men in my life?
“Why did you call me in here today?” She turned the waitress away, refusing to order.
I took a long gulp of my water, prepared to do what I should have done long ago.
“I asked you here to tell you exactly how I feel; you have never been much of a mother to me. You and your husband can both go to hell off the simple fact that you two never cared about me. I was shipped off with my grandmother after you would leave me home alone to fend for myself. How in the world did you expect a girl who could barely work the microwave to handle all meals for myself and expect to get myself dressed and learn how to wash clothes? You were a neglectful woman who wore the badge of motherhood when, instead, you should have been in jail. You then decided to get involved in my love life and threatened Kendrix and his mother. What is wrong with you? Help me understand why you believe that you should have any say in what is dangerous for my life when my first memory of danger is due to a decision that you made?” I slammed my drink down, and it splashed onto the table, but that wasn’t my concern. Destiny believed that chasing her dreams was more important than being a mother.
A flood of emotions flew across her face, but she kept quiet; of course, she wouldn’t own up to any of her faults.
“I need you out of my life completely; I can’t keep doing this back and forth with you. You have always had one foot in and one foot out. So from this day on, please do not call my phone or text me; I am done with you and everything that you come with. If you try to make things harder for Kendrix and his family, you will have to see me. Let’s not forget I know a thing or two about how you got to where you are.” Destiny had scratched a few backs to earn her seat in society. When my father was at work screwing anything with legs, she did the same thing at home. Many times, wives of essential men came to confront her about her involvement with their husbands .
“You have always been ungrateful, too stuck in la-la land to see the world for what it is. I never wanted to be a mother, but your father begged me to, so here you are. He only wanted a boy, so, unfortunately, you were born a disappointment, and you haven’t stopped disappointing us yet. The only thing I tried to do was protect you; that man will treat you like every other man on this planet does: worthless and only good for one thing. My mother didn’t help with the lies and secrets she’s kept; you think you are so much better than me. Your precious Granddaddy, rest his soul, is not even your real grandfather; he killed him with his bare hands. I bet she didn’t tell you that, did she? I came from a man whose mission on earth was to destroy women, and that is what Kendrix will do to you.” Each word shot out of her mouth with venom attached to every syllable, and her tone was saturated with poison.
“Having him in your life will take everything you know about yourself and rearrange them until you are left looking at the pieces, trying to figure out what went wrong. But fine if that is your decision, don’t come crawling back to me because I won’t be here.” She shook her head, exited the table, and stormed out the door. She must have been holding onto those words for a while. The intent was to degrade me, and maybe it worked when I was younger, but not anymore. It took a long time and many cryouts to Granny, but I let go of the version of her that I fantasized about. Destiny did not want to be a mother anymore, so I set her free of that responsibility.
I didn’t know how I wanted to handle the situation before, so I had to do what was best for me. It would be stupid of me to hold on to pieces of a relationship that only left me more damaged after each encounter.
“Phoenix, is that you?” A voice said; I wiped a few loose tears, and that’s when I saw him. Michael, the guy I briefly dated a few years ago, looked good. His pecan skin still looked good enough to eat, and his swag was the same. Looking at him now, all I felt for him before was gone, and he recently got married, or at least that’s what I saw on social media. Michael was very private, though, so I only ever saw the back of his wife’s head; most of her pictures shielded her face.
I greeted him with a friendly hug, but he squeezed me a little tighter. After a few seconds, I pulled away and put some distance between us.
“How are you, and how’s married life treating you?” He smiled at the thought of his wife, and I was genuinely happy for him. He didn’t get upset when I broke off things with him after Gran’s party a few years ago.
“Things are alright right now. We are going through a rough patch, but she’s good to me. I haven’t seen you since you broke my heart, Phoenix. I hope he is treating you the way you deserve, assuming you two are now together.” Maybe he did feel a way…
“I am sorry that it wasn’t fair to you for us to date when I knew that I wasn’t completely over my past relationship. Things worked out in the end as they should have, right? You found your happily ever after; you can forget all about little ole me.”
“You're right; things happen the way they should in the end. I wanted to love you, but I’m not the man for you. I hope you receive everything you deserve in this world, beautiful.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
I watched him walk away and smiled because running into exes was always weird, but I think we did an excellent job navigating that. Madison called me from the kitchen, and we finished the shift in no time. All the other staff members walked out, and we locked the door, waiting for Kendrix. He texted me and told me he would be a few minutes late, so Madison and I caught up for the time being.
“Girl, you have to meet my new boyfriend; he is so sweet, attentive, and down to earth. He came in here one time, and we have been talking ever since. We should totally double date with us and you and Kendrix.” Maddy deserved love. She didn’t date much, so the stars in her eyes spoke volumes about the way this man treated her.
“What’s this mystery boyfriend’s name?” She opened her mouth at the same time my phone rang. My baby was here to pick me up.
“I will be back tomorrow. Let’s go, and we can pick this conversation back up tomorrow.” Kendrix opened the door for us, and we both ensured Madison got to her car safely.
Kendrix opened my door for me, but I didn’t get inside because he forgot something. He had to wear a suit today, and it was absolutely mouth-watering. I stepped into his space and rubbed my hand down his chest to his happy trail.
“You must not missed me like I missed you because you didn’t greet me with a kiss.” Kendrix’s deep chuckle was loud, and I pouted at him for teasing me.
“Baby, don’t pout,” He grabbed and cuffed my sex through the pants I had on. I moaned slightly, pressing my forehead into his chest. “Does that feel like I missed you?” He rocked his hips into me; I squeezed my eyes tight. We haven’t had sex in about two weeks. He has been busy with work, and in between those times, we both have been stuck navigating foster parenthood with Travis.
“Yes, but you still didn’t give me a kiss.” I fluttered my lashes at him, pout still in place.
Kendrix looked at me with so much tenderness in his eyes, “Anything for you, Jewel.” He kept one hand right on my core, slowly stroking me; his other hand grabbed my neck, making my heart race. I closed my eyes in anticipation, and his full, soft lips pressed against mine in a nasty kiss. It intensified along with the speed of his fingers; I cried into his mouth. He kept making love to my mouth and my core, and soon enough, I was falling over the edge. The seat of my panties was ruined, but I needed more. It was never enough with him; my soul always required more.
“Baby, get in the backseat.” He opened the door, and I laid on my back, lifting my hips slightly so he could pull my pants off. I sat up quickly, loosening his belt, and yanked his pants down in one pull.
“Hurry up, Kendrix.” He filled me in one thrust, I wrapped my legs around his waist using my heel to pull him in deeper. We didn’t bother to remove any other articles of clothing.
“I know you been missing me, baby; I’m here. We have to get creative with it now, so here we are. Pull my hair; I love it when you do that, Nix.” He leaned forward, his locs dangled in the air above my face; I grabbed a handful like he wanted. The pain intertwined with pleasure was blissful. He was right; I did miss him terribly. We have been navigating these past two weeks in work mode, which didn’t leave room for us to connect. My love tank was empty, but thankfully, he knew just what to do to fill it up.
“You are too deep, baby.” If anyone were walking past here, they would surely be in for a treat .
“Look at me, Phoenix. See what you do to me; you know I need to see your eyes. Please don’t deprive me of them; they are one of my favorite things about you.” I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me with a sinister, sexy grin.
He was touching my spirit right now, from the sounds of our love assembling. The eye contact never wavered; a different type of pressure hit me when his groin hit that angle.
“What—what is that baby?” There was something different happening here.
Kendrix went faster, and I sang his name and took every gift he dropped off. A buzzing noise filled the air, and he attached a vibrator to his finger.
“Nooo baby, it’s already too much; I can’t take it.” I tried to push his hands away but of course that only pissed him off.
“Stop that shit Nix and take this love that’s only for you. I’m giving you what you wanted, what you need.” His voice was dark, gritty, and so damn hot.
The same feeling came back from before, and instead of shying away from it, I embraced it.
“Kendrix, I’m so close; please come with me.” I screamed in the night air.
“I’m with you baby fuck I love you so much.” He pulled out and the mixture of his release. A gush of liquid came rushing out of me, and I lost myself in that moment and entered a different vortex .
His lips were on my clit slurping every drop from me feasting from, my body didn’t stop leaking. It got all over his face, hair, and the nice suit he had on. Once the convulsions stopped, my spirit came back to my body.
“Phoenix, I think I fell in love with you a little more after that.” Kendrix kissed my inner thighs; this was my best first day back at work.