15. Reed
It took a lot to keep me from worrying about everything going on in the casino.
Especially once I officially got Nick to move out.
Well, that wasn’t exactly my doing because I had been counseling him for years about living in Cashville when he had a beautiful home.
His wife got him to stop being here so much.
We had a competent team of people handling the day-to-day operations. I didn’t need to be there as much as I was, but I enjoyed mingling and building a rapport with the high rollers. They knew if anything came up, all they had to do was come to me. Plus, I could catch a show here and there.
Since we hadn’t replaced Darius yet, I dealt with the residents and whatever talent we had on schedule at the time. Lately, I found it hard to concentrate on anything other than my family. My concentration had been shot since the moment I realized I had a daughter.
Since meeting my precious little princess, every thought that wasn’t of Faith was consumed with Jada. I wanted to do everything in my power to let her know how much I already loved her. My baby would never have to wonder if I loved her. Faith wouldn’t come out and say it, but I had worn her down.
I’d spent the past three days with her and Jada.
After the first night, I stayed long enough to tuck her in.
Now I sat at my desk watching her pretend to be so engulfed in her notes.
She refused to accept that there was nothing to find.
I didn’t give a damn. All I wanted was my lady back.
Leaning back in my chair, I watched her chew on the end of her pen for a few more minutes before I finally spoke.
“Come here.”
“What is it, Reed? I’m trying to work.”
“Are you working or trying to work?”
“I’m working. What do you need?”
“Come over here and see.”
She rolled her eyes playfully but stood from her seat and sauntered over to me. Her soft vanilla scent was a natural reset to my nervous system every single time she was in close proximity to me.
“What is it, Reed?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest like she was really intimidating somebody.
Taking the tablet out of her hand, I put it on my desk as I pulled her down. To my surprise, she only put up a little resistance before her plump ass landed in my lap. Today, she wore a red skirt suit that made her look aggressive, but it was just a front. My sweet baby was back.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked, nuzzling my nose into her neck. I loved her natural scent just as much as I loved her light perfume.
“Obviously, this report.”
“With everything that has transpired lately, that’s no longer obvious.”
“Well, thinking about it helps me to not have to think about the other obvious things.”
“And what are they?” I asked.
“Did you really kill those people like you said you did?”
The question caught me off guard. I tried my best not to show that on my face. There were questions that needed answering. That just happened to be one of them.
“For you.”
“Will you stop saying that?” she whispered like she was afraid someone might overhear.
“I did, baby. They would have killed you if I didn’t.
My mom told the organization about you. She knew that I would never fulfill my obligation once she realized that I was in love with you.
That’s what she came to tell me. I had to carry out a consequential mission to save you and guarantee that if I got the chance, we could be together one day. ”
“Oh wow.” Her voice trembled, and her hand shook gently as she covered her mouth. “I don’t even know what to say.” Removing her hand from her face, I kissed the back of it.
“Now let me ask you something. Is the reason you were so bound and determined to prove that Cashville was still dirty because you wanted to hurt daddy for not being there for you and our daughter?”
She tried to jump up, but I held onto her waist. “Stop running from me, Faith. It’s cool. I get it. I just need you to understand that I would have given you the entire world back then, and you deserve it even more now for holding it down without any help from me for so long.”
“Reed.” She sighed.
“I don’t want to hear it, Faith. I understand that you’re used to figuring it out on your own, but my woman doesn’t do shit on her own. I’m here now, baby, and I’m never going anywhere. You don’t have to do it alone anymore,” I told her, pulling the ring box out of my pocket.
Her eyes bugged as she attempted to stand. “What is that, Reed?”
“My commitment to you and our daughter.”
“We haven’t even got the DNA test done yet.”
“Didn’t I tell you to cut that shit out.
You and I both know that’s my daughter. I bought this ring when I was out on my shopping trip that day.
I almost got it the morning after you showed up and called yourself checking me on the red carpet.
It has nothing and everything to do with you being the mother of my child,” I said, removing the ring from the box and slipping it on her finger.
I wasn’t about to give her a chance to protest.
“What are you doing, crazy?” she questioned.
“You deserve the world, and I plan to hand deliver it to you piece by piece.”
“Then you wonder why I keep calling you delusional.”
“I have never wondered about that actually. I’ll be whatever I gotta be for the queen.”
“Boy—”
The door flew open, interrupting her before she could tell me that I was out of my mind.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Fuller, but it’s urgent,” Derrick, one of the clerks, said as he barged into my office wide-eyed.
Paula had taken the week off. I figured I could take care of myself for a few days.
She hardly took days off, so I figured she wanted to avoid Faith.
She needed a break with everything going on.
I wish I would have thought of giving her some time off last week and avoided a few of those awkward moments between her and Faith.
Then again, I wouldn’t have wanted her to think I was pushing her out because of Faith, even if I was.
Something was wrong. I knew it before the young dude ever gave me his excuse for running up in my office without knocking.
I had to start locking my damn door. Anyway, the boy was only a few shades lighter than me, but it looked like every bit of color was drained from his face as his eyes bounced between me and Faith.
His very presence shifted my mood. Yeah, something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked, nudging him along.
“I think we might have a problem.”
“Do you think or do you know?”
“There’s a problem,” he verified.
“What kind of problem, D?”
“I’m not sure, but security asked me to find you immediately.”
“Where is Sawyer?”
Nobody pulled me for security reasons. There were people for that.
Faith was already in investigator mode again, grabbing that tablet off my desk.
The center six-carat diamond in the eight-carat ring I’d picked up for her glistened under the light as she maneuvered out of my lap.
In any other situation, I would love to see my baby sparkle.
In the moment, I was too distracted to care.
“He’s already on his way down. He sent for you.”
This would usually be the time when I asked my lady to hang back while I handled business, but this was Faith.
She was here to verify that Cashville was now on the up-and-up.
Without a word, I stood and took her hand as Derrick led the way out of my office.
Faith slipped her hand out of mine as she went to pecking on that tablet.
We moved quickly down to the security floor.
I noticed a couple of the guys moving around a little too fast for things to be normal.
I didn’t like chaos. Especially after the shit that went down with Darius.
We were just getting things back on track after the Feds busted him for money laundering and kidnapping.
I knew Nicholas wanted him dead, but his uncle had been able to persuade him to stand down. He wasn’t my cousin. If he was still moving strings from behind bars, I would handle him personally.
We followed Derrick to the cashier’s cage by the high roller section. A small line had formed, which was another indication that something was off. There was never a line there. Whispers and side-eyes showed that rumors were spreading already. I hated rumors.
We didn’t need rumors. Rumors were always the thing that made headlines, never the full story. I glanced over at Faith. She actually looked excited. I shook my head at my baby. It looked like she might get her big story after all. Fucking journalist.
The crowd made way when they saw me coming, but no one spoke. Derrick led the way to the back where a heavyset man stood fuming. Curt Randall was a frequent flyer who I had a pretty good rapport with, which explained why Sawyer sent for me.
“What seems to be the problem?” I asked as we approached.
Curt pointed at the cashier’s cage as he spoke to me. “These crazy motherfuckers are claiming I cashed in fake chips. You know I wouldn’t bring in fake chips. Do you know how much I’m worth?”
“I’m not sure about that, but I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding.”
“Tell that to your employees. They sequestered me back here like I’m a common criminal.”
Moving past him, I walked over to the cage and scanned my fingerprint to open the door. “Let me see those chips,” I requested to no one in particular.
Some bullshit was going down in my establishment, and that would never sit well with me.
I didn’t sleep for almost three days when I was fielding calls and interviews behind the Darius fiasco.
This shit was not happening again. One of the cashiers walked over and slapped a stack of chips in my hand. My posture stiffened instantly.
“What is it?” Faith whispered.