Chapter 9
“Take a left into this parking lot,” Cashmere said as she looked at the secured app on her phone.
It was created by Tech, who was a part of the council.
All council information went through this app because it couldn’t be traced.
Directions, messages, reports, . . . you name it.
Tech was good as hell at his job, and though the council couldn’t be touched by the law, they liked to always add several extra layers of protection, just in case.
Once they parked, Sav cut the car off and turned to her. “You gonna tell me where we are and what we’re doin’ here?”
It had been a couple of weeks since she and Savio decided to be friends, and things had honestly been going well.
She couldn’t believe that she got along so well with her bodyguard.
In the years she’d been with the council, this had never happened.
She always found one reason or another to fire her head of security because she didn’t like being told what to do or like she was being babysat.
Savio had a way of disarming her, and she secretly hoped he would stay in this position forever.
“I have a meeting,” Cashmere said casually.
“In the Bay?”
They were in Desmore Bay, right off the coast. It was normal for them to meet in surrounding cities, but how did she explain that to Savio without giving up the details of the council?
Rule number one of being one of the elites was never tell anyone else about the council.
Period. She could never tell Savio who she really was or what she was really a part of.
She nodded slowly. “Yeah. Cell and Cassydie will be here too. We just have to talk about a few things, and then we can be on our way.”
Savio eyed her for a moment. Over the past couple of weeks, she could tell he got increasingly curious about her career. She did her best to keep it light and give him the basis, but Savio wasn’t stupid. Cashmere could tell he knew there was more to it.
“Aight,” he finally said before he got out of the car.
Cashmere stayed seated. She’d learned that Savio preferred to scan the area and open her door for her.
Yet another thing she decided to stop fighting him on.
He opened her door, but he blocked her from getting out.
When he leaned forward and invaded her personal space, her heart rate picked up.
“You gonna ever let me see the real you?”
Damn. She wanted to. The way her attitude had completely melted with him over the past few weeks was insane. She had never yearned to share her life with someone before, but Savio had her wanting to lay it all at his feet. It pained her that she couldn’t.
“You see more of me than most people,” she muttered.
His eyes pierced through her. “I want to see more of you than anyone.”
There hadn’t been many times Savio acted like this with her over the past couple of weeks, but when he did, Cashmere lost all sense. She was normally confident and knew how to navigate any situation, but Savio unnerved her when he got in her personal space.
“Yeah?” It was the only thing she could think to say. She wanted to kick herself for the stupid ass response, but she was too busy gazing into his brown eyes.
Savio chuckled and then did something that shocked the hell out of her.
He dipped his head and kissed her. Cashmere immediately melted into the kiss.
It had been so long since she felt like a woman in her soft girl energy.
Savio did that for her. He took away all the hardened pieces of her and discarded them bit by bit until she was putty in his hands.
Passion blossomed between them as her hands crept up his chest, and his hand grabbed the nape of her neck. In the back of her mind, Cashmere knew if they kept on, she would be late for the council meeting, so reluctantly, she pulled away.
Savio thumbed her bottom lip. “I been wantin’ to do that for a long time.”
He grabbed her hand and helped her out of the car. Cashmere didn’t respond. Her head swam with lust and other feelings she wasn’t sure how to handle.
Together, they walked into the building. Cashmere read the directions to get to the conference room as she tried to get her head together. Once they were on the tenth floor, she had her boss mode turned on. She turned to Savio and said, “You can wait out here. It should only take an hour.”
Savio’s brows dipped as he looked around the space. It was a waiting area of some sort with a few chairs and cream-colored walls and floors. Other bodyguards littered the space, used to these top-secret monthly meetings. Savio was the only new one, and she could see the question in his eyes.
“I always go with you to your meetings,” he said, eying the room with the closed door as if he wanted to check it out. Savio had no idea that the most dangerous people in the country were on the other side of that door. He had nothing to worry about.
Her features softened, and she patted his chest on the sly. “Not this one. Wait here, okay?”
His jaw clenched as he nodded his head. She offered him a small smile before she turned and disappeared behind the door.
Inside, she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she wasn’t the last one there. Karma and Vauncci were missing. Everyone greeted her but otherwise went back to their tablets, going over the various reports for the month.
Cashmere took a seat next to Cassydie and waved at Marcellus beside her. “Hey,” she whispered.
“You been MIA,” Cassydie said instead of a greeting.
“I been busy,” Cashmere corrected as she took her tablet out of her purse and went to the app where new documents were dropped into a new folder for the month.
Cassydie hummed knowingly. “How’s Savio?”
Cashmere’s face scrunched. “Why you askin’ me about him?”
“Noticed you ain’t make him quit yet or begged me to find a new guard,” Marcellus said, adding his two cents.
Cashmere rolled her eyes. She wasn’t about to be ganged up on by two Aries. Hell no.
“Read ya tablet, Heiress. You too, Cell.” Cashmere focused on her device, but her mind wandered to Savio.
Her cheeks warmed as she thought about the kiss.
She wondered what it meant for them. The feelings swirling between them had basically been untouched and not spoken about.
She wasn’t even sure how to navigate them, but after sampling his lips, she realized she kind of wanted to try.
“Aight, let’s get started,” King Ro said.
Cashmere snapped out of her thoughts and realized Vauncci was there, but Karma was still missing.
“We aren’t waiting for Karma?” Cashmere asked.
King Ro glanced at her and then addressed the room. “Before we get started, y’all should know there was a hit on Karma a few weeks ago. She’s alive and doing alright, but she suffered some memory loss. For now, we are monitoring her situation and waiting to see if she gets her memory back—”
The room erupted into a frenzy of questions.
“Wait, what?”
“Who the fuck tried to hit Karma?”
“How the fuck did they hit Karma?”
“She don’t remember who she is?”
“Does she remember the council?”
“What about her sanction?”
“Is the council in danger?”
Cashmere’s brows pulled in, and she kept quiet. She always thought members of the council were untouchable. This was new for her. By the looks of it, it was new for everyone. Her first thought was Ivoree and if she needed to double down on her security and put her on a curfew.
Her racing thoughts came to a halt when King Ro spoke again.
“Aye, I need everyone to stay cool. This was an isolated hit and had nothing to do with the council. Nobody knows about the council.” He paused and seemed to choose his next words wisely.
“I preach to y’all the importance of keeping a low profile.
We got niggas who will gladly step into the limelight while we sit back and pull the strings.
Utilize those people. Karma didn’t. Everyone in the hood knows the myth named Karma.
They may not have been able to put a face to the name, but niggas is smart.
Karma got caught up without meaning to, and now we all have to deal with the fallout.
“We need to collectively take over her sanction so shit can continue to run smoothly. You’ll see on your tablets that I assigned everyone a part of her job. I know this adds more to our plates, but if one of us falls, we have to work as a team to keep shit smooth.”
“What happens if she don’t get her memory back?” Pop asked. He was by far the most outspoken of the group, and he would ask the questions others might shy away from.
Cashmere listened intently as she tapped around on her tablet and found her assignment.
Underground fight clubs. She scanned the details of the job, which didn’t seem too hard.
She just needed to set up new locations for the boxing matches and keep tabs on the fighters.
That seemed pretty easy. She would have hated to oversee the brothels or underground casinos.
Karma was in charge of vices. If a person had a vice, Karma had a solution for them.
Sex, gambling, fighting to the death, and everything in between.
Her job was a lot dirtier than Cashmere’s, but Karma seemed to love it.
Sadness overtook her as she thought about the feisty woman.
The fact that she lost her memory was scary and felt like a loss to Cashmere for some reason.
It could have been any one of them. It could have been Cassydie or Marcellus.
Without even thinking about it, she reached over and took Cassydie’s hand. She wasn’t normally affectionate like that, but Cashmere needed to feel her best friend, even if it was just for a second. Cassydie squeezed her hand, offering the comfort Cashmere needed.
“Then we’ll have to find someone to take her place,” King Ro said solemnly.
The room erupted again, but King Ro got them under control quickly.
“Look, I know this shit ain’t ideal, but we gotta do what we gotta do.
We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I’ll keep y’all updated. For now, let’s get this meeting out the way and make sure y’all are good with your new assignments. ”
The meeting went on, but between Karma and Savio, Cashmere’s mind was gone.
When the meeting finally ended, Cashmere hopped up and was the first one out of the room. She wanted to lay eyes on Savio, and once she did, she instantly relaxed.
As soon as he saw her, he stood and walked over to her. His hand held her elbow gently as he asked, “You good?”
She nodded and fought the urge to bury her head into his chest.
People filed out of the room behind them. When Marcellus and Cassydie spotted them, they came to say hello.
“What’s good, Sav? How’s the job treating you?” Marcellus asked as he eyed Cashmere with amusement dancing in his eyes.
Savio looked down at Cashmere as he spoke. “It’s perfect.”
Cassydie and Marcellus exchanged a glance. Cashmere wished she could melt into the floor. She didn’t know what was going on between her and Savio, so the last thing she wanted was for them to question her.
“We should go,” Cashmere mumbled before she walked toward the elevator.
She was able to slip on with Nyx, who remained quiet.
She was naturally a quiet woman, but Cashmere could tell the news about Karma rattled her.
“You okay?” Cashmere asked as Savio, Marcellus, and Cassydie filed onto the elevator.
Nyx nodded. “Yeah.”
Cashmere could tell she didn’t really want to talk, so she didn’t press her.
When they got down to the parking lot, they said their goodbyes and got into their respective cars.
“You good?” Savio asked as he pulled out of their parking space.
Cashmere smiled softly at him. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Deep down, she wished she could talk to him about what had just happened, but this was just another thing she would have to keep from him.