Chapter 9 Kennedy #3
“Girl, aren’t you sick? Don’t bring those germs over here. My babies catch everything way too easily. I already gave Indie medicine for being on that water today. That’s why he’s knocked out.”
“Good point, Savvy. She needs to be where we won’t catch whatever she has.” Judith spoke up, spinning on her heels to address Kennedy with a phony smile. “Don’t you agree, honey?”
Kennedy curled her upper lip in disdain so damn fast that she couldn’t catch it.
Judith mirrored it while flinging her gorgeous sister locs over a shoulder, and the warning Relic had given Kennedy was the only thing that kept her from blurting the first retort that came to her mind.
A curt smile plastered on her face as her austere stare pinned on Judith.
“Actually, I don’t agree, Ms. Judith. Jahleel wants me down here, so I’m not going anywhere ‘til him or Relic says otherwise. Is that an issue with anyone else?”
“Nope!” Jahleel answered on everyone’s behalf before leering around for an objection.
Shabu and Titan sputtered laughs but shot both their hands in the air, dodging the smoke.
Judith cut her eyes at her grandson but bit her tongue as she turned to continue prepping their veggies.
Kennedy made a mental note that Jahleel held a certain power when it came to his grandma for whatever reason.
“Larenn, come and sit down. I’ll warm you a bowl of soup.”
Relic called her over, and she knew it was to keep her and his mother separated.
He offered her the bar stool he stood in front of before sauntering to the stove to grab the plastic container of soup Jahleel’s sweet self had requested for her.
While Relic had gone radio silent after meeting her parents, Jahleel had still reached out every day to check if she was alright.
It perplexed Kennedy how her boys were like night and day.
She internally cringed after realizing she’d referred to Relic as hers when he was far from that besides during the times she made him cum.
Her pussy throbbed at the mere thought, but she shook away the memories of the last time he’d been inside her, and watched as he meandered to her with a bowl and spoon in his hands.
Relic sat both in front of her and stood there as if he planned to watch while she finished every drop.
“Eat,” he ordered, and she reluctantly picked up her spoon. “I need you better because we have shit to handle in a few days.”
“You act like I don’t know that,” she muttered under her breath.
Her eyes cast down on the soup that looked delicious but sketchy due to who’d prepared it. Kennedy scooped a spoonful and stared at the foreign meal before she shoved it toward Relic’s mouth, causing his head to jerk back with a swiftness.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Relic, open your damn mouth! I’ll eat the soup after you taste it to make sure it’s not poison. I don’t trust your momma, sorry.”
His face staled but he snatched the spoon to eat a few bites before handing it back with an exasperated look that told her; she was doing too much. Against her reservation about it, she dug in, hating the moan that followed since it praised a woman who wasn’t fond of her and vice versa.
“Good?” Relic confirmed. Her expression soured, but she nodded, evoking a full-blown laugh from him.
That infrequent sound blanketed her and then settled in her chest, and she stored it away like every other piece of him that she’d soon miss.
Relic rendered her speechless when he planted a quick peck on her lips that sent Jahleel into a fit, making him bounce on his toes while he pointed an accusatory finger their way. Her cheeks heated.
“See, I knew you was his girlfriend!”
“Mind your business and scale that fish,” Relic stated, leaning on the island before angling his body so his son or brothers couldn’t ear hustle.
“Rocco is grabbing whatever you need from your apartment to bring here tomorrow. I know you don’t know him like that, so Drish will watch to make sure he doesn’t take anything since he can’t help.
I’ll rent a storage unit for the furniture you want to keep. You aren’t going back there.”
Her flushed cheeks lifted. “Relic, are you asking me to stay here?”
“I’m telling you. We can’t be sure who else may know or who Lomar told where you live.
I can keep a better eye on you here. You also need a post office box for your mail.
You don’t want to miss anything important being sent to your old address.
Jah, what you need me to do? You’re the boss today, jimo. ”
Relic dismissed their conversation with that, yanking off his shirt to toss in her lap before he rounded the island to where his son and brothers were.
Kennedy allowed his intimation to settle in before the checks she received every month drifted to the forefront of her mind.
Their first run in at Shabu’s gala, where she’d mentioned to him the cost of her hospital and therapy bills, followed.
The connection to that, and her being collateral damage, clicked like she’d found the final combination number on a safe.
She gnawed her inner cheek with her brain reeling as she tried to decide whether that sordid truth placated her or sprinkled salt on her exposed wounds. Her gut tanking was her answer, but she forced herself to eat her while her thoughts wandered to that lesson Lexi gave her regarding Relic.
Don’t waste time trying to change him or make him fall in love. Get in, get the money, and get out.