Chapter 14
Khrome bit her bottom lip and concentrated as she took pictures of Lethal sparring with his coach.
Her job had started, and she was there taking pictures and getting content for his social media pages.
Her job was super easy, and she could tell that he passed simple tasks that he used to handle on to her just to have a reason to pay her, and she appreciated it.
Khrome’s first job was being a bartender.
Other than that, she’d never worked. She enjoyed what she was doing for Lethal and had done research on how to become a brand manager. Maybe she could even do PR.
Working for her money rather than just having it given to her was something that she wanted.
Everything she planned on posting was to build anticipation for the upcoming fight.
The night she met Lethal, Khrome didn’t even know who he was.
She was drunk, high, and just kept thinking he was fine as hell.
She peeped the chain around his neck and knew he had to have money, but she didn’t think too much into it.
While they were conversing, she got a text from Cam telling her who she was talking to and what he wanted her to do.
He was in the club, ducked off, watching her.
He never crowded her in public because he wanted men to approach her.
He wanted her to rob anybody that was a big fish.
She had never actually gone through with it before until meeting Lethal.
Abuse from Vick and Cam had turned her cold, but even while she was inebriated, slipping something in Lethal’s drink that night didn’t sit well with her.
Even though she’d drugged him, he fucked the taste out of her mouth.
He may not have remembered it, but she remembered every detail, and it was the best sex she’d ever had.
There were many nights Khrome thought back to that night with Lethal.
When she stopped sleeping with Cam, sex had been the last thing on her mind, but Lethal had awakened the beast in her.
She hadn’t had sex since, and sex with just anybody wasn’t on her mind.
Revisiting sex with him would have been amazing, but she doubted he’d ever touch her again, and he wasn’t wrong.
There were many things she regretted and not standing up to Cam about Lethal was one of them.
Then again, had she not had sex with him, she wouldn’t have Lyric.
When Lethal was done in the ring, him and his trainer talked for about fifteen minutes, and he grabbed his bag to leave.
“You ever thought about doing a short film?” Khrome asked him as they walked to his car.
“Kind of like a documentary of you preparing for a fight? It can be like twenty to thirty minutes long, and you can put it on your YouTube channel. Short form content is cool, but there’s money in longer content, too. ”
Lethal’s head bobbed. “I never really thought about that. That’s a good idea. I still have a few more weeks before the fight. I’ll have to get a lot of content.”
“That will be easy. We can film everything from what you eat for breakfast to what you eat in a day, press, your weigh-in, all that. I’m not the best with editing, but I can get the content together, and you can pay someone to edit it really nice.
Add music and all that.” Khrome couldn’t believe she was excited.
For the first time in a long time, she was excited. She felt like she’d found her thing.
“Look at you being innovative.” He grinned as he opened the car door for her.
She waited until he was inside the car to respond. “I’ve been brainstorming all day. I’m really excited about the opportunity. The only other job I’ve ever had was the bartender job, and that didn’t last long. Making money and doing it legally is a blessing.”
Lethal liked how Khrome always seemed appreciative of the things he did for her. Even though she had his child, she didn’t act entitled. She knew she was on thin ice because of what she did to him, and Lethal honestly felt like she was trying to right her wrong.
“I know I have to take you back to the house, so you can get the car and go to Lyric, but I want to stop by Target. Is that cool?”
“Yes, I need to pick up some personal hygiene items and some leggings and stuff.”
Khrome had left a lot of things behind at Cam’s house.
The only places she went were the hospital and to run errands, so she’d been recycling the same few sundresses, pairs of leggings, and shirts.
She did want to get some braids, but aside from clothes to lounge in, Khrome didn’t care about replacing her wardrobe too much.
Her goals were making money and getting her baby home to her.
Lethal took his eyes off the road long enough to glance over at her. “My brothers’ girlfriends wanted to invite you out to brunch tomorrow.”
“Me? Why?” Khrome wasn’t sure how she felt about meeting new people. There were many times she wished she had friends or siblings, but she didn’t trust people. More often than not, they had ulterior motives or were just plain mean girls.
“Listen, I know once you get an apartment, I probably won’t see you unless I’m picking Lyric up or dropping her off.
But I just don’t like the fact that you don’t even have one friend.
That shit has to be lonely. My brothers’ girls are good people.
Symphony is a doctor, and Averi is pregnant, so she’s not working right now. ”
“A doctor?” Khrome’s brows hiked and instantly, Lethal knew what she was thinking.
“Symphony is cool people, I promise. She’s not stuck-up or judgmental. I wouldn’t even encourage you to go into that kind of situation.”
Khrome trusted Lethal as much as she could have trusted anybody. He hadn’t lied to her or let her down yet. If he said Symphony and Averi were nice people then maybe, they were.
O-okay,” she slowly agreed. She had to find something at Target that was cute enough for her to wear to brunch.
Lethal glanced over at her again after arriving at Target and finding a parking space.
“The Khrome I met that night in the club; she was confident. Borderline cocky. I liked that shit,” he confessed.
The meek side of Khrome didn’t sit well with him.
Lethal had seen her in her element with her nose stuck up in the air like she knew her worth.
Knew she was a bad bitch. The Khrome he knew was always apologizing, always on edge. He didn’t like that for her.
“Yeah, well that Khrome was drunk, high, and mad at the world. I had too much going on to be shy. I got drunk and high to escape reality. Being in Cam’s presence when I was sober literally made my skin crawl. I did whatever I had to do to numb the pain and survive.”
Lethal felt bad that he had even brought it up. He exited the car, rounded it, and opened the door for her. Inside the store, Khrome was prepared to go her own way. “I’ll go get what I need, and we can meet at the register.”
“You don’t want to be seen with me?” Lethal grabbed a shopping cart.
“I didn’t say that. I just, I don’t know.”
“Come with me, you gotta help me pick stuff out.”
Khrome’s curiosity was piqued, but she didn’t say anything.
It all made sense when he walked to the baby department.
“Help me pick out a good car seat. She’s going to need some lil’ toys and stuff for the nursery.
I got my homie coming tomorrow to paint in there.
I need blankets, rugs, all that good shit.
Oh, a rocking chair, too. I might have to come back with a truck. ”
He was ready to go all out, and that made Khrome’s heart smile. She had the time of her life picking out items for Lyric’s nursery. Shopping was fun when money wasn’t a thing. Lethal stood back and let Khrome put everything she wanted in the cart. By the time she was done, the cart was overflowing.
“Okay, this is good enough for today, right?”
“Yes.” She giggled. “Unless you want to go get another cart.”
“Aight. Let’s go get your stuff.”
Lethal pushed the cart and followed her around the store as she grabbed tampons, lotion, soap, razors, exfoliating gloves, toothpaste, socks, leggings, a skirt, panties, bras, and a sweater that hung off one shoulder.
“I’ll pay for my stuff first.” She began removing items from the cart at the register.
Lethal began removing the items she got for the nursery from the cart. “You think I’m that petty? I got it.”
She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to, but she was sure he knew that.
If she hadn’t learned anything else, she’d learned that he was going to do what he wanted to do.
There was no need to even waste her breath.
Never in her life had she ever had a reason to say thank you so much.
Vick and Cam fed her peanuts, and in the beginning, she didn’t know any better.
The trunk and backseat were filled to capacity with bags.
Khrome was so content and elated, she couldn’t stop smiling.
She loved the fact that he was including her when it came to Lyric’s nursery at his house.
It made her kind of sad to think about moving out, but she’d been living with men since she was sixteen.
It would feel odd living on her own, but she was sure it would feel good too.
It would for sure be peaceful. At Lethal’s house, she put her things away then went out to his car, so she could go visit her daughter.
Life was finally alright, and she hoped it stayed that way.
Blossom and Fancy clinked their shots glasses together, tapped the glasses one time on the table, then tossed back the shots.
The Majors had won their game in Chicago, and when Capo found out what Fancy had been through, he offered to fly her out to come to his show in New York.
She decided that she wanted to go. Blossom wanted to check on her friend and make sure she was good, so they went out before she was due to leave.