Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
After the breakfast fiasco, Remedie banished Nico from his own damn kitchen. He really thought it was more to do with that kiss than anything. She used his banishment as an excuse to spend more time in the kitchen than she normally did, successfully avoiding him.
She wouldn’t be able to much longer though. Gramps and Tyree would be there in the next few minutes to go over his schedule and diet for the next few weeks before his next fight.
The doorbell rang, prompting Nico to get up from the couch where he had been scrolling on his phone. When he opened the door, Gramps stood on the other side fussing at Tyree.
“You ain’t have to park so close to me with your stupid ass Barbie car.”
Tyree smacked his lips. “Just because it’s small does not make it a Barbir car.”
“No, but because it’s pink, it does,” Gramps argued.
“I’ll have you know, old man—”
“Y’all gon’ argue on my doorstep all day or come in?” Nico asked, breaking up their bickering. If he didn’t, they would stand out there all day.
Gramps simply glanced at Nico with irritation written all over his face, before he grumbled something under his breath and moved into the house.
Tyree followed him, patting Nico on the shoulder on his way in as he said, “You know we can hear you, Gramps?”
“Oh, fuck off,” Gramps grumbled.
Nico shook his head with a chuckle as he closed the door. He bypassed them as they headed to the living room and went toward the kitchen. It was time for Remedie to stop hiding from him. He had a bet to win and a heart to secure.
He stopped and watched her assemble a tray of chicken wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, and ranch. She knew better than to add blue cheese to any of his plates. It was at the top of the list of things he hated.
She moved so effortlessly. After trying to make breakfast on his own, he wondered how she did it.
It wasn’t as easy as it looked, and she was so clean too.
There was nobody he would rather have in his home and making his meals than her.
If he had it his way, she would be doing it as his woman and not as his personal chef. Baby steps.
“Gramps and Ree are here.” Nico pushed off the wall from where he had been watching her and slid right next to her.
He noticed she jumped slightly. Her eyes found his for a split second before she went back to what she was doing. Nico couldn’t resist. He reached out and grabbed her by the waist, forcing her attention on him.
“Nico . . .”
“You been avoiding me, cookie?” She tried to avoid his gaze as a blush colored her cheeks. Nico leaned down and kissed one cheek and then the other, which only caused her to flush darker. “A simple yes or no will do,” he teased.
“No,” she finally said as she looked up into his eyes. “I been working. You kind of set me back after breakfast.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, okay. I think you just ain’t tryna lose a bet. Let me ask you something. Does being my girl sound that bad?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that, Nico. I just don’t know you, and I just got out of a relationship, so with all that in mind, I’m definitely doing all I can not to trip into love with you.”
“There’s a lot to unpack there.” He chuckled as he relished in the way she felt in his arms.
“What is there to unpack? What I said is straightforward.”
He grinned. “You said it don’t sound so bad being my girl.”
“I didn’t say that—”
“And then you said you have to do all you can not to trip into love with me, which means you want to love me.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“So you just gon’ skip by the part where I said we don’t know each other and me just getting out of a relationship?”
Ignoring her, he asked, “And why you gotta trip into love with me? Why can’t it be a fall like everything else?
” And then, as if a lightbulb went off, he snapped his fingers.
“Is it because a fall could be intentional if you leap, but if you trip, it’s completely by accident?
Nobody trips on purpose, so you’re worried you gon’ fall in love on accident, ain’t it? ”
The way he just sat in her face and pieced that together was genius in his mind. One look from her told him he should have been awarded jail time for reading her so easily. He mentally patted himself on his back for not laughing at her expression. He had her all figured out, and she knew it.
Finally, she cleared her throat and grabbed the tray from the counter.
“Let me feed your guests before the food gets cold.” Remedie side-stepped him and hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Nico behind.
He chuckled as he finessed the hairs on his chin. Finally, he followed behind Remedie and into the living room where everyone was.
As he entered, he heard Gramps charming his woman.
He didn’t appreciate the sly old man sweet-talking her.
He stopped himself and watched them interact as he wondered how she had such a strong hold on him after only a few days, to the point that he didn’t even want a harmless old man making her blush.
Nobody should make her blush but him. Somewhere along the line, he deemed that his job alone.
“You a pretty young thang, ain’t ya? And you cook?” Gramps reached for a wing and took a bite, smacking his lips like it was the best chicken he’d ever tried. “Boy, you a keeper, ain’t ya?”
When Remedie giggled, it snapped Nico out of his thoughts.
He fully entered the room and snatched the chicken wing from Gramps’s hand.
He didn’t even know why he did that. Irritation consumed him for a hot second, and now he was stuck with a buffalo wing in his hand and everyone staring at him in confusion.
To play it off, Nico tossed the wing on one of the empty plates Remedie brought out and said, “You shouldn’t be eating this shit, Gramps. It ain’t good for your heartburn.”
Gramps threw a jab at Nico, which connected with his abdomen. Nico didn’t flinch, but he did take a step away from Gramps. He could be scary when he was mad.
“Boy, snatch somethin’ else out of my hands and see what the hell happens.” He grumbled under his breath as he reached for the wing on the plate.
When he took a huge bite out of it, he looked Nico directly in the eye in challenge. Nico put his hands up in mock surrender. “Your funeral, old man.”
“Aw, fuck off.” Gramps continued to grumble in between bites of food while Nico looked around the living room.
Tyree looked up at him from his seat on the couch, smiling like he knew Nico’s deepest darkest secret while Remedie made herself busy organizing the plates and the platter, which was comical, because there was only so much she could do with the items before it looked like she was trying to distract herself.
“Sit down, cookie.”
Remedie glanced up at him before she did as she was told. He could tell she was still flustered by their conversation in the kitchen, which amused Nico.
He grabbed a paper plate and tossed it behind him toward Tyree. “Better get yours before I smash all this shit.”
Tyree smacked his glossy lips and scooted forward in his seat. “Fat ass.”
He reached for the fries while Nico made himself busy making a plate. When he finished, he handed it to Remedie, who looked up at him in surprise.
“Oh, no thanks. That’s for y’all. I can eat later.”
Nico simply stared her down until she heaved a long breath and took the plate.
A triumphant smile graced his face. He didn’t know why she insisted on testing him every single day at mealtimes.
Although he hired her as his personal chef, something didn’t sit right in him allowing her to cook for him and not join him for the meals she prepared.
Once they were settled with their food, the room fell silent as everyone ate happily.
Tyree’s loud mouth was the one to finally break the silence as he reached for the coffee table to grab seconds. “This shit is bussin’, girl. You ever thought of opening up your own wing joint?”
Nico peeped how Remedie shook her head like Tyree’s question offended her.
“I definitely want to open up my own spot one day, but it won’t be no damn wings.”
“What you got against wings, young lady? These the best I ever tasted,” Gramps said as he sucked on a chicken bone.
“Because I can cook better than this. Wings is light work, and there isn’t much creativity to tap into there.” Remedie shrugged as if she was bored with the conversation.
Nico’s brows rose as her words sank in. “Let me find out you’re bored with your job because I eat regular.”
Her shoulders bounced once again before she grinned at him. “I mean, you pay good, so that kind of makes up for it.”
Nico’s face dropped. “Wait, you’re serious? You’re for real bored, ain’t you? I thought you loved cooking.”
For some reason, that worried him. What happened when people got bored with their jobs? They found another one. He didn’t want that to happen.
“I do,” she assured him. “But . . . I don’t really know how else to explain it. Like, what if when you were boxing, you only got to go up against people who weren’t nowhere near as good as you? Wouldn’t you get bored?”
Nico didn’t hesitate to respond. “Hell yeah.”
She nodded. “Exactly. Making wings and cheesesteak sandwiches is my equivalent to fighting against someone not as good as you.”
“So why you don’t make something else?” Tyree asked as he licked his fingers clean. He tore those wings all the way up and left not one crumb.
Remedie eyed Tyree. “Have you met your brother? He’s kind of picky and particular about his food.”
“True that,” Tyree agreed.
“And stubborn.” Gramps added his two cents.
“Aye, man. How this turn into a bashing session against me?” Nico asked as he looked around at everyone.
Gramps shrugged, Tyree ignored him and grabbed another wing, but Remedie responded. “Because you’re the person I cook for every day.”
Nico sat up straight and puffed out his chest. “Aight, fine. What kind of food do you like to cook?”
If she wanted more creativity and fun in the kitchen, he would give her that, even if it meant he’d have to starve. She wasn’t lying. He was pretty picky.
The way her eyes lit up made his heart skip a beat. He’d never seen her like that before.
“Have you ever had oxtail ravioli with collard green pesto and sweet potato cornbread breadcrumbs?”
Nico’s face immediately screwed up. Whatever she just said sounded complicated and like nothing he ever wanted to try. He was more of a mac and cheese and fried chicken kind of guy. He kept shit real simple.
“What the hell? Nah. Never.”
“That sounds good as hell. You ever been to Prime & Ember? It’s a steakhouse, but they do a southern twist on their food, and it’s so damn good.
” Tyree gushed. He’d always been a foodie.
Nico instantly became jealous. It was childish, for sure, but he hated that Tyree and Remedie could bond over her passion, and he couldn’t.
Remedie squealed. Nico did a double take at her. She actually squealed in delight. Fuck kinda shit is this? Nico thought.
“I did a stage there when I was in culinary school.” She gushed.
“What’s a stage?” Gramps asked, and Nico could tell he was doing his best to keep up with the conversation.
“It’s basically an interview for chefs. You do a normal interview, and then you go in for a stage and work for a day at the restaurant to see if it would be a good fit. Ember Sinclair is the owner, and she’s so sweet. I almost took the job there, but I got offered a higher position elsewhere.”
“That’s so dope you worked there. We should go there sometime. I heard they have a new fall menu that’s to die for—”
“How ’bout we go there?” Nico asked, quickly cutting off the bonding moment she and Tyree were having. No shade to his brother, but he needed to secure Remedie’s heart first, and then she and Tyree could bond.
Remedie looked at him with her brows damn near to her hairline. “Really? You want to go there?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Always wanted to check it out,” he lied. He’d never even heard of the place. “We can go tonight. Since it’s my last night before training starts again, we can indulge. It’ll give you the night off too.”
Remedie and Tyree glanced at each other like they knew something he didn’t, which instantly made his ass itch.
“Bro, you can’t just walk into Prime & Ember. It’s booked out for months,” Tyree said with a snicker.
Nico kept looking at Remedie with a tight smile on his face while he subtly swung his fist backward and connected with Tyree’s knee for cock-blocking. Tyree yelped. Nico’s tight smile relaxed into a genuine one. “Leave the reservations up to me. What do you say, future wifey?”
Remedie rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, but he could tell she was excited by the idea of going to the restaurant. The corners of her pretty ass lips begged to turn up into a smile, and finally, she gave in. His heart felt like it was trying to jump out of his chest and snuggle into hers.
“Alright, but it’s only because it’ll give me the night off.”
Nico felt like he’d just won the lottery. A win was a win, and if she wanted to play it off like she was only going for a night off, then he would let her.
“Okay, let’s go over this schedule and your focused menu for the next few weeks, champ,” Gramps said, leaning over to grab his briefcase where he kept his notepad and pen. He was so damn old-school.
Nico couldn’t focus though. While they thought he was tuned into the meeting and taking notes or some shit, he was tapping away on his phone, trying to figure out how the hell he was going to get a reservation for that night to this Prime & Ember spot.