Chapter 7 #2
He let out a short laugh. “Busy enough to leave me on read for a month?”
She swallowed. “That’s not what this was.”
He shook his head once. “Come with me. I need some privacy.”
He extended his hand. Calloused and warm when she took it, the same hands that had held her face in that elevator, the same hands that had traced the length of her body in a hotel room she still dreamed about.
The gold teeth in his mouth seemed to be melting the string of her thong with every flash of his smile.
“I like this dress,” he said, but his voice didn’t have the warmth she remembered. “But you fuck up the scene in anything you put on.”
Before she could respond, his hand was on hers, and he was guiding her away from the crowd.
“Rolani, what—”
“Nah, we're not doing this out here.” His tone left no room for argument.
He led her through the club, past the bar, down a hallway she hadn’t noticed before. He knocked twice on a door marked “Office” before pushing it open.
“Rolani, we—”
“Trey’s my guy,” he said, closing the door behind them. The bass from the club muffled but still thumped through the walls. “Chill out.”
The lock clicked.
Kennedi’s heart rate spiked. They were alone. Truly alone for the first time since LA.
He leaned back against the door, arms crossed, eyes locked on her.
No smile. No gold tooth flashing. Just that hard stare that made her feel like he could see straight through her.
He removed the blunt from his pocket and lit it.
He needed to calm his nerves. He was happy to see her, but he was furious with how she’d played it after L.A.
“Kennedi, Kennedi, Kennedi.” Smoke curled from his lips as he spoke.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“What was it?” He pushed off the door, taking a step closer. “The night wasn’t good. I read the room wrong. Or you just got what you wanted and bounced?”
“I told you. I don’t stick around. Even when I want to. And newsflash, you scare me.”
“I scare you?” He pointed to himself, blunt between his fingers, smoke rising between them. “You weren’t scared when I had that ass tooted in the air, your knees by your ears, and that sweet pussy in my mouth. I don’t remember fear being in the room, Ken. Try again.”
“Rolani.” She swallowed hard. “I got a job offer. Back in Colorado. I’m leaving Tuesday.”
The blunt stopped halfway to his mouth. He was frozen in place.
“Tuesday.” He said it quietly. The anger she’d been bracing for didn’t come. What came was worse. Understanding.
“Cool, I ain’t no hating ass nigga. Congrats. But I ain’t ask about the job.” He took another step, close enough now that the smoke from his blunt drifted across her collarbone. “I asked about you. About us. About why you been treating me like a fuck nigga.”
“Nothings changed.” The words slipped out before she could dress them up. “I don’t stay, Rolani. I never have. And you keep pushing like this is something I’m supposed to know how to handle. Like you’re forcing a version of me I haven’t agreed to be.”
The room was quiet except for the bass pulsing through the walls.
His jaw loosened. The anger didn’t vanish, but it stopped driving. He moved closer, then stopped himself just short of touching her.
“She’s a runner, she’s a track star,” he sang. “Ain’t that a bitch.”
“It’s not personal. Rolani. I like you. I care about you.”
“You care about me?”
His eyes dropped to her mouth, and before she could think, he pulled her in.
His mouth claimed hers, deep, unhurried, possessive.
The kiss was everything she remembered and more.
Anger and want…need. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him, and she let him.
Let herself sink into it because in three days she’d be in Colorado, and this would be a memory she’d replay until it wore thin.
When they pulled apart, both breathing hard, his forehead rested against her shoulder.
“Don’t go,” he said quietly.
No man had ever asked her to stay before. It always seemed so easy to say goodbye, so she made it easier. But Rolani was worth a second thought. So she considered it.
“I have to.”
He pulled back and looked at her. With a slow nod, he accepted that answer. He knew what her answer would be before he asked her. But he couldn’t be blamed for trying.
“Aight. Let me have the night, though.” His hands found her waist and pulled her back against his chest, her back flush to him, both of them facing the desk.
“And then what, Rolani? I’m leaving Tuesday, and that’s not changing.”
“Why do we have to have that figured out, Ken? I missed you, and I know you missed me.”
“Rolani.” Her voice came out in a sigh, but she didn’t move out of his embrace.
“I hear you.” His mouth found the side of her neck, unhurried. “You can walk out that door at any time.”
Her feet stayed planted, and he took that as his permission to proceed. He walked them to the desk. She braced against the desk. Rolani’s calloused hand slid between her thighs. Her eyes closed, and her back arched.
“Stop teasing me. My girls are waiting.”
“Bend that ass over, baby.”
Kennedi had no problem following his directions. She bent over as he yanked the hem of her dress up to her hips. Air hit her bare ass cheek, and he lightly smacked it, watching it jiggle.
“Take that thong off.”
Again, she followed his instructions without pushback.
She pulled down the black thong slowly as he watched on, stroking his dick until precum beaded at the tip.
With a smile, he slipped two fingers into her and groaned at how wet she was.
He hated all this tough girl shit she tried with him because her body always told a different story.
“You sure you gotta leave Tuesday?” he asked, fingers still moving.
“Rolani.” His name came out broken. “I’ll… I'll be back.”
“That's what I thought.” He removed his fingers and gripped her hips. “Hold on to something.”
She grabbed the edge of the desk and pressed her lips together to keep the sound in. Rolani planted his feet and fucked the shit out of her in the office of a club. The music drowned out the slapping of skin and moans neither of them could control.
“Kennedi.” His hand found her jaw, tilting her face to the side. “Let me hear you.”
“Shiiit. Rolani.”
“You gon’ make me nut quick with how good you feel. Fuck.”
He buried himself to the hilt, pausing just long enough to watch her squirm before he pushed into her harder.
“Don’t be in Colorado on stupid shit, Ken,” he growled, hand gripping her throat just enough to make her eyes roll back.
Every thrust knocked the air from her lungs, every word he whispered in her ear pushed her closer to the edge.
“That’s it. Show me this pussy mine.”
And when she broke apart beneath him, trembling and crying out his name, Rolani smiled against her lips—because he knew he’d never let her go.
Her body was still trembling, little aftershocks running through her thighs as he slowed his strokes and finally pulled out, breathing heavy.
“Damn, baby,” he whispered, brushing her hair off her face.
Neither of them moved for a moment.
He pulled back, cleaned her up with his handkerchief, straightened her dress, and turned her around. She turned her head, unable to keep eye contact. But he brought her chin back to him.
“Congratulations, Ken, go do your thing in Colorado.”
She slipped from between him and the desk, smoothing down her dress with shaky hands. “I need to get back to my girls.”
“Go. Before I lock yo ass up until Tuesday.”
He wrapped his hand gently around her neck, pulling her back into him. His thumb brushed her cheek as he leaned down and pressed a slow kiss to her forehead, then her lips.
“When you’re ready to stop running,” he murmured against her skin, “I’ll be here. I ain’t going nowhere.”
She didn’t move immediately, frozen by his proximity. By the weight of what she was choosing. By the fact that the safest she’d felt in years was in the arms of the most dangerous man she’d ever met, and she was about to walk away from both.
She slipped past him, her heart racing, and didn’t look back until she reached the stairs. When she finally glanced over her shoulder, he was still standing in the doorway, watching her leave—blunt between his fingers, wearing an unreadable face.
She climbed the stairs on legs that didn’t feel like hers and dropped into the VIP booth beside Carmen.
“You okay?” Carmen asked.
“No,” Kennedi said honestly, she needed to call it a night. “But I will be.”
Shadow looked at her, then down at the section where Rolani had disappeared back into his crew. “Ken, what happened?”
“He asked me to stay.”
The table went quiet.
“And?” Isha asked softly.
Kennedi finished her champagne in one long swallow. “And I’m leaving Tuesday.”
Nobody said anything for a while. The music played. The club moved. And Kennedi sat in a booth surrounded by the women who knew her best, but her mind was no longer on partying or celebrating.