Chapter 5
Lauren
I left my phone locked inside the glove compartment of my Benz this morning.
But Malcolm wasn't the only man acting wild.
After I’d spent a few hours pacing my bedroom floor last night, I had gathered enough composure to send a text to Big Bane. I needed to set him straight immediately. I couldn't let him trick me into thinking the past was up for discussion.
L: Last night was crazy, and I was in a bad headspace. I appreciate you answering the call, but that’s as far as this goes. We both need to continue to live our lives separately. Do not come here.
Nobody just drops their entire life to sprint across state lines over a dramatic phone call. I convinced myself it was just that old, territorial talk from when we used to fuck around. But, after he didn’t respond, I believed I was off the hook. I shook it off, and clocked into work.
The second I strolled past the reception desk of my private optometry practice, my jaw nearly hit the floor. Sitting right on the counter was a loud arrangement of white roses and lilies. It looked like a whole funeral display crowding the waiting room.
"Who sent the botanical garden?" I asked, pulling my clipboard against my chest.
The receptionist gave me a sympathetic, tight-lipped look. "It’s for you.”
“Come again… For me?”
“Yes but they didn’t leave a card."
I didn't need a card. It had Malcolm’s guilty signature written all over every damn petal. He thought he could buy his way out with some premium flowers.
Oh, he could kiss my ass.
I rolled my eyes so hard it gave me a headache.
I muttered a quick "throw them in the breakroom or the trash," and walked back to my exam room.
For the next few hours, I let the routine save me. I focused on the science of adjusting the phoropters, checking focal lengths, and staring into the retinas of sweet elderly patients who didn't know a damn thing about much.
By the time two o'clock rolled around, I was wiped. I walked over to the prep station to grab the chart for my final medical eye exam of the day. I picked up the folder as my eyes skimmed the intake insurance sheet, and then my entire system experienced a violent glitch.
The name staring back at me in bold ink was his.
Bane Bankole
My heart did an erratic leap against my ribs.
I’m sorry, what?! Oh a bitch was really losing it today.
Is he actually here? No. No way. Lauren, you are losing your mind. Baltimore was not some small city, and his last name wasn't completely unique. It had to be a coincidence. There was no physical way Big Bane could have tracked me to my exact building, let alone booked an appointment in the system.
I forced a deep breath into my lungs and pushed the door to Exam Room 3 open.
"Hi, I'm Dr. D’Amore, how’s your day goi—"
The words died right in my throat.
Sitting in the examination chair was a man who looked like a stranger, but the second those dark eyes locked onto mine, the air left the room.
I stood there, glanced back out into the hallway, and looked back into the room. Then, I squinted my eyes to make sure I hadn't walked into the wrong room.
The Bane I remembered was a mountain of a human, but the man sitting in front of me was easily two times smaller than the man I remembered. He had leaned out, and his body whittled down into dense muscle. He filled out his tailored navy shirt too well.
And the ink threw off. Last time I saw him, he had a few tatts hidden away.
This man had black ink sprawling all the way up his neck, wrapping around his throat, and crawling right onto his face and cheekbones.
His hands were completely covered in artwork, decorated with a silver watch that caught the light.
He was so ridiculously fine it was an hazard to my health.
I stayed frozen, and my hand was glued to the doorknob.
"Uhh..."
A devastatingly familiar smirk slowly cut through his trimmed beard. That smirk melted my heart.
"You can't recognize your own husband, Lauren? I bet you remember this." He showed the ink on his ring finger.
I slammed the examination door shut, locking us into the small room. My eyes got as wide as saucers.
I gasped, stepping back against the door. "Bane? Hold on... wait a damn minute."
His inked jaw ticked as his smirk widened.
"How... what did you do to yourself?" I stammered, my eyes doing another lap around his frame.
Bane slid off the examination table and stood up to his full height. I had to remind myself that I was a doctor in a professional setting because this man had absolutely no business being built the way he was built. He stepped into my personal space as if he had just seen me last week.
"I got real serious about the gym while I was getting my life together," he said, his voice dropping, "after my wife left me.
" His dark eyes settled onto mine and stayed there.
"And I told you last night I was coming for you.
" The corner of his mouth moved. "You really thought I was playing with you? "
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I was trapped between the door and the wall of his chest.
Bane didn't let up. He crossed his thick arms over his chest before his eyes narrowed. "Now, tell me what happened. I saw that ugly arrangement of flowers when I walked in here. Who the hell they from? That bitch-ass nigga you was crying over?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Umm... it is really none of your business."
Bane’s entire demeanor darkened. “You fucked up when you cried over another nigga. You said his name was Malcolm on the phone, right?”
“Why does it even matter?” I snapped back, matching his heat.
Bane leaned down, getting right in my face. “Because I got the right to know the man who put his dick in you and had you out here crying like that. He cheated, didn’t he?”
“Bane, just stop.”
“No, you know better than to be out here doing all that behind another man," he went off, his chest pressing closer. "I raised your standards up to the damn sky, Lauren. What? You forgot, or you just actin' dumb for the hell of it? You let some—”
“Hold the fuck up,” I cut him off. I pushed against his chest, glaring right into his face. “Are you really talking to me like you don’t know who I am? You can take your lil attitude away from me.”
“Keep it up and I’ma choke you out.”
“You gone do what?” I rolled my neck and grabbed his jaw. “Stop talking to me like that before I forget where we are. You can kiss my rich black ass, and get the fuck out.” I let him go but he didn’t move.
All he did was roll his eyes at me.
"Do you want me to go out there and find out for myself, or you wanna tell me?" he growled. "Because you know damn well there are ways for me to find out anything I want to know. So either you tell me what happened right now, or I'm gonna make my own assumptions and start fucking some people up."
I rolled my eyes and let out a breath through my nose. Big Bane wasn’t the type to bluff. If I didn't tell him, somebody was going to end up in an emergency room, and I didn't have the patience for that.
"Fine," I muttered, looking away from his intense gaze. "I had to break up with my boyfriend last night."
Bane calmly adjusted the cuff of his navy shirt. "Well, what happened?"
"He was fucking some other girl," I spat, the words tasting like battery acid. "Right in his shop, in his styling chair."
He blinked, a look of genuine disbelief washing over his features. "Oh, man... that’s crazy. He’s an absolute fool."
"I know, right?" I said, a sarcastic chuckle bubbling up.
Bane’s features softened. His eyes searched mine. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I whispered, staring down at his button-up since looking into his eyes was getting too heavy. "I'm just annoyed. And tired."
"Good," Bane said. "Because I meant what I said on the phone last night. It really is time for you to come home."
I looked up at him, my expression instantly twisting into horror. "You’re doing too much."
"You've been away from me long enough, don't you think?" he asked.
“Did you forget why I stayed away?”
“That shit don’t even matter.”
“To who?”
“This ain’t up for discussion.”
"The hell it isn’t. Technically, I’m still single, so I can be wherever the hell I want to be," I shot back.
Bane let out a mocking chuckle. "Well, let's go pull up the legal records then, because Big Bane ain’t finna tell you again.”
I rolled my eyes so hard it physically hurt. "Bane, come on. We both know what it is."
"Yeah," he murmured, his gaze dropping to my lips before snapping back to my eyes. "We both know what it is... but we both know what it could be too."
“Bane.”
"I'm serious," he continued. "I want you to pack your things and come with me back to Georgia."
"I can't," I breathed.
"You can," he countered without a single beat of hesitation.
"Bane, I can't just up and leave my job! I have a life here!"
“We can talk about that later.” He leaned his head down. His breath brushed against the shell of my ear as he whispered, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
I swallowed hard, but my heart was already jumping. "I don't think I have."
Bane gave a slow nod. “Uh huh.”
He closed the gap when he placed both of his hands against the door before connecting our lips.
I froze, but that didn’t last long. My body did exactly what it always did whenever this man touched me; my brain shut off, my resistance crumbled, and my eyes fluttered closed.
I was still holding my medical clipboard, but Bane wasn't having any distance between us. He shoved the clipboard out of my hands, and wrapped his arms around my body. Then, he pulled me against him before he deepened the kiss.
And whew... I just fell into it.
When he put them lips on me, I genuinely forgot my own name.
Not in the dramatic way people describe it when they're being poetic about it.
I mean my actual name left my body. My medical degree left.
The ten years I had spent building a very composed and very intentional life left.
Everything that was not this moment and this man and his mouth on mine just quietly packed up and stepped outside.
When he finally pulled back I had to remind myself how breathing worked before I attempted it. I couldn’t even let him fully clear the space before I was chasing his warmth again, tilting my chin up to slide my tongue back into his mouth. My fingers caressed the neat waves of his low cut.
The thick weight of his palms dug into the soft curve of my ass. His fingers gripped me so close, there was no room to escape. The intense friction was crazy.
I tangled my limbs completely with his, latching onto him. Our bodies remained completely glued together, but a throb shot straight through my core, making my clit pulse so deeply, the spasm forced me to pull my lips away.
Bane let out a low chuckle that vibrated right against my mouth. He didn't let me stay far, immediately pressing a slow, lingering string of heated kisses across my cheeks and up to the top of my head. Then he crushed me with one his signature bear hug.
The second the immense weight of his body enveloped mine, the knot of pent-up rage, the stubborn walls of resistance I’d been trying to hold up, and the stinging, bitter humiliation from Malcolm's trifling ass just dissolved.
It drained right out of my pores and sinking into the floorboards.
My ribs expanded as I finally let out a long, ragged, trembling breath, my arms wrapping around his back.
"It's good to see you, Husband," I whispered jokingly against his shirt. A small smile broke through my exhaustion.
"It's good to see you too, Wife."