Chapter 17 #2
His eyes lifted from the heel he was aimlessly holding and looking at, to Reign who was fidgeting with her bracelets in deep thought. His scowl melted away and his lips twitched into a lopsided smirk.
“Don’t stare, tell her she looks nice,” Aunt G continued.
Markus very rarely was stunned. Reign, even in a simple black outfit, was beautiful and small.
He knew what that was from and could fix it.
What would be work would be making her comfortable to stop playing small.
He rubbed the nape of his neck and cleared his throat, putting all the thoughts he’d had since seeing her to the back of his mind where they belonged.
“You look nice, Speechless,” he commented, purposely earning himself a shot of her brown eyes. The eyeshadow and mascara making the glimmers of bronze in them dance. “I had Nia push your appointments back.”
Her lip curled. “I told you-”
Aunt G stood between the two watching the interaction, fully entertained and weighted with knowing that they were what the other needed. They just didn’t know it and if they did, they were fighting like hell.
“That you were hungry. So you’re going to eat. We’re going to drop this stuff off at your spot and then you can work until you fall out.”
Reign rolled her eyes. Before she stomped away to turned to Aunt G. “Thank you for all of your help.”
“Don’t thank me, just come back so I can keep you fly. You’re far too beautiful to shun yourself from the world in oversized clothes. Markus, take care of her,” Aunt G punctuated her comment with a look from over her jade green thick-rimmed glasses. “Reign, give him hell.”
Markus frown returned. “I don’t see how that’s even right, auntie.”
“It’s not about being right,” Aunt G spoke, taking the bag of make-up and skincare from Reign and handing it to Markus.
“Then what is it about?” he posed.
“You’ll find out,” she hummed before hugging Reign. “I want you to take care of yourself and use that journal okay?”
This had been the first hug Reign had received that felt like home. It felt like she was going to be okay. Maybe prayers really did get answered. “Okay.”
Markus stepped out of Reign’s path and lowly watched as she walked past. That scent spritzed over her body making him dizzy. Once Reign was out of ear shot he asked, “what you put on her?”
“Oh nothing, we just made her a signature scent. You like it?”
“Yeah,” he huffed. “That’s going to be a damn problem.”
Reign stepped out into the coolness and looked up and down the block for anything that screamed run. The moment she felt Markus’ presence, she relaxed. That in itself was a red flag. She wasn’t supposed to relax around him or anyone for that matter.
Markus roamed past her, placing the final bag on the back seat with the others. “We’re headed across the street. My guy SuQuan has an Asian spot. You good with that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she spoke, following his lead as he reached out for her to stay close.
Inside the restaurant at a lone table with a preselected menu, Reign watched as Markus spoke to the staff and the owner before taking an envelope from him. He joined her at the table and gazed at her.
“Stop looking at me like that. It’s just foundation, some shadow and mascara. Nothing special,” Reign downplayed.
Markus clasped his tattoo hands together and chuckled to himself. “you’ll stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Shrinking,” he stated.
Reign’s eyes lifted to his. For a moment, she took him in.
His eyes weren’t glossy but they held pain physical, spiritually, and mentally.
The glasses were gone today but it didn’t make him any less handsome.
In a perfect world, if attraction didn’t come with pain, she’d prefer the glasses.
Markus wasn’t clean cut but it worked for him.
His beard covered his jawline, some tattoos hidden underneath the hair.
His thick brows only intensified his glare.
She could see why people on the streets feared him.
Reign bypassed what he’d said to ask. “How’s your shoulder?”
“It hurts,” he stated. “But I can’t imagine it hurting worse than your head does. How are you? For real?”
“Because you care to know or to hold in a bank to use against me?”
He smirked bitterly. “I ain’t him, Reign. You know that.”
She looked away and blinked rapidly, resetting herself. She sighed. “I’m better, I think. I might just be holding my breath. Waiting on the next thing to happen.”
“How long you’ve been doing that? Holding your breath.”
She focused back on him finding he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. “For a long, long time. Like ten years.”
He frowned slightly. “That’s a long time expecting the worst.”
“It’s a long time experiencing the worst. Since sixteen, all I’ve known is bullshit. And I really don’t want that to be my story anymore.”
“You can change that story whenever you’re ready. You just need to trust that shit is going to turn around.”
“You say that,” Reign started, finding a similar sadness in his eyes. “But I don’t think you believe it.”
Markus dropped his hands to his pants and rubbed the sweat from them. “You trying to pick me apart?”
“Not at all,” Reign shared. “Just my observation. I know a mask when I see one. I’ve worn mine for years.”
“I’m in the middle of some shit right now.
Boys fuckin’ up, streets are hot, my ambition wants more and I need to pivot into something bigger, I just got to be mindful.
I slip, all this shit slips. I’m not trying to have my sister picking up the pieces because I can’t see the path clearly,” he shared.
Reign had seen the game up close and personal so she understood. She also could see Markus. He wasn’t going to get out of the game, he was going to dominate it. Here she went again – flying too close to the sun.
“That’s honorable. You protecting her like that.”
“It’s my job. Some shit ain’t for the honor, it’s a standard. A man protects, he looks ahead, he provides. He knows the cost of what he has and the price if he loses it. Any nigga not understanding that ain’t a man.”