Chapter 15 #2
He opened the truck door for me on the passenger side. He was driving us tonight.
He watched me get in. When he closed the door and came around to the driver's side, he reached over and grabbed my hand before he even started the engine.
I looked up at him and I could feel the stress coming off him in waves. Whatever he'd been doing all day, it was weighing on him. His whole energy was different. Heavy. Like he was carrying something he didn't know how to put down.
Without thinking, I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over and hugged him tight.
He froze.
For a minute he didn't move. His hands were still on the steering wheel and I was just wrapped around him like I knew this was what he needed. Like this was normal for us, although it wasn’t. Like we were the kind of couple that did this.
Then his arms came up and he held me back. Pulled me closer. Buried his face in my hair and just held me like that. His chin rested on top of my head and he breathed out slow like I was the thing that was keeping him grounded today.
We sat like that for a minute. Maybe longer. I didn't count. I just stayed pressed against him and felt his heartbeat while I tried to give him whatever it was he needed in that moment.
Finally, he pulled back but kept one arm around me while he started the truck with the other.
"You good?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. But his voice said something different. "I just needed that and didn’t even know it."
We pulled out of the compound and he didn't say where we were going. He just drove. One hand on the wheel, the other on my thigh. The radio was on low. His grip on my leg was firm like he was making sure I wasn’t going nowhere.
About thirty minutes later, we pulled up to a spot overlooking Dallas. It was like a drive up rooftop. The whole city was lit up below us. Buildings, lights and life happening all at once.
He cut the engine and we just sat there.
"I had a long day," he said finally. "A lot of shit I can't talk to you about. A lot of shit I gotta handle that may get ugly as hell before it gets better."
I didn't say anything. I just waited.
"But I needed to get away from it for a minute," he continued. "And I needed to be around you. Shit, I wanted to come home and just be close to you. This shit feel crazy. I ain’t gone lie.”
That hit different. He wasn't playing games. He wasn't being cold or distant. He was just being honest.
"I'm here," I said. And I meant it. Even though I didn't want to. Even though I was supposed to be planning my escape and keeping my heart locked down. I was here.
He looked at me and something in his face softened just barely.
"I know," he said. "That's why I came to get you."
We stayed up there for hours. Talking about nothing important.
Just existing in the same space. He told me about the compound — how his father built it brick by brick over thirty years.
How his mother runs half of the operation even though his father is technically in charge.
How his brothers kept him sane because without them, the weight of what he was stepping into would crush him.
I told him about growing up with money but not feeling rich because my parents weren't emotionally available.
How my mom used to be my best friend until I did something to disappoint her, and she basically turned on me.
How I built my own life because I had to.
How I valued independence more than anything because I learned early that people couldn't be trusted.
"You trusted me enough to hug me," he said at one point.
"That was a moment of weakness for us both. We both needed that hug," I said back.
"Nah, it wasn’t weakness.” he said. "That was real."
Around midnight, he started the truck. We sat inside a random steakhouse that was open late, had a nice dinner, then we drove back to the compound.
When we got there, he walked me to my room but didn't leave. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me down beside him.
"Your mother came by today," I said. I hadn't planned to tell him but it came out.
His whole body went tense.
"What did she say?" he asked.
"She said a lot of things," I said carefully. "But mostly she made it clear that she knows things about me. Things I've kept private. And she also said some things about you,”
Kaseem looked at me straight.
"What kind of things?"
"I don't know," I said. And that was the truth. "But she wanted to scare me. She said she knows my deepest, darkest secrets. Everybody has a past, so whatever she feels she needs to do, she can go ahead and do it.” I spoke honestly.
I watched his jaw work. Watched him process what I'd just said.
"Don't let her get in your head," he said. "My mother is a lot of things but she's not a liar. If she said she knows something, she meant it. I’m sure she said it to make a point. She's testing you."
"I'm tired of tests," I said.
He shrugged like it was just what I had to deal with. “It’s life. This is what you signed up for."
"I didn't sign up for anything," I said, but there was no bite to it. "I was forced."
"Yeah," he said. "But you're still here. You could have run. You could have tried something. But you're still here and it’s been looking like you getting comfortable with it too.”
He was right. And I hated that he was right. There had been a couple times when guards weren’t on my tail, but escaping didn’t cross my mind. Instead, I was sitting around waiting for this man to get back home.
He laid back on the bed and pulled me down with him. I laid my head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around me like he'd done it a thousand times before.
"Tomorrow is going to be heavy," he said quietly. "And I can't tell you why. But I need you to know that whatever happens, you're safe. Nothing is going to happen to you under my roof."
—
"Since I'm going to be gone in the morning handling something important," he said, his hand still on my back. “I want you to do something for me."
"What?" I asked, already knowing I'd do it anyway.
"Call your girls tonight," he said. "Tell them I'm having a car pick them up in the morning. I'm paying for all three of you to go to the spa. Full day. Everything paid for."
I looked up at him. "Will your guards be in there monitoring us the whole time?"
"Of course," he said. "Unless you want to be home by yourself all day."
I thought about it for a second. My girls. A full spa day. Even with guards, it was better than being locked up. "I'll call them."
"Good," he said. "Im about to grab your phone so you can set it up.”
He came back into the room with my phone in hand. I grabbed it and called Nyla and River on three-way. They lost their minds when I told them. A spa day? Paid for? They were already planning what they wanted done. Less than twenty minutes later, everything was set.
This nigga was being too damn nice that it almost made me nervous. This mean ass man was being not so mean today.
When I came back to bed, I laid down and he pulled me against him the same way he had the night before. His arm around my waist. My head on his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat putting me to sleep.
This was becoming our routine. And I wasn't fighting it anymore.
---
I woke up to an empty bed.
But this time I wasn't surprised. He'd told me he'd be gone. I checked my phone. 6:47am. The car was supposed to pick up Nyla and River at 8. That gave me time to shower and get ready.
By 8:15, they were walking through the front door of the compound, both of them already complaining before they even saw me.
"Why the hell did we have to be blindfolded again?" River was saying. "I feel like I'm being kidnapped all over again."
"And they took our phones," Nyla added. "Like we're in prison."
River cut her off the second she saw me.
"Okay, so real question," she said, walking straight toward me. "Why in the HELL did you let Kaseem knock Savion's teeth out like that?"
I froze.
"What?" I asked.
"Girl, it's all over social media," River said. "Well, it WAS all over social media before they took our phones. Kaseem walked into Greyson Fitness yesterday and beat that man like he owed him money. Two teeth knocked out. Broken nose. The whole gym saw it."
My stomach dropped and my heart started racing at the same time.
"He did what?" I asked, but I already knew. This had to be about Savion texting me back after I asked him not to. Did Kaseem go through my phone and find those messages or did he do this just off the strength.
“Are you sure that it was Kaseem? I can’t see him doing that,” I lied.
"Hell yeah! I know what that man looks like. Beat. Him. Down," Nyla said slowly. "In front of everybody. And apparently he told that man that you were his wife and to never contact you again."
I felt heat rush through my whole body. Anger. Fear. And underneath it all, something else that I knew I shouldn’t be feeling while hearing this. Damn, Savion didn’t deserve that. But hearing Kaseem fighting for what was his, that made me blush like a muthafucka.
"I would show you the videos if I had my phone," River continued. "But apparently your husband is controlling enough to take ours away. That's crazy, by the way."
I was pissed. Not at Kaseem for handling Savion. I was pissed because he did it without telling me. He beat a man down for me and didn't even mention it and I never would have known if River never told me. And that made me feel some type of way that I wasn't ready to feel.
At that moment, one of the guards walked into the room holding a stack of money. Five thousand dollars, thick and crispy.
"Are the ladies ready to depart?" he asked me.
My mind was still on Kaseem. On what he'd done. On the fact that he'd claimed me in front of the entire city and the world wide internet.
"Yeah," I said. "We’re ready."
Nyla looked at the guard holding all that money, then back at me. "Who is Savion again?" she asked, joking.
I almost laughed despite everything running through my head.
"Nobody now. Especially if he let the next man whoop on him at his own establishment.” I said. "Let's go get our spa day."