Chapter 12
The drive back from Mama Porter’s house had been a comfortable, quiet one.
After dinner at his grandmother’s, Cannon was feeling grateful for the fact that Nahla got along so well with the two most important people in his life.
Nahla was thankful that the two most important people in his life liked her.
Now that they were back at the safe house, Capri was putting away the take-home plates Mama Porter had sent them with, while Cannon leaned against the island, watching her.
He was struggling with whether or not to leave Nahla alone that night.
The safe house was secure. He was sure no one knew where it was, and even if they did, it would be more than difficult for them to breach any of the entrances.
But . . .
He needed to go and see Barrett Performance Solutions for himself.
As soon as he saw the name, the wheels in his head started to turn.
How convenient was it that the same day his long-lost homie pulled up on him, they uncovered a document with marine-coded signatures and a company with Ox’s last name?
He hated to think that Mace could potentially be coming around just to play him, but he had to consider all his options. That started with determining whether Maddox “Ox” Barrett owned this company.
Pushing himself off the counter, he walked over to her.
“La,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Nahla closed the refrigerator and allowed her head to fall back on Cannon’s chest.
With a smile, she said, “Yes?”
“I’ma step out for a minute, aight?”
She frowned immediately. Turning around, she said, “Without me?”
“Yeah. This place is secure, so you’ll be straight. I found the address to Barrett Performance Solutions, and it’s in Jasona. I wanna check it out real quick.”
“Without me,” she repeated, as more of a statement this time.
“I don’t know anything about this place, La. I don’t wanna put you in any unnecessary danger.”
That was partially true. He did want her safe, but Cannon had no plans of being spotted.
He only wanted to scope it out, so he was pretty sure he wasn’t about to encounter anything dangerous.
The real reason he didn’t want her to come was that he was concerned that her nosy ass would put pieces together that had more to do with him than the case.
Nahla wasn’t going for it. “Danger?” She waved him off. “You just said it would be quick.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And, if you’re really just concerned about my safety, isn’t the safest place for me to be with you?”
He was momentarily speechless, so Nahla spoke up again.
“Exactly. Come on.”
Slipping out of his embrace, she skipped over to the counter, grabbed her phone and purse, then headed to the door that led to the garage. Cannon just peered at her, half-aggravated and half turned on.
“Nahla, no. I also said I don’t know what I’m walkin’ into over there.”
She turned around and rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Cannon, it’s a stakeout. I’ve done plenty of those in my line of work.”
Cannon couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. “I bet you have. Crazy ass girl.”
“Yep. So, I’ll be fine. Oh, wait,” she said and scurried over to the pantry. She was in there for a few minutes. When she emerged, she had a grocery store bag filled with snacks.
“For our stakeout,” she said, sounding slightly out of breath.
Cannon shook his head but smiled. “You’re somethin’ else, La. Let’s go, man.”
She grinned victoriously.
They parked a couple of blocks down from the Barrett Performance Solutions building. It was a narrow brick unit tucked between an auto shop and a nail salon. The sun had just gone down, so it was early enough that there was foot traffic at the salon, but late enough that the traffic was light.
Nahla handed Cannon a bottle of water then reclined her seat slightly.
“So, what’s the plan?”
Cannon chuckled. “Slow ya roll, killa. I told you I just wanted to put eyes on the place. If I see someone walkin’ in or out, even better.”
Nahla nodded. “How long are we gonna stay?”
“Not too long.”
“You wanna play a game?”
“Nah, I wanna watch the building.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
They settled into silence, and Nahla watched Cannon as he watched the building. Several minutes passed before Nahla spoke up again.
“I’m scared, Cannon.”
That made him look at her. This fear she spoke of hadn’t registered on her face. She didn’t appear scared; she seemed solemn.
“Ain’t no need for that, La. I ain’t letting anything happen to you.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I know that. I’m not afraid of something happening to me. I’m scared of losing this story—of letting the families who trusted me down.”
Nahla dropped her eyes briefly. Cannon grasped her hand, lifted it to his lips, and kissed it.
“You’re not losin’ anything on my watch, baby. I promise.”
“We uncovered a lot of information today. We connected some of the pieces you’ve been holding for months. We’re gonna follow every lead through and make the people that need to, pay. Aight?”
He searched her eyes as she gnawed on her bottom lip. Eventually, she smiled. “Aight.”
She then looked past him.
“Someone’s walking out of the building.”
Cannon turned around and grabbed the camera he brought. Zooming in, he flashed several pictures of the people leaving the building. There were two men there, and they were laughing as they dapped up and continued down the street, out of Cannon’s view.
He felt his chest tighten as he reviewed the photos. He wasn’t too close, so he didn’t have the best view of either of the men with his naked eye. Still, though, he was pretty sure he recognized one of them.
When he flipped to his first clear picture, it was confirmed: Maddox Barrett was connected. He took a minute to compose himself before turning to face his woman. When he finally did, he leaned over and kissed her lips lightly.
“Let me see the pictures,” she said once he pulled away.
“I will, but I want you to let me follow up on this Barrett lead, aight? We uncovered hella things today, and you can’t focus on it all on your own. Let me take this one off your hands, aight?” he asked, hoping it would be that easy.
Surprisingly, it was.
“Okay. I trust you.”
Cannon was relieved but tried not to show it. He was also pissed that Ox was back on his radar.
Nahla caressed Cannon’s cheek. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m straight.”
Nahla leaned over and kissed him again. It was light at first but deepened when she slid her hand behind his head, and his hand found the front of her neck.
She pulled him closer as he devoured her tongue with his.
Just as she let a moan escape, her phone rang.
At first, she ignored it, but after the fourth ring, Cannon pulled away.
“Answer it, baby.”
Nahla checked the screen and rolled her eyes. “My sister,” she said, answering then placing it on speaker.
“Hey,” Nahla answered.
“Hey? Tell me why I had dinner with our father tonight, and he told me you have a boyfriend. What the hell, Nahla? That’s the kind of stuff you tell your sister.”
Nahla slapped a hand over her eyes, and Cannon chuckled. “Nia, I cannot do this right now. I’m busy.”
“Busy with what? Work or this man you’re hiding? I wanna know everything!”
Nia continued ranting as Cannon started the car. He was wearing one of his rare smiles as he pulled off from the curb.
Nahla placed the call on mute and turned the volume down, since her sister hadn’t stopped going off yet.
“This is funny?” she asked.
Cannon winked at her. “As hell.”
“Nahla! Nahla? I know you heard me. Answer the question.”
Cannon nodded toward her phone. “You better unmute your sister and tell her about your man. I ain’t nobody’s secret.”
That made Nahla burst into laughter as she unmuted the call. Cannon half-heartedly listened to their conversation as he drove, but what was really fighting for his attention was the fact that he’d just seen Ox exit that building.
It didn’t surprise Cannon that he was in this shady situation, because Maddox was a shady nigga. He had betrayed Cannon in the worst way. It was a situation that took Cannon a long time to recover from.
Now that he knew Ox was attached to this, he could only hope that Mace wasn’t in it with him. If he were, Cannon would handle them both.