Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Heir
I paced as I waited for Marz and Merc to finish their muffled discussion.
Two days had passed since we went to his parents’ place, and Merc showed up today with a scowl.
It melted away when he gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek, but he told Marz that he needed to speak with him privately, and I felt like it had to do with me, or at least something happening with my situation.
Tim tried to distract me with conversation while we waited outside, but it wasn’t really working.
Marz and I were about to go for a walk when his father arrived like a raging bull, and I could only hope Merc was calm by the time he left.
As the front door creaked open, me and Tim tried to make ourselves look busy, and that made me laugh.
While he stared at a rock, I ran my hand down the porch column.
Kind of backfired because I didn’t realize a butterfly was on it.
Shrieking, I jumped and had to keep myself from running for my life.
The only thing that stopped me was me tripping over Tim’s foot and him catching me.
As the father and son pair laughed at me, Merc shook his head and stepped down off the porch.
“Lord have mercy. Y’all keep my daughter safe. Apparently, she has more than Iman’s ass to worry about.”
I only laughed harder as he pulled me in for a hug and told me he’d see me later.
“Come on,” Marz said, taking my hand into his. “Let’s go for our walk.”
Nodding, I fell in stride next to him, not wanting to immediately ask if everything was okay. By the third time I looked up at him, Marz chuckled and shook his head.
“Do you want to know—”
“Yes,” I answered quickly, making him laugh again.
“Iman reached out to my uncle, who is Pops’ best friend.
He’s been trying to get in touch with me to see what I’m going to do.
Even though I’m going to agree to his plan, I’ve been trying to get information on Casper before I do.
” He paused and sighed. “I hadn’t told Pops about it because I knew he was going to come in and take over.
Karrington told Pops and he’s pissed. Well, he was. ”
“Oh no. I’m so sorry, babe. I feel like I’m causing you so much trouble.”
“Nah. Don’t even go there.”
“It’s true,” I whined as I stopped walking and turned to face him. “He probably wants you to let me go huh?”
“No, but even if he did it wouldn’t matter. Just like he went hard behind Mama Neo, I’ma go hard behind you.”
My head shook and eyes rolled as I crossed my arms over my chest. “That was different, Marz,” I muttered while he wrapped his arms around me.
“How?” he asked softly with a relaxed smile before kissing my pout away.
Blinking rapidly, I tried to find the ways our situation was different, but I couldn’t find them. “Oh! It’s different because you said this Casper guy is very dangerous and that he killed Iman’s last enforcer.”
“True… but Bart and Gatlin were dangerous as well. My father knew the risk he was taking for my mama and he still did it. That’s why as upset as he was that I had already made up my mind to work with Iman, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop me, because no one could stop him.
More than anything, he was upset because I’m so much like him. ”
My head hung as it shook. “Still. I don’t feel good about this, babe. I appreciate what you’re offering to do and sacrifice for me, but if something were to happen to you—”
Marz tilted my head and kissed my doubts away. “Trust ya man and pray that God keeps me in His hands. If you can do those two things, I’ll always be safe.”
I knew there was no talking this man out of what he wanted to do, so I gave up and surrendered to the kiss. Tossing my arms around his neck, I melted against him as I always did when we kissed.
“I’ma be aight, bae. You don’t have to worry about me,” he assured me, holding me close.
“How can I not? I care about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you. We have a long life to live.”
“And I’ma be here to live it. I promise. If I feel like I can’t handle it, I’ll call in my people. I gave Pops my word on that, and I’m giving the same to you.”
“Okay,” I agreed unwillingly, releasing him so we could start walking again.
We ended up walking three miles before going back to the house, showering, and taking a nap.
When we got up, he sent the guards home for the evening since he didn’t have anything else planned.
As we cooked dinner together, music played in the background.
One of his favorite songs came on, and when he tried to pull me into his arms for a dance, I laughed and shook my head.
“All I know how to do is line dance, babe. That’s all I got for you.”
Marz laughed until he realized I was serious. “Wait. You ain’t playing, are you?”
“Not at all,” I admitted through my giggle. “I mean, I can groove a little and shake my ass but like two stepping and slow dancing? I’ve never done those things with a man before.”
The confused expression that covered his face tickled me. “What about date nights? Prom? Never?”
“Never,” I confirmed. “For my prom, my date and I stayed long enough to take pictures and dance to one song. I twerked on him which led to his dick getting hard, so we left and—”
“Yeah, aight. It’s in the past but I’on wanna hear no recollections about you being with another nigga.” Now that made me cackle as he took me into his arms. “Sooo, I’ma lead you,” he decided, expression softening as we softly swayed against each other. “I’ma teach you how to dance.”
“Slow dance and two step?”
“Whatever you want.”
“And we have to learn a classy dance we can do at events. And salsa dancing too! We can take a dance class for date nights a couple of times out of the month.”
He chuckled and licked his lips before kissing me. “I’m wit’ all that. For now…” Marz wrapped my arms around his neck, and the way he looked down at me with so much gentleness in his eyes made me soften against him. “We’ll start with the basics.”
The more he guided my movements, the easier it was for me to trust his lead. One song turned into three, and by the fifth song, we’d completely forgotten about the salmon that was on the eye. Needless to say it was burned, but neither of us cared. We were having too much fun.
After deciding to order in, we put on a different playlist, and he gave me my first Chicago two step lesson.
Now that was a hell of a lot more difficult to learn, but I was a quick learner and got the initial coordination down fairly easy.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it to a full song until we practiced a little more, but by the time we decided to order our food and call it a night, I was satisfied with my progress.
As we got comfortable on the couch while we waited for our food, Marz had a sexy smile on his face.
“What’s got you all smiley?” I asked, trying to find something to watch on Peacock.
“Nothing just… happy that I get to teach you something. Happy that dancing will be something you get to do with me and only me for the rest of our lives. Happy that that’s something no other man except that one young nigga will be able to say.”
Laughing, I pulled my legs up and rested them on his lap. “If it makes you feel better, we didn’t even dance for the full song, so technically he doesn’t count.”
“Mm. I like the way you think.”
My smile was wide as I caressed the hairs on his chin. “And I like you. Honestly, I’m falling in love with you.”
“I would hope so, hell. We’re going to be getting married soon.” My eyes rolled playfully as I sniggled. “In all seriousness though, I’m falling in love with you too. Made the choice to love you the first night we met. I’m glad I finally get the chance to.”
“Babe,” I called, straddling him. “You always say stuff that makes me want to cry.”
“It’s the truth,” Marz declared, rubbing and squeezing my ass.
This time around, I didn’t allow doubt or time to make me question him and his words. His actions. This time, I decided to wholeheartedly believe him.