Chapter 11
11
Now…
“ I told you I don’t need you. I’ll holler at you when I do,” I said, moving to close my front door.
Moody blocked the door with his huge ass foot. “I know. Your moms didn’t get the memo, though. She sent me over here.”
“Okay, report back that you came, and I told you to leave.”
“C’mon, man. You gotta call her or something, let her know I followed orders. She ain’t just gonna take my word for it.”
“ I’m your boss, not her.”
He shrugged. “She’s my boss’s mother. She gon’ always pull rank as far as I’m concerned.”
“I should fire your ass.”
Again, he shrugged. He knew his job was safe since he’d been working for the company since I was a kid. Still, my mother using him to try and micromanage my life pissed me off. I’d sacrificed a lot for the family and The Agency, but I wasn’t sacrificing Memphis, and her trying to make me keep using security was a part of that. It wasn’t just about my safety. It was about control, and she could hang that up. I honestly didn’t understand why she was still trying that shit with me.
“Just… hold on a minute,” I said, lifting the phone I held in one hand. My gun was in the other. Before I could place a call to my mother, one from Memphis came in. I’d let her leave the house to meet with her team, so I wasn’t going to miss talking to her.
Turning my back to Moody, I answered it with, “What’s up, King?”
“Why you whispering? Your wife over there or something?” she replied.
“Don’t play with me,” I grunted.
“I’m not playing with you. Did you not marry her?”
“Did I not divorce her?”
“That’s what you say…”
“So, you don’t believe me now? Wait, are you jealous of Layla?”
“Why in the fuck would I be jealous of her? I’m actually pissed you two broke up. I liked that she took your attention off me.”
I chuckled bitterly. “Nobody could ever do that, and you know it.”
“You make it sound like you’re obsessed with me. That’s unhealthy; you know that, right?”
“Might be unhealthy, but it’s true, and ain’t shit I can do about it.”
“Whatever. I was just calling to see if you plan on feeding me tonight or if I need to grab something before I come…before I return.”
I grinned. “You almost said ‘come home,’ didn’t you?”
“Hell no,” she said matter-of-factly.
“And don’t I always feed you? I have a chef, remember? He’s preparing dinner right now.”
“What do your neighbors think about you having a chef? Aren’t you supposed to be a regular, middle class incel?”
I had to laugh at that dig. “An incel? Really? I’ll remember that when I see you tonight, and my neighbors don’t fuck with me just like I don’t fuck with them.”
“I hope you’re right about that. I don’t need you getting raided while I’m there.”
“You ain’t got shit to worry about. Just…I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah.”
When I turned to face Moody, he was staring at me with this stupid-ass look on his face.
“What? You gonna report this call to my mother like I ain’t fifty-four fucking years old?”
He shook his head. I’d never seen this big man smile. Moody’s seriousness was as characteristic of him as that old-ass Starter jacket he wore and that newsboy cap sitting atop his balding head, but I could’ve sworn his eyes were smiling.
“No, I was just thinking about how fast you aged after your pops died. I ain’t talking about your face or nothing. You just always seemed to be carrying the weight of the whole damn world on your shoulders, but seeing you now that you got that pretty lady back in your life? Man, you seem younger. She’s really your one, huh? Gotta be ‘cause she’s so fucking mean.”
I frowned. “You been eying my woman? You said she was pretty.”
“Calm down, hot head. Don’t shoot me like you did Zaccai.”
Damn, I actually had my gun pointing at him with no recollection of lifting it from my side. “Watch your fucking mouth, then. Watch them eyes, too.”
“You can’t be with a beautiful woman and think no one will notice her beauty,” he said.
I glared at him.
“Anyway, as head of security, I have to insist that we resume protecting you.”
“I don’t want anyone in the house. Y’all gotta stay outside somewhere inconspicuous. That’s the best I can do.”
Moody nodded and left.
Instead of calling my mother, I sent her a text: back off .
“You done talking to your man so we can get down to business?” Jerryn asked as I ended the call with Bo. I only checked in with him so he wouldn’t start acting stupid thinking I wasn’t coming back.
“Fuck you. What you got for me?” I replied, reclining on the sofa in my apartment. I’d missed my place.
“Skirting around the subject, huh? Look, I know you’re doing this for your sister?—”
“Then you should also know I don’t want to discuss this arrangement,” I cut him off.
“Come on, Raja…I’m just worried about you. I know he’s the one person who can hurt you. You brought up his ex-wife. That shit still gets to you.”
Did it bother me that the man who long ago pledged his devotion and undying love to me married a whole-ass other woman? Yes, but more than that, it was how it all happened that broke the younger version of me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get past it, and it was only one of the reasons I hated loving him.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m doing what I have to do. I would think you’d understand that.”
He sighed. “She’s my wife. I love her.”
“And Lilith is my sister. I love her .”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Yeah, so you wanna do what I pay you to do? Get Montana on the phone.”
Minutes later, I was listening to the young genius chatter on about the good senator’s tech, or lack thereof, outside a couple cell phones, laptops, and tablets.
“I checked Murray’s financials. Found the foreign accounts. The Senator has ties to that family in the UK that’s deep into trafficking,” Montana was saying.
“Well, that confirms my research and the info from the client,” I mused.
“I bet the client is someone on their staff instead of a family member this time. Just a feeling I have. Anyway, I can also confirm that Murray is currently alone at the house in Mexico. The much younger spouse and small kids—there’s like a twenty-year age gap, which is unsettling—are here in the states visiting family. So, this should be easy. There’s no staff at the house. No chef or housekeeper,” Montana rambled. This girl was a talker. She was also brilliant and loved guessing who our clients were.
“Yeah, logistically, this job is almost too easy. That bothers the shit out of me,” Jerryn cut in. “This feels like a setup.”
I frowned. “Then make sure it’s not.”
Jerryn nodded, a sober look on his face. He was younger than me, but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. He was something past light skinned as of late. He was pale and getting skinnier by the year. I wondered if it was the job or just life in general.
For me, it was both.