CHAPTER 9
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Samir
I was sitting in my office looking at the cameras that faced the parking lot, watching Kales get out of the car.
Her round chunky face, plump lips covered in pink lip gloss, and that bob cut that complimented her face did something to me every time.
The few weeks she had been coming here, I could tell pink must have been her favorite color because she always wore it.
Her nails were pink again too, but this time a darker shade than the last set.
The sound of my mans clearing his throat brought me from my thoughts.
“You good over there?”
“Yes, just watching Kales come in.”
“Oh, you got it bad.”
“Why you say that?” I asked, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
“You really feeling that girl. Do you think that’s a good idea? I thought you were using her to find out what she knows about Markie’s murder.”
“I am. This is nothing, I promise you,” I said, not even believing myself.
Tariq looked at me like he knew I was full of shit, but he was smart enough not to press it too much.
“Aight,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Just don’t let a female make you sloppy. Especially not Quay’s female.”
That made my jaw tighten a little.
“She is not his no more,” I said before I could stop myself.
One side of Tariq’s mouth lifted. “See? That right there is exactly what I mean.”
Before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called out.
The door opened, and there she was.
Kales stepped into my office looking too damn good for a regular afternoon.
It wasn’t even that she was dressed up like that, because she really wasn’t.
She had on some pink leggings, a fitted white tee, and a light jacket thrown over it like she had not put too much thought into it.
But that was the thing about her. She didn’t have to do a lot. Everything about her stood out anyway.
Her eyes landed on Tariq first, then came to me.
“You said you needed me?” she asked.
Her voice still had that guarded edge to it, like she was here because she had to be, not because she wanted to be.
I respected that.
Probably more than I should have.
“Yeah,” I said, motioning toward the chair in front of my desk. “Sit down.”
She looked at the chair, then at me, like she was debating whether or not she wanted to follow directions today. That little attitude of hers almost made me smile.
Almost.
Eventually she sat, crossing one leg over the other while keeping her purse in her lap.
Tariq pushed off the wall. “I am about to go check on that shipment.”
I gave him a nod, and once he left, the room got quiet.
Kales looked around for a second before her eyes came back to me. “So what is this about?”
I leaned back in my chair and took my time answering. “You been doing good work.”
One of her brows lifted. “Okay.”
“You been on time. You do what I ask. You keep your mouth shut.”
She shifted in her seat. “That is because I told you I was only doing this till I got myself together.”
I let my eyes drag over her face for a second. “And have you?”
She hesitated.
That was all the answer I needed.
“I paid my rent,” she said after a moment. “Got my bills caught up. Paid for my classes too.”
“Thought you were in school now.”
“I took a break.”
The way she said it let me know it wasn’t something she felt good about.
I nodded slowly. “Sometimes life make you pause.”
Her eyes narrowed just a little. “And sometimes life push you into things you wouldn’t normally do.”
I smirked. “That sound like regret.”
“No,” she said quickly. “That sound like honesty.”
I couldn’t help but grin at that.
Kales had gotten more comfortable around me over the last couple weeks. Not soft. Never soft. But comfortable enough to say what she meant instead of swallowing it down. Comfortable enough to look me in my face when she talked back.
I liked that too much.
“You hungry?” I asked.
She frowned. “What?”
“I asked are you hungry.”
She blinked at me like she was trying to figure out where I was going with it. “Why?”
“Because I am about to order food, and I am offering you some.”
“I’m good.”
I stared at her.
She stared back.
Then I picked up my phone anyway. “Bring food up. And make sure one of them salads come with grilled shrimp.”
She rolled her eyes. “I said I was good.”
“And I heard you,” I said. “You still gone eat.”
That made her suck her teeth, but I caught that tiny shift at the corner of her mouth.
She was irritated.
But she wasn’t leaving.
That mattered.
I sat my phone down and folded my hands on the desk. “You talk to Quay?”
The second his name left my mouth, something in her expression changed just a little.
“Nah,” she said, looking away. “Not lately.”
That answer did something ugly and satisfying in me at the same time.
I knew I should have let it go, but I didn’t
“You miss him?”
Her eyes snapped back to mine, and all the softness that had been sitting in the room disappeared.
“That is none of your damn business.”
I leaned forward a little. “It is if his business still bleeding into mine.”
Her brows pulled together. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I held her gaze for a second too long, then leaned back again like I had not said nothing heavy.
“It means Quay got a way of making messes that land in other people laps.”
Kales sat there studying me, and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
I thought to myself good…I wanted her thinking.
Wanted her questioning.
Wanted her to slowly start seeing that whatever she thought Quay had built for her was never stable to begin with.
The knock at my door came right when the tension in the room started getting too thick.
One of my workers came in carrying a bag of food and set it down on the desk before leaving again.
I stood and brought the bag around to the little side table near the window.
“Come eat.”
Kales let out a breath like I was working her nerves, but she got up anyway.
We sat across from each other, and for a few minutes, neither one of us said much. She ate slow at first, like she didn’t want me to think she was really hungry, but after a while she stopped pretending.
That told me more than words could.
She had been holding herself together, but barely.
I watched her while she ate, and she finally looked up. “Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
I didn’t even bother lying. “Because I like looking at you.”
She froze for half a second, fork in hand.
Then she sat it down slow. “Samir.”
“What?”
Her whole face tightened. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
She gave me a look. “Act like you don’t know what you doing.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Maybe I just said what was true.”
“And maybe I don’t need that right now.”
The honesty in her voice caught me off guard.
For a second, I just looked at her.
The tiredness under her eyes.
The pride in the way she sat up straight even when she was clearly worn down.
The hurt she kept trying to cover with attitude.
That was what was getting to me more than anything.
Kales looked like somebody who had been let down too many times in too short a time, but she still refused to fold all the way.
“You think I am trying to play with you,” I said.
“Aren’t you?”
That question hung there.
Maybe the answer should have been yes.
Maybe a couple months ago it would have been.
But now?
Now it wasn’t that simple.
Before I could answer, raised voices drifted in from the hallway outside my office.
Kales looked toward the door.
I already knew from the tone alone that one of the younger dudes downstairs was probably running his mouth or moving wrong.
I stood up right as the office door pushed open without a knock.
It was one of the little crash dummy niggas I kept around for simple work. He looked startled when he saw Kales sitting there.
“My bad,” he said quickly. “I was just trying to ask about…”
“Do I look like I give a fuck what you was trying to do?” I cut in cold.
His whole face changed.
“Nah.”
“Then get the fuck out and learn how to knock.”
He mumbled an apology and backed out, shutting the door behind him.
When I turned back around, Kales was staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head once. “Nothing.”
But I could tell it wasn’t nothing.
It was that look women got when they saw a man switch from smooth to dangerous too fast.
I moved back toward the table. “You okay?”
She let out a little laugh. “That is funny coming from you.”
I sat down again. “Answer the question.”
“I’m fine.”
She said it too quick, but I didn’t push.
Instead, I reached in my pocket, pulled out a folded stack of money, and set it on the table beside her plate.
Her eyes dropped to it. “What is that?”
“Extra.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“For doing good work.”
“I already got paid for the last run.”
I shrugged. “And now you getting paid more.”
She looked from the money to me, suspicion all over her face. “Why?”
Because somewhere along the line, making sure she was straight started mattering to me in a way it shouldn’t have.
“Because I said so,” I answered instead.
Kales looked like she wanted to argue, but after a second, she picked the money up and tucked it into her purse.
That should have felt like a win.
But all it really did was make me aware of how easy it was getting to tie her to me.
And that was dangerous for both of us.
Her phone buzzed on the table, and she glanced at the screen before flipping it over.
I noticed, though.
“Who was that?” I asked.
She looked up. “Why you care?”
“Just asking.”
“Well don’t.”
I laughed under my breath. “You always got a little mouth on you.”
“And you always asking questions that don’t got shit to do with you.”
She stood up then, grabbing her purse. “If there is not another run today, I am about to go.”
I looked up at her from my chair.
Everything in me wanted to tell her to sit back down.
To stay.
To keep talking.
To let me look at her a little longer.
Instead I stood and walked her to the door.
When we got there, she turned to me. “You still didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Are you playing with me?”
For a second, all I did was look at her.
Really look at her.
She was so close I could smell her perfume under the lotion on her skin. Sweet. Soft. Dangerous in its own way.
“No,” I said finally.
And for the first time since I met her, that answer felt honest.
Kales searched my face like she didn’t know whether to believe me.
Maybe she shouldn’t have.
Maybe I shouldn’t have either.
Then she opened the door and walked out.
I stood there for a second after she was gone, staring at the empty doorway.
Tariq came back in not long after and took one look at my face.
“You in trouble,” he said.
I let out a breath and walked back toward my desk. “How you figure that?”
“Because you looking at that door like you want to follow her.”
I sat down and leaned back in my chair. “Man, shut up.”
He laughed, but it faded quick. “I am serious, Samir. You need to keep your head clear. That girl is tied to too much. Quay. Markie. All this mess. If she knows something, find out. If she don’t, keep her moving. But all that extra shit? That is how niggas get caught slipping.”
I looked back at the camera feed and saw Kales pulling out of the lot.
My jaw tightened.
Maybe Tariq was right.
Maybe I was letting this go too far.
But the problem was, every time I told myself to keep it business, Kales walked in wearing pink lip gloss and that stubborn ass attitude, looking like life had tried to break her and failed.
And every time, I wanted her a little more.
Wanted her closer.
Wanted her looking to me instead of anybody else.
Even Quay.
Especially Quay.
That was the part I didn’t like admitting, even to myself.
What started as curiosity had turned into something else.
Something personal.
Something ugly.
Because Quay might have lost his freedom, and he might have lost his place in her life too.
But if I had my way, he was gone lose the last piece of her he still thought belonged to him.
And deep down, I already knew that had nothing to do with Markie’s murder anymore.