Chapter 29 Prime
PRIME
Mehar was asleep before we hit the highway.
I glanced in the rearview and saw her curled up in the backseat, her face slack with exhaustion, the adrenaline finally wearing off. She’d been through hell tonight. They both had.
“She’s out,” Zainab said softly, looking back at her sister.
“Good. She needs it.”
We drove in silence for a while. The city lights flickered past, the late-night traffic thin enough that I could let my mind wander. Which was dangerous. Because every time I stopped focusing on the road, I started thinking about what came next.
Rashid.
The man who’d made me. The man I was going to have to unmake.
“Where were you today?”
Zainab’s voice pulled me back. She was watching me with those dark eyes that saw too much.
“Had a meeting.”
“With who?”
I hesitated. But she deserved the truth. All of it.
“Rashid.”
Her whole body went still. “You saw him? Face to face?”
“At the cigar bar. Tried to find a middle ground. Offered split custody—Yusef spends time with both families.”
“And?”
“He said no. I knew he would, though.” I kept my eyes on the road, but I could feel her gaze burning into the side of my face. “Said Yusef belongs with his blood. With Meech. Said women can’t raise men and he’s going to reshape that boy into something worthy of his bloodline.”
“That’s insane.”
“That’s Rashid.”
She was quiet for a moment. Processing.
“So what now?”
“Now I take Farah. Use her as leverage to get Yusef back.” I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “And then I kill Meech. And Rashid.”
The words hung in the air between us. Heavy. Final.
“Prime…” Her voice was soft. Careful. “Rashid raised you. Trained you. He’s the closest thing to a father you’ve ever had.”
“I know.”
“And you’re just… you can do that? Kill him?”
Rashid wasn’t just my mentor. He was the only man who’d ever believed I could be something. Killing him meant killing the version of myself he’d created. And I wasn’t sure who I’d be on the other side.
“I don’t want to,” I admitted. “Part of me still sees him as the man who saved my life. Who gave me purpose when I had nothing.” I exhaled slowly.
“But he took Yusef. He’s hurting that boy right now—I know he is, because I lived it.
The discipline. The punishments. The breaking down.
” My jaw tightened. “And he threatened you. And Goddess, that shit won’t stand. ”
“He said that?”
“He meant it.” I finally looked at her. “So yeah. I can do it. Because protecting you and Yusef matters more than any debt I owe him. More than any history we have.”
Her eyes were glistening. She reached over and put her hand on my thigh. Warm. Steady.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry you have to choose. I’m sorry I brought all this chaos into your life.”
“Don’t.” I covered her hand with mine. “You brought light into my life. Everything else—Zoo, Rashid, Meech—that’s just the cost of keeping that light safe. And I’d pay it a thousand times over.”
She squeezed my thigh but didn’t say anything else. Didn’t have to.
We pulled up to the penthouse building and I helped Mehar inside. She was barely conscious, mumbling something about needing a shower, and Zainab got her settled in the guest room.
When she came back out, I was waiting by the door.
“Beach house?” she asked.
“Beach house.”
The drive to North Beach was quieter. More intimate. Just the two of us and the dark highway stretching out ahead.
“Can I ask you something?” Zainab said after a while.
“Anything.”
“After all this is done—Rashid, Meech, Yusef—what happens next?”
I’d been thinking about that more than I wanted to admit.
“Sweet Zin.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Your business. After this is cleaned up, I want to see it thrive. Really thrive.” I glanced at her. “You need a storefront. A real location. Somewhere people can walk in off the street and buy your rolls.”
“Prime, that’s—”
“I’ve been looking at spaces. There’s a spot in Georgetown that just came available.
Corner location. High foot traffic. Big windows so people can see you working.
” I allowed myself a small smile. “I can already picture it. Sweet Zin in gold letters above the door. Line around the block every Saturday morning.”
She was staring at me like I’d grown a second head.
“You’ve been looking at spaces?”
“I want you to have everything you’ve ever dreamed of. That’s not gonna stop just because we’re in the middle of a war.”
“You’re deflecting.”
I almost laughed. “Yeah. I am.”
“You don’t want to think about how much it’s going to hurt. Killing him.”
“No. I don’t.”
She reached over and took my hand. Laced her fingers through mine.
“That’s okay,” she said softly. “We can talk about cinnamon rolls. We can talk about storefronts and gold letters and lines around the block. Whatever you need.”
“What I need is you.”
“You have me.”
I brought her hand to my lips. Kissed her knuckles.
“Then that’s enough.”
The beach house was dark when we arrived.
I punched in the code and led her inside, the sound of the waves crashing outside the only thing breaking the silence. The place still smelled like the breakfast she’d made for Mehar this morning. Felt like a lifetime ago.
“Shower,” Zainab said, kicking off her shoes. “I need to wash this day off me.”
“I’ll join you.”
She looked back at me with something flickering in her eyes. Want. Need. The same thing I was feeling—that desperate urge to connect. To feel something other than the weight of what was coming.
The master bathroom was all marble and glass. I turned on the water, letting it heat up while Zainab peeled off her clothes. I watched her—couldn’t help it. Every curve. Every inch of dark skin revealed as the fabric fell away.
She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“You gonna stand there staring, or you gonna join me?”
I stripped off my shirt—still stained with Zoo’s blood—and dropped it on the floor. My pants followed. Then my boxers.
Her eyes dropped. Traveled down my body. Lingered.
“I don’t know how I’m ever gonna get used to that,” she murmured.
“You’re not supposed to get used to it.” I stepped toward her. “You’re supposed to feel it. Every time.”
I pulled her into the shower.
The hot water hit us both, washing away the blood and sweat and fear of the day. I backed her against the tile wall, my hands on either side of her head, caging her in.
“I almost lost you tonight.” My voice was low. Rough. “Do you understand that? That man was going to kill you.”
“But he didn’t.”
“Because your sister put bullets in his car. Because I put one in his head.” I leaned closer, my lips brushing her ear. “But for a few minutes there, I didn’t know if I’d get to you in time. And that feeling…” I pressed my forehead against hers. “I never want to feel that again.”
“You won’t.” Her hands came up to my chest, fingers splaying over my heart. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“No. You’re not.” I kissed her then. Hard. Demanding. Pouring every ounce of fear and relief and desperate need into her mouth.
She moaned against my lips, her body arching into mine, and I felt myself harden against her stomach.
“Turn around,” I commanded.
She obeyed. Turned to face the tile wall, her palms flat against the marble, water streaming down her back.
I pressed myself against her from behind. Let her feel exactly what she did to me.
“You feel that?” My lips were at her ear, my hands sliding down her sides to grip her hips. “That’s what you do to me. Every fucking time.”
“Prime…” She moaned my name.
”I’m gonna take care of you tonight.” My hand slid between her thighs, fingers finding her center. She gasped as I stroked her pussy. “I’m gonna make you forget everything except my name. You understand?”
“Yes…”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, Prime.”
“Good girl.”
I worked her slowly at first. Teasing. Circling her clit with my thumb while two fingers slid inside her. She was already wet—not just from the shower—and the knowledge that I did that to her made me even harder.
“You’re so tight.” I pumped my fingers in and out, curling them to hit that spot that made her legs shake. “So wet for me. Always so ready.”
“Please…” She was panting now, pushing back against my hand, trying to get more friction.
“Please what? Tell me what you want.”
“You. I want you inside me.”
“Not yet.” I pulled my fingers out and she whimpered at the loss. “First, I want you on your knees.”
She turned around, eyes glazed with passion, and sank down in front of me. The water cascaded over both of us as she wrapped her hand around my shaft, her eyes widening slightly like they always did when she remembered how big I was.
“Take your time.” I brushed wet hair from her face. “I want to watch you work for it.”
She leaned forward and licked the tip. Just a taste. Then her lips parted and she took me into her mouth.
Fuck.
No matter how many times she did this, it always felt like the first time. Her mouth was hot. Tight. Perfect. She couldn’t take all of me—nobody could—but she tried. Worked her hand over what she couldn’t fit, her head bobbing slowly, cheeks hollowing with each suck.
“That’s it.” I let my head fall back, water streaming down my face. “Just like that. Take this dick.”
She moaned around me and the vibration almost sent me over the edge. I looked down, watched her lips stretched around my thickness, watched her eyes flutter closed in concentration.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes opened. Met mine.
“Don’t look away.”
She held my gaze as she sucked me, and something about that… the submission, the trust, the complete surrender—made my chest tight with an emotion I couldn’t name.
I let her worship me for a few more minutes, then pulled back before I lost control.
“Up.”
She stood, legs shaky, lips swollen and wet. I spun her around again, pressed her against the wall.
“Hands flat. Don’t move them.”
She obeyed.
I notched myself at her entrance and pushed in. Slowly. Letting her feel every inch as I stretched her open.
“Fuck,” she breathed. “Fuck, you’re so big…”