Chapter 15 Steel #2
“I’m listening.”
“I don’t just own the defense academy.”
“O-kay . . .”
“My father operates one of the wealthiest vigilante organizations in the country. We rescue people that are victims of kidnapping, abuse, and trafficking. That almost always results in fatalities on the abuser’s end.”
She stared at me, mouth open and eyes wide. “What?”
“My siblings, . . . the ones by my dad, . . . we’re part of the organization.
There are several like ours, which is how my dad met my youngest sister’s mom.
He has government contracts to keep things under the radar and keep us all out of jail.
This city, . . . we own most of it. City officials, the police, . . . most of them work with us.”
“So . . . you’re like a crime family?”
“No. We protect those who can’t protect themselves and those the law refused to protect.”
“But you take lives.”
“I’ve never taken a life that wasn’t deserving of it.
My family has taken down pedophile rings, human, and organ traffickers.
We’ve saved thousands of men, women, and children from violent deaths and horrible abuse.
I’m not ashamed of that, and I will never regret anything I’ve done during my time with the organization.
That nigga that touched you at the party, .
. . I handled that. Not just because of you, but because he had a history of assaulting women, and he needed to go. ”
“You . . . you killed him?”
I nodded. She was quiet as she stared at me with an unreadable expression.
“How-how long have you been doing this?”
“I started officially training at eighteen, but my pops taught us shit my entire life. We can’t officially join until we’re twenty-one.
” I looked away from her. “After we broke up, I begged my father to let me in early. I needed something to take my mind off the hurt. School was a distraction, but this was an outlet. I could channel my anger into doing something for a cause.”
She swallowed hard. “This is a lot to take in. I mean a whole lot.”
“I know. Honestly, I wanted to hold on to it until I found the right time to tell you, but there’s never a right time for something like this.”
“I guess we both kept secrets.”
“I guess so.”
There was an awkward silence between us. I didn’t know what to say, and I could tell she didn’t either. We’d finally bared it all. There weren’t any other secrets between us at this point, . . . at least not on my end.
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” she said quietly. “Walking away from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I thought I was protecting myself and then our child from a fate like mine. I was operating in fear, and I should have talked to you.”
“Knowing what you know now, . . . are you gonna take her away from me again? I’m a dangerous man, but I’m no danger to her. I love her, Neha. Now that she’s here, I can’t go the rest of my life without her. That would fucking kill me. I can’t live without my kids.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I don’t like it, but I won’t take her from you again.
I know you love her, and it’s very clear that she loves you too.
My intent was never to be selfish. It was only to protect her the way my mother couldn’t protect me or Dinah.
She tried, but you don’t know what it was like in that house.
I was in therapy for years following the abuse. ”
“I just wish you’d talked to me. We used to talk about everything. I would have carried that pain with you, Neha. I was your man, and it was my job to make sure you were safe, . . . even from me.”
She hung her head and played with her nails. “I know.”
“What the hell are you doing here anyway?”
She sighed. “I lost my job back home. My supervisor recommended me for my current position. It paid more, and I still got to do what I loved, but I had to relocate. So I packed up, moved here with Nayelli and my sister, bought a house, and started over. I knew it was a risk knowing that this was your hometown, but I didn’t know if you were still here.
Honestly, I needed this job, so I just told myself I’d deal with it if our paths crossed.
When I didn’t see you, I thought I was in the clear. ”
I chuckled. “Then you almost backed into me. You jumped out of that car like you were gonna do some shit.”
She giggled. “I was about to curse you out. You saw me back out and kept driving.”
“You saw me driving and kept backing out.”
We stared at each other for a moment before sharing a laugh. The tension between us felt like it was lifting.
“I’ve missed that,” I said, cupping her chin.
She swallowed hard. “What?”
“Your smile, . . . your laugh. You still toss your head back and cackle like a damn duck?”
She swatted my hand away. “Don’t play with me. I don’t sound like a duck.”
“Just quacking and shit.”
I imitated her laugh, causing her to playfully shove me. “Stop!”
“You know it’s true.”
She mushed my head. “You still inhale your food like you haven’t eaten in months?’
“I’m a big man, and I love to eat. If the shit is good, I’m not gonna fuck around with it. Aye, you still make that lemon blueberry loaf?”
“You remember that? God, I haven’t made that in years.”
“I’m gonna need one of those. KJ needs to experience that.”
“Sure, blame it on the baby.” Her smile softened. “I would have told you if you were speaking to me, but he’s beautiful, Kerrion. He’s practically your twin.”
I smiled. “That’s my lil’ hitta. They say you don’t know unconditional love until you have a kid, and damn, that shit is true.”
She nodded. “That’s the truth.”
“You did a great job with Nayelli. She’s a good kid. Sweet as can be.”
Neha scoffed. “She’s a sour patch. When I stopped her from coming to the academy, she basically gave me the silent treatment.
Now that wasn’t the reason I let her come back.
I did it because I knew how important making friends is for her.
” She turned up her lip at me. “So much so that somebody had to send their little brother to make nice with his niece.”
I chuckled. “It worked out, didn’t it? I know he’s upstairs talking her ear off about that damn anime. He was wearing a cape, wasn’t he?”
She laughed. “He was wearing a cape.”
“Lil’ nigga thinks he can fly and shit. He slept at my house one night and was jumping off every surface he could climb on. I just let him have it ’cause if he broke a bone, he knew better than to cry ’cause he wasn’t supposed to have his ass up there.”
“Don’t do that baby like that.”
“You say that because you don’t know him.”
“I mean, I don’t know any of your family. Jaiden wasn’t even born when we were dating, and Emmy looks like she was a surprise with her cute self.”
“She was, and I don’t let my mama or Hershel live it down.”
“I see many towel whuppings in your past, present, and future.”
“Shit, me too. I live to get on her nerves.”
The sound of my phone going off alerted me to the group chat with my siblings. It most likely meant we had a mission. Pulling it out, I confirmed just that.
I sighed. “I uh . . . I gotta go. Family business.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m glad we had this talk. I feel much better. Again, I’m sorry.”
“We cool for now.”
I stood from the swing and reached for her hand to help her up. When her palm met mine, I felt a little spark ignite. She must have felt it too, because she looked up at me with questioning eyes. I gently rubbed the back of her hand with the pad of my thumb.
“I’ll let you know when I’m coming by from now on,” I said.
“I appreciate that.”
I hesitated for a moment before pulling her in for a hug.
The moment she returned it, the feeling of her in my arms became all too familiar.
I’d missed her softness. The scent of her.
The feel of her. Her short ass only came to my chest, but she’d always given the best hugs.
As we pulled away, we both paused briefly, staring into each other’s eyes.
It took everything in me not to kiss her in this moment.
“You should probably go,” she whispered, squeezing my arms. “You wouldn’t want to miss anything important.”
“Right.” I released her and stepped back. “I’ll walk you inside.”
We walked back into the house in silence. I collected KJ, who was perched on my mama’s hip while she made lunch.
“I gotta go, Ma. Y’all be easy.”
“Okay, baby. Be safe. I love you.”
“I love you too.” When I left her side, I walked over to Neha and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you.”
She smiled softly. “See you.”
I didn’t miss the smirk on my mama’s face as she watched the interaction. There was no doubt we’d be talking about that later.