Chapter 28 HEIR
HEIR
As lunchtime neared, I completed another report and placed it to the side for a second thorough scan I would do later in the day after my eyes rested. Crunching numbers all day was exhausting and sometimes, it left my brain feeling foggier than usual.
Placing my fingers on my temples, I worked them in small circles.
A headache crept on the horizon, and I didn’t have time for it today.
In a few days, DJ would’ve been turning another year old.
With each passing year, I thought I’d get used to not caring about such things.
My father and DJ’s betrayal cut deep, leaving me with lasting scars that seemed to worsen over the years.
Maybe it came with aging. The older I got, the more I hated my father and DJ for what they did.
They stole a piece of you.
Therein was my issue. My father and DJ stole the piece of me that hoped for a love like I witnessed Adir have with Coco and their children.
I was raised around men like him, who doted on their wives and spoiled their children.
Out of all the Bell men, I couldn’t understand why my father and brother were the ones who ended up defecting.
It ate at me so often that sometimes, I consumed myself with the what ifs and whys.
Because of them, I had no chance of having the love I once dreamed of.
My lack of trust in a man would be a complete turn-off and cause more harm than good.
Our relationship wouldn’t last past the bedroom, and who wanted a relationship like that?
Sighing, I wished I could bounce back from the trauma of my past. I was once the woman who talked my mother into moving on with her life and not allowing what my father did to keep her from loving again.
Now, here I was, unable to give myself the same advice.
Iyana’s death seemed to open the wound again, and I didn’t even know her like that.
Just the thought of someone killing and discarding of her the way they did broke my heart.
And, surely, Maja felt the same way. We’d both been through too much.
I choked back tears, hating that I gave any of my energy to the men who broke my heart.
My feelings were all over the place, and I could only contribute it to exhaustion and that time of the month nearing…
Heart stopping in my chest, I snatched my phone off my desk and rifled through the apps for the calendar.
“Oh, no. No, no, no.” I checked last month before skating back to the present. “No!” I panicked just as a light tap sounded at my door.
“Come in…” The words died on my lips as the door opened and Kody walked his fine ass inside my office.
Today, he wore another variation of sage green suit that accented his dazzling eyes. His hair was slicked back and in a low braided bun that sat obediently at the nape of his neck. He looked and smelled expensive. Not to mention, he could’ve just stepped off the most expensive runway.
He didn’t look at me and didn’t speak as he softly closed the door behind himself.
Meanwhile, I was having a panic attack, heart attack, and bowel emptying all at the same time.
He sauntered through my office space, glancing from one end of the wall to the other.
As he moved closer and rounded my desk, my chest grew heavier and my eyes grew wider.
Still, he didn’t look at me. His fingers reached out to run along my neck, something he seemed to enjoy doing.
My body enjoyed the sensation and came alive instantly.
“Hey, mama,” he spoke softly, but his eyes were outside of the window wall, overlooking downtown. His hands found their way inside his pockets, and he just stood there.
Finding my voice, I asked, “What the hell are you doing here?”
His wide shoulders lifted briefly. “You’re ignoring me again, Heir. Give me a minute to relax before we talk.”
Gulping, I watched his back and recalled just how many of his phone calls and messages I’d ignored. There had to be a few dozen. In all fairness, I asked him to leave me alone and he wasn’t taking me seriously. So, technically, me ignoring him was his own fault.
My office door opened again, and I nearly stopped breathing when Poppa walked in.
His face was screwed up, and like Kody, he closed the door behind himself.
Poppa had been so busy with the Bears over this last season that his pop-ups dwindled from daily to whenever he could find time.
He wouldn’t voice it, but I knew he hated being so busy and away from Mama and my brothers so often.
Their love for each other was strong, though, and business nor distance changed that.
Poppa rounded my desk and stood right next to Kody. I nearly hyperventilated at the two standing so close together.
“Adir already paid me a visit,” Kody stated.
“Adir ain’t her father,” Poppa countered.
Kody chuckled. “Almost said something disrespectful.” He peered over his shoulder at me. His green eyes blazed with mischief. “Since my lady is here, I don’t want her to witness who I am should what I had to say offend you.”
“Good thing I’m not easily offended,” Poppa said. “Since you ain’t bold enough to say it, I will. I don’t give a fuck whose nut sac she came from, Heir is my daughter. I’ll kill for her. Any time. For any fuckin’ reason. Tread lightly, nigga.”
Poppa’s eyes never left Kody, and Kody’s eyes remained on Poppa. It felt like the fire of two suns inside my office, and I wasn’t sure how to diffuse the situation. Then, unexpectedly, Kody held out of his hand for Poppa to shake.
“I fuck wit’ you, old man,” he remarked. It seemed like forever before Poppa conceded. He and Kody shook hands, effectively cooling off the burning of both their egos. “Now, is it okay wit’ you if I take my lady to lunch?”
Poppa mugged Kody, who never cracked a smile and watched Poppa’s back as Poppa stormed out of my office.
“Kody!” I snapped, standing from my chair, crisis forgotten. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why the hell would you bring yo’ ass here?”
He turned from the window and tugged at the juncture of my scrub top that rested right above my titties, bringing me closer to him. He smiled, softening his face some.
“You work here, right?” he asked between kissing my parted lips.
“Yes,” I muttered.
“Then, I belong here. You don’t get another chance to ignore me, mamas.”
The look in his eyes told me so. They warned me to take heed.
A few minutes later, we exited Dr. Bell & Associates.
Roy stood by the back passenger door and greeted me as I approached.
Another man stood on the other side of the sedan, who Kody introduced as Dex.
I got inside car and buckled my seatbelt, wondering what the hell I was doing.
I could’ve told Kody no. I could’ve cursed him out. I could’ve—
“We need to talk.”
Kody dashed ice water on my could’ve.
“About what?” I asked as Roy pulled from the curb. Shit, we really did need to talk if my period didn’t show herself soon. The partition went up, separating Roy and Dex from us.
“What’s one of your biggest fears?”
“Not many,” I answered truthfully. Besides getting pregnant by a lunatic. “I hate flying, though.”
“You hate not having control,” he deduced.
“Precisely. There’s just something about falling out of the sky that doesn’t sit right with me.” In fact, my stomach turned just thinking about it.
He chuckled. “Aight, that’s cool. So, you wouldn’t fall out of the sky wit’ me?”
“Hell, nah!” I laughed, and he joined me.
“I’m fuckin’ wit’ you, baby. Tell me something else that you’re afraid of.”
Sighing, I crossed my legs and revealed, “You.”
“The only time you should be afraid of me, is if you cross me. Which brings me to my next point. We gon’ learn to trust each other.”
I snickered. “That’s impossible, Kody. I’m incapable of trusting anyone.”
He smirked. “That’s not true. You trust Cooley and Adir.”
“Yeah, but they’re them.”
Kody unbuttoned his suit jacket and got more comfortable. He placed his large, tattooed emblazoned hand on my crossed thighs and said, “If you are capable of trusting them, then you’re capable of trusting me.”
“Nooo… I’m not.”
“If I’m considering trusting you, you gotta meet me halfway, baby.”
“I said—”
“I know what you said,” he emphasized. “What I’m sayin’ is I get it, aight? Trust ain’t something I have for many either. If it you ain’t the niggas in the front seats, my mama, or Kim, it’s likely I don’t trust yo’ ass.”
“Okay, then,” I replied. “You just proved my point.”
“Nah, the point is, we are capable of trusting. It’s just who we choose to put our trust in, my Heir.”
He stared at me. So intently, I broke eye contact. Still, I felt his eyes staring into the side of my face. His fingers caressed my chin and coaxed me to look at him again.
“You’re beautiful as fuck. I asked you once if you’d let me give a fuck about you. Tell me you will and mean it this time.”
Against everything I felt, his fingers caressing my chin was the only feeling that rang true. I wanted Kody to give a fuck about me. Despite every single misgiving warning me to tell this man no, I couldn’t.
“I will,” I finally confirmed.
He unsnapped my seat belt and murmured, “Come here.”
I climbed into his lap and accepted his mouth against mine. His tongue slipped between my lips and, as he thoroughly kissed me, I held his head steady and kissed him just as passionately.
Forty-five minutes later, after our lunch was served, Kody asked a question that doused gasoline on me and brought me back to reality.
“When was the last meaningful interaction you had wit’ ya father?”
Before I could reign in the look on my face, Kody chuckled.
“Unfortunately, in order for us to venture into this new territory of trust, we gotta lay some old shit to rest.”
“Yeah, but…” I sighed and pushed some food around my plate. My appetite had effectively fled. Going back there was unfamiliar. At all costs, I avoided that shit. Now, here Kody was all but demanding that I open up the flood gates.
“How ‘bout I start,” he offered. “It was a few weeks before I learned of his betrayal. Peru was like a second home to my father. Although he was born and raised in Florida, he loved traveling and Peru just happened to be the place that stuck to him the most. We were there looking at some property that he wanted to move K. M. Liquors and Wine to. Serra da Mantiqueira was exquisite and alluring. However, I wasn’t sold on moving the company. My great-grandfather worked too hard for the business he built. All the land he’d acquired over the years was to expand K.
M. Liquors and Wine, domestically, and not overseas.
” He grinned. “I’m getting off topic. While we were there, my father and I visited this local jewelry boutique.
I can still envision the diamonds on some of the pieces we looked at.
There was this one ring that he picked out, it had to be crafted in heaven or something, it was so magnificent. ”
Kody paused and tapped his fingers against the table. His eyes weren’t on me but on his half-eaten plate. Reflecting on the past seemed to do the same to him that it did to me.
“My father picked out the ring for my mama and had it engraved with only one love. I’ve never considered women in the way my father considered my mama.
He loved her. I asked him what it took to get to that level of love, and his answer was selflessness and patience.
Selflessness because a man is not always right in the way he handles a woman.
It takes putting ya own I don’t do that type of shit to the side, and saying for her, I will.
Patience because women are naturally soft.
Their emotions are naturally gentle. You can’t deal with a woman like you would a nigga off the street, or the next business deal. You handle her with patience.”
His eyes met mine, and in them I saw the selflessness and patience that he’d spoken of. If Kody was capable of sharing his life, I had to try and meet him halfway.
“It was when my parents dropped me off at college.” Giggling, I recalled, “He cried like a baby and begged me to go back home with them.” That was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen my father.
Then, everything inside the dungeon happened.
I still remember how DJ so callously chose his and my father’s life over me and my mother.
“The night he was killed was also meaningful,” I mumbled.
“How so?”
“Adir offered DJ the opportunity to save two people. DJ chose my father and himself. My father never attempted to take up for me and my mother. In fact, he gloated in the fact that DJ chose to save him. Of course, Adir righted their wrongs.” Sighing, I wasn’t expecting to feel lighter, but I did.
“That night is meaningful because it was the night I vowed to never trust a man ever again.”
“But we’re here now,” Kody drawled. “And regardless of what you say, you ain’t goin’ anywhere.” Kody’s ability to be funny with a straight face had really ought to be studied. “When we leave this table, we’re leaving them niggas right here. Agreed?”
I nodded. “Agreed.” It would be hard, but I’d try.
“So, tell me what made you want to be a financial analyst, and I’ll tell you about my third love, winemaking.”
“What are your first two loves?” I questioned, curiously.
“Not what. Who. Charnice and Kimberly McAroy.”
Grinning, I replied, “Oh.”
My shoulders relaxed, and I spent the next ten minutes explaining why I chose to work with numbers. Afterwards, Kody gave me the rundown on winemaking and why he loved it so much. Halfway through him talking, I realized that I could listen to him talk about his love of wine forever.