“Why her?”
Corleon looked between us both and stood up. “I’m about to go find sexy… where she at?”
Me and Menace were in a stare down, and he never broke eye contact. “In her office upstairs.”
“Only time he holds eye contact… when it comes to those Caselli brats,” he snickered, and left us to speak.
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Menace removed himself from behind his desk. He sat where Core had been sitting, and sat leaned forward, his hands clasped together.
There was a shift in his body language. Like this conversation scared him, but he knew he had to have it. “Easier when she running around disobeying my wishes, G.”
I leaned forward. “You want my why?”
“Yeah.”
Looking up from my hands, our eyes met.
“’Cause I’m in love with your sister. I don’t even know her whole story, but I know pain when I see it. She’s been without love for so long, she doesn’t even recognize it when it’s standing right in front of her. She pushes me away because she believes she safe without it.”
Menace was listening. I was never sure if this nigga listened to half the shit anyone said, but in this moment, he was locked in on every word that left my mouth.
This was less about him, but this was about his sister. Someone that he loved and only wanted the best for.
I leaned forward, my voice calm and steady.
“I wanna love the shit out of her, Mens. Show her that all that weak shit she used to settle for was beneath her. I wanna put her so high up, niggas gotta break their necks just to look at her. To me, she’s untouchable. Unreachable. I want to give her the world, nigga. Spoil her, protect her, and let her know I’m not one of those from her past. Difference between them and me, I’m not allowing her to run me off because of fear. At the end of this, I wanna see you walk her down the aisle to me.”
Menace stared at me for a long minute; his jaw was tight. I could see him fighting with himself. He was studying me, to see if I was just chatting or I meant every word.
“She’s been in love before, G.” His voice was low, controlled, as he started to rub his hands together. “A nigga claimed to loveher, swore he would treat her right, and he tried to snake her in the worst way… ruin her.”
I didn’t need to say anything. Like he allowed me to speak, I gave him that same respect. This wasn’t easy for him, and I could tell because he had gone through every emotion.
It wasn’t just the emotions of a big brother. These were emotions that a father went through, knowing he had to let his little girl go out into the world. Handing her into a world full of wolves that would take advantage of her.
He took a deep breath, running his hand down his face, then looked me dead in the eye. “She don’t need no more broken promises, G. So, if you gon’ step to her, make sure you ready to stay.” He finally released his hands from each other and leaned back. “We’re used to people leaving… counting us out. We’re not easy, I can tell you that.”
“I’m already knowing.”
Menace screwed his face up. “You said we don’t deserve love, Greg?”
I ignored him and stared at him. “Chill the fuck out… I’m already knowing the challenge that I have ahead of me.” I shook my head.
“If you hurt her, I’m not talking… I never do when my mind is made up.”
A smirk tugged at my lips. “That’s fair.”
We both sat across from each other with an understanding. We both knew what it meant to protect the same woman, just in different ways.
I wanted to protect her heart and make her into the woman I knew she wanted to be. No matter how much she claimed that independent woman role, every independent woman wanted to be babied.
She wanted to have someone to lead her.
Make decisions for her when her brain was too tired. Know what she wanted before she could even verbally say those words.
Zoya was tired of coming home to a house with just Bando. She wanted to be in a home where she was loved and cherished. But she was too scared to give in and trust. Too scared that she would make a big mistake, like she did with Sigel.
