“I heard about them, not really interested in seeing the shit.”
“Ducane, this is a mess. She’s talking to everyone.”
“I know, and if you were confused, I don’t give a fuck.”
“Son, Congratulations on your success, but appearances are still just that. We have a name to protect. This is messy.”
“Pops.” I kept my breathing even. “You and Mama picked Bianca. Whatever she’s doing right now, that’s your mess to manage. You know what your best friend raised.”
Silence.
“Is that all you called for?”
“Yeah, your mother is hellbent on defying me and going against my wishes. If you really want to–”
I hung up and hit the shower. I wasn’t tryna hear that shit. I’d earned everything I had, sacrificed, and some more shit. My grandfather had left me all his shares of the law firm, and my mother had forfeited hers to me as well. Ruben couldn’t tell me shit now.
I wished I could say it was worth it, and on most days it was. I had been blessed, become wealthy, and made a name for myself. But it was all at the expense of losing Skye. I’d never forgive my people for that; it didn’t matter how many shares they gave me. They’d robbed me, and I was owed this shit.
This shoulda been Skye and me on some couple shit sliding to an island to celebrate our success, and instead Skye was somewhere on this island right now, unsure about me.
She wasn’t ready to say yes. She wasn’t saying no either.
And being in limbo wasn’t good for me.
By the time I dressed, the decision was already made. I wasn’t going to sit in my villa and wait for noon to take her away from me. I had done enough waiting. Years of waiting.
I called the resort kitchen. Ordered what I knew she liked without thinking, which told me everything about how deeply this woman still lived in me. Then I got Lola to handle the rebooking before the food was ready.
I picked up the tray and walked to her villa in the early morning light, with five days mapped out on my phone and no guarantee she would let me in.
I knocked anyway.
She opened the door in a sleep shirt with her curls everywhere and one eye barely open. She looked at the tray. Then at me.
“Dukeeee, it’s seven in the morning. No way you’re still such an early riser.”
“Seven fifteen.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not getting on that plane.” I held the tray up. “I brought breakfast.”
She looked at me. Then stepped back and held the door open.
“You just couldn’t trust me to stay on my own, could you?” Lips pursed, trying to look annoyed, not quite getting there.
“Skye, don’t get on that bullshit this morning.” I set the tray down and looked at her. “I said what I needed to say. What’s up? You staying or what?”
She looked at the tray. Then at the window. Then back at me with those brown eyes I loved so much, she wanted to fight me, but Skye knew how far she could push me.
“Let me shower first.”
She walked toward the outdoor shower without waiting for a response. I stood in the middle of her villa, understanding that I had just gotten my answer.
The terrace wrapped around the side of the villa where the shower sat open to the morning light. Steam kept most of her hidden and showed just enough to be a problem. A shoulder. Water running down her back. Her hands in her hair. I looked longer than I had any right to.
I turned toward the water and made myself stare at the horizon instead. She hadn’t given me that part of her back yet, and I wasn’t about to take it.
