Page 61 of When a Soul Cries

Attraction was one thing. Sol was fine as hell. I’d already established that. But this wasn’t me sitting in my car thinking about her body. I was worried about her.

That was different. And that was what I couldn’t understand.

I looked back toward her apartment one last time. Somewhere behind that door, Sol was trying to figure out how to keep a roof over her child’s head. And I was sitting outside wondering why the hell that felt like my problem.

Finally, I started the engine. This time, I pulled off.

⸻

It was after eleven when I walked through my front door.

I dropped my keys onto the kitchen counter and loosened my tie as I headed for the refrigerator. Normally, coming home to silence was the best part of my day. After hours of contractors calling, employees needing answers, investors asking questions, and grown-ass adults somehow needing me to solve problems they were being paid to solve themselves, quiet felt like a reward.

Tonight it felt like punishment.

I grabbed a bottle of water and checked my phone while twisting the cap loose. Seven emails, three missed calls, one text from Kai, and another email from Hollis Development.

“Of fucking course.”

I opened it before I even made it out of the kitchen.

Another delay. Third fucking time.

The Hollis contract was supposed to be one of the biggest deals Kai and I had landed since building the company. Commercial property, luxury residential, retail—the type of project that put your name in rooms you didn’t have access to before. We had already spent months getting everything lined up, and now that we were close enough to touching the damn thing, they kept moving the finish line.

I dropped onto the couch and called Kai.

He answered with sleep sitting heavy in his voice. “Nigga, somebody better be dead.”

“Check your email. Hollis.”

That woke him up. I heard him moving around, followed by the sound of something hitting the floor and a quiet, “Shit.”

“You good?”

“Shut up.”

A few seconds passed before his voice sharpened. “More revisions? Rome, we already changed this shit.”

“Three times.”

“Nah, they playing with us now.”

“I think they’re talking to another company.”

That took the rest of the sleep out of his voice. He went quiet before letting out a frustrated breath. “You know that for sure?”

“Not yet. But something changed.”

“Aight. We deal with that shit tomorrow.”

“Exactly.”

I thought that would be the end of it. Then Kai chuckled.

I closed my eyes. “What?”

“This about Sol too, ain’t it?”