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“Watch your mouth, Elle,” Braxton warned as her mother sputtered at Aella’s insult.
“Bitter?”
“Yes, your ears work correctly. I said bitter,” Aella spat before turning back to her sister. “And watch my mouth, or else what, Brax? You’re not going to keep talking to me crazily, and I bite my tongue and let it slide. I’ve tried to build a relationship with you, but you obviously don’t want that, so consider this me verbalizing that, from this moment forward, I don’t want anything to do with you. Stay miserable in your bitter fucking bubble by your damn self. Ma, let’s go.”
And with that, she stormed out of the store, annoyed that she’d ever bothered to try to build a relationship with her middle sister in the first place.
Although he knew it wasn’t real, the sight of seeing Aella tied to a chair with tears trickling down her cheeks nearly sent him into a rage.
“How many more pictures do you need?” he asked Kenyon, as they stood in an empty room in a warehouse they were using for the shoot.
“Enough to send the message,” Kenyon chuckled. “But we’re good. I’ll let you know when the payment hits so you can link with your homegirl. I hope this gets you the resolution you want.”
“Me too,” Cassius agreed, removing the gag from Aella’s mouth.
“Me three,” she frowned. “Because I am not doing this again.”
Chuckling, Kenyon untied her and said his goodbyes before leaving.
“Ugh,” she shuddered. “I’m so glad that’s over with.”
“You did good,” Cassius kissed her temple before leading her out of the room. “I didn’t know you could cry on demand. I need to keep an eye on you.”
“Oh, shut up,” she chuckled, elbowing him in the ribs. “I use my tears for good, not evil. Now, can you stop all this yapping and get me home so I can wash all this stuff off? If anyone sees me, they’re going to think you’re whooping my ass behind closed doors.”
Chuckling, he opened the passenger door for her and closed it once she was inside, before walking around the driver’s side and slipping in.
“You have anything planned for the day?” he asked, looking over at her.
“Nah. I know what we just pulled off was fiction, but I still can’t help but feel… heavy. I just want to chill for the rest of the day.”
“Then chilling is what we’ll do,” he declared.
After they’d made it home and peeled and washed off Aella’s makeup, the two sat on the screened-in porch with a blanket around them and an electric fire pit blazing. Nova rested on the rug next to them, with her head resting on her front paws.
“I don’t think I’ve ever noticed how nice this place is.”
“It is,” Cassius agreed. “It was one of my mom’s apology gifts from my dad. She fell in love with it the minute she saw it, and he bought it for her to get back in her good graces. She camped out here a lot whenever he pissed her off.”
“And she gave it to you?”
“I was only supposed to be here temporarily while I fixed things on the back end with my family. But then you happened, and now here we are. I fully respect it if you want us to find our own spot to start our life in, if that’s what you want, though. Just let me know so we can start looking.”
“Honestly, I’m fine where we are. Things have changed so much lately that I don’t want to jump through the hoop of buying and moving into another house. Maybe in a year or two.”
“Good. ’Cause I was not in the mood to move again,” he admitted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him.
“Then why did you offer?” she snorted.
“Because it’s my job to make whatever you want happen. So if you wanted a new house, then you’d get a new house.”
Lacing her fingers with his, Aella sighed. “You’re always so willing to compromise for me. Do you have any expectations on your end?”
“Just for you to be faithful, loyal, and to lend a listening ear from time to time. I have everything else covered.”
“Damn, let me text my side piece and let him know I can’t see him anymore.”
Cassius looked down at her so quickly that he nearly broke his neck.
