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“I did actually. Her response was as to be expected.Andshe wanted to know your reaction.”
That resonated with me. Celestine was a spiteful woman. Somehow she remembered me, too. It was obvious to me that her husband had possibly told her what he’d done back then when I was on trial. But she knew who I was and, apparently, my past didn’t alarm her with concern. But she knew it would Ashira’s father. Shit was crazy.
Witherspoon walked out of the room shoulders first with his head low. The room went silent until he turned the corner.
“Holy shit! A baby?” Noelle whispered hard.
“Excuse me, young lady?” Kimberly chastised her. “Did you forget I was here?”
“I’m sorry, Auntie!” Noelle slapped her forehead. “I did.”
“I’m going to see Jas off. I know you two want to discuss this more, but there’s no need to keep him around.”
Shit!Those words cut like knives. I was invited only for a portion of the announcement. Now, following her out, I felt discarded, rejected as Ashira claimed I’d done to her months ago. The shit hurt bad.
Back in the foyer, at the front door, she turned to me, head angled with a big smile I couldn’t decipher.
“That was weird.” When I didn’t respond, her beam faded. “I did the best I could. My family needed to know no matter how ugly this all is.”
“I’m sorry. I swear to you I’m sorry you’re in a situation you don’t want to be in.” But I had no regrets. “I didn’t mean to connect with you. You weren’t on my radar. I didn’t know I’d be a part of any acquisition outside ofRizzo’s Custom Homes. But on my list was to dominate the building industry and while getting to know you, I acted on the opportunity.”
“Yeah.” She sucked in a breath, shaking her head. “I was an accidental casualty, I get it. Better a random loss than an unknowing target. But then, at least if I was a target, I’d know for sure I’d satisfied you in some way.” Her giggle was disingenuous as hell, but I knew it was simply her poker face.
You needed one to thrive the way she had in business and to be in a relationship with a public figure. That meant I was on the outside now.
“I’m here for you any day, at any hour. You know that. Right?”
She nodded then cleared her throat and straightened in stance. “I’ll keep you abreast on the doctor’s visits.” Ashira scoffed, rolling her eyes. “This goodbye sounds…crazy!” She laughed, obviously sad.
“Because ain’t no goodbyes between soulmates. And that’s what you are for me, Shira. You’re my one.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Jas—”
“One thing.”
“What?”
It pained me to be so harsh, so direct. I shook my head, staring straight into her beautiful brown eyes. “I know you have an active social life. And I even know I can’t control who you spend ya time with, but you can’t fuck another man.”
Her eyes blossomed wide then forehead wrinkled. “Excuse—Jas you don’t control my body.”
“Your pussy—every sexual organ—ain’t negotiable, Ashira. I know you don’t know the old me. You only know what I’ve evolved to, but I swear on everything holy that when it comes to your body—even outside of the safety of my child—I’ll risk it all.” I nodded. “I’ll go back in. And I ain’t trying to be vague at all with my words. Ashira,” I rocked my head slowly, left to right. “Another man will never know what you feel or taste like. Ever.”
She didn’t speak at first. Her eyes bounced between mine, chin lifted to see me clearly. I meant every word I said and even those I didn’t. It wasn’t my attempt to scare her, but Ashira needed to know what the stakes were.
“And there it is.” A tear ran down her cheek. Again. Then the other.
“There’s what?”
“That storm deep in your eyes you fight to hide. The sinister in your aura you manage to temper well. Even after seeing you strangle a man inches from his death, I stupidly didn’t make the connection.” She whispered, spooked, “You’re a murderer.”
“I was and, with as deep in as I am with you about to be the mother of my child, I know I can find it in me to be it again.”
Her shoulders jerked as her face folded with streams of tears. It was as if her spine shivered with fear. If that’s what Ashira Witherspoon needed to understand how serious I was, I wouldn’t fight off a brief reveal of the monster.
Her belly jerked as she cried silently. “What’s your name?” she whispered so low I wouldn’t have caught on to the words if I wasn’t so familiar with the fucking question.
Escaping the sight of my world—my fucking world—on fire before me, all I could return was, “Say the fuck less.” I stepped around her for the door, closing it behind me.
