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“I see,” I murmur. “So, since that didn’t quite work out with Coleman and now everyone is walking a thin line, you want to seal a deal with me and some girl early so it doesn’t happen again.”
My dad chuckles as he shrugs his shoulders. That’s exactly what he’s thinking. “I’m not signing anything,” I say. “Not until I know what I want. I’ve given my life to the family, but marrying someone for the family’s financial gain or whatever the reasoning is, is not part of my deal.”
He doesn’t say anything right away, mainly because he can’t. We finish the car ride in silence, and I pull into my spot at the club, shifting the car intoPark. My dad reaches out and grabs hold of my bicep.
Turning my head, I look over to him. He’s got a very serious, almost grave expression on his face as he speaks. “Sometimes,” he begins, “sometimes, even though it is not exactly what we had envisioned for our future, it ends up being exactly what we needed.”
I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up his hand and shakes his head once. “I am not asking you to give me an answer immediately. I’m just offering this as a viable option. It would alleviate a lot of issues Coleman had with that woman. It would make your life and the family’s a lot easier.”
And at the end of the day, the last sentence is what this is about. It would make the family’s life easier, meaning my father’s. Clearing my throat, I reach for the handle to open the car door. My father releases my arm but continues to hold my gaze with his.
“I’m sure it would make things easier, and I’ll think about it. But I’m with Coleman. I want what I was promised.”
My dad shakes his head twice, then levels me with his gaze again.
“You were promised a virgin bride of your own, a woman to own. A woman who was yours. And only yours. You will still get that. There were no other stipulations to the offer, Wells. All four of the girls in the folder are virgins, and the fathers have signed affidavits that they will stay that way, or the contract will be null and void. And as long as the contracts are met, one will be yours as soon as the ring is slipped on her finger.”
I hate this.
Mainly because my dad has thought of everything, and technically, he is not wrong. Pushing the car door open, I unfold from the vehicle and stand before I turn back toward the car and bend slightly to where my dad is still sitting in the passenger seat, watching me.
“I will think about it. I will read them.”
He dips his chin but doesn’t say anything else, and the conversation is finished. Together, we walk into the club, and he moves toward the uncles while I move toward my brothers. Coleman grunts as soon as I approach.
“It was about me choosing a wife,” I mutter.
“Fuck,” he hisses.
“A wife whose family will be a good asset to ours.”
“Fuck,” he repeats.
That about sums it up.
Fuck.
There’s just no other way around it at this point.
Fuck.
We’re unable to talk about it further, although I don’t know what else needs to or could be said about the situation. It is what it is. I have four teenage girls’ pictures to look at and try to imagine what they’ll look like in five years and if, in five years, I’ll want to marry one and keep her for myself.
No pressure.
“We have a lot to discuss this evening and some decisions to make,” my father announces.
Everybody stops talking and gathers around the table. We have spots designated by our rank. Coleman and I sit together, although one of our cousins is between us because he’s twenty-eight and has been a manager for a year longer than I have.
“Let us begin,” my father calls out, and the meeting officially starts.
PARKER
I’m notsure what I expected for the day, but sitting around feeling extremely anxious and guilty was not at all what I thought it would be like. Not even work can take my mind off my emotions.
With my phone in my hand, I have Doctor Hamilton’s after-hours number ready to go, but I can’t seem to touch the call icon. Staring at it, I wonder what the hell I’m going to tell her? A stranger broke into my place, put his mouth on me, made me come, and now I’m upset about it, but at the time, I was exhilarated.
My condo buzzer sounds, and I jump, my phone flying out of my hand and landing on the rug beside my feet. Standing, I walk over to the buzzer and frown at the sight of Allison standing at the front of the building, holding two packages in her hands.
