AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mother had to die.
Before we all left the church, Father pulled me aside and said, “Sanai, I know you’re close to Dr. Breeze, but I don’t want you being seen around town with him. Your mother is out there somewhere, and I know for a second that she didn’t forget about whatever her plans are. That means she still wants Breeze’s head on a fucking platter. I don’t want you taking the hit for him like his friend did.”
His words were cold but underneath it all was some kind of warmth for me. Some kind of flickering concern that made its way to his brown eyes. I nodded my head curtly then left the church.
I knew he said he didn’t want me around town with Bakari but showing up at the Temple to talk to him wasn’t exactly being seen with him. What happened in the Temple, stayed in the Temple. I just had to make sure that none of Junior’s men came by and saw me in there. We’d never had to cross paths before but with everything going on, there was no telling when or if our paths would cross. I couldn’t risk blowing my cover with Mother out there like a fucking loose cannon.
On my way to the Temple, my phone rang and Daniel’s name flashed across the screen on my dashboard. I slapped on a phony smile and answered his call so nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Daniel, hey,” I said, trying to sound chipper.
“What’s up, sweetheart? You free for lunch later on? I just want to take you out and make sure you’re good after what happened on our date last night.” I hit the brakes as I came to a red light and nibbled on my bottom lip.
“Lunch today? I have some church stuff I need to take care of…”
“Oh, damn. Does that mean you can’t grab some food, though?”
“No, it just means I would like to finish my planning without any breaks.” I could see the Temple from the red light and my stomach twisted into thick knots at the thought of seeing Bakari’s face even though I slept at his place.
“My bad. I’m not trying to disturb your flow. Maybe some other time then?” Daniel said. I blinked and nodded my head, focusing on his voice instead of the anticipation of seeing Bakari.
“Yeah, let’s hang out another time. And you’re not disturbing my flow. You make me sound so mean.”
“I don’t know…turning a nigga down for lunch is kinda mean.” He laughed then said, “I’m fucking with you. Get your work done, Sanai. Hit me up later.”
We ended the call just as I pulled into the back parking lot of the Temple. When I walked up to the door, I expected to see Dice’s grim face but he wasn’t there. “Everything good?” Bakari greeted me instead, taking a sweeping glance around the parking lot before yanking me over the threshold and into the holding area.
The astringent smell of cleaning solution stung my nose once the door was shut and locked behind me. “Yeah, I just wanted to check on you and let you know where things are with my family.” I paused, my eyebrows furling together. “Where’s Dice?” I asked.
“Not here. I’m the only one here. Sai and Hakim are at the hospital today. They’ll be here tonight.”
“Bakari, what the fuck? You can’t be here alone. Someone tried to kill you last night.”
“Not someone. Your mother, Sanai.” He took long-legged strides toward the elevator after grabbing a neon yellow tag from the counter in the holding area. We stepped onto the elevator and he handed me the tag.
I examined it, flipping it over in my hand. It read VISITOR in bold capital letters. I rolled my eyes and clipped it to my dress. “You’re the only one here. Why the fuck do I need a visitor’s pass?”
“Because I fucking said so. We still have operational cameras and I need every visitor tracked. Especially a Sinclair.” He shot me a smug look and I sucked in a breath, narrowing my eyes at him.
“I thought you felt differently now.”
“About you. Not the rest of your family and you just came from a meeting with them. How do I know they didn’t convince you to kill me and send you straight here?”
“You don’t know that. But how the hell is this visitor pass stopping any of that from happening?”
“It’s not. It’s just evidence that your ass doesn’t belong here when they review the tape after you shoot me.”
“If I wanted to shoot you, nigga…” I pulled my weapon from the thigh holster fixed to my leg and aimed it at his chest. “You’d be dead.” Bakari chuckled, showing straight white teeth. He nodded, then reached behind his back and pulled his own gun, tucking it under my chin.
“If you wanted to shoot me, then you talk entirely too much to get it done before I lay you out.”
“Wow, right through the skull, huh? Pretty big nuts for a motherfucker who was just spouting passivist bullshit a week ago.” My heartbeat thumped through my tongue which happened to be glued to the roof of my mouth.
Bakari took a step toward me, pressing me against the elevator wall just as we came to a stop on the top floor. He hit the emergency stop button and the elevator jerked, making me stumble against his hard chest, digging the barrel of my pistol into his pectoral muscles.
“You come here to shoot me, Sanai?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow in the most arrogant fucking fashion. It still managed to make me wet as hell, though.
“No,” I answered sheepishly, swallowing back the thick lust rolling over me.
