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“Kenya told my mother we knew about the coke.” I watched the easy way he inhaled me from his fingers and my thighs ached to climb on top of him and ride him into the fucking sunset.
“So she ran,” he mused.
“Yup. Coward. Whatever little respect I had for her is gone. She knew she was offering me up to the wolves by having me attempt to hit Junior. I still don’t know how the hell he managed to move in time. It’s been fucking with me in the background of everything else going on.”
“You think someone knew what was happening and told him?” Bakari asked me.
“I mean, that’s a possibility but who? And how?” I touched the irritated spot under my chin where the gun had been and felt raised welts on my skin.
“Sorry about that.” He was on his feet, brushing my hand away with gentle fingers. He gripped my jaw and tipped my head so he could get a better look at my chin. “Let me fix it.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a first-aid kit. My heart seemed to pound faster when he was being gentle than when he was being rough.
I watched him clean his hands with sanitizer before cracking open some kind of ointment and squeezing a pea-sized amount onto his finger. He rubbed it in then examined me again. “It won’t scar.”
“Thank you, Dr. Breeze.” I laughed a little. “You give all the women you fuck gun scrapes?”
“Only the lucky ones.”
I rolled my eyes in response and it made him laugh. It was a bright laugh, even though it was fleeting. I knew how much energy that must have taken. “Anyway,” I sighed, shoving him playfully. “My father has come to sort of an acceptance about what has to happen with my mother. I think he wants to do it himself but he hasn’t said anything official.”
“And how do you feel about that?” He sat down, locking his fingers behind his head as he watched me. Even though I knew he was in pain, there was still a cool and easy energy about him that pulled me in.
I shrugged my shoulders at his question, not wanting to examine my feelings too deeply, especially when it dealt with Mother. “It is what it is,” I told Bakari.
“It is what it is? You’re talking about killing your mother, not someone messing up your order at Starbucks, Sanai.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk.
“I know! I just don’t want to think about it until after it’s done.”
“Fair enough,” he answered, holding his hands palms out. “Is your father going to be the one looking for her, too?”
“Yeah. He told the rest of us to keep our cover tighter than ever.”
“What about Kenya?” The mention of her name made his jaw flex with annoyance. I was starting to see all the little quirks and nuances that made Bakari who he was. His need to be in control. The way he had to know everything about any given situation. How deeply he loved and protected his family. How easily it was to get under his skin.
“He dismissed her from the meeting. She’s not allowed to follow the mission.” He lifted his dark eyebrows just the slightest bit and flared his nostrils along with it.
“Just like that?” he huffed. “What if she finds your mother and continues to warn her or even worse…help her?”
“It’s a possibility,” I answered honestly. Now I was getting irritated. Not with Bakari, though; he was asking the right questions. I was getting annoyed with the sloppy way my family planned to handle this shit. Father should have put me on the hunt for Mother. I should have been the one to kill her. There would be no conflict of interest because we never had a close bond. “But more than likely, Mother isn’t going to tell anyone where she is unless they’re high on her payroll.”
“So, security and whoever her right hand is. Right?” I crossed my legs and nodded, swinging my foot back and forth. I could already see where his head was at. “You know who her personal security is?” he asked, tilting his head to one side.
“I do. I don’t know how to get in contact with him, though. I’m sure my father does.”
“Well, if you wanted to get at this motherfucker without your father’s help, how would you do it?”
“Ask around but you know I can’t just go to anyone for information. Especially in this situation, Bakari. If any of our clients, past or present find out that my mother has gone rogue and split from the business, it makes us look unstable. We have a bigger likelihood of being targeted if people think we’re weak.”
“And if you ask anyone in Bellmore, your entire family’s cover will be blown,” he said, finishing my thought. I nodded at him and he pushed out a breath, shaking his head. “You do realize though, you’re no longer in the Sinclair family business?”
“Shit. I’m not, huh? I’m over here talking about us this and we that and my own mother kicked me out.” I rubbed my forehead and let my eyes focus on Bakari’s face. His smooth, dark skin and the way his simple gold chain shone against his mocha tone. There was something about a man in a gold chain that did it for me.
“How do you want to handle this, Sanai? Not what your father wants or your siblings…but you, baby girl.” He slid a hand up my thigh and I shivered on the inside. It didn’t help that his voice was like silk when he called me baby girl.
“I want to find her myself and kill her. Partially to stop her from destroying the Temple and partially to free myself of her never-ending toxicity. I can’t do that without exposing my entire family, though.”
“Let me help.” His words halted every other thought in my head. I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand how the hell he could help me with this.
“How?” I managed to say quietly, shaking my head.
