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“Thanks, Dice.” The conversation between the two men ended and Bakari looked at me. “Sit still. Let the local start working. I’ll be back. I’m going to see what this shit at the door is about.”
“You’re leaving me here with a numb thigh? Let me come. Dice has my guns in lock up. I can help.” The thought of shooting one of Junior’s men had me buzzing with anticipation.
“Fuck no. You already missed one nigga tonight. I’m not trying to add to the list. Sit the fuck down. I’ll be back in like ten minutes.”
“What did you say?” I snapped, trying to maneuver to my feet.
“You heard what I said. Is there a fucking problem?”
I didn’t know who he thought he was talking to, but we were about to have a whole problem because I didn’t like his tone. I didn’t like anything about him.
When I hopped up with an oddly tingling thigh, Bakari frowned at me and said, “Sit down, Sanai.” Hearing the way his full lips wrapped around the syllables of my name made my stomach flutter.
“I’m no longer a Temple member. I don’t have to listen to shit you say.” When I breezed by him, I caught a whiff of his scent. It wasn’t overly packed with cologne notes, to my surprise. It was masculine and clean as fuck. Like he’d just taken his clothes out of the dryer.
“Look, don’t make me press into your wound. I don’t like violence but if you don’t follow directions…”
“You don’t like violence? I couldn’t tell the way you grabbed me up in the recovery room.” A fleeting spark danced across his dark orbs. I tried to catch it, but it disappeared too fast.
With an exasperated exhale, he pushed through the door and I was right behind him because he knew there was no fucking way he was going to leave me behind. So, we rushed to the elevator, heading to the check-in door where we ran into Maasai, Dice, and Rob.
On the other side of the thick bullet-proof glass were at least six armed men demanding to see Junior. One of them looked around the three men and right at me. I turned my face slightly, obscuring his view. I didn’t do it because he would have recognized me as Junior’s shooter, but because I didn’t like anyone seeing my face at the Temple. It meant they’d know I was into some kind of illegal shit and my family had worked too hard building our name throughout Illinois to be made like this.
“Why are you here?” Maasai asked me over his shoulder.
“Why not?” I shrugged.
“I tried to tell her ass to stay put but she doesn’t listen,” Bakari growled. “You must want your perfect little church girl cover blown.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I hissed. He was right but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to look at the men who fucked up my hit on Junior in the face. They’d been the ones who helped get him to the safety of the Temple. If he’d been left to die, I wouldn’t be in this fucking situation. My mission would be complete.
“Listen, you’re not coming in here. None of you are injured. Mr. Baptiste is fine. You know the rules. Now back the fuck up before I employ force. Dice asked you motherfuckers nicely,” Maasai said in a voice that seemed to grab the men and give them pause.
“Yo, Hakim,” I heard Bakari say into his watch. “We might have a situation at the Temple. Come through.”
“Bet,” Hakim’s voice responded immediately. Bakari dropped his arm to his side then looked at Dice. “Y'all got this? I have a tattoo I need to remove.”
“Don’t you think this is more pressing?” I asked quietly.
“I think you should have stayed your ass where I put you instead of following me like a hard-headed brat.”
“He’s right, Sanai,” Maasai muttered under his breath. “Unless you want everyone knowing the kind of shit you’re involved in, you should have stayed upstairs.” His scolding ate at me for some reason, but I shoved the feeling away and moved back into the Temple toward the elevator.
When Bakari and I were back in the room with the tattoo chair, and my thigh was numb enough for him to begin cutting, I stared at the top of his head. Immaculate dark waves stared back at me. I watched myself bleed, but I couldn’t feel anything outside of the pressure from Bakari’s scalpel.
“Why didn’t you stay down there with the other guys?” I asked him, feeling the pain medicine creep back in on my consciousness.
“I needed to take care of this,” he answered quietly. His hands were steady, never once shaking or moving when he spoke. It was like they were autonomous pieces of machinery.
“You really don’t like violence, huh?” I quizzed.
“I told you, I don’t. It’s the opposite of what I stand for. How can I save lives and be okay with damaging them, too? Nah. I don’t operate like that.”
“So, is that why you hate me so much? Because I have no problem taking the very lives you work so hard to save?” I didn’t know where the words came from, but I let them live and breathe in the air. It wasn’t like I’d be seeing Bakari around anymore after I was banned from the Temple. We’d have no reason to cross paths. Outside of my kill missions, I worked and lived on the east side of Bellmore. Bakari lived on the west side. The two halves were separated by the North and the South, both of which were overrun with crime and murder. The east and the west sides were where the affluent people of Bellmore resided.
“I hate you because you’re manipulative. It’s a shame, too, because you’re sexy as fuck. I can’t mess with a snake, though.”
“A snake?” I seethed, curling my fingers into my palm. The searing need to hit him ate through my logic. The only reason I didn’t punch him again was because he had a very sharp, very precise blade at my thigh. I was a lot of things but stupid wasn’t one of them.
