“How you feeling?” I asked.
“About?”
“Spending time with my family today.”
“I feel good about it honestly. It was nice. Your people are nice and they made me feel real welcome.”
“Good.” I turned away from him and grabbed my washcloth.
“I can see myself hanging out with all of them again.” Asante leaned in and kissed my shoulder then my throat.
“Even better.”
I hadn’t been being overdramatic when I’d said that Asante made me feel safe, protected and secure. I meant that shit. He had a way of caring for me that no one else had ever shown me.
Because of my work I was sure I seemed strong, unapproachable and emotionless but Asante treated me like somehow he needed to care for at all times and not only did I make it my job to treat him the same way but it was healing to something inside of me to feel like I was worth safety and openness.
We showered together then Asante collapsed in bed to get a nap before the night ahead of him. I kissed him goodbye then headed back to the Barron estate where I locked myself in downstairs to do some work on my laptop and go over some security footage and technology to make sure everything was good. I had meetings with Wes and Hawk scheduled so I met up with them and we made notes on a few different things we wanted to switch up. We got together and changed out two of the cameras at the spot then went to the gym as a team for an hour and a half before hitting the gun range just to make sure we weren’t rusty.
After we wrapped up I headed back to the estate one more time to make sure I had given everyone access to the new cameras that needed it.
Knocking sounded throughout the door while I was halfway done and I checked the camera before I buzzed Knight and King in.
“What’s up?” I kept doing what I was doing while Knight collapsed in the seat beside me and King looked around at the different cameras.
“You got a lot of shit to do tonight?”
“Nah. I’m wrapping it up right now.”
“Well, you got plans tonight?” King asked.
“Nah.” I locked my screen and looked over at him. “What do you need me to do?”
“You got time to run me and King through some of the security shit back here?” Knight asked.
My eyebrows automatically fiddled together.
“What?” The word slipped out of me before I could stop it.
“Knight and I talked about the pressure you feel to make sure you’re taking care of everything and everyone and I ain’t fucking with that,” King said simply. “Besides you’ll be wedding planning soon so we want to be able to pick up some of the slack.”
“Oh.” I swallowed and King hit me on the back and collapsed in his own seat. “Knight is a little bit better at technology but I’ll sit in on this and be at the next workout to make sure I know everybody on the security team and am up on the drills.”
“Alright.”
I swallowed and cleared my throat then turned back to my screen. I unlocked it and started from the beginning showing King and Knight how to get to each camera and turn the sound on and off. I broke down who was usually assigned to each room as I went and explained what I usually looked for in each room. Then, I took any questions they had.
Once we finished I expected them to head out but instead Knight sat back in his seat and King sat forward.
“Asante seems like cool people,” King said. “And I appreciate anyone who looks me in my eyes and don’t back down. I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah,” Knight agreed. “And I saw y’all wearing them goofy lil grins while looking at each other.” He smiled. “I like that shit. I like seeing you happy,” he reiterated.
“I am.”
“Good. You deserve that.”
“And uh,” King cleared his throat. “Pops wanted me to let you know he wanted to chop it up with you before you got ready to head out.”
