His touch was still stamped in her muscles.
And the sheets…were warm in a way that meant he had been there, watching her sleep, touching her hair before he left the room.
Meadow rolled onto her side, groaning when her thighs brushed each other.
Lord, he did a number on her – had her aching.
The doorknob twisted.
Before Meadow could hide her entire existence under the comforter, Lesha pushed the door open with her hip, bonnet on, glasses sliding down her nose, and a handful of folded clothes stacked against her chest.
The way this woman walked into a room made Meadow sit up like she got caught stealing.
Lesha glanced around at the room.
At the wet clothes on the floor…at the pole glistening under the small lamp…at the air that still smelled like rain, sex and secrets.
Then her eyes landed on Meadow’s messy hair sticking out the covers.
“Mmhmm,” Lesha pursed her lips, leaning against the doorframe like she was judging the entire scene. “You used the pole, didn’t you?”
Meadow disappeared under the blankets so fast she damn nearly suffocated.
Lesha laughed loud enough to shake dust off the picture frames.
Her bracelets jingled when she talked with her hands. Lesha was so animated. “You ain’t gotta tell me nothin’. I already know.”
She placed the clothes on a chair and put her hands on her hips. “My son got the whole world out here this mornin’ like he the Mayor of Juniper Falls.”
That made Meadow peek out just enough for one eye to show. “What world?”
“Oh, baby.” Lesha walked over and pulled the curtains open before Meadow could stop her. “Go ‘head…look.”
Meadow squinted into the morning light and instantly felt her breath stop.
Trucks…People…Workers moving metal beams across the yard.
A forklift pushing a heavy gate section, Black men in polos carrying blueprints, and True standing in the gravel with sunglasses on, pointing and directing like he knew what he was doing.
A fencing crew dug holes along the property line while a security tech van parked near the hangar and Ray spoke to two men in suits.
Even Magnolia’s old shed had men walking around it, measuring something.
“What…” Meadow whispered. “What is all this?”
Lesha pursed her lips like she’d been waiting to spill the tea. “What this is Zaire makin’ sure don’t nobody ever step foot on this land again without permission.”
Meadow sat up fully, covers dropping to her lap, her breasts exposed. “A fence?”
Remembering, she snatched it back up. Lesha laughed.
“A fence…a gate…cameras and some other fancy shit I can’t even pronounce.” Lesha shrugged. “He calls it a perimeter. I call it ‘my son don’t play ‘bout his girl.’”
Meadow blinked, letting it settle in her mind. Her hand went to her chest because she felt like she was being given new oxygen but at the same time she couldn’t breathe.
“And that’s not even the big part,” Lesha added casually, picking up one of Meadow’s hoodies off the floor and folding it. “His whole team is downstairs right now. Publicists, PR friends, lawyers, some man named Keon or Kion, I don’t know, people who look like they went to them good colleges. All of ‘em trying to figure out how to clap back at that Ertan nigga, how to stop the reporters from showing up again, and how to turn this place into an actual business.”
Meadow shook her head. “A business?” She felt dizzy. It was all so much…happening so fast.
