Relic huffed because he didn’t believe her as far as he could throw her.
“No.”
Kennedy rounded her eyes before she frowned. “You know, better than anyone, I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”
“So, you hate me, then?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation or grudging when she spoke, and she didn’t have to think twice about it. Relic believed that answer.
“You can hate me, but don’t leave me,” he blurted out before taking his liquor to the head. It did nothing to wash away the unfamiliar taste of swallowing his pride.
Kennedy froze while her traitorous heart caromed off the walls of her chest cavity at his plea. It was bullshit, but it felt good to hear—to believe Relic needed her when they both knew he could move on with life as though she never existed if it boiled down to it.
Her head shook when he grabbed her waist, directing her toward him before placing his bottle on the stairs. He widened his legs and positioned her between them as his penetrating gaze enflamed her insides while his fingers on her skin seared it worse than the fire. Kennedy realized in that moment; she could fail.
If she stayed with Relic for payback, there was a high possibility she could do the unthinkable and fall deeper or lose her sanity and give him the bullet he’d unrighteously earned. Neither option sounded appealing to her.
“Whatever you’re plotting, don’t waste your time or energy. Don’t make me hate you like every other bitch in my life,” Relic told her, clinging to her waist tighter while he stared her dead in the eyes. Kennedy matched his gaze, refusing to fold or to give him an inkling that his on-point assumption rattled her nerves. “I know you’re thinking it because I’d do the same, and if you aren’t, you’re nothing like I thought you were.”
“You’re right. I’m nothing like you thought, Relic. I’m worse.”
“I don’t care. Everything you’re bottling up or feel the need to hide, I accept it. I’ll deal with it if you can stomach me a bit longer.”
Her arms folded across her chest. “So, you want me to stick around even though I hate you? Even though I’ll be using you for whatever you give can me, nine times out of ten.”
“Yes.”
“No. Find a new bitch to do it.”
He’d made her mission far too easy, and nothing was ever easy about Relic Blaise. Alarms blared in her head to wave the white flag while she had time to escape with her dignity and the fractured pieces of her heart that were still intact.
Relic scratched his brow, nodding his understanding since he figured she would oppose him. From her point of view, he was letting her win. He wasn’t challenging her in her eyes, but there wasn’t a damn thing Relic could think of more challenging than putting up with him.
“I understand that you don’t trust me and believe the only thing I do right is ruin shit.”
He parroted her spiteful dig that had carved itself into his brain. It would remain there with his son claiming that he didn’t want to be a dad, or Judith dubbing him a blue-eyed devil.
“You finally see me as the monster I’ve been for quite some time, Larenn, but I was more than that with you...for you. Now, all that I’m asking in return is for you to stick it out another six or so weeks. I’m sure that’s about the time I have left before I’m indicted.”
The reminder of his impending case was like freezing water to the face—shocking her system and rendering her speechless. She shouldn’t care. Hours ago, the idea of Relic behind bars where he’d suffer the dire consequences of his actions aroused her, but hearing it from the horse’s mouth induced an indescribable ache she couldn’t stomach. Her stance was flipflopping faster than she could process her emotions, and she was bordering on shutting down from the overload.
“I can’t do it,” she murmured, prying his hand off her waist to back away. “I need space. I need to get away from you and everything else because I don’t know which way is fucking up at this point.”
“I hear you—”
“You’renothearing me!” she shouted, cutting him off while slapping the back of her hand onto her palm. “I am fed up and past my breaking point, Relic. I’ve been angry since my brother died. Pissed the hell off since finding out the niggas who I believed were his friends didn’t have one loyal bone in their damn bodies. I’ve been hurt to my core since the man I’d let in kicked me to the curb like I wasn’t shit to his ass.
“I can’t describe the stress of taking responsibility for my nephew when I was barely making it through the day. Then, I get here just to end up robbed by one nigga, set up by another, and burned in that fucking—”
She stalled, releasing a stuttered laugh to not lose it as she glanced at her hands before focusing on the mutilated skin that she’d yet to find the beauty of. When she peered at Relic, his eyes were on the same thing, but he tore them away to look at her. She caught the flicker of emotion that passed through his usually impassive eyes, but she didn’t have time to decode it before it was gone.
“What do you need?” he quizzed, and she blinked her shock. “Tell me, and I’ll make it happen, Larenn.”
“I need dry clothes and a shower.”
Relic frowned at her random request but nodded and took her hand. Kennedy was too tired to fight him on it.
