She huffed a breath and turned to stare at the ceiling, contemplating if accepting one last proposition from him was worth it. Kennedy had intended to ride it out until his sentence for retaliatory reasons of her own, but to find out he desired that very thing turned the situation into a catch twenty-two. Relic had predetermined her move before she played it and adjusted it, so neither would win or lose.
He was over the power struggle, and refused to risk hating her when the dust settled, so he offered a draw. A stalemate.
“You asked what I need,” she reminded in a sluggish tone before she yawned. Relic’s lids settled into skeptical slits as he scratched his chin stubble.
“I did. Are you going to give me a real answer?”
“I need you to take care of the bitch who broke in my apartment with Lomar.”
Relic cocked his head, unsure of whether he was more shocked at her demand or that she’d withheld the identity of the second robber from the detectives.
“So, you know who it was? I saw her. She drove past me and pulled off her mask when I was speeding in. Show me her picture to see if it’s who you think.”
“I don’t have to show you shit ‘cause I know for a fact it was Ronnie. I worked with the bitch at Mya’s salon, but I didn’t catch her voice right away because I was too busy trying to think of people you know. It clicked after a while when I remembered Lomar claiming that he didn’t know her like that, but she does his sister’s hair. Then, he started to run his mouth, and I knew for sure.”
“Running his mouth about what?”
Kennedy realized then; the liquor was causing her to have loose lips, and she’d almost slipped up around Relic for a second time. Comparing him to Ezekiel was her first mistake. She stood and stepped out the bathtub, tracking water on his floor like he told her not to as she headed for the shower.
“He didn’t say anything worth repeating. A bunch of bullshit about why he did it, but I’m sure you know it all,” she jabbed, checking the water temperature before facing him. “So?”
“I’ll take care of it, Kennedy. Once Drish—”
“You,” she asserted with a stern tone and stoned eyes he’d give her when dead set on his approach. “I didn’t ask Drish. You protect me, right?”
Relic’s mouth quirked at her using his declaration to challenge him. Even while going through the motions, she had been smart enough to figure out a way to test him and make him prove where his loyalty lied like he’d done her. A small part of him was impressed. The rest of Relic grew curious of what else she’d planned from the moment he’d walked into her apartment and showed his hand.
“You intentionally didn’t tell the police you knew the other intruder,” he deduced as she took a washcloth from his towel rack and pretended not to hear him.
“Until you figure out if you’re willing to do that small thing for me, I’ll be at my parents’ house. I need a peace of mind and space from you.”
“Space from me, or closure with that nigga?”
Kennedy stepped into the shower and closed the door as if she didn’t hear him for the second time, and Relic got up with his jaws locked so tight that his teeth could crack. He shut off his power jets and drained the tub water while tamping down the erratic thoughts flashing into his mind about Kennedy with another nigga who wasn’t him. The same one who’d taught her the rules of the game, showed her how to fuck and suck the life out of him, and held the title of her first love.
His fingers clamped around the tub’s edge as he came to a gut churning conclusion that made him add a nigga’s name he hardly knew onto a list that’d remained blank for most of his life, besides Los and his brother. Kennedy had forced him to add Ezekiel to the list of men he deemed as competition.
That alone toyed with his bruised ego to the point, he took off his boxers and joined Kennedy in the shower. His presence caused her eyes to balloon, startled, and he knew it was for the very reason he’d never done the act—it was intimate, and intimacy was a quality he lacked besides in bed with women who could tolerate his sex drive. Off the top of his head, he only recalled two. Jessica, after she’d let the streets turn her into a trick, and his favorite distraction that didn’t know what she’d gotten herself into by dealing with him.
Larenn.
Relic didn’t give her time to interrogate him before he guided her backward until her body was flush against the frosted glass. Her sultry eyes mugged him with the lustful kind of contact that bricked up his dick as he palmed both hands onto the glass, trapping her between them.
“Remember what I told you, Kennedy. While you’re at home, prancing around in a nigga’s face, don’t make me regret pulling you into the fold. It’s either us or them, so choose us.”
“Who said I wanted into the fold?” she retorted with a curt tilt of her head. “I don’t recall accepting or agreeing to your terms and conditions, Relic.”
“Every time you rode my goddamn dick... every time you begged me to nut in you, you accepted my terms and conditions, baby. It was a verbal agreement.”
“Ha! So, that’s what your twisted ass mind assumed? My momma warned me to be careful who I give my pussy to because niggas are crazy these days.”
“She didn’t tell one lie, Larenn. Now, look at what it got you. Stuck with a crazy ass nigga like me. Maybe you do need time away to think about how bad you fucked up by giving me that pussy. You can go, but let me give you a parting gift first.”
“I don’t want shit from—mmm, fuck,” she hissed out when Relic lowered his head, sucking her sensitive nipple into his mouth. His thick fingers dipped between her slit, and Kennedy couldn’t do shit but shut the fuck up and let him please her.
Her eyes rolled upward as her clit distended against his strumming thumb, while her nipples hardened to the point of aching. His tongue lapped at it soothingly before his lips tugged and nibbled, causing her anxious walls to thrum for a dick she didn’t need. A dick that would cloud her head and drill so deep, it’d glitch her brain and cause her temporary amnesia to the heinous acts he committed. Her hand landed atop his head, pressing him downward because she fucking craved Relic in whatever capacity she could sanely bear.
Relic didn’t miss a beat, kneeling on one leg to dive face first between her warm thighs. She gripped the back of his head once he lifted her leg to hook over a shoulder, gaining better access to her pulsing clit that he latched his full lips around with a groan of satisfaction. Her stomach lurched as he sucked with the perfect amount of pressure while his hand planted a firm smack on her ass before his fingers sank so deep in it, his nailspunctured her soft skin. Relic used his free hand to glide two fingers inside her wet hole straight to her spot, and Kennedy hiccupped a breath. She couldn’t decide whether to shove him away or accept the fact; her pussy was as traitorous as her heart.
