“My point, Kennedy. It’s quiet, and so is my fucking head. You know, I can tell you almost every conversation we had at the table tonight? I can tell you what I ate. I can tell you who got the most drunk, and who will be getting fucked or fussed out. If you didn’t know, my brother is the one who ain’t getting no pussy tonight.”
“Because you snitched on him!” she shouted but then chuckled. A soft smile graced her face before she told him, “I get where you’re going.”
“Good, because for the first time in I don’t know how long, I was present. I didn’t check my watch, I didn’t zone out to where I ain’t know what the hell was going on, and I didn’t have to look over my shoulder or wonder if today was the day I’d fucking die or get picked up. I don’t give a damn if they fuck Aura in every hole and dump her ass in a ditch somewhere. I’m not leaving until I said I was. Shit, I might hang around a bit longer.”
With that, Relic stood from the chaise, extinguishing the tip of his cigar in the ashtray before he padded toward the pool. Kennedy studied his every step, mesmerized by his gait that held a giant’s presence and screamed he was a top dog who didn’t care about the peasants beneath him if they weren’t his people. If his energy didn’t give that vibe alone, Relic declaring he didn’t care whether Aura lived or died damn sure did.
As much as that truth should’ve jolted her, or sent her running for the hills, it did neither since she’d grown used to the nefarious man who stood feet away, shoving down his boxer briefs before he dove into the neon blue, LED lit pool as naked as the day he was born. Kennedy decided at that moment; he was right. She was just as twisted as him because the last thing she saw while staring at Relic was a villain or the monster he had been painted as to the world. Fear didn’t overcome her because she saw a man who was just as vulnerable as anyone, given the right circumstances or the right person to bring it out of him.
Her eyes tracked him as he lapped the pool twice and then broke the surface to swim over to her. Relic mopped a hand down his face as he floated in front of her, bracing his palm on her bare thigh as he stared at with a corner of his mouth quirked.
“Did I give you enough time to figure out a plan that I’d agree with?”
She nodded. “Send the team back. There’ll be way too many eyes on them, and Saucy needs someone there with her before she has a meltdown. But like I said, their nosey ass fans won’t expect to see you yet, so no one will check if you’re back or not. Titan and Shabu aren’t connected to the label, so—”
“My brothers and their women can stay with us,” he finished, tossing his hands up like she’d made a field goal. “And that’s why you’re big dog muthafuckin’ Kennedy. I guess you can put them on the PJ for the inconvenience.”
“So, that’s settled, but you can’t stay longer than we’d planned. It’ll mean she’s held more time because you need to be the first person seen with her once she’s back. That’s when people will have their eyes on you the most.”
“Oh, now you understand that?”
“I never said I didn’t, but I didn’t appreciate how you said the shit and then gave stipulations like my pussy isn’t the one you’re actually sliding in. You pissed me off.”
“When do I not, Kennedy? Are you ever happy when you’re with me?”
Kennedy opened her mouth to pop shit back but then shut it as her face fell flat. A dry chuckle spilled from Relic before he swiped her phone out of her hand to sit it beside the pool.
“That’s what I thought. Take off your bra and panties, and get in here.”
Her face twisted up, and she peered around like there wasn’t a way in hell that he was talking to her. She jutted a finger at her chest.
“Me? ‘Cause if you think for a second I’m about to get in that deep ass pool, you’re out of your fucking mind. We can go to the three feet.”
“There is no damn three feet. It starts at five. What the hell are you afraid of when I’m right here? You don’t trust me?”
“Fuuuck, no!” she dragged, making his head fall back in a hearty laugh that put a stirring in her belly. “Hell, you might try to drown my ass if I get in there.”
“The only thing I’m trying to drown is my dick in that wet ass pussy, and I don’t want to hear shit about us being partners either. We’re alone, which means you’re my bitch right now. Get in the damn pool.”
Relic held out his arms like he planned to catch her if she jumped. Her eyes darted to the pool floor and then at Relic’s pellucid eyes that mimicked the water around him. She inched forward but then stalled with her heart racing, making his pearly whites pop out at her bitching up about a little water. When she tried to retreat, he lunged forward to grip her waist and dragged her off the edge.
Coolness shocked her nervous system when the water inhaled her, causing her heart to palpitate before it spit her back out like she was the nastiest thing it’d tasted. Her feet flailed to stay afloat, and she gasped deep breaths, while a laughing Relic circled his arm around her waist to pull her against his chest.
“Relax. You look goofy as hell, doing all that moving and going nowhere.”
“I can’t breathe!”
“How in the hell can’t you breathe when you’re above water, Kennedy? I’m about to let you go if—”
“Okay!” she whined, hooking an arm around his neck to cling to him as he wiped the water off her face.
Relic backed her into the wall, sandwiching her shaky body between it and him so that she’d feel more secure.
“Better?” he asked, and she frowned but bobbed her head.
“Relic, I swear, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life if I drown. I am fucking terrified that my feet are not touching the bottom, so this is as trusting as I can get. Don’t fuck it up.”
“I got you. Contrary to what’s in that head of yours, I don’t want to hurt you. I told you that before.”
