“Lay it on me.” He could hear the smile in her voice.
After laying a kiss on her head, he said, “I vow to court you and date you every day for the rest of our marriage, God willing it’s for a lifetime, to make up for the things we missed before we got married.”
“I look forward to that.”
Gideon did too. They stayed laid up for a while longer before they got up, got in the shower, went another round, and finally got dressed.
Hand in hand, they walked downstairs. It was like another world down there. There were always people milling about and making a ton of noise. Gideon loved it, but he’d started to wonder if this place was conducive for a married couple. As a bachelor, it had been his home. He was a stray with no family of his own the first time he entered this home. His evil grandmother didn’t count in his mind. When she succumbed toheart failure years ago, it hurt that the last of his bloodline was gone, but that was the extent of his grieving.
Now, though, he wondered if he’d outgrown this home. It felt right to move in here when they remodeled it for the Vicious Kings, since it was the first real home he’d ever known, but he felt something bigger tugging at his heartstrings lately.
He stopped on the last step, which caused Glimmer to stop too. She looked up at him in concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you want to move?”
Her brows knitted together. “What do you mean?”
He looked around. Everyone seemed to be in a bit of a frenzy, but he focused back on Glimmer. “I mean out of the compound. I can find a realtor, and we can look at homes, if you want. Something a little more private.”
It was Glimmer’s turn to look around. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve kind of gotten used to this place.”
The corners of Gideon’s lips turned up slightly. “Think about it.”
She nodded, and he wanted to bend down to kiss her, but Haze appeared before he could.
“Some shit went down last night. We need to call a meeting.” Haze glanced at Glimmer. “No queens allowed. Sorry, sis.”
“Is everything okay?” Glimmer asked with concern lacing her tone.
Gideon knew Haze wasn’t one to lie, so he simply didn’t answer. He just kissed Glimmer’s cheek and nodded toward upstairs. “Go ’head upstairs. I’ll send the queens up there to keep you company.”
Haze moved toward the meeting room, leaving Gideon and Glimmer alone. He hated the way she looked at him with worry in her eyes. There was never any need for her to worry. As her husband, he would take care of everything for her for the rest of their lives.
Before she could say anything, he leaned down and kissed her. “Everything is good, baby. Relax.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know. Go on upstairs. I’ll order y’all some food. By the time we’re done with the meeting, it’ll be here. Cool?”
She bit her bottom lip but nodded. “Okay.”
He slapped her ass. “Go on.”
Finally, she smiled slightly before she turned and walked back up the stairs. He watched her go before he followed the rest of the Vicious Kings into the meeting room. He tapped on his phone distractedly as he placed an order for breakfast for everyone.
Once everyone was inside, Haze looked directly at Gideon. “We got hit last night after you and Glimmer left.”
The menacing expression that fell onto Gideon’s face chilled the room. He stood up straighter, flexing his full height. “Fuck you mean?”
“Some of Trick’s niggas hit up the bar. It was a whole shootout. All of VK got out okay, but the shit was a mess. A lot of innocent lives were wasted.”
“How you know Trick was behind this shit?” Anger simmered within Gideon. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, probably since Big Henry was murdered. The fact that Trick had the nerve to go up against the Vicious Kings. That was something no nigga had ever done.
“They was loud about the shit. He wanted us to know what was up,” Haze replied, and then he hesitated slightly before he said, “They say there’s a price on Glimmer’s head.”
Gideon’s jaw clenched tightly. “He was there?”
Haze shook his head. “Pussy ass nigga wasn’t even there. We got a few of his men at the warehouse right now, but they ain’t talkin’.”
