“PRIME!”
I felt her tighten around me, her whole body shaking as she came. I followed right after, burying myself deep, letting go with a groan that came from somewhere primal.
For a long moment, we didn’t move. Just stayed there, connected, breathing hard, sweat cooling on our skin.
Then I pulled out carefully and collapsed beside her on the bed. Gathered her into my arms, her back against my chest, my face buried in her neck.
“I got you,” I murmured against her skin. “You hear me? Whatever comes next, I got you.”
She was crying again. Soft, quiet tears I could feel against my arm.
“I don’t deserve you,” she whispered.
“Maybe not.” I kissed her shoulder. “But you got me anyway. And I ain’t going nowhere.”
We laid there in the dark, tangled up in each other, until her breathing evened out and she fell asleep in my arms.
I stayed awake longer. Watching the city lights move across the ceiling. Running through everything in my head.
Zoo out there hunting for his son’s killer.
Meech getting released in three weeks.
Rashid coming back from Brazil with questions I wasn’t ready to answer.
And Shamir Ali. That bitch-ass nigga, somewhere out there, still breathing when he had no right to.
I’d handle all of it. Every threat. Every enemy. Every obstacle standing between Zainab and the peace she deserved.
That’s what you did for a goddess.
7
ZAINAB
Monday morning came way too fast. I woke up tangled in Prime’s sheets, his arm heavy across my waist, the Potomac glittering outside those ridiculous floor-to-ceiling windows like everything was sweet. Like we wasn’t in the middle of a whole entire mess. Like I hadn’t just trauma-dumped a decade of my life on this man and he’d somehow decided to stay anyway.
Make it make sense.
For a few minutes, I just laid there. Let myself breathe. Let myself feel safe, even though I knew it was probably temporary. Nothing good in my life ever lasted. That was just facts.
Then Prime stirred beside me, his arm tightening around my waist before he pressed a kiss to my shoulder.
“You up?” His voice was all rough and gravelly with sleep and Lord, this man was gonna be the death of me.
“Yeah.”
“Stop thinking so loud. I can hear it from here.”
I almost smiled. Almost. “I’m not thinking.”
“You a lie and you know it.” He shifted, propping himself up on one elbow to look down at me. Those glistening eyes still did something to my insides every single time. It was annoying, honestly. “What’s going on in that head?”
“Everything. Nothing.” I shrugged against the pillow. “Just… Monday. Real life. All that.”
“Monday,” he repeated, like the word personally offended him. “Yeah. We gotta get back to the regular. Keep up appearances and all that.”
“I know.”
