Hmm…definitely suspicious.
“What the fuck do you two want?”
Um…okay.
Ocean had doted on me so much, I’d almost forgotten how cold he could be.
Whoever was on the other side of the door responded, but they spoke too low for me to hear what was said.
“So your nosy asses couldn’t wait until family dinner?” he returned with a teasing note to his voice. “I was about to get some pussy.”
My face became red hot. “No, you weren’t!” I yelled at his back.
“First of all,ew,” one of the voices on the other side said. “Second of all, move out of the way, fool.”
Ocean was grinning when he stepped back in time to keep from getting smacked in the face with the door as it was shoved open. Two women with perfect hair and makeup and dripping in designer clothing strutted inside on a cloud of perfume and old money. They sure as hell didn’t look like they came to brawl, so I felt myself relaxing a little while keeping my guard up as I eyed the mysterious women warily.
What the hell was going on?
The two women noticed me right away but didn’t react. The shorter one with shoulder-length dreads and a small gold hoop in her right nostril smiled politely while the taller one took her time looking me over before coming to the conclusion that she wasn’t impressed.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I mumbled, “Lord, give me strength.”
“As you can see, we weren’t expecting company.”
“Well, hurry up and introduce us, and then we’ll get out of your hair,” Priscilla ordered dismissively. Her tone made my brows rise.
Ocean glanced back at me and then sighed as he held out his hand to me. “Come here.”
I dutifully went to him, and it wasn’t until I saw the approval in his eyes that I realized I did it without hesitation. Ocean took my hand and tucked me into his side before returning his attention to the smiling women. They were watching the exchange like they were witnessing some new wonder.
“Sweetheart, these are my cousins, Chiara and Priscilla,” he introduced.
I waved a hand and greeted dryly, “Hey.”
Ocean—still peeping my unease and frustration at being ambushed by his family—squeezed my hip in reprimand before continuing. “Chi. Pri. This is my baby. Coby.”
“You’re bleeding,” Priscilla dryly informed her cousin. Her gaze flicked to me, so I boldly licked his blood from my lips like I was a vampire, and then lifted a brow that said,Yeah, I did it. Fuck are you gon’ do about it?
“Sorry for interrupting,” Chiara rushed to break the tension. “We just couldn’t wait to meet you. Ocean never brings anyone home. We wanted to see what was up.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” I said while finally offering the cousins a real smile. “This apartment is beautiful. I’d hate to make him burn it down.”
“Burn it do—” Chiara’s eyes lit up with humor. “Oh, I like her.”
“Why am I not surprised that Ocean likes ‘em crazy?” Priscilla asked with a shake of her head. “That’s good. You’ll fit right in.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I kept my feelings close to the chest and chuckled with no real humor. “So when you say you’re related, do you mean play cousins or real cousins?”
Priscilla smirked, and I could see the first sign of respect growing in her eyes. “Real, though distant. We share great-great grandparents, so that makes us third cousins, but our mothers and Malcolm grew up together like siblings.”
“Malcolm?” I directed at Ocean.
“My father,” he supplied. Leaning down to sweep his lips across my hairline, he whispered, “You’ll never have to meet him.”
“Oh.” I gulped, my voice cracking when I added, “O-okay.”
“The whole family has been talking about Ocean’s new girl. Who she is, what she looks like, where she came from…” Priscilla gave both of us pointed looks before adding, “And why she’s here…”
