His comment made Khrome laugh. “You hungry?”
“Starving. My pops and brothers are going to bring food by. Matter fact let me go ahead and get started on my soak before they come.”
“Bet. I’ll let them in if you’re still in the bathroom.”
Khrome walked back up the stairs to put on some sweatpants. On her way back downstairs, Lethal passed her in the hallway, and he peeped her change of clothes. None of his people would be disrespectful enough to ogle her in his home or even out in public, but he appreciated the respect she showed for him and herself by even considering what she had on. There were a lot of women that wouldn’t have cared.
Seeing Khrome’s thick thighs in the short shorts had his manhood hardening. It had been six weeks since he’d had sex, and he was going to nail her ass to the cross. If she let him. It had been four weeks since she gave birth, and he had done some research. As long as she wasn’t bleeding or in pain, she didn’t have to wait to have sex. If she wanted to wait the entire six weeks, he didn’t have a choice. He could get it from someone else, but he didn’t have the desire to.
He had been finding himself turned on a lot by Khrome lately. She was living in his house. With all that was going on, he hadn’t begun to look for a place for her. Her living with him, them having sex, raising a child together, it would be real easy for the lines to be blurred. If he was sleeping with other women things could get complicated, and he had no desire to beef with his baby mama. It was only because of things she’d been through in the past that stopped him from hating her. Lethal didn’t want to go back to having a volatile relationship with her.
After a few sips of his drink, he undressed and eased down into the steaming hot water. The water he was submerged in felt so good, he closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath. He loved boxing, but it was an extremely physical sport. Now, he could rest. Not only his body but his mind. The point of him investingin other businesses was so he didn’t have to fight more than three times a year. Honestly, he was looking to retire in the next year. There was no need to take his body through the ringer after the age of thirty if he was already rich.
If he could get at least thirty million for his last fight, he’d never box professionally again in his life. His cars were paid for and so were his homes. As long as he had money in the bank and thriving businesses, fuck yeah, he could live to be ninety and still wouldn’t have to work again unless he wanted to. He would make sure that before he ever stepped in the ring for the last time that Lyric would be set for life.
Lethal soaked until the water cooled off. He then took a quick shower and drained the alcohol from his glass. As he dried off, he heard his loud ass father’s voice drifting all the way up the stairs. Everyone was hype. Though he was tired as hell, he was good to celebrate in the privacy of his own home with his loved ones for a few hours. Lethal threw on some Polo pajama pants, a matching blue tee, and some Versace slippers. Empty glass in hand, he descended the stairs.
By the time he entered the living room, Blak, Block, Tech, Belvin, and Brazil all had drinks in hand. There were also two blunts in rotation. Lethal was done training for a minute, so he plucked the weed filled cigar from Block’s fingers as soon as he extended it toward him. Lethal heard a feminine voice that didn’t belong to Khrome.
“The ladies came with y’all?” he inquired before pouring more cognac into his glass.
“Just Symphony and Blossom. Averi and Giavanna were tired, and ma has Unique,” Brazil answered.
“We got $1,300 worth of take out from the steakhouse over on Broad Street. Go eat man, I know you worked up an appetite,” Tech offered.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Lethal headed for the kitchen. He didn’t have to be told twice.
Sipping his drink, he entered the kitchen and found Khrome smiling wide as Symphony talked a mile a minute. He was glad that Block had brought up introducing her to the ladies. They seemed to be one of the things that she needed in her life. Even the biggest introverts could benefit from having people in their lives. Anyone that could be alone all day every day in his opinion needed therapy. Lethal didn’t need friends because he had his brothers.
“Congratulations!” Symphony sang.
“That fight was amazing. I should have bet,” Blossom agreed making Lethal chuckle.
Opening the containers of food to see what was inside, he found steak, shrimp, salmon, pasta, broccoli, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, Cesar salad, and rolls. After loading his plate, he saw Khrome looking at him.
He looked from her face to the plate back to her face. “What? I’m greedy.”
“No, it’s nothing. I kept wondering if I should offer to fix the plate for you. First, I thought well, he’s not my man. But we are friends, and you did buy me a car. I spent so much time overthinking, now it’s too late.”
“Next time think faster,” he joked. “Nah, for real though, I’m good.”
Lethal exited the kitchen and joined his family in the living room. He was going to get a good night’s rest then spend the next day doing skin to skin with his daughter for the first time. Life was pretty damn alright.
CHAPTER 18
Khrome assuredLethal that he could go to bed after everyone left, and she cleaned the kitchen. By the time she made it up the stairs, she was worn out herself. Khrome trudged slowly up the stairs expecting to hear Lethal snoring. Instead, he was sitting on the edge of the bed looking through his phone.
“Goodnight,” she stopped in his doorway.
“I think we need to have a conversation.”
A lump formed in Khrome’s throat out of nowhere. “Okay.” She had no clue what he was going to say. Lethal hadn’t given her any reason to think he would switch up on her, but letting her guard all the way down and wearing rose colored glasses wasn’t a part of her program. Khrome walked over to the bed and sat down beside him.
When Lethal looked over at her, Khrome’s pulse quickened. “What are we doing?”
“I’m not really sure.” If he told her they were getting in too deep and needed to pull back it would hurt her feelings, but she would understand.
“How do you feel about me?”
