Sweetie stared at them all with wide eyes, feeling like she just dropped a bomb on this family she had always been taught to stay away from. Her mouth opened and closed as she searched for words, but nothing came out.
“That man is insufferable.” Zander finally exploded. He stood and pointed at his sons. “You two, my office, now.” He turned to the women. “Everyone is staying here until further notice. We’re officially on lockdown.”
Boogie gave Sweetie a swift kiss on the cheek, and she watched with her mouth hanging open. She wondered what the hell she had just gotten herself into.
It had been a long night. It was only a couple of hours ago that Boogie crawled into the guest room his mother put Sweetie. He felt bad for leaving her, but the wordwarwas never taken lightly in that household.
The three men spent the night bulking up security and making sure all their blocks were on lock. His father was practically red in the face with rage over Vernon calling war over Sweetie and Boogie’s relationship. It surprised Boogie when Zander didn’t even question Boogie on Sweetie. He figured his old man was too busy securing his empire.
“Wake up, baby,” Boogie coached in between kisses to Sweetie’s face.
Her eyes popped open, and she sat straight up. He watched as she looked around. When her eyes landed on him, she relaxed slightly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep last night.”
He chuckled. “Girl, you were in here snoring for hours.”
“I don’t snore.” She rubbed her eyes as she grumbled.
He kissed her temple, and she reached out and caressed his beard. “You okay?”
She didn’t respond to his question. “We really made a mess of things, didn’t we?”
“Nah. Our fathers did.”
“Myfather did,” she corrected. She looked down at the silk comforter that was most likely the culprit for her good sleep. It had goose feathers in it, and his mother swore by that specific brand of bedding.
“Either way, it ain’t your fault, so stop carrying that guilt and stop worrying.”
She still didn’t look at him. “Your family has to hate me. All this fuss . . .”
“Stop it. Come on, get up.”
“We goin’ somewhere?”
Boogie shook his head. “Pops wants to talk to everyone.”
His father told Denzel and him to be up early so they could have a family meeting. Sweetie didn’t look thrilled.
“What about?”
“Panda extinction. What do you think, bae?” His lopsided grin seemed to unarm her.
She shook her head with a slight smile. “I hate this.”
“I know.”
“Maybe I can try to talk to my dad . . .”
“Nah.” Boogie was completely against that. If the nigga was calling war over this shit, there was no telling what he might do. Boogie never forgot how roughly Vernon had grabbed Sweetie all those years ago in the principal’s office. There was no way he would be cool with Sweetie being around her father at this point.
“Well, maybe we should call it quits while we figure things out?—”
“You really think I’m gonna go for that? Be fuckin’ for real.”
Sweetie sighed. “I guess I better freshen up.”
“I guess so. I had some clothes delivered for you. They’re in the bathroom.”
Sweetie slowly climbed out of bed, and he slapped her ass. His dick hardened, and he wished like hell he had time to dip into that juicy pussy of hers, but his father was waiting. He let Sweetie sleep as long as he could. Yesterday had been a long ass day, and he knew she needed her rest.
