Savio gestured for her to continue. “I’m listening.”
“I need to drive?—”
“Nah.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, Precious, but that’s nonnegotiable. If some shit pops off, I need to be able to get you safely out of that situation at all times, in the car included.”
Cashmere let out a frustrated breath, but she realized he wouldn’t budge on that, so she simply moved on to the next thing on her list. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Except for when it comes to your safety.”
Cashmere shook her head. “Do you think I can’t take care of myself?”
“Can you?” His eyes pierced her, and for a second, she wondered if he meant more by the two-word question.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of. What I’ve survived. Trust me, I can take care of myself, and I don’t need a nigga telling me how to react when danger arises.” She shifted from foot to foot, feeling emotions rise within her that she didn’t quite understand.
“I can appreciate that you been through some shit, ma, but I ain’t gonna be able to do my job if you can’t listen. We have to come to some kind of compromise.”
The conversation wasn’t going the way Cashmere had hoped, so to cut it short, she said, “Fine. How about you just stay in the background as much as possible, and on the off chance that something bad happens, I’ll listen to whatever you say.”
Savio nodded painfully slow, testing Cashmere’s patience in the worst way.
“That’s a deal.”
“Great. Now let’s go. I’m late for my nail appointment.” Cashmere grabbed her purse from the closet next to the front door and walked out without looking back.
Something about Savio made her feel completely out of control, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that.
This warehouse was one of many. Cashmere had dozens stashed throughout Ellwood, and there were even a couple in Desmore Bay for the shipments that came in right off the coast.
Cashmere was dog tired after a day of running around the city. That day had been her maintenance day, so she had to get her sew-in together after her nail appointment and then she had to get waxed, get a facial, and finally stop by her personal shopper’s shop to grab a few pieces she had purchased. After a night of no sleep, she could barely keep her eyes open. She had to admit that the one benefit of Savio driving was she could take cat naps in between destinations. Maybe being a passenger princess wasn’t so bad.
“Sup, Cash? Who dis?” King Ro asked as he stood from the metal chair he sat in.
Cassydie sat across from him, with a flimsy table between them. Surrounding them were a dozen luxury cars that hadn’t even been announced yet, diamonds and jewels that needed to be sent off to a jewelry designer, and art that went anywhere from one million to five million dollars.
“Hey, Ro. This is Savio, my new head of security.” Cashmere introduced them before she hugged Cassydie.
King Ro chuckled as he stood to shake Savio’s hand. “Nice to meet you. Don’t let her give you a hard time.”
Cashmere rolled her eyes and stuck her middle finger up at King Ro while Cassydie snickered beside her. “Fuck y’all.”
When she first met King Ro, she never would have felt comfortable enough to frown at him, let alone stick her middle finger up at him. Now, though, it was like second nature. He could be mean as hell, but underneath all that was a big ass teddy bear. He was cool people in her book.
“I just wanted to go over the inventory with you so we can move this shit. You know I don’t like stuff sitting for too long,” King Ro said as he sat back down.
Cashmere nodded and sat down as well. Her eyes automatically went to Savio, who made it his business to leave them be. She watched as he checked out the cars and moved around the space.
“Cash,” Cassydie said with a snap of her fingers.
“Huh?” Cashmere blinked and turned to look at Cassydie.
“You ain’t hear us talkin’ to you?” Cassydie asked with a knowing smile dancing on her face.
“My bad. What are you doing here anyway?” Cashmere asked, a flash of irritation shooting to the surface. The bad thing about befriending Cassydie was she was very perceptive. Cashmere sometimes felt like the woman could see into her damn mind.
