He glanced at me again, and his smile came back. “You got any more obsessed, controlling exes out there?”
That made me giggle. “No.”
“Good. Then we shouldn’t have any more problems.”
We laughed as I settled back into my seat.
I expected to feel sad that Kodi was dead. I expected to feel something ugly toward Sincere when he finally told me what happened. But I didn’t. All I felt was relief. In that car, I knew Kodi wasn’t going to stop until he killed me. He might’ve killed our kids too.
KJ and Kinsley thought their daddy died in the accident. That was what the world thought too because that’s how the Cartiers made it look. Since the crash happened on a vacant block, by the time the police discovered the scene, Kodi had been returned to the driver’s seat.
Sincere turned down another street and slowed down.
“We’re here,” he announced.
I looked out the window, confused. It looked like a storefront or an event space.
Sincere got out of the car, but I continued sitting there, wondering where in the hell we were.
Sincere stood on the other side of my window, laughing at me. “Girl, get out.”
I didn’t move right away. I just looked at him. He was standing there smiling, looking handsome as hell, with the sun sitting on him like it was in love with him too. We locked eyes, and then he kissed my forehead. I thought about that hospital room, how he’d been upset with me, how I expected distance and aggression. But instead, he pulled me in closer and assured me like he did not know how to love halfway.
Still laughing, Sincere opened my door and held his hand out. “Come on.”
I finally took it and stepped out, and he closed the door behind me. He led me to the door, pulled a key from his pocket, and unlocked it, making me even more curious.
Sincere opened the door and stepped aside. “Go in.”
I walked in and stopped, staring at the LED sign that glowed on the wall, big enough to catch my breath: RHYTHM BROOKS STUDIO.
My mouth fell open, and I turned slowly, taking it in. The space was set up with fresh paint, worktables, shelving, and a corner already staged with supplies. Canvases leaned against the wall like they were waiting on me.
I couldn’t speak.
Sincere came closer behind me as I looked around with golf-ball sized eyes. “Before you start,” he said, already talking fast, “I’m not trying to control anything or make any big decisions without you. It’s a gift. You can change whatever you want. If I got the wrong supplies, we’ll get the right ones.”
I turned toward him, still speechless.
He kept going. “If you hate the layout, we’ll redo it. This is yours to work. I just—”
I shut him up by kissing him. He froze for half a second, then kissed me back.
I was filled with emotion as I looked around the space. “Why would you do this much, Sincere?”
He held my face, forcing me to look at him. “Because I want you to have the space you need to create.”
I blinked, trying to hold myself together.
Sincere kissed my forehead. Then he took me on a tour around the space.
After a few minutes, I checked my phone and remembered reality again. “I have to go pick my kids up from my mother.”
He gently grabbed me by the waist and pulled me closer. “I want to see you tonight.”
I pouted. “I don’t have a sitter. My mother is going to bingo tonight. That’s why I have to pick up the kids. And I don’t want to ask Joi to babysit on a Saturday night.”
“Then bring them,” he replied, like it was simple. “It’s time for them to get to know me, and vice versa. I’m not visiting your life. I’m in it. I plan on sticking around.”
