The moment my uncle disappears inside a room across the hall, I blindly take Khalil’s hand, and he lets me lead him into the same hall. There’s another room next to the one my uncle disappeared in, and it’s empty, so we quickly duck inside.
The room turns out to be an office with a view of a pond. Inside of it, there are large geese swimming peacefully.
“Why are we in here?” he asks, breaking his silence once more.
I could feel his quiet fury during the entire exchange with my uncle, but more than that I feel grateful that he respected my wishes and trusted me to handle it on my own.
For the most part.
I will nevereverforget the sight of Khalil yoking my uncle up for as long as I live.
I let go of Khalil’s hand and walk over to the weathered gray executive desk, wondering at its sturdiness as I trail a finger across the polished surface. Turning around, I lean against the desk to face Khalil with a smile.
It drops a moment later when I remember Tyler. “You lied to me.”
Khalil, who is busy looking around the small room with a disinterested eye, stops to regard me. “Yes.”
“How could you?”
“Is it truly the worst thing I’ve done to you, Goldilocks?”
I feel my hackles raise along with a little natural resentment at him for reminding me of our twisted beginning. “Are you saying that makes it okay?”
“No,” he answers calmly before eyeing me closely. “I’m just wondering how important it is to you that I didn’t tell you the man you may or may not have been fucking is still alive. Let me know what’s up.”
“Don’t you dare turn this around on me. Who I fucked before you isnoneof your goddamn business. Tyler is the only reason I lived long enough to be standing here having this stupid argument. I deserved to know he lived, and even if I didn’t care, the point is that you were purposely deceitful. It doesn’t matter what you lied about. You still lied.”
“Okay.” Khalil nods and then comes to stand in front of me before kissing my neck. “I won’t do it again.”
“You—” Not expecting Khalil to yield so quickly, my mind had already formulated an argument before my ears caught up. “Oh.” Still feeling the need to be combative and realizing he never actually apologized, I make the reckless decision to push further. “Now say you’re sorry for lying about Tyler.”
Khalil bites into my shoulder hard enough to make me gasp and dig my fingers into his shoulders. My panties become that much wetter. “I would, but I just promised I wouldn’t lie to you again.”
I hit his chest. “Stop provoking me.”
“Impossible, Goldilocks. You’re fine as fuck when you’re angry.”
I squirm against his hold, suddenly feeling like my clothes are too restrictive. “Sexy enough for you to finish what you started this morning?”
Khalil lifts his head to kiss me on the lips. “Let me guess,” he says between firm presses of his lips. “You mean right now.”
“You have something better to do?”
“Depends. Does this have to do with your uncle being in the next room and wanting to piss him off?”
“No, but we’ll call that a bonus.”
Khalil lifts me onto the desk, and I’m eager to spread my legs to give him access. “I suppose it would be fruitless to tell you that you shouldn’t antagonize him like this.” He works the button on my shorts free.
“He’s the one who should be worried. I’m going to destroy him, Khalil. He has to pay.”
“And he will,” Khalil promises as he wrestles my shorts over my hips and ass. “But it won’t be today. We need a plan that doesn’t land all of us dead or in prison.”
“Promise me,” I plead once my shirt is over my head and discarded on the desk. “Promise me we’ll end him.”
“He’s a dead man walking.”
“Good,” I growl, feeling my nipples harden. “Now fuck me. Make me scream.”
