I wrapped my arms around myself and sank down onto the couch.
At least if it came from me, he’d know I chose him over my own freedom.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the couch.
Then I picked up my phone.
My thumb hovered over his name for a second. I could still back out. Still wait. Still lie to myself one more night.
Instead, I opened our text thread and typed:Can we meet? I need to talk to you about something important.
I stared at it for a few seconds, then hit send before I could lose my nerve.
TARIQ “REEK” HORTON
Sienna’s text came through while I was in the den pretending to watch the game.
Can we meet? I need to talk to you about something important.
I stared at the screen and instantly got irritated. I knew she had finally gotten to the point where she was about to try to force this fake shit into something real. I already knew the tone of that message. “Something important” from a woman usually meant feelings, pressure, questions, or some version of “where is this going?” And I wasn’t in the mood for any of it.
I set my phone on my thigh and looked back toward the room just in time to catch Ava, Zahra, and Livia coming back into the den.
Something about the way they moved made me narrow my eyes. Something was off about them. They tried to keep their eyes off of me but couldn’t. Livia sat down by Ava and whispered something that made her shrink. Zahra looked between them too quickly, then looked away.
For one second, I thought Ava had told them about me and her sleeping together. But then I dismissed it. Ava wasn’t dumbenough to tell them that. She knew exactly what kind of mess that would create and she wasn’t reckless like that.
Still, the way they were acting had me watching harder than I meant to.
And Ava didn’t help. She sat there on the couch trying to look normal, but she was different toward me now after last night. She was more guarded and colder. She wouldn’t look my way, wouldn’t let her body relax if I got too close, and that only made me want her more.
That was aggravating. Because I shouldn’t have still been that locked in after getting what I wanted the night before.
But I was. I kept catching myself looking at her anyway, at the way she shifted on the couch, the way her face changed whenever somebody said something funny and she forgot to be guarded for a second.
I should’ve been focused on the game, my niggas, anything besides Ava who kept dragging me off center.
My phone vibrated again. I didn’t even need to flip it over to know it was probably Sienna. That made me even more annoyed, because one woman wanted more than I was willing to give, and the other one made me act like I had forgotten every reason I stayed away from serious shit in the first place. I was sitting in a room full of people with a phone full of women that were cool with getting the dick and no feelings, but all I could think about was how Ava had looked under me the night before, about the fact that I could still feel her.
It had been months of distance, months of me trying to forget her. Then one night in her room and all that discipline went right out the window.
SIENNA LANGFORD
I paced the cracked stretch of concrete near the side entrance of Project 83. My nerves had me feeling sick.
Reek had been ducking me all night. First, he acted like he didn’t know what time he would be available to talk because he was at the Cartier estate. Then afterward, he acted like he needed to fix some urgent matter on the block. So, I told him to just meet me near the site since he was already out that way.
The front of Project 83 was all lights, fencing, and visible progress. But this side was darker, quieter, still rough in places, with gravel, dust, and open stretches of concrete that made it easy to talk without anybody being all in your business.
When his truck finally pulled up, I thought I might throw up right there.
He got out slowly, shut the door, and stood there looking at me like he already expected whatever came out my mouth to be some bullshit. He had that same unreadable expression on his face that always made me feel like I was either about to get kissed or killed. Then he walked toward me with his hands in his pockets and stopped a few feet away.
“What’s so important?” he asked flatly.
No hello. No softness. No curiosity. Just impatience.
I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to steady my voice. “Thank you for coming.”
