The words hit me hard enough to make my stomach twist, not because I thought he was trying to scare me, but because I knew he meant it.
Love must’ve seen the look on my face because he stopped walking away from me and grabbed my waist, pulling me in closer.
“I’m not letting anybody play with what’s mine.”
I exhaled slowly, resting my hand against his chest while trying to settle my nerves.
Then his eyes dropped to everything I laid on the island.
“What’s this?” he asked with a brighter tone.
“My girls,” I said low. “They brought me stuff to start planning the wedding.”
Love's eyebrow lifted.
“For real?”
I nodded. “Yes, we looked at venues, dresses, trips, all kinds of things for me to get an idea of what I want.”
The tension left his face instantly.
“I’m glad you got friends like that. This is what I want your focus on.”
I smiled as he looked through the binders, seeing the lil’ bit of work that we did.
“So now I got a deadline,” he said calmly.
“What you mean?” I asked, confused.
“He needs to be in the ground before our wedding. I be damned if he fucks up our day.”
Love kissed my forehead, then went off to see what Amir was doing, leaving me standing there. Wondering what the outcome of everything was going to be.
Chapter 8
Deadline
Sunday morning, I woke up and hopped straight into the shower. As I walked down the hallway, I could see Islah cooking and Amir eating. I walked over to him, kissed his forehead while I dapped him up, then walked around the island and kissed Islah, telling her I would be back later, and walked out the door.
My walk through the lobby was normal: a few handshakes and a few head nods as I made my way to my car.
As I hopped in, I called Keith. That nigga picked up like he was waiting on me to call.
“What’s the word?” he asked, answering the line.
“I’ma meet you at the store,” I said, hitting a turn. “But I need you to ride with me, tell them niggas to meet us at the barber shop.”
“I got you.”
I took my time getting to the store, grabbed breakfast, and spoke to a few niggas that eyes on Gio. They said he looked rough, face was beat up, and he moved to a hotel.
Good.
That meant that ass-whooping sat with him.
But if I knew niggas like him the way I thought I did—and that laugh that nigga gave me. That shit wasn’t gonna be enough.
I was ready for him to crash out harder.
