“Will be taken care of. You know we’ll make sure she’s straight,” Jelani said. “I agree with Nai, leaving the country is your best bet. Think of it like an extended vacation.”
Slim let out a humorless laugh. “Fuck.”
“This is what happens when you have poor dick management, bruh,” I said. “How long you think it’ll take The Order to set it up?”
“A few days. A week tops,” Nairobi replied.
“And I’m supposed to just leave my life and go?” Slim asked. “Where? For how long?”
“You do not get to be a whiny bitch right now,” Cash said, his patience finally gone. “How many times we gotta say it? This is your fault. You stay gone until we figure out what the fuck we doing about Messiah. He might still come after us evenwhen you’re gone, especially if he suspects we helped you. If you have a better solution, I’d love to hear it, Carmelo.”
Slim scowled, hearing Cash use his government name.
“Can I at least say goodbye to my grandmother?” he asked quietly. “I can’t just disappear on her.”
Cash pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes but let us know when so we can have eyes on her place.”
“We should take a vacation,” I said.
Nairobi was perched on my kitchen counter, in a sports bra and sweatpants, peeling an orange. She cocked her head at me and popped a slice in her mouth.
“We’re in the middle of a potential war and you’re thinking about a vacation?”
“That’s exactly why I’m thinking about it,” I said as I stepped between her knees, easing them apart so I could stand there. My hands settled on her hips. “After this Messiah situation is handled, I need a change of scenery.”
I brushed my nose along her jaw and breathed her in. She smelled like citrus and that smoky tobacco body oil she loved. Soft and sharp at the same time. Just like her.
She hummed thoughtfully and set the orange down. Her hands found their way around my neck. “A vacation,” she repeated as though she were trying to determine how she felt about the word. “You don’t even seem like the type who takes a break.”
“I haven’t been anywhere for real since you were in—” I stopped myself.
She pressed against my chest. “Since I was where?”
I scratched at my jaw and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. “Morocco.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Bear…”
“You didn’t even know I was there,” I said quickly. “I just wanted to see you.”
Her brown eyes softened as she looked at me.
“You flew across the world just to… put eyes on me?”
“You’re the only person that’s ever made me go against my better judgement,” I said. “It’s like there’s this invisible string that’s always pulling me towards you. I just needed to make sure you were good. And I need to apologize for what I said in Miami.”
She held my gaze for a long second, searching for something.
“Every man in the Banks Crew is insane,” she laughed softly.
“We are. But I’m serious, Kitten. Somewhere with a beach. I wanna see you in a little ass bikini. You got any of them thong ones?”
She rolled her eyes.
“You sure you’re not suggesting this because you’re scared I’ll disappear again?”
There it was. That quiet ache that sat low in my chest whenever I let my mind wander too far.
“I trust you. But yeah. I’d be lying if I said that thought doesn’t occasionally cross my mind.”
