Page 83 of Surrender to Love

“You want to be out there at midnight?”

“Actually, no. I’ve had enough of the fireworks, and besides, once midnight hits and I’ve kissed my man, I want to climb in bed, climb on you, and let you rub my ass as I fall asleep.”

“Shit, I’m gonna rub your ass while we kiss too,” I say and she laughs. “Let’s go down to the room now. We can already be there and kissing before midnight.”

She nods and we head downstairs. Since the elevator is so close to the kitchen, we take it instead of the stairs. Fuck waiting till midnight to kiss too, because as soon as the door closes, I’m on her and my lips are on hers. We kiss the short ride down and are still kissing when we walk down the hall.

“Get a fucking room,” Deuce quips when he passes us and Kyrah breaks our kiss with a laugh.

Once we are in the room, I close the door then back her against it. My lips return to hers and my hands travel under her sweater and grip her breasts. She has her ideas about bringing in the new year, and shit, I have mine. When I lift her sweater over her head, she grins.

“What are you doing?” she asks with a smirk.

“Why you want to kiss me so bad at midnight?” I counter.

“Whoever you kiss at midnight is the person you will love and be close with for the year.”

“But we’re in this for more than a year, baby.”

“I know. Just indulge me because I love kissing you,” she says.

“As long as you indulge me too.” I unbutton then unzip her jeans. As I slide them over her sexy hips and ass, I add, “I love fucking you.”

Mireya really looked out and reached out to Kyrah’s mom. She agreed to speak with me, and as soon as I holla at Tre, I’m heading to her crib. While I hate keeping shit from my baby, this is different. I have to try this and she can’t know about it unless it works. I promised her that I would never break her heart and I stand on that. So if this shit fails, she’ll never know about it.

As we get closer to the wedding, I realize I work too damn much. I love my job and my shop, but right now, I work six days a week basically open to close each day. When I first bought the shop from Asali, I knew I would have to put in work. He had his regulars and was making good money but I wanted more. Before going legit, I was stacking my paper and used to certain shit. It was a must that my money didn’t change too much, so I put work in at the shop as I had in the streets. My money is good; the shop is doing numbers. It’s time I pull back some. I want to hire another full-time mechanic and one part-time.

In a perfect world, I want my nephew TJ here. The short time he helped out while on leave let me see just how skilled he is. However, he’s back in Illinois with the Navy and I want the new guys in here before the month is over. Hell, before the week is over honestly.

Tre posted ads the last week of December and we’ve gotten about twenty resumes. He handles the pre-screening calls, but for the mechanics, I conduct the in-person interviews. I need to know if they really know cars and can work on them. I need to see who he has scheduled to see me. I also need to ask about something Black told me this morning when I first got here because I can’t wrap my head around it.

“I was just about to come get you ’cause I’m 'bout to skirt.” Tre says the minute I walk in the office.

“I know. Me too.”

“Kyrah’s mom?” he asks.

“Yeah. I’m heading over there as soon as I finish in here with you. Niko is closing; Black’s staying to show him how.”

“Well, I only set five interviews. That last one who seemed okay never called back. I can pull more resumes if we have to.”

“Nah. Hopefully we good. I’m trying to hire someone ASAP. I can’t be working all the damn time when I have a wife at home.”

“The resumes are on your desk with the times on them. I told Keeta too, so she can pull you out of the garage if she needs to,” he says, referring to our front desk clerk.

After I grab a water from the fridge, I sit behind my desk and see the resumes on top of my laptop.

“Hopefully I’m hiring for both positions from these. Thanks,” I say and he closes his laptop. “But before you go, I need to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“Was Asali here this morning?” I ask, and when he raises his head and doesn’t answer me right away, I have my answer. Black was right. He’d suspected the black truck pulling off when he arrived was Asali’s F350.

But why the fuck was Asali here?

None of us have spoken with him since he cheated on Shuga.

Well, at least that’s what the hell I thought.