Page 17

“I know you don’t.” But the way he was looking at me, brown eyes warm against my face, I could tell he didn’t give a damn about what I had said.

“Do you? Because it don’t feel like it. You have billion-dollar clients in there. You can't be—” I stopped as his jaw tensed.

“I don't give a damn if Jay Z was at the table waiting. I saw that scene in the restaurant, and I saw him follow you. I didn’t know how shit might play out out here. Ain’t no way I wasn’t coming. Then, he think he gon’ fuck over you and talk to you like⁠—”

“That’s between Adam and me,” I interrupted.

His hands balled into fists. “The minute he called you out your name, it became my business.”

“No. You made it your business.”

“You crazy if you think you not my business, Apple,” he argued, voice low.

He held my aggravated gaze for a long moment. His eyes moved over me again, as if he were searching for a crack in my composure like I was about to fall apart. I couldn’t give him that, couldn’t let him believe his over-the-top attempt to defend me was needed. But I was barely holding it together.

I sighed in relief as the restaurant door opened behind him. Yoli stepped out first. Kiana, Dream, and Demon followed seconds later. Demon looked from Adam on the ground to Saadiq’s deceptively relaxed posture. A small smile flitted around his mouth.

“What happened?” he asked.

“This nigga got real lax in the mouth with her cuz his bitch ass got caught. But according to your cousin, nothing major,” Saadiq answered.

“I did not say that… exactly,” I snapped before I could stop myself.

Kiana rushed to my side. “You good?”

“I’m fine.”

“You scared me, when you weren’t in the restroom,” she said.

“I needed air,” I mumbled.

“And he ended up on the ground?” Demon asked skeptically, nodding toward Adam.

“He fell,” Saadiq said.

“I did not fucking fall,” Adam protested weakly as he struggled upright.

Saadiq looked down at him. “You wanna slip again?”

“Saadiq,” I warned.

He stared at me for a moment. “I have to get back to the Hayashis. But this discussion is not over,” he said finally.

“Yes, it is,” I insisted.

“No, Apple. It’s not.”

I hated that I loved the soft way he said the nickname, that it soothed something inside me after Adam had spent the last ten minutes tearing me apart. Most of all, I hated that some part of me wanted Saadiq to stay with me. Apparently, I needed to give myself the boundaries lecture. He saw something in my expression, because he hesitated.

“You have clients waiting,” I reminded him softly.

He glanced at Demon. “You got her right now?” Saadiq asked.

Demon nodded once. “I got her always.”

A soft, aggravated sound escaped me. “Excuse me? I’m standing right here,” I fussed.

Neither man acknowledged me, then Saadiq looked at me one final time. “I’ll call you,” he vowed.