Page 8
I nodded again. It was the least she deserved. I’d let her rest. A revived Topaz was better than having any superhero on your team.
“Enjoy,” I said.
She just smiled. With one final glance at my less aggravated face, she strolled out of my office. I heard her checking on Lori before she left, her voice soft and warm. I thought about her like that… soft and warm.
Fuck! I shook my head, trying desperately to clear it. When the door closed behind her, I stood there for a minute with her perfume still in my office, and her words still ringing in my ears. Then I picked up my phone and called Shenay. I was nothing if not a man of my word.
She answered on the third ring, voice shaky. “Yes, Mr. Masters?”
I looked out over the city, feeling like an asshole and regretting that Topaz had been the one to make me see it. I sipped the coffee again. Liquid gold.
“Shenay,” I said, forcing myself to loosen my grip on the phone. “I owe you an apology.”
As life would have it, my weekend of slothfulness was not to be. My sister-cousin, Kiana called at ten AM. My parents had raised her, and we were like twins, both twenty-nine years old, born five days apart. I had just dozed back off after Bria picked up Sanaa when my phone rang.
“Biiiitch,” she began.
I already knew it was about to be some mess.
“What?” I mumbled.
“You know Demon and Dream were supposed to come tomorrow to drop Kam off for a couple of weeks. Something is up with my big brother, though. They popped up a day early, and they said they’re going to spend a couple of days before they go on vacation.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. “You know what’s up with your big brother. He’s a psychopath.”
She gasped. “He is not! He’s just misunderstood,” she defended him as usual.
“Hard to misunderstand serial killer vibes,” I muttered.
KiKi had selective hearing, and her ass definitely chose to ignore that. “Anyway, I’m taking them out to dinner tonight, and you coming. You can invite Adam.”
“KiKi, what don’t you understand about ‘weekend off?’ I don’t plan to eat anything today except what a delivery person brings me.”
“Paz, come on. You’re Demon’s favorite cousin,” she coaxed.
I huffed as I rearranged myself. “Girl, please. I’m the only cousin he speaks to, and he don’t even like me. He tolerates me because of you.”
“Semantics,” she brushed me off. “Do I need to include Adam in the reservation?”
“Ki—”
“‘No’ is not an acceptable answer to this invitation. Now, plus one or not?” she steamrolled.
Any other time, I would’ve stuck to my ‘no’ and burrowed back under the covers, but truth was, I liked my rude ass cousin and his wife. He annoyed the fuck out of me, but I’d seen beneath that hard shell these last four years. He was so protective of his family, so good with Kam and his boys, I had no choice but to respect it. And even though he routinely glared at me, KiKi was right—he liked me, too.
I sighed. “Let me ask him and I’ll get back with you.”
“Thank you much! I’m thinking seven PM at Turner’s?”
“You don’t think Turner’s is booked?”
She scoffed. “I’m Damien Montana’s little sister, which means I’m kinda Dante Ware’s little sister, too. Anywhere in Texas, he snaps his fingers, we can clear that bitch out and dine alone, no matter how booked they were.”
I shook my head. “Just sick. Flaunting wealth and power.”
“You jealous?”
“Hell, yeah,” I said before we burst into laughter.
