Page 20 of Back in Blood

When I finally decided to leave, I went into the bathroom that was connected to my office and stripped out of my slacks and button up shirt. I ambled back into my office and unzipped the gym bag that had been tucked underneath my desk all day. Pulling out the black jeans and black hoodie, I got dressed and left the office. I elected to leave my Denali parked at the dealership, and I got in Robin’s Benz. What I needed was already secured in the trunk, so I drove toward my destination with my heart drumming in my chest. My heart wasn’t working overtime because I was afraid. The adrenaline flowing through my body had me excited. Too damn excited.

After pulling onto Sintonio’s street, I observed that his truck wasn’t in the driveway. It was either in the garage, or he wasn’t home. Neither one mattered to me. I was still going to do what I needed to do. I parked a ways up the street and popped the trunk. I slipped on a pair of gloves, grabbed a lighter, and exited the car. With the gas can secure in my hand, I walked into Sintonio’s back yard and began to douse his house and the grass around it with gasoline. As a homeowner, I was almost certain he had insurance. Anything that was destroyed inside the home including the home could be replaced with time. But I didn’t care about latter. The thought of Sintonio coming home to find his house burned to the ground made a sinister grin spread across my face. I was going to take everything from him bit by bit until the nigga had nothing else to give besides his life. The trucks athis trucking company would be next. When I said I wanted to take everything from him, I meant every fuckin’ thing.

When the can was emptied, I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket, set fire to it, and placed it in the grass. The flames danced on the ground as they spread fast as hell towards the house. It would have been nice to watch the house burn, but I knew I needed to get the hell out of dodge. Even if the situation between Sintonio and Lisa wasn’t great, losing her and his son had to hurt him just a tad. Now, he was losing his home and soon, he would lose his source of income. I wanted to watch that nigga break. I wanted a front row seat as his life crumbled before him. And then, I wanted the pleasure of watching that piece of shit take his last breath.

CHAPTER 12

LISA

A hintof sadness washed over me as I watched Scott walk past Gemini and lightly smack her ass. She giggled and despite my emotions, I smiled. They were the cutest couple. They were actually my favorite couple. I loved their relationship. Seeing them together made me sad about the way my love story had turned out, but it was what it was.

“You good over there?” Scott turned to look at me before his gaze drifted downward to the bowl in front of me. “You want some more?”

“I actually would,” I smiled and handed him the bowl.

Scott and Gemini invited me over for dinner. He made his infamous gumbo, and I felt like the greediest person in the world as I devoured the delicious meal in less than ten minutes. Scott took the bowl to refill while Gemini gave me a fresh bottle of water and refilled my shot glass with tequila. It had been a fun chill evening. I was a little tipsy and knew I would go home and sleep like a baby. It was almost time for me to go back to work, and I was getting all of my hanging out and excessive drinking out of my system.

“Thank you,” I picked my spoon up off the island as Scott set the full bowl in front of me. The doorbell rang, and he went to answer the door.

Gemini turned around and gave me a mischievous grin. “I mentioned that Sage was stopping by, right? I also mentioned that he asked Scott about you. He’s interested.”

My gumbo slid down the wrong way, and I beat my chest with my hand as I coughed. “Bitch what?” I croaked with watering eyes.

Gemini was smart. And aside from her being smart, she knew me. So, I knew she knew me well enough to know that a man was the very last thing on my mind. Granted, I’d had amazing sex with Capri, but that was just sex. We both understood that the other didn’t want anything remotely close to serious. We could be in each other’s presence with minimal words just nods and grunts and understand one another just fine. I didn’t want to have fun, go out on dates, or have multiple casual sex partners. I was good. Sage was fine as hell and successful, but I simply wasn’t interested, and I wanted to slap that grin off Gemini’s face.

“Just be nice,” she whispered as Scott and Sage walked into the kitchen.

I focused on my drink and didn’t immediately make eye contact with Sage, but I could feel his gaze on me. He spoke to me and Gemini. I looked up as he was giving Gemini a one armed hug, and I gave him a small smile. “Hello.”

His eyes lingered on my face a little too long for my liking. As I cleared my throat, he finally directed his attention to Scott. “You got it smelling good in here.”

“Yes sir. This gumbo is like that. You want a bowl?”

“What kind of question is that? You know I want a bowl.”

Sage sat down in the bar stool beside me and though they weren’t right up on each other, the two chairs at the island werestill pretty close since the island was only so long. Sage looked over at me as I finished off my drink. “You look nice.”

Looking down at my nude leggings, matching jacket, and crème sneakers, my brow lifted. Yes, I was comfortably cute, but it wasn’t like I was dressed up or anything. “Thank you,” I responded slowly.

“Women look the best to me when they’re sexy without trying too hard. You probably just threw that on to come over here and have a few drinks while eating up all the gumbo, and you still look amazing.”

I laughed at his comment about eating up the gumbo. “Whatever.”

Sage was charming, so being nice to him wouldn’t be hard, but I still wasn’t interested. Scott placed Sage’s gumbo in front of him while Gemini fixed him a drink. “Scott and I are going to his family’s cabin in Tennessee in three weeks. It has four bedrooms, so we thought about inviting some friends. You two want to come?”

I shot Gemini daggers with my eyes. She was doing absolutely too much. “I’m just going back to work, so I doubt I can get time off,” I responded in a syrupy sweet tone that didn’t match the fire dancing in my eyes.

“We’re staying for five days. You don’t have to stay the entire time. You could shoot up there for two days. I know you aren’t working seven days a week and if you are, you don’t need to be,” she stated in a loving tone.

I chose to ignore her. “This was really good, but I have to get going.” Easing out of my seat, I picked my keys up off the island and carried my bowl to the sink.

“Damn. Did I run you off?” Sage asked.

“No of course not. I’ve already been here for a little bit. I’ve had more than a few drinks, and I’m full. Which means, I’m ready to shower and hit my bed. It was nice seeing you again.” Imeant what I said. Sage was handsome, and he was nice. I wasn’t going to be a jerk to him, but I wasn’t interested. Maybe in a year or so. I had no clue how long it would take me to heal.

“Bye friend. Drive safely and let me know when you make it home.” Gemini tried to hug me, but I stepped back.

With a smile and my teeth clenched together, I spoke in a low tone. “I’m gonna kick your ass. Bye, guys,” I said loudly to Sage and Scott.

---