Page 37 of Memphis

“Yeah, youdopay me, but you’re also someone I care about. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You can’t be around freezing and fainting like this.”

I was silent for a moment, so he said, “Raja? Boss?”

“I gotta go. I’ll be in touch,” I said, ending the call before he could respond. Falling back on the bed, I clutched Bo’s phone tightly in my hand and squeezed my eyes shut, opening them when I heard him return to the room.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Yes,” I croaked.

He nodded and turned to leave but stopped when I called his name.

Facing me again, he raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

I swallowed hard, dropping my gaze from his face. “Come here.”

He moved, sitting on the side of the bed, his head angled toward me.

“No, lie down with me,” I said.

His eyes filled with a combination of surprise and so much affection that it almost made mine mist. Then he joined me in the bed, pulling my body into his. I closed my eyes and let him. I let him comfort me because I was fucking scared.

Then…

I kept finding myself here,at her place, and she kept letting me come inside, if hesitantly. We usually spent a good amount of time arguing—her asking why I kept bothering her and me asking why she keptlettingme bother her.

“You’re my boss. Didn’t know I had a choice,” was her answer this time.

I laughed. “You don’t give a shit about me being your boss. You know that, and I know that.”

She shrugged, a little smile playing on her pretty lips.

“You like me. Admit it,” I teased her.

With a dramatic eye roll, she replied, “I hate you. You know that. I liked your brother, though. He was nice.”

I involuntarily flinched. “A nice assassin? That shit don’t even make sense.”

She grinned, turning her body to fully face me. “You’re jealous.”

“Of my brother? HELL no. He ain’t nobody to be jealous of.”

“Why not? He’s taller than you, he’s very handsome, he has a personality, he?—”

“Why you ain’t kiss him like you been kissing me, then?”

Tilting her head to the right, she posed, “How do you know I didn’t?”

“Because I know. Plus, Zaccai’s lame ass would’ve told me. He was really feeling you. He ain’t have no idea what to do with you, though.”

She reclined her neck. “And you do?”

“I knowexactlywhat to do withandto you, and I’ma do it all as soon as you decide to let me.”

“So, you know your brother likes me and you’re still tryna screw me? Really? No code of honor? No family loyalty?”

“When it comes to a woman like you? Nope. Like I said, he wouldn’t know what to do with you. Y’all don’t match.”

“What does that mean?”

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