Page 53 of Memphis

29

Now…

Ihated this woman, and I was sure it showed, not that it was a fact she was unaware of anyway. Hell, the feeling was most certainly mutual. She hadn’t arrived alone but with Zaccai, Moody, and Layla in tow. Bo’s son, Tavares, hadaccompanied her as well. I knew him because I’d been a bit of a stalker of Bo for many years after he obliterated my heart. I knew exactly when Tavares had arrived.

After his three security guys checked the building, Bo led me inside and let the door slam just as his family approached it, flipping on a light switch and illuminating the massive, hollow structure he called a compound. There was a long glass table with black chairs in the middle of the space and little else. He pulled a chair out for me and dropped into one next to it. Together, we watched in silence as the others filed in. One thing about the Pierce matriarch was that she was always going to put that shit on. The gray pantsuit she wore paired with lime green pumps was gorgeous and so was she. She was a beautiful gray-haired bitch who looked much younger than her age. Layla was her mini me as far as style, and she was pretty, too—light skin, freckles, little pixie nose, doe eyes. I wasn’t sure how she survived being married to Bo.

“You bringing your woman to company meetings now?” Zaccai asked Bo. For some reason, he was on crutches and had a cast on one of his legs and a boot on the opposite foot. He must’ve fallen and hurt the other leg or something after Bo shot him.

Damn.

“Why not? You brought yours, didn’t you?” Bo shot back.

Mother Pierce dropped into a chair across from us and flapped her hand. “Not this again. You didn’t even want Layla. You don’t care about her seeking comfort with your brother, do you?”

What the fuck?

How did I not already know this? Probably because I never bothered to stalk Zaccai’s lame ass, but still,wow.

“Oh, I don’t give even half a shit who she fucks. She had to get it from somewhere because she damn sure wasn’t getting it from me.”

Zaccai shook his head. “So, you tryna pretend you ain’t fuck your wife forherbenefit?” Zaccai asked, nodding toward me. “We ain’t stupid, Bo.”

“No. Ididfuck her from time to time out of duty,” Bo said, shrugging “She enjoyed it.”

That shit made my skin crawl, although I never believed hedidn’tfuck her.

“Turned out, I wasn’t her first choice, either. She had a man before and during our marriage. Not exactly sure why she decided to fuck with you when she had other options,” Bo replied. “As a matter of fact, me and Layla were friends until…well, I won’t get into that.”

“Nah, go ahead and say it,” Tavares spoke up. He was a handsome young man with a nasty ass attitude from what I could tell.

“The only thing I gotta say to you,son, is that I should’ve left your ass on the street where I found you,” Bo admitted.

Tavares shrugged. “I always knew I was a temporary project for you. You know, take the troubled teenager off the street, buy him shit, clean him up, and expect him to worship you. That’s what you did, ain’t it?”

Bo sighed, tapping his finger on the table. “No, I actually cared about you. Didn’t know you were as fucked up as you ended up being. I also didn’t know Layla was nasty enough to fuck you, but at least she waited until you were nineteen.”

What?!

“Kiss my ass, Bo. At least I didn’t sit around pining for a mediocre bitch for decades,” Layla said.

“Mediocre? Mediocre?” I uttered, my hand moving toward the gun nestled in my ankle holster beneath my slacks.

“Don’t bother, baby. I’ll kill her,” Bo said, resting a hand on my arm.

“Enough! What are you going to do? Shoot her like you did your brother twice? Shoot up this building like you did my house?” his mother asked with a scowl on her perfectly made-up face.

He did what?!

“It was only the foyer,” Bo countered.

“Bo, why is she here?” the matriarch asked, her displeased eyes on me now.

Fucking mega bitch.

Bo grasped my hand, squeezing it. “I called this meeting on neutral ground to let you all know Memphis and I are married now, and she will join me in running The Agency.”

Zaccai shrieked, “What?! She ain’t even blood! I should be running this shit! Not her ho’ ass!”

---