Page 79 of Kandie Shoppe

“Nah, I don’t think so,” he growls, crowding me into the door. “You fucking playing with me when I got so much shit going on, or what?”

He sounds more than a little miffed. He sounds angry.

“No.” I tilt my head, which makes him tighten his hand on my throat. “I didn’t hear the phone, U.” I’m lying through my teeth and he knows it.

He squeezes, shaking me a little. “Stop. Fucking. Lying.” His teeth are bared like he’s about to snap my neck.

“You’re the one who acted like you didn’t want nothing to do with me.” I feel like a silly little debutante and damn if he doesn’t look at me like I am one when he drops his hand and steps back from me.

“If I didn’t want anything to do with you, I’d have told you just like I told LaShaun when I took up with you.” Scrubbing his hand through his locks, he looks like an aggrieved Adonis.

“Sorry I bothered you.” Shifting to the door, I grab the knob, turning it. Snatching my hand away, he grabs me and presses me against the corner railing so I know I’m going to have indentions on my back.

“Boy, if you don’t quit it.” Pushing against the hard planes of his chest, I gasp. I may as well be pushing against the stone against my back with as much give as I get trying the make him back up.

“So what’s going on, wildcat? You need tending to?” he growls. Deft fingers find their way beneath my oversized sleep shirt, which so happens to be one of his T-shirts.

“N-no.” Shaking my head, I bite back my whimper when his fingers circle my clit.

“I told you not to lie to me.” Hissing, he nips my ear, making me startle. “So wet for me, wildcat.” He slips one finger inside, opening me for another to join.

My whimpers add to the music of the grasshoppers and other night life as he finger fucks me on my front step.

In seconds, I climax, coming against his fingers.

Stepping back, he sucks one finger, his eyes on me. He presses the other into my mouth. “So sweet. The next time youneed a fucking, let me know.” Pivoting, he turns and double times it down the stairs and around the corner. I stand there for a long time.

“Girl, if you don’t get your tail in this house.” She peeks her head out the door. “The way y’all let these guys get y’all all twisted in knots. I swear,” she mumbles, going back over to the recliner as I head to my bed.

I get my buzzing phone and look at the missed messages, my heart stopping at the last one.

U: I’m picking you up at one pm for the wedding.

Ezekiel-Jane and Angel’swedding is a near catastrophe. All hell brakes loose soon after we took our seats. Me seated between two of the finest men at the event, Ulysses and Marcus, Nikki’s supposed boyfriend, even though she barely looked at him once she locked eyes with Mathias Shelby not soon after she got here. Then all our phones started buzzing right after the wedding march with the headline:SHELBY SCION, MATHIAS SHELBY CAUGHT AT SUGAR BABY’S LOVE NEST! Byline by Joi Love.

It’s the byline that has me fuming “by Joi Love”. How could she do this when she’s so quick to tell everyone Nikki is her favorite cousin?

I start typing furiously.

Me: It’s on-site bitch.

Joi: He was taking advantage of Nikki. She’s caught in his web.

Me: Then you should have talked to her. Like I said. ON-SITE.

I don’t expecther to answer, and she doesn’t. The fact that she hung out with me yesterday days ago only to betray my baby sister like that. Nikki’s had enough challenges in her life. She doesn’t need her name linked to Mathias Shelby, of all people.

“We need everyone to be patient. The wedding will resume in a few moments.”

A few moments turns out to be dang near two hours and it’s not just a wedding for Easy and Angel, no it’s a shotgun one for Mathias and Nikki, who was hurriedly dressed in an extra wedding gown that was obviously hastily altered by Summer who seems to still be doing last-minute fixes while both women hold on to the arms of LL at the end of the door of the chapel.

The march sounds for the second time, and I can’t help but notice the cold visage of Mathias Shelby as he goes through the motions of the vows. Nikki looks frightened, but resolved. Knowing her as I do, I can’t miss the emotion on her face. She loves him. She may not be ready to admit that to herself, and it’s clear he’s not a safe place to share her sentiments with all the anger he’s not bothering to hide. For the first time since I lost her, the first time I feel real fear for my sister. This man had no qualms about killing his own father. What will he do with an unwanted wife?

I feel Marcus stiffen beside me when the new husband and wife kiss.

“I’m so sorry this happened.” Absently, I pat his hand.

“Oh, it’s not your fault. It’s not even Nikki’s.” Covering my hand with his other one, he pats mine sandwiched between his. “I’m well aware of who the culprit is.” His voice sounds chilly even for his posh British accent.

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