Page 15 of Dr. Bell

She gaped, then let her eyes roam over the rest of the room. Besides my bed, there was a full seating area against the floor-to-ceiling wall window encompassing the wall to our left. Outside, the night was in full swing. The stars were so bright, it was as if I could reach out and pluck one down for her. It pleased me that she didn’t look nervous standing in here.

“The bed has clean linens on it. Make ya’self comfortable.”

She shook her head. “That’s asking too much. Just give me a blanket. I’ll crash on the couch or the floor.”

“Never inside these four walls will you sleep on anything other than a bed, baby.I’lltake the couch. You get in the bed.”

“Okay,” she lowly replied. Once she was tucked in under the covers, I turned the television on something she wanted to watch.

Retreating upstairs to my bathroom, I stood in the mirror wondering who the hell this man was staring back at me. When my day started, I never thought it would end with me falling in love. The proof laid in my bed.

WhenIemergedfromupstairs, showered, moisturized, and fully dressed, Pretty glanced at me with her big brown eyes questioning me without her saying a word.

“I’m about to go meet with my family.” Inwardly, I chuckled at me telling her my moves. I was already soft on her.

“Oh,” she simply replied. “Is it okay if I make a call? I wasn’t sure, so I… I turned both phones off. But my friends will worry if they don’t hear from me.”

Understanding, I handed her my cell. I rattled off the code and said, “We’ll make sure you and Quilo have new phones tomorrow.”

She took my phone and inspected the picture on the screen. The picture was of me and my sons. Questions swarmed in her eyes.

“I’ll answer all the questions you have, shawty. However, tonight, I need you to rest. Tomorrow’s gon’ be busy as hell.”

Conceding, she nodded and focused on the phone.

A few short minutes later inside my home conference room, the gazes of my father, my mama, uncles, a few of my cousins,and my closest security team sat quietly, waiting for me to say something.

The fire I’d tried to abet inside the shower had yet to die down. Seeing those guns pointed at Pretty had me restless and my hands ready to do damage. I hadn’t felt this homicidal in a very long time.

“As head of this family, I need to make a few things very clear.”

My cousins’ ears perked up. The tone in my voice had them on edge. They hated dealing with this side of Adir. This side of me saw nothing but bloodshed—straight red.

“I’ll be getting married in the next few days.”

“Married?”

“The fuck, Cuzzo?” Noa and Duval, my eldest cousins, spoke at the same time.

“Hush and listen,” my father grumbled as he pulled from the cigar dangling between his tattooed fingers. My mother sat in his lap, curiously smiling as I debriefed them on the situation.

“I need each of you to put the word out. Pretty and Quilo are off limits.”

“Giving a woman our name for protection purposes is dangerous, Nephew. You have no idea who she is or what stock she comes from.”

That was my uncle, Duval Sr. He was next to oldest after my father.

“Questioning my son is absurd,” my father said. I held my hand up to put a halt to the argument his words were about to spark.

“Her stock is not to ever be questioned. I better not ever hear anyone bring that shit up again. Understood?” I respected my uncles. However, I was the boss of this shit. They followed my orders and not the other way around.

“What do you wanna do about Hakeem’s crew?” Duval asked. “You really think that nigga gon’ let this shit go?”

“I’m giving him the chance to,” I replied.

Duval scoffed.

“You got an issue?” I asked.

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