Page 20 of Only You

“It’s not an excuse, but I’ll do whatever you need to regain your trust. I’ll wait however long it takes. I owe you that! But I want you to know that it doesn’t matter how long,” I said, pausing to pull her face towards mine by the chin so I could look into her eyes.

“Because you already belong to me,” I said with confidence. I couldn’t resist any longer, moving the rest of the distance to capture her lips. They were soft, supple, and before I could controlit, I tilted my head and dove my tongue inside her mouth, tasting the mint still on her breath. My body came alive as my tongue swirled around hers, calling me to deepen the kiss. My hand found its way to the back of her neck as memories of the last time I’d tasted her lips filled my mind.

“Mmm, Brice,” She moaned before she gently pushed me away. My eyes popped open, and I quickly drew back. Her breathing was quick and heavy, and matched mine.

Shit!

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning away from her, resting my hands on my knees, and holding my head. It was the only way to stop myself from doing it again. I just told her I wasn’t living, and I wasn’t, if I’d been missing her lips on mine, kissing me like she had.

“I love you, and I’m in love with you, too, Brice. This is all…a lot,” she said, waving her hands around. I lifted my head, looking back at her, and let out the breath I held at her declaration. Now all we had to do was communicate the correct fucking way.

“I need you to tell me why you were down at the docks wearing a ski mask,” she asked. It was a test. She wanted to know if I would tell her the truth or dodge it like I usually did. It also amused me that the woman from the docks was her.

My Lynx!

“So that was you?” I asked, and she nodded. She’d seen me in action. I smiled and took my bottom lip into my mouth. It always turned me on when she was on her super spy shit.

Again, this is not the damn time, Brice!

I coached myself to calm down before I stood. Besides, she needed to trust me first. She also wasn’t anywhere near strong enough for the things I yearned to do to her body, if we ever got to that point again. I finally stood and reached my hand out for her to follow me back out front. She stood and timidly placed her hand back into mine. I led her with my hand at the small of her back. Her breath hitched at my touch.

“We’ll explain, come on,” I said.

“You good now, Wakanda Forever?” Steph said. We all burst into laughter.

“Yeah, I just needed a minute. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if I didn’t successfully take Nina out. I desperately wanted it to fix everything. Also, Stephon, I am not a Dora!” Tay said in jest as she sat. I took a seat right beside her, making sure that my leg touched hers. I needed to feel her heat.

“Yeah, ok, Sister Nakia,” Steph followed.

“Tay, don’t pay this nigga any mind. He takes his big brother role too seriously,” I said.

“Y’all don’t like my hair?” Tayla asked teasingly.

“I love it,” I rapidly answered, letting my hand fall to the back of her neck where I ran my fingers up and down over her close cut.

“But about the docks…Steph and I are One and Two. We were given the position by Devin, who was formerly One. His brother Dorien was Two, and Demitri, Three,” I said as I looked for any signs that I couldn’t trust her. Old habits were hard to break, even though I now knew with one hundred percent certainty that I could trust her with my life. I just needed to show her the same. She didn’t look surprised about the information. She knew I went by the moniker Ice in the streets, but not that I wore a ski mask as him. I’m sure she had an inkling once she took the blinders off, because she was a spy, but she never had a reason to look into it. Like Steph, she preferred to spend her missions in quiet solitude, watching her mark until she had what she needed, so it was probably easy for her to put two and two together after seeing me at the docks. Knowing how she operated, she probably knew exactly where we were the entire time.

“The day down at the docks, I found a piece of paper in the trash. It was the warehouse where Steph and Devin found me outside the day Nina Nine shot me. Inside, she and Sincere were having a meeting with someone from the Italian Mafia named Costa.” I looked over to Steph, and he was already making eye contact. Everything was fucking connected, no coincidences. I continued to listen as she spoke.

“He wants it all. The weapons you found are just the start. His ultimate goal is to take out the two of you and be supplied by The Cartel without their knowledge. What Costa doesn’t know is that Nina wants to pit you against the Mafia in hopes that you all kill each other so that she can be on top. Steph, how did you know I was there?” She asked.

“You called me back. I heard you talking to Nina, I guess. Then the gunshots rang out. D and I saw that we were nearby when we tracked you. When we arrived, you were in the parking lot bleeding out. Look, I have just as many trust issues as the rest of you, but I’d already lost one brother by my own hands that I never got thechance to know because of Julius. That fucked with me, and I wasn’t about to let the same shit happen again. My mother didn’t raise me like that. Which is why I told Jourdan’s ass to fix this because tomorrow isn’t promised,” he said as he took Jourdan into his lap and kissed her. I still hadn’t gotten used to seeing my sister melt for a man.

“Ok, Mr. ‘Why didn’t you bring the boy home!’ ol’ nobel Ta’challa ass,” I said, acting out the scene from the Black Panther movie. Steph couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let's table this shit for now. I’m tired of talking about them,” I said. They all nodded in agreement.

“Please tell me you went grocery shopping?” Jourdan asked.

“Don’t even try to play me like that, JoJo; I’m a family man now.”

“Speaking of ‘family man,’ I knew you two were fucking,” she said as she retreated to the kitchen to fix us all lunch.

“It was actually only one night, though. My dick don’t play no games. Ain’t that right, Tay?” I said and winked. Her cheeks turned red before she focused back on Bryson.

“No, Tay’s pussy don’t play no games because you didn’t strap up or pull out,” Jourdan said and laughed. We talked and caught up for the rest of the evening. I was glad that Tay was back and had Steph to help fill in the void her parents left. I knew our relationship wouldn’t be fixed overnight, but I was glad that Tay was willing to stay. Tayla needed to be one hundred percent because eventually, we would have to plan how to handle Nina and the Italian Mafia. They had to fucking go.

CHAPTER 13

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