Page 226 of Kentrell

“Kentrell…” I breathed, pure relief washing over me when his face popped onto my screen.

JS Love Angel hummed low in the background as he drove, the Chicago skyline sitting just over his shoulder like a soft blur of blue and steel.

“Wussup—what’s wrong, ma?” His brow furrowed, that little crease appearing between his eyes as he studied my face.

“I woke up and you weren’t here,” I confessed, hating how small and whiny I sounded but not able to help it.

“You was sleeping so peaceful… I ain’t wanna wake you, bae. My fault.” His voice dropped low with that syrupy apology tone he always used when he meant it. “Had to slide back to the city… check on a few of my properties.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. Just pressed my lips together, trying and failing to look unbothered.

But he caught it. Of course he caught it.

“Why you lookin’ like that?”

I sighed, letting my head rest on my hand as I leaned on the counter. “I just… I thought you left.”

His smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I did leave… but not like that.”

God. The way he could make something so simple sound like a promise.

Admitting I loved him had me feeling more raw, more exposed than I’d ever felt in my life. I’d always been surrounded by love—from friends, family, even clients sometimes—but I’d built this internal fortress around needing anyone. Around relying on anyone.

And somehow, in less than two months, Kentrell had managed to break through all that.

"I'm not gon’ be out long, Zoe." His voice pulled me back, warm and steady like it always was when he was reassuring me. “Jakes got called out to Stony last night.”

My eyes widened. “What happened?”

“Domestic situation. Young couple into it.”

He glanced left toward the road, his head nodding almost involuntarily as the next song in rotation filled the car speakers—Step in the Name of Love.

I smiled, watching him like I always did when his old soul showed itself.

I’d asked him before if he stepped, always teasing him about how his playlists stayed full of songs you’d hear in somebody’s stepper set. It reminded me of when Auntie Zonda and Uncle Ahmad used to get dressed for their nights out—him sharp in custom suits that matched whatever color she picked for them that night. And Mama… always sequined, sometimes sheer, with a silky slip underneath to cover the places nobody needed to see.

A laugh slipped out before I could catch it.

“What you smiling at?” Kentrell’s voice pulled me back again, the warmth in it making me giggle as I shook my head.

“Old memories,” I murmured, letting the softness sit there between us.

He didn’t press.

Instead, with one hand still on the wheel, he pointed at the screen and started mouthing the next lyrics to me:

“Babygirl, in other words, forever more… I’ll be here. ’Cause my whole life’s been full of joy since you came here…”

He snapped his fingers to the beat, bobbing his head to the beat, and I melted.

Couldn’t stop the smile that stretched wide across my face.

Couldn’t stop the way my heart skipped, then landed hard… right where it had been falling for weeks now.

“Whatchu wanna eat today?” He switched topics so smoothly it made me blink.

“I want something light…” I mumbled, my mind flashing back to this morning’s toilet bowl Olympics. My stomach turned at the memory, and I shivered. “I think those shrimp gave me a bug.”

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