Page 39 of To Love and Protect
She looked down at the floor for a few seconds before she looked up at him again. “I promise.”
Those two words gave him just enough security to make it through the night without speaking any further.
“Go ahead and take the shower in the master bath. I’ll shower in one of the guest rooms, and then maybe we can watch a movie?—”
“I’m actually going to sleep in my old room tonight.” She said it so gently. He could tell she tried hard to let him down tenderly, but he could feel his heart crack at the thought of not being able to sleep up under her tonight.
He breathed in heavily and held in everything he wanted to say. Instead, he brushed her curls behind her shoulder and kissed her forehead. “Whatever you want, cookie.”
And he meant it. He would do anything for her. It didn’t matter that a big part of him was worried the police would kick in his door and arrest him at any second. It didn’t matter that small flashes of memory would plague him for the next several days. It didn’t matter that he felt like he needed to find a new profession in order to save his relationship and his life. All that mattered was that Remedie was comfortable.
She brushed some more tears away and turned toward the stairs. He watched her go with a heavy heart. Once she was upstairs, he finally dropped his duffel bag and moved toward the kitchen. Since he couldn’t be up under Remedie, all he wantedto do was shower, get in bed, and wait for Gramps’s call. First, though, he wanted to make sure Remedie was good for the night. He might not be a chef like her, but he knew a good home remedy for an upset stomach.
He went into the fridge and got a ginger ale. After he poured it into a glass with ice, he went to the snack pantry and placed some assorted crackers on a plate. He took his time making her a cup of tea with honey and lemon for her sore throat, and then he grabbed a bottle of water and some Tums before making his way upstairs. He pushed her door open and was glad that she was already in the shower. If he laid eyes on her again tonight, he didn’t think he could respect her wishes.
He placed the items on the nightstand before walking out of her room and into his own.
The shower he took was long and much needed. He scrubbed himself as if he was trying to scrub everything that had happened that night away. By the time he crawled into bed, his skin felt raw.
He flipped through the channels on the TV, not really settling on anything. His phone rang, startling him. Once glance let him know it was Gramps. His heartbeat kicked up as he answered the phone. “Hello?”
“You good, champ?”
“Could be better, Gramps. Please tell me that nigga wasn’t choking my girl.”
“’Fraid he was. We got it all cleaned up. I still say you lie low for a couple of days. We gotta work on that temper of yours.”
Nico didn’t have the heart to tell Gramps that he had been thinking about hanging up his gloves. He knew that wouldn’t fix his temper, but beating niggas up for a living definitely didn’t help. He had a lot to think about.
“How did you manage to clean this shit up this time?”
“Same as the last two times. Karma’s crew handled it. You’re her biggest money maker in this underground boxing shit. She ain’t about to let that shit go, but her crew sent us with a warning. We gotta get this shit under control.”
His answer was always vague like that. Of course, Nico had heard of Karma, but nobody knew who she was for real. The fact that she was so invested in him felt weird to him, like he owed someone or something.
He sighed. “Aight, look, let me know if anything changes. If I gotta run, I will. I ain’t goin’ down for a murder charge.”
“That ain’t gon’ happen on my watch. Get some rest. I’ma check in tomorrow.”
“Night, old man, and aye, thank you.”
Gramps responded with a grunt before hanging up. Nico tossed his phone to the side and mentally started counting down the moments until morning hit. He planned on climbing right into Remedie’s bed as soon as he got up in the morning.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“It is early as fuck, Remedie. After the night I had because of your man, the least you could do is let me sleep in,” Isla fussed as she squinted against the bright sun seeping in through the front door. Remedie didn’t pay her any mind as she brushed past her best friend and headed for the living room. “And why the hell you got a bag? You and ya killa get into it or something?”
Remedie sat down with a huff. “Isla, please.”
Remedie buried her head in her hands. A moment later, she felt the couch dip beside her before Isla’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. Tears filled Remedie’s eyes. She knew part of her emotions was due to lack of sleep. She barely had any rest the night before. Tossing and turning had a hold of her until she couldn’t take it anymore. That was when she decided to get up and go see her bestie. Remedie needed Isla right now real bad.
“Last night was a lot, huh?” Isla finally asked as she rested her chin on the back of Remedie’s shoulder. All Remedie could do was nod while her hands caught the tears she didn’t even want to fall.
Watching the only man she ever loved beat her first boyfriend to death was definitely a lot, and she knew it would take a long time to properly sort through her feelingssurrounding that, but there was so much more on her plate. Zayden would have killed her, despite someone noticing Remedie’s struggle. She knew that as a fact. If she would have died, the notion of having her own family would have never come to fruition.
A shaky hand slid over her stomach, and she cried harder. Isla rubbed her back and soothed her, not knowing all the reasons for Remedie’s tears.
When she finally calmed some, she lifted her head and stared straight ahead before she muttered the thing that had consumed her mind over the past twenty-four hours, even before the fight.
