Page 9

COCO

We arrived at an office building downtown, not too far from the clinic and the street Quilo and I nearly lost our lives on.

Involuntarily, I shuddered at the reality of last night.

The crazy thing was, I hadn’t had any nightmares last night.

However, being on this side of town made my skin crawl.

“Pretty.”

Adir snapped me back to reality with both his voice and his touch.

He turned my face until my watery eyes met his.

“Gimme ya hand,” he requested even though he didn’t wait for me to extend my hand to him.

He grabbed both of my folded hands and squeezed them.

“All is well, baby. I don’t want you to bottle up anything you feel. My ears are open at all times. Aight?”

“I do have a question. The police…” I let my words trail off because I didn’t know how to ask without sounding stupid.

With all that Adir revealed to me, I couldn’t see how the police would simply just sweep a murder under the rug.

Sure, it happened. Just not in my world.

“We have an understanding,” he stated.

He left it at that, so I did the same.

All this shit was new to me and seemed like a not so fairytale.

This was dark and scary.

Nothing about it gave butterflies and bright, sunny skies.

It was more like wasps and black ass clouds holding a years’ worth of rain.

Russ opened my door, and I stepped out, bringing in a deep breath as I did so.

Midway through exhaling, I paused at Adir admiring my body.

It was subtle but noticeable.

Blushing, I turned away.

“We’ll go shopping when we leave here,” he said.

“Or I can just go by my apartment really quickly and grab some things.” With that statement came another layer of overthinking.

I had to get out of my leasing contract and move our stuff to storage.

“Ya face is tensing up again,” Adir mentioned.

“Don’t worry about ya apartment or anything that’s in it. Everything will be moved to Bell Estates before evening arrives.”

“Oh.”

“Oh,” he parroted.

He took my hand and led me inside the building bearing Bell Oil Enterprises.

If I thought it was beautiful inside Bell we’ll go over all of them,” Dothan assured me.

“We also have documents pertaining to Quilo, including his adoption papers and name change.”

I knew nothing about adoption or how the process worked or if any of this was by the book.

However, as Dothan and Courtney went over each paper one by one, I found my stiff shoulders relaxing.

Once Adir and I completed signing the documents, Judge Bell spoke for the first time.

“Because I’m sure this is a lot for you, Pretty, I will assure you that my son is a good man. He will protect you. He will honor you. If there’s ever a time that you feel like he needs to be put in order, don’t hesitate to get me or his mother involved.”

Judge Bell addressed me, but his eyes were glued to his son.

Some unspoken words floated between the men.

The hold they had on me was broken by Minnie.

“We need a wedding,” she stated.

“This weekend.”

“Is that really—"

She cut Adir off with a sharp cut of her eyes. “No one’s going to take this seriously without a wedding.”

Judge Bell cleared his throat. “I have to agree with ya mother. Although none of us care about what anyone else thinks… It is imperative that you make it clear that you and Pretty are an item.”

Adir set his stern expression on me. “How do you feel about this?”

I glanced between the three of them, then down at all the documents I’d just signed.

“This is ‘til death do us part, right?”

“It is,” all three unanimously confirmed.

Looking up into Adir’s eyes, I said, “Then, I want a wedding.” There was no use in not having this go the way I wanted it to go. If I was going to pledge the rest of my life to this man, then I wanted to at least have the experience of a real wedding.

Adir’s face relaxed. “Aight.”

Minnie clapped her hands and shrieked like this was her wedding we were talking about.

“The guest list will be very small but intentional. Since it’ll be this weekend, we have a lot of work to do, Pretty.”

My heart raced a mile a minute. This was all happening so fast. However, there was no backing out now. I’d signed the damn papers.

“That’s perfect,” Judge Bell added. “The Mayor’s Grande Ball is next month. You can arrive as Mr. and Mrs. Adir Bell.”

The Mayor’s Grande Ball sounded like something out of Hollywood movie. Hell… I wasn’t used to all this high society shit.

“How do you like this one?” Minnie asked. She stepped back and regarded the white wedding gown with a broad smile. The sparkling bodice fit me perfectly, and I loved the flow of the rest of the dress. Despite the price tag being out of this world, the dress was gorgeous. And I wished I could feel excited about marrying Adir. Also, I wished this was real and not a crazy ass means to keep me and Quilo safe. Yet here I was looking like a queen in this damn gown.

“Pretty?”

I glanced up from the dress riding my body so elegantly to a concerned look on Minnie’s face.

Sighing, she approached me. Understanding was in her eyes. “Your mother isn’t here to walk you through this. However, I am.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. Here was another dagger. My mama would never get to see me genuinely in love and marrying.

“This is all scary. I understand that, too. If I can tell you anything as a mother, the way my son looks at you…” She stressed the last part. “You’re his person. I don’t give a damn who tries to come between you and him, remember that.”

Dr. Grace. And therein was a third reason for my stomach to feel all queasy. I was sure she was just one of his conquests.

“You hear me, sweetheart?” Minnie questioned.

Smiling past the clog in my stomach, I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I hear you.”

Satisfied, she stepped back. “Adir’s going to absolutely love this dress on you. Yeah?”

Glancing at myself in the full-length mirror, I had to agree.

Later that night, I was outside on the patio, drinking in the warm night air with my feet tucked under me and my hair inside of a bonnet, when Adir’s voice startled me.

“You’ve been quiet since you came home. My mama traumatize you?”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “Of course, not.”

Adir walked over to the sofa and sat next to me. His masculine scent was like a magnet that was only made for me. It pulled me to stare at his profile as he sat there quietly. I pretended like his thigh touching my feet didn’t stir me when really the simple brush sparked my nerves into overdrive. I shivered in response.

“You cold?” he questioned. The smirk on his face gave away the fact that his question needn’t deserve an answer.

“Adir?”

He turned to me then. His intense eyes bore into mine. It was either that or the way his lips curved inwardly as he licked them that caused me to stare hard as hell.

“What’s up, baby?” he questioned.

“We haven’t talked about your exes…or anything pertaining to other women. Do you plan on having…other women?” My mind wandered back to Dr. Grace. Somehow over these last couple of days, her existence escaped me. That was until talking with Minnie jarred Dr. Grace back into my mind.

Slowly, Adir blinked. He turned his large body until my feet ended up on his lap. It shouldn’t have jolted me when his hands took possession of my left foot. As his eyes held mine, he removed the sock I wore, then brought my toes to his lips. Everything inside of me tumbled and tripped over each other, fighting for a grip on reality. His lips touched the tip of my big toe as his fingers methodically massaged my foot. I bit into my lip to stifle a moan that still came out.

“That right there,” he crooned as he kissed my other toes. “Another nigga will never hear you do that shit for him. Only me.”

I gulped.

“Another woman will never have what belongs to you, Pretty. I’ve belonged to you since I stepped inside of Smooth Brew and saw you sitting ya pretty ass in there.”

I fought a smile. “That was merely a few days ago. Plus, you were in there to see Dr. Grace,” I reminded him.

“My ex, Genika,” he stated.

Although I knew very well that they’d been together, disappointment settled into my stomach. It quickly dissipated when he kneaded my foot a little deeper. My skin tingled everywhere.

“She and I haven’t been together in a while.”

“How long were you two together?”

“Of and on a couple of years.”

My stomach soured even more. “Were you faithful to her?”

“Nah,” he answered truthfully. “We weren’t exactly exclusive.”

I should’ve kept my questions to myself. Now, I felt like I could throw up.

“My duty is to be faithful to you.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He chuckled.

“I guess I gotta show you, huh?” he murmured. Again, his lips touched my toes.

“Right,” I croaked.

“Right,” he replied back. “She’s pregnant.”

The casualness with which he said it caused me to tug at my foot, but he tightened his hold.

“It’s not mine,” he said.

“Of course, you’d say that.” Disappointment crept up on me ten-fold.

“What do I have to hide?”

I shrugged. “Many things.”

“Nothing.”

We spoke at the same time.

“Yesterday you signed papers making you my wife and executor of my estate should anything happen to me. Is that a man who’s going to do something as miniscule as lying to you, my baby?”

For a second, I said nothing. Then, I thought of something else. “You don’t even know if I’m a healthy woman, Adir.”

His fingers found a spot on my foot that was exceptionally tender. I jerked at him applying pressure there. It felt so good and hurt so bad at the same time. The feeling was excruciatingly perfect.

“That’s something we’ll handle tomorrow.”

“And?”

“And… It is what it is.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Nah… However, I made an oath. I intend to keep it.”

Adir and I fell quiet as he put my sock back on, then proceeded to do to my right foot what he’d done to my left. He was good with his hands, and his lips were surprisingly soft against my toes. While his touch provoked many things inside me, none of it kicked thoughts of Dr. Grace from my mind. If this man was anything like this with her, I was going to have a fight on my hands.

Adir nipped my toe, bringing me out of my thoughts. As crazy as it was, I’d never had a man’s lips on my toes.

I giggled and said, “You’re crazy.”

Adir looked me dead in my eyes and didn’t crack a smile. I went from thinking this was cute, to silently praying he wasn’t as crazy as the look on his face conveyed.

Hesitantly, I crept into Quilo’s room. He watched me enter with his face scrunched up.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

Chuckling, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Just making sure you don’t mind me coming in here.”

Adir had outdone himself on Quilo’s room. There was everything in here that a growing teen needed. I didn’t even ask Quilo if he liked his room. Judging by the way he was sprawled out on his king-sized bed watching the large screen television plastered to the wall in front of him, he was in heaven.

“Don’t piss me off, Coco.”

I winced at the bite of his words. He rolled over until he sat up on the bed. The heavy deep breath he took seemed labored. I wondered if the weight of what he’d done had finally settled over him. He didn’t kick me out of his space, so I took it as a good sign and moved toward the bed to sit next to him.

“How have you been sleeping?”

He groaned and said, “Don’t start. I’m good, aight. If I wasn’t you would know.”

“How when we haven’t really talked in the last few days? You come to breakfast and dinner, but you barely say a few sentences to me.”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m tryna get used to this place. Since we’re not going anywhere. You really about to have a whole wedding this Saturday, and you just met this man Monday.” He shook his head. “You’re supposed to date, fall in love, then get married. This shit is strange.”

I smirked. “Oh, really? What you know about falling in love, huh?”

He hunched his shoulders. “I just know that marriage shouldn’t come before love. Especially since you don’t know this nigga.”

“I’m getting to know him, Quilo. As untraditional as this is, I’m doing it to save us. And I know it sounds crazy but… I trust Adir.”

Quilo glanced at me. “You trust him?”

I nodded. “I do.” There was no point in lying. Adir had every opportunity to leave me and Quilo right where we were. Instead, he jumped in, rescued us, and brought us to live in his beautiful mansion with his sons. “There are so many other ways that this could’ve played out.”

We were both quiet for a minute. Then Quilo said, “Mama would be proud.”

Before I knew it, tears welled up in my eyes. Quilo rarely talked about our mother. However, I was pleased that he knew she would be proud.

“She’d be proud of you,” I told him as we embraced each other.

I left Quilo’s room and exhaled a deep breath after closing the door behind me. I stood there for a minute and said a quick prayer over my brother. This had to work. If everything fell apart with me and Adir…

Shaking the thoughts off, I left the hallway and went downstairs to Adir’s room. I wasn’t surprised to find him in the dimly lit room, on the sofa with a drink in his hand. Smiling, I crawled into his bed, propped some pillows up, and put my eyes on the television.

“Good night, Adir.”

“Night, Pretty.”

As I eventually dozed off, I thought about this crazy ass situation I was in. I was really married to a stranger. A fine ass, crazy stranger.

The next morning, I was at Dr. Bell & Associates preparing to get my blood drawn. Inside the glass waiting room, I looked around, astonished by the high-tech features. I’d worked in a level one trauma center all my career, yet I’d never seen a place as stylish as this.

One of the lab technicians, Davis, stuck his head inside the waiting room. “Ready?” he asked with a welcoming smile.

Smiling back, I stood and followed him to one of the draw stations. My butt barely touched the seat before Adir appeared. His eyes zoned in on me as he strutted through the lab dressed in his scrubs and white coat.

Lord. I swallowed hard because Adir was quite frankly breathtaking. He approached us, dapped Davis, then bent down to kiss my forehead. Next thing I knew, he plucked me out of the chair, then sat back down and brought me into his lap. My breath stalled while feeling his dick against my ass. He rested his hand on my quivering abdomen as I glanced at him over my shoulder. It was a crime how much bigger than me he was. My legs rested between his as his were stretched out to make room for me. Davis touched my arm, reclaiming my attention. The butterflies tearing up my stomach distracted me through the whole process of getting my blood drawn.