Page 30 of Grand Master

LOVE, TO ME, ISN’T SOMETHING YOU FALL INTO. LOVE TO ME, IS WHAT YOU OWN.

I woke up from the kind of nap that pulled you under so deep that you forget what day it was. I slept good for the first time and a long time. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes wasn’t the ceiling or the wall.

It was eyes. Pitch black unblinking big eyes that horrified me.

I gasped and jerked my body upright making the entire bed shift and scrape against the floor.

Josie was on the nightstand perched staring at me in perfect stillness.

She had specks of blood on her white fur; I looked down at her claws and saw more blood that stained the nightstand.

Her head tilted ever so slightly, the motion was slow and deliberate like she was accessing me.

“Jesus Christ! You scared the hell out of me.” I pressed my hand to my chest. I took in deep breaths then tried to relax myself.

The obvious specks of blood bothered me; I stopped myself from actually asking the damn owl where it came from and whose blood did it belong to.

My stomach twisted viciously as I thought back to Josie digging her sharp claws into my shoulder drawing blood as Grand stomped the life out of Darius. This owl was just as evil as its damn owner. I looked away from her hesitantly not wanting to challenge the animal with staring.

I inhaled the smell of lavender lotion that still clung to my skin from the pedicure and manicure that I received this morning.

I looked down at my oval shaped nude nails and smiled, my feet matched.

It was long overdue to get them done. My feet felt soft and smooth, the coat shined like somebody dipped them in oil.

The two ladies that came in to work on my feet and nails did a wonderful job.

They massaged me thoroughly until I felt my muscles loosen.

By the time they finished, I thanked them then laid right back down in my bed and fell asleep.

The whole experience felt unreal, down to me watching the ladies set up the perfect area with their equipment.

“So, I guess you’re here to spy on me.” I muttered, my stomach growled loudly then it dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten at all today.

Josie didn’t blink, nor move her head from its tilted position which creeped me out more.

“Figures.” I shook my head.

He can at least put a clock inside of this room, so I can keep up with the damn time! I thought to myself.

“Make sure you tell his fine black ass thank you for my nails and feet, and I would like if?—”

“You talk too much when you wake up.”

I jumped again, spinning toward the deep raspy voice that I knew belonged to Kenric.

He stepped out of the bathroom door dressed in a three-piece tailored black suit. The jacket hugged his shoulders perfectly, and the vest fitted snug over his chest. His black silk tie was knotted tightly against the sharp white collar without a speck of lint in sight.

My goodness! I couldn’t stop my eyes from roaming him from top to bottom.

His hair was waved up brushed to perfection with a crisp line up.

He got rid of his goatee, leaving a small line of beard hair at the top of his full lips, the hair on his chin was shaped into a triangle stopping at the crease of his bottom lip.

Today he didn’t have on all his gold chains, just a simple solid gold watch on his wrist. He looked good as fuck, and he knew that shit from the way he eyed me.

I felt out of place in front of him. The two-piece white pajama set that I had on was wrinkled and disheveled.

“H—how long you been in here?” I asked taking my eyes off of him to stare at the owl.

“She’s always where I’ve been, and Josie only talks to me.” He chuckled as he eyed Josie with a glint of adoration in his eyes.

“Why does she have blood all over her?” I asked out of concern.

“I fight to let off steam, sometimes Josie wants to go in battle mode with me. She also hates taking baths, I didn’t feel like forcing her because I was ready to lay eyes on you.” He replied.

“So, you just go fight random people to let off steam?” I asked ignoring the last part of his sentence.

“No, Tone pays for certain men that are trained in the ring. If he can’t get professionals, he’ll get a good street fighter for me. I work out for an hour or two before I fight. Tone says it helps me let off steam.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Oh, that’s different…Tone sounds like an assistant.” I muttered the words out.

“He’s my brother, I suppose he has my best interest.” He responded.

He’s so robotic acting, yet so interesting… I thought to myself.

“I’ve been in here for hours…long enough to watch you be late.” His tone was smooth, but there was still a weight to it that made my stomach knot up.

“Late for what?” I frowned.

“Your first day at Grand’s daycare. Someone already took your position, take that as an easy punishment for being late.” He said with a clipped tone.

“What?” I frowned, instantly getting pissed.

“Snooze, you lose. I think the saying is quite simple, Mira.” He replied evenly.

“You are really an asshole, Grand.” I rolled my eyes hard.

“Kenric, that’s what you call me.” His eyes darkened.

None of his gestures fazed me right now.

I was growing livid by the second. He let someone just take the job that he had me set out to do.

I thought about it all night before going to bed.

Staress interview took less than five minutes.

My hopes got high thinking about the chance to get out of this room to help my time pass until I figured out a way to escape. Plus, I really wanted to meet the kids.

“My plans have changed; I decided that I will pay you to play your violin for me. Your first day starts today. I’ve already had the small number of items that you had in here moved back to my room. It’s where you will be from now on.” Kenric folded his hands in front of him.

“Hold up, wait a minute… First of all, you told me that we would eat breakfast then I would receive a mani and pedi. I’m not the only one who didn’t stick to the plans. Maybe I should think of a punishment to give you.” I reminded him, feeling confident in what I said.

Grand’s posture stiffened, a beat later he smiled, and it reached his almond shaped eyes.

“I’m the only one walking these grounds that dish out punishments, Mira. Besides it doesn’t compare to a good paying job that you had waiting for you either. It doesn’t matter anymore.” He retorted.

“It matters to me and?—”

“Do you like your nails?” He cut me off rudely.

“I do; I love them. Thank you, it felt good to get them done after not tending to them for a couple of months.” I replied back with honesty.

“No thanks needed; I love how they look. That color meshes well with your complexion.” He complimented me.

Before I could stop myself, I blushed hard. The knots in my stomach quickly got replaced with butterflies.

“How old are you, Kenric?” I asked.

“I’m twenty-nine, why do you ask?” He took a step away from the bathroom.

You don’t need to come closer…my goodness. I swallowed down trying to relax my nerves. Grand being close to me, did things to my body that I wasn’t ready to accept.

“When do you turn thirty?” I asked.

“August, seventeenth.” He answered me, then took a seat at the edge of my bed then turned my way to look at me.

Josie turned her body towards us, like she wanted in on the conversation.

“Oh, you give off Scorpio vibes.” I giggled, really surprised that he was a Leo.

“I’m a?—”

“Sagittarius… your birthday is November twenty-eighth, you’ll be twenty-seven. I want you to tell me what you would like to do for your birthday in two months so I can make it happen for you.” He placed his elbow on his knee and eyed me seriously.

I don’t know why him offering to do something special for my birthday warmed my insides. Nobody but my mom always made a special effort to make me happy on my day of birth. I didn’t take Grand to be a considerate guy; he proved me wrong with that one statement.

“The only thing that I do for my birthday is sit at my mother’s grave.

I play my violin on and off all day. If I have extra money, I buy her fresh flowers…

I juice up my favorite drink and pack cucumbers, watermelon, and pineapples.

I sit out there with her all day until the guard begs for me to leave. ” I spoke lowly.

I could feel my emotions rise high inside of me. I missed momma so bad it ached me from just thinking about her and seeing her face vividly in the forefront of my mind tore me apart.

“We can do that together. By then we’ll both be in love.” He responded.

I almost laughed, but the way he looked at me kept it trapped in my throat.

“You,” he picked up his hand and placed it on top of mine, “are all about freedom, you have a wild side. From what I observed at the club, you can stand in a room full of people and still feel like you’re somewhere else in your head.

You get bored easily, which is why you’re dangerous to men who think they can keep you without knowing how to keep your attention. ”

Something inside of me went still.

“Darius never saw it, he never paid attention long enough to notice that you worked your ass off with two jobs…not just because he was lazy, or because you had to in order to keep a roof over both of y’all heads…

or so you thought… You also kept busy to not fall into deep depression because of your mom, because of feeling lonely, and misplaced.

You yearned to belong to something or someone.

Yearned to not feel burdens, and to feel free in order to find your purpose.

He didn’t care to keep your attention, nor did he give a fuck about you working so hard.

” His eyes darkened like he was getting pissed off saying the things of what he observed out loud.