Page 21 of Obsessive Love

PYRITE

“Let’s go,” I said as I set my phone on the desk and stood.

A black folder full of papers I needed to sign sat on my desk, and I grabbed it.

I knew once we arrived at the storefronts that Fable would be in her own little world, designing it exactly as she wanted.

I rounded my desk, put my hand out for her to take, and waited.

Touching Fable was becoming addictive. I always wanted to be near her, touching her; at this fucking point, I wanted to be in her damn skin.

“How far is your office from the storefronts?”

I opened my office door, checked our surroundings to ensure everything was clear, and stepped back.

“Go to the right,” I instructed. We walked down the hallway and took the business elevator to the lower back offices.

“To the left.” We moved to the arena's main level through the back offices, the lounge, and out the door. “Pick a space.”

“Which one isn’t being used already?” she asked as we walked around. No one had chosen a location because we were in the off-season of basically everything. Fable would get the first choice.

“None,” I said, shaking my head. “I haven’t offered contracts to any other vendors for locations.”

“Why?” she questioned as we moved to a different front. This one was the biggest and was also a corner lot. She opened the side door and stepped behind the counter.

“Because I’ve been busy,” I answered with a laugh, and she rolled her eyes. “But after you decide, I’ll email my assistant, and she will let them know which spaces are available.” She bit into her bottom lip and looked around. “What is it?”

“I think I need two spaces,” she replied, and I nodded. “This one is perfect, but it's not big enough, and I can tell it’s the biggest. Unless you have something on a different level that’s bigger?”

“Nah, these are the biggest fronts,” I answered, and I watched her shoulders drop. It was wild that she thought her needing two fronts would be a problem. Nothing that could be fixed with money would ever be a problem.

“Okay,” she nodded and looked around again.

Her face twisted for a second, then she straightened her shoulders and returned to business.

“I’m going to need two convection ovens instead of the three I originally wanted.

” I opened my portfolio and started writing down everything she mentioned.

“All new appliances; dough divider included due to lack of space, the counter needs to be replaced, and a holding counter needs to be put in.” I was writing shit down like I knew what any of what she was saying meant, but that didn’t matter. If she wanted it, she would have it.

“Colors?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Blue and purple,” she answered, and I nodded.

“Of course,” I mumbled with a chuckle. “Let me tell you right now, though, you can’t have your birds or real plants here.”

“That’s obvious,” she quickly replied, and I kissed my teeth. Her smart mouth ass might have known it, but I don’t doubt she would still try and get something in here.

“The floors are cool?”

“Yeah,” she answered as she walked around the front. “In the back, I want double sinks; that’s non-negotiable.”

“Noted,” I said, nodding. “And the fridge?”

“Double as well,” she answered. “I’ll figure out placement later today.” She looked up at me and shrugged. “I know this is probably a long shot, but do you have a tape measure?”

“For what?” I lifted my brow in question.

A group of players, reporters, and a media team walked through the hallway. I gave them a slight nod of acknowledgment but kept my attention on Fable. Her eyes lit up in surprise at the number of people here.

“Pyrite, do you have time next week to converse?” Michael Beach, the head of player and team public development, asked as he approached me.

I couldn’t stand Michael’s ass, but I had to deal with him because of his job.

He was good for players and teams, but the way he moved always rubbed me the wrong way.

“I want to go over the plan to announce Legacy Glover.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, nodding. Connecting with him was the last thing on my list to worry about. Legacy had a huge following, and announcing she was now a Queen would be a breeze, especially since she was best friends with Mercy DeCorte.

“I appreciate it,” Michael said, nodding. His eyes went from me to Fable, and I stepped into his sight. “Well, hello.”

“Nah, nope,” I said, shaking my head. “Focus on me, my nigga.”

“I’m happy with my special flower, Pyrite,” Michael laughed, stepped back, and threw his hands up in surrender. “I was just being polite.”

“Not with her, you aren’t,” I grilled him.

Michael nodded, then turned to leave. I watched him move through the group of people until he was out of sight, and then turned to Fable.

“What was that about?” she asked, looking between me and the group. I waited until they were gone before relaxing.

“Nothing.” I closed my portfolio and then set it on the counter. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll be back with the tape measure.”

“Okay,” she nodded, then returned to what she was doing.

I watched her for a moment before finally deciding to walk away. I knocked on the counter twice as I passed it.

“Lock the building down,” I said to Yeti as soon as he picked up the phone.

“Lock it down?” he questioned, but I could hear his fingers tapping against his keyboard. Even though he wasn’t sure what was going on, he was still following instructions, which is why I paid him the money that I did. “What’s up?”

“She’s going to try to escape,” I replied as I rode the elevator to my office.

“Who?”

“Fable,” I answered. The elevator came to a stop, and I got off.

My assistant, Jewel, looked up from her computer to see me and nodded.

She was a cool chick who didn’t ask for much and did her job well, which I appreciated.

She wasn’t into the bullshit and kept her head down until it had to do with her.

“The Baker?”

“The Baker,” I confirmed as I walked into my office.

I closed the door, walked to my desk, and sat.

Quickly, I logged onto my computer and then pulled up the security cameras.

Finding her took me a minute, but I relaxed the second my eyes landed on Fable.

She was speed walking through the arena, trying to find either the group of people we’d just seen or her way out.

The group we’d encountered was on another level, talking with Queens players, and the doors that led to them were locked.

She could only go to the fronts, the court, the service elevator we’d ridden, and the bathrooms.

“How long are you going to let her run around?” Yeti asked with a chuckle.

“Until I get tired of seeing her run.” I sat forward, resting my elbows on the desk and tinting my hands in front of my face. I’d never get tired of seeing her run because I knew that all her paths led to me.

“You want me to send one of the fellas to keep an eye on her?” he asked.

“Nah,” I denied. “Because I already know that you told them that if they touched her, they would die.”

“Understood,” Yeti replied with a chuckle. “You want me to watch her, or you got it?”

“I’ll keep my cameras up and review some paperwork,” I said.

“Alright.”

“Any word on the Legacy situation?” I asked as I sat back.

The Queens were my newest team, and we were set to debut soon with our season opener.

It been brought to our attention that she was dealing with a stalker and had been for a while.

I knew that Hood was personally taking care of it, but that didn’t stop me from checking in on the professional level.

“Nothing since the last incident with the flowers and her car,” he answered, and I nodded. “I still haven’t figured out how they got around the cameras, but that shit will be taken care of soon. Nine is coming in to upgrade the entire system.”

“Good looking out,” I said, nodding even though he couldn’t see me. “I appreciate you stepping in and making decisions without waiting for me. I don’t play about the players’ safety, especially our women players. They are to be protected at all times.”

“I already know,” he agreed. “But let me get off here; I gotta go check in with Infinite cuz his ass is pissed about hearing about Ra.”

“Handle that,” I said, and then we hung up.

While Fable attempted to escape, I worked on recruiting new players.

Hood’s health report on three of the players for the Queens had come back, and we didn’t like what we’d seen.

Instead of trying to work through the issues, I decided that the best course of action was to cut them.

I already had Vine Carter in the works, and my sights were now set on Helix Tremaine and Archer Nelson.

I sent the names to Hood, then moved on to research some players for my professional women’s flag football team.

Thirty minutes later, my phone rang again.

“Yeah?”

“I think she got out,” Yeti laughed.

“Out where?” I stood, my eyes scanned the monitors to see where Fable was, and when I didn’t find her, I was ready to lose my fucking mind. “Where the fuck is she?”

“The bathroom alarm was tripped about twenty seconds before I called you,” Yeti answered. “I’m pretty sure she climbed out of the window and is running through the parking lot.”

I switched the cameras to the parking lot view, and the first thing I saw was Fable being chased by three of the new security guards. Everything went red when one of them tackled her into the arena wall. I grabbed my gun from my desk and took off out of my office.

I was in shape; I worked out every day, and being pissed off, plus the adrenaline running through my veins, made me move faster than usual.

I exited my office, went down the stairs, through the lobby, and out the door.

When I turned left to go in the direction, I knew that they had caught Fable, I walked right into the muthafucka that had tackled her.

“Wrong fucking decision.” I lifted my arm and, without a second thought, put two hot ones in his chest. The two security guards with him jumped back while Fable yanked from his grip as he fell to the ground. “I know you bitch ass niggas had specific instructions not to touch her!”

I could hear Fable yelling my name, but I didn’t give a fuck.

My only thought was handling the nigga that was dumb enough to put his hands on her.

I stomped into his chest. The bullets that I’d shot into him had already left a decent-sized hole, but I wasn’t stopping until the bottom of my shoe touched the pavement.

When I was done, I turned to the remaining two guards, who looked like they’d seen a ghost.

“What was the first rule when it came to Fable?” I questioned them. My voice was calm, but the rage I felt inside was anything but. “Huh? What was the first fucking rule?”

“Don’t touch her,” one said, and I nodded.

“And the next?”

“If you failed to follow rule one, then rule two was immediate death,” he answered.

I tucked my gun into the back of my pants and grilled them. “Were the rules hard to follow?”

“No, sir,” they replied in unison as they shook their heads.

“Good.” I turned to Fable to see her staring down at the guard’s dead body. Did I want her to see me this way? No, but I needed her to know I would never play with her safety. She came before anyone else and always would. “Fable, let’s go.”

“You-you-you killed him,” she said as if she were in shock. “You fucking shot him!”

“I did,” I nodded. “He broke the rules.”

“The rules?” she yelled. “The fucking rules? Pyrite, you killed him for breaking a gotdamn rule!”

“Let’s go, Fable,” I sighed and extended my hand to her.

“You’ve lost your gotdamn mind!”

“Nah,” I denied, shaking my head. “That’s the thing.” I closed the space between us and got in her face. “I just found it. I own every fucking thing in this bitch. I pay every single person’s fucking salary. So, when I say don’t touch FABLE, then that’s what the fuck I mean!”

“Pyrite-”

“No!” I interrupted her. “I’m not having this conversation with you.

I said what the fuck I said, and I meant it.

They are not to touch you! You can run, hide, jump, skip, I don’t care what the fuck you do because I’ll always fucking find you, but they are never to touch you!

That shit is not up for debate.” I took her hand, even though I was pissed, I would never touch her in anger and interlaced our fingers.

“Now bring your ass, so we can finish going over your front and then go home.”

“That’s not my fucking home!” she said as she tugged at my hand.

“Then I’ll call Bizzy in the morning and have him set up some viewings so you can find one you like,” I replied as we walked back into the arena. Yeti met us at the door with a smirk on his face. “Your bitch ass security guard’s blood is staining my parking lot.”

He chuckled but didn’t say anything as he held the door open for us, and we passed him.