Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“I see why you’re attacking women. Yo’ ass can’t fight!” My fists torpedoed his face, while he slammed his knuckles into my ribs. I winced, gripped him by the shoulders, and slammed him into the metal table again. He flopped with the dignity of wet laundry.
Madison yelped. The molten blob at the end of her rod splattered near my feet. The glop hissed like Satan’s teapot.
“Maddy!” I rasped, the sound more manly than I felt under the circumstances.
Mistake of my life. Omari staggered forward, then brought the back of his head up. He head-butted my chin so hard my life rocked.
“No, you didn’t.” Madison lifted the rod and swung it at his back.
The glowing mass smacked Omari, and the rod stuck to his spine.
The sound and smell of an entire pound of bacon falling into a scalding iron skillet filled the air. My soul flinched. I gagged like a Karen right before she raged with an elaborate Yelp review while still inside the restaurant.
Omari, sniveling and sobbing, stumbled to the left and landed with a thud on his knees. The side of his face ate the epoxy floor.
“Oh my god, I killed him!” Madison rushed to me and burst into tears.
Somewhere behind us, Omari gave a muffled groan. Face still planted against the ground. Did we give a damn? Not a single one.
All I discerned was Madison, eyes glistening, shock and fear tangled together. “I don’t wanna go to prison. I know you can get me off, but if it got to trial, I’d still meet Felicia and Loretta.”
“Loretta Devine?” I lifted an eyebrow. “Nah, not her. That’s a good woman. Kinda resembles Momma.”
“No. Fresh Fade Felicia, with the barbershop hairstyle.”
“My bad.” I pulled her flush toward me and kissed her hard. “I can’t think when my bébé’s crying. Besides, I was joking. My second cousin, Felicia, will protect you if I put money on her books.”
Madison blinked, bottom lip trembling. “Wash?”
“Hey … hey.” With my hands, I cupped her face, and I tasted the salt of her tears when I pressed my mouth against her wet cheeks. “You’re not going to jail, bébé. This is an obvious case of self-defense.”
She gasped into my mouth, that small, broken sound, that always hit like someone had plugged my heart into a generator. Her hands sank into fists at my shirt, dragging me down, pulling me closer, reckless and greedy. I matched her fierceness with a kiss that said, You’re safe.
After a time, she breathed against my beard. “Wash, I’m gonna smack you later.”
“Why?” I asked, pulling her lips to mine.
“Your joke about Felicia.”
I slid my hands to the small of her back and hauled her against me. “Fresh Fade—”
“Stop clowning about your cousin like that. I’d totally forgotten she was back in.” She moaned, kissing me so hard that every nerve ending in my body sparked. “But the second I’m done kissing you.” She smiled, lips smacking mine. “I’ma hit you. Fair warning?”
“Nah, chère.” I chuckled, nipping her bottom lip.
“Baby,” she murmured against my mouth, “thank you for always being hours early.” She laughed against my lips and kissed me again. With my hands anchored against her sweet curves, she fit against me as if God had carved us from the same stubborn material.
Our world remained narrow. Just her mouth. Her breath. Her hands massaged my scalp as if hypnotized. The furnace roared beside us, but she was hotter.
Her lips parted, and I slid my tongue against hers, slow and claiming. Obsession rolled from my chest in a growl, straight into her heart. Her knees buckled, and I tightened my grip, holding her close.
“Chère, I swear you’re gonna make me forget we’re standing next to Cajun-cooked trash.”
She laughed, breathless, tugging my lower lip between her teeth in a way that made my brain short-circuit harder than it had with the cognac earlier. “Do we need to call the cops, Wash?”
“Nah. Called them on my way inside. You know how they do in New Orleans. They’ll be here in an hour. We should jump apart when we hear footsteps.”
She giggled while I planted her on the same metal table Omari’s body slammed against. Her thighs captured my waist, and her lips brushed mine, soft, teasing, a promise of forever. “So, just kisses then?”
“Long as your toes curl,” I replied as Omari’s pathetic wheezing behind us faded into a forgotten soundtrack.
madison
. . .
Mid-June
My lovely wife,
You don’t know how dark my world got when I lost everything most important to me. My only son. You. There are only two things in this world that I couldn’t live without. My Elijah and my Madison. But as I struggled to pull myself up, I couldn’t fathom what was going through your mind either. My heart kept screaming at me, telling me to be the man you needed. Even as I signed those divorce papers, it was this pressure and internal struggle that nearly took me out. And I’m not saying all this to compare who went through worse. Because, bébé, you went through the fire by hiding yourself. By hiding the light within you. By wanting to be alone in your pain. God must have some sense of humor, huh? Got me forcing the woman He created for me into a contract just to get her attention.