Chapter 10

10

K assadee

The Next Thursday

The sight of Hunter was a welcomed surprise. I hadn’t seen him since we agreed to meet at Espresso Express to plan our date. When he didn’t show up, I feared the worst. After I called his office and learned that he was there and okay, I figured he’d forgotten or simply changed his mind. Since then, Hunter hadn’t come to Ever’s Pub , and I felt like he was avoiding me.

A part of me wanted to go and ask him what was up but I decided against it. His reasoning wouldn’t change anything between us. If he was no longer interested, he could have simply said that. It didn’t take me long to place my order for a medium-sized strawberries and cream hot tea and a rice krispy treat. Steeped had some of the best tea and pastries in the world, not just Jasper Lane. Normally, I’d have my treat upstairs, but I decided to go down to the bookstore area and lounge on one of the bean bags until I needed to go to the bar for my shift.

As I headed out of the cozy space, my eyes inadvertently locked with Hunter’s. They rolled before my nostrils flared. He’d talked all that shit for all this time, and when he finally got a chance with me, he blew it. His shoulders caved as sadness filled his eyes. He headed in my direction, but I didn’t bother stopping.

Steeped was a three-level tea bar owned by Swayde. The third level was a massage parlor, the second level was the tea bar, and the first level was the bookstore. I made my way downstairs and scanned the room. When my eyes settled on a huge bean bag that was empty, I set my tea and rice krispy treat on the small light oak round table next to it and sat down.

“Can we talk?”

I looked up at the sound of Hunter’s voice.

“Do we really have anything to talk about? You stood me up for coffee and haven’t been in the bar since I agreed to finally let you take me out. Clearly, you don’t have anything to say to me.”

He sighed and kneeled so that we were face to face. “I had a lot to say to you actually but your boyfriend or whoever the hell he was fucked it up.”

My mouth twisted to the side and my head jerked slightly in confusion. “I’m single, Hunter, and I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.”

“The Demolisher.” Oh shit. “He was at my car after the kiss threatening me in quite a few ways about what would happen if I kissed you again or even told you about that conversation.” He licked his lips and chuckled. “Now I like you, but I like my face and its bones more. I’m not tryna be embarrassed and get my ass beat trying to be with you.”

I was glad we were able to have a lighthearted conversation about Dali’s threats. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly with Hunter.

“God, I’m so sorry and embarrassed. Contrary to what he said, we are not together.”

“Listen, I don’t even care. Together or not, he wants you, so I’m going to respectfully and gracefully bow out. It would have been different if he was a regular nigga, but the man was undefeated before he retired. I think he didn’t lose any of his matches last year, right?”

I nodded. Even though I wasn’t going to see them, I kept up with his stats. He’d had dozens of professional fights and had only lost three. I didn’t blame Hunter—at all.

“Well… I’m glad you were honest with me about this. I thought you’d changed your mind about me.”

“Nah. I just wanted to respect whatever it is y’all got going on. My life is peaceful, and I don’t want that drama.”

“I can respect that. You know you don’t have to stay away from the bar though, right? Even if you don’t want to talk to me, you can still come around. But I promise, Dali won’t bother you.”

“I know he’s not because you’re not going to tell him you know about this.”

“Hunter, I—”

His shaking head made me cackle. He looked like Shannon Sharpe on that meme. “Nope. He ain’t gon’ make me have to have my jaw wired shut. Don’t tell that man I told you about this.”

“Okay, okay.” I agreed just to ease his mind, trying to reel my laughter in unsuccessfully. I took his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “See you around, Hunter.”

He placed a soft kiss on my hand. “That you will.”

I chuckled under my breath and shook my head as he walked away. As angry as I wanted to be at Dali, I was more amused than anything else. This man had really threatened Hunter to keep him away from me, and it worked! It sucked that I couldn’t confront Dali about his foolish actions because I also found it kind of cute. Too bad he wouldn’t know that.

Later that Evening

We didn’t have an event planned for tonight, so it was our usual crowd. I was grateful for that because Tommy called out for his shift tomorrow which meant I’d have to close tonight and open tomorrow morning. The good part about it was we didn’t open until eleven, and since I’d only be behind the bar, I didn’t have to arrive until ten to start setting up.

Since it was going to be a slower night it was just me behind the bar, but Mona had stopped by for wings and cheese fries. I’d told her about Dali and Hunter after swearing her to secrecy and she thought the whole thing was hilarious.

“What y’all laughing at?” Dynasty asked, leaning across the bar to kiss my cheek.

“Your crazy ass brother,” I replied.

“What he do now?”

I didn’t respond right away as I grabbed the Jameson for his green tea shot since that was usually all he ever had to drink.

“I can’t say but it was in line with his usual shenanigans.” I decided to get his input on the whole retiring for me situation since Ken was still holding out on me. After making his drink, I slid it in front of him. “Are you getting food?”

He looked at what Mona had. “Yeah, let me get an order of those wings. They look good as hell.”

“Got you.” After putting his order in, I asked, “Did your brother tell you he was retiring to be with me?”

“Yeah.” He said it so nonchalantly I couldn’t respond right away.

“Why didn’t you try and talk him out of it?”

Dynasty chuckled. “Why would I?”

“Because you’re his older brother. You know more than anyone how much he loves boxing. It didn’t catch you by surprise that he was so willing to give it up for me?”

“Not really. I knew he would do it; I just didn’t know when. Dali is the kind of man that dedicates himself to his dreams. He executed his dream of being a boxer. The only other dream he had was marrying and having babies with you.” My heart dropped. “Boxing was his life since we were in elementary school.” He shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “It wasn’t surprising that after twenty years he decided to give that up to focus on life with you.”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” I admitted, leaning against the bar. “He’s just so young. Thirty years old. Like… who am I to stop him while he’s in his prime?”

“That’s fair. And just being honest, Dali might not have liked what you said but I know he respected it. Realistically, he might have had ten more years in him before wanting to retire regardless of what the two of you had going on. Maybe that would have been another ten or fifteen fights. I’on know, sis. I don’t think that matters to him more than you do.”

“But you don’t think he’ll regret retiring too soon?”

Dynasty shrugged. “Maybe.” He smiled. “I imagine he’ll have moments where he misses it like any other athlete does. But I also imagine being loved by you… waking up to you… raising babies with you… that would make it worth it.”

Sighing, I chewed my cheek. “Do you think I made a mistake, Dynasty? Because I think Kennessy does. Tell me the truth.”

His head tilted then shook. “I can’t answer that. All I can say is, Ken and I are on the outside looking in and we know how the two of you feel about each other because of unspoken words you won’t share with each other. Instead of focusing on what he gave up, ask yourself why.”

“If a man loved me enough to not just give up his career but the millions that came with it, that would be the ultimate show of how much he loved and wanted to be with me,” Mona said. “I get where you’re coming from, cuz, but I really think you should let him prove how much he values you.”

“I agree,” Dynasty added. “Don’t look at it negatively or like he doesn’t have anything to gain because he does. My brother got some ways about him, but he was planning to give you that godly unconditional love. That sacrificial, selfless love. Those don’t come around often.”

They had changed my perspective and gave me a lot to think about. I hoped I hadn’t ruined my chance of being with Dali. If he decided to start boxing again, I couldn’t even blame him. I’d just have to learn to deal with it—if he still wanted to be with me.