Chapter 10

Ten

Neo

When I woke up,I knew immediately I wasn't at Rey's mansion. Sitting up in bed, I looked around the room. My eyes landed on Merc. His large frame was hanging off the small couch in front of large windows on the side of what I assumed was his bedroom.

It had classic bachelor vibes—large bed and TV, black and brown décor. Plants were in every corner of the room. He had the softest pillows and sheets I'd ever felt.

Getting out of bed, I checked the time on my phone that was on the nightstand next to my purse. It was just after three in the afternoon, which didn't surprise me because it was early morning when we left the music store. I couldn't remember the last time I had that much fun.

I made my way over to Merc and gave him a soft kiss on the side of his mouth. Before I could walk away, his hand grabbed my waist. His eyes slowly fluttered open and settled on me.

"Mornin'," he said, and the raspiness of his voice made my pussy throb.

"It's actually afternoon."

Shooting up, Merc cleared his throat and checked the time on his Rolex. "Shit. I did not mean to sleep that late."

"Obviously, you needed it. We both did."

With a yawn, he stood. "There are extra towels and toothbrushes and shit in the bathroom. After you freshen up, I'll take you back to the mansion."

"Okay." I agreed before heading that way.

I wasn't sure why I expected our time together to continue or at least end differently. Maybe he brought me here because it was closer than Rey's place and he was too tired to make the drive. Whatever the reason, I freshened up while he did the same in another part of his home. When we were done, he drove me back to Rey's mansion in silence. It felt like the walls he'd had up were right back up, and all the progress we made yesterday meant nothing.

I didn't have the energy to even care anymore. I couldn't force Merc to share himself with me. Though I felt like we had a lot in common and could be really good friends, if that wasn't what he wanted, it wouldn't happen. I didn't allow him to fully get the car in park good before I was opening the door to hop out. Before I could, he was gripping my arm and pulling me back inside.

"Why you in such a fuckin' rush?"

"I didn't want to hold you up more than spending yesterday with me already has."

He released a tired sigh and my arm at the same time. "Go get dressed. I planned something for you today, but I do need to go back home and spend some time with my son. I'll be back at six. And if you ever open a door while you're in the car with me, I'ma choke you with that damn seat belt."

There was no denying how serious he was by his expression, but that didn't stop the laugh that erupted from the pit of my belly. Deciding not to test his threat, I waited for him to get out and open the door for me. He didn't step back right away, which forced me to brush my body against his and step around him. I saw his eyes lower to my ass out of the corner of my eye, causing me to slow my steps and put a little extra sway in my hips. We may have agreed to be only friends, but I was for damn sure going to make him suffer for it.

Merc was an anomaly—agangster… a gentleman. Scary yet sweet. Brooding yet beautifully light in this hour of darkness for me. The surprise he had was a spa evening that was followed up with us going to the blues and jazz lounge that was right down the street. Bully and Beethoven happened to be there, and though we spent a little time talking with them, Merc allowed me to have him to myself.

Everything was going well until Merc spotted someone that evoked a rage in him that I didn't think I'd ever see. One minute, we were talking and vibing to the music, and the next, he was taking me over to Bully and Toe and telling them to keep me safe. His movements were careful and calculated until the man noticed him, then Merc was hopping over tables to ensure he was unable to get away. Swift punches to the man's face caused everyone around them to disperse. A gun was pulled by one of the men that was with him, and Merc effortlessly took it and pointed it at him, and it was complete chaos at that point.

While Bully carried me out, Toe charged in Merc's direction. I didn't want to leave Merc. In my mind, I knew this was literally what he got paid to do… Even if that wasn't Gatlin, it was clearly someone he had unfinished business with. In my heart, I wanted to help him. That was proven to be impossible when Bully shoved me into his SUV.

"You need to go help him!" I yelled, trying to remove myself from his grip.

"They got it. And you ain't going back in there. You'll only be in the way."

I couldn't deny that, so as much as I wanted to go back inside, I crossed my arms over my chest as my leg shook in anxiousness. "Was that Gatlin?"

"No, but it was someone connected to him."

Relief filled me. Hopefully, the man would be able to lead Merc to Gatlin so this would all be over. Bully's phone began to ring, and Merc's name was on the dashboard.

"Yeah?" Bully answered.

"Take her to Rey. I'll be there later."

"Aight, gotchu."

The ride to Rey's place was done in silence on my part. Bully tried to keep my mind off things by talking about nothing in particular, and I appreciated the distraction, but it was hard for me to focus. I wouldn't be able to be at peace until I was sure Merc was going to make it out of this okay.

When we got to the mansion, Rey made sure I was okay before assuring me Merc knew exactly what he was doing and would be fine. I went to the room I'd been occupying and almost crumbled when I saw one of the keyboard's Merc and I had been playing yesterday in the corner of the room. It had a red bow on it and a small card that read:

Hopefully this will help you pass the time and make some beautiful music in the process.

– Merc

Holding the card to my chest, I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer for both his and Beethoven's safety… and for him to come back to me soon.

The feelof an arm wrapping around me caused my eyes to pop open. Turning in bed, I gasped at the sight of Merc. Pulling him down to me, I surprised myself by kissing his lips. I pulled away quickly to apologize, but his lips on mine silenced me. Quick pecks turned into his tongue sliding into my mouth as I tugged him further into the bed. He released a low moan against my lips that made my nipples harden.

When he was in bed completely, I wrapped my arms and legs around him.

As much as I enjoyed kissing him, I pulled away to say, "I was so scared."

"I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to you," he reminded.

"I know that. I was scared for you. If anything would have happened to you because of me…" My eyes watered and head shook at the thought. "I don't want you doing this for me anymore. It was different before I knew you had a son."

Merc smiled softly as he pushed my locs out of my face. He kissed my forehead, each eye, my nose, then my lips.

"This is what I wanted to avoid, Neo."

His voice was low, tone calm and even.

"Some things can't be avoided, Mercury. And me liking and caring about you is one."

He returned his lips to mine briefly before pulling away and getting out of the bed. "We don't need to be doin' this. You in a whole relationship, and I've never been a cheater. I don't intend to be the man you cheat with either."

Shit.

I'd forgotten all about Steven.

Running my fingers through my locs, I swallowed hard.

"I'm not a cheater either. I… just got caught up in the moment. It won't happen again."

With a nod, he took a step back from the bed. "I just wanted to let you know I was good. Bully said you were worried."

Avoiding his eyes, I clenched the sheets and nodded. "Gatlin?"

"We have his cousin. We're using him as bait. He'll pop out soon."

"Okay. Thanks."

He left, and it wasn't until I was alone that I felt like I could breathe again. Cursing under my breath, I held back tears. I couldn't believe I'd kissed him. I had never done something like that before in my life. Even with the issues Steven and I were having, he didn't deserve that. I'd have to go see him and try to figure out where we going to go from here. With the history we had, our chemistry had been dull lately. Add to that the lack of effort and I was finally ready to end our relationship.

My thoughts were all over the place, and when I realized I wouldn't be getting to sleep anytime soon, I started to scroll on social media. I got on my store's TikTok page to add a few clips of me and Merc playing at the store. It took a little effort, but I was able to blur his face out before uploading the clips. While I didn't care about people knowing we knew each other, until I talked to Steven, I didn't feel comfortable showcasing another man on my page, even if it was for creative content.

As I scrolled the For You Page, my heart immediately dropped when a video of Steven, Asia, and China came up. I took note of the name because, as far as I knew, neither of them had a TikTok page. I could tell by the decorations that it was for Valentine's Day, so I clicked on the video. The caption was:

When your baby daddy makes Valentine's Day special for you and his daughter.

They were at Asia's home, and it was decorated with banners, streamers, roses, and balloons. She recorded Steven gifting them both several gifts before the clip changed and showed them at a restaurant. After dinner, another clip showed them on a horse and carriage ride. It ended with Steven kissing China goodnight and tucking her in bed, then Asia told him to tuck her in bed. The last clip was of them in her bed and his hand sliding up her naked leg.

My eyes blurred as I went from one video to another. She had several of them together. Almost every time he told me he was going to spend time with China, he was spending time with Asia too. I couldn't understand for the life of me why none of these videos had come up before. Noticing the location, Asia put her neighborhood specifically, so that could have been why. If she was close to Rey, that was why she was on my feed. It didn't explain why she wasn't coming up on my personal page.

I switched accounts, and my intuition told me to go and look at the pages that had been blocked on my account. Scoffing, I hopped out of bed when I noticed her page had been blocked and his. I wasn't sure when Steven had done that, but it made me question if he'd done it on my other social media pages too. It didn't matter at this point. I'd seen all I needed to see. This man was in a damn relationship with his baby mama. The baby mama he swore nothing was going on with. This was exactly why I never wanted to deal with a man who had children, but Steven swore he was different and that things between him and Asia didn't go beyond their child.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

After reserving an Uber, I tossed on a hoodie and some sweatpants, determined to go see Steven. He was going to have to make this shit make sense because I couldn't understand what could possibly make him think it was okay to play in my face like this.

As soon as the Uber arrived, I dotted out of the house, ignoring Rey calling my name.

A part of me wanted to call Steven, but the other part of me told me to pull up. I didn't want him to get a hint that something was wrong because of my tone, and there was no way I'd be able to fake the funk with him right now.

When I arrived, I asked the Uber driver to wait for me. I didn't know Rey's address, so it would be easier to have him to just take me back. I let myself inside of the home I shared with Steven, and immediately, the sound of Asia's laughter filled my ears. My anger only intensified at the thought of him playing house with them while I was away for my safety. No wonder he hadn't been calling and texting to make sure I was good. He was taking full advantage of my absence by having his baby mama here.

I found them in the living room cuddled up, watching a movie. At the sight of me, Steven quickly pushed Asia off him and stood.

"Neo… Bae… hey. What are you doing here?"

I had all these words I wanted to say, but seeing them together left me speechless. Before I could stop myself, I was punching Steven in his nose.

"How could you!" I yelled as my eyes watered, but not from sadness… from anger. "Not only do you cheat on me, but you do it with this bitch? If you wanted to be a family with her, why didn't you just say that shit? You know how many niggas have tried to get at me that I rejected to be faithful to your ass, and you do this to me?"

While one hand covered his bleeding nose, the other grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his chest.

"Did you just fucking hit me?"

"You didn't feel it? Maybe I need to do it again."

Before I could smack him, Steven picked me up and started carrying me out of the living room, but the sound of the door behind kicked in caused him to set me down on my feet. At the sight of a limping man pointing a gun in our direction, my heart stopped beating.

Gatlin.

He'd been watching Rey's home… waiting… and my ass had led him right to my home without Merc being here to protect me.

"I promise I won't tell the police you shot Rey," I told him, voice trembling as I lifted my shaking hands in surrender.

"You think I trust you?" Gatlin asked, taking a step in my direction. "No witnesses."

My eyes closed as I pulled in a deep breath.

"Let's talk about this," Steven said, pulling me behind him.

I was surprised he was even trying to help me. It didn't make me hate him even less. Nothing would be able to take away the anger and hurt over him cheating on me with his baby mama, not even him getting Gatlin to spare my life…