Chapter 22

22

E njell

My family had gone to great lengths to cheer me up. They all knew I would have won if my chili hadn't been tampered with. That wasn't fair, but it was life. Besides, if I had to lose to anyone, I didn't mind it being Dejvi.

We all went out for dinner and dancing then stopped by Grandma's house. Daddy was seemingly getting through to Auntie. Crazy thing was, it took Grandma almost stabbing Auntie for her to realize how serious her condition was. I think Daddy was right about Auntie wanting to be in control of Grandma's money. When she realized she couldn't just withdraw money from her account freely, even with her power of attorney, she cared less about having that control.

Now, they were working together to get Grandma the help she needed, which we all were grateful for. After we checked in on her and Auntie, I decided to call it a day so I could recharge my social battery. It didn't surprise me to find Dejvi waiting for me at my home. I figured he felt guilty about the competition, even though it truly wasn't his fault. It was cute that he had someone in his life willing to go to such an extreme for him, but I hoped Ian never did something so crazy again.

When I pulled into my garage, I motioned for Dejvi to do the same.

"Congratulations, baby," I said, giving him a hug and kiss. "I don't think I said that before I left the carnival."

"That's understandable. You were robbed. Congratulations isn't needed."

"It is, because you won."

He didn't respond as he released me, and we headed inside. It wasn't until we were walking through the kitchen and down the hall that I noticed the black bag in his hand.

"What is that?" I asked, pulling my shirt over my head.

"Your money."

"What money?"

He waited until we were in my room, in my closet, to respond. "The one hundred thousand dollars for winning the contest."

As I tossed my shirt into the hamper, I looked at him. "Dejvi, you won."

"Yeah, but if Ian hadn't pulled that stunt, you would have. There is no doubt about that."

"I can't argue with that," I said as I pulled my pants down. "But still…"

"No but. You lost because that idiot thought he had to cheat to get me to win. I don't condone that." He handed me the bag. "You won this fair and square, and I want you to have this money so you can get your own building and do whatever else it is you want to do. Congratulations, love."

My eyes watered, causing me to blink back tears. "There's no way you were able to cash that check this fast. The competition wasn't over until after six."

He chuckled. "Don't worry about that. Just know this is yours."

"I won't allow my pride to ruin this for me. If you really don't need the money…"

"I have more than enough. I genuinely want you to have it."

I made my way into his arms. "Thank you, baby."

"You don't have to thank me. If my brother said your chili was better than mine, it really was better than mine."

I laughed because that was certainly true. Aspen didn't sugarcoat anything for anyone. Having his approval meant more to me than having the approval of the judges. After the excitement of having the money to open my business settled within me, the weight of just how good this man was to me took its place. We showered together before getting into bed, and as much as I wanted to make love to him, that wasn't what we needed in this moment.

In this moment, just being in his arms, telling him how much I loved and appreciated him while he did the same to me, meant more than anything else in the world.