Chapter 19

Beethoven

Two Weeks Later

Early April

Her name suited her.

Whiskee.

Skin the same shade as my favorite brown liquor. An aura that had become my addiction. An addiction that warmed me and left me drunk off a woman whose time in my life had an expiration date.

I hadn't seen her for a whole week, and I missed her.

She was on her period, and though I told her I didn't care about that shit, Whiskee decided to stay away. I stopped by to see Mahogany and asked her what kind of things Whiskee liked, then had a care package delivered. Her emotional ass FaceTimed me crying and I laughed, which only made her cry harder. It was then that I realized why she wanted to keep her distance. Whiskee was already a little on the emotional side and her being on her period made it worse.

Whiskee was worth the wait though… even if I did feel some type of way about her spending time with her brother. I felt like that would happen, especially since he called her wanting to apologize. I could respect the gesture of him admitting his wrongdoings, so that was a step in the right direction. But I still didn't trust or respect him as a man or businessman, and I wasn't sure if that would ever change.

"I have two cars, baby. You know you didn't have to come pick me up," she said with that beautiful smile lifting those round lips as she walked outside to meet me.

"I know, but I wanted to see you now, not when you got back to the apartment."

Taking her into my arms, I allowed our lips to connect for a slow, tender kiss that made my dick hard. With a handful of her ass, I kept her in place so she wouldn't pull away before I wanted her to. She started giggling, and that was the only reason I pulled away.

"Did you miss me?" she asked sweetly, looking up at me with those big, doll-like eyes.

"You can't tell?"

"Why don't you show me after our date?" She looked back as the front door opened and her brother stepped out. "Carlos wants to talk to you, so I guess it's a good thing that you came here."

I couldn't stop the irritated breath that released. When I told her I'd pick her up and take her to the apartment so she could get ready for our date tonight, I didn't expect her to want me to talk to her damn brother. As far as I was concerned, we didn't have anything to talk about. The wedding was my professional responsibility in Pops' eyes, so he was not expecting anything else from me at the moment. I was glad about that because I wasn't really fucking with his ass right now anyway.

Between learning my parents' marriage was arranged and that he knew about my cousin killing Whiskee's mom, I was looking at him a little differently. I could understand how, during that time, he didn't give a damn about Whiskee or Renee. The fact that he wanted me to marry her, knowing someone who shared the same blood as us was responsible for her mother's death, wasn't something I could easily get over.

I still hadn't told Whiskee about Malik, and I honestly didn't think I ever would. Last I heard, he was still in the hospital in a coma because of swelling on his brain. A part of me hoped he suffered in that state for a good long while for what he did to Renee.

"For what?"

Her eyes rolled playfully as she smiled. "Go in there and see." When I didn't budge, she groaned and wrapped her arms around me. "I think he wants to make sure y'all are okay." Standing on the tips of her toes, Whiskee pulled me down to her for a quick, closed-mouth kiss. "Please, baby."

There wasn't too much I saw myself denying this woman of, so even though I didn't want to talk to him, I agreed. After getting her settled into the car since I kept it running, I headed toward the front door.

"Wassup?" Carlos greeted, arms crossed over his chest.

"You tell me."

His head tilted as he looked toward my car. "My sister seems to like you… for real."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah." His arms dropped. "I know she's safe with you physically, but is her heart safe with you too?" It was clear Carlos was serious, but him asking me about his sister's safety with me after he forced her into an arranged marriage without her consent or knowledge amused me. "Look… we all we got. That's my baby sister. I just… wanna know she's safe with you."

I ran my hands down my face and grounded myself so we could have this conversation.

"She's safe with me. I like and care about her too. This shit started out arranged with no feelings, but that's not what it is now. I will never do anything to intentionally hurt my wife."

"Is this relationship going to last forever? You want to marry her for real now?"

"We ain't on that. Not right now at least." I didn't want him to think I was playing around with his sister, but I wouldn't dare tell him I didn't plan to be in Memphis long. Even with the marriage having an expiration date and me and Whiskee having feelings for each other, she understood what I was doing with my father and how important it was for me to break free. "We're dating while we're married, but when it's over, it's over."

"Aight." Carlos's head bobbed. "That's all I needed to hear. Thank you."

We shook hands and I headed to the car. I still didn't like his ass, but asking about the safety of his sister's heart was another point in his favor.

Beinga good listener was working in my favor. I took Whiskee to a trap pottery class that she enjoyed every second of. It was BYOB, so while we sipped whisky and listened to one hit song after the next, we followed the instructor and created some ugly ass bowls. Whiskee swore they'd look better when we picked them up, but I didn't care. As long as she was happy and had a good time that was all that mattered to me.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked as the town car pulled out of the parking lot.

"To dinner, then to the apartment. Unless you want to stay with your brother tonight."

"What if I want to come home with you?" Her hand slipped up my thigh, settling on my semi-hard dick.

"We can definitely make that happen."

My hand wrapped around her neck, tilting her head so I could kiss her. Each soft moan and breathy sigh she released made my dick harder and harder. Even if we didn't have sex tonight, I was glad to finally have the chance to go to sleep with her in my arms.