Page 238 of Lau Ahi
I braced my hand on the back of the sofa and lifted myself up with my eyes toward the front of the house. “Who the hell is that?”
A sharp rap across my knuckles had me drawing my hand back as I winced.
“Watch yo mouth, girl.” That finger was wagging again and I stifled a laugh, thinking that she was still mothering me at my big age.
“My apologies, Ms. Lynn, but you know I cuss.”
“Yeah, but not around me. I’ll still have you wash your mouth out with soap.”
I laughed as I reached into the box that sat on my coffee table and pulled out the gun I always ensured was there. The one night I’d left home without it cost me over ten years of my life. Ms. Lynn moved to her spot near the cabinet and pulled a shotgun out from behind a panel.
“I’ll be in position.”
I gave her a nod and strolled through the house unbothered, passing through a formal sitting room and past a dining room as I entered the central hall. I was sure that whoever this was didn’t mean harm since they’d come knocking but I wasn’t taking any chances. The door of the house was ornately carved on both sides and extremely heavy since it was old and solid wood.
I looked through the peephole and immediately got irritated by who was on the other side.
“This has got to be a bad omen if this rascal is on my front porch.” I shifted the myriad of locks that secured the door muttering angrily to myself.
Snatching the door open, I kept the gun brandished in my hand but lowered to my side so the person on the other side knew that I wasn’t about to play around with them.
“The fuck are you doin’ here?”
“Jemma Marie Benoit I will get theIvoryright now!”
Ms. Lynn hollered from her position within the house, and I could only roll my eyes. I was over thirty years old and didn’t need to be kept in line. Besides, now wasn’t the time with decorum with a weasel like this.
“Is that Ms. Lynn? Dang I missed her. Let me say hello—” He had the nerve to step forward as though he were going to breach the threshold of my home without my permission and my gun went to his chest as my eyes met his.
“Have you lost your ever lovin’ mind?”
His hazel eyes were fastened to the gun that was now poking him in his chest. He knew from experience how my temper was and didn’t bother to move. His hands went up in surrender. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Reginald St. Germaine, what do you think you’re doing here?”
He grinned revealing perfectly white teeth and a smile that had melted many a heart back when I thought he was a friend. “I was gonna pay my respects to—”
“You can start by paying them to me. And where are your manners? And why are you here?” I waved my gun carelessly in the air just so he could understand that I wasn’t wrapped too tight and would absolutely shoot his ass.
“I came to see you.” He turned up that grin a notch as though flattery was going to gain him entrance into my home and into my life. The blue linen of his shirt was starched to perfection something I knew his personal attendant had done. He was the only man I knew who’d kept a valet in the twenty-first century but his people were uppity like that. Clinging to old ways that made them relevant since their name was fading in the circles of the upper echelons of New Orleans society.
My brow furrowed and I tapped my gun against my knee impatiently. “For what reason? I haven’t seen you in years so help me understand what has you on my doorstep?”
“I can’t see my fiancée?”
I reeled back his confidence in his words giving me pause as a sinking feeling crept up my spine. “You think a relationship that was over more than a decade ago is supposed to hold weight now?”
“It bodes well if I still have a binding contract with you.” That charming smile turned triumphant and then almost vicious as he delighted in the stress he was causing me with his revelation.
“That’s laughable. You can’t force me to marry you. I don’t give a damn what that contract says.” I could have his body cut up and dropped into the middle of the gulf within four hours but I knew that crow was standing around watching my every move. I wouldn’t put it past her to have someone keeping tabs on me and what I was doing just waiting on me to slip up so she could declare me insane.
“You seem to forget how things go around here. You think yourtanteis going to want you sullying the family name by backing out of this contract? She’s already given me her blessing to enforce it.” He stepped forward again and was met with the barrel of my gun yet again.
“Hmmm, how nice that everyone is makin’ plans about my life without me.”
He stepped back again and put his hands up. “Well, you might not be in the right mind. Being in an asylum and all.”
“And you’re sure that you want to tie yourself and your bloodline to all that potential madness?” I twirled my pointer finger around my ear to emphasize just how loony I was.
