Page 20 of Merci

“When I’m sure the relationship is going to progress, y’all can meet him. And please don’t try to take a picture of his tag and get his information. I’m begging y’all to behave.”

“Fine,” Marz said. “Tell him we said thank you for taking care of you, but don’t get so caught up in the newness of your relationship that you forget who we are. Don’t ever let no shit like that happen and not make us aware. It’s our responsibility to protect you on all sides, and we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s going on. Pops’ gon’ have a fit when he finds out about this shit.”

“He doesn’t have to know,” Merci whined. “I’m safe. No harm came to me. Y’all saw the damage my man and his brother did. Please don’t tell Daddy.”

“Yeah, I can’t lie, they did some major damage. Lamar and his cousin at the hospital. We gon’ walk ’im down still because of the principle. I’m finna go up there and work his ass right now.”

I damn near choked holding back my laughter. I could tell Marz was serious by the tone of his voice.

“Marz, please,” Merci said with a chuckle. “Don’t go up there and beat that man up. He’s had enough.”

“Nah. I’ma let you slide with thismy man, my man, my manshit, but it ain’t nothing you can say that will stop me from going up to that hospital and having Lamar go from a regular room to the ICU.”

Merci released a hard breath. “Fine. I’ll take what I can get. Don’t call me if y’all crazy asses get arrested.”

“Aw, you know that ain’t nothing to worry about,” Neptune said.

A few seconds passed of them saying their goodbyes and making brief plans for their next family day before her brothers left. I walked over to the window and looked out, and surprisingly, they didn’t take a picture of my tag to try and run my registration.

When Merci made her way back into her bedroom, I saw her visibly relax before she said, “Thank you for staying in here. I’m not trying to hide you necessarily. I just never put my people in my relationships until I feel confident they are going to last.”

“It’s all good, Ms. Merci. There’s no rush to meet the family. I’m tryna get to know you.”

Her smile was soft as she loosened the belt on her robe, but instead of letting it fall, she said, “I’m sure you heard them, but they said thank you for looking out.”

“I did.” Slowly, I crossed the room and made my way over to her. “I also heard you call me ya man too.”

Her smile widened as she relaxed in my embrace. “I did. It came out naturally. I didn’t really mean?—”

“Nah. I’m ya man. You had that shit right. And you my woman too.”

As her hands slid down my chest she said, “You really need to go, Mr. Freeman, or we won’t be leaving this room for a while.”

“I hate to, but I agree.” Leaning down slightly, I gave her a quick kiss before grabbing my clothes off the edge of her bed. “I really should’ve left like an hour ago, but thankfully I don’t have my first meeting until this afternoon.”

“Good, and same. I can’t wait for our date. Will you tell me what you have planned?”

“No, but you’re going to enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I will.”

Merci disappeared in her closet, and by the time she came out, she was dressed. After another thirty minutes or so, we left out together to start our days. I hated hearing there was a video of what happened last night, but I was glad our faces couldn’t be seen. To be safe, I was going to put my truck up for a while, though I didn’t think there would be an investigation into what happened. Even if the police did try to pick it up, I was sure Lamar wouldn’t cooperate. He’d have to explain that he was trying to rob someone and got his ass beat in exchange, and not too many men would be willing to do that.

13

MERCI

Of all the things I thought Hammer was planning for our date, it wasn’t this. He’d not only taken me to my favorite bookstore, but he’d rented it out just for me. Tears filled my eyes as they scanned the completely empty store.

“Gone,” he urged quietly with a smile, gently pushing me forward. “For the next hour, this is your store. Have your way, Ms. Merci.”

And have my way, I did. I ended up picking so many books they couldn’t fit in his car. The owner was gracious enough to set up a delivery for me for tomorrow after I got home from work. At that point, I was cool with us going back to his place, but Hammer said that was only the first part of our date.

The second part was dinner at my favorite steakhouse. We’d gotten one of the best tables in the restaurant, giving us a view of downtown and the river. As I looked out of the window, I felt his eyes on me. My smile was soft as I looked over at him.

“What’re you looking at?” I asked before taking a sip of my wine.

“The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.” I couldn’t help but blush. “You seem to get more beautiful every time I see you. And your smile… it’s not just beautiful. It’s bright.Warm. You got the kind of smile that makes a man vow to spend the rest of his life making sure it stays on your face.”