Page 40 of Own It

I ate as much of my breakfast as I could, but I didn’t truly have an appetite. Between being away from Delicacies to worrying about whether my dad would actually save Talid, I didn’t want to eat.

Cynthia came to retrieve my tray before setting it down on the desk and pulling out a key. She came over to unlock the cuff.

“Mr. Godfrey told me to release you so you could clean up.” She put it back in her apron pocket, then ventured back to pick up the tray.

“You’ve had a key this whole time?” I frowned, soothing the ache of the wrist that had been bound.

“No. Just today.” She gave me an odd look then left the room.

I’d learned my lesson from the whole ankle debacle, and I guessed Rakim realized that. He didn’t have to worry about me attempting to escape again, especially when this wasn’t as bad as one would think. I ate better than I did when I was free since a lot of the times, I would sacrifice meals to work or run errands. I’d also been getting a lot of reading done since Rakim asked me for my TBR. I’d laughed, wondering where he even got that term from, and he’d said the internet.

I noticed I was simpering in the mirror as I began to brush my teeth before immediately erasing the emotion from my face. I was sort of panicking the entire time I flossed then used some mouthwash because I knew it was a bad sign when you thought of a man when he wasn’t around. It was the beginning stages of being ‘in like’ once you started to reminisce on conversations and other interactions.

I hopped into the shower, washing my face and body, then once dried off and dressed, I did my Dutch braids over.

“Oh, shit.” I halted as soon as I stepped out of the en suite and saw Zaire. His locs were tied back out of his face.

He looked exactly like Josias, but not only was his hair darker, but he seemed to have a darker persona. Whereas Josias was loud and extroverted, Zaire was rather reserved but just not as much as Rakim. He also seemed to be the nicest of the siblings.

“My brother had to go somewhere, so it’s me again.” He smiled somewhat.

“Okay, cool. Did you need something?” I went to sit down on the bed and grabbed my book.

The last time he ‘watched’ me, he’d only made himself known but then stayed upstairs.

“Nah, just figured I would sit down here this time since you loose.” He fetched a blunt from the pocket of his jeans along with a lighter.

“I’m not gonna run. My ankle is still fucked from trying the first time.”

Zaire chuckled as he blew out the smelly smoke. I hated weed and could never indulge due to the pungent scent.

“Yeah. You can’t get out of the windows in here, and the door locks from the outside,” he explained.

“So you guys must kidnap people all the damn time.”

“Nah, you the first. He just had all this shit set up like a week before he snatched you.”

“Oh, wow.” I shook my head and focused down on my dog-eared book. But then, I’d suddenly lost interest in it. Zaire seemed to be cool. “Why is your brother so . . . mean? And so quiet and . . . scary but sad.”

Zaire laughed again, choking a bit on the smoke.

“That’s a crazy ass combo, lil mama.” He slowly recovered from his coughing fit. He stared out of the somewhat foggy windows for a beat and shrugged. I watched his face morph from one of humor to discomfort. “We didn’t have the best childhood growing up, but he had it the hardest of us all. He’s kind of the oldest, being born minutes before Ayan, but they’re essentially the same age. Despite that shit, he was treated like he was five years older and not five minutes.” Zaire took a toke on the blunt, looking down at his feet as he sat on the edge of the desk. “Just know my brother has dealt with a lot of bad shit. Never seen someone get blow after blow like him, so that’s possibly why you see him the way you do.”

Hearing this made me feel a bit remorseful for describing Rakim the way I did.

“What happened to him? I know he went to prison and lost his boxing career, but what else?”

“Yeah.” Zaire grunted. “I don’t really feel cool with divulging some shit to you. You the opp right now. If you feeling bold enough, ask that nigga when you see him. Just know Rah ain’t the way he is for no reason, yet every bad thing he does is for a solid cause and usually for muthafuckas he care about.”

I nodded, having already realized that. Shit, I was sitting here because of that.

TEN

rakim

SOMETIME LATER . . .

“And where the hell have you been?” Shardaya, Talid’s wife, inquired skeptically via speakerphone as I sat in my whip outside the lounge my brothers were in.