“I’m open to hiring her if…”
“Van, get the hell off my phone and don’t bring that shit up tomorrow either.”
She was typing again. “Mhm. I have to go. I’ll send over a draft of questions within the hour. As soon as you approve them, I’ll get them over to Kaz.”
“Aight, bet.”
I ended the call and dropped my eyes to Avi who was out cold with her fingers tangled in my beard. I carefully removed them and kissed her little hand. The way this little girl had my heart was unreal. There were days when I still didn’t feel worthy of her love but I absorbed that shit every chance I could. It wasn’t just my daughter. Makari was my safe space.
She was a safe place for me to accept that I was allowed to be heartbroken about losing O’Rion and she was also the voice in my head reminding me that I wasn’t the reason he wasn’t here. I still blamed myself, probably always would, but deep down inside I knew there wasn’t a damn thing I could have done because the decision was made by a force stronger and more powerful than me. I had to trust God’s will, even if I hated the way it broke me to lose the one person who loved me most in the world.
Makari wasquiet the entire drive to the studio the next day. She was nervous and for good reason. We were about to put our personal business out there directly from the source. This could go two ways. People would take our words and twist them,making the situation worse or they could just accept that we were what we said we were and move the fuck on. I had a feeling the outcome would be a mix of both but hopefully they would move the hell on and leave us alone.
We arrived an hour before the interview after dropping Avi off with Tiana so Makari could focus on what we were doing and not have to worry about our baby girl. Once we were situated in the green room, she paced back and forth, mumbling through talking points so she wasprepared.
Whether I liked it or not, I was used to being in front of the camera and understood she wasn’t, so I left her alone while she stressed herself out. That didn’t, however, stop me from enjoying her pretty ass while she anxiously moved around the room.
“Stop…” I grinned when she spoke but didn’t turn to look at me. There was no way she couldn’t feel my eyes on her.
“What am I doing?”
“Staring at me.”
“I’ve seen your footwork while you’re chasing Avi. I’m just trying to make sure you don’t haul ass out of here.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “I promised you I would do this. I’m not going to run.”
“Then relax. It’s really not that deep.”
She turned to face me and I almost fucking laughed but knew better. “It’s very deep. We’re about to put our lives out there. If she asks my favorite color and I say yellow, they’ll flip that and say, she hates the Sharks and doesn’t support his career because there’s no yellow in the Sharks’ uniforms.”
I chuckled because as crazy as that sounded she was right. That’s how extreme these people could be. “You want to shut this down and go home?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “But we have to say something, so no, we’re doing this.”
“Come here.”
Makari moved to where I was sitting on the arm of the sofa in our green room and stepped between my legs. I gripped her hips and brought her closer, cupping her face with my palms and brushing my thumbs over her cheeks. I pulled that same shit she did with me.
“You’re not me, this isn’t working.” The smile she delivered said otherwise.
“When we get out there, say whatever you want. Don’t overthink.”
“I’m not overthinking. I just know how this goes.”
“There’s no win with this, Kari. We’re just going to lay that shit down and keep it moving. Our truth is our truth.”
She frowned slightly. “What is our truth?”
Okay, now this was making sense. She was stressing about the unanswered questions that lingered between us.
“Our truth is whatever you want it to be. I’m in this with you. Not just as Avi’s father but as your man…”
“My man?” She arched her brow and I brought her face closer to mine. “You’re in my bed, on my dick, and in my head with every move I make. It doesn’t get any more defined than that. We’re not playing house. We’re a family, you and Avi are my home. That doesn’t have a damn thing to do with an address or a location.”
She looped her arms around my neck and kissed me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, with your overthinking ass. Say whatever you want out there. I’m gonna support that shit, aight?”
