I ended the call and powered it off, shoving it in my pocket. "She good?"
"She's asleep."
"Aight, let's go." I turned to walk away and Makari grabbed my arm.
"What was that?"
"Business." I glared and she scowled back.
"No, we're not doing that. Whatever that call was about clearly pissed you off. I'll accept whatever emotions you have, Omiri, but I won't accept you giving me your ass to kiss because someone else ruined your day." We remained in a stare down for a few more moments before I stepped to her, kissed her cheek, and reached for Avi. She turned away and I issued a warning glare.
"Give me my damn daughter and we can talk about this in the car."
She did as I asked. After we had Avi secured in her car seat, I leaned back and turned my head to Makari. She was pretty as hell, even sitting there scowling at me and huffing and puffing because I yelled at her, which had me grinning.
"Stop smiling and tell me what that call was about."
I chuckled and reached across the seat, brushing a finger over her jaw. "I was supposed to be in North Carolina two days ago."
I could see the exact moment it registered why I wasn't there. "For what?"
"Meeting about a new contract with Kameron Tyler. She has a shoe she wants me to be the brand ambassador for.”
"Sounds important."
"It is."
"How important?"
"Important enough that I probably fucked myself by not showing up."
She was quiet for a while. Too damn long, which made me anxious. I wanted to know where her head was at and more importantly what she was thinking about me. She could easily use all this to say I was unstable and unfit to be in Avi's life. She never wanted me in their lives in the first place, and no matter how cool I assumed things were, that didn't mean she wouldn't switch up on me.
"You don't have shit to say about that?"
"I have a lot to say but I'm not sure if you want to hear any of it."
I snorted and mumbled, "Probably not coming from your judgmental ass."
She narrowed her eyes and I smiled. "Run that shit. I know it's about to drive you crazy needing to get it off your chest."
Her pretty ass smiled cockily but then her mood softened. "You didn't go because you were dealing with the stuff with your brother."
I nodded. "Yeah, I was supposed to fly out two days ago. I don't want you thinking I was lying about being out of town. I know you’ve probably been wanting to ask me that too. I really did have meetings set up but there was no fucking way I could be there and work my way through talking about putting my face on shoe ads and shit when the reason I'm even able to do that is not here with me anymore. The thought of sitting in that room with them people pretending I gave a damn just didn't feel right."
"So you're playing because this is what he wanted for you?"
"Nah…" I laughed dryly. "I'm playing because I was good at it and from the minute Rion was born I felt like I had to work for something that should have naturally belonged to me."
She frowned and reached for my hand. "Come here."
"No…" She glanced in the back then back at me. "I'm not trying to fuck, Kari. I just want you close. If I'm gonna bitch up and tell you all my emotional shit, the least you could do is come put that pussy on me for a minute."
She blushed hard and I chuckled. "Man, bring your ass. I just need a hug. Damn. I told you I'm not tryin' to fuck."
She hesitated for a minute then climbed into my lap. I slid my hands up her thighs and around to her ass, pulling her as close as I could get her and Makari placed her hands on my face, brushing her thumbs over my beard. Shit was soothing as hell and had me grinning.
"You trying to bitch me?"
