Page 132

He headed for the elevator and stopped. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“When you tell him, lay all this shit out once and for all. Because if he finds out on his own that you’re still holding back, after everything y’all just went through?” He shook his head. “I can’t protect you from that version of him.”

I let out another nervous laugh. “Well damn.”

“You ‘bout to be part of the family, so I say it with love.”

32 CARDEZ MONTAGUE

Last night might’ve been a sign that things could really work between me and Belle, but I needed answers about Gideon. And I was still skeptical about Belle’s willingness to keep it real with me, so I was pulling up on Jody. She lived on a quiet street in Hempstead.

My brows knitted together when I saw a familiar truck in her driveway.

Marco’s Ram 1500 was sitting behind Jody’s Mercedes. There was no reason for him to be here. Belle and Jody weren’t talking and I hadn’t asked him to keep tabs on her.

This would be interesting. I got out, walked up to the door and rang the bell.

I heard the TV and movement on the other side of the door. Jody opened it and stood there in a t-shirt and sweats, with a printed satin scarf on her head. I could see the familial resemblance between her and Belle. Both women were beautiful. They shared the same complexion and doe shaped eyes.

“Cardez.” Jody crossed her arms and made no attempt to step aside to let me in.

Over her shoulder, Marco was sitting on the couch in the front room, looking mighty comfortable. The look he gave me said everything I needed to know— this wasn’t a business call and there’d be a conversation about this later.

“Can I come in?” I asked, eyes flicking back to Jody.

She gave me a hard look before stepping back to let me through.

Jody’s house was small, but lived in. There were plants on every surface that caught sun and brightly patterned wallpaper to contrast the paint on the walls. Her furniture looked high end which didn’t match the house’s exterior, but it somehow made sense here.

I followed her into the living room and sat in an armchair. She sat back on the couch next to Marco with a bit of distance between them. She picked up the remote and muted the TV.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked.

“First, I want to apologize for how things went down,” I said. It was the truth. Jody had played her part, but I was a bit rash about how I used her to force Belle’s hand. “I probably could’ve gone about the whole thing differently, but I was pissed.”

“Nigga, you were more than pissed,” Marco said.

I shrugged. “I’m known to overreact on occasion.”

“It’s not okay, but I’m going to be sending you my therapy bill.” She sat back. “Getting snatched up outside my job in broad daylight is insane, you know. What else do you want?”

I wondered why she had all this smoke for me and not Marco who’d technically been the one to grab her.

“Gideon Locke. What's the deal with him and Belle?”

Marco pulled his phone out. Whatever he saw made his brows bunch up together. “I gotta head back to the city.”

“Right now?” Jody asked.

“Yeah. I’ll text you later.” He kissed the top of her head before nodding at me. “We’ll talk.”

“Bet.”

He let himself out.

Jody watched the door for a beat after it closed. “So…Gideon.”