Page 5 of The Impossible

Once I was out, he didn’t ask for permission or even speak. He pulled me into a hug, then lowered his head and kissed my forehead.

“I’ll see you soon, Nic.”

I didn’t know why when he said that I felt it more than I heard it, like a promise of some sort, like he was letting me know something without letting me know. Then again, he said it, right? He said he’d see me soon.

CHAPTER 2

Hondo Carter

I was dead tired and had half a mind to go home and get some fucking sleep, but business slowed for no man, and things needed to be handled. I’d gone from court this morning to her. She might have seen my appearance as some sort of coincidence. Nah, it wasn’t. I always planned to go to her, but other things came up. I told myself and my brother this morning before court I was coming to her. I knew it was time for me to stop fucking around and man up.

Nicolette had belonged to me since we were young and I wasn’t supposed to know of the arrangement between our two families. I knew about it though and even found myself a bit annoyed when her pops tried to back out a few years ago, attempting to offer up his younger daughter instead. I didn’t want her though. I wanted the woman promised to me like a birthright, the one who had to be a siren of some sort because I had been obsessed with her since I laid eyes on her. He claimed she didn’t live the life we did, that she had distanced herself from the family, and their relationship hung by a thread. In other words, he didn’t want to lose his daughter by forcing her to marry me. That was too damn bad, because I wanted Patience Nicolette O’Leary, and I had every intention of having her.

Over the years I’d kept tabs on my future wife, sure to keep my distance and ensure that no nigga she entertained ever made it past six months. Only recently had I questioned myself on what I was waiting for? Neither she nor I were getting any younger and nothing was promised to a man living the life I lived. So the morning before I was scheduled to be in court on a case I knew wouldn’t stick, I put in the call to my father who I assumed called her people. Of course he asked if I was sure several times before he agreed to make the call.

The ringing of my phone had me glancing down. My brother was calling, nine times out of ten trying to see what I was doing.

“Yeah,” I answered, putting the phone to my ear.

“I thought for sure you’d send me to voicemail considering you finally pulled the trigger on Patience.”

“I just dropped her off. I’m headed to the warehouse.”

“Does she know yet?” he asked.

“Nah, but she will. I ain’t fucking around.”

He laughed. “Yo, how do you even know she’s gonn⁠—”

“I know because even though I don’t know her, I know her. She’s gonna give me shit for a while, but things will iron out, and she’ll see just how good this is.”

“And what if she doesn’t?”

“Not an option. There is no world where she doesn’t.”

Otto laughed. “Are you sure about that?”

“Positive. Are you about to meet me at the warehouse?”

“Hell yeah, because you’re about to give me the rundown. How the fuck did you even get her to agree to have dinner with you?”

I sat back in the car, closing my eyes as a chuckle escaped my lips. “’Cause I’m me. Even though she didn’t have a choice, she had a choice.”

Otto laughed. “I’m inside, let me know when you’re here.”

We hung up and I envisioned her. Nic was about five-six, light skinned with a nice tint and the most piercing blue eyes. Over the years she’d toyed with the length of her hair, this current one being my favorite. It was all one length, a bob type blunt cut that encased her beautiful face and naturally narrow eyes. This morning when she saw me, they nearly jumped out of her face and it took everything in me not to laugh.

Before I wandered into the animal habitat, I’d peeked into her office and saw she had the TV on. Coincidentally, she was on the news channel covering my case. It was funny how fate worked. She ended up on that channel not knowing I was coming to her, while I had every intention of coming here.

I was fourteen when I found out about the arrangement. My pops kept it a buck with me, while going over family history and obligation. I wasn’t really too mad about it either seeing as I’d always had a thing for Patience. Even back then, with her thick ass glasses and being damn near mute around me, I liked her. I just knew back then that we were young and shit like this couldn’t happen too soon. The fact that I always knew she was mine was enough for me to keep my distance and for both of us to see what was to life before finding ourselves in this space.

When the truck came to a slow stop, I pushed thoughts of Nic to the back of my head and stepped out of the truck on business.

A little over eight hours ago I was facing jail time over some shit I didn’t remember if I did or didn’t do, but I shouldn’t have been there. I had enough people working for me to either take the hit or keep their fucking mouths closed. This time though, it wasn’t a matter of taking the hit, somebody I had ultimately put on sold the play of one of my businesses to the feds. The funny thing was, I had eyes everywhere. So even if I had gone down for this, I would never have seen the inside of a jail.

Joe opened the door for me to get out of the truck. Once out, I entered the warehouse, meeting my brother at the door.

“You look like a bitch. Like you just went somewhere and got your feet tickled.,” he said randomly.