Page 53 of Mr. Blackwood

“Right. That was intentional though, because I knew he would tell them where I was. I wanted to lure them out of hiding. Again, I chose my life over theirs. That was when I returned home.”

My heart was so full for Jabari. “I can’t even imagine that type of betrayal.”

“I had been back on the scene for a couple of days, and I dropped the word on the streets that I was back. As expected, he came around begging for forgiveness and hoping I’d sell him something. His regular guys were dead, so they were no longer an option for him. Like a fool, I forgave him again, and he stole from me again when I was sleeping.

“When I woke up and realized what happened, I went looking for him to save him. The coke he’d gotten his hands on wasn’t mine. I had stashed it for someone else, and it was cut with fentanyl, and he wouldn’t survive. When I found him, I was too late. He’d already snorted way too much. He was high out of his mind, and he was talking about how life was better without him. He said this way Mama and Pops didn’t have to hurt so much, and neither would I. He said he would never be able to kick his habit, because he didn’t want to. I sat back and watched him die. It wasn’t easy; it was the hardest decision I had ever made. I didn’t call for help, though, because I knew he was right.”

My heart broke for him. I couldn’t understand what he was going through. My life had never been set up that way, and Courtney and I had always been close. We always had each other’s backs, and I couldn’t imagine her betraying me or vice versa.

“That broke your parents, I can imagine.”

He sighed. “It did. In time, Mama died from a broken heart, and Sam—well, he took to the bottle even harder. He blamed me for Malik’s death. Even when I told him the truth, he said I should’ve worked harder to protect him—I should’ve left the game to prevent him from overdosing. He said that if I knew that shit was laced, I shouldn’t have had it on me because I knew how Malik was. When he said that, it was like the light went out in his eyes. Then he accused me of doing it on purpose. No matter how much I denied it, he didn’t believe me. Our relationship has never been the same. He’s in and out of my life.”

“He was always an alcoholic?”

“Yeah. He started drinking before we were born, but he turned into an alcoholic around the time that I was six—full functioning, but an alcoholic nevertheless.”

“Of course he didn’t paint himself in that manner.”

“He wouldn’t.”

We sat in silence for a while. I wasn’t as shocked because of course I knew about the things that happened, but not why they happened. Jabari had given me more understanding than Samuel had. Samuel had presented it like Jabari had been a reckless drug dealer who had taken out several lives to get to another level of the game. Not once had he mentioned that Malik attempted to get his brother killed and robbed, not once, but twice.

“I’m so sorry for the part that I played in all this, Jabari, or at least in bringing it back to the forefront.”

He sighed and pushed up off the couch. We had finished eating, and I hadn’t had much of an appetite anyway. I watched as he walked to the large picture window and looked down onto the stream below. “I’m sorry that I’m not the man you thought I was.”

As he shoved his hands into his pants pockets, I stood and walked to where he was standing. I moved behind him and wrapped my arms around his midsection. Before I rested my face against his back, I professed, “You’re exactly the man I need, the one I want, and the one I love.”

Jabari turned around in my embrace, and he narrowed his gaze as he watched me closely.

“Could you ever forgive me for betraying you?” I asked.

“You did what you thought you needed to do. When I became involved with you, I knew the risk that I was taking. I knew that I was playing with fire, and I could get burned.”

I brushed my lips against his, but his were unyielding. I pulled back and searched his hard gaze and rubbed his stiff jaw. “Please forgive me, Jabari. I was wrong, but my feelings for you are real. All I want to do now is protect you—please let me love you.”

“Your fire hurts, Cami.” He lowered his head and rested his forehead against mine for a moment. I pulled back and then covered his lips with mine. He relented when I slipped my tongue between his lips to deepen the kiss. It was sensual and demanding, and he yielded to everything my kiss asked of him. When he pulled back, he stared into my eyes with a heavy-lidded, lust-filled gaze. “But I don’t want to put that fire out.” He spoke in a low, sexy tone that had my thighs clenching and my pussy calling out for him.

As he had in the past, Jabari had paid to have the restaurant shut down while we dined. There was no one there but the owner, and the kitchen and wait staff. Someone had placed a Do-Not-Disturb sign on the door at Jabari’s request.

I dropped to my knees and gripped his erection through his pants. His arousal was evident through the massive bulge that didn’t fit in my hand. I unzipped his trousers and pulled him free of the restraint. I licked the tip of his head to clean the precum away, but I found myself longing for more.

“Mm.” I moaned when the salty taste hit my tongue. It was with eagerness that I slid him further to the back of my throat. My tongue loved on that man like it was as glad to see him as I was. My lips puckered around him and created a tight seal as I slid him back and forth.

His moans were salacious and made my panties wet. Jabari released a groan, undid his tie, and bent down to tie my hands behind my back with it. When he finished, he gripped my head and fucked my mouth hard and fast in deep, punishing strokes.

It was over for my makeup because my eyes released as much water as my lips did. I was certain that I used waterproof mascara, but the way the tears flew from my eyes, I was sure it was challenging the mascara.

He fed that dick down my throat to the point that I was choking. He reached down and grabbed my neck with one hand and fisted my hair with the other. It was rough, but I wasn’t giving up. His thrusts were strong, and the hold he had on my neck and in my hair grew tighter.

When he released, it was with a strangled yelp, and he emptied so much cum down my throat that I knew he hadn’t been with another woman. With my hands behind my back, I had handled that man like I was a professional throat goat. He knelt and kissed me after I swallowed his cum. I was fairly certain that I was back in Mr. Blackwood’s good graces.

22 – CAMILLA

TWO MONTHS LATER

We arrived in Turks and Caicos via Jabari’s private jet and took a private twin-engine aircraft to Ambergris Cay.