“Me and Judith got into an argument one day while she was ironing. When I stepped toward her, I guess she thought I planned to hit her, so she shoved the iron in my direction. It connected.”

Her gazed cast upward to his face before she asked, “And what did you do?”

Relic picked up the bottle and then slammed it down. He rolled his neck and shoulders, trying to release the tension building in his muscles from knowing he’d done what his father would’ve if it’d been him. Relic had knocked Judith on her ass. If she’d feared him before, he’d caused it to double that day and earned his title,dyab je ble. The only good that’d come from it was Shabu choosing him over Judith for the first time.

“You don’t have to tell me.” Kennedy assured him of that because she’d already put two and two together since his family couldn’t hold water. She picked up the bottle and held it out for him. “Drink, ‘cause you look like you need it.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because everything in life is a mind game Kennedy. Mental warfare. I like to exercise my mind, so when I come across those mental battles that’ll send the strongest men to their graves, I’m prepared. I could be a drunk like my father or dabble in coke like my baby mother did, but I don’t. I could have a bunch of kids running around with bitches I hate like Pierre, but I’ve trained my dick to hold a nut. It’s all mental.”

She glazed over the nut part and confirmed, “Your father was a drunk?”

“A functioning alcoholic. At least, that’s what I deemed him, so I don’t drink more than three glasses of alcohol in a day.”

“But it’s mental, right? A mind game that we both know you can beat, so let’s find a cheat code to the rule. There’s always a loophole. If you can’t have more than three glasses, let’s not use a glass, and you can only break the rule with me.”

Kennedy pressed her body against his before tipping back her head, pouring a generous amount of liquor between her parted lips to swallow down. She filled her mouth a second time and then clasped a hand at the back of his neck, guiding him downward as his gleaming eyes grew heady at her master plan. Relic’s stomach coiled as he stared at the pool of darkness persuading him to touch a fire that’d burn them both if he took it there. He shut his eyes before dipping his tongue inside her mouth.

Kennedy hummed and slurped on his tongue as he vacuumed the liquor from her mouth to his. His head angled to deepen the kiss, and she tossed both arms around his neck while he palmed her ass, scooped her up, and dropped her on the table like she wore less than a pound. Relic pulled back to snatch the bottle from her before clasping a hand around her throat with a firm squeeze.

“My question, right?” he verified, smirking when she nodded in haste. “I broke a rule, so are you ready to break yours?”

“Which one? I have so many in my head about your ass, I’ve lost count.”

“The one where you don’t fuck on the first date.”

“This isn’t a date.”

He chuckled and then tipped her head further, licking away the liquor rolling down the scarred half of her neck. “What about not mixing business and pleasure,” he reminded her as she gripped his waist to force them closer.

“Oh, that dumb rule. I wanted to break that one before I even said it.”

“That’s what I know, Kennedy. Open wide for me, baby.”

She didn’t know which part of her he wanted open, so she spread her thighs and widened her mouth at the same time. Chills prickled her skin when a devil-handsome smile played around the edges of his lips before he filled her mouth to the brim and then compressed her throat with such force, she couldn’t breathe or swallow to clear her passageway. His icy stare emptying of emotion sent her heart into overdrive. Her pussy pulsated in sync with her panic but then throbbed in need when his tongue dove back inside her mouth.

Kennedy gasped for air as his tongue waded in alcohol while liquid pooled over the corners of her mouth. Her emotions ricocheted between arousal and alarm because that was the effect Relic had on her—his temper unnerved her, his mystique intrigued her, and his power made her pussy wet. She hated to admit that she loved every minute of it. Relic was the kind of man she was destined to attract because Koda had drilled in her head not to settle for any man who was lesser than the best. She’d done it for years, and it’d finally dawned on her why it never lasted.

Relic set down the bottle and reached behind her neck to undo the two buttons holding her dress in place. His mouth sucked on her glistening skin, giving her scars extra affection before migrating to her pert breast when he yanked the material down to her waist. Kennedy’s soft pants put his dick on brick as he sucked her hardened nipple while peeling the dress past her hips and down to her heel-clad feet.

“Nothing underneath, Kennedy.” His thirsty stare traveled from her pretty toes until he met her gaze. “You knew you wanted to get fucked before you walked out your door.”

She didn’t debate him because she’d be lying through her teeth if she did.

A soft shriek shot from her when he yanked her body to the edge of the table and then took a seat—lifting her legs to brace her feet on top of the couch like stirrups with him positioned in between. Her spine curled in pleasure when he spread her lower lips, flicked her clit with a thumb, and then dove in headfirst. She dug her heels in the couch for leverage and palmed his head to fuck his face.

“Oh, you grown, eh?” Relic grumbled, vacuuming her pearl into his mouth. His tongue fluttered against it in sync with her hip thrusts before he spit it out to say, “Let me see what this lil’ pretty pussy can do.”

“She can only do as much as a nigga makes her.”

A smirk bloomed on his face. “Heard.”

Relic lubricated two fingers with her juices, slid them inside her, and proceeded to suck her clit while finger-fucking her tight hole. He had no qualms with showing Kennedy exactly what he could make her pussy do for him.

He pressed on her lower stomach, shifting her g-spot downward before jutting and curving his fingers toward it while his tongue did tricks on her swelling bud. The swifter his fingers moved, the faster Kennedy bucked on his face, feeding her pussy to him like most women were afraid to do. Jessica was the only one who’d matched his energy in the bedroom, which was why he kept her around the longest. If she wasn’t such a snake, he might’ve given her everything he’d propositioned Kennedy with.