Page 77 of Disrespectfully, Relic

Lomar stalled, inspecting her scars before saying, “Why do you blame her for it?”

“I don’t know how true it is, but people were speculating that she set the shit up for the insurance claim, which I doubt she got since I didn’t get paid a lick. She also disappeared,” she expounded while fishing her keys from her purse. After popping the trunk, she told him, “That bitch dipped out without so much as even checking on me or sending a word back. Nobody has seen her. Mya, and her cousin that my girl doesn’t fuck with, dropped off the map after that. I wonder if she’s back, too.”

“I’m sure you’ll find out. I didn’t want to say it while we were inside, but they saw you, too. I bet she’ll be reaching out on some petty shit soon.”

“She can try me if she wants to. The way my anger is set up lately, I’m liable to end up in handcuffs.”

Kennedy tossed her bags inside the trunk and waited for Lomar to do the same before she shut it. He went to open the door for her as she pulled out her phone to see where in the hell she was supposed to meet Relic.

“Call me once you get to the crib, Kennedy. Let a nigga know you got there safe, aight?”

“I will,” she muttered, sliding into her front seat. Her eyes flitted to Lomar when he didn’t move away from her door because he was so fixated on her phone screen. She held it out and offered, “It’s easier if you take the whole thing instead of snooping. You don’t have to worry about me chasing your ass for it if you do.”

“Man, take yo ass on. Stay off the phone and drive safe.”

Kennedy cracked up as she started her car while he shook his head and shut her door before heading back toward the mall’s entrance. Her mouth downturned a smidge since she figured he was leaving as well, but she didn’t trip about it. She glanced at the GPS to see where she was heading as she backed out.

The location was less than ten minutes away, causing her to frown before she tapped her dash screen since she doubted he lived in such a congested area. Relic liked his seclusion too much. As soon as the location’s name popped onto the screen, she spit out a laugh that held a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. Every bone in her body told her to leave his ass there waiting and head home because his efforts were for the wrong reasons. The fact that he knew where she lived dissuaded her because, after he showed his ass at her salon, she didn’t put it past him to pop up there next.

She made a mental note to relay the mall incident and Relic’s placatory gestures to Savvy but then thought of a better idea. When she slowed to a stop at a red light, she shot the group chat—that’d been dead since her grand opening—a text asking them to meet up with her tonight. Kennedy needed her girls back on one accord, so she decided to kill two birds with one stone. She doubted they’d decline her since they had been begging for her to come outside with them. More than that, she knew they were parched as hell for the tea on her and Relic.

Her amusement waned at the thought of him as she turned into the dealership where he’d demanded she meet him. It didn’t take long to spot him standing near the entrance with a salesman, his eyes dipping to the watch on his wrist and then the street. Kennedy noted the instance he spotted her because those piercing eyes beamed on her car as she parked, while his thick brows dropped and mouth balled. Even annoyed, he looked sexy as hell to her.

“You’re late!” he called out as she climbed from her car and stood beside it with crossed arms. “I told you, thirty minutes.”

“You’re complaining like you didn’t hold me up when you blocked the damn card, Relic. Not to mention, it’s heavy traffic in this area. What did you expect?”

“I expected you to not run my fucking credit card up for damn near twenty G’s or for you to do it with another nigga who ain’t even have the funds to pull out his own card to outdo mine.”

“Damn, I spent that much?” Kennedy asked, redirecting the conversation before it led to Lomar. Relic walked up on her and smirked, peeping game.

“You did, and I want every goddamn receipt because if you even bought that nigga a pair of socks, I’m reporting it as fraud. Yo ass is going to jail.”

She cackled, gripping her stomach in stitches as he stared at her with a straight face. Relic was serious as a heart attack, and Kennedy found it cute, but she found the fact that he thought she’d spend a single dime on a nigga even cuter.

“Relic, do I look like a bitch who’d trick off? Let’s be realistic here because you know better. I did get you something I saw that I thought was neat, though.”

He pointed a finger at his chest. “You bought me something?”

“Don’t get excited because, like I said, I’m not a trick. It’s cheap, but I thought of you when I saw it and had to get it. Unfortunately.”

She muttered the last part, but Relic gave her a pass since he was more invested in seeing what she bought him. He followed her to the trunk, rewinding years of his life to recall the last time a woman had thought to buy him something simply because he’d crossed their mind. Nothing came to him. His eyes lowered to his wristwatch that he hadn’t taken off since his mother had gifted it to him on his twenty-fifth birthday. Even after his heart had sunken at the inscription underneath—and he found out later that Shabu had paid the fee—he still hadn’t removed it. Relic wore it as a reminder of what Judith saw him as, and proof that he gave so much to everyone for nothing in return but loyalty. His cost seemed too much to most.

“Found it!”

Relic glanced up at Kennedy and rubbed his temple, feeling the faint throb that warned him of a brewing headache. He caught the concern that swept across her face before it vanished because he’d told her a thousand times over, emotions didn’t mean shit to him. The thought to add that to his short list of regrets crossed his mind as she held out a rectangular box for him to take.

He stared at it like it was a snake that’d bite him before he accepted it—unknotting the white ribbon tied around it before removing its lid. The thin, gold necklace nestled inside with three aligned charms in the shape of blue irises with black pupils caused his heart to flip flop on some sappy shit as his eyes flicked to Kennedy and then back to his unique gift. She didn’t have to tell him for him to catch onto her reason for buying it.

“It’s an evil eye,” she explained to him, although he was aware. “It reminded me of the story you told me about your cursed eyes as soon as I saw it. When I asked the lady in the store what the necklace meant, she said the opposite. She said it’s protection. The evil eye deflects negative energy and wards off bad luck. To me, it seems like your family has their own personal evil eye that protects them, brings them good luck, and constantly places them in a position to win. I figured maybe you could use one of your own to balance it out, so your energy won’t end up depleted.”

“I’m already there, Larenn.”

That confession spilled from Relic before he could contain it, but he didn’t care about expressing his feelings or coming off soft for once. Kennedy was a safe space. She was the woman version of Shabu—a person who’d hold him down even when they didn’t want to or who’d hate him but still protect him while ensuring his mental was intact.

He wasn’t ignorant to the fact that Kennedy should’ve been gone, yet she stood before him with passive eyes and a weakened defense she was strong enough to rebuild every time he crossed a line. She was the woman Savvy had told him that he needed. The one who wouldn’t become a doormat, who’d put him in his place, and who’d seehimthrough his brazen flaws. A woman who’d slip from his grasp because he’d never give her anything outside of false illusions, dick, and cash. Relic hadn’t been taught to give much more than that.

Kennedy frowned as Relic’s expression morphed so fast that she couldn’t pick up on his reaction until his features relaxed and eyes grew empty. She bit her lip, knowing a million emotions were coursing through him that he’d never vocalize. His eyes flitted up when she eased the box from his hands to remove the necklace, tossing the box in her trunk before slamming it shut. She reached up to link the jewel around his neck and widened her eyes in mild shock when he bent down to let her.

---