I rubbed my hands together, and we got to work. We spent hours conversing and getting everything in play. Renovations would start next week. We would meet with an architect tomorrow to redo the floor plan.
Things were moving fast, but I was grateful.
My goal was to have everything done to start so when I went to let Korren know her break was over, she wouldn’t have a reason to protest. Not that I thought she would, but I also didn’t want to give her any leeway to.
“What’s good, youngin’?” O’Shea greeted me, rising to his feet to embrace me.
“Not shit. I appreciate you for meeting with me.”
“It sounded important, so I had to make time for you. What’s on your mind, Cage?”
O’Shea sat down and sparked up a blunt. After taking a pull, he offered it to me, and I accepted. It was rare I smoked, but I needed something to mellow me out. The conversation was about to be a hard one.
I passed it back to him and sat back, rubbing my hands along my pants. “I’m ready to step down and let Red take over.”
“Step down or step out?”
“Step out.”
He bobbed his head, leaning over to ash the blunt. “I had a feeling this was coming.”
“How so?”
“I see a lot of me in you, Cage. While I had this shit handed to me, we’re both go-getters. We put our all into things to ensure we’re successful. We take what we do seriously, but we’re alsolovers. Let me guess. That girl of yours plays a big role in why you want to do this.”
“She does. I’ve been working on shit behind the scenes, and I’m finally able to take things seriously. Don’t take what I’m about to say offensively, but I can live without doing this the rest of my life. I can’t live without her, and this was taking me away from her. That and my indecisiveness, but I’m not allowing this to keep me from the life I’m going to have with her. I waited too long. I kept my true feelings hidden too long to allow anything to fuck it up.”
All I could do was keep it real with O’Shea. There was no need in making things seem any differently. Korren played a major part in my decision, and he had no reason but to respect.
“Let me tell you something you don’t know about me,” O’Shea started, blowing rings of smoke from his mouth. “I was married once. I’ve been divorced for about six years, and every day, I regret letting the streets get in the way of my marriage.”
My eyes widened. “I ain’t know that.”
“It’s not something I talk about. I’m tough on the outside, but if that woman was to give me another chance today, I’d say fuck everything and make things right. It’s a little too late for me to have that mindset, so I commend you for doing so before you ended up like me. I may not seem like it, but I’m all for love, Cage. I’m all for doing the shit that makes you happy. Even if you don’t end up marrying your girl, just know you’re doing the right thing by walking away.”
“I appreciate you for keeping it real with me, O’Shea. That’s deep, but you never know. She could have a change of heart one day.”
O’Shea chuckled and swayed his head. “Nah. She only deals with me now because we co-parent. Other than that, I’m her past. Don’t end up like me, youngin’. Wash your hands of thisshit and keep your girl. If you ever need anything, know I got you.”
We rose to our feet and slapped hands. I felt like a damn feather, and I couldn’t stop smiling. Life was moving in a positive direction. Things were changing for the better, and Korren was the only thing I needed to make me feel complete.
As I headed out the door, I turned around and called out to O’Shea. “You know, there’s one thing I don’t agree with that you said.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s no ‘if’ I end up marrying Korren. I’m going to.”
“I don’t wantto be here,” I mumbled as Kasey parked in Mom’s driveway. Somehow, he’d convinced me to have dinner with her after she begged for weeks. I wasn’t feeling it. All I desired to do was lie in bed with Nema and share snacks.
I’d been deep in my feelings to the point I hadn’t even been doing nails. All I did was go to school and go home. Taylor and Sienna had been keeping check on me, making sure I ate and everything else, but it was hard. I’d done it to myself by breaking things off with Cage, only I didn’t realize how tough it was to live without him when I hadn’t done so in years.
Kasey chuckled and unbuckled his seat belt. “Trust me, Korren. I don’t want to be here either, but I got tired of her asking. She claims she wants to mend things with you. Don’tworry. I let her know that if she came with anything other than an apology, we were leaving. I’m not about to sit here and let her play in either one of our faces, especially yours.”
I adored the men in my life. Between my dad, Kasey, and Cage, I always felt protected. They looked out for me. They catered to me. They cared for me. Blessed was an understatement of how I felt when it came to them.
“Thank you, Kasey. I appreciate you. She’s been reaching out to me, too, but with the breakup, I haven’t really wanted to talk to anyone.”
“What’s up with that anyway? You never told me what happened, which makes me feel like I need to pull up on Cage.”