Page 49 of Mister Jeweler

Like the desire to make his marriage work.

“I gotta go, aight?”

“Okay,” she agreed sadly, and Elite quickly disconnected the call.

For a while, he considered going back into the mall to get at Denali, but that wouldn’t be fair. His intentions wouldn’t be pure. She didn’t deserve to be his rebound—no woman did. Until he was ready to open up to love again, it was best if he continued to steer clear of the opposite sex. Elite did, however, promise himself that if he saw her a third time outside of the mall, he would definitely take that as a sign.

fourteen

Blaze

April

Admittedly,Blaze’s wound wasn’t as bad as he was making it. Playing a victim had gotten him back into Denali’s good graces. It had never been Blaze’s intention to screw up so royally with Denali. If he was to be honest with himself, Denali was the only woman he’d ever truly loved romantically. He couldn’t even say those three words and mean them to his wife.

His wife.

Clynisha.

She was fully aware of who Denali was, but Denali had no idea who she was, let alone that they were married. Their arrangement worked for Blaze because it allowed him to have the family unit he once desperately wanted with Denali. All that Clynisha asked for was that no one outside of his circle knew he was with Denali, or any other woman, for that matter.

It had been difficult for Blaze to keep up with all of his lives and lies. Though he couldn’t say they’d caught up with him, theyhadruined his bond with Denali. She was tired of his shit, and he couldn’t even blame her for it.

The promises he made her twelve years ago were sincere, but with time and money came change. Blaze didn’t have a father growing up, and he didn’t have the closest relationship with his stepfather. Jake married his mother two years ago, and Blaze could count on one hand the number of times the two men had spent time together and gotten to know each other.

His mother struggled as a single mother. She did everything she could to make sure he and his sister, Tekila, had just enough to survive… But Blaze didn’t start thriving until he was an adult and started treating women the way he saw men treat his mother.

Tasha was used and abused for years, but it always had a check attached to it. In the beginning, Blaze was upset over the treatment of his mother. Man after man came into their home, and it didn’t matter how badly they treated her, they helped her make sure the bills were paid. The first and only time Blaze ever tried to defend his mother, she reprimanded him for it. From that point on, Blaze kept his distance because he believed his mother was okay with the way she was being treated. She became dependent upon men to support her children, and for Blaze, that meant women were supposed to provide and take care of their men.

Denali was the first woman Blaze wanted to reverse the roles for. Before he got locked up, he took pride in being able to provide for her and their new family. But when he got locked up and had to start from scratch five years later, that shit changed. He became even more selfish. The more money Denali made, the less he wanted to provide for her. The better of a mother she was, the less he felt it was necessary for him to be in the picture. Hell, there wasn’t a man around to teach him how to be one, so how in the fuck was he supposed to be a good father?

With grace and time, Denali helped Blaze figure out what his kids needed from him in order for him to feel useful in their lives. He was able to watch them thrive instead of survive like he did, and Denali had a special place in his heart because of that. Blaze was sure that was why he couldn’t let her go, even though he also couldn’t do right by her.

If she ever was to find out that he’d met and married Clynisha shortly after he got out of jail, there was no doubt in Blaze’s mind that he would lose her forever… and that was a loss he wasn’t willing to take.

That gunshot wound… that was the way back into Denali’s home, but his kids… they were the way back into her heart. While she was at work, Blaze had been playing twenty questions with both Amir and Kinsley. So far, he’d learned that Denali hadn’t gone on any dates recently, which was good. He asked them what he could do to make them feel closer to him, because even though his actions didn’t show it, Blaze wanted his children to love him and be proud to have come from him.

They asked that he stay around more after he was healed and not disappear on them again, and that was something Blaze could do. It caught him off guard when Kinsley asked him to make her mother happy, because she’d been sad because of him a lot lately. It didn’t just fuck with him that Denali was hurting but that his daughter was seeing it too.

It was one thing for him to fumble Denali’s heart, but it was different when he considered his daughter being with a man like him and thinking that shit was acceptable. Blaze would shoot a li’l nigga right between the eyes for even breaking his daughter’s heart. It was crazy to him how he didn’t feel the same way toward the women he fucked with. Either way, Blaze knew he needed to get his shit together. Not just for himself, but for his kids too.

??????

At the sight of Clynisha calling, Blaze released an irritated breath. They hadn’t spoken in weeks, and she only called when she needed something. Their marriage thrived on their maintained boundaries and independence. As much as he wanted to ignore her call, Blaze knew it was for the best if he answered and gave her whatever the hell she wanted. He was living a life of secret luxury on her dime, and at any moment, that could change.

“Wassup?” he answered, relaxing further on the couch.

The kids were at school and Denali was at work, so he had the house to himself.

“I need you to be at my father’s birthday party in three days, so you need to meet me at the estate.”

“I was shot, Clynisha. It’s not bad, but it’s in my leg.”

“And? Come on crutches. He’s requested your presence, so you need to be there.”

“Nisha, I’m in a tight spot. Too many questions would be asked if I tried to leave right now.”

She chuckled. “Oh, so you staying with a bitch now, huh? What the hell did I buy you a condo on the river for if you were just going to lay up with these basic ass bitches?”

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