Page 28 of City of Gods

The Temple was amazing to see in action. It worked better than big hospitals. Everyone there knew their role and played it well.

I had to protect the Temple from being sucked into whatever Junior had going on. The Temple was truly the only place I could be myself and not worry about getting snitched on. Nobody spoke about anyone or anything they saw go down within these walls. All the bad guys were safe for once. We could all breathe. We knew even if we saw our opposition sitting right across from us, it would be better if we didn’t kill them.

Not on Temple grounds.

I couldn’t let something so unique and sacred get taken over.

“Why is Sanai here?” Maasai’s deep voice asked and I realized I’d slipped into my own world of thoughts.

“Ask her.” Bakari refused to look at me and that was fine because I didn’t trust myself not to slap the fuck out of him for his little comment about making me whimper.

“Why the hell are you here?” Maasai’s eyes tracked the next patient coming in and Bakari put his body between me and the patient, blocking the man’s eyes from viewing me. My shoulders dropped a little when I realized he was protecting me. He knew how much I craved privacy and confidentiality and he acted on it.

“I just wanted in on your meeting,” I answered honestly. “Bakari told me he wouldn’t let me know anything that happened so…I took it upon myself to come and see. I was hoping Dice would let me in, honestly.” An unamused huff came from Dice at the front of the check-in area.

“You really thought that?” Bakari barked out a laugh.

“I don’t want to stand here figuring it out. Both of y'all get the fuck upstairs now. I want y'all out of sight.” Maasai’s voice cut off all the bullshit banter and back-and-forth building between Bakari and I.

Bakari quietly circled his fingers around my wrist and pulled me down the hallway and to the elevator. As we walked on, Rob walked off, looking at me with confusion written all over his face.

“You owe me a box of Cubans yet, nigga?” His signature face-splitting grin was on display and it was kind of infectious. Before I could stop it, I was smiling, too, and I didn’t even know why.

“A box of Cubans?” I asked Bakari right after he tossed an insult at Rob through the closing elevator doors.

“Ignore him,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

Bakari Godwin was truly a beautiful man. I could stare at his silky mocha skin all damn day.

“No. I want to know what he was talking about. It’s the least you could do after that bullshit you said in front of Dice downstairs.” The elevator dinged and we both stepped off. Bakari walked ahead of me, taking long-legged, sure steps down a hall with closed doors on either side.

Bakari paused, the finely crafted muscles in his back tensing beneath his shirt. The same shirt I watched him peel off before he fucked the logic out of my brain. I was seriously at the Temple after being banned because I wanted to know what was being said at a meeting.

Or was I there to look at Bakari again?

Telling myself the raw and honest truth, even inside my head, made me recoil a little. I fought tooth and nail to get to the point where I didn’t let myself get disillusioned. Killing people regularly meant that my mind was crowded more often than not. I dealt with regret, second-guessing, and anger. They were constantly rotating in my mind at any given time. The one thing I did to lessen the sheer volume of intrusive thoughts was to be up front with myself.

I rushed out of my house after a man I couldn’t stand most of the time because he gave me excellent dick. I had no idea what to do with that thought, but it was there. I still did want to know what the boys were going to discuss, though.

Bakari walked over to a door and opened it, inviting me in. His face was a harsh puzzle that I couldn’t figure out. “I’m sorry about saying that shit in front of Dice,” he finally said.

“I’m still pissed,” I told him, taking a step toward him, nearly bumping him with my chest.

“I’m sorry I said it at all. That’s not me.”

“It absolutelywasyou. You said it. You meant it.” I rested my hands on my hips and stared at him. I refused to let him wiggle out of it.

“Okay, you’re right.” He sighed. “You were being a…”

“A what? A bitch?” That time I did bump him with my chest.

“No. I’ve seen you act like a bitch. That’s not what you were doing. You were being fucking stubborn, hard-headed, and not listening.”

He didn’t move an inch. He was a solid mass of granite. Only he wasn’t cold and inanimate. He was warm. He smelled amazing. Like he wore bad decisions as a cologne on his skin.

“Am I supposed to listen to you?” I laughed. I lifted my hand and pushed his forehead back. “And that shit still doesn’t give you the right to let anyone know we fucked. You shouldn’t have even alluded to it.” Another push. I saw the anger swelling in him. His chest heaved and his nostrils flared.

He was teeming with big-bad-wolf energy and my pussy was here for it. The throb started at my core and spiraled outward, eclipsing my clit in its path until everything between my thighs had a heartbeat.

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