Page 32 of City of Gods

“Bring her in,” Maasai finally said, as if he could hear my inner rationalizing. I blinked at him in disbelief but I hopped up and went to get her from the hallway. She was leaning against the wall, staring down at her phone, concentrating on something. I opened my mouth to call out to her but was caught off guard by how gorgeous she was just standing there. She was nibbling on her lip a little and I wanted to sink into her. I wanted to kiss her so fucking bad it was like a gut punch.

I swallowed the urge and cleared my throat. “Hey, you can come in,” I told her, motioning to the conference room at my back. She glanced up, locking eyes with me before nodding quickly. When she brushed by me, I placed my hand on her lower back instinctively. She didn’t reject the gesture, instead, she lingered next to me for a few extra beats. I pulled a chair out for her and she sat, thanking me quietly before sliding up to the table.

Hakim eyed her skeptically before taking a bag of what looked to be chocolate-covered almonds. I shook my head and blew out a breath before sitting down.

“Who were you fighting?” Sanai leaned over and asked close to my ear. She gave the round table a quick perusal before landing on Hakim, who was busy crunching on his almonds.

“How could you tell?” I asked, lowering my brows.

“Just a hunch,” she smirked to herself then laced her slender fingers together on the tabletop. “Thanks for letting me in, Maasai. I know it was your call.”

Maasai nodded, causing a chunk of cropped locs to dust his forehead. “I’m glad you know that.” He drew in a breath and drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully. Sanai’s eyes seemed to track his movements and I was tracking hers.

Was she staring at him?

“You can’t fuck Maasai and Bakari,” Hakim said from his seat. Sanai cut her cat eyes at him and I could practically hear the hiss roll off her lips even though she hadn’t made a sound.

“I tend to focus on who’s in charge in a room. Hence, why I’m not looking at you and barely noticed your existence until now.” Hakim’s mouth opened then shut without a word passing his lips.

I cleared my throat, trying to swallow my laughter while Maasai did the same. “You should be glad the decision wasn’t up to me,” Hakim huffed, folding his arms across his chest.

“We’re all glad the decision wasn’t up to you,” I quipped.

“Fuck you,” Hakim shot right back.

“Anyway…goddamn.” Maasai let his voice rise above ours and we all fell silent. “Sanai, do you know who those niggas were that Bakari shot?”

Shit. Just like that, the events of the night rolled back in on me like dark water. I shot and killed three men. I’d shot people before. I’d been in fights, too, but I’d never killed someone until tonight.

“I’ve never seen them before.” Sanai shrugged her slender shoulders. “Junior could very well be using men that aren’t recognizable, though.”

“True,” Hakim offered with a sigh. “We should check their records because they wouldn’t have gotten in if they weren’t registered members of the Temple.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. I’ll check their records,” Maasai said, pulling out the phone he only used within Temple walls. From that phone, he could access everyone’s records, but he couldn’t edit them. That could only be done on a computer.

“This is them.” He passed the phone around the room and we all got a good look at the men whose bodies were now being carted off somewhere and disposed of.

Michael Clark

Juan Ramirez

Jacob Jordan

“They all had memberships and were all in good standing. How the fuck?” I asked more to myself than anyone else in the room. Nothing made sense anymore.

“They’ve never been here before tonight. They came when they registered but as far as being treated?” Maasai paused and shook his head before continuing. “They’ve never been patients here before. I can’t see where they’ve been treated for anything.” He handed me the phone and I looked over all three men’s records and came to the same conclusion.

“They’re dummies,” Sanai stated easily. “They were never meant to be real patients. So they’ve been planted here since Junior decided to take over.”

“Man, fuck all this plotting shit,” Hakim interjected with a heavy sigh. “I’m ready to pull up on this nigga. I don’t like all this back and forth.”

“Hakim,” I gritted out. “Three men were killed tonight. Don’t you think we should ease up on all the violence? That’s never been what we’re about.”

“That’s not whatyou’reabout, Bakari. I’m about that fucking action when it comes down to my brothers and something our family has built for generations. I want to continue our legacy as Godwins. I’m not about to let Junior or anyone else take that from us.”

“I agree with both of you,” Maasai admitted, his voice weary.

“I’m telling you, if you bring this shit to Junior’s door, he’s going to put direct pressure on y'all.” Sanai leaned back in her chair and laced her fingers together.

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