Page 112 of Serenity
Silence plagued the air. My heart slowed to a fucking beat per minute, it seemed.
“Your request is for the impossible. Serenity’s influence looms beyond syntax or minuscule descriptors. This one is my forever,” I stroked my beard.
“You said that about the last one.”
My parents were married for thirty-nine years before my mother decided to take rest in God’s arms. Since her transition, my father had withered as a pruning raisin in the sun. His heartbroken soul was left without direction.
Where does love go when it doesn’t have a home?
Without my mother, he’d held his grief inward, like an arrow to the heart. Its effects seeped outward, unsettling everyone he’d come into contact with. Reluctantly retiring, it was no wonder he’d been a grouch about the way I handled the business. But this wasn’t Colonial Pipeline. This was my shit. Colonial Holdings.
“I hope you’re not making a mistake.”
“You stay getting in my way, old man,” I clipped, chest puffed, brows knitted like Frida. We stood mere feet apart. “Vote for the buyout so I can do what I need to do.”
“Somebody has to watch from the sidelines and keep you in check.”
“This is my company. You can step away from the board. You can step down from the pipeline’s board too, but stop looking over my shoulder.” Arms crossed, legs wide, I stood my ground.
I loved my father. I knew he loved me, too. He never failed to show that love when we were outside of Colonial’s walls. Inside them, we weren’t father and son, though. We were two employees at each other’s fucking throats.
As the only parent I had left, I had no choice but to cherish him, but the man could be a pain in the ass when it came to business. After my mother’s passing, our relationship became more strained every time we stepped foot in a boardroom. After I took over Colonial, that strain intensified.
Condescendingly, he laughed and ran his palm down the back of his head. “Aight, top dog. I’ll let you make this misstep. Not because your disrespectful ass asked but because of your flawless record.” His stepping closer brought us chest to chest. “But the minute you fuck up, boy… I’m snatching my shit back.”
There it was.
What the fuck he failed to say over the last few years. The confession I longed for came in few words. It wasn’t that he lacked faith in me. It wasn’t that I was inadequate at the helm of both companies. It wasn’t any of the things I’d surmised.
He wanted his company back. After a lengthy dance with grief following my mother’s passing, he was ready to return to running things. Too haughty to admit it, he’d watched over me as profits soared under my direction.
Sealing our gaze, his silence was both pervasive and prominent. Finally, he broke the extensive quiet with a chuckle.
“She must be mighty fucking special for you to take such a risky leap.”
“You have no idea.”
MYAQUANNA STEPFORD
Serenity Adelaide was coming along smoothly. Despite minor hiccups with funding, it all worked out in the end. Strangely, the original $2.5 million I was awarded from Solari was doubled. An explanation of why wasn’t given, but already, I was planning with architects and engineers to draft plans for a third location in upper North Banks.
Life was good. Duke and I were even better.
“Stay the fuck away from Mya. Remove her from your class or stop teaching the class, but keep away from her.”
Fully dressed in jeans and a Fear of God hoodie, Duke hovered over me. Still in bed, I squinted away my fatigue to focus on what he was saying.
“Why is this the first thing you’re saying to me this morning?” I asked with a stretch of my arms.
“It’s not the first thing,” Duke smirked. “I strictly remember telling you to make that puffy pussy cum,” he smirked as I threw a pillow in his direction and missed.
“Naw, but for real. Stay away,” he warned. “I had a nightmare last night. You and Mya’s disruptive ass were at the center of it.”
“You act like she’s the plague,” I yawned through my laughter.
“She may as fucking well be. Stay away, Bee.”
Eyes squinting, his voice dipped low. As low as it could go. The tone he only ever used when issuing commands as we made love. “Don’t let me find out you’ve been misbehaving.”