“Say again?” I asked.
“You came to Denver, after that shit went down with you, if that had broken you, you could have found me for another reason. You didn’t. You didn’t let that shit break you. You didn’t bow to it. You fought it. You didn’t become one of my girls. You became the woman who protected them. That says a lot about you, Sylvie. I respect that. I respect you. I respect that you’re professional, I can trust you but you still got a personality, a sense of humor. After that shit happened to you, you kept that, you kept you. I respect that. I respect that we had an attraction and, not like a lot of women, when we found we didn’t suit, you didn’t let that shit turn catty or destructive. You let it go, you kept us solid and it means somethin’ to me you shared your shit with me. You trusted me with it. You trusted that me knowin’ it wouldn’t alter our relationship. That was an honor, Sylvie. I know you haven’t given that to anyone but me and Charlene, and, babe, it was an honor you chose me.”
Told you Knight could talk.
And that was nice and all, really nice, but I was a little put out he didn’t say it straight. He always said it straight.
Then he said it straight.
“We been through a lot and you earned a piece of my heart, babe. It’s all yours and always will be.”
I pressed my lips together.
“You cry, I’m tellin’ the boys,” he warned.
I unpressed my lips and glared at him.
He smiled at me.
“Come here,” he ordered.
I went there and when I got close, Knight Sebring’s arms folded around me.
Mine folded right back.
We’d hugged only once in the time we’d known each other and that had been when we were drunk and I told him all about Creed.
It felt better not being drunk and after I got Creed back, even if that meant I was semi-losing Knight.
“I’ll miss you, Sylvie,” he whispered into the top of my hair.
“I’m not leaving tomorrow,” I told him.
“Then I’ll enjoy you bein’ a pain in the ass for as long as it lasts.”
I sighed but it was fake and both of us knew it.
Knight gave me a squeeze then he let go and I stepped back.
“Gotta get to my man,” I said.
“Go,” Knight replied.
I nodded, lifted a hand, squeezed his bicep then moved to the door.
I stopped at it and turned back. “You know, I agree.” I shook my head. “That’s not true. I don’t agree, exactly. I believe. I believe in what you do, Knight.”
“I know,” he told me.
“The Serenas though, before they begin –”
Knight cut me off. “Know that, too, Sylvie.”
I studied him and I knew. He felt what happened to Serena. He felt it deep. He knew she had no business in the business.
“We’re instituting better screens,” Knight explained and I knew what that meant. A girl came to him, she wouldn’t work unless she understood the life and could take it.
“Right,” I muttered before, “You got work to throw my way, I can take it on and do Hawk’s job, I’ll take it and be a pain in the ass while doing it.”
“Would expect nothing less,” Knight returned.
“You’d be right,” I replied.
He shook his head and jerked his chin to the door.
I shot him a grin and walked out of it.
I was down the steps, through the club and out the backdoor before I let it hit me and when it did, it nearly brought me to my knees.
I loved the life I had in Denver and the people I shared it with. I was only moving a state away but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a mother knowing I had to let it go.
I saw Creed standing outside his truck, leaning back against it, having a smoke, probably doing this because he was worried about me.
He studied me as I walked through the streetlamps toward him and he flicked his cigarette into the alley when I was three feet away. He saw it on my face, I knew, and that was why he pulled me straight into his arms and held me tight.
“He’s gonna help Charlene,” I shared, snaking my arms around him.
“Not surprised.”
My arms tightened around him.
“That sucked,” I said into his chest.
“I bet.”
“I’m not gonna cry,” I stated.
“All right.”
I sucked in breath.
Creed whispered, “I love you, Sylvie. Thank you for doin’ this for me, baby. I know you know but I’ll say it clear, it means the world to me. Just like you. All I can promise is, a day won’t go by where you won’t know you got that from me.”
At that, I started crying silently.
I did this while Creed held me and I kept doing it for a good long while.
Through it, Creed never let me go.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My Creed
A hot summer night in Kentucky, sixteen years earlier, Creed is twenty-three. It’s Sylvie’s birthday, she’s just turned eighteen…