Her Protector

by D. Camille

  Kent smiled in returned. “Oh you know him, and he’s here now to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

  Trent’s smile faded. “I’m cool.”

  “Dude, you’re about to pop off and do something that could destroy your whole family. That’s not cool,” Kent pointed out.

  Trent’s eyes narrowed. “I wish he would’ve stayed dead.”

  “But he’s not Trent and he’s here,” Kent said quietly. “And he’s your father.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Trent questioned. “He was never my father.”

  Kent sighed. “Trent, you said he led you to your brothers and that he’d been searching for you for years.”

  “He should have.”

  “And he did, dude.”

  Trent shook his head. “He put his hands on me.”

  Kent looked at him. “Trent, I know you when you pop off. There have been many times that I’ve wanted to put my hands on you. Hell, I think everybody has wanted to put hands on you.”

  Trent looked at him. “Shut up.”

  “Seriously though, you’re your Daddy’s son so it was inevitable that you two would be emotional when you first saw each other, but you gotta let that shit go man. Somebody’s after your family and we all have to handle this,” Kent informed him.

  “And your Daddy has the keys to all of this,” Kent looked at him. “If he didn’t care, Trent, he could’ve just let y’all get blindsided but he didn’t. He risked his life coming back to save his family man, you at least gotta give him credit for that.”

  Trent shook his head. “He acts like he’s running shit.”

  Kent scrunched his face. “Technically, right now…he is. Where do you think you get that from dude? You always wanting to run shit too.”

  Trent looked at him. “You talk to damn much.”

  “It’s true.” Kent told him. “I keep it one hundred.”

  Kent leaned forward. “For real Trent, you have to think about this. Justin’s return affects way more people than just you. Your mother, Jordan, your sister…how would Diamond look at you if you killed the grandfather she hasn’t gotten a chance to know?”

  Kent knew the special connection between Trent and his niece. Diamond worshipped her Uncle Trent and always had. Trent would never want to damage that relationship.

  Trent lowered his head taking in Kent’s words as he continued. “I know what’s it like to not have your father in your life and to feel he basically didn’t give a fuck, but this is different Trent. You’re mad as hell because you’ve always wanted him to care, so give him a chance. Shit, he’s at least made the first move by coming back and acknowledging his mistakes.”

  “A lot of dudes wouldn’t have done that.” Kent told him. “Mine didn’t.”

  ******

  In the office, Lotus and Callie sat on the sofa. “So, yes I’m being nosy now because I have to know what happened between you and Kent. Blame it on pregnancy hormones,” Callie said placing a pillow over her belly.

  “I was performing a spoken word at a club and Kent was there. The poem was about him and he heard it,” Lotus explained.

  “Wow, that’s so romantic…”

  Lotus smiled. “Yeah, he didn’t understand it.”

  “Well, it’s Kent.” Callie offered and they both laughed.

  “Circumstances began to bring us together and eventually I told him that he was the man I’d been seeing in my visions for years.”

  Callie’s eyes widened. “How did he take that?”

  “It took a minute to settle in,” Lotus said with a short nod.

  “He seems very settled in,” Callie pointed out. “So I’m assuming he’s stirred that honey pot?”

  Lotus closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The honey pot has officially been stirred.” She opened her eyes with a smile. “With head banging, deep strokes and everything in between.”

  Callie shouted. “Lotus!”

  “What? I’m not ashamed.” Lotus told her proudly. “There is a reason why he’s the green-eyed monster.”

  Callie shook her head. “I don’t know why I’d never put you two together. You are perfect for each other.”

  “Kent understands me and doesn’t try to change me. We can feel one another and communicate without words. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he challenges my thinking and keeps surprising me.”

  Callie studied her. “You really love him.”

  “Yes, I really love him more than I ever thought was possible,” Lotus said happily.

  “Most people don’t get to see the serious side of Kent. He doesn’t let a lot of people in to know the real him,” Callie said quietly. “I’ve seen the caring and serious side of him and I know that he’s going to be very good to you.”

  “He says that he is and believe him.” Lotus confirmed. “I have no reason to doubt him. He didn’t have to answer my call, but he did and he’s never wavered.”

  “He won’t. Kent is as loyal as they come,” Callie told her. “When he loves you, he’ll go to the ends of the earth for you.”

  Lotus smiled. “I know, that’s why he’s going to train me to be an Uncut Diamond.”

  Callie frowned. “What?”

  ******

  Trent lifted his head and looked at Kent. “I hear you, man.”

  Kent smiled. “I mean he might get back with your mother and y’all could be one big happy family.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Trent told him.

  Kent laughed at Trent’s anger. “How about I introduce him to Ms. Baker?” Trent suggested.

  “Shit, I’ll take Justin Black as a stepdaddy any damn day,” Kent told him.

  “You know I owe you an ass kicking and your Momma not here to save you now,” Trent warned.

  Kent stood. “Let’s go, we don’t even got on dress clothes today.”

  Trent got to his feet. “I think Kyle could take you.”

  Kent smiled. “I know Callie can take you.”

  “You talk so much shit,” Trent said laughing. “Let me show Lotus how to keep you in check.”

  “I think your daddy already showed you,” Kent laughed.

  All laughing ceased when the first blow was landed.

  ******

  Lotus and Callie looked at one another when they heard something crash. “What the hell?” Callie jumped from the sofa with Lotus following close behind. In the living room, they saw Kent and Trent locked in a battle.

  “KENT!”

  “TRENT!”

  Both women called their names, but the two were focused on their combat skills. Kent held his own as the battle moved around the room, knocking over furniture.

  “STOP!” Callie and Lotus yelled.

  Callie ran to the back room and Lotus grabbed for her purse. The next thing Kent and Trent heard were the familiar sound of guns clicking. They slowly released one another.

  “Stop now or I swear we’ll shoot both of you!” Callie yelled with her gun pointed at them.

  Both men looked over with smiles on their faces. “We’re just practicing,” Kent said.

  “Practicing my ass!” Lotus yelled aiming her weapon at them both. “You’re tearing up Callie’s house.”

  “It’s my house too,” Trent complained.

  Callie frowned. “Trent, I swear…”

  “Uh, can y’all put them damn guns down?” Kent asked. “Before somebody gets hurt for real?”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Lotus asked as he came towards her. Kent took the gun from her hands then pulled her into his arms.

  “Trent needed to blow off some steam and being the good friend I am, I offered to whip his ass.” He leaned down and kissed her softly.

  Trent walked over to his wife who had already lowered her gun. He saw the anger on her face. “Don’t be mad. I’ll clean all of this up.”

  “I know you will,” she told him angrily.

  She turned and walked away and he followed quickly. “Calista…”

  Lotus and Kent wa
tched them disappear into a back room. “See what you did?” Lotus accused.

  “That wasn’t me,” Kent defended. “Trent started it.”

  Lotus smiled. “You were handling it though.”

  “I know right.” Kent boasted. “And he knows Jiu Jitsu.”

  “My baby got the hands too,” she said wrapping her arms around his waist.

  Kent shook his head. “I told them…don’t sleep on Kent Baker.”

  Lotus’ eyes darkened. “You looked real sexy handling your business like that.”

  He looked down at her. “You liked that?”

  She nodded. “You know what else I discovered that I like today?”

  They both smiled and said, “Pineapple juice.”

  ******

  Silver Parker walked into her son Ray’s office and quietly took a seat. He’d said that he’d wanted to speak with her privately and she wondered what was on his agenda.

  “Ray,”

  “Momma, how are you?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’m fine. How are you?”

  He lifted a brow. “I’m confused.”

  “About what?”

  “See, Jordan’s father, Justin Black, has mysteriously returned from the dead. Kind of like you did when I found you in Columbia.”

  Silver sat rigidly in her chair as he continued. “He says that you have information on Esteban’s operations.”

  “How would he know something like that?” Silver asked.

  Ray smiled. “It seems that everybody walking around has secrets.”

  “Including you,” he finished.

  Silver held her son’s matching gaze. “What secrets do you think I have?”

  “I’ve been doing some checking and it seems that you haven’t told me everything about your time with Esteban,” he told her.

  “Like what?”

  Ray gave her a look. “Momma don’t do this.”

  “No, you don’t do this Ray,” she said angrily. “Let it go.”

  “If I let it go, it can get us all killed and I’m sure as hell not about to let that happen.”

  Silver looked away.

  “Tell me what I don’t know about Esteban,” he prodded.

  “When the elder Esteban brought me to Columbia, I was tasked to cut and prepare stolen diamonds. That’s what kept me from being one of the sex slaves. As long as I did well with the jewels, I would be safe.”

  Ray’s eyes narrowed as he listened.

  “So that’s what I did. I made sure everything was just as he wanted and I also had to help the woman as a handmaid to prepare them,” Silver twisted her hands. “I knew what was happening to them, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

  “No there wasn’t,” he agreed softly.

  “When you came to rescue me, I had no idea what was going on. All the commotion broke out while I was going through the largest shipment of diamonds, the Esteban’s had ever received. I thought that someone had come to kill us for the stones, but it was your team.”

  Ray leaned forward. “What did you do?”

  “I hid them so that no one could have them,” Silver confessed. “I didn’t want another child to lose his hand over those damn blood diamonds.”

  “I understand that. Why didn’t you tell me about the diamonds?”

  Silver shook her head. “I thought with Esteban dead, no one would care.”

  “Momma, those were hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds that went missing. At some point, someone was going to have to account for them,” Ray explained.

  “I didn’t think it would lead back to me,” she said honestly. “How could it?”

  “Because you were the handler,” Ray told her. “Now they probably think that I have them since I have you.”

  Silver’s eyes widened. “Someone is looking for you?”

  “They’ve joined forces with others who are looking for the Black Diamonds,” he informed her.

  Her hand went to her mouth. “What are you going to do?”

  Ray looked at his mother. “Call in reinforcements and get those damn diamonds.”

  ******

  That evening Kent and Lotus dressed up for a night on the town. She’d suggested that they invite their friends and he’d nixed that idea immediately, not wanting to share her tonight with anyone else. In the back of the private car, she smiled at him.

  “Private car?”

  “It’s good to have ridiculously rich friends with cars at their disposal,” he commented looking her over as she sat near the opposite door.

  “It’s nice…and private.”

  His eyes glowed. “You should come over her and let me smell you.”

  “What did I tell you about smelling me?”

  “Then come over here and let me kiss you.”

  She nodded. “Now that you can do anytime.”

  Slowly she slid closer to him until he lifted her onto his lap. Connecting her lips with his, the fire began to burn slowly. Kent placed a warm hand on her thigh as he kissed her breath away. It moved up to cup her breast and she arched into him.

  “You’re mine now?” she whispered.

  He nodded and kissed her some more. “What are you going to do with me?” Kent asked against her mouth.

  Lotus framed his face and looked into his eyes. “Love you…”

  “I can work with that,”

  “Thank you for sticking up for me when Trent tried to start talking crazy,” she told him softly.

  Kent looked at her. “Nobody fucks with my little Momma…nobody.”

  Lotus laid her head against his shoulder. “It made me feel really good. I usually have to fight all my battles alone.”

  He rubbed a hand down her back. “I’m your protector Lotus and I will fight all your battles baby.”

  “I can work with that,” she whispered kissing his jaw.

  Kent smiled and held her closer as the car moved through the streets.

  “So you and your little smart ass nephews tried to freak me out?” he asked with a laugh.

  “They’re so damn adorable. We love to do that in front of unsuspecting people,” she explained. “I’ve taught them that if people are going to look at you crazy, give them a reason.”

  “I really thought y’all had some kind of psychic connection shit going on,” he told her.

  “We do,” Lotus told him. “The twins have an extra special gift but I can’t read their minds.”

  Kent looked at her. “Are you saying they can read minds?”

  Lotus shrugged. “Just don’t think dirty thoughts around them, okay?”

  “What the hell?” he asked.

  Lotus laughed. “Nothing should surprise you by now.”

  Kent shook his head as if to clear it. “So would our kids be able to do that?” he asked.

  “We’re having kids?” Lotus asked lifting an arched brow.

  He paused. “Do you want to have kids?”

  “Of course, I love kids.” Lotus answered. “The question is; do you want to have kids?”

  Kent held her gaze. “Honestly, I never did. I clowned Trent for wanting kids at our age. I had enough of brats with my brothers and sisters so that’s not something that was on my agenda.”

  Lotus nodded sadly and looked away.

  “But I never had an incredible woman love me and I loved her back with every fiber of my being.” He turned her face back to his.

  “I never watched a beautiful woman play with a little girl who looked just like her, and wondered if a little girl that we made together, would look like that.” Kent touched her cheeks softly as water gathered in her eyes.

  “I never imagined making love to a sexy African Princess and creating another person.” He whispered in the confines of the car.

  “So to answer your question, yeah, I do want to have kids…but only with you Lotus Masters. You are the only woman who could even make me consider it.”

  Lotus blinked and tears fell down her cheeks before Kent kissed them away th
en claimed her mouth.

  “Do you gotta be married first?” he asked.

  “Are you asking?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, not like this. A special girl needs to be asked in a special way, cause when I do it, I want you to say…” he paused and put a hand to his ear.

  Lotus looked at him and laughed before saying, “Oh my god Kent! You are so amazing! No other dude could even come close.”

  “Exactly…”

  Chapter 20

  Kent and Lotus sat on the private plane holding hands a few days later. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes while yawning.

  “You tired little Momma?” he asked.

  She smiled against him. “I think I have a right to be. A monster kept me up all night.”

  “What did he do to you?”

  “Everything…” Lotus cuddled closer and Kent kissed her head.

  He looked out of the window while she rested. When they landed in Atlanta, the first phase of the plan would be completed. Kent was amped and ready to finish Phase II and be done with this whole thing.

  “Hey, now that I’m coming back early, I can make the hospital’s staff party,” Lotus told him. “Will you be my escort?”

  “Uh, who else would it be?” he asked.

  “That sounded better than, take me to the damn party,” Lotus told him.

  He shrugged. “Either way, I’d be taking you.”

  Lotus shook her head. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He rubbed her back. “Take your nap because when you wake up, there are some things I need to tell you.”

  She lifted her head. “Do you want to tell me now?”

  “We’ve got time, get your rest first.”

  “Is it bad?” she asked worried.

  “Not for us,”

  Kent laid her head back on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t be taking you home if everything wasn’t under control.”

  “Did someone get hurt?” Lotus asked.

  “Not yet…but soon.”

  ******

  Carolyn sat in the passenger seat of the expensive car. She watched the passing scenery as she twisted a tissue in her hands.

  Sean looked over at her. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I do. I have to face my past,” Carolyn said shakily.

  “If you need me at any time, I’ll be right outside the door.” Sean said pointedly. “Or I can be right inside with you.”