P Valley - A Sinner's Prayer

² The Snake In The Pulpit

Denzel Gilfield in MM

Khadija pov

Smothered porkchops, rice, broccoli with cheese, green beans, correctly made Cesar salad and rolls for those who just gotta have bread with everything even if it's already a starch and hella carbohydrates. I transfer the food to the serving dishes before bringing them out. The people sitting and standing around the living room continue their conversations, the first lady isn't in my immediate sight from the dining room but there is a few women from the looks they are the partners of the men here, an obvious older group the kind that for sure bothers their grandchildren about slightly ripped jeans.

"This looks amazing. Smells good too." I turn and smile seeing Denzel, I stand from my leaning angle to turn to him completely. "Thanks, I hope you guys enjoy it. I made sure to not go too far from my roots when it comes to how certain people like certain foods." He chuckles and nods, I look him up and down seeing he's in a dark green button down and with black slacks that look tailored.

"So how have you been? How did Chicago treat you?" I frown tilting my head and I guess he sees the question before chuckling slightly. "Your mom told me. She's really proud of you, brags about you all the time." I roll my eyes picking up the towel flipping it over my shoulder walking back into the kitchen his shoes hitting the floor behind me as I pull the porkchops from the oven.

"Mercedes must've told her about me, she's the only one I kept in contact with regularly and faithfully." He scoffs and I look over at him as I transfer the meat.

"Yeah, I learned the hard way, all the texts and calls never returned." I roll my eyes when my back is turned as I grab the fork for the protein. "You act like that conversation didn't end with both of us coming to an understanding, Denzel." He sighs watching me put the food down coming back. "That was because you wasn't sure about coming back but now that you're here-" I press my hands against the counter before turning to look at him, his eyes keeping me tethered for a moment.

"I'm not interested in becoming a first lady, hell you weren't even interested in being a pastor now look at you." He pushes his tongue against his cheek as he keeps his eyes on me and I nod grabbing the sweet tea, and water pitchers walking out seeing the Reverend standing in the dining room looking. When he sees me place the pitchers he touches my back and I stand straight stepping up so his hand isn't heavy against my spine. "Dinner is ready you can bring your group in." He nods and I see Denzel come in, once the people start to migrate I make my way out to start putting everything up and back into their correct places before cleaning the pots and pans. The loud cackling and conversation is background noise in my headphones. I walk into the hidden pantry arms filled with spices as I place them into the correct places I hear familiar steps, I turn around seeing Denzel. Here we go.

"You should be eating." He doesn't speak and I grab the cinnamon and pet milk for the cinnamon rolls.

"Is this your only job? "

"This may not be my job at all, this was a test run. That's all. And why?" He looks behind him and walks closer to me, I don't want him too close to me in this tight space, besides the fact that he looks very inticing at the moment. I'm not gonna sleep with my bosses son, even if I had him before his parents were my boss.

"Just asking. You know some of the men here and some in the pulpit visits the Pynk, I doubt you'd want that tainting your career." I smirk and look him up and down as I walk past him back to the kitchen and grab the butter, cream cheese and everything else I need for the cinnamon rolls before speaking.