P Valley - A Sinner's Prayer

14. Late Night Dinners And Promises

Khadijah POV

I knock on his door and I text the group chat that I'm here before putting my phone on DND leaving only Mercedes able to get access to me, he opens the door and he cheeses and I match his face. He quickly grabs the bags from me and we walk inside. I see the living room is fully furnished but it has the typical single male style, brown furniture a large as TV and a TV stand with games and other entertainment shit on it. The hardwood flooring is very glossy, I can tell he takes care of the house if nothing else. When we walk into the kitchen I gasp at it seeing its fresh out of a Chefs wet dream for a easy access, yet beautiful kitchen. It's not too much junk on the counters just the necessities and it has enough cabinets to store them and more.

I see a pantry door and as we set the food down I speak. "I hope you don't mind that I brought extra clothes, I hate smelling like the food I cook and I don't want it to sink into my car seats." He shakes his head and holds his hand out. "Not at all, where's your bag I can take it to the guest room with the bathroom, you can shower in there... But I do hope that you're staying to enjoy the food with me." I pull out the dishes that are still hot and need a little more time on the stove and I shrug.

"We'll find out soon won't we? Now don't distract me I'm about to get into my zone." He holds up a hand and I bite my lip at the smile on his face, that man is so fucking fine. He walks out and I turn to the stuff and I get to work, I put pots and pans on the stove transferring the longer dishes inside to cook longer before getting to my seasoned meat. He's a big guy so I expected him to pick out a protein rich meal but it's actually very balanced and I love it. A vegetable soup, a Panzanella Salad, Smothered porkchops with black eyes peas, cornbread, and baked Mac and cheese with pecan pie and homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert plus some butter roll as something extra sweet for him to remember me by.

As I mix the Mac in the bowl I hear him walk in and sit down, i've gotten everything situated and properly set up, the meat is cooking, the beans are on their last 30 minutes before they're done, the cornbread sitting on the stove ready to go in the oven with the Mac. I was a little worried about this when he told me to just bring the food because he had quality cooking utinsels. But seeing his stuff the man knew what he was talking about, even his spoons and knives are high quality.

As I put that inside the oven and the cornbread I start on the gravy for the porkchops when he starts to speak. "So, tell me what did while I was gone. You said you left right?" I nod and turn to him as I mix the water and flour for the gravy.

"I moved to Chicago, got my culinary degree and I worked around in different Michelin star restaurants in the Midwest and South and once I stacked enough experience and money I moved back, it honestly wasn't as magical or pretty as movies make it. What about you? I'm sure you don't want to talk about your tours or anything like that." I turn around from pouring the mix into the pan and see his eyes slide up my body from my lower half and I wipe my hands on a tea towel as I cross my legs at the ankles looking at him. He leans back and I look down at his chest.

"I didn't exactly enjoy my experience being owned by the military but I did make some really good friends got my contractor license while in, but after I finished up my last contract I went to Atlanta and worked with my aunt and brother for a minute to transition back into the regular every day life thing. She owns a strip club and-" I make a impressed face looking him up and down and he laughs and I walk closer leaning on the island and he smirks at me. "Don't stop please, it was getting interesting. You was stripping?" He shakes his head and I see his smile dim for a hot second before it comes back. "Nah, my brother was, I'm too stiff for allat shit so I was security. Once I was satisfied with my account and my ability to deal with unruly people I left, came down here, bought this house, renovated it and I've been doing business around here and even back in Atlanta, I got a nice lil roster of customers." I nod and I smile.