Kemar POV

My mind was on Cullayne all day. I busied myself with a few things that needed to be done around the yard as a means to occupy my mind from being consumed with her.

I had made attempts to call her but decided against it. I had to keep my distance because the closer I got to her the more I wanted to tell her how I felt about her.

I sighed a threw the palm leaves I was picking up in the barrow on the pile already in there and then made my way to discard them around the back where I would be burning them with some other debris.

It was almost 12:30 and I was hot, sweaty and hungry but the least bit tired. I was up from 6:00 a.m. thanks to Bounty who had returned from where ever drunk and loud. There was one point I thought he was going to mash down his room door and deep down I wish he had so that I could have a reason to tell him to go.

Before I had left Cullayne's yesterday I had asked Mama if Bounty had done something believing he had turned up to cut the churchyard and found it to already be done provoked some type of drama.

She had said nothing but looked out the kitchen window and shook her head negatively. Something was going on and it was enough for her to warrant me the same warning.

"Mek him lef yuh yaad Kem. That bwoy has the devil in him. Him soul black as night and him heart bitta lakka aloes."

His escapade did not last long and I was grateful however, it was enough to rouse me from my sleep and prevented me from falling back asleep.

I had chosen to show Bounty my kindness by giving him a roof over his head when his crew had turned against him as their power struggle increased and to repay him for looking out for me when I had made the biggest mistake of my life some years back.

Mama had known about this and she too had been kind to Bounty trying to get him odd jobs with Maas Cushane and even inviting him to church but it seemed like my sisters Mama had come to see something in Bounty that I overlooked because he saved my life.

It had seemed as though it was the best thing to do. He knew like Odekie I had rules that governed my tenants without partiality and yet he behaved as if he was not governed by them.

There were a few occasions that made me think against him being here but for the sake of peace, I had overlooked them. He was often made to do things that did not sit well with my sisters by being too forward in his actions and lude in his speech and because of that they hardly came around.

There was this one time that stood out mostly to me. We so happened to be home at the same time and he had a group of thugs over that I discovered he was planning to house for a while. When I became aware of his intent he had become dominant and even went as far as to lift his shirt to show off the handle of the butcher knife in his waist.

It was like it had been fun for him to challenge my authority and bring me down in front of the guys who watched with cold hard eyes like vultures waiting for the unrighteous kill.

I had pinned it down as him just wanting to assert his dominance as the top dog but to think he would go up against me brutally had caused me to weigh how I dealt with him. In the end, he had laughed it off but it had made me pay keen attention to how I dealt with him.

I was about to manoeuvre the barrow to the back of the yard when my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a female voice I looked in the direction of the front steps to see Bounty standing there in nothing but his boxers and a girl scantily clad pulling away from his arms.

I stared at her in shock as I realised she was my youngest niece's classmate. I felt my decisiveness surface and I let go of the handles of the barrow and marched up the steps.

"Get out a mi yaad!!!" I shouted. "You have no ambition, get out!"

Her face comically showed her shock as she stuttered something I was unable to comprehend and I was sure I did not want to.

"Leave!" I said between clenched teeth as she stood there still.

I pulled her and shoved her to the steps my mind filled with disgust as anger serged through me. This was the limit of my tolerance the final straw that broke my resolve.

"Yuh really a something else enuh Bounty. Wah the hell yuh have dah lil pickney in a mi house a duh?"

I was now glaring a Bounty who stood there his bloodshot eyes taking me in with indifference. It was clear he had no regards for my house rules and was by no means did he respect me enough to take his sick dirty deeds somewhere else.

"The same thing weh yuh shudda av few a d church sista dem inna deh a duh but because yuh n yuh cocky suh holy or yuh is a sissy bwoy yuh cyaah comprehend," he said with a nasty laugh.

"Listen to mi good, tek yuh things and come out a my house. As of today mi nuh waah c yuh no weh near mi house or mi property," I said ignoring his snide remark.

Bounty lessens the distance between us his tall lanky frame towering over me. He leaned close to my face and said with venom.

"Fuck yuh waah mi fuck yuh up enuh church bwoy!"

I stood my ground as his rancid morning breath mixed with the remnants of the weed he was smoking licked my nose head-on.

"Do as mi tell yuh Bounty," I said standing my ground. "Nuh, mek mi come back around yasso afta mi done n yuh still deh yah."

I moved away dismissively and turned around to leave when I felt something cold and sharp press to my neck in the same instant I was pulled against Bounty's surprisingly strong frame.

"Yuh feel seh yuh a no Lord roun here because yuh puppah a Inspecta an yuh link up wid e likkle crosses Reader ooman e bwoy!" he growled into my ear as his weed knife press into my neck. "Mi wi kill yuh enuh batty bwoy!"

I stood there as the menacing words filled my ear and the girl that I had thought had fled stood in the yard screaming for Bounty to stop as Mongerl joined in with a whiney yapping.

He pressed the knife further into my neck and I felt the stinging sensation that comes with the culmination that he had cut into my flesh.

"Mi shudda did mek them fuck yuh up dung a Matches Lane," he growled. "Bou yuh waah style man!"

"I am giving you a second to let go of him or am calling the police and mi know yuh nuh want dat."

I look to see Cullaynd standing beside the hysterical girl and a now furious Mongrel her face serious and devoid of fear. Her phone was held to her ears and her eyes seemed to stare into Bounty's soul.

I felt his body shiver involuntarily and the knife clatter to the ground behind me at his bare feet. I resisted the urge to elbow him in his side as I knew I did not need him to be further provoked.

"Watch mi fi yuh n yuh likkle witch gyal," he whispered before pushing me roughly away and turning to go in the house.

I let out the breath I was not aware I was holding until Cullayne launched herself against me and hugged me sobbing.

For someone who could have been severely hurt or worse all I could think bout was how good she felt against me.