by Kiki Leach
As I pulled the curtain back even further and leaned forward to get a better look at him overall, he stopped walking and turned to stare at me in a way that forced my insides to tighten in fear of what he now felt after meeting with Chino and Benny. I could see something boiling behind his eyes and stepped back, then raced from the foyer and into the living room.
Minutes passed before the front door finally swung open; and as a warm breeze swept through every room of the house before it closed, I wrapped my arms around myself and took a seat on the couch. As Nikko's feet shuffled down the hallway, I found myself laughing in being as nervous as I was the first time we met; my hands rattled as my breath shook with each inhale; my toes tapped against the floor as I chewed my bottom lip until it nearly bled between my teeth.
"Hey there, baby."
"Hey." I looked to the door as his tall, muscular body fell against the frame in the manner of a limp noodle. As he slid one hand into his front pocket, leaving the other to rest alongside his thigh, I noticed his brows pushing together while his eyes watched my tongue roll along my bottom lip. I couldn't tell what the hell he was thinking, but could feel the meaning behind the intensity of his gaze straight down to the center of my core.
"You know I saw your sexy ass watching me while I was out there," he said, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips. He was almost too beautiful in the attempt to keep it hidden from me.
I anxiously darted my eyes to the floor. Even now, he made me feel more alive and at home with myself than I had ever been. "I wasn't trying to, but when that car backfired, I wanted to see what the hell it was all about." He nodded while stepping into the room. "Was it another driver for you, or...?"
"Nah, just a motherfucker that had already been there before I showed up. I walked around for the most part after that meeting with Benny and my old man."
"You walked?" I stood up in damn near awe and stepped toward him as he leaned against the edge of the table near the window and crossed his arms. His biceps pushing against the fabric of his jacket made me quiver. "Between here and Downtown Manhattan, you walked?"
"Not the entire goddamn way, but for the most part, yeah."
"Why?"
"'Cause I needed time to think about some shit and didn't wanna have the company for it."
"Yet, you still had millions of voices buzzing around you, which would also explain why your clothes suddenly look as if they don't fit." He stared down at himself and dropped his hands along either side of the table. I cleared my throat. "What was that meeting all about?" I asked him, curious even as the nerves of what would come next began to overtake every part of my being. "Was it about the wedding like you said?"
"We never got that far into it."
"Why not?"
"'Cause my old man was late in showing up."
"More than you?"
"Yeah." He smirked. "But not for the same goddamn reason."
"Where was he?"
"Rikers," he replied, his eyes seeming to search my face for more of a reaction than I had given, "having a conversation with your old man."
"Rox?" I leaned away from him and made a face. "Why the hell would they be having a conversation if it wasn't about this wedding?"
His face tightened with something of a panic as he sighed. "Chino told me some shit about your old man snitching to Elias about a past deal he'd made with the Gambiano's that went left."
"Oh my God." I winced as confusion erupted from within. "Why the hell would he do something like that -- What the hell was he thinking?" I snapped.
"I don't know that shit, baby, or what the deal was just yet; but my old man says Elias ran his mouth to the Gambiano's about it."
"Great. Are they going to come after him for this shit too?"
"They've already started with it, but for more than just this."
"What do you mean?"
His eyes lowered. "Did Rox ever mention some shit to you about asking other people besides my old man for help in repaying the club?"
"No. Why?"
"You don't know that you weren't the only other person he came to about it?"
"No." I crossed my arms and stood back. "Why the hell are you asking me these questions?"
"'Cause your old man went to the Gambiano's for that dough before going to mine or coming to you about it, Cheyenne." He raised his eyes back to mine and sighed. "And according to them, they gave him what he asked for."
"Hold on," I said. "If that's the case, where is this money? Why the hell was I brought back here and begged to marry you if Snake has already been paid?"
"'Cause Snake is claiming he never got that money while Rox is saying he handed it over." My eyes closed as I pressed my lips together, unable to respond with coherence. Nikko continued. "Chino let Snake know what was up 'cause the Gambiano's called him after learning about the shit with your old man from Elias. That's when Snake told him Rox was full of shit."
"Do you think my dad actually has the money stashed somewhere and is lying for only God knows why?" I asked him, hoping for an answer better than the one floating around inside my head.
"You'd know him better than me, baby -- but I don't think the Gambiano's would be fuckin' around with him otherwise. And they wouldn't bother with tryna have him taken out for it either."
"What did you say?" I swallowed hard as my eyes reopened. "They want him dead?" He nodded. I crossed the room and gulped. "For snitching and possibly stealing that money?"
"Baby--"
"And Chino doesn't know anything regarding what Rox snitched about?" I whirled back around to him and glared. "He doesn't know what deal went bad?"
"All he said was some shit about bones in the river."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know, Chey. And I don't know if my old man is aware of any shit beyond it either."
"You didn't think to ask him?" His eyes shifted as he locked his jaw. My shoulders tightened as I returned to him and shook my head. "I'm sorry. I'm not pissed at you, but nothing of what you're saying to me makes sense on any level."
"Yeah, baby, I know; that's how I felt when I heard the shit... even more when my old man said the Gambiano's are wanting me to be the one to take him out."
My mouth fell open. "What?"
"Yeah," he answered, and every ounce of blood from my body felt as if it had just been drained straight from my fingertips and sucked into the floor.
"Why would..." I stopped to relish in my thoughts as they jumbled like a broken jigsaw puzzle before coming back together again. "Why would they want that from you?"
"To keep me in check with their shit. Chino wouldn't say it outright, but I know they wanna keep me on the hook to make sure they get paid."
"And killing Rox does that?"
"In their mind, yeah."
"My God." He raised his hand to reach out for me, then lowered it back down to himself before we could touch. I remained still. "This is a nightmare," I told him, "and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to wake up from it anytime soon." I rested my hands alongside my waist and looked into his eyes with a fear bound to swallow us whole. "When are they expecting for this to happen?"
"They don't have a date set in stone for me just yet--"
"And you plan on going through with it?"
His face fell as he shook his head at me and peered. "Baby--"
"Do you... plan on taking him out, Nikko?"
He swallowed hard enough to shatter the bones inside his own throat before parting his lips to respond. "If I don't do what they want, I'm a motherfuckin' dead man walking, Cheyenne; and I've got no goddamn doubt they'd want the same for you."
"I don't doubt that either," I said. "But it doesn't answer my question." His eyes darted to a corner of the room as he attempted to reach for me again. "Does Snake know that they want Rox taken out and why?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "But if he hadn't?"
"I don't know..." I dropped my hands inside my pockets as a rush of anger poured through me like cheap liquor.
"I don't know."
"You'd tell him it was me who had to do it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
I frowned as the solemn look in his eyes sent me reeling. "Because he'd be forced to take you out as a result, and I couldn't have that for either one of us."
He lifted his hand to my face, pressing his palm against my cheek; the warmth of his skin practically boiling against my own made me shudder. "If your old man is hiding that money, baby, he could tell you where the fuck it is."
"If he is in fact hiding any money, I can't believe he wouldn't have told me about it the minute he learned we were getting married in order to stop it from happening. The fact that he didn't has to mean he either doesn't have it, or he doesn't give a damn; and I know it's not the latter."
"If he had it, giving it up could save his life."
"How? Because we both know that the Gambiano's won't back down from wanting him dead even if they get it all back on top of more from you and Chino."
"You think there's a way to know for sure?"
"What do you mean?"
"Heading back down to Rikers and asking him straight up if he has it or can prove that Snake is lying."
"I could do that," I told him. "But then what? Because if Rox has the money hidden and isn't willing to hand it over no matter what I ask or tell him about the Gambiano's wanting you to take him out for it, we're all fucked -- including and especially him. If Snake has it and is lying, he's jeopardizing the club and the rest of his members for a reason I'll never get out of him alive."
"Maybe the Gambiano's are looking for the wrong one to be put down."
"Maybe."
Nikko lowered his hand from my cheek and soured. "You think it's possible some other motherfucker out there might know the truth beyond the shit we're being told?"
"If I did, I'm not sure they would talk due to loyalty. Snitching on Rox at this point means nothing, because he's out. If one of them knew something against him, they wouldn't hesitate to let me know about it, but with Snake--"
"I know how that shit goes, baby, but we're talking about something liable to get us both fucked."
"I know that too."
He paused. "There's gotta be somebody out there willing to talk to you, Cheyenne. If not for the sake of keeping your old man above ground, they've gotta do it for you, baby."
I dipped my head and eyed the ceiling. "There might be one. But I'd have to work on him and I'm not sure how easy that will be at this point."
"Any reason as to why the fuck that might be?"
"We're not exactly speaking to each other right now."
"Who is it?"
"It doesn't matter unless I can get what I need from him." As I turned for the door, Nikko slid a hand around my arm, gently pulling me back into the room. With his eyes on my face, perfect but unsure, a flame lit up inside my belly that swept into my chest, igniting every inch of my body until the thought of there being absolutely nothing left beyond it surpassed the actual feeling. "What is it?"
"You're going out there to see him?" he questioned, the base picking up in his voice as he spoke.
"I figured now would be a better time than any."
He bobbed his head. "You're coming back here to let me know what’s up once you leave?"
"Where else would I go after, Nikko?"
"I don't fuckin' know, baby, but with what the Gambiano's are wanting from me, I can't be sure of shit."
"Be sure of me," I told him. "Sure of my going back to the club in an attempt to prevent any of this from moving further than it has already, even if I fail. Them wanting you to get rid of Rox wouldn't get me to snitch on you even if Snake hadn't been told. And it wouldn't get me to leave because I know just as much as you how things operate; my entire life was built inside this world."
"One you've been trying like hell to get the fuck away from," he replied. "After this shit, how the fuck could anybody blame you for it?"
"They could, and they have. But knowing that you understand the reason for my need in having more beyond it is enough for me right now."
"Yeah?"
I nodded.
He grinned while lifting his other hand behind my arm, dragging me to his chest and stomach. The smell of sweat mixed with cologne pouring from his skin was deliciously intoxicating; I wasn't sure if I would ever get enough of knowing the taste of it on my tongue; knowing the taste of him.
"I need to go, Nikko--"
"Not fuckin' yet." His hands tightened around me as his eyes lowered to the side of my throat; my pulse beat like a drum as he rolled his lips into his mouth and slid his tongue between them, anticipating my taste all over again.
"Nikko--"
"Yeah?" His hands fell to my waist in an instant. I sank into him and threw my arms around his neck without thinking of what I knew was bound to come next once I had. "What the fuck is it, baby?"
I pushed my fingers into the back of his hair and lifted my chin to take him all in. His grin widened as he pushed himself into me, forcing me to feel every inch of his dick as it stiffened, and dragged his tongue between his teeth, enhancing arousal between us. "Why do you keep doing this to me?"
"'Cause I know it's what the fuck you want," he said. "It's everything you fuckin' want beyond every goddamn thing I know you still need from me, baby."
"What do I still need from you, Nikko?"
"Every. Fuckin'. Thing."
"You're sure about that--?"
"Goddamn positive." I spun my fingers between the curls of his hair as he bent forward to clutch my bottom lip between his teeth. I moaned as his hips shifted and his dick pushed against my sex. "Jesus, baby, you are so fuckin' sweet." He released me before rolling his tongue between my lips, so slowly that I nearly fainted while walking backward until I was pressed against the frame of the door. When his body fell against mine, I whimpered; and though I could hardly breathe from the weight of his strength, I didn't care. Because I needed to feel him -- my God, I needed to feel him -- to know him all over again, for him to know me as I hoped he would from here on out. "Goddamn."
I nearly came while sliding my hands down the center of his back, tugging at his jacket until he finally lowered his arms, allowing it to fall to the floor.
God, he was beautiful.
So insanely, deliciously beautiful.
"Nikko."
"Fuckin' yeah, Cheyenne..." He pulled back from me and stared into my face with a lust deep enough to burn my own. Small beads of sweat formed along his upper lip as he smirked. "Keep saying my name just like that, baby."
"Nikko."
"Fuckin' yeah." He brought his mouth back to mine and pushed his hands beneath my shirt, sliding them around my back to unhook my bra. I groaned as he looped the straps around my arms and hands until I was completely free of the fabric. He pressed himself even harder against me after tossing it to the floor and lowered his hands to my behind, squeezing each cheek until I hiked my thighs around his hips. I pulled back as my breathing became heavier and he lifted me from the floor; I looked directly into his eyes as they shined with a desire surpassing everything we had come to know before it. "Baby."
The low, gravelly sound of his voice made my breasts swell; my nipples tightened as they pushed against him in exhale. I brushed the back of my fingers across his face, rolled them along the edge of his jawline... I brushed my thumb across the base of his chin and licked my lips to moisten each one before leaning in to kiss him again, so much deeper than before -- I needed to taste him so badly, it hurt.
He lowered me just a little, forcing a gasp to fly out from between my lips as it was enough to push his groin directly against my sex; the hardness of him made me wet enough to feel it for him before I knew I should. My arms tightened around his neck as I returned to position, then loosened as the true meaning of his touch this time around floated through me at the speed of a bullet being shot straight from his own gun, leaving every part of me vulnerable and helpless to collapse against the fear of bad judgment.
"Take me upstairs," I begged, pulling back for the second time and locking my ankles around him as he crawled his fingers to my stomach. We stared at one another in absolute silence until his weight shifted and his hands were on my breasts. He nodded before bending forward to kiss each one through my shirt; it was deliciously painful, undeniably sexy as his lips brushed across my nipples; it was in that moment I knew he was all mine and always would be no matter the outcome of the messes we had been forced into. That was a matter of fact. "Nikko?"
"Yeah?"
"Take me upstairs," I said again. "Make me yours all over again until I tell you to stop."
He returned to my face and bit back a chuckle. "What if you never fuckin' do?"
"Maybe I won't. But it's a risk you'll have to take if you want it."
"I fuckin' want you, baby -- goddamn." His voice was thick with hunger -- with an appetite I never knew a kind of man like him could have for a woman like me until now. "I'll never fuckin' stop."
He removed one of his hands from my breasts to slide around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to his face. We kissed hard and desperate with so much tongue, it was damn near suffocation; then we moved slow and steady with just our lips to find the perfect rhythm before he used his other hand to push my shirt over my head. As it dropped to the floor, he dragged his mouth alongside my throat, fluttering his tongue against my skin to ignite my remaining senses and rolling the tip until he reached the space above my collarbone.
"Mmm, Nikko, please take me."
"Always begging--"
"It's all I know with you now," I told him. "Probably all I'll ever know with you."
"Not all, baby, just some like I promised."