by D. Camille
He spotted Xavier, then went over to greet him. Standing, Xavier fist bumped the man.
“The X-Ception!”
“What up Lil D?” Xavier replied.
“Glad you made it. I thought yo' little worker was gone have you putting in your own work…” He laughed. “I know I’d be workin’ my ass off…on THAT ass.”
“Fall back Lil D,” Xavier warned. “I told you that shit already.”
Lil D laughed. “We good, my nigga.”
The two sat down and Lil D snapped his fingers, then two young women appeared at his side.
“Lemme make it up to you,” Lil D told Xavier. “These my bitches…”
Looking at the women, he said, “Do y’all thang,”
Both women took a spot on the men’s laps facing them.
Diamond blinked when she saw a woman’s naked stomach on her screen.
“Hey, sexy…” the woman told Xavier, as she settled on his lap. “I told you I’d be back.”
Xavier smiled. “Yeah, you did.”
“You wanna go in the back?” she asked in his ear, kissing his face.
“Yeah, let’s get into it.” Xavier told her, getting to his feet.
Lil D looked up and smiled. “My nigga…tear that ass up.”
From her position at the monitor, Diamond turned to Skye. “I should have let you track the guys…”
******
Justice stood outside the bus, mingling with the outdoor crowd until he felt someone come up behind him. He turned quickly and saw Ciara frown.
“I was going to surprise you,” she complained.
He smiled. “I don’t like surprises.”
“I’m glad you came out.” Ciara told him. “I was hoping to see you.”
Justice looked around. “So this is what happens on the tours?” he asked.
“Yeah, most of the time.” She looked him over. “You want to go inside and sample?”
He grinned and scanned her from head to toe. “Sample what?”
Ciara chuckled. “We can start with drinks, then go from there.”
Justice moved closer. “What if I want more than drinks?”
“Then you’d have to give me something,” she whispered, looking up at him.
He stared down at her. “Let’s negotiate…”
The two then headed onto the bus together.
In the suite, Diamond threw her head back. “What the hell are these guys doing? This isn’t a damn sex sting!”
“Let’s see what they find out Diamond,” Skye soothed.
“They’re going to find me kicking both of their asses, that’s what they’re going to find out!” Diamond ranted.
Back out at the bus, Six watched Justice and Ciara climb onto the vehicle. He’d heard Diamond’s complaints in his ear and agreed with her, but he wasn’t about to encourage her. Keeping an eye on Lilac and Jade, he saw them surrounded by a few of the male crew members…
“Y’all two little fine ass pieces of chocolate,” a guy told Lilac and Jade.
The two women exchanged a look.
“So what y’all do for the X-Ception?” another asked.
“I’m his Social Media Assistant.” Jade answered.
“And I work on his security team,” Lilac told them.
One moved closer to Lilac. “You do security? I might need a bodyguard…” He brushed up against her.
Lilac looked him over. “If you don’t move back, you certainly will,” she told him firmly.
The other guys laughed, then one turned to Jade.
“I bet you got a bunch of niggas following you.” He smiled down at her.
Jade forced herself not to gag.
“Y’all want to hit the bus?” A guy asked. “I didn’t come to stand out here all night.”
The guys headed toward the vehicle and the young women stayed behind. One guy looked back and asked, “What’s up?”
Jade smiled. “We’re not old enough to drink.”
He laughed. “Ain’t nobody checking no damn ID’s. Come on…let’s get faded.”
The girls looked at one another, then headed towards the bus with the group. Six caught their attention and mouth the words ‘ten minutes’. They nodded and climbed inside. Jade and Lilac scanned the room and saw the activity. What they didn’t see however, were Xavier and Justice.
Jade lowered her chin to where her necklace sat on her neck. Covering her mouth, she spoke into her microphone, over the music. “Diamond and Skye, tell Six to make that five minutes.”
One of the guys showed up and handed both Lilac and Jade a drink. “Here, I took care of y’all.”
“Thanks,” they both said, with no intentions of taking a sip.
Lilac reached into her bag and pulled out a napkin, handing one to Jade. Sitting it underneath her glass, she allowed a little of the drink to spill over. Jade watched as the white napkin turned pink, then shook her head. The women then purposely bumped into each other and dropped both drinks.
“Hey, you dropped it!” the guy protested. “And you fuckin’ up the floor…”
Lilac and Jade giggled. “Ooops! Sorry…can you get us another one?” Lilac asked showing her dimples.
He looked at them. “Y’all lucky yo' asses cute.”
He walked away and they turned to one another. Lilac put her chain to her mouth and spoke quickly.
“They’re trying to date rape us! We might need some assistance getting out of here before this gets ugly,” she urged.
A minute later, the door opened and they saw the big man entering the bus. His bright brown eyes searched the smoky compartment. He spotted Jade and Lilac and they headed toward him. The guy with the tainted drinks, showed up again and stopped them.
“Hey, where you goin’?” the guy screamed at them.
Six stepped in front of them and the guy stared up at him. “Who da fuck is you?” he asked Six, looking over the muscled man.
******
Inside a back bedroom, Xavier sat on the bed and was quickly joined. He looked down at the young woman lying next to him. She reached over and placed a hand on his thigh, giving a firm squeeze.
“You’re so fine,” she purred.
“What’s your name?” Xavier asked.
“Janay,”
He nodded. “How old are you Janay?”
“Twenty-one.” She moved her hand further up his leg.
Xavier looked at her again and read her mind. “I don’t believe that.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I’m wondering why, a young woman would walk into a bedroom with a man she doesn’t know, prepared to do anything, at the orders of another man.” He said quietly.
“Lil D takes care of me,” she told him.
“Is there a reason that you can’t take care of yourself?” Xavier questioned.
She stared at him and removed her hand. “Are you the police?”
Xavier shook his head. “No, I’m not here to arrest you.”
Janay sat up. “I wanted to sing…” she began her story. “And, Lil D told me that he could help me.”
“So you go on the road with him?” Xavier asked.
She looked away. “Sometimes… and sometimes he takes the others while I stay at the house.”
“The others?”
She nodded.
“How many others?”
“There are around twenty who live at the house.”
Xavier put a hand to his head. “Is he holding you against your will?”
Janay answered quickly. “No, no, he’s not. We want to be with him. He takes care of us and he’s going to make us stars. We just have to work for it.” Xavier’s heart hurt at her thoughts. This young girl was being held, although, she believed the opposite.
“If you could leave tonight and take care of yourself, would you want to do it?” Xavier asked quietly and she looked away. From her thoughts, he knew she would leave, if she could. She only needed a way out.
Xavier gently turned her face back t
o him. “Do you want your own life, Janay?”
He watched a slow tear fall from her eye and put an arm around her, patting her back gently. “It’s okay…”
When he pulled back, Xavier looked at her.
“Who are you?” she asked, quietly.
“Someone who can help you,” he told her. “If you want it…”
Janay shook her head. “I can’t leave Lil D. He’ll look for me…”
“Don’t worry about Lil D.” Xavier told her. “I don’t want to see you in this situation, and I want to help the other women, who are living at that house.”
She swallowed. “It’s not just women.”
Xavier sighed. “Can you tell me where the house is?”
“You’ll get them all out?” she asked.
“All of them,” he assured her.
Janay looked down at her hand, then said quietly. “I’m seventeen…”
“I know.” Xavier replied. “Are the others your age?”
She nodded. “Some younger…”
“Where is the house?”
“In California.” Janay answered and gave him an address. “It’s in the mountains.”
Xavier nodded. “We’re going to leave out of this room and I’m going to tell Lil D that I’m taking you to my hotel. Then I’m going to get you away from here…okay?”
Janay looked at him warily. “How do I know that I can trust you?”
She watched as he removed the shiny, diamond watch from his arm, then placed it in her hands.
“If you don’t want to leave with me, then take this and make your own life.”
“Is this real?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s real and it’s worth a lot of money. Enough money for you to start over any way you want.”
She lifted her eyes to his. “You won’t let him find me?”
“He won’t be finding anybody when I’m done with him.” Xavier promised.
“What if he won’t let me go with you?”
Xavier stood. “It’s not his choice.”
******
In another bedroom, Justice laid back on the bed with Ciara sitting on top of him, staring down into his handsome face.
“I like you Justice,” Ciara told him.
He smiled. “I think most women do.”
“You’re such a cocky ass.”
“That’s my charm.” Justice told her and she laughed.
“I don’t think you’re here to observe the tour,” Ciara told him.
Justice lifted a brow. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“You’re not the police. You dress far too expensively for that.” She commented. “You don’t drug, so you’re not here to get freebies.”
He waited then asked, “Are you really a dancer?”
“You’ve seen me dance.”
He nodded. “I have, but I also know that you’re into more.”
“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” She teased.
“What if I have nothing to show?” Justice asked. “What if I’m exactly who I told you I am?”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”
“How can I prove it to you?”
“I have some work, and if you’re not scared to get your hands a little dirty…I think we could be a good team.” Ciara told him.
“Why me?” Justice asked.
“You’re obviously accustomed to handling business, and I need some help handling mine, in addition to some other things.”
Justice stared at her. “What do I get in return?”
Ciara leaned down over him. “What do you want?”
“If I’m putting my livelihood on the line, I need more information.” Justice told her. “I already got money.”
“You have access to many things, like private planes,” Ciara told him. “I just need somebody to help me move some product.”
He frowned. “You want me to move drugs? I told you that I’m not a drug dealer.”
“Not drugs baby…”
“What?”
A commotion outside, had them both off the bed and out the door in a second. Justice ran to the front of the bus and stopped when he saw Six with his weapon drawn, along with Lilac and Jade. All three were pointing at one guy.
“What the fuck is this?” Lil D yelled. “Yo' X-Ception, come get yo' crew!”
Xavier appeared from the back with Janay, and the other Heirs looked at him in confusion.
“What up? What’s going down?” Xavier asked.
Six nodded towards the guy. “This dude has had a little too much. He was harassing the ladies, and tried to stop me from escorting them off the bus.”
Xavier took in the scene then at Lil D. “My bad Lil D. You can’t take niggas nowhere.” Xavier told him, then looked at Janay.
“Let me scoop lil baby girl wit’ me for a minute.” Xavier said, gesturing toward a nervous Janay. “Since I got interrupted.”
Lil D smiled. “She nice, ain’t she. Her head game is on point…”
Xavier gritted his teeth. “I’ll send her back,” he told Lil D.
“Take yo' time…hit it right.” Lil D said laughing.
Xavier turned to the Heirs. “Let’s go.”
They all exited the bus and went to the waiting car to take them back to the hotel. Inside the vehicle, they all looked at Janay, then at Xavier.
“Unless you’re planning on Diamond murdering her, you’d better have a hella plan,” Six told him.
“Diamond I need another car to take Janay to a safe location.” Xavier told her.
Six heard Diamond in his ear. “Tell Xavier, it’ll meet you in five minutes.”
“Five minutes, X-Ception,” Six relayed.
Janay looked at the people in the car and remained silent.
“Everybody this is Janay,” Xavier introduced her. “She’s seventeen and she’s been held by Lil D.”
Lilac and Jade looked at the young woman. “For how long?” Jade asked.
“I was fifteen, when I met him on a tour.”
Six became angry and looked at Xavier. “Another one?”
Xavier nodded. “Looks like it.”
The car stopped five minutes later, and Xavier exited before helping Janay out. Quietly, he walked her to another waiting vehicle.
“If you go back, I can’t promise that you’ll get another opportunity to get away,” Xavier cautioned her.
She held the watch out to him. “I can’t take this.”
Xavier gently pushed her hand away. “Keep it, so you know that you can always trust me, and you have no reason to turn back.”
Janay bit her trembling lip. “Where are they taking me?”
“Wherever you want to go. Just not back there…”
“I want to go home…” she choked out.
“To Ohio?” he asked softly, reading her thoughts.
“Yes, how do you know?”
Xavier held her gaze. “It’s okay…go home, Goddess.”
She sniffed. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just don’t look back, that’s how you can thank me.” Xavier told her. “And don’t worry about Lil D…”
He opened the door and she paused. “Don’t worry…no one is going to hurt you. You have my word.”
She nodded. “What are you going to tell him, when he asks you about me?” Janay asked in fear.
“Do you have a phone?” Xavier asked.
“It’s at the hotel with my purse.”
“Good, now that life is over. Go and start fresh…”
Xavier closed the door and watched the car take off. He climbed back inside the car containing the rest of the team, then sat back against the seat and sighed.
“Diamond has put her in protection for a few weeks until the tour is over and we can get to Lil D.” Six informed him.
Xavier nodded. “That’s fine. We don’t need her talking to anybody right now.” He looked around the car at the Heirs. “We have to handle a big problem when we return to LA.”<
br />
******
Back at the hotel, the team decided to debrief later so that Xavier could detox. He went to Lilac’s room and retrieved a mixture she and Skye had created for internal body cleansing.
“Thanks,” Xavier told her, when she handed him the bottle.
“What did you take in?” she asked.
“Some weed, I don’t know what it was laced with, but it was pretty strong. Then I chased it with some Remy.”
Lilac looked at him. “Damn, Xavier. Hurry up and get this into your system and flush with water.”
“I will.” He nodded.
She walked him to the door. “Do you feel okay?”
Xavier looked down at her. “Just a long, long, long day.”
“We can debrief in the morning, if you’re tired.”
Xavier shook his head. “We’re here for business. I knew what I was getting into.”
“You have to be careful with these people, Xavier,” Lilac warned. “They tried to slip me and Jade something in our drinks. They might have laced those blunts with some X or something. They’re into that.”
“Let me go get ready,” Xavier told her. “I have to shower, too.”
She hugged him tightly. “You did good tonight. You saved that girl.”
Xavier returned her hug. “Thank you. I’ll see you in a little while.”
He returned to his room and dragged himself to his bedroom. Xavier sat on the bed and hung his head. When would this shit ever stop? When would we stop doing it to one another, at least? Now he had to handle Lil D…and whoever else was involved, and he still wasn’t any closer to finding who was involved in organ trafficking, the entire reason they’d planned the mission.
Standing to his feet, he walked into the kitchen and retrieved a bottled water. Drinking Lilac’s potion, he chased it with the entire bottle of water and a few aspirin, before undressing and heading to the shower. Xavier allowed the steaming hot water, to ease the tension in his body for a few minutes, then washed and exited. He knew the team would be assembling soon and he didn’t want to hold them up.
Wrapping a towel around his waist, he dried his hair with another while walking into his bedroom, and stopped when he saw a brown-eyed Goddess lying on his bed.
“I’m going to figure out how you get in here,” Xavier told her.
“Uncle Ray taught me and I’ll never tell his secret,” Diamond replied.
He stared at her. “Our meeting starts soon.”
“I cancelled it.”