“He told you?”
“No. You know how there are just some things you can feel? Whenever he was around, I just felt like he was annoyed by my presence.”
“Yo, this sounds like one of those Lifetime movies,” Cream said, and everyone except Belle glared at her. “What? No, I’m serious. He probably killed his brother so he could take over and get everything.”
“He wasn’t in town when it happened,” Belle told her. “My uncle is a selfish man, but he isn’t a killer.”
“He could have hired someone to do it,” Drip suggested. “You know people with long money can do that.”
“Well, his money isn’t long. I mean, it is now,” Belle said, shaking her head. Suddenly she was getting the onset of a headache. “I just don’t think he did it. Like I said, he’s selfish and mean, but he’s kind of dumb. He worked for my dad’s company, but I’m sure he has no idea what he’s doing now. I give him a year before he’s flat broke. My dad always said he would lose his own hands if they weren’t attached to his body.”
“Well, you’re with us now, sugar,” Russian Roulette said. “Blood couldn’t make us any closer.”
“But money can!” Drip shouted as Aria made her entrance in the room.
She had her phone in her hand and an unreadable look on her face. She was the only one out of them all who was fully dressed. She wore a burgundy tunic sweater that hugged her body and stopped at her thighs, a pair of light brown leggings, and a pair of Fendi combat boots. She still rocked her ninja bun, and her makeup looked beat by the gods. Her eyes trailed over all of them, and she made a face.
“I’m guessing none of you hoes wants to go shopping? We’re about to be at the mall. Get dressed!” On her command, everyone but Belle started moving.
“All my clothes are in the trunk of my car.” Belle stood up and motioned to the shorts and T-shirt she had on. “I only grabbed this when we stopped at the hotel last night to throw on after I showered. If we pull over real quick, I can go grab something.”
“Girl, stop,” Luscious said and sized her up. “I think you can fit in my clothes. You’re thick enough. I think I even have some panties in here I’ve never worn before.”
Luscious dug into her suitcase and pulled out a lowcut black body suit, a pair of light-washed distressed jeans, a thong with the tag still attached, and a pair of socks.
“Here, boo,” she said and handed over the clothing. “Now, baby, I don’t know what size shoe you wear, but I’m a size six, and most people’s feet are bigger than that.”
“Yeah, I’m a size seven,” Belle said, taking the clothes.
“Me too. I have some cute Gucci boots you can wear,” Aria said, stepping over Russian Roulette’s bag to get to her own suitcases. She pulled the boots out. “Here. And wait, put these on, too. And oh! Wait. Carry this, too.”
She handed Belle two gold chains to put around her neck and a Gucci crossbody bag to match the boots. Belle hesitated before she took them. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. We go everywhere looking like we have bands in our bags, because we do,” Aria said and winked. “Now hurry up and get dressed. I know you took a shower at the hotel, but you know where the bathroom is. The shower isn’t operational, but the sinks work if you want to freshen up.”
“Don’t be ashamed, girl! If a bitch claim she ain’t never took a ho bath, she’s lying!”
Belle laughed at Drip’s outburst as she took her clothes to the bathroom to get ready. When she was done, she looked in the mirror, and for the first time since receiving that dreadful phone call, she looked like herself again. Not the old her, but the new her. The one with sadness still in her eyes but the will to welcome new life and smile. She’d braided her hair into two French braids and pinned them in the back. She was happy that one of the others had left some gel and a hair toothbrush in the bathroom so she could do her edges. She put on a coat of lip gloss and gave herself one last look.
“We’re here! Come on, Belle! I’m tryin’ to go into Saks and clean that bitch out!” Luscious yelled and banged on the bathroom door. “Y’all bitches tryin’a leave me?” she yelled at the other girls before she banged on the door again. “Come on, girl!”
Belle opened the bathroom door and looked down the long hallway on the bus to see the girls filing off. She grabbed her coat so she could hurry after them, and when she got off, she ran right into Kidd.
“Mmm,” she said and looked him up and down.
He smiled from ear to ear and licked his lips sexily at her. “Damn! I can’t even stand here doing nothing without you giving me attitude,” Kidd said to her.
“Whatever,” Belle said with a grin. “I just know you better be driving my damn car right.”
“Trust me, I am,” he said and then eyed her mischievously. “With you looking like that, I might just have to drive you next.”
“You better stop,” she said and playfully hit his arm.
“You right,” Kidd said. He then motioned to the other girls and security who were halfway to the Neiman Marcus entrance at the Somerset Collection mall. “We better catch up before they buy up this place. The last time we went to the mall, they collectively spent fifty bands in that bitch. Wait, you got some bread?”
Suddenly it dawned on Belle that all she had left was $200. The only place she would be able to shop with that was Forever 21. Kidd read the sheepish expression on her face, reached into his own pocket, and pulled out a roll of hundreds.
“I’m sure Aria is gon’ hook you up, but here’s a start,” Kidd said and put it in her hand but didn’t let go. “This is five bands, and I’ma only give it to you if you spend it all in here.”
“All of it? But then I’m going to be broke again.”
“You with us, shorty. You ain’t never broke. If we got it, you got it. Period.”
There was something about the way the words rolled off of his tongue that gave Belle butterflies. She didn’t know if it was because Kidd was sexy and boss as hell, even though he was so young, or if it was because she knew he meant it. He let the money go when she nodded, and the two of them followed everyone else.
“So, Belle, what is it that you wanna do with your life?” Kidd asked as they were walking.
“Do you really care?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”
“I guess the honest answer to that question is I don’t know now,” she said and shrugged. “I was in school to become a veterinarian, but even though that was a little over a week ago, it seems so far away. You know? Losing my parents like that has really made me rethink so much shit, and now it’s like, did I really want to be that? Or did I want to just do something fun because my dad was rich and I wouldn’t have to worry about money?”
“Being a vet sounded fun to you?”
“Oh, yeah.” Belle nodded. “I love animals. Their lives are so simple.”
“So what’s the move now?”
“I sent an email the day of my family’s funeral telling the school I wouldn’t be back. Going to school right now would just be too hard. I wouldn’t be able to focus. And I wouldn’t be able to bear all of those sorry expressions and the sympathy. It would have driven me mad.”
“I get that, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“What’s the move now?” Kidd asked again.
By then, they had reached the entrance doors to Neiman Marcus, and he held one of them open for her to go through first. They walked in the store, and as she looked around, she also thought about his question.
“I guess work and save enough money to move somewhere.”
“And where might that be?” he asked, and a big smile spread across her lips.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“Me? Laugh at you? Never!”
“See! I’m not telling you nothing!”
“Nah, for real though. Let me know. Where you wanna go, shorty? I might’ve been there
before.”
“California.”
“Why would I laugh at that? Cali is the place to be, for real though. I done been in and out that place plenty of times.”
“Because it’s so cliché, you know? Who doesn’t want to live in Cali? I just have always loved huge bodies of water and warm weather. And it’s so beautiful there, even though they have really bad storms. But hell, I lived in Nebraska where we got blizzards, so I guess it would just be a trade.” She shrugged and touched a designer bag as they walked by it. “California is so expensive, though. I’m probably going to have to be a door girl for a while before I can make that move.”
“As long as you stack up and don’t lose focus on your goal, you can do it,” Kidd told her and linked his arm in hers.
“Says the guy who’s telling me to blow five thousand dollars in the mall.”
“Hey wait, don’t be using my words against me now!” he said and leaned his warm body into hers. “You’re living out of a trunk, man. You probably only got like eight outfits in there. You’re too bad to be living like that.”
“That’s the second time you complimented me,” Belle said and gave him a playful smirk. “Either you like me or you feel sorry for me. Which one is it?”
“Maybe a little of both,” he said as they walked.
“Well, I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me.”
“Listen, anyone who has felt loss is gon’ feel sorry for you. So don’t take it as pity, especially coming from me. I respect that you didn’t give in to that pain, because most people do. They can’t see the other side of the tunnel.”
“And what’s on the other end of the tunnel?”
“You,” he said simply. “The person you’re going to be when you allow yourself to be happy again.”
His words took her breath away. She didn’t know how someone so young could be so insightful. She would expect that kind of wisdom from an old head, not someone her age. Speaking of which, she realized she didn’t know much of anything about the man driving her car.
“How old are you, Kidd? And is Kidd even your real name?”
“Girl, you know Kidd ain’t my real name. It’s just a little nickname I got when I was younger since I was always kidding around. That was before the streets turned me into a savage, though. I’m twenty-five now, and I’m from Miami, Florida, before you ask. Born and raised.”
“That’s how you got this job then, huh? Working for Gene, I mean.”
“Yeah, I did a job for him a while back, and he liked how I moved, so he hired me on a security detail for his main club. After a few years, I earned his respect, and now I look after his best girls. He pays me good to be a babysitter, too. ’Cause them girls be wildin’ sometimes.”
“Oh, I can already tell,” Belle giggled. “But I really appreciate them. All of y’all, to be honest. Not even because of the gas station shit. But because I just don’t feel alone anymore. That’s the worst feeling. Being alone.”
“Trust me, I know,” Kidd said, stopping by the women’s shoe section. He unhooked his arm from hers. He picked up a pair of black Louboutin stilettos and waved a worker over to help them. “She needs these in a size . . . What’s your size, shorty?”
“Seven,” Belle answered and put her hand on her hip, cocking her head. “But how do you know I even like those?”
“Because you do,” Kidd grinned and turned back to the older woman. “She likes them, and she’ll take them. You can just hold them up at the front.”
“Oh, so you’re the controlling type, I see,” she teased.
“Never that. I just think your frame would look good in those shoes. Plus any woman who looks like you deserves a pair of red bottoms. Ten pairs to be real.”
“You don’t even know how much they cost,” Belle said, not being able to lie and say she didn’t like them.
“I haven’t had to look at a price tag in years now,” Kidd said modestly and checked the diamond-studded Rolex on his wrist. “But go ’head and get your shop on. The others are probably looking for you. I’ll be around.”
She gave him a one-armed hug before she took off in the direction of Luscious’s loud Southern drawl. Granted, Belle’s father was a very wealthy man, but he never let her just go crazy in the mall. Even when she was in college, she only got a monthly allowance of $1,500. She had a few designer pieces that were gifts, but other than that she’d lived like a pretty regular girl. Shopping with Gene’s Girls made her feel like a girl in a candy shop.
Like Kidd said, Aria hooked her up too. As soon as Belle caught up to them, she handed her $3,000 out of her own purse, and they got busy. When they were done in Neiman, they had so much stuff they had to run back outside to unload before they went to any other store. Belle was having so much fun being dragged around by Luscious, and she didn’t complain one bit.
“Ooh! Let’s go in here, Belle! We need to get you some pieces to wear tonight anyways!” Luscious said and grabbed her new friend by the hand when they walked by a sexy lingerie boutique. “Come on. That black thing right there would be cute on you . . . or me. Shit, we can both get it. Just come on!”
Belle was so busy laughing that she hadn’t even noticed that Aria had fallen behind and was walking side by side with Kidd. Aria waited for Belle to be out of earshot and in the boutique before grabbing Kidd by the arm and looking curiously into his eyes.
“You gave her some money?” she asked him, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because I only gave her three thousand and she went over that in Neiman,” Aria told him.
“I mean, I gave her a little something something,” he answered like it was no big deal, and she let him go.
“I’m not tripping on that,” Aria sighed and waved for him to follow her to a bench in the middle of the mall. “Come talk to me.”
“What’s up?” Kidd asked when they sat down. Instead of answering him, Aria just looked at him. She looked at him for so long that Kidd started grinning. “What, dude?”
“You like her, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Yeah, you like her,” Aria said. She shook her head and gave him a knowing look. “You know how Gene is about his girls. He doesn’t like his workers to dabble with each other.”
“Well, technically she ain’t one of his girls. She’s just a greeter.”
“About that . . .” Aria sighed and looked away.
“About what?” Kidd asked.
“I talked to Gene on the way here,” she said and watched Belle through the window of the boutique. Belle was holding up an oversized thong and pretending to put it on Luscious’s head. Even though Aria and Belle were the same age, her innocence showed in the most simple ways. The smile that spread on Aria’s lips was a sad one.
“You told him about Belle?”
“Yeah, I did. And he said he doesn’t need any greeters.”
“Okay, well, that’s even better,” Kidd said with a grin.
“Kidd.” Aria shook her head. “He wants her to dance. And if I tell her that, she’s going to want to dance.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because even though you can’t see it, I can. She’s already attached.”
“Attached to what, Aria? She ain’t even done shit yet.”
“By just being around us, she’s done everything. She’s gotten a taste of this lifestyle, and given the choice to have this or nothing? What would you choose?”
“So why don’t you just tell her that Gene doesn’t want her? Tell her that there isn’t any openings.”
“Because if I do, she’ll leave. And she has nothing right now, Kidd. I can’t do that to her. Not when I’m the one who gave her a reason to push through in the first place. The girl we met a few days ago and the girl she is now are two different people. You can’t see that? I know what it feels like to have nothing and nobody. I’m not saying this is the best life, but it’s better than where I wo
uld have ended up.”
“She might be different.”
“Nah,” Aria said, wishing it weren’t true. “She’s not. I don’t know what kind of pain you’ve felt in your life. But losing your people and then being robbed of everything that reminds you of who you are as a person is a different thing. I just keep thinking about what if we hadn’t stopped at that gas station. She would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere. Don’t nobody care about us. But dancing? Contrary to what people may feel about girls like me, dancing gives you a way to take all that control back. It’s a way to learn your self-worth, and everyone around you just worships the ground you walk on. That’s the kind of power she needs right now. And after she learns her place in the world again, I’ll let her go.”
“You say that like she’s your property.”
“No, but I’m very drawn to her. And until I know why, she is my responsibility.”
“So you throw her into Gene’s world?” Kidd asked incredulously. “You know just like I know what he’s capable of.”
“I know.”
“So what then?”
“I’m going to tell her that Gene wants her to dance,” Aria said and then looked him square in the eyes. “And I’m telling you now to leave her alone. As you said, you and I both know what Gene is capable of. You are her security, that’s it. If it becomes a problem, I’ll send you back to Miami. I love you like a brother, Kidd, and I don’t want temptation to be a reason why something happens to you. It’s just business, Kidd. I’m sorry.”
With that, she got up to head into the lingerie store, leaving Kidd to stare at Belle’s smiling face, feeling a longing that he’d never be able to satisfy.
Chapter 5
The body of a beautiful woman is not made for love; it is too exquisite.
—Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
After they left the mall, they stopped at a family-owned restaurant called Clippers. That time Belle was the first off the bus, and when she saw Kidd parking her car, she waved and proceeded to wait for him. He smiled at her as he got out of the car and started walking her way.
Belle Page 5