“Cope with what?”
“This life! I was supposed to be done by now, but Gene won’t let me leave,” Cream said through her hard sobs. “I just want to go home. I just want to see my family.”
“Supposed to be? You signed a contract, Cream. What did you expect? That whenever you were ready to go, you’d be able to walk out the door? You signed your life away for ten years, and that’s what you’re going to give. The only way you’ll get out of it is if I catch you stealing again because I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”
Silence.
“I said, do you understand?”
“You’re almost worse than him,” Cream said in a weak voice. “You can treat us however you want because you don’t value us. And you don’t value us because you don’t value yourself.”
“Oh, how cute. Bitch, you don’t know anything about me. But I can show you better than I can tell you,” Aria said and began beating Cream relentlessly.
Belle heard it through the door. She could almost feel every thud she heard as Aria landed blow after blow to Cream. She heard Cream screaming out in agony, but nobody could hear her but Belle. Whenever Belle thought Aria would stop, she just kept going. She wanted to open the door and help. Tell Aria to stop, something. But she was frozen in terror. It was her first time experiencing Aria as Lady Passion, and Belle wanted no part of it.
“Now go clean your face and go back out to the bus. I don’t need your ugly ass fucking up the rest of my girls’ money tonight. Let this be a lesson to you, especially if you ever want to see your family again. You’ll be of no use to them if you come back empty-handed and without a dime to your name.”
Belle heard feet coming to the door, and she hurried down the hallway and stairs. She didn’t look back, and she tried to fix her face like she hadn’t witnessed what had just happened to Cream. There was a punch bowl on a table in the living room filled with a spiked red drink. She poured some in a cup and downed it like water. She was still high, and her heart was pounding ferociously in her chest. What had she gotten herself into? Aria had seemed so sweet and nice, but now Belle was looking at her in a whole new light.
When Cream finally made her way down the stairs, she kept her head down. Belle glanced over her shoulder at her, and her stomach instantly felt like the drink she’d just swallowed was filled with needles. Cream’s face was swollen, her lip was busted, and there were shadows of streaming mascara like she’d tried to wash her face, but not all of the makeup would come off. The once-neat bun on top of her head was wild, and she walked with a limp.
“Cream, I . . .” Belle started but stopped. She didn’t know what to say. What could she say?
Cream walked past her, and it was like nobody else even noticed. Belle looked around the party and saw Dynasty taking shots from Luscious’s belly button while twerking. Drip and Blessing were doing a dual number on the pole, and all of the men were in a daze. Belle had just refilled her glass when she heard somebody come up behind her.
“You all right?”
Belle turned around to see Russian Roulette standing there with a cup in her own hand. The black lace thong teddy she wore literally only covered her nipples and her sides. The jet-black material and the ruby red lipstick on her lips made her white skin seem even paler.
“Yeah,” Belle lied at first and then shook her head. “No. I just . . . I just . . .” “You just what, sugar?”
“You just what, sugar?”
“Cream . . .” Belle shook her head, trying to make sense of it. “Aria was mad at her and just beat her. She beat her like a dog, and I heard the whole thing. She wouldn’t stop. I was outside the door, and I should have tried to help, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I’ve never seen Aria like that.”
“Aria?” Russian Roulette scoffed. “Oh, that’s right, she’s still Aria to you. She was just Aria to me too once. But she turned into Lady Passion the moment I signed my contract.”
“What?”
“I told you you’re not fit for this life, sugar,” Russian said. “You’d do best to just take the money you’ve made and go. What happened to Cream is what happens to anyone who does anything that they don’t like.”
“Aria said that she was stealing.”
“She might have been. But you saw just like I did the way she looked when she walked out of here. Nobody deserves that. Especially when you’ve given up your whole life for this. We’re prisoners. They watch everything we do. And Lady Passion is so loyal to Gene that it doesn’t matter what kind of friendship you think the two of you have formed. She’ll do you the way she did Cream in a heartbeat. You’re a good girl, Belle. Smart, sweet, compassionate. But Lady Passion only sees your face and your body. I guarantee you that she’s already put a price on you just because you’re so beautiful. They use the money and lavish life to lure us in, and once we’re in, we’re stuck like mice in traps. Did you pick your own name?”
“No,” Belle said. “She did, that first night.”
“Exactly.”
“If it’s so bad, then why are you still here?”
“My contract is up after this tour. I gave Gene five years of my life and stacked up enough paper to live good for a long time. I won’t be here to see what you decide, but whatever it is, just do me a favor and be careful, okay?” Russian turned away from Belle and went back to a group of men huddled around the pole. “Who’s ready to see all this white ass on the pole? I’m only accepting fifties and hundreds tonight, boys! No cheapskates will be tolerated.”
Her words replayed in Belle’s mind as she downed two more cups of punch. She thought about Aria and how quick she was to allow Belle on the tour bus with them all. Belle had been so distraught and down on her luck that she just thought Aria was being a kindhearted person. What if it was deeper than that? Belle reflected on it when she saw Aria talking to Billie.
“Lady Passion told me you would be worth that whole five thousand.”
Had Aria placed a price on her without Belle knowing about it? Belle felt woozy, and she didn’t know if it was because of the alcohol or because of everything else hitting her at once. She caught herself on the table and tried to steady her body. The room around her was spinning, and she focused on one spot on the tan carpet until everything stopped going in a circle.
Finally, she looked up and almost jumped. Standing at the top of the stairs was Aria, and she was looking directly at Belle. The smile on her lips was the last thing Belle saw before she threw up everything in her stomach.
Chapter 10
Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.
—Andy Grove
Kidd lay on his back in his circular king-sized bed, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts had caused him to come out of his sleep earlier than he would have liked to. The digital clock on his nightstand said that it was four in the morning, and by the darkness outside, he knew it was telling the truth.
“Mmm,” a soft moan came from beside him.
He turned his head to the right and saw that one of his guests for the night had stirred in her sleep. She was a petite Filipino beauty named Willow whose long, silky hair went all the way down to her tight butt. He usually liked his women a little thicker, but the things she did with her mouth in his private VIP section the night before solidified her spot in his bed.
“Can’t sleep?” a voice said from his left.
Kidd turned his head to his other side and saw a smooth chocolate face staring up into his. Diamond was pretty and wore long extensions in her hair. He could see her pear-shaped silhouette underneath the sheets. Both women beside him were naked, and he liked how their warm skin felt up against his. He’d had a wild night, and everything the three of them had done came rushing back to him. Instantly he got a hard-on, and his thick eight-inch erection pointed straight up under the white sheet.
“Oh, I get it,” Diamond said and kissed his bottom lip with her full juicy ones. “You didn’t get enough, and you want more, right?”
/> Her hand trailed down his upper body until it found what it was searching for. Her firm grip on his dick made Kidd suck in a breath through his teeth. She used her thumb to caress the head while her lips and tongue worked on his neck.
“Mmm,” he moaned and went to wake Willow up so she could join the party.
Diamond stopped him and shook her head. “Let that bitch sleep,” she whispered. “I want this dick all to myself. I was pissed I had to keep sharing. It’s so big, I want you to tear me up. Okay?”
“Okay,” Kidd told her and grabbed her roughly by the back of her head. “If you want it all to yourself, I need you to suck it better than she did.”
He pushed her head under the covers until he felt her lips wrap around his shaft. She slurped, spit on, and sucked him like a pro. His toes curled a few times, and watching her head bob up and down while she topped him under the sheets sent tingles up his spine. He placed both hands on her head and thrust up, forcing his dick to go as far down her throat as it would go. She choked and came up, gasping for air, but he only let her get a few breaths in before he did it again. And again.
It wasn’t that he didn’t respect women. He did. But Diamond wasn’t his wife or girlfriend. He didn’t care about pleasing her. She was his human masturbation device, and since she had chosen to stay the night, she would have to earn her keep.
Kidd reached under the sheets and pulled her up by her shoulders until she straddled him. He grabbed a condom from his nightstand and put it on before allowing Diamond to slide down on him. She must have turned herself on while she was sucking him off, because she was wetter than a lake. While her pussy swallowed him whole as she bounced up and down, Kidd buried his head in her breasts. His mouth shifted from nipple to nipple as he sucked, bit, and licked them like chocolate drops. His hands squeezed her round bottom and made her come down on him harder with each stroke.
“Damn, daddy,” she moaned and shook her head. “It’s so big. I can’t take it.”
“Nah, this is what you wanted, remember?” Kidd said and flipped her over so that he was on top. He never stopped stroking her pussy, and now he was in charge. “This is what you wanted, right?”
“Yes, baby! Yes!”
He wrapped his hand around her neck and applied a little bit of pressure while he fucked her harder than he intended to. It felt too good for him to stop, and her body was so soft under his. He circled his hips with each thrust to ensure that every sensation in her love tunnel felt him, and he didn’t pay her any mind when she began screaming out that she was cumming. He wasn’t fucking her for that.
“Shut up and take this dick,” he told her, pressing his forehead on hers. “Open your legs wider.”
Diamond’s bottom lip quivered, and she batted her long eyelashes up at him. She did as he asked, and Kidd placed his hands behind her knees so that he could keep them wide open. He had beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, and the room had suddenly gotten hotter, but he ignored it all. His focus was on Diamond’s thick body beneath him and his dick sliding in and out of her. He was turning himself on by the second and knew that soon he was going to explo—
“Ahhhh!” he shouted and thrust himself as far into her as he could.
He was sure that he had destroyed her cervix, and he didn’t care one bit. His manhood pulsated in her as every last drop of semen poured out of his ball sack and into the condom. Kidd fell on top of her and buried his face in her neck until his climax washed over him. When finally it had passed, he kissed her neck and sucked her nipples one last time before pulling out of her and falling on his back. His chest heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath. His dick had gone limp inside of the condom, and he looked over at Willow and saw that she was still sleeping.
“That bitch was rolling when we got here,” Diamond said, cuddling up to him. “She’s gon’ be passed out for a while.”
“Hopefully she’s awake by eight, because that’s when y’all gotta go.”
“Damn,” Diamond said, nibbling on his ear. “That’s in a few hours. She gon’ just miss out. Can I have it again, daddy?”
“Again?” Kidd asked astonished and looked down into her hungry face.
“Yes. I have a flight to catch later to go back home. Ain’t no nigga in Mississippi who can fuck me like that. I want you to bend me over and put it in my ass.”
Kidd looked down at her, and in the dimness of the room, he could have sworn he saw Belle’s face on her. He could have promised that it was Belle’s face staring at him with eyes begging for him to fuck her. To please her. To give her what she needed. Before he could even blink again, he had another hard-on.
“Hand me a condom.”
* * *
“Long night?”
Kidd didn’t even hear his partner talking to him. His head was leaning against the window of Ollie’s BMW, and he was lost in his own head. Not to mention that his body was a little sore from all the sexing he and Diamond did. They’d gone on for hours until the sun came up, and before he knew it, it was time for the girls to leave and for him to start his day. Going on five hours of sleep wasn’t anything new to him as he moved around scoping the city out with Ollie. The day passed by quickly, and soon, the girls were just a distant memory.
“Earth to Kidd. Ay, nigga?”
“My bad, Ollie. What did you say?”
“I said you must have had a long night. You took them bitches back to your crib after the club was over last night?”
“Yeah,” Kidd said with a small smirk at his friend. “I figured I’d start my break a little early.”
“Fuck that, your break starts after we handle this business,” Ollie said, whipping the BMW with one hand into their old neighborhood. “But with that being said, those were two bad bitches. You’re lucky that you got to ’em first.”
Kidd grinned and pulled a black hood over his head when he felt the car slow down. Since Gene wasn’t in the field any longer, it was up to Kidd and Ollie to figure out exactly where Percy was going to be. He was a slippery snake, and whenever they thought they had it figured out, they were wrong. It took them almost two days to figure out that Percy liked to hang out in a run-down house not too far from where they grew up. They watched the ins and outs of the small white house to see what they were up against, and sure enough, Percy always kept a mini army around him. No matter. Kidd was going to hit his mark.
“Load up,” he said to Ollie.
Kidd tucked two pistols on both of his hips and held an AK-47 in his hands. Ollie did the same. In order to infiltrate the house, they would have to hit them hard, especially with not knowing who all was in there. Kidd looked over to see Ollie tucking an explosive in his pocket, and he raised his eyebrow.
“What?” Ollie asked. “This shit will take out most of them no question. Then you can get in and do what you gotta do.”
“Word. Let’s go. We gotta get in and get out before them crackas show up and air this bitch out.”
The two men hopped out of the vehicle and trucked it the rest of the way to the house. They were cloaked by the night sky but still stayed as low as they could. Kidd stayed back slightly, and Ollie handed him his assault rifle. Kidd watched from a bush as his friend approached the house first. Standing outside like watchdogs were four of Percy’s men wearing normal street clothes and laced in jewelry. They held beers in their hands and were in the middle of a heated debate.
“Halle Berry is the baddest female on the earth. Nigga, what is you talkin’ ’bout?” said one of them with dreads longer than Ollie’s.
“Man, that old bitch? Her pussy probably don’t even get wet no more. Probably all powder down there. We all know Meagan Good holds the title for the baddest bitch in the universe!”
“Hell nah! She all saved and shit now. She probably forgot where the dick go. Ay, man, who the fuck is you?”
Their conversation ceased the moment Ollie appeared in front of them. Their eyes instantly went to his all-black attire, looking him up and down. The scowls on
their face showed that they weren’t very welcoming, and the two in the back had their pistols drawn within seconds.
“Whoa, whoa,” Ollie said to them with his hands up. “There ain’t no need for all that.”
“What you want, nigga? Coming over here dressed like the grim reaper and shit. You must be stupid or somethin’.”
“Nah, not stupid. Is Percy here?”
“Who’s askin’?” the one with the dreads spoke and spit toward Ollie’s black retro 13s.
“Nobody you need to know.”
“Ay, I know this nigga,” one of the men in the back said. The high-top afro on his head had been dyed completely blond, and he had a face that resembled a gorilla’s. He lowered his weapon and stepped up past the other men to look Ollie up and down. “This is the fool who came with boss and me on that last hit.”
“The one when y’all bodied that family?” dread head asked.
“Hell yeah. This chump stayed in the car like a good boy.”
“Yeah, ’cause if I had come in, that shit wouldn’t have gone down like that,” Ollie said. “Word on the street is that your boss only accepted that job to fuck up what my boss has goin’ on. And I’m here to see if that word is true. He in the basement?”
“No basement, nigga.”
“Aw, that’s straight then. He’s in the front room then. Go tell that nigga I’m here.”
“And if I don’t?” the blond-haired man said, getting in Ollie’s face.
“I guess you’re about to see,” Ollie said and put his hands behind his back just as Kidd started spraying.
The men didn’t even have time to shoot, and even if they had, they wouldn’t have known where to aim. They didn’t stand a chance against Kidd’s aim. The man standing in front of Ollie got his head snapped to the side when a bullet caught him in the temple, and the others dropped like flies behind him. The door to the house flew open, and Kidd took care of anyone who thought they were coming through the door. Ollie used that as his opportunity to pull the pin on the military-issued grenade and throw it through the door. He jumped to the side to take cover, and when it exploded, the entire neighborhood shook. The glass windows on the house had gotten blown out from the blast, and some of the wood was on fire.
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