by Nikki Rashan
“Look, Tia. I don’t get down with that gay mess. Up until I met you, I didn’t even know if I liked gay people. But, you are lucky because I want that boy out there something bad. Maybe we can fake it?” I shrugged.
The smile that spread across her face was a good enough answer for me.
Chapter 11
Two Birds—I’m Stoned
Leaving the club, Chason was smiling so hard he looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. I was just thankful his condo wasn’t too far away.
“Welcome to Palace de. I don’t speak that mess so just fill in the blank with a sexy French word of your liking. Please feel free to get comfortable,” he said as we walked in.
Surveying the place, I had to admit he had damn good taste. The walls were painted in a soothing slate grey with large framed black and grey movie posters in foreign languages. Some of them were from plays; others were scenes or names of movies from around the world. A floating fireplace hung on another wall. The flames appeared otherworldly as they danced seductively from a crystal bed that made them turn mesmerizing shades of purples, blues, and greens. I’d have bet money he had those little MidSummer’s Night Yankee Candles hidden somewhere. They were my favorite and the smell was everywhere.
Propped neatly next to the wall on the farthest side of the room was an actual all-black BMW motorcycle. Had this fool never heard of a garage? The place was extremely spacious and in the center of the living room he’d opted for an oversized round black and grey microfiber couch with matching throw pillows. I took a seat, running my fingers back and forth over the fabric, admiring its softness. He disappeared down a long hallway just as the recess lighting dimmed. I looked at Tia and smiled and nodded. She smiled and nodded in return, taking a seat on the other side.
And then I nearly jumped out of my skin. If I’d had my service weapon I might’ve actually fired on him a couple of times. I swore this fool had to be half ninja. He’d somehow silently manifested directly beside me in a cloud of blunt smoke, wearing nothing but a black silk robe and white gym socks. I hid my surprise and the temptation I was fighting at wanting to reach out and run my fingers through the thin sprinkling of straight black hair on his chest. Slowly my eyes followed the trail that ran down the center of his one, two, three, four, five, six, whew. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on the man and he was thiiiick. He had to be addicted to working out.
“Ladies, I think you are both entirely overdressed for this occasion.”
“And I didn’t know I was coming to a pajama party. Um, do you have on underwear, sir?” I teased him, playfully tugging at the belt of his robe, trying to sneak a peek underneath.
He took a drag off his blunt before offering it to Tia, who accepted.
“I can give y’all some T-shirts and sweats if you want to get comfy. Just let me know.”
I hadn’t thought about taking my clothes off, and I honestly doubted with his little tapered V-shaped waist he had any pants that I could fit my hips into. I could feel myself getting nervous, and hot, and anxious just thinking about what would happen if this were to go any further. I hadn’t been with a man in so long and, now, with my new body and Tia with her perfect little skinny self. Ugh.
Tia caught my gaze and looked at me strangely for a split second before shakily extending the blunt in my direction. Oh, to hell with it, I thought, suddenly irritated and frustrated with the entire situation. I snatched it quickly from her fingers. She’d obviously expected me to turn it down as she’d glanced sideways and made a soundless “okay” motion with her mouth. I narrowed my eyes at her as I raised the nasty-smelling thing to my lips thinking, humph. Girl, please don’t try to predict me.
Taking a larger pull than I probably should have, I did the exact opposite of what we were trained to do in the force: I inhaled. My throat burned, my chest burned, even my lungs rebelled against the smoke’s intrusion into my body.
“Relax, ma. That’s that good-good. I guess I should have warned you.”
He chuckled and slid closer to me, rubbing my back. His body heat seared through the fabric of my dress, making me even more aware of how long it had been since I’d been touched by a man, and I coughed all the harder. Tia was reclining calmly on the other side like a little Persian kitten, just watching me with a smug expression through lazy, kittenish eyes. And then...
“You good, ma?” Chason asked, eyeing me with concern.
“I . . . I . . .” Pausing, I had to think about it, because I honestly didn’t feel like I could make complete sentences for a second. “I don’t remember what happened before shit happened,” I muttered with the most confused look on my face, I was sure.
They both burst out laughing and I sat there, confounded. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what club we’d just left, the type of champagne we’d drunk, not even the name of the condos we were in.
Oh hell. I was a police officer and I was stoned, high, turned all the way the hell up, whatever you wanted to call it, and it felt awesome. There was something about being in that state of mind that made me not care about anything. It was suddenly very clear why people risked getting arrested just to chase that kind of relaxation. My phone vibrated and I clumsily silenced another text from Lorenzo before completely shutting my phone off.
Chason was saying something to me but I couldn’t make my ears line up with the sounds coming out of his mouth. His beautiful man-nipples were poking out from his man-chest. They kept drawing my eyes downward every time I’d try to focus. It was as if my fingers weren’t my fingers anymore. I watched in amazement as another woman’s hand reached out and a single index finger pointed and then moved forward in slow motion. It was like E.T. trying to phone home or something, before it homed in and slowly began tracing one soft, erect nipple and then the other.
“Can you feel that?” My voice was a slow, deep foreign sound to my ears.
“Yes, baby, I can feel it. It feels nice, too.”
“Who would’ve ever thunk it? E.T. likes nipples and shit.” I giggled at myself.
“Woman, how in the hell you get up there with E.T. already? You ain’t even get to ride my rocket ship yet.”
Leaning toward me, he began running his hand up my thigh and in my high state it felt like he had ten hands going in ten different directions. Standing wobbly, I steadied myself as the room shifted slightly and I stood, placing myself in between his legs. There was a gleam of appreciation in his eye that gave me the confidence I needed to undo my belt, and slowly lower my dress to the ground. Thank the Lord I’d actually worn a sexy bright blue satin bra and panty set with pink stitching that I’d picked up on sale at Lane Bryant. He drank all of me in with thirsty eyes before pulling me down impatiently onto his lap.
Straddling him, I could feel him hard and ready, straining against the fabric of his robe. He was pressing tight up against me and the pressure, the heat from him, sent a shockwave from my core to all the way down to my toes still enclosed in my heels. I closed my eyes and moaned as his oversized hands tangled in my hair. He flexed his fingers, massaging my scalp, and I was pretty sure I all but purred. He was grinding up against me while simultaneously pulling me down into a rough kiss, and that sent shockwaves from my head to my fingertips.
It was getting so damn hot up in there. Leaning my head back to give his roving lips better access to my neck I almost peed on the man. There was no way he could be standing over me and kissing my neck at the same but he was.
“How are you, sweetness? I’m Big Country. You get tired of the City, you rest assured that you can always cum on over to the Country.” He gave me a devilish smile while biting his lower lip and my head almost fell slam the hell off my shoulders.
Big Country and Sweet Baby Jesus in a manger, twins, really?
Mad she wasn’t getting any attention, Tia snatched him up before I could even think about getting greedy. It was like watching a live-action porno in slow motion. Tia stood, stripped, and put her arms around his neck, pulling herself up onto his body.
They kissed like they’d been lovers for a lifetime as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Mark my words, this girl had some skills. I watched in amazement as she used her legs and feet to slide his boxers down with flawless execution. The man was standing at full attention and I prayed they were perfect carbon copies from head to, um, head.
When she lowered herself onto him, she squealed and he grunted in satisfaction. Chason grabbed the back of my neck, roughly turning me around to face him and it was on. Or so I thought as he came in for what I believed to be a kiss. The fool turned his head and bit my cheek, yes, my cheek on my face. That shit hurt so damn bad, shocked, I grabbed his dick through the hole in his boxer and yanked it out through the slit. Sliding my panties to the side I forced myself down onto him, biting his cheek back just as hard if not harder, getting a mouthful of beard and everything. He growled, and pulled my hair so hard my eyes watered while he drove himself into me over and over, sucking and licking at my exposed neck.
“You gonna come for me?” he growled at me, not missing a single stroke. Shit, I was trying to answer him but all I could do was hold on and moan.
“You hear me? You gonna . . . come for . . . me or what?” he growled, pumping harder than he did the first time. “Answer me.”
My ass was trying to concentrate and this nigga was talking too damn much. I figured if I kept quiet then maybe Papa Pump would pump harder, and then, hell, maybe I’d get there faster so I just bit my lip and moaned. He dug in and I just kept riding him, getting closer, and closer, until slap! I stopped moving and my eyes flew open. I looked around trying to figure out what the fuck hit me.
“Don’t get mad, girl. Smack me back. C’mon!”
Now this fool done lost his ever-lovin’ mind. I smacked him back as hard as I could and crossed my arms, glaring at him. Tia and Country were still going at it on the floor somewhere behind me, from the sounds of it.
“Damn, baby, you mad. You was liking that rough shit earlier.”
“You actually hit me.”
“All right. I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you.”
He leaned me back onto the couch and stood to remove his robe. My eyes followed the thick build of his shoulders down through the full span of his chest. Taking in an angry breath I let my eyes once again rove down his well-sculpted body. He had on black Versace silk boxers that clung to every inch of him, and I blamed the weed, and the alcohol. I blamed my inability to control myself when I was sober magnified times hundred when I was intoxicated. I clutched my sides, tears began rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t breathe because I was laughing so hard.
This Negro had the skinniest, ashiest little toothpick legs, like he’d spent every hour of his life in the gym working on his upper body and he’d completely forgotten all about his legs. Oh yeah, he was strong all right—upper body strong. If anybody ever wanted to rob him, all they’d have to do was kick him in one of those little weak-ass legs and run.
“What the hell is wrong with you, woman?” Chason was standing over me, getting angrier by the second.
“Licia? You all right, girl?” Tia stood beside him, holding a pillow over her chest.
They were all standing there confused and concerned with my sudden descent into madness, and my grown ass rolled off the couch and on the floor, laughing at this fool so hard my sides hurt. A sudden knock at the door made everyone jump and we scattered in various directions, trying to get dressed.
Chason went outside for a few moments before coming back inside and glancing at his brother anxiously.
“Uh, Country, your man is outside about the part for your bike.” He spoke slowly, emphasizing part and bike.
I’d been in the game long enough to know a setup or a sale when I saw one. I locked eyes with Tia and cleared my throat, nodding toward the door.
“Well, boys, I guess we will be getting ourselves up out of here since you two seem to have guy stuff to tend to.”
Stepping toward the door Chason blocked my path. “Now, now, you ain’t got to leave just yet. I think you might want to meet our friend. He makes movies.”
I rolled my eyes at him. He wasn’t about to let one of his friends film me or run a train on me or any other kind of foolishness. My mouth had just tooted itself up to say as much when the door opened and a man backed in with a young girl flung over his shoulder. She was obviously unconscious and couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen. He was making his way over to the couch to lay her down and I used that moment to break for the open door. I glanced just long enough to see if Tia was following and caught a brief glimpse of the face of the man I’d helped save with the two boys. I almost tripped over my own damn feet in disbelief. What the hell kind of business did Peter Shaw have with these two and that unconscious girl?
Chapter 12
It Is What It Is Until It Isn’t—Or Is It?
Sitting at my desk, my elbows were resting on a report I was supposed to be looking over. My hands propped my face over my cup of coffee so close it fogged up my Michael Kors shades.
“Good to see your fingers aren’t broken. You know, since you can’t return texts or anything.”
Lorenzo’s voice echoed behind my eyelids, and I moaned. Leaning back, I cringed at a wave of nausea. The last time I’d been hung over . . .
“So what’s up? You so high profile now you can’t even speak when promoted? And don’t tell me you’re pulling the paparazzi thing with the shades.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Speaking was tiring, not to mention the number my own voice was doing on my headache.
“Damn, Al, it’s right there under your coffee. We’re on Special Division Investigations now. Turns out that Vee girl we picked up is willing to gnaw her way out of here and bite the hand that pays her in the process. She’s willing to help bring down Hemingway. And we are the ones who brought her in, and everyone’s in a good mood since Pete Shaw from that case with the two kids got brought in last night turns out he’s”—he did an imaginary drum roll—“this legendary Jankman.”
He danced in place doing some sort of salsa two-step before flashing his new badge in my face. The motions, so many motions. Why, Lord, can’t this man keep still? I blinked several times before squinting at the bright gold shield that now replaced his old silver one.
Glancing down, frowning, I focused on what I thought was just another report on my desk. Wow, it sure was a reassignment, promotional detail. All I had to do was sign. We would work hand in hand with the FBI on special cases. The salary was almost double what I made now.
“Wow, he’s Jankman.” I was all but in shock.
The man who terrorized our neighborhood for all those years was alive and in a cell. All because I’d had a drunken fling.
“Yep, someone spotted him carrying a girl into a condo last night and called it in. They searched his place,he had another missing girl in the shack behind his house. They’ve been sending in DNA all morning from these SUGAR SHACK vans he had planted all over the city. He broke down and admitted everything, said his dead wife has been coming to see him every night tellin’ him to stop. Forensics been at his place all night, so far five bodies have been pulled up out of the ground in the yard.”
I was floored by news. That’s what his wife meant when she whispered the words about the shack being bad. That’s why there was a doll’s head in the yard that day. A smug grin spread across my face and I was thankful he didn’t see me last night; yet, I couldn’t help feeling so sad for his sons.
“Well, Lo, as soon as I can focus and find myself a pen I am in. No more damn patrol car for me. And, they’re going to let me on, even with Davin’s situation?” I frowned, confused about that small piece of this large pie.
“Chief wants to see you. I’ve got to go make another victory round.” Lorenzo sauntered off to share the news with the rest of the division.
It was a proud moment and sadly I didn’t have any family or friends to share it with. A small smile spread across my face as I remember
ed fleeting moments from the night before.
Tia dialed 911 from her cell and reported what we saw. I couldn’t be connected since I had drugs in my system but when the unit showed up the guys were thankfully still upstairs.
We giggled all the way to the house, all the way up the stairs, and it was close to four a.m. when we climbed into my bed. Tia was still wide awake and full of so much chatter.
“Alicia, where’s your man? I mean why don’t you have one? Or do you?”
“I did, I don’t now. He’s gone. He died. Why do you date abusive women? Somebody do something to you?”
“No. I was with a good woman, I loved the hell out of her for a long time, but she was married. I didn’t know until he got shot by his boyfriend or something in a parking garage one night. Some kind of high-profile lawyer or whatever fighting with his lover. She slipped up and told me. You remind me of her, the way you look and carry yourself. But I’ll love whoever will love and take care of me. Male or female. It’s that simple.”
The chances of that kind of coincidence were one in a million. I couldn’t help asking, “Her husband got shot? How long ago was that?”
“I don’t know, not long before we broke up and I met Vee.”
“What was her name?”
“Shonique Padilla. Why?”
The first name didn’t sound familiar but the last name, the last name made my palms clammy. Davin’s last case, the one that he lost, was the Padilla murder trial. I raked my brain trying to remember if he’d told me any details about it but he never discussed his cases with me. This Shonique woman, whoever she was, was somehow related to the man Davin was representing, and she inherited all of his money when he died. She not only left me penniless, but she also was the reason my marriage was fake as fuck.
Yawning and glancing at the watch still on my wrist I could only shake my head as I stuck my arm out almost smacking her in the face.
“I was just curious. Why the hell does my watch say ooy? Aww damn. I think I broke it.”