“Ugh! You know you had me thinking the worst.” She followed behind them, who were both laughing at her upset.
“Hey Mr. Vaughn!” They all called to the dapper little man who owned the last penny store in the neighborhood. He waved to them as he walked by, leaning on his cane.
They picked up speed as they flew to through the neighborhood. Three blurs picking up wind and air as they laughed and swerved over sidewalks and jumped curbs. Justice was flying ahead with FADE hanging back just enough to give her the occasional wink.
The sound when it came blasted like bombs had been set off right in their faces. She crashed into FADE. The bikes were tangled. She was on top of FADE, who had taken the brunt of the fall. Her arm from wrist to elbow felt like it was on fire. She looked and saw the skin was flayed from her arm. The pain was blinding. Tears stung her eyes and her breath sawed in and out like she had just done a fifty meter dash. She heard a groan under her and untangled herself from FADE, pulling her now useless bike away from her. She looked down as he eased up there was blood all over his back. “Oh my God, FADE, are you ok?” She sounded like she was screaming to her own ears.
“I’m…” She saw all the color drain from his face and followed his gaze.
“JUSTICE!” They both screamed and ran limping to the prone body of her brother.
She already knew as she knelt down before him by the weird angle his body lay. His chest was a mass of red. The things that sounded like bombs going off were bullets tearing through her brother’s chest. He was gasping for air. Yet every breath he took made more blood gush out.
“Justice, I love you. I love you, Justice.”
“I love you, Delightful.” He gasped then looked to FADE, “T-Take care of ‘em.”
“I got you man,” Delightful felt hot tears roll down her cheeks as she watched as FADE sobbed touching his head to her brother’s. They keep telling him that he was loved, and prayed for the Lord to keep him long after he was gone.
Chapter 1
No Justice, No Peace
12 Years Later…
“FADE is going to be in here.” Lovie-Belle quirked her eyebrow at Delightful, reapplying her lipstick as the limousine pulled up to the curb to await its turn to deposit them on the red carpet.
“I don’t see how we can avoid it.” Delightful picked up her crystal covered clutch and dug out a compact to check her lipstick smiling into the mini mirror to make sure she didn’t have lip gloss smudges on her teeth. “The studio thought it was such great PR having a connection with Creative Chaos, since the story hinted at their beginnings.” She glanced up, sarcasm dripping from every word, saw the look her sister was giving her and snapped the compact close. “What?” She sighed, getting ready for the argument they’d had million times.
“You. You want to avoid him. You don’t want to have anything to do with him. And you won’t tell us why. You need to stop blaming FADE, Delightful.” Lovie-Belle huffed just as the door opened. “But don’t worry I have your back, let the shunning continue.” She threw over her shoulder as the attendant reached in to help her out the car because loyalty above everything in public even if they called each other on it in private was their creed.
Delightful rolled her eyes in, “I’ll be damned if I do”, as the door on her side opened and a strong brown hand reached in for her. She grasped it and stepped out into the flashing bulbs and happy screaming fans.
She couldn’t help it, she loved it. She earned this and deserved every accolade that she and her sister received for their Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and she was determined to bask in it. She would not let thoughts of FADE’s treachery affect her tonight. Tonight was about Justice, his story, “JUST US” a movie about the love and loyalty of a big brother for his sisters who’s life had been taken too soon. Critics called it the most important film on gun violence and a movie that spoke for a generation.
This was her life’s work. At first she hadn’t thought beyond just getting his story out as it burned a hole in her heart. Now the possibilities were endless. No one was more shocked than Lovie-Belle and her when their passion project first got accepted and then green lit for a movie.
They took what they prepared and grabbed that opportunity with both hands. There was nothing they couldn’t do now. The studio wanted her to make a companion piece about FADE’s rise highlighting the pitfalls and the promise of hip hop. Up til now his rise had been swathed in mystery and he kept it that way. They felt with their shared history he would be willing to grant her the right to tell his story. She knew that is why they engineered this party with Creative Chaos to get her and FADE in the same room, something she had avoided since her brother’s funeral and she realized that he was part of the reason Justice was killed if not out right responsible for it. The executives and Lovie-Belle thought she was was being petty for not wanting to do it.
Walking around the car, she grasped her sister’s hand and walked the red carpet, stopping to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. There were a lot of little girls in the crowd and they made sure to take pictures with everyone who asked. She didn’t care if the paparazzi planted some. She wanted to make someone’s day if she could. Seeing the shining excitement in some of the kid’s eyes, she couldn’t resist posing with them for their Instagram stories. This was the night that almost all of her dreams had come true. The only thing missing was Justice. He should be here had whispered in her ear all night and since the nomination. She missed him so much that her soul ached with it sometimes.
“Whew, it feels better in here. There was no breeze out there, despite all those strategically placed fans. They only blew hot heat. They should’ve had those misters like at Disney World,” Lovie-Bell groused, dabbing at her forehead with a handkerchief.
“So, you’re just going to tell folks how to run their red carpets, huh?” Delightful laughed at her sister as they walked into the crush of actors, studio heads, and various famous people at the Creative Chaos Oscar Party, FADE’s company — named after the group he and her brother founded. She wanted to scream every time she heard the name. It was the name they settled on the very day Justice died. The link couldn’t be ignored in the movie. The screen play they wrote, and now the studio wanted to work with Creative Chaos who had long since branched out from just hip hop into creating sounds for all manner of things from movies, toys, video games and even phones.
They held several patents dealing with sound mixing and secret algorithms on the tech side. There was no way to not deal with them in making music. They had received their own Oscars for sound and tech at an event held earlier in the week. It surprised no one. They were leading the way in so many spheres. She couldn’t begrudge them their success. She and her sister’s had found their own. She only wished that Justice was here to be part of this and she would never feel okay with him not.
“Oh, there you are! I’m so glad that you could make it.” Delightful looked over to see a little sprite of a woman with long curly hair that reached nearly to her waist.
“Wow, Flower, is that you?” Lovie-Belle slipped between them to hug the woman.
“It is I. How are you guys doing? I bet great, huh? Like totally walking on sunshine!” She beamed a beautiful smile over to them that Delightful couldn’t help but respond to. Flower was herself, as always, a bottle of sunshine. She brightened up every room. People were surprised that someone so kind took no prisoners when it came to being the COO of Creative Chaos. Everyone knew that no one got to FADE or Ghadi without first getting permission from Flower. She was a power in her own right and Delightful respected her and her loyalty. It was her brother’s that she questioned.
“Yes, it is pretty fantastic,” she smiled back as they made their way further into the room. The party was was in full swing. Every tier of celebrity and fame-monger was present. The Creative Chaos party was the hottest ticket of the night beside the Oscars themselves. There was not a studio executive or agent worth his salt not present.
They had the soundtra
ck on rotation. The beat throbbing with the light made the room seem to vibrate with FADE, Justice, Ghadi’s signature beats that they created that night so long ago. The emotions of hearing her brother’s music was bittersweet.
“Come on, Delightful, let go dance for Justice!” Flower clapped with glee, leading them to the middle of the dance floor. The crowd parting for her like she was a general heading to the front lines.
Turning away was not an option and Delightful found that she wanted to honor her brother by dancing to his music. The women laughed and threw their hands up in celebration of the triumph they had on behalf of their brother. Giving herself over to the rhythm and beat Delightful laughed even as her heart clinched loving what FADE had done with the music they’d created. He’d modernized the songs but kept the essence and truth of Justice’s verses. Hearing the voice of Justice’s girlfriend, Lyric made her smile as the artist sang and rapped with the irreverence of her nature as she brought to life who Justice was just as she promised she would when Flower asked her to be on the soundtrack.
Looking at her sister and Flower dancing around her felt just like the many girls' only parties they’d had growing up. It seemed as if everything else fell away and it was just the friends enjoying each other and staying up way too late on a Saturday.
“And now a let’s slow it down…” the women looked at each other as the first strands of the old school, “Simply Beautiful” by Al Green, the best version in Delightful’s opinion began to play. They grinned and begin to edge off the dance floor. “You know who loves this song, don’t you?” She looked into Flower’s delighted gaze, puzzled. “My brother,” she whispered as she turned Delightful around to look into the amber gaze of the boy she loved twelve years ago. He was all man now.
Everything fell away. There was nothing but Mr. Green promising all the things he could do and FADE standing before her with that same promise in his eyes. His look promised so much — passion and retribution. Delightful wobbled as she felt air at her back with her sister and friend, leaving her there to finally face FADE.
He took a step, then another toward her as if giving her time to run from him if she wanted to. His looked dared her. He was a panther walking toward her and somehow she knew if she didn’t flee he would never let her go again. His purpose was in every step he took in her direction. She didn’t know why she couldn’t. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t hatred but some other unnamable force that compelled her. The compulsion over-road every instinct she had except the one that always wanted him. Now it was crystal clear to her why she never wanted to see him. The war raging inside of her was one she was destined to lose — the first few battles, anyway.
It seemed as if her feet were glued to the floor, but she couldn’t budge when he moved in and took her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Her breath caught. His body was all steel corded muscle. There was nothing soft about him. Every part of him was a promise. He towered over her but somehow made sure that their bodies touched in all the right places. Her arms slid up over his broad shoulders and he rocked and swayed with her. He’d taken off his jacket, and he wore two very thin chains that had medallions that she couldn’t make out before she was nose to chest with him. He rubbed low circles on her back like he was well aware of what she liked. Her eyes closed against the scent of him.
He was so fucking lickable. Dammit. How was he still having this effect on her? Her body’s response was a squish and slide coupled with a clinch and an ache that only he could assuage. He promised to please with every movement he made that caused his dick to brush against her. Their bodies were in sync with the music and each other. She felt him shudder and knew he was not unaffected. He felt it too. His reaction was more than evident pressed against her. She never wanted it to end, and she hated herself for that. She hated him, too. Could you come from dancing like this, she wondered. She felt damn close. If she pressed closer, she’d be right there. She panted. He groaned and leaned down, pulling her closer. “Come with me.” Then he looked up and winked in that devilish way of his and pulled her behind him out of the throng of people.
Chapter 2
Just Forever
FADE didn’t know if he wanted to choke her or fuck her. He’d probably end up doing both as soon as he got the chance if he was completely honest. He didn’t release his grip on her, not leaving the party, not going up the back stairs to the private room he’d secured as soon as he knew she’d be in attendance, nor when she stood before him like a gazelle about to be captured in the jaws of a lion. He’d never let her go if he had the chance. Twelve fucking years he’d been without his best friend and twelve years she’d evaded him at every turn. Refusing to see him and going so far as to move cross-country, he knew to get away from him. He wanted to know why. Why had she run from him? He had not only lost Justice, but he’d lost her by her own design and he never understood her reasons for doing him like that. Delightful had left a gigantic gaping hole in his life and his heart. He wrestled with the anger that threatened to poison every touch. He was determined to touch her and if she let him. He was going to blow her fucking mind. No more hiding. Tonight would be her reckoning.
“What is this about FADE?” She pulled her hand out of his grasp and turned to look at him. The fact that she would dare ask him that question sent a spiral of cold rage through him he had long thought conquered. He inhaled slowly, tying to reclaim his calm and failed instead, allowing the coldness that he’d become synonymous with to lace every word.
“I don’t know Didi maybe the fact that you dared show your face to me and stopped acting the coward after twelve years made me think finally you were ready to keep your promise.”
“What promise?” She scoffed then stepped to him, acid dripping from every word, “And nobody calls me Didi anymore.”
He turned away from her. The rage that continued to lick at him and the hurt her words caused as they cut through him made his hands curl into a tight fist. Breathe. He closed his eyes against the pain and fury her words wrought. “I was the only one to ever call you that.” The words barely got through the clench of his jaw. He felt the pulse ticking there, knew she could see and by the flashing response of her eyes knew she didn’t give a damn. Damn, that made his dick hard. He was going to enjoy tangling with her. He’d teach her to put those claws to better use.
“Oh, well.” She shrugged like some little tough punk trying to start a fight. He chuckled, realizing that’s exactly what she wanted. For them to crash and burn before they had a chance to burn together. He caught the wariness in her eyes. He allowed a slow smile to spread across his face. He waited, he was damn good at waiting. He’d been forced to wait for twelve years.
“Oh, so you’re tough now?” he quizzed, stalking slowly over to her. He was known for his patience. He’d wait. He knew by the way her pulse fluttered that she wouldn’t be able to. He wondered how long her patience would last. When she was younger, she was never good at that. Impulsive. Had she grown out of it? The heel tapping gave her away. If she fled, he’d follow and if she stayed, she’d be beneath him.
“I had to be. Watching my brother die did that.” She stuck her chin out in challenge. One he’d been twelve years ready to accept. Little girl, you don’t know how ready I am for your sass, he thought gripping her chin. “You’en have to be tough had you let me in, Delightful. I would’ve had you from day one. My whole family — hell, most people in the community. You didn’t have to be alone then and you don’t have to be alone now.” His words sounded gruff to his own ears. He was way past playing games, and he had never played games with her.
“Why in the hell would I come to you, FADE? After what you did?” She slapped his hand away and backed up, shaking her head at him, her own rage in every step she took away from him.
Dread crawled up his throat. As he watched her look at him as if he were a monster. Then she rounded on him. “The streets were talking after they killed my brother. What were you mixed up in? Why did y’all
move so soon after? Yeah, your music blew up and you were hot but not New York hot. Why the big move with your entire family? What were you running from?”
Relief swamped him. She was guessing. She didn’t know the truth — could never know. Telling her would only put a price on her head because one thing he knew about Delightful, she would not let it go. She would turn over the heaviest rock and lift that burden as if it were a feather if it meant bringing what she thought was retribution to the wrong done to Justice. He couldn’t let that happen and he’d done too much already to make sure she was far away from people and situations that would do her harm, so he kept to the story he’d created all those years ago when reporters first began to ask his origin story.
“I had to be in the studio, Didi. I was given time based on beats Ghadi and I created. That helped us seed Creative Chaos into an indie label. Not sexy, just hard work.”
Her blink was slow as she assessed what he’d just told her and he could tell she wasn’t buying it. “I know the party line, but you’re not fooling me. Somebody laid in wait and shot at us. Folks said that you knew about it.”
He felt like he’d been sucker punched. All this time he thought it was survivor’s remorse when in fact she blamed him. His eyes stung. He felt panic rise inside his body and acid ride high in his throat. That she would actually think… Rage ticked in his jaw again, swelled deep in his spirit, eased into his heart with an icy fury that he held tight to a leash. Twelve years of therapy withered under the accusation she made. He wanted to lash out, to go to his base self, let his id rise, conquer and lay waste to everything in his view. Her. Her nerve to stand there and utter those words — words that would mean death to anyone else who’d dared utter them, sliced through his heart.
Rapper's Delight: The Mogul Series Book One Page 2