by London Starr
As soon as Raw says that, my left cheek starts to sting. I run fingertips along it and find tiny pieces of glass embedded under my eye. Damn! I tried to put Nina’s eyes out and now someone almost got mine. Karma is a bitch.
“How the hell did you see all that from behind the Camaro, Raw?” King asks then grabs for my hand that is roaming over my face, and presses it into his chest. “Don’t touch it, Ajoni. Let me see.”
“I had my back turned when I heard the tires burning, and looked around instead of getting down because I couldn’t see shit with this big ass truck in the way,” Raw explains calmly. “The first shot was already being fired as they drove by it the first time. I haven’t heard a gun going off behind a silencer in eight years and was wondering if I was hearing shit. I was surprised dude only shot one time and thought he hit his target, then the motherfucker came back with Lea busting on your ass. I didn’t see shit but my reflection in the paint job on my whip after that.”
I turn my face sideways for King to examine it.
He presses his thumb in the flesh just under the stinging and stretches the skin. “I’m not sure if they were shooting at me, Raw. I was standing outside the truck in plain sight when the dude shot into the truck.”
“Who else would they be shooting at?” Raw asks, then looks at me. “Ajoni,” he adds in a hushed tone.
King nods.
I panic. “Now do you see why I wanted to leave Mecca in the first place and don’t want to be here now, King? This city is a fucking death trap. I haven’t been back here but a damn hour and I’m already being shot at by a bitch that has shooters on standby.”
He sighs. “It sure as hell seems like it, sweetheart, and I’m gonna get you out of here.” Then he looks at Raw. “I know you want out of this ride or die shit, Raw, but I need to handle this first and need any connects that you’ve made since you’ve got out.”
Raw smiles. “I’m down, but I haven’t made any connects since I got out and only have one still standing. Fortunately, he’s the only one a gangster needs for a job.”
I guess he is jumping on the chance to assuage his bloodlust before calling it quits with the Blue Kings for good.
King nods. “Then let’s make this happen.” He stands up slowly, looks over the hood of the truck, then nods his head again signaling the main road is empty. He grabs my hand and pulls me into a run for the black Camaro. Raw gets to the car first, opens the driver’s door, and pushes the seat up. I dive into the backseat and lay down, waiting for the men to get in. The driver’s door shuts behind me instead.
I sit up, looking around. Raw and King are both running back to the Suburban. My heart drops into my stomach. Raw continues to the edge of the road. King gets in the driver’s seat of the truck, cranks it up, and drives it behind the house. When King walks around the corner of the house then up the front steps and goes back inside, Raw jogs toward the Camaro.
I open the door for him and yell out the opened doorway, “What in the hell are y’all doing?”
He jumps under the wheel and starts the car. “Be quiet, Ajoni. King hid the truck behind the house so the bullet holes don’t draw attention. We’re on parole. Shit like this will violate the hell out of it and send our black asses back to prison if MPD finds out. We’re supposed to be staying out of trouble.”
“King wouldn’t be going through this if he had left my black ass in DC,” I rant.
Raw twists and turns in his seat, looking around our surroundings suspiciously. “King would still be going through this even though Lea knew the score when he told her to move in and take care of his crib and whip while he was gone. She still would’ve had to get the fuck out when he got out, and she would’ve still reacted like she did because she’s a greedy bitch.”
I cannot blame King for finding someone to hold him down while he was gone, especially since I am the reason he went down. But did that someone have to be the thirsty bitch that he was sticking?
Raw laughs out loud and looks at me through the rearview mirror. “He had to stick somebody, Ajoni, and keep his nuts from turning blue. Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have told you that, but you were too young for the job and stuck on Jordan.”
“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I ask dryly, rhetorically, remembering Jordan Cole for the first time since I arrived back in Mecca. Out of plain curiosity, I wonder what ever happened to him.
“Yes you did say it, Ajoni. You and King have that shit bad too, and Jordan is still in Mecca and owns two construction companies.”
I laugh this time. “Raw, the common denominator here is you, so you must be the damn reason why we keep voicing our thoughts, and good for Jordan.”
The passenger’s door opens suddenly. King falls inside the seat and slams the door shut. Now that I know he is safe, relief washes over me. All I want to do now is get him back to DC where he will stay safe, for Anjuwan and me. But I have to question whether he still wants me after all I have done to him, and is he willing to change his whole way of life.
Raw snatches his head around to King. “Easy on the whip, bruh, damn! You just bought this car!”
King laughs. “Then I get to treat it how I want to, don’t I? Let’s go before we find out the hard way if the neighbors heard something and dialed 911. I got some more c-notes just in case a motherfucker feels like his heat should cost more than its street value, and I’m not in the mood to squabble with him about it. I’m liable to just take his shit and kill him with it.”
Then he looks in the rearview mirror at me. Softness creeps into his eyes.
“Ajoni, we’re dropping you off at the airport. Tell my baby girl that daddy loves her and will see her soon.”
Immediately, I feel like that softness is all for Anjuwan, and wish some of it was for me.
Raw moves the car quickly down the driveway to the main road, then gets on it. My emotions start to run unchecked through me as my heart breaks for Anjuwan. King is already breaking promises to her, or rather to me, but they will affect her in the long run. I am not going to let him make that a habit, especially since I am not sure if I will ever see him again and want Anjuwan to meet him regardless of whether he stays in our… her life afterwards or not.
“King, I said I was staying until tomorrow, and I am. You’re going to fly with me to DC to meet Anjuwan, and you can tell her yourself that you love her.”
He turns around in his seat to look directly at me, the softness completely gone. He is all business. “Ajoni, you’re going home. Anjuwan needs her mother.” Strangely, I do not want to go home without him.
“Well, you should’ve thought about that before you had your slimy jump off con me out of my house, and Anjuwan needs her father too because she’s a handful, and your ass is available now. She has a chance to have what neither of us really had, if you decide to stay in her life. I can’t be mad with you if you don’t when considering how shit went down between us, but I’ll be able to sleep at night after I’ve tried to get you in her life.”
“Ajoni, I may not even make it past tonight, let alone to DC tomorrow to meet her. I’ve taken a lot of shit for eight years, but I’m not going to let what just happened to you at my house slide.” That thing called hope starts to rise in my chest; maybe he does care for me after all.
“Yes you can let it slide, King. We’re still alive and won’t have to worry about Lea’s trifling ass if we’re both in DC. Hell, she probably already feels better after shooting at me and has moved on to the next motherfucker that she’ll try to kill today, so you don’t have to kill her. I’d dead her ass myself if I was staying in Mecca. I shouldn’t be the only one that Karma comes back to bite in the ass.” Or rather the face.
“I’d let it slide, baby, if she tried to bust a cap in only my ass, but she tried to kill you and bought a backup shooter to make sure that happened. She’s not feeling better since they both fucked up and missed you, but we can’t call the pigs to haul her ass to prison for busting a gun on us since I’m on parole, so I’m handling th
is myself. Her passes for fucking with me and mine are up.”
I did not miss him claiming me as his—I just do not know if that makes him mine. Now is not the time to question him about it since he still needs to be kept safe, at least for Anjuwan’s sake. I have already learned the hard way that I can argue with and even beg King all day long, but he is not going to budge once he has made up his mind.
“Then I’m going with you two tonight,” I inform casually then sit back against the black leather seat with the Chevy emblem in the headrest, willing to be his backup shooter like I do this every day. I could, but I don’t. I haven’t found it necessary to lay a body down before today, but Lea keeps giving everyone a reason to, and keeping King alive is a necessity.
Raw harrumphs. “Oh hell nawl.”
“Why not?” I ask belligerently, hating that he and probably King too doubt my skills with a gun, but I feel no need to explain that my father taught me how to use one. Show and prove is a good way for them to learn.
“I’m the one that has glass in her face. You two have what… dirty knees from dropping to the ground? At least let me slap the bitch or bust a bottle over her head so she feels my pain.”
“You’re not going with us,” King states adamantly.
I fold my arms across my chest.
“King, grown woman back here. I’m staying in Mecca and going with you two tonight. Get over it.”
He stares at me for long seconds before turning around in his seat. “Raw, go to the hotel you’ve been staying at in Buckhead and upgrade to a suite with three bedrooms so I can get the glass out of Ajoni’s face and she can have her own room.” Raw nods. No one says another word for thirty minutes as we fight rush hour traffic on 285 West.
I feel some type of way about having my own room. If I had any kind of sense, I would feel some type of way about being anywhere near King, but the last thing I want to do is steer clear of him, and I am damn sure that is going to be a problem when he is angry with me about Anjuwan. He does not mind killing those that have crossed him either. I am certainly one of those that have crossed him, repeatedly.
When the sting from the glass in my face has doubled in strength, I start to wish I was a killer too. Lea’s saltiness damn near cost me an eye, and I would love to continue the circle of violence. The Hilton Hotel finally appears. I try to examine my cheek in the rearview mirror as Raw drives under a black awning in front of the hotel’s lobby doors. I find only a long thin scratch with blood crusting along the length of it, reaching from just under my eye socket to the bottom of my cheekbone. I try rubbing off the caked blood, but I only make the scratch sting even more.
Raw gets out, leaving the car running. King looks straight ahead. In no time, Raw is sliding under the wheel again and driving around the stucco skyscraper to the backside. He parks in front of a back entrance. We walk quietly through a single-glass door that opens to an alcove of elevators placed well out of the way of the other guests’ hotel rooms.
“This must be the help’s entrance… or the prostitutes’,” I mutter to myself.
Raw grins. An elevator opens. We get inside quickly. He pulls a keycard from his leather jacket’s pocket and swipes it in a slot at the top of the panel with the floor numbers. King stares straight ahead at his reflection in the shiny surface of the doors. I stand between him and Raw, staring at King’s image.
Finally, the doors open again to a black-tiled hallway with an opened doorway at the end of it. I follow the men into a living area decorated in black, silver, and glass. The room is enormous with a crystal chandelier suspended in the middle of the room. Four ceiling fans with black blades sit idle in each corner. Black, plush couches, chaise lounges, corner chairs with sloping ottomans, and glass tables with black column posts for bases are spread out around the center of the space. Closed French doors with a breathtaking view of Buckhead’s skyline take up one wall. At the backside of the living room is a rectangular narrow kitchenette decorated in the same black, silver, and glass with small appliances. Directly to its left is another black tiled hallway leading to the bedrooms.
King stops in front of the sofa and points toward them. “Your bedroom is whichever one you choose, Ajoni. There should be a first aid kit in one of the bathrooms. Try to clean your cut while Raw and I make some calls, then I’ll come check on you.”
“Yes sir, boss,” I snipe quietly, wishing this was eight years ago and I was here with Calen, but I knew that night would be the last time I ever saw that side of King, who is calling the shots today. I am not in the mood to neither argue with him, or die for my troubles nor come close to it again, so I walk down the hall.
CHAPTER eleven
Ajoni
I turn the knob of the first door that I reach on my left, then enter a gold and red-striped room with dark wood furniture and a queen size bed. Beside it is a pitch black room that I assume is the bathroom. I walk to the doorway and feel for the light switch on the wall opposite the opened door. When the lights come on, I find another beautiful room with matching gold and red-striped decor. On the back wall to my left is a double sink encased in teak wood. I walk between the toilet and a standalone shower with frosted glass and red tiles, and notice a Jacuzzi on my right sitting in a deep pocket off to the side and not visible from the doorway. I bend down, open a set of cabinet doors beneath one of the sinks, and find a first aid kit and a bottle of peroxide.
I drop it all on the solid red countertop with gold knickknacks, and extract tweezers from the first aid kit before leaning towards the wide mirror over the sinks, then pour the freezing peroxide on my cheek. When the bubbles stop fizzing on my skin, I grab the tweezers with one hand and stretch the skin under my eye with my thumb and forefinger on the other. The light reflects off the pointy edge of a tiny shard of glass in the middle of the scratch. When I position the tweezers over it, King appears in the mirror behind me and walks into the room. Instead of removing the shard, I watch him in the mirror coming closer.
“Let me do it, Ajoni,” he orders when he is standing beside me. I turn around with no hesitation, give him the tweezers, and lean against the sink. He steps forward, places one leg in front of mines, then gently presses his knee in the slit of my thighs, forcing me to part them. His empty hand rises, grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, and tilts my chin up. I can feel the power radiating through his heavily-muscled leg. It travels through my core, making moisture pool between my legs. King needs to go before I want to cum, starting with riding his thigh like a damn cowgirl.
“The glass is in the middle of my cheek,” I say breathlessly.
“There’s a few pieces in other places too, Ajoni. One is in your lip.”
“Okay, just get them out.”
He stares down at me for what seems like forever before his thumb presses into the side of my cheek and pulls the skin tight. He begins to pick out the shards. The stinging stops immediately, but a soft flutter started under my skin the second he touched me, and has not stopped. Finally, he puts the tweezers down on the countertop, and steps back.
Raw walks into the room. “I ordered everybody some BLT’s from room service. They’re in the kitchen when you’re ready to eat.”
“I’ll get something on the way,” King says immediately while staring down at me. “We need to leave and find some heat as fast as possible. I want this over with tonight. We’ll be back for you, Ajoni, after we’ve found Lea and her driver.”
“No you’re not,” I argue while feeling the loss of his nearness. “I’m going too.”
“No you’re not. You’ll draw attention in those clothes. I’ll bring you back something to wear and a skull cap to hide your hair. For now, eat, bathe, watch TV, sleep, or call home. Let baby girl know you’re okay. I don’t know how long it’ll take to find a piece and bullets since most of our connects are locked down or dead, and I’m not stupid enough to buy anything I’m not supposed to have while on parole out of a store that can have surveillance equipment.”
King c
an give all the suggestions he wants of how to fill my time while he is gone, but something tells me he will come back only when the deed is done.
“King, I’m not stupid either. I know you’re going to do this without me. But if you’re not back in one hour, I swear I’ll call Uber and have them drive me around Mecca until I find you, then draw attention when I get out the car dressed like this for the hell of it. I promise.”
Raw covers his mouth and chuckles quietly behind his hand. King begins to glare down at me. I lean against the sink, and cross my arms and feet.
King looks over his shoulder suddenly. “Raw—”
“You don’t have to say nothing else, King. I’m gone.” Raw turns around and leaves, still laughing. King walks forward until his massive body hovers over mine. I guess he is trying to be intimidating and I should be scared, but all I want to do is run my hands up his chest, and I don’t think he will hurt me. I’m sure everyone in Mecca knows that I have given him plenty reasons to, and he has not yet, because he is not going to.
I let my eyes trail up the cotton fabric of his shirt first, stopping at his pectorals protruding through it. I wonder if he still has rock hard abs beneath it, and if his lips still as soft as they were the last time I kissed him. While I have the chance, I decide to find out if they are. I do have one of his jump offs trying to kill me, so I should grab every opportunity to make myself happy since I do not know what is going to happen from one minute to next in Mecca. I am just going to ignore the fact that I want to touch him because I love him. If I acknowledge it, it will make it harder to watch him walk away when he gets tired of playing daddy to Anjuwan.
I reach up and lay one hand on his chest. The muscle underneath it flexes. His breathing becomes erratic as if he is shocked that I touched him. Because I have, my core begins to pulse. More moisture floods the space between my thighs. I squeeze my thighs together and clench my inner muscles, wishing it was King’s pole I was clenching around instead. I look up into his eyes.