The Graffiti Effect

by Forrest, Perri

  “I’m here. Hey y’all! I didn’t wanna miss out!” she shrieked gleefully, echoing into the room.

  “Hi Mink,” Cyn said.

  “Hey Cyn.”

  Once greetings were out the way Cyn continued. “Okay, so I won’t keep you guys too long because I have a super long day ahead of me; I’m sure you do, as well. There was an unfortunate situation that happened last night, and since it affects one of us, I wanted to tell you all collectively.”

  Cyn paused for a few seconds to control the emotion that crept up inside her. She knew if she didn’t speak slowly, she would burst into tears in front of everyone.

  “Cyn, is everything good?” Sebastian asked, leaning forward in his chair.

  Cyn shook her head slowly, then with tears in her eyes readdressed the room. “It’s Marco,” she stated solemnly.

  “Marco? What about, Marco?” Mink asked, her voice shaking on the other end of the phone.

  “Yeah, what’s up with Marco?” Sebastian asked, his voice strained.

  “He’s . . . he . . .” A visibly shaken Cyn was having a hard time getting her words out. She cleared her throat in an effort to attempt her sentence again. “. . . was hurt badly, and is in the hospital.”

  “What?!”

  “Hospital?!”

  “Hurt badly?!”

  Concern swirled around the room, as everyone became restless and eager for the rest of the story.

  Sebastian got out of his chair and began pacing around the room. “Is he gonna be okay?!” he queried.

  Cyn stood from her seat when she could no longer hold her tears.

  “All I know . . . right now all I know . . .” She hesitated briefly and shifted her eyes down to the table. “. . . is that somebody . . . tried to kill him.”

  The room was stunned into silence as everyone attempted to process what they’d just heard. It was too much for Cyn, however, who finally gave in to her emotions and went rushing from the room.

  -47-

  MARCO

  The smell of flowers woke me up.

  It smelled like a damn floral shop where I was—unless I was dreaming. My eyes opened slowly, but it was a struggle doing so. I felt panicked when my eyes kept opening and shutting again. Once panic fully set in, it became even more dire that I was able to keep them open. I tried lifting up, but a dull pain shot up through my shoulders and into the back of my neck!

  “Aaah!” I yelped.

  What the hell is going on?

  I looked to the left of me and noticed light entering my space. Right after that, I noticed more flower bouquets than I could count, a few balloons, and some cards stacked on a nearby tray.

  “You seem to have a lot of admirers.”

  I turned my head so quickly it hurt, trying to see who was talking to me. The guy stepped further into the room, and was wearing a police uniform. Seeing his uniform brought everything back to me in a flash. One that I didn’t want to even think about. I thought about Zo’s words in that moment about crazy people being on the strip. Guess I had to find out the hard way.

  Fuck my life.

  “I do alright,” I responded to him, before looking toward the ceiling.

  “I’m detective Williams, Mr. Graf. I’m here to ask you a few questions about your accident.”

  “Accident? What happened to me? It’s a blur.”

  Just then a nurse came in and stood next to the detective. “I’ll need to check the patient’s vitals, Detective Williams.”

  “Oh, that’s fine. I’ll just wait until you’re done. I’ve been waiting a while to talk to him, so what’s a little longer?”

  Several minutes later the nurse was done with me, and instructed us both that the doctor would be in to see me shortly to explain my wounds in greater detail. She did let me know that I’d been stabbed, though. So, I now had the missing piece of information. I also found out that it was noon on Saturday. So, I had been drugged and asleep for hours!

  “Mr. Graf, is everything still a blur?” the detective asked. “Or did anything trigger when the nurse spoke with you?”

  “I remember that I was on my way to meet my best friend, Alonzo, to talk business. I just remember somebody bumping into me really hard and then trying to turn around to confront them for walking that close. But then everything started to spiral. There was a pain . . .” I paused, remembering a short while earlier when I tried to move. “Somebody really tried to fuck me up.”

  The detective chuckled. “They tried, it seems.”

  “I’m guessing you don’t have any leads.”

  The detective shook his head. “We don’t. I wish we did. Even the group of kids that helped you, said that they didn’t see anything. It was covered on the news, with a contact number to call.”

  “So, then what you’re telling me is that whoever tried to end my life, won’t be caught.”

  It was more of a statement, than a question when I posed it to him.

  “We’ll do everything we can to find the perp. Can you think of anybody that would want to harm you? Enemies? Stalkers, maybe? I mean, you are something of a celebrity, and well-known, at that. Have you had issues with anyone lately?”

  My mind immediately went to the Uber lady and how excited she was, and then to Mink, who always seemed way too eager to get my attention. And then even to Majesty’s jealous ass. But then, the woman driving Uber was harmless. I saw that. She was just excited to have actually come face-to-face. Mink, just wanted attention and was probably more infatuated with the stage persona, than the real me. And Majesty, as much as I couldn’t stand him, we’d talked enough shit, to where if he really wanted a problem, we would’ve fought that shit out. At least I’d like to think he wouldn’t be pussy enough to stab me in the back on the fuckin’ street!

  “No, I haven’t had issues with anybody. As far as stalkers, nah. That either.”

  He looked at me for a few seconds. “That you know of.” He turned toward the door. “Somebody thinks you need supplemental protection. You know there’s a guard outside your door, right?”

  “A guard?”

  “Yeah. Security, that I hear was put there by your boss at the lounge you dance at.”

  I shrugged, then smiled. “Cyn. She’s like my sister. That’s her being protective. I had no idea that my door was guarded. I’m telling her to call that off.”

  We both looked toward the door when the doctor walked in. “Good afternoon, gentlemen,” he greeted. “Here to check on the patient.”

  “Okay, Mr. Graf,” Detective Williams stated. “I’ll be in touch. Wishing you a speedy recovery.” He pulled his wallet from his pocket and handed me a business card. “If you happen to think of anything . . .”

  “Thank you for coming,” I told him, as I prepared to talk to my doctor.

  -48-

  ADONIS

  West Palm Beach, Florida

  Adonis sat across the large dining room table glaring at his niece Kaia. He could tell that she was afraid and he didn’t give a fuck about her fear. She needed to be scared. Under different circumstances, Kaia would have been disposed of. Never to be seen again. But they weren’t different circumstances. She was family. He had raised her as his own and she was his blood. But her behavior was proving to be too reckless and he couldn’t afford the storm, that was her. This latest stunt of hers in Nevada had him angrier than he had ever been at her. He couldn’t understand what it was in her fucking brain that kept her on the path that she insisted on being on. Everything she wanted she had. Since she was a little girl, he had only ever told her “Yes”. And he was starting to think that maybe that was the problem. For now, it had gotten to a point where she thought she was boss and where she no longer had to obey a damn thing he said.

  “Uncle—”

  “Kaia, I’ve tried to raise you with a Plato rule of thought. One that states, ‘Ruling a state must not be based on persuasion, but on wisdom’. I fed you all the wisdom that you needed. I never tried to persuade you to do anything, and always let yo
u think for yourself without imposing my own thoughts on you. But maybe I did it all wrong. Because nothing that you have done over the past year seems to have come from an intelligent individual.”

  “I . . . know. I know I fucked up.”

  “Watch your language, Kaia. Be more respectful.”

  “You’re right. And you shouldn’t have had to tell me that. I apologize.”

  “Do you understand that by being reckless, you potentially put this family in jeopardy? Do you?!” he roared across the table.

  “Yes. I do.”

  “I shouldn’t have had to send somebody to the apartment that you rented to clean it top to bottom. I shouldn’t have had to do anything to erase your presence at all! Had you listened from the beginning, none of this would be happening. Do you realize how many people might be affected by your stupidity, Kaia?! People you interacted with. People who might connect your disappearance to the attempted murder! There’s a domino effect!”

  Her eyes widened, glossing over with tears as she realized the dire nature of her actions. And more importantly, that she had angered the only person to be there, her entire life. A light stream of tears turned into a full, uncontrollable sob.

  “I-I-I . . .” Kaia sniffled, trying to force words from her mouth that might make a difference. “I tr-tr-tried not—”

  “Kaia! Stop! The excuse is old! I told you to leave your damn obsession alone! I told you to let it be! But you didn’t know how, to not let it dictate your life! You’re thirty-one years old! When the fuck does it stop?!”

  “It’s stopped now, Uncle. I promise. I’m done.”

  “I don’t know if I believe that.”

  “But . . . it’s true, Uncle. It’s . . . I promise.”

  Unwilling to hear any more of what Kaia had to say, Adonis stated, “And it puts me in a really bad position because I’m unaware of whether I have to do damage control. Because you were so careless with your fucking actions, I don’t know what loose ends you might’ve left. I have to deal with this once and for all!”

  Kaia stood from her seat, defeated. She had never been so tired in all her life; the exhaustion was overtaking her. To the point that when she stood, she felt depleted of energy.

  “May I be excused, Uncle? I’m . . . feeling really tired.”

  “No, you can’t be excused.” Adonis waved a hand in the air signaling the man who had been standing near the door the whole time. He saw the fear in his niece’s eyes when he said, “There’s been too many excuses. That ends today . . .”

  -49-

  MARCO

  The last time I checked the time, it was about two minutes before my night nurse came into my room. She was ten minutes later then her usual arrival of 1:30 AM, and I was getting restless as fuck. For the past week she had come in like clockwork to check on me. I reached over to the side of my bed to grab the device with the nurse call button on it. Luckily, right when I did, my hospital door opened and light from the hallway covered half my room.

  “Hey you.”

  Her name was Brittani, and she had been in charge of my nighttime needs since I was admitted.

  “What’s up?”

  She closed the door behind her and started coming out of her nurse’s uniform, even before getting to me. After she had shed her uniform, she leaned down and retrieved something from the pocket of her smock. When she produced the box of condoms, she waved the box around, smiling the whole time.

  “Since we ran out so fast,” she commented, opening the box and sitting it on the tray next to my bed.

  “Good lookin’ out, sweetheart.”

  Her titties looked good as fuck—firm. She pulled the sheet off my lap and admired the gift that was already waiting for her. There was no need to ever waste time. Whenever I knew she was coming, I took all my shit off to be prepared.

  She sat the condom on the bed. “I’ll put this on later.”

  She straddled me, started kissing on my neck while her hands roamed my chest, and caressed the back of my neck. She wanted to kiss me. She’d tried that several times. But it wasn’t happening. All that romantic shit I wasn’t into. And she wasn’t my woman, so I didn’t even know why she expected that shit to begin with. She knew what the situation was—I just needed my needs met. I had been going through pussy withdrawals while I was in the hospital.

  “Maybe one day, Lover,” she said, kissing me on my cheek, before making her way down.

  When my dick was in her mouth, I relaxed fully and let her slob me down. There was no denying that she knew how to use her mouth. Her hands were locked around my dick, squeezing and stroking while her tongue slid recklessly, every which way. All the pressure she was applying with her massage, was causing a blood-rush from my nut sac. Felt like it was pulsating.

  I reached down and wrapped my fingers through her hair and held onto her head, so that I could fuck her mouth. The sensation was moving through my thighs, and traveling upward in a slow swarm. All that goddamn excitement was about to meet right at the tip of my dick and down her throat.

  I fucked her hard, but she took the throat-fuck like a real pro the whole time.

  When my nut erupted through my tip, I would’ve sworn that I hadn’t just had my dick sucked the night before. I came hard and didn’t give a fuck that my grunts could probably be heard outside my hospital room.

  She sucked and sucked until I had no more to give. When I had emptied out, I laid my head back on my pillow, allowing myself to regroup. She had drank me down, and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. What really had me hyped up, was the fact that I was going home in the morning. The thought of that had me instantly ready again. I decided that I was gonna fuck this girl all night, give myself something to do to speed the time up.

  A few hours, and several orgasms later, I was better than good. I wasn’t sure how Brittani was going to keep her job with how many hours she had been in my room. That, along with the fact that she’d tapped out on the sofa in my hospital room. I thought about waking her up, but figured she knew what she was doing. I dozed off for a little bit but was back awake before the sun peeked in.

  I looked over at the sofa and saw Brittani looking at me.

  “Finally woke up, huh?” I asked her.

  “I’ve been awake for a bit. Thinking.”

  I didn’t even ask, ‘about what’, because by her tone, I had an idea what it was. Playing into it wouldn’t be a good. The last thing I wanted was for her to think that me asking meant that I cared. I wasn’t in that space to give a fuck.

  “Don’t you want to know about what?” she asked, getting off the sofa, and coming over to the bed.

  “Not really. I don’t pry into people’s lives like that. I’m just glad that I’ll be getting out of this place and back to my life in a few hours.”

  “And what about me?”

  Goddamn it. Now, here’s this shit.

  I thought since we talked day one, about what the arrangement would be—and she seemed cool about it—that we wouldn’t have any of these issues. So, admittedly, I was annoyed as fuck. It had been six days of fucking her and here she was wanting more than dick, out of a deal that had already been sealed.

  “I’m not going there, Brittani. We discussed this shit before I put my dick in you the first time. You seemed cool with it being a temporary situation. You said you were cool with it being a temporary situation.”

  She reached out and touched my hand. “I’ve never cheated on my boyfriend, Marco. Never even had the urge. But—”

  “You wanna tell me that I’m special, right?”

  “You so are.”

  I shook my head. “Listen, I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend. You failed to mention that. On top of that, I’m not special, sweetheart. You’re just not ready to be loyal to your dude.”

  “No. That’s not how it is. I—”

  “You let me fuck you within the first hour of meeting me. That don’t make me special. That makes you easy. And that’s okay with me, but you need to
be honest with yourself.”

  “I’m not easy.” She held her head low then looked back up at me with not-so-innocent blue eyes. “It just seems—”

  “Brittani . . .” someone called out from the door, that was now open. The woman looked from Brittani, to me, and then back to Brittani.

  I looked back and forth between the two. There was a deer-in-headlights kind of look in Brittani’s eyes. Not only was she taken by surprise, more than likely, she was in trouble as well.

  “Uhh, good morning, Nur—”

  “Let’s go,” the burly woman ordered, without letting Brittani complete what she was saying. “Right Now.”

  Brittani walked from the other side of my bed and made her way toward the door without looking back. As unfortunate as it was, the look on that other nurse’s face said a lot. It was highly unlikely that Brittani would be checking on any other patients in that hospital.

  -50-

  MARCO

  Even though I moved kind of slowly, I was still moving. I was happy as hell to be looking at outside through my hospital window. Since I’d gotten out of the shower and dressed, I hadn’t sat down yet. I was too ready to sit, or lay down. Being out of that bed made me want to be outside in the Vegas sun, like pronto. Especially, seeing how nice it was outside. I needed to be out there in the air in the sun, free!

  A voice from across the room called out, “Mr. Graffiti Effect . . .”

  I turned away from the window and came face-to-face with a woman dressed in all white—but not hospital white. She had on a white dress with a drooped crew neck. It didn’t droop far enough for me to see any cleavage, but the way the dress hugged her breasts, cleavage wasn’t necessary to see she was sporting firm C-cups. I continued checking her out. And I had every right. She’d addressed me by my stage name at Cyn City, so she must’ve known me.