by Cross,Lexi
“I’m sorry I wasn’t the best girlfriend, and I’m sorry that some of my problems spilled over into your life. I heard they pretty much kicked you off the team because of me,” she said. Her sweet voice was intoxicating. It made me want to forgive her.
Raven knew how to use her voice and her body to get what she wanted. She’d proven that to me on several occasions by conning me into letting her back in my life every time I tried to walk away. She was not my type, but she had no trouble playing the part when she wanted something from me.
“You weren’t my girlfriend,” I told her. We had dated, but I had tried to end it before things got too serious. I always tried to end it before it got too serious, as opposed to how I was treating the situation with Kendra, where I was trying to actually make it more serious than it was supposed to be.
“You say that, but I don’t believe you,” she argued in response.
“What do you want?” I asked, sighing out of exasperation. We could have argued the whole time we were on the phone and it would have led to the same thing as before—more amazing sex. If she’d called before things went that far with Kendra, my reaction might have been different. In fact, it would have almost certainly been different. I would have offered to fly her out for a piece of that perfect ass.
Had I not allowed Kendra to delete my contacts, I wouldn’t have answered. And to make things worse, we were at my parents’ house, which was not far from where Raven lived.
“I have a favor to ask of you, Lucky,” she said humbly. “I wouldn’t have called except I don’t know anyone else who can help me with this problem.”
I had heard this same crap from her before. She loved to tell me I was the only one who could help her. Somehow, I wasn’t able to believe it anymore. But I couldn’t stop myself from listening intently and trying to see if there was anything I would be able to do.
“What’s the problem?” I kicked myself for asking. Asking her to explain her problems was asking her to make them mine.
“I’m in trouble, and the only way I can get out of it is to have a kid. I need you to give it to me,” she said, dropping her weak, victimized tone. She actually sounded like she was shooting straight with me for the first time since we’d known each other. It still didn’t make her predicament any more believable.
“What kind of trouble are you in that you need a kid to get you out of it?” I asked her. I was genuinely curious.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I just need a kid, Lucky, and then I can get out of the trouble I’m in. Don’t worry about what’s happened to me,” she said. I could tell that she really didn’t want to talk about what was actually going on, just that she needed the child.
“Why are you coming to me? I’m sure anyone would be more than happy to help get you pregnant,” I said to challenge her. It was an amusing request, but it felt like a trap.
“Like I said, you’re the only person I can trust with this. Besides, it would be like old times. You can do whatever you want, as long as you finish inside me, no condoms,” she explained, trying to bribe me with that same tired promise they all seemed to use when they got desperate—whatever you want.
“I’m not interested in your proposal, Raven,” I said in a straight tone.
“Why not? It’s perfect. You get to fuck me any way you choose as many times as it takes to get me pregnant, and then you don’t have to worry about the kid,” she insisted.
“Do I really need to tell you why? You’re nothing but trouble, and I don’t have time for that where I am now.” The fact that I had to break it down for her like that told me I had been right to leave her when I did.
“This will be the last time you hear from me. Once this is done, I’ll be out of your life for good. That’s the other good side to this. Once I’m pregnant, I’m gone. I can’t keep coming back to you once I have the baby. I don’t want the baby to know who the father is,” she pleaded.
I groaned. It was tempting. My god, it was tempting. It would have been one glorious night of sex, maybe a couple of nights, depending on how long it took to get her pregnant. I couldn’t bring myself to accept it, though, because it was just another example of Raven trying to use me for her own needs. That in itself wouldn’t have been so bad, except she didn’t really know how to use people. She always ended up hanging on too long and calling back or getting me involved in her garbage.
“Look, I’ll even draw up some paperwork saying that I won’t go after you for child support or anything like that. The child will not be yours, and you will have no legal ties to either of us after this. Just please, Lucky. Please help me out here.” She sounded desperate, which made me really curious as to what the hell was going on with her. It also triggered my protective urge. I didn’t like seeing anyone suffer, much less someone I had a history with.
Raven had been perfect, but it had all been an act. Even knowing that, I still responded to her on a very primal level. As soon as I heard her voice or saw her in person, I found myself wanting to jump right back into everything with her. It was a mistake the last time it happened, and it would have been a mistake to do it again. I couldn’t allow myself to do it. I had to be strong and to keep her at bay, at all costs.
“I can’t, Raven. I’m involved with someone. It wouldn’t be right,” I told her, admitting more to her than I had wanted to initially. I had wanted to keep her out of my personal business, because she didn’t need to know about what I was doing. She was just being so persistent that I felt I had no choice.
“I’m sorry, you’re what?” she asked in an accusing tone, as if I had just admitted to doing something wrong.
“I’m involved with someone. I’m seeing someone, Raven,” I repeated.
“I came before her, Lucky. I have seniority. I can’t believe you,” she barked.
I chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way, not with serious relationships anyway.”
“Bullshit. You owe me. Remember that. You owe me,” she insisted.
“Owe you for what?”
“For not turning your ass in. I know about you and the guys. I know what the three of you are doing. I know about your little network.” She spat out her words frantically.
My blood ran cold. She did know about the network. I’d allowed her to get close enough to find out about what we were doing on the side for all the extra money we were enjoying. That had been my biggest mistake with her, after getting involved with her in the first place.
“If you don’t do this for me, I can blow the top off the whole thing,” she threatened.
I bit my tongue. I wanted to remind her that she’d been in so much trouble no one would have listened to her if she started making wild accusations like she was talking about doing. I didn’t want to provoke her any further.
“I’m sorry, Raven, but I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to the woman I’m with now. It wouldn’t be fair to you. And it sure as hell wouldn’t be fair to your kid,” I explained to her.
“Wouldn’t be fair, huh? Let’s talk about fair, Lucky. Was it fair to drop me and then skip town once I got in trouble? Was that shit fair? Was it fair to leave me high and dry like you did? No, the way I see it is you owe me. And I’m going to collect. Don’t worry about that. I’m definitely going to collect on what you owe me.”
She hung up, leaving me sitting on my parents’ porch staring at the phone.
“Everything okay?” Kendra asked as she walked outside to check on me.
How long had she been standing there? Had she heard anything? What did she know? Just how fucked was I? Feeling like I had already been caught anyway, I briefly considered telling her exactly what was going on. As I opened my mouth to answer her, however, I decided it wasn’t in my best interest to tell her who had been on the phone or what we’d been talking about.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” I said. “I just answered a number you deleted yesterday. I need to start letting unknown numbers go to voicemail. I can call them back if it’s actually important.” I sm
iled and took her in my arms.
“A number I deleted yesterday. Are those women still calling?” she asked, staring up into my eyes.
“Every once in a while one or two of them will call to see how I am or if I’m in the area and want to hang out,” I told her. It wasn’t entirely untrue. It just wasn’t what had just occurred.
“Well, I guess if they keep it up, put their numbers back in the phone so you know which ones to avoid,” she said without even sounding like it bothered her. Anyone else would have been offended, even some of the girls who had known they were just pieces of ass for me. It felt like another trap, so I made it a point to decline the offer.
“No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I think I’m done with her,” I said.
“Well, I certainly hope so,” she said, laughing.
“No, I mean, I don’t think we’ll be hearing from her again,” I clarified, which wasn’t entirely true. I knew there was a good chance I’d be hearing from Raven again, but I was hoping she wouldn’t call back or do anything else to try to make good on her threats.
Usually, her threats were empty. Anything Raven would have done would have drawn more unwanted attention on herself, and she couldn’t risk getting herself in even more trouble, really. It was just a waiting game, I figured, to see if she would have done anything or not.
In the meantime, I had Kendra in my arms on the porch at my parents’ house. Things felt pretty good.
“I’m sorry if I’m causing any trouble for you,” Kendra said quietly with her head against my chest.
“Don’t worry, baby, you’re not. There isn’t any trouble, just ghosts from my past life that might occasionally creep up,” I assured her. “My bad decisions. Nothing you’ve caused.”
I felt her smile against my chest as she tightened her arms around me.
Chapter Thirteen
Kendra
I was comforted by the fact that Lucky was getting phone calls out of his past as well. It meant that I wasn’t the only one having to deal with people who didn’t know their place. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about the donor I’d been chasing, though. I knew what Tommy wanted for his donation.
Once we were back in town, and I went back to my apartment, I decided it was okay to call Tommy back. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say, but I wanted to put an end to it. I wanted him not to call back. I wanted his offer taken off the table.
“Kendra, what a pleasant surprise,” he said when he answered the phone.
“You knew I would call you back, Tommy,” I told him.
“No, I didn’t. I was hopeful, but I didn’t know anything.” I could hear the smug little smirk across his face as he spoke.
Tommy was one of the most successful businessmen in the city. He was used to getting what he wanted, and he was used to people treating him a certain way. I wasn’t going to kiss his ass. I wasn’t going to pander to his whims. I wanted to be straightforward with him, the way I was with pretty much everyone else.
“Sure, whatever you say.”
“Don’t sound so bitter, Kendra. I’m offering a lot of money to you for your organization,” he said, his voice heavy and sweet.
“That’s it? You’re just offering to make a large donation now?” I knew what he really wanted, but as long as he was talking like he just wanted to give me money, I was going to try to hold him to that.
“Well, no, actually. Sure, I’m prepared to dump a large sum of money into Older Brothers, but there’s more to it than that. I’m prepared to dump a large amount of money into your personal account as well. Then, on top of that, I can promise your charity a lot of additional publicity, on me,” he explained.
“That sounds great, Tommy. Where do I sign?” I asked, trying to avoid what he really wanted from me as long as we possibly could so I could score his help without any of what he wanted in return.
“You don’t have to sign anything, Kendra. You know what I want from you,” he said.
“No, Tommy, what do you want?”
“Well, I’ve given it some thought, and I know that you and this new kicker they traded in from out of town have something going on. That’s fine, and I don’t really want to get in the way of whatever that is. However, I still want the same thing. I just want less of it. Out of respect.”
“Out of respect, of course.” I laughed.
“Exactly,” he agreed.
“So, what do you mean by less?” I asked.
“One night only, Kendra. I want you for one whole night. I will wine and dine you, and treat you like a queen. I’ll get us a suite in a five-star hotel overlooking the city so you can see the lights mimic the stars in the sky. You stay with me for the night and let me pleasure you until the sun rises in the morning, and all of this that I’ve offered is yours,” he promised me.
“Just how much money are we talking about here?” I asked. I couldn’t resist. I knew my answer no matter how much he said, but part of me wanted to know exactly what I was turning down.
“A sizable enough donation that you won’t have to worry about money for a while, personally and for Older Brothers,” he answered.
I took a deep, shaky breath.
“Just let me have that sweet body of yours to myself for one night. Let me taste you and fill you with my sex. Let me make you my little toy for one night, and you’ll have everything that you need. And I also think you’ll realize you really do want me,” he added.
“Tommy, I can’t,” I said absently. I was imagining all the things he could have wanted to do to me, but I was imagining them being done by Lucky. I was making Tommy’s fantasy my own.
“I’m sorry, excuse me?” His tone shifted. He no longer sounded like he was trying to convince me to let him have me. Instead, he sounded offended.
“I’m not for sale, Tommy. I’m sorry. What you’re talking about is prostitution, which represents a moral and legal conflict of interest with the purpose of my organization. I’m trying to connect the troubled young men of this community with successful men who can be positive role models for them. Part of that means showing them the right way to do things, with dignity and integrity, with moral standards,” I said, shocked at the words that were coming out of my mouth. I had just planned on telling him no. Instead, I had found some sort of inspiration somewhere along the line.
“It’s just sex, Kendra. It’s just two consenting adults giving each other pleasure. You can’t tell me that presents a moral conflict,” he argued.
“No, it’s not just sex. What you’re talking about is prostitution. I cannot promote what the Older Brothers program stands for publicly if I’m doing the exact opposite privately. In order to support these young men and their mentors, I must practice these qualities in my own actions as well. I’m sorry, but there is no room in my life for selling myself or these kids out,” I replied.
I didn’t tell him that I also couldn’t do it because it would have been wrong to sleep with him while I was seeing Lucky. Our relationship was starting to move from strictly business to something deeply personal. I didn’t want to jeopardize either the charity or my relationship with Lucky. That wouldn’t have been okay either way.
“You’ve led me on for so fucking long, Kendra,” he hissed. “You’ve laughed and giggled at my suggestions because you wanted the money, you needed the money. Now that you’ve got a boyfriend, you’re on your moral high horse. That’s okay. That is A-OK. You know why? Because I’m going to take what’s mine, Kendra. I’m going to get a piece of that sweet little ass you’ve been teasing me with. And you’re not going to get a fucking dime when I do,” he threatened.
His voice was frightening. I froze. Chills ran up my spine. He sounded angry enough to do it, and he was right. I had led him on. I had laughed and giggled every time he brought it up, because I had wanted to keep his offer on the table. I had needed the money, and it still would have been nice, but I wasn’t in dire straits like I had been before. We were starting to sort things out with Older Brothers. I di
dn’t need to consider something extreme like selling my body for charity anymore.
“Watch your back, bitch. I’m coming for you,” he threatened again before cutting the call.
Terrified, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t have called the police, I felt, because he had convinced me that my behavior had contributed to his response. Besides, they would have laughed at me if I had told them I was afraid of a few little threats. There were real crimes being committed on the streets outside right at that very moment. They didn’t have time to worry about hypothetical and proverbial crimes that hadn’t been committed.
No, I knew I couldn’t have called them. They would have laughed at me. So I called Lucky instead. I needed to know that someone had my back in case anything happened.
“Is everything okay?” he asked. He could hear the panic in my voice.