Ava had gone to the sink to rinse off a box of silverware that she had just opened, but at the mention of Dumphy’s name, it felt like time around her had frozen.
“I didn’t trust him,” King Dex said simply. He grabbed a cold bottle of water and shut the refrigerator door. “I put him and his partner in a position to gain my trust. I have always believed in love reciprocation, and with those two I failed. Whereas I might not have gotten my money back, they paid for it in other ways.”
“Mmm, I hear you, baby. Since you were young, you always had a good heart. Where is Dorian, and why the hell hasn’t he been by the house?”
“He’s tying up a loose end for me right now. He’ll be here once he’s done with that.”
“What happened to the woman?”
“That’s the loose end. He’s dropping her body off right now.”
“Excuse me,” Ava said, turning back to the table and setting the silverware down. “It was nice to meet you. Whit, I’m heading upstairs if you need me.”
She didn’t wait for either of them to say anything to her before she made a swift getaway. As she walked, King Dex watched her curiously. There was something about the tone of voice in which she spoke to him that didn’t sit right with him. It was forced. Whitney saw his eyes, and she hit his arm.
“Uh-uh. That’s all Glizzy. That boy hasn’t been able to stay away from her since she got here.”
“What’s her name again?”
“Ava. Ava Dunning.”
King Dex’s brow furrowed. “Interesting.”
The first thing Ava did as soon as she got upstairs to Glizzy’s room was call Vy when she saw that he wasn’t in there. She told her all about the exchange between her and King Dex.
“He killed your mother behind a debt that her boyfriend owed him?”
“Yes,” Ava answered, sitting on the bed. “Her body is being dropped off tonight. I need to know where.”
She finally understood why there was so much blood. She steadied her breathing and tried not to think about how many times she had told her mother to leave Dumphy’s no-good ass alone. He was toxic and a waste of a man. Ava didn’t know what she wanted to do anymore. Although she was still angry, she now had a better understanding of the situation.
“That’s tough,” Vy said, and it seemed like there was more she wanted to say, but she didn’t.
So, Ava said it for her. “That’s the game, huh? I’m going to make him tell me where she’s being taken tonight.”
“What about the ball?”
“Fuck the ball.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a brief moment.
“Do you have your gun?”
Ava thought about the gun that she tucked in her pants the first day she walked in the home. It was hidden well under the sweatshirt she had on, and she was pleased that nobody checked her at the door.
“Yes. The guards change shifts at midnight. That’s when I’m going to do it.”
“Okay. I’ll be there to get you if... if—”
“If I come out alive? I will, I promise.”
“Promise what?”
Ava hadn’t even heard the room door open behind her. She turned her head and saw Glizzy standing there in nothing but a pair of cotton shorts that sagged ever so slightly, showing off his Ralph Lauren boxers. She was caught off guard not by his presence, but by how sexy he looked standing there staring at her with a confused look on his face.
“I’ll call you back,” she said into her phone.
“Remember: midnight!”
“Okay,” she said and hung up the phone. She stood up and turned to Glizzy. “I’m sorry. Whit told me to come up here and tidy up your room.”
“It doesn’t look like you were doing that much tidying to me,” he told her. “And why you in my room on the phone with niggas?”
Ava looked at him like he was crazy, but the serious look on his face amused her. If she had to take a guess, she would have said that he was feeling a little jealous. “And why do you think I was on the phone with a nigga? Better yet, why would you care?”
“I don’t,” he said, plopping down on his bed. “And I told Whitney that I’m a grown-ass man and I don’t need anybody cleaning up after me.”
“You sure?” Ava said and pointed at the dirty clothes basket. “Because that shit looks like it’s been there for weeks.”
She winked at him and made her way to where the basket was next to the closet door. She scooped it up and opened the closet at the same time to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. What she saw in there when she flicked the light switch made her drop the basket again. Sitting on top of one of Glizzy’s Retro Jordan boxes was a red boot: her red boot. Well, Vy’s red boot, but still, she was the one wearing it that night.
“Glizzy . . .” She eased her way into the closet and picked up the shoe. She didn’t even know she had tears in her eyes until she held the boot to her chest. He’d kept it that whole time.
“I figured some time or other you’d come back for it. That’s an expensive-ass shoe.” Glizzy’s voice sounded directly behind her. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating from his body to hers.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ava said, keeping her back to him.
“Yes, you do . . . Cinderella.”
“Glizzy . . .” She tried to step away from him, but his strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist, and she couldn’t move. No, it wasn’t that she couldn’t; she didn’t want to.
“I knew it was you,” he whispered in her ear, “the moment I heard your voice.”
“How?” She cocked her neck, allowing his soft kisses access.
“Ever since the night I met you, your voice has been in my head. Your sweet, innocent voice. That and the boot were the only things I had to remember you by. I’ve known this whole time.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you didn’t. I wasn’t going to force you to reveal anything to me that you weren’t ready to. Now, tell me.” His strong, masculine hand traveled down her stomach all the way to the place between her legs. “Was that a nigga you were just on the phone with?”
“Nooo,” she moaned softly as he squeezed his hand, triggering her clit to jump. “It was just my friend.”
“Better have been,” he told her and pulled her out of the closet.
“Glizzy, we can’t.” She turned to face him and pulled away. She shook her head and tried to think of the words to say so he could understand that anything between them was forbidden. “I’m—”
“What? The woman I’m in love with?” Glizzy grabbed her hands and kissed them with his soft lips. “That’s another reason I didn’t tell you that I knew who you were, ma because I needed to know if the feelings I had were real. But now I know they are. In this short time, I can’t even go a day without being in your presence; and when I’m gone away from this house, I’m tryin’a rush business so I can get back to you before you run off again. You don’t feel it?”
“Yes,” Ava admitted and allowed herself to be pulled into him again. “Yes, Glizzy, I feel it. But I’m a maid and you’re a prince. You make the messes; I clean them up.”
“There’s one mess that I can clean up if you let me.”
His lips were on hers before she could muster another word. His deep kiss felt so good that any thoughts of fighting him off flew out of her mind. She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pick her up and lay her on the bed. It seemed like it only took seconds for him to completely undress her and throw her clothes to the side. He used the remote on the nightstand by his bed to dim the lights, and then he loomed over her, admiring every curve of her body. His fingers traced the stretch marks on her hips, and he licked his lips at the way her large brown nipples stared back up at him.
“You’re beautiful, Ava,” he whispered in awe. “More beautiful than I could ever have daydreamed. I’m going to make this pussy talk back to me, okay?”
> “Okay,” Ava whispered and opened her legs, giving him complete access. “Okay, Glizzy.”
Her eyes fell on his erection through his shorts, and she felt her walls contract. It had been so long since she had let a man inside of her love cave that the mere thought of watching Glizzy slide in and out of her turned her on. She reached for him, and he came. She knew he wanted to taste her, but that would have to wait until the first round of him digging into her was over. Lips locked again, their hands explored each other’s bodies. He broke their kiss so that he could lick and suck over her full breasts.
“Ohhh, Glizzy,” she moaned, gripping the back of his head. Her fingers massaged his scalp as he mushed his face in between her breasts and kissed all over them. “Baby, I want you to fuck me right now. Please.”
He removed his shorts and his boxers and positioned his tip right at her opening. Right before he slid into her wetness, he shook his head, teasing her.
“You coulda given me some of this wet-ass pussy a long time ago,” he said, biting her nipples. “But instead you want to play like you didn’t want me.”
“Baby, I did want you. I was scared.”
“Scared of what?” he asked. He sat up so that he could look her in the eye as he played with her. Slowly, he began sticking the tip of his ten inches of meat in and out of her pussy while rubbing her clit. Her body began jerking, and it turned him on immensely. “I said, scared of what?”
“I was scared that you wouldn’t want me!” she cried out.
“Why wouldn’t I want you?” he said, inching a little bit more inside of her. “You’re smart.”
“Unh!” Ava moaned, feeling his dick starting to tear her walls down.
“You’re funny.” Glizzy thrust harder that time, fighting against her tightness.
“Sssss!” Ava sucked her teeth and grabbed hold of her breasts, squeezing them for support.
“You’re beautiful. And”—thrust—“I”—thrust—“love you.”
He forced the rest of his shaft inside of her and welcomed her screams in his ears. Her face was twisted up in a grimace, but the way she rotated her hips, welcoming each thrust, let him know she was liking it. He put his hands behind her knees so that he could hold her legs up and watch his dick get swallowed by her fat pussy. He didn’t think twice about hitting her raw. He would never disrespect her pussy by blocking the power it had with a condom.
Ava, too, wanted to watch. She opened her eyes and looked down at how good it looked sliding in and out of her.
“Oooh, baby,” she said, throwing her pussy up at him to match his strokes. “I love you toooo!”
She began talking and saying things that she’d never said to any man as he continued to fuck her senseless. It got to the point where she could no longer match his strokes; she just had to take the dick.
“There it go,” he said when he hit her G-spot and she tried to run. “Nah. You’ve done enough running for a lifetime. Take this dick.”
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!” she cried out whenever the tip of his dick hit her spot. She felt her clit swell up, and right before she released, her hands began to reach wildly for something, anything. “Baby. Babyyy! I’m about to cum! Glizzy, hold me!”
“Nah,” he panted and pounded into her even harder. “Go crazy on this dick. I want to see. It’s okay, Ava, you can go crazy on this dick.”
And that she did. With him, she experienced an orgasm so powerful that her back arched an inch off the bed. It was like she was in an Exorcist movie, and the whole house had to hear her screaming Glizzy’s name over and over. The sight was a beautiful one, and it turned him on to the point that he could no longer hold his own nut. He pulled out right before releasing inside of her and shot his nut on her chest. The plan had been to go for more than one round, but they were both so exhausted that all they had the energy to do was pass out and curl up under the blankets. They slept cuddled like that for hours, until it was time for Ava to get up.
The clock read ten minutes past eleven, and she knew that the time was now or never. She stood and dressed, watching Glizzy sleep. She had written a note of three words that she knew would break his heart when he woke in the morning:
Good-bye. I’m sorry.
* * *
She forced her feet to move; otherwise, she knew that she would never leave. She exited the room quietly and headed for her own. Once there, she showered quickly and then dressed in all black. She then put everything that she could in a backpack and grabbed her gun that she had tucked away underneath her mattress. By the time she was done with all of that, it was ten minutes to midnight. Ava kept her heartrate under control by not overthinking what was about to be done.
King Dex’s bedroom was on the other end of the house. It was a task, but she managed to leave her room and make it all the way there without being detected. Working there for the short timeframe that she had, she’d learned the ins and outs of the security in place. She knew which ways each camera inside faced, and she knew where the guards went and didn’t go at night. They never went into the main kitchen past ten; Whitney forbade it. Ava used that to her advantage and cut through it to get to the stairs that led upstairs. Checking the clock on her phone, she saw that the time read midnight, and she ducked behind the stairwell until she heard the guard in charge of standing outside of King Dex’s door trudge down them. She held her breath as he walked by, but he didn’t even think to look in her direction. Once he was gone, Ava figured she would only have about thirty seconds to get upstairs to his room before the next guard showed up.
She took the stairs two at a time, and when she got to his door, she quietly turned the knob in hopes of not waking him. Once she was inside, she shut the door behind her just as quietly. The room was dark, and the only light came from the moon shining through a window. She inched her way to the large bed where she could see his sleeping body. When she got to the bed, she aimed her gun at King Dex’s head and prepared to avenge her mother’s death.
“You made three mistakes.”
The voice caught her off guard, and she squeezed the trigger of her gun, but nothing happened. She squeezed it again but, again, no shot rang out.
“That was your first mistake, hiding your gun in a place as obvious as under the mattress. I found that easily and removed the bullets. I commend you for infiltrating my home, but you are still an amateur. You don’t even know what a gun feels like when it isn’t loaded.”
The lights flickered on, and Ava blinked, trying to adjust to the light. She saw King Dex in his pajamas, leaning casually on the wall next to the light switch. It was obvious then that he’d been watching her since she walked in the room. Her eyes flew to the bed and saw that she’d been caught with an okie-doke.
“Pillows,” she gasped and looked back to King Dex with fear in her eyes.
“Your second mistake was not making sure that I was breathing.” He stood up straight and walked slowly over to his tall wooden dresser.
Ava turned her body with him, not wanting him to be out of her sight. She was a gazelle in the lion’s den, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he pounced.
“Your third mistake,” he said, opening the top drawer of the dresser and pulling out a Glock 22, “was making my son fall in love with you. Now, normally I would just put two in your skull for all of the crimes you have committed. And, don’t worry, Vy and the others will be next. But I have to know: why would you go through all of this trouble just to die?”
“You took someone I love away from me,” Ava whispered with tears of fury mixed with terror running down her face. “You killed my mother.”
“Who is your mother?” King Dex said, slowly loading his gun.
Ava wanted to run, but there would be no point. By then there was a guard on the other side of the door who would just catch her and take her right back to the devil himself. Ava felt her body grow weak. She had never been so frightened in her life. She’d let her rage get in the way of logic, and she completely forgot, until right th
en and there, that she was just a normal girl from Omaha, Nebraska, not a hitman.
“Alaya Dunning. Her boyfriend was a man named Dumphy.”
“I thought so.” King Dex smirked to himself and nodded his head.
“Why?” she asked, allowing herself to break down into sobs. “All of the blood . . . It was a massacre. My mom, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. She didn’t deserve to go like that.”
“You must have known this was a suicide mission. Why would you even try?”
“Because even if I didn’t kill you, you would kill me.” Ava finally spoke her thoughts out loud.
“You would die for a dead woman?”
“She’s my mother.”
“Isn’t she also the woman who put a man before you?”
Ava’s eyes widened as King Dex approached her with the gun. “How do you know that?”
He didn’t answer her. He put the cold steel to her temple and applied pressure to the trigger. Ava dropped to her knees and began to say her last prayers on earth. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to erase the world around her, but somehow King Dex’s voice still snuck through before he pulled the trigger.
“Tell me, how does it feel to know you did all of this for nothing?”
Chapter 10
“I know you’re awake.”
There it was: the voice that she’d been dreading since the day she was stolen away from her home. Lay Lay had no clue where she was, or why she was there. She was dirty, hungry, and thirsty, but no one seemed to care about that. The only thing that mattered to them was the thing that she could not tell them no matter how much she wanted to. Her wrists were shackled, and the chains were attached to the concrete wall of the basement she was in. She knew that it would only be a matter of time before they did her the way they did Dumphy.
“Are you ready to tell me where the money is, or are you still playing dumb?”
Lay Lay was sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall and with her arms in her lap. Her head was down, and her eyes were closed. She just wanted it all to be over. The basement that she was in was completely empty, besides the occasional rat that would come and keep her company. She honestly felt that the rats were coming and going just to see if she was dead yet and if they had some food. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hands, which were black and filthy like the rest of her body; and then she looked up at him.
Hood Tales, Volume 1 Page 9