Blue despised copycats. In Blue’s way of thinking, if you were going to do something at least be original about it. Clearly this pimp wouldn’t hesitate to use anyone or anything for his own benefit, to the point where he needed to look to a TV show to know how to dress.
She’d waited until the mild sedative she’d placed in Amber’s food had taken effect before venturing out into the night. She didn’t feel good about taking that approach, but it was necessary to ensure Amber didn’t interfere or try to warn him. It was for her own good.
Soon enough, that threat would be something Blue no longer had to worry about. She wasn’t going to wait until Huggy Bear came after her. Tonight, she was going on the offense. She had the element of surprise on her side.
Huggy Bear was so predictable that she could have set her watch by him. It hadn’t taken much effort to learn his routine. He was as addicted to the streets as he was the money his girls handed over to him after every customer drove away. After the sun went down, he could often be seen standing in the shadows on the various corners his girls worked.
Blue couldn’t put her finger on why she was so determined to help Amber. Maybe it was compassion for the hard times Amber had endured; maybe it was hatred for the pimps who peddled the flesh of women who felt they had no other options in life. One thing was for sure: Blue didn’t like loose ends and Huggy needed to be dealt with.
The poor girl Huggy Bear was harassing started to cry. It sickened Blue to know the girl was probably begging the bastard to give her a chance to make more money. Yeah, scratch that -- it was definitely hatred that was driving Blue to help Amber, not compassion. And if she helped other women too by ridding the world of Huggy Bear, then all the better.
After what seemed like an eternity, he took the girl by the shoulders and then backhanded her so hard that her hair whipped around her head like a cover model with a wind machine. Then he let her go. She slid to the ground and he raised his leg as if to kick her, but she scrambled off the ground and made a break for it before she could find out if he meant to follow through. She couldn’t race out of the alley fast enough to flag down another john and do the bully’s bidding. The five-inch stilettos were no match for the girl’s fear of another beating, but she still managed to run as if she were barefoot. She must have been accustomed to wearing stripper heels, so this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak.
Blue watched as Huggy pulled a joint from his pocket and lit it, sucking in a lungful of smoke as he leaned against the wall. He grinned at the girl as her shaky attempt at a sexy pose was picked up by a pair of headlights. The car slowed down and in seconds, the girl was climbing in and the car pulled away. It was now or never.
She started her engine and pulled out from the side street where she’d been parked. So far, so good. No lingering cars or stumbling drunk pedestrians. No witnesses. She pulled up to the curb and watched as he pushed off the wall and sauntered over to her. She stifled a grin; he obviously thought he’d found his next target. Not so fast, motherfucker. Predator—prey: tonight the roles would be reversed.
“Hey, baby, what’s up? You know, I don’t have any studs in the stable tonight, but I’m happy to volunteer--” His eyes lit with recognition and he hissed, “You! You fucking cunt. Oh, now, I’d say we’ve got a little fucking problem here. You’re that bitch that stole my property! What the fuck, woman?! I own that pussy!” His eyes took on a malevolent, smug gleam as a thought occurred to him. “You want that pussy for yourself, is that it? Well, I don’t blame you. That shit is some sweet pussy, right there. You want the truth? Best piece of ass I’ve ever had, but I just been loaning it out, you see. Every hole that girl’s got belongs to me. I own that pussy and it fucks when and what I tell it to. You had no fucking right--”
He never heard the pop, never saw the flash, and never the felt the bullet of the silenced 9-mm that hit him right between the eyes. With a blank stare, he dropped like a stone, landing in a crumpled heap half on the sidewalk and half off. In her side mirror, she could see his legs splayed over the sidewalk.
As she slowly pulled away, her rear tire encountered an obstacle. With a slow smile, she pressed down on the accelerator. “This one’s for the girls,” she muttered as her rear tire cracked Huggy’s head open like a melon.
Chapter Eleven
“The fucking front page of the Courier Journal?!”
Antonio Wayne was unfazed by his brother’s booming voice and didn’t so much as flinch when Ricardo’s fist struck the top of the desk. He’d become accustomed to Ricardo’s temper years ago. The best thing to do was let him get it all out. At times like this, nothing anyone else said would be right anyway. He gave a long-suffering sigh as Ricardo thundered, “Has she lost her fucking mind? Well?!”
“You didn’t give me time to answer.” Antonio Wayne’s clenched jaw was the only outward sign that he shared his brother’s displeasure. “Blue doesn’t like pimps, and with good reason. And, at this point, we’re not even sure it was her kill,” he said soothingly.
“Oh, aren’t we? We both know it was her.”
“Oh…I’m not sure I’d go that far, brother.”
“She’s gotten a taste of blood and she likes it. Now she’ll be looking for a reason to kill. So, there’s that. But more importantly, I didn’t order a hit on some small-time pimp. I can’t have self-sanctioned hits by our people. There’s too much potential for such impulsive actions to attract unwanted attention.” He tossed the newspaper onto the desk. “Like this. I want a meeting with her today.”
Ricardo looked up when there was a discreet knock on the open door. “Sir, you have a visitor,” the frazzled maid informed Ricardo. Both men were shocked to see Blue emerge from around the corner. The maid gave Ricardo an apologetic look and he waved her away with a nod of his head.
Blue took a shaky breath and squared her shoulders. Better to deal with the brothers before they sent for her. ‘Face your fears’ was her motto and when reluctant to do so she did it anyway.
“Speak of the devil herself,” Antonio Wayne smirked. He was looking forward to seeing Blue squirm. It would be interesting to see how she handled being in Ricardo’s hot seat.
“You’ve saved me the trouble of hunting you down. Sit.” Ricardo growled. “This bullshit about you feeling the need to clean up the streets of Louisville on your own has got to stop. I’m concerned about your state of mind and about the potential blowback to the cartel if you start leaving bodies lying around. And that was a fucking mess, by the way. Wasn’t the gunshot wound enough? Did you have to run his head over and leave his brains all over the street?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t intend to do more than shoot him. The rest was just a happy coincidence.”
“Really. What, do you think you’re liberating Louisville’s ladies of the night? You’re cartel, Blue,” Ricardo bellowed in a rare show of outright temper, “not a social worker.”
“Well, actually, I’m a hooker.” A pensive expression crossed her face for a second as if she’d suddenly realized she couldn’t stay in her line of work forever. Time was her enemy. “My new protégé doesn’t know I killed him. I couldn’t very well leave the bastard alive so he could come after me, now could I? It was a simple matter of opportunity. I apologize for not clearing it through you first, but I got him before he could get me. I’m not in the habit of awaiting the inevitable revenge of my enemies. We all know how egotistical pimps can be. Poor bastard’s ego was damaged because I poached a woman from his stable. It can’t be easy listening to all the other pimps on the playground laughing when they have their pimp conventions, or whatever it is they do to build up or tear down each other’s reputations.”
“It isn’t your job to rescue hookers,” Ricardo repeated.
“You know, you’re quite a contradiction—a soft heart for innocent victims and yet so coldblooded toward men. What’s that all about?” Antonio Wayne asked flippantly. “I mean, you just don’t seem to be a big fan of men. What are you, a hooker that doesn’t
like dick? Are you gay?”
“Plenty of hookers don’t like dick, Antonio Wayne. In fact, plenty of them who like it eventually learn to loathe it. Would it matter?” She shrugged easily. She knew the Ramirez brothers didn’t give a shit if she was gay or not. Antonio Wayne was just trying to get a rise out of her, as he did with everyone. “Maybe I haven’t decided yet and want to keep my options open.”
Antonio Wayne laughed and regarded her with open admiration. He’d expected her to be uncomfortable in the hot seat but, hell, she was doing just fine. He could respect that. Ricardo’s head whipped around in Antonio’s direction so fast it caught him off guard. He’d pushed the issue far enough.
Ricardo directed his attention back to Blue, who was now examining one of her long fingernails as if it were flawed somehow. It was an utterly ridiculous idea considering the amount of money she spent on them. She glanced up through long dark lashes, acknowledging her boss as he spoke through clenched teeth and a ticking jaw.
“I don’t care…if you swat a fly or step on a fucking bug…you better clear that shit with me first. You feelin’ me?”
She pursed her lips then nodded, albeit reluctantly. No sense in tempting fate any more than she already had. These Ramirez boys can be so damn temperamental. Men.
With that point resolved, Ricardo’s shoulders relaxed. “This woman you rescued; you’ve made her a potential witness, even if she wasn’t there when you did the deed. You know I don’t tolerate loose ends. If she figures out you killed that pimp, I’ll be watching you put a bullet in her head. That will be far more merciful than what will happen if I turn this one loose on her.” He nodded in his little brother’s direction.
Any trace of amusement that had been on Antonio Wayne’s face only moments before had been replaced with a flat, dead stare. She had no intention of ever encountering the business end of his whip.
Ricardo wasn’t finished. “The newspapers are claiming a rival pimp killed Huggy over a woman or possibly a territory dispute. You make sure your protégé believes that. Keep her close so you can keep an eye on her.”
Antonio Wayne broke in to needle her a bit more. “That won’t be a problem, will it? Keeping her close, I mean. And when are you going to give up hooking, anyway? I thought you didn’t like dick.”
She turned a saccharine sweet smile his way. “My customers certainly think I do. That’s all that matters.”
“You’re too beautiful to be selling your body to strangers. I’ve always wanted better than that for you. You’re meant for bigger and better things, Blue. We’re thinking about opening another club,” Ricardo informed her, his words becoming clipped as he shifted into business mode. “I like your initiative, even if it does give me a migraine occasionally. You could run it. Consider it a promotion. You’d be a Madam; you could select your own stable of girls to entertain from the stage or give lap dances on the main floor. Or they could take the party to a backroom to suck or fuck if they want the extra income.”
Antonio Wayne nodded his agreement. “No man will want you if you keep whoring yourself out. How are you ever going to settle down with a man if you keep doing that kind of work? Cartel men are too possessive. They don’t want to build a life with a woman their friends have already had. They’ll fuck you, sure, but they’ll never want more from you than that. Why would you limit your options like that?”
Ricardo shrugged. “You want to manage your own stable of girls? Fine; that’s respectable. But fucking strangers for cash? No. Absolutely not. You’re better than that.”
“Like I said, I haven’t made up my mind what side my bread’s buttered on yet. I can handle a dick and make it do what I want as well as anyone – better than most, from what I’m told. I get absolutely no complaints and most of my business is repeat business. I just won’t put up with all the macho bullshit that comes with a relationship that’s based on anything but cash. I say that with all due respect, sir. Being a man’s doormat just isn’t for me.”
Antonio Wayne chuckled. Though he didn’t harbor sexual interest for any woman other than his wife Roxanne, he’d always liked Blue. She was a confident, sexy woman. He respected her unapologetic gutsiness.
“Are we finished here?” At his nod, she stood and moved toward the door.
“We are. The question is, are you?”
“Time will tell.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and winked, eliciting another chuckle from Antonio Wayne.
She exited the office and smiled at the beautiful blonde bombshell who strode down the hall toward her. Blue reached out and embraced Juanita Ramirez, one of her favorite people and someone who had been a friend from the moment they met. Any woman who could handle a Ramirez brother as grumpy as Ricardo deserved respect.
“If you’ve been meeting with my husband, that means you did do it,” Juanita said quietly. “I knew it was you. You really do loathe pimps, don’t you? Don’t tell the boys, but I don’t blame you. Bastard got what was coming to him.”
“I despise pimps. Kind of ironic that the brothers want me to be a madam for a club they’re thinking of opening.”
“Not so ironic, really. It wouldn’t be the same thing at all. You’d be protecting the women, not abusing them, and not forcing them.” Juanita searched her friend’s face. “We all know you feel a calling to protect the weak. The women who work for us do so by choice and not because they’re being hustled by some lowlife. You should think about it.”
“I will. Right now, I have my hands full with my new protégé. A club doesn’t really fit into my long-term plans -- eventually I want to open my own boutique with my designs. But that won’t be any time soon. In the meantime, who knows, their offer might do for now. We’ll see. I’ll have to think about it.”
“I think it’s a smart move to open a legitimate business. We went semi-legit and, I tell you, I sleep so much better at night. Alright, then. Good seeing you.” Juanita hugged her again and then looked back at her over her shoulder as she sashayed down the hall. “And by the way – seriously, don’t kill anybody else unless you’re doing a job for the guys. I don’t want you taking any more years off my husband’s life. I kinda like having him around.” She stepped into the office and Blue could hear her teasing voice. “Okay, Antonio Wayne, off you go. It’s my turn…”
Chapter Twelve
Even without opening her eyes, Harley could feel King’s presence. Her skin tingled, as if the barely leashed sexual heat of his gaze was setting off tiny bursts of heat wherever it went. The sensations had her body stretching and sliding languorously against soft, cool sheets. Her bed had never felt so sumptuous before, so utterly comfortable.
Harley frowned as she struggled to get her bearings. Her eyelids felt heavy and unwieldy as she struggled to lift them. As she peered through blurry slits, what she could make out between her thick lashes didn’t make sense.
King was sitting in a chair by the bed, but the walls weren’t the right color and she didn’t know where he’d gotten the chair. It wasn’t one of hers. As she had suspected, his hot gaze was roaming lazily over her body. Their eyes met and his expression softened, becoming almost indulgent.
Deciding that it would be best to figure out her strange dream later, Harley drifted off to sleep again.
Best. Dream. Ever.
“Mmm…” Harley purred as she arched her back and rolled her hips toward the source of pleasure that was fluttering on and around her clit. The swollen nub came alive beneath a sudden tug of suction that was accompanied by more fluttering. Her ragged breathing was beginning to burn her lungs when a soft, velvety warmth began to slide up and down her slit. Her pussy lips were being licked and nibbled before the velvety warmth pressed forward and spread them apart.
“Oh…mmm…fuck yeah,” she sighed as the soft warmth stroked and lingered along the base of her opening and then slid inside. The walls of her pussy were being licked and adored from the inside out. What kind of dream was this?!
A low growl rumbled from between her le
gs. The humming vibration wrapped itself around her flesh and set off a series of small shivers along her inner thighs. The warm, silky contact shifted from inside her core back up to her clit. The rhythmic contact was relentless, an endless series of firm flicks that teased the tip of her clit until her core burst into flames and an agonized groan poured from her lips.
As the waves of pleasure began to recede, a muffled voice murmured, “Mmm-mm. Welcome home, darlin’.”
“What the hell?” Harley shrieked as her eyes flew open and she looked down to find an amused King winking at her from between her legs, his lips glistening with evidence of her release. She tried to scramble away from him but discovered she couldn’t move. She tugged futilely at her arms but they were stretched tight above her head. Her wrists were secured with a silk scarf that tightened a little each time she pulled against it. Much like the man who was currently nibbling at her thighs and lapping at her pussy like a cat, there was a deceptively brutal side to the soft silk.
“If this is your idea of a date,” she rasped breathlessly, “I have to say it’s a first for me.”
“Oh, we are way beyond dating. Didn’t you hear me? Or maybe you couldn’t hear me over the screaming orgasm, hmm? This is your official ‘welcome home’. This is your home now. You’re here to stay.”
Harley’s eyes widened almost comically as she looked around. Until now, she hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t even in her own home. She was at King’s house, at the wildlife refuge. But she knew perfectly well that she had gone to sleep in her own bed, reading a book and drinking…her…tea. “You son of a bitch,” she hissed as she yanked on the scarf again. “What have you done?” She swallowed to try to gather moisture in her dry mouth.
“Aw, hell, you’re thirsty. I’m sorry, here.” He raised himself off the bed and picked up a water bottle. He was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans with the top button undone. Even his feet were bare. His tan, fit body distracted her and made it nearly impossible to think clearly. He broke the seal on the bottle before holding it to her lips.
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