Quiet Chaos : The Chaos Series- Book #2

by Keta Kendric

  “Mecca! Baby. Shit, I’m there.”

  He erupted, so much cum so fast, I couldn’t swallow it quick enough as some spilled past my lips, drizzled down my chin, and slid over his jerking dick and balls. I eased my mouth up and down, letting my tongue brush light strokes along the shaft as he continued to revel in his pleasure. He was rubbing my head and tousling my hair with one hand as the other kept a death grip on the edge of the table, so hard his arm was shaking.

  If this was what married life had to offer, I would’ve signed up long ago. Was it possible that we could actually make this work?

  22

  Arjen

  After one of the most explosive and fascinating sexual encounters of my life, I lay there smiling as my heavy eyes kept closing. We had decided to take what had started on the dining room table to our bedroom.

  Mrs. Kattie had walked in to get our plates and we had damn near given her a heart attack. She had stepped in on one of my powerful downstrokes as both of Mecca’s legs were lifted over my shoulders.

  What we did didn’t qualified as sex because there were moments when it went deeper, more extreme, and so physically draining that it was an event.

  Mecca expressed a certain level of tenderness with me now, and although I enjoyed it, I had difficulty understanding why. Like now, she had set me in the pocket of her small arms as she teased her fingers through my hair with the gentlest strokes. I had never experienced anything like this and found it was the most relaxing thing in the world.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, ask away,” she replied.

  I adjusted, lifting my head to see her face.

  “Why are you so tender with me? You’re going to speak your mind. I knew that from the start. I know you’re hotheaded, saw that a few times too. However, your actions with me now are sweeter than I expected.”

  She squeezed me, folding me into her caress, before placing a sweet kiss to my forehead. The kiss was an example of what I was talking about. It held an endearing quality that added strength to our connection and made me feel like the luckiest man in the world.

  “I like that you’re observant, especially with someone like me. I’m unpredictable. Impulsive. Explosive at times. Every relationship I’ve attempted was destroyed by me because I’m so harsh and abrasive. I think I get off on having the power to shut men down.”

  She paused, and I prayed she would continue.

  “When you kissed me at our wedding, I’m not going to lie, it scared the shit out of me. It opened a door to something I’d never experienced and wasn’t expecting. There was also the way your eyes always chased after me, observing and studying my every move. No one had ever looked at me that way. It was different and thrilling in a way that made me think about what I had truly gotten myself into. I also had to admit to myself that I didn’t want to lose it. That look. The way it made me feel. Special. I couldn’t help but think that it was an extension of the kiss.”

  Who knew talking could bring a person a great sense of peace: the sound of her voice, the depth of this conversation, the feel of her fingertips gliding through my hair, massaging me so delicately?

  “I fought my attraction to you because I didn’t understand it, this heavy pull on my senses. The idea of exploring something that was so far outside my spectrum of knowledge had me on edge and defensive. When my uncle presented the idea of the alliance, and that I would have to marry Khane, the notion that we would be a real couple never truly settled into my mind.”

  “All I wanted was to make the Black Saint’s stronger and become more than just the niece of Raymond Evans. When Khane married Desiree instead of me, my mind had reset, and I was ready to return to life as usual until you offered me your half-hearted proposal.”

  I chuckled. The proposal was horrible, considering how far we had come.

  “I went into this fully embracing the notion that we would be an arrangement, business partners, nothing else. I think the wedding kiss changed everything. Even the way we interacted with each other the first time we met. Instead of holding on to bitterness and anger, we laughed together after we had watched the people we were supposed to marry, get married to each other.”

  She was feeding my intrigue, giving me more insight into the intricacies of her.

  “The power of the gesture you made to Khane and Desiree was a big part of what made me look at you differently and instantly respect you. I saw a man that would do anything for his brother, same as I would do anything for Desiree. I believe the interactions I had early on with you fed into my reaction to seeing you with that woman. I wanted you. I just hadn’t accepted it yet.”

  Her fingers continued to massage my scalp as I reached up and placed a tender kiss on her lips.

  “I can assure you, she was only here to get you riled up. I had no intention of letting it go any further.”

  She pursed her lips. “Are you saying that because it’s what you think I want to hear?”

  I slid my palm, with a delicate stroke against her cheek before I cupped it and captured her eyes, the connection pulling strong.

  “I would have done any foolish thing to make you notice me. Still would.”

  Based on her pensive expression, she cast doubt on my words.

  “What’s so different about me that got your attention?”

  I could write her a book on the emotions she had the ability to stir up in me.

  “You asked me, why you? There is no easy answer as more reasons are being added every day. With you there was this instant sense that I was doing something right. You ignited my senses, Mecca, all of them. I had never had a woman who could bless me with an instant serge of positive energy and spark such wild passion. Every time I hear your voice, I stop and focus on you, no matter what I’m doing because I believe it’s important to hear what you’re telling me. Your taste bathes my tongue in heaven’s nectar, refreshing, delicious, and addictive.”

  The tip of my tongue touched top lip at the thought, and I caught the cheeky grin on her face at my compliments.

  “You appeal to my sense of sight in a way that allows me to go deeper than your surface. It’s like watching the many dimensions of a painting and allowing it to grab you versus just glossing over it. You’re hard and firm, soft and cuddly, warm and fluid. You are a delight for my hands, a splendid product of nature that entices every part of me to connect with every part of you. You smell like what happiness feels like, a shot of adrenaline for my lungs. You’re like my very own world wrapped up in one body, and nothing else exists outside of how happy you make me feel.”

  My words had her staring with skeptical wide eyes as she fought for a response. I hadn’t intended to go that deep.

  “Wow. Arjen.” She choked out before her head fell against the side of mine as she inhaled me. I decided to save her, realizing I had probably said too much.

  “Will you tell me why you never take that necklace off? Is it a keepsake?”

  Her fingers brushed it as if checking to make sure it was there. She released a deep exhale. “I’m not ready to tell you about this yet. You know how it took me a moment to warm up to you? I need more time with this.”

  I nodded my understanding and was willing to give her as much time as she thought she needed, even if it meant my curiosity would keep knocking until I knew her secrets.

  Her lips brushed mine, the caress so tender and warm, it made me come alive with that spark that only she lit. I could feel myself falling for her. Hell, I think I already had. The shocking notion froze me, made my mind stumble, and I jerked away from her too abruptly.

  “What’s wrong?” she questioned as concern filled her face.

  “I’m…I...” I had never lied to her, something I was just realizing at this moment.

  “Nothing.” I merged our lips again and settled into the warm softness of her body, moving in sync with mine.

  There was no need to question it anymore. I was falling in love with Mecca. She had parked herself in my heart, ki
cked off her shoes, and made it her home.

  Did she feel the same way about me?

  23

  Mecca

  Three days later, and the thoughts Arjen shared had me almost believing that I was his very own personal superwoman. The buzzing of my phone woke me as he was reciting those beautiful words in my dream.

  The Black Saints business had kept me so busy that I had hardly seen him since the night he had made me a dinner to remember. The sound of his light snores was a reminder that I had made it home.

  Running on auto pilot, my exhausted body had drooped as I dragged myself into the shower last night, washed the essential parts, and crawled into bed. Arjen drew me into him, even in his sleep. It was like his body knew what to do without his conscious mind.

  The irritating buzzing that came from my purse yanked me from the comfort of his arms and sleep. I had gotten three hours that had flown by like three minutes. It was my disposable phone going off, which translated to trouble.

  A quick glance showed it was after seven a.m. on a Saturday, the only day I had promised myself I would sleep in. I eased from the bed, doing my best not to wake Arjen. After snatching up my purse with the phone still buzzing inside, I closed myself inside my closet. I had recently discovered the area was a soundproofed safe room, so I placed the phone on speaker while I dressed.

  “Mecca!” Marshawn yelled into the phone.

  “What is it?”

  “The Haitians contacted me and put Tash on the phone. They’ve taken her hostage.”

  “What in the entire fuck?”

  “They said the only way they are releasing her, is if you agree to meet with them. Mecca, they want to meet with you in their hood, on their turf.”

  I didn’t give a damn where they wanted to meet.

  “Set it up. Tell them we’ll be there in a few hours.”

  “It’s probably a setup. Let us handle these shady ass Haitians.”

  “We’ll handle them together. I’ll meet you at the warehouse.”

  I hung up before he could continue his attempt to talk me out of what I was planning to do. Tash started working for me when she turned eighteen a month ago. If any harm came to her, someone would die.

  The Haitians struck fear into a lot of people, but I wasn’t afraid of them. Today, I planned to call on my guardians that usually consisted of an Angel sitting on one shoulder and a Devil sitting on the other. I believed in my guardians fiercely and had no doubt they would protect me.

  HB sat tight against my back as we strolled into the Haitian’s territory. The atmosphere was eerily quiet, no one hanging out on the streets like they usually did, no matter the time of day it was.

  Had they been warned that there was a possibility of casualties, a possible war? I had decided on a single vehicle, so they knew I wasn’t coming to start a gunfight.

  “Mecca, are you sure you should be out here like this? You’re our queenpin now, head of the Black Saints, you shouldn’t be putting yourself at risk,” Marshawn stated. He stayed true to his advisor role, telling me what I needed to hear.

  He drove the SUV we kept at our main warehouse, and I sat in the passenger’s seat. Shockey and Torch were in the back. Although young, they were two of my best gunmen. I’d had the Denali outfitted with bulletproofing, and the undercarriage could withstand a grenade blast.

  “Those fucking Haitians are ruthless,” Torch said from the backseat. “They are going to start some shit.”

  “They already have,” I muttered to myself. The Haitians were a small crew who had schemed and killed their way into a small plot of territory, from Overtown to the Richland projects that they protected with a ferocity that kept most intimidated and from breaching their lines.

  “I don’t care who they think they are. Tash, unfortunately, lives on the outskirts of their invisible line, and although they are claiming she invaded their turf, I don’t believe that shit for one second,” I tossed across the seat.

  “They probably found out she’s been working for us, and snatched her to get our attention,” Shockey added.

  They wanted in with us, and Raymond was smart enough not to let them in. After they found out that I had taken control, they had asked to be let in, again. I didn’t say no, but I had expressed that there was no way, not even if a nor’easter rolled through hell, that they would ever be a part of the Black Saints. We were criminals, but we had standards, even a few morals, they had none.

  “It’s my fault Tash is in this mess,” I stated to no one in particular. Tashonda Thomas had a desire to work for us, me specifically, since she was ten. I told her she could when she turned eighteen, figuring she would have grown out of her desire.

  An honor roll student, she could have gone to college if she’d chosen but didn’t because she wanted this life. I made several attempts to bribe her with college tuition, but she wouldn’t take it.

  Now, she’d been snatched by these hex-casting chicken-beheading ass O-Town Haitians, who had no loyalty and gave zero percent of a fuck about murdering anyone.

  “Mecca, we can handle this. We’re your soldiers,” Torch said from the back seat as he slapped a magazine into his weapon. He had recently completed a sort of military-like boot camp a few months ago, and he’d had advanced weapon’s training. During his drills, his instructors discovered he had an eye, and qualified as a fierce sharpshooter.

  Anybody I considered a soldier had some level of training and discipline, because I sent their ass to boot camp. It was another in a line of my ideas I had convinced Raymond to consider.

  Sending the men to bootcamp was something I had advocated for years after I was beaten up and robbed. I had enlisted myself in several bootcamps geared towards training young adults for a career in the military. Except, I used the camps as a way of better disciplining and protecting myself.

  Raymond thought I was crazy until he realized I had turned myself into a one-woman army in comparison to the immature and impractical moves the others were practicing on the streets.

  I became addicted to the training, arming myself with more skills, and didn’t hesitate to pay for professional trainers and instructors. Since I believed my life was destined to end on these streets, I was determined not to make it easy.

  Although my instincts were telling me to follow my decision, the move I was about to make with the Haitians, wasn’t the best.

  “I know you can handle it, Trenton,” I finally replied to Torch. “But, what kind of leader would I be if I tiptoed around danger. This type of shit raised me, and I have no doubt I’ll die in it. What do I always tell you about being afraid to die in this world?”

  I knew as well as anyone in the game that there was a bullet or two out there with my name on it. I hoped that the slug, when it came for me, did what it was intended to do and killed me instantly. If it didn’t and I survived death, I knew that I would end up being a devil set loose on earth, hunting down everyone that had something to do with an attempt on my life.

  I had flirted with the dark side of my mentality a few times when I’d had to unleash it in order to survive. There were times I scared people, including myself, when I went dead and cold inside. I preferred not to embrace that part of me because I didn’t want to turn into something I couldn’t come back from.

  Now, I had to call on all sides of my mentality. How was I going to get Tash back from these insignificant assholes? We drove up to the location, which the leader, Trench, had given me during our short phone conversation. His face was the first I saw.

  “There goes that tarantula-faced-looking motherfucker right there.” Shockey pointed out, ironically pulling a word out of my thoughts. Torch laughed at Shockey’s comment, although the situation wasn’t funny.

  In Shockey’s defense, Trench was an ugly man. I always felt the need to offer him lotion as his skin was always ashy. His mouth stretched across his face and he wore a permanent frown, even when he smiled. His dreadlocks looked like a group of black tarantulas fighting on top of his head.r />
  There were two men on each side of Trench and at least six more planted in the surrounding areas. Training and a roving eye helped me pick out their best vantage points, and I spotted four more of them easily. I didn’t need to be seasoned law enforcement to know others were hidden with guns at the ready.

  Once the vehicle stopped, I eased my door open and lowered my heels to the dirty street. Before I was fully out of the vehicle, my guys swarmed around me like a bunch of protective soldiers surrounding their queen.

  We could have been walking to our deaths, and they would have still walked into the gates of hell with me, knowing what the outcome would be.

  The weathered brick buildings of the area appeared to have been the passageway to hell. The dark red bricks on most of the buildings, which stood four levels high, were stained with dirt and mildew and appeared black in areas.

  Large chunks of bricks on the outside walls were knocked off, shot off, or were just tired of hanging on, so it appeared that cannon fire was blasted at the apartments.

  Trash littered the streets and the stench of piss was as much a part of the neighborhood as the people. Broken down cars missing tires, trash piles stacked where the dumpster should be, and some apartments were missing windows and front doors.

  “Where’s Tash?” The question was my greeting to the smug face Trench flashed in my direction. He stood straighter than the building behind him. His eyes ran up and down my body like a dirty hand.

  He gestured his hand towards the building behind him, beckoning for someone. With a man-child on each side of her small body, Tash appeared with tears streaming down her face, some dried on her ashen cheeks.

  Her normal brown glow was a dull gray-brown mix, a sign that her life had been being sucked from her. She had a slight limp, and her clothes where dirty and disheveled, unlike Tash, who was always neat and fresh. I pray for their sake they hadn’t forced themselves on her sexually. The bruises on her arms and the few visible around her neck, said otherwise.