by Briann Danae
“Well… if you’re going to be taking pictures, non-professional ones anyway, you need a professional camera. Lighting, backdrops, make up done, the whole nine. Don’t half-ass it. If you’re going to really go into this modeling shit, act like you’re already a model. Your mindset should already be on your reply to those emails from different agencies hitting you up.”
Nodding, Anika took everything she said and stored it in her mental. Rylee was super supportive, and Anika knew right then that’d she want her to tag along for this new journey. If all went according to plan, she’d be searching for an assistant and Rylee had the perfect qualities. Once the two were finished eating, Rylee dropped Anika back off at home. Carrying her bags into their bedroom, she placed them on the chaise lounge in the corner of the room and yawned. Today had been a long one, but successful overall.
After showering, Anika rummaged through the shopping bags and decorated the bed with her pieces. A black lace number she picked up from a lingerie store captured her attention first. Slipping it on, Anika walked up to the floor to ceiling mirror in the opposite corner of the room and grinned.
“Damn, I’m fine,” she said, turning around to see her round ass from the back.
Modeling lingerie for the public wasn’t in her plans, but she sure could’ve. Victoria Secret models who? Anika was killing shit. Picking her phone up from the bed, she went to her camera and began to take a few pictures. Lano had been ripping and running all day, and she wanted to remind him what he had at home just in case he needed a reminder. Twenty pictures later, with some more provocative than the others, Anika smirked and sent Lano four of them before hanging up the other clothes she purchased.
Once she cleaned the bed off, changed into a big t-shirt, set the alarm and put her bonnet on, Anika climbed in the bed with her iPad. Scrolling IG like she normally did at night, she came across a plus-sized modeling page. Tapping on one of the pictures, she saw that the photographer was tagged, so she went to their page. She looked through almost every picture before scrolling back to the top. Anika couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that the photographer was based out of LA.
“Lord, this must be a sign,” she said lowly to herself.
Monroe Photography was the girl's IG name. Her photos varied from newborn’s first pictures, anniversary pictures, headshots, lingerie covers, birthday shoots, and many more Anika just knew was meant for her to see.
“What are the odds,” she said with a chuckle as her devices chimed letting her know she had a new text. Opening it, she smiled and squeezed her legs together.
Papi: Damn, baby. I want you just like that when I walk through the door. You fine as hell.
If no one boosted her ego ever again in life, her man sure did. Lano had always given Anika praise since day one. What should have been a relationship that was off limits, blossomed into a love so unmatched, Anika despised all the men before him. There was no comparing anyone to DeLano Trevino. He was one of a kind – handcrafted by the Man above. His hood charm had Anika smitten from day one, and he helped restore a piece of her that had been missing for so long.
Security.
With him, she knew there was no need to worry about him ever leaving. Well, there was this one time she popped up on him at Bravo’s while handling what was supposed to be a business meeting with Samia, but other than that, they were good. He loved her insecurities away, but most of all made her learn to love who she was and not what people expected of her. This modeling thing was going to be something she did for her. Fuck the critics and whoever else. This was for her.
Across town, Lano took one last glance at the pictures Anika had sent him and adjusted his dick that had thickened up. He couldn’t have her images on his mind before he made a kill. That was the reason his phone had been on ‘do not disturb’ for the last few hours. On the outskirts of LA, about an hour and some change away from his home, Lano sat parked across the street from his target. On top of a roof, ducked low in between two cars, he sat waiting to make a move.
A friend of the family had connections and closed the ramp off for this mission. Across the street was a strip club where Vick, one of the niggas who called himself sliding on Lano at the gravesite was at. Thanks to Stefon, his location wasn’t so under wraps anymore. He had been ducked off long enough, and it was time to pay the grim reaper… with Samia’s help of course. There was no way she was missing out on a mission just because Lano didn’t need her help. And, he didn’t.
In all honesty, he wanted to just walk in the bitch, put a bullet straight to the pussy nigga’s dome and walk out, but he knew there were certain ways to handle a task as such. He had to be calculated though his patience was gone, and he couldn’t let his identity be revealed; though them niggas knew exactly who had been snatching souls around the city. Lano didn’t leave a fancy marking or no shit like that with his targets. Once they were dead, that’s all the message his enemies needed to receive.
Inside the club, Samia sat in the corner with her eyes trained on Vick. He was moving so carelessly for a nigga who had a hit out on him. But, that was his mistake for getting caught with his pants down, literally. A bitch Samia tossed some money to was topping him off discreetly, while he sniffed a line of cocaine off the table. Vick’s eyes rolled back when the powdery substance invaded his bloodstream and peeled open when Lisha inhaled his dick.
“Damn, girl. Suck that mothafucka then,” he grumbled, taking a fist full of her hair.
Samia rolled her eyes and looked down at her watch. It was already one in the damn morning, and she was ready to get this shit over with. On cue, as if Lisha could hear her thoughts, her head lifted, and she glanced her way. Samia gave her a head nod, and she took action.
“You wanna take this back to your place?” Lisha asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin before adjusting her bikini top.
Vick sniffed and wiped under his nose. “Yeah. We can do that. Meet me out back.”
“Okay, Daddy. Let me just freshen up and grab my things.”
When she leaned in to kiss his lips, Vick tongued her down on some freaky shit. On a regular day without the drugs in his system, he would’ve mushed her ass in the head but today wasn’t a regular day. It was his last, and that kiss just sealed his fate. Zipping his pants, Vick downed the remainder of his drink and stood to his feet. He was buzzing like a mothafucka and the way Lisha’s ass cheeks jiggled while walking away had him making quick strides to the back where his car was parked.
As soon as his back was facing Samia, she stood to her feet and followed him. Dressed regularly in a pair of black jeans, black leather jacket, and a pair of black Timbs, Samia sauntered toward the narrow hall Vick had ventured down. Unaware of his surroundings, Vick had no clue his life was minutes away from ending.
Pushing the back door open, he took a deep inhale of the night air and exhaled before pulling his phone out. Before he could make a call, Samia was on him.
“How are you?’ she damn near purred stepping in front of him.
Taken aback, Vick mugged her before a grin fell over his face. “Shit, I’m good now. What’s up with you?”
Samia ran a hand up his abdomen and stepped closer. Vick was fine, and from the rumors she heard about him, he had good dick, but that was too fucking bad. He played a hand in the drama brewing in her city and Samia wasn’t having that.
“I see you’re about to have a little company. Mind if I join you… or get the party started?”
Her hand trailed to the imprint in his jeans, and she licked her lips. Damn, his shit is rock hard. It gotta be the coke.
“You sure you bout’ that life, Ma?” Vick questioned with low eyes before they stretched wide as saucers. “Oh, shit!”
“You sure you about that life, mothafucka?” Samia hissed.
The red beam light from Lano’s gun was positioned on Samia’s head for all of one second before he aligned it with Vick’s and pulled the trigger. Before he could take his next breath, register his thoughts, and move his feet, th
e shot from Lano’s gun silenced him forever. His body dropped to the ground, and Samia had the right mind to spit on him but knew leaving her DNA at a crime scene wasn’t the smartest move.
“Bitch ass nigga,” she spat, before walking away. Lisha never did meet him outside and hadn’t planned on it.
Like a thief in the night, Lano was back in his ride, down the ramp and meeting Samia at the corner in less than a minute of him knocking Vick off. He was ready to get home and let whoever find his body do with it what they pleased. There were no witnesses and Samia had snuck in the place on the humbug, meaning lowkey, so she was in the clear.
“Did you have to put the beam on me?” she asked as soon as she climbed inside his car.
Lano pulled off ignoring her question. It was damn near two in the morning now, and he wanted his ride home to be quiet. Let his thoughts, actions, and plans to marinate. Her nagging was going to annoy him.
“You gon’ ignore me the rest of our lives, hmm?”
She was met with silence again. Huffing, she reached up to turn his radio on, and Lano grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t touch my shit, Samia. Sit back and chill with all that naggin’. You know I ain’t even with all that.”
“I don’t know what you’re with actually. You’ve been acting so different.”
“It ain’t no act. With the life I live, how could I remain the same?”
Though his words came out as a question, he wasn’t looking for an answer and was more so making a statement. On some days when he killed and fulfilled a contract, Lano felt bad for a second, but the feeling vanished almost immediately. He never wanted to get into the technicalities of why one of his clients wanted someone dead because it’d weigh him down. The less he knew about the why, and more he knew about the when to move on them was his preference. It kept him sane in a word full of chaotic, psycho mothafuckas.
Knowing exactly what he meant, Samia just nodded. She didn’t want to piss him off any more than she already had; she just wanted some conversation with him. The late nights they used to spend talking about taking over the city together, starting a business that would make them millions and enjoying the fruits of their labor seemed to cloud her mind more than often lately. It was safe to say, Samia wanted what they had back, but things between them would never in life be the same. They just weren’t meant to be.
Silence consumed them for the entire ride to Samia’s place, and Lano was grateful for that. Had she refused to keep her thoughts to herself, Lano wouldn’t have cared one bit about putting her in check. Thankfully, he didn’t have to do so again. Tossing his ride in park, he finally glanced her way.
Samia wasn’t ugly by far. In fact, her beauty on the outside, that matched her roughness is what attracted Lano to her to begin with. She had always been a tomboy and ran with Saon and his crew growing up. It wasn’t until prom night that Lano saw her in a different light. Possibly before then, but the curves of her body and femininity popped more on prom night. The night he took her virginity, though her date had every plan to. He was some lame ass nigga from around the way who Lano didn’t know nor cared about. All he knew was, back then Samia was going to be his girl, and she was until tragedy struck breaking them apart in ways Samia never thought would happen.
“I don’t know what I did to make you hate me, but can we move past it?” she asked softly.
“When did I ever say I hated you?” Lano asked calmly.
His deep baritone sent shivers down Samia’s spine. Everything about him when he was in his killing mode turned her on. The black hoodie he was rocking was pulled low over his head, as the moonlight bounced off his creamy, peanut butter skin. Samia’s stomach twisted in appreciation at how fine he was even in the dark.
“You know your actions speak loudly for you. Words were never your thing.”
“Not anymore,” he clarified, making her swallow the involuntary lump that formed in her throat. “Look. I don’t hate you. We’re practically family, but the shit you be trying to pull with me ain’t ever going to fly. Not with my girl or me. I thought I made myself clear a few months ago, but I guess not.”
Samia sighed heavily. “It’s not even that Lano. I heard you loud and clear, trust me. To me, it doesn’t seem fair how you expect to be in our hometown where we share memories and expect for me to just go about my days like we never existed. Like we didn’t use to love each other.”
“You need to figure out how, ‘cause whatever it is you’re searching for in me, in us, you ain’t ever gon’ find. That shit was buried a long time ago.”
The finality and evenness in his tone brought tears to her eyes. Giving him a simple nod, Samia unclicked her seat belt. She’d normally argue with him, but her feelings were hurt. Before she climbed out, she turned around to face him.
“I guess I’ll just have to live with that, but know I’ll always love you. Even if you don’t feel the same, know that.”
Lano wasn’t going to reply. He knew she would always love him. First loves always seemed to love you for life or hate your ass for even longer. What Samia failed to realize was that the love they shared back then wasn’t shit compared to what he and Anika built. It was deep. On a level, he couldn’t even wrap his mind around most days. She brought solace over his life, in his home, in his heart and more than anything… in his head. Mentally, the love they shared was on some other shit. Some shit Samia couldn’t fuck with or tarnish no matter how hard she tried.
Chapter 3
Soft, airy moans fell from Anika’s mouth as Lano skillfully stroked her clit with his tongue. Instead of the morning breakfast she had dreams of waking up to make, her man had other plans. He wanted to feast upon his woman and make it his duty to ensure she had an amazing day. One hand was gripping the sheets tightly, as the other massaged his scalp. The rapid rhythm of his tongue drumming across her clit had Anika’s head spinning and stomach tightening.
“Oooh, damn,” she moaned lowly.
Lano loudly slurped up the mess she was making and spread her legs some more. Twirling his tongue through the crevices of her pussy slowly, he savored her taste. Cunnilingus was a sport to him, and first place was the only spot he ever received. Rotating her hips, Anika stopped massaging his scalp and just held his head in place.
“Oh my gosh,” she cried out as her orgasm rocked her entire body.
Eyes rolling to the back of her head, legs trembling and brain fuzzy, Anika came hard. She caught a cramp in her foot the shit was so good. With her heart racing, her eyes peeled open, and Lano gave one last lick to her middle before lifting his head. With a sly smirk on his face and hunger in his eyes, he licked his lips.
“Good morning.”
It’s still morning? This man done ate me so good I thought it was a new day. Anika’s breathing was unstable. Swallowing, she found her voice. “G-Good morning to you too. Shit.”
Smooching her lips and rubbing the tip of his dick at her entrance, Lano hiked her leg up over his shoulder and slid inside her. Deeply. The low groan he released was so damn sexy.
“This pussy so fucking good,” he hissed nastily against her lips before giving her his tongue to suck on.
Like every move he made, Lano’s strokes were calculated. He needed his boo to feel all of him. Every thrust, curve, glide, and stroke he delivered was vicious. So much so, that it had Anika creaming all over his pole. There was no need to announce her climax. Her pulsating walls was all the greeting Lano needed to speed up the pace. His balls slapped against her thighs as he held her legs back and drove his dick inside her.
Anika’s mouth fell open in awe at the way he had her cumming back to back. As if he hadn’t been skilled in making his pussy cum for years. “Shiiiit. Right there!”
He pulled out and thrust back inside her. “Right here?”
She nodded vehemently. “Yes! Yes! Fuck! Right there,” she answered on the brink of explosion.
Lano wasn’t too far behind. Sitting up some, he pumped swiftly inside her, loving the sounds he
r gushiness made. His thumb rubbed at her clit with the same amount of speed as he stroked and before long, Lano was shooting off inside her. His entire body locked up like a car with a horrible engine in need of oil. He didn’t ease up on the grip he had on her thighs until he was completely drained.
“Uuum. Just what I needed to start my day,” Anika hummed running her hands up his tatted chest.
Lano kissed her lips and eased out of her before falling over onto his side of the bed. “I bet you did.”
Anika rolled over to face him. “I did. You know I have that meeting today with a content marketing manager and then the photographer.”
Lano yawned, feeling like he could get another hour of some good sleep in. It was still early enough, but he knew once he was up for the day, that was it. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept in late or took a nap in the middle of the day. His life didn’t permit him to do so.
Gawking at her man with love in her eyes, Anika assessed his manly features and grinned. Even in the morning as he rubbed the crust from his eyes and licked the taste of her from his lips, Anika knew in her heart he was the only man she ever wanted to wake up to.
“That’s right. I’m proud of you for following through with that,” he said looking her way and yawning again.
“Thank you. I’m nervous but excited too.”
“Being nervous is good, baby. Anyone with a passion for something should be I think. Just don’t get in there and clam up. These people are humans just like you, and at a point in time did something for their first time. Trial and error. Go in there and show them what you ‘bout. If they fucking with you, cool. If not, fuck ‘em. Just a lesson for the next obstacle.”
With ease, Lano mentally helped Anika prepare for her day that consisted of meetings. Taking Rylee’s advice, Anika trained herself as if she was already a model. Though she loved social media, she didn’t have the slightest idea on how to run it to receive major insight on what she was trying to accomplish. She had a pretty solid following, but not so much interaction. With her nervousness a little settled now, Anika nodded and swung her feet around to get off the bed.