by Autumn Sand
Most would take a hesitant step, but Tallie again surprises and walks around as if she belonged here all along. I observe her as a spectator. Occasionally, she reaches a hand out to touch an object that has caught her attention or trace the tips of her fingers on a million-dollar painting. Ordinarily, I would stop a person from touching these priceless pieces but I find her, at this moment, to be the most priceless piece in my home.
My hands are shoved into my pants pockets as I walk casually behind her. Far enough to give her the freedom to explore but close enough to feel her sexual magnetism.
Tallie turns her head to look at me and then back at the artistic impressionism of me I had done some years back. She smiles cleverly and places her finger on her chin, looking at the painting again. It is painted in dark colors with splashes of red. The paint strokes are brutal-looking on canvas. What should be a replication of my face instead is distorted and obscured by the paint strokes. No one other than the artist and myself knows the man in the painting is me. It is my version of Dorian Grey.
“I see the likeness,” she says as she stares at the painting.
Standing behind her, I inhale her scent of freesia. “What do you see?” My voice comes out gruff.
Turning around slowly, her eyes dig deep into my soul, and she says, “I see a man who has done a lot of bad things.”
I take a step back and chuckle. “Do you? Are you now going to say I did bad things for the right reasons?”
I turn around and walk towards my wet bar in the living room. I feel her behind me as I pour us both a snifter of Louis XIII Cognac. She takes the snifter, then lowers herself onto the couch and crosses her bottled bronzed legs. “No, not at all. You did not do any of it for the right reasons. You did it for your sake, and your sake alone.”
From anyone else, I would be irritated by this assessment but with her, it adds another layer of intrigue. “Are you calling me selfish?” My comment comes off as if I’m joking but I am genuinely interested in her answer.
Her eyes squint for a second as she looks at me. “Oh no, you’re not selfish at all. You gave me options tonight and selfish men offer no options. The only thing they know is to take.”
My eyes widen at her admission. “What if I told you that you were wrong? What if I told you I’m a thief. No, not money but of other things.” Lives, mostly; I steal lives. Bone Collector is one of the many names I’ve been called.
She downs her cognac and sensually licks her lips. Tallie rises slowly from the couch and smooths down what we both know are false wrinkles on her dress. Her hands move down from her waist and to her wide hips. She knows I am watching her every movement, almost hypnotized. She struts over to me a la Marilyn Monroe and playfully places her hand on my shoulder, tracing it down my back as she walks in the direction of my open bedroom door.
Standing in front of the bedroom door, she turns her head with a come-hither look and says, “You can’t take what is being offered to you.”
Without waiting for his response, I walk into the bedroom that is large enough to fit my entire apartment into. Guessing right, I find the bathroom to the en suite. My mother’s disapproving eyes stare back at me in the mirror, causing me to stumble backward. Dear God, please forgive me of my multitude of sins. For the sin, I’m about to commit. I’m worth saving, aren’t I?
My soul was damned a long time ago.
Slipping out of my skimpy dress, I let it drop to the floor, with my years of sin and guilt. Admiring my body in the mirror, I replace the last of the thoughts of debauchery that has become my second skin. I can almost imagine his mouth dropping open when he takes a look at me. My hands reflexively begin to show my body some love. My fingers play with my nipples to perk them up for him. Nothing like walking into a room with perky nipples to get a man hard as a rock. Though, let’s face it, he’s hard for me already.
I give myself one last assessing look and make a mental note to get my vajayjay waxed tomorrow. As if by second nature, my eyes scan his bathroom counter for women’s toiletries and a feeling of giddiness goes through me.
Blindly, my hand reaches for the light switch, cloaking myself in darkness as I saunter my way seductively into the bedroom. My lover for the evening leans against a wall, facing the bed with his hands resting in his pockets. The air suddenly feels thick with lust and my skin prickles with anticipation. His eyes watch my every move, like he’s the hunter and I’m …what…his prey? This is the one thing I’m good at and often command the situation, but with trembling legs and butterflies in my stomach, I hold my sweaty palms at my side.
Silence has often been a welcomed friend but this time this bitch is deafening to my ears.
For the first time, I’m unsure of myself and unsure if he wants me.
My greens collide with his coal black eyes, in hopes of him giving me a signal of what to do next. After all, I’m standing stark naked in his presence and for the first time, I feel underdressed.
Before I muster up the courage to speak, he walks towards the bed and I’m suddenly rooted in place. His motions are fluid and with purpose.
He caresses my chin, playfully rubbing his thumb across my lips. “The things I could do to your body,” he murmurs as if he is lost in thought.
Reaching for his tie, I pull him into me. “Well, instead of talking about it, how about you show me?” My voice sounds like a sexy moment with Marilyn Monroe.
He begins peppering my lips with feathery kisses. Then, just as quickly as the kisses started, they end as he pulls away.
“Not tonight,” he says, leaving me stunned.
Wait. What? My eyes widen in the disbelief this man has turned me down. Men never turn me down. Then it dawns on me. Perhaps he’s married? I look at his left hand and…where did that manila folder come from?
He holds the folder up and tosses it on the bed. “Take a look. I don’t normally do this, but the problem merits me dialing you in.”
“What the hell is going on?” I ask while staring at the unknown folder on the bed. “Is this some type of joke? Do you have some kinky fetish with Office Depot supplies?” My cheeks flush and my voice is indignant at the situation.
He throws his head back in laughter, “Well, I do have a kink here and there, but that folder is just a folder. At least, a folder with some very important information in it.”
I pick up the folder and stare at it, unsure if I should open it or not. “What’s in it?”
“Papers, pictures, information.” He leans against the wall, waiting for me to open it.
Why am I suddenly afraid to do exactly what he is asking me to do?
The room feels a lot larger than it really is and I’m that small object in the center of it all, like I’m lost in space. A shiver goes up my spine and I definitely fear the worst. My world will change once I open this folder and I know it.
“What if I don’t want to?” I spare him a quick glance as I pick it up.
“Then that is very sad that you don’t want to help Manny.” His hands go into his pockets as he stares at me intently.
I straighten at the sound of Manny’s name. “How do you know Manny?” The forgotten folder falls to the floor and the articles that were in it spread across the space in front of me. A picture of a man with a bullet to the head, a picture of a woman’s bullet-ridden body hanging out of a car. I can’t make out what the paperwork says, but I do see pictures of Tony, Tick, Magnum, and…oh my God, it’s a picture of me.
Quickly, I stand. “What the hell? Why do you have a picture of me?” Alarm bells go off in my head. Tick was right, I didn’t know what I was getting into. I try to make a run for the bathroom but he is quicker and blocks me.
“I’m not here to hurt you.” He holds his hands up in an effort to prove to me he won’t do any harm. Well, too late for that.
“What do you want with me? How do you know Manny?” Then it hits me. Is he holding Manny captive? He did say it’s a shame I won’t help him. A concoction of fear mixed with a double dose of ang
er flows through me. I shove him. “What did you do to Manny?”
“He’s fine, I promise you.” His hands are still up, as I shove him again.
“You liar.” He has to be one of Tony’s many enemies. I search my brain for some of the stuff I overheard him and Tick talk about when they were in a mob war a few years ago. It had something to do with Tony’s brother, I think. What was his name? Iggy?
“Are you a part of Iggy’s crew? You want revenge?”
“No, I’m not part of his crew.” He smirks at me.
I try to run around him but he grabs me by the waist. “I thought you said you weren’t going to hurt me,” I scream, as I try to wiggle my way out of his grasp.
“I’m not. I just need you to hear me out.” He speaks as if he is speaking to a dimwit. Yeah, guess that would be me. I’m the idiot who came to a stranger’s house for a quick fuck, just so I can dull my senses for an hour.
“Then, let go of me.” I strike out at his arm again and try to scratch him.
He leans into my ear, as my naked ass is pressed against his crotch. His breath tickles me and damn him, I fucking become wet for the son of a bitch. The more I move, the more I feel his growing erection. Somehow, this excites me more when I should be fighting for my life.
“If I let you go, you promise not to run?” he murmurs against my ear.
Damn him, I close my eyes and savor his warm breath against my neck. I’m without a voice because I am caught up in the rest of my senses. But I do manage a nod. He exhales slowly before finally letting me go. My instinct tells me to give it another try and run, but I also know it would be a fruitless effort. Instead, I walk to the bed and take a seat.
“Fine, talk.” I cross my arms over my bare breasts.
“I’m Manny’s older brother.”
That’s why he looked familiar to me, yet still different. Where Manny’s face lacks sharp features and coal black eyes, El’s does. His face looks like it was chiseled by a sculptor.
“Oh.” For some reason, that was the best I could come up with. “So, he’s okay?”
He looks down for a moment and then looks back to me. “Yes and no. Yes, he is fine. I have him in hiding with his wife, Zoe, and their son, Lamont. No, because of unfinished business in New York.”
What is going on? “I take it you need my help with the unfinished business?”
He nods slowly and waits for me to ask more questions.
I rub my hands through my hair in hopes of making a way for clear thinking. None comes. “How exactly could I help? Wouldn’t Tony and Tick be the better people to talk to?” I bend forward and pick up the folder and items off of the floor.
El sits next to me, placing a hand on my knee, instantly sending shiver throughout my body. My nipples stiffen. Fuck, the sexual hold he has over me.
“You saw how they reacted to my presence. Even if I am Manny’s brother, they won’t trust me.”
My eyes narrow when I look at him. “So, you think you can trust me? Why should I trust you?”
“First, I trust you because my brother trusts you with his life. Why should you trust me? Personally, I think you answered your own question by your presence in my bedroom. Because, if you felt I was a threat to you in any way, you wouldn’t have come to my house.”
“Ha. Little do you know, I fuck many men a week. Most of them, I can’t recall their names or faces.” I take my hand and brush the tip of my finger against his chin. “You see, I’m not picky.”
He removes my hand from his face, and with lightning speed, pins me to the bed, his face a mere half-inch from mine. “Yeah, I know women like you. You bury your pain in an orgasm. The following morning, you look in the mirror with regret but by nightfall, you do it all…over…again. Hoping to drown out what haunts you at night. Even if the affection is only for the duration of sex, you crave it. It’s something you need to make yourself feel alive.”
Without warning, his mouth crushes onto mine. His tongue breaks through my barriers and lets him in as his words swirl around in endless twirls in my head.
Damn him, he is right. I do need this, I need sex. It helps me to forget, if only for a moment. I need to forget.
His kiss pushes me over a cliff and I’m now free falling into familiar territory. Something I can control—just about the only part of my life I’m in full control of. My eyes close and I moan deeply into his mouth. Our hands are clasped together above my head. I buck my hips into him until he pins me down completely with his weight.
Umph.
His lips pull away from mine, and searches my eyes. “You’ll do anything for it, won’t you? It’s like a drug to you.”
I roll my head to the side so I can look anywhere but at the truth. My face warms with embarrassment. “Get off of me.”
To my surprise, he does exactly as I ask, and to my regret. He rises and adjusts himself.
“Get dressed, we have business to discuss.” With that, he walks out of the room, leaving me behind to wallow in my sin.
I wait for her on my balcony, Chicken sitting with me. He is still skeptical about me bringing her in to help us but even he had to admit this is the quickest way to thwart Pedro’s men’s impending attack. We both sip on our individual glasses of doubt.
“You think she’ll do it?” he asks.
I shrug. “Not sure. Her mind was on something else when she came here. I hit her with a bit of a bombshell. Might have to give her a day or two to adjust before she agrees.”
“We could ask someone else at Pulse, it might be easier. We also still have the Colombians, they said they will have some information for us soon.”
I hear the unspoken message in his words. Easier being it would be someone I won’t fuck. Normally, I don’t believe in mixing business with pleasure, but right now, I’m willing to throw caution to the wind and give it a try. “Not sure if we got time to wait for the Colombians. Why not have a few pots on the stove cooking at the same time?”
“True. It’s always good to have more than one option.” He shrugs.
“Besides, Castillo isn’t exactly a fucker I trust.”
“Got one for me?” Tallie’s voice is like a caress on my crotch.
Chicken quickly rises and heads inside to pour her a drink as she takes his now vacant seat.
“Better?” I perk an eyebrow at her.
She settles into the chair and shrugs. “I guess.”
Silence surrounds us and I try to read the situation before pushing forward. Chicken returns with her drink and holds it out. She takes it and gulps it quickly, handing him the empty glass.
He looks at me with a slight grin before disappearing into the house again.
“Okay, what you got to tell me? Manny’s in trouble?” She shifts in her chair to face me, her legs tucked underneath her.
“I…he needs your help.” I pause for a second to let the words sink in before hitting her with the next bombshell. “A few months back, we had to kill a gangster named Pedro. His men are looking for revenge against my brother. He can’t come back until I handle the situation.”
I level my eyes on her, gauging her every movement, breath, and count the seconds before she responds.
She lifts her arms. “Umm, I’m not exactly a gangster. Don’t you think you would come out better getting someone else?”
“Manny says you’re smart and good at reading people. Pedro’s men are trying to find a way to bring Manny out of hiding. No one knows I’m his brother, except…”
Her eyes widen. “Me?”
“Yes, you. And Chicken, of course. I’m showing you how I’m putting my trust in you by telling you that much. Because of my uh…my uh...extracurricular activities, it’s best that no one knows who my family is.” I lift the glass to my lips and take a long sip of the expensive liquor.
“Yeah, I figured you had extracurricular activities. No one travels with that type of entourage unless they’re important. And let’s face it, you don’t exactly look like a politician.” She takes the glas
s Chicken hands her. This time, she doesn’t down the drink but takes a taste and plays with the orange zest in the glass. She dips her fingers in the amber liquid a few times and then licks her finger.
I’m not going to lie, watching her lick her finger makes me want to grab her and fuck her right here on this balcony. Fuck business, pleasure can come first for once.
“So, are you willing to help?” Chicken asks.
She rolls her eyes at him. “What exactly do you need me to do? I don’t know how to shoot a gun, so…”
We both laugh at her ridiculous comment.
“Umm, I think we can handle the gun play, if there was any. I need an inside man in Pulse. I could bring a man and get him hired, but I think it would be better if you were that person. You have their trust, whereas a new person wouldn’t.” I finish the last of my drink and set the glass on top of the table between us.
“What?” She sits upright instantly. “You want me to spy for you?” She places her glass next to mine and stands. “I’m not spying on my friends. I’m outta here.”
She is already halfway to the double door when I yell out, “Lives could depend on this.”
Instantly, she stops, her back still facing us. “Whose?”
I walk towards her slowly until I my chest touches her back. Her body reacts to my closeness and I can’t lie, I react as well. “We don’t know yet. It could be any one of them. What we do know is that there is an inside man working there already. You could find the inside person for us, give me the information, and I take it from there.”
She turns around, and the pull towards her is like the earth orbiting the sun. “Why wouldn’t I just turn the info over to Tony?”
“The fewer people involved, the better. We’re trying to contain the situation as quickly as possible.”
“Am I in danger?” She says the words as if she was ordering a drink, with no fear at all.
I debate if I should tell her the truth, then decide to go for it. “Yes, simply because you work at the club and you’re a friend of Manny’s. Tallie, trust me when I say this. These people will stop at nothing to exact their revenge on Manny. That means, if they have to kill his friends, they will. But I will protect you. I swear to you I will. I promised my brother I would.”