by Edwina Fort
She laughed. “Poor country mouse, whatever you do, stay away from The Beast. You are too innocent for him. He will destroy you. But yes, he has a name, Gabriel—Gabriel Calhoun. He’s the only son of the big time gangster, Calhoun.” I frowned.
“The white guy?” My words were beginning to slur.
“Naw silly, the black one!”
I nodded, although I still had no idea who she was talking about. Laughing at her, I brought my hand to her face. She jerked her head back.
“Girl, don’t mess up my makeup!”
I gently touched her face anyway, lightly palming her cheek.
“You city folks are so funny!”
She laughed. “And you are so high, country mouse.”
I opened my mouth appalled. At least, I think I was appalled; that made me laugh. Right then Reggie, Shugga’s errand boy came in the room. He took one look at me and came to a complete stop.
“Damn!” His eyes raked over my body before he brought his fist to his mouth.
“Shugga wasn’t lying! Shorty, you about to shut it down!”
I think he was hopping around, or maybe it was the drugs.
“Girl, you sexy as hell!” He began walking toward me, but right then Shanice put her hand on his chest.
“Uh uh pimp, this ain’t for you.” He frowned at her and shoved her hand away.
“Yeah whateva, it’s time for ya’ll to go out.” He looked back at me.
“I’m gone holla at you later.”
I nodded trying to keep my cool, but I was losing touch on my reality. I was slipping into a place that was nothing but feelings. Shanice pulled the little golden chain that was connected to my collar and began to sashay out to the floor.
I don’t know what the chain was for, maybe I was supposed to be a falcon or something. As we walked out to what the girls called the show room floor, the little voice in my head that was screaming for me to run, began to fade until I could no longer hear it.
The men cheered when they saw us. The music changed and the beat became erotic. It felt so good. I began moving my body like Shanice in front of me. I couldn’t help it. The music was doing something deep inside of my soul.
Shanice walked me to the golden cage. Crusher stood outside it with his meaty arms folded. When he saw me his mouth dropped open.
“Close your mouth Crush and open the cage!” Shanice yelled so she could be heard over the music.
“What ya’ll do to Yasmin?” He asked as he opened the cage and helped me in.
His eyes raked over my body. I should feel ashamed to be on display like a piece of meat but I didn’t. It felt so good to finally be noticed. I was always dressing down to disappear. Even now, although most of my body was showing, I was still in disguise.
No one here knew how I really looked. The only ones in this world that saw me fully were dead.
“Don’t let anyone get pass you. She stays in this cage!” She cupped her hand on the side of her mouth so that he could hear her better.
He nodded his head on his thick neck before he placed that mean mug back and crossed his mammoth sized arms again. I stood there looking down at Shanice, not sure of what to do. She stepped up on the block my cage was on.
“Come on Yas, dance for me baby. Show me how you country girls do it!” She began to move her hips.
I duplicated her movements, but my body had a mind of its own and was moving to its own tune. I let go and gave into the music that had wrapped around me like silk. I danced barefoot in the cage and it felt as if the bass caressed my feet before gently wrapping around my ankles. It slid up my thighs to my hips. When it began to caress my belly, my breath got caught in my throat as pleasure like I had never felt shot through me.
I gasped, when it felt as if it palmed my breast. I followed its path with my hands, and oh that felt so good.
Throwing my head back, I brought my hands up to caress my neck and my wig covered head. I wanted to snatch the thing off. I always wore a wig. I wanted my hair to be free. But I refrained because I had been trained most of my life to conceal it.
Instead, I put my hands over my head while moving my hips to the rhythm. I felt like I was on fire, my body wanted something, and I didn’t know what.
I don’t know how long I danced. I didn’t even notice the song changing, only that it changed. A spotlight shined on my cage that made me feel as if I was in a bubble with just me and the music.
But then something happened!
There was a force penetrating my bubble. I grabbed a hold of the cage still slowly moving my hips as I opened my eyes to scan the crowd.
Needing to know what kind of force it was that was penetrating through my drugged haze.
I saw blurs of vibrating people; men and the girls dancing on their laps. They all seemed to vibrate with the bass that was now controlling my body. Slowly, my eyes scanned over the movements before passing something that was solid. I stopped, and my gaze went back to it.
No, it went back to him.
He didn’t move like the others, he was solid as a rock. I focused in on him and found that force. It was his eyes. His midnight gaze was pure power. No, he was pure power. And he watched me—only me.
He was stable, unmoving, unrelenting, pure and unadulterated strength. When our eyes connected he sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. It seems as if that movement brought him closer. His fierce gaze narrowed in on me.
There was no doubt in my mind that he was The Beast they all spoke about. He was king here. The power that came off him was unlike any other man in this room. He was so fierce, so angry, and seemed so dangerous.
He stole my breath. I had never been in the presence of a man like this. If not for the drugs that made me feel brave, I would have demanded that Crusher let me out of this cage. Instead, I decided to tease The Beast, and even though holding his gaze was like holding the sun, I didn’t turn away.
One of the girls sashayed over to him, and without looking away from me, he lifted his hand and waved her off. She turned to follow his gaze toward me, and for just a split second I was able to focus on her face before she became a blur again.
Coco looked back at me with a look of raw hate. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as my eyes fell back on the only one who was not a blur, the only one that was stable. She was jealous because he… the king, was watching me—only me.
Oh! That gave me such a high. I threw back my head and laughed toward the ceiling. What you think about this country mouse now Ms. Coco. And to rub salt into the wound, I let my eyes go back to his and slowly ran my hand down my winding body.
I was messing with fire. He reeked of danger. He was so far out of my league, yet it was me he watched, so why not give him a show. I was safe in this cage. He could not get to me. My eyes closed as pleasure shot down my spine. I can’t explain what it was like teasing a hungry beast, especially knowing that he couldn’t touch me.
It was like being watched by a lion behind the glass at the zoo. His consuming, hungry gaze washed over my body, leaving a flaming path in its wake. I moaned as a shiver went through my core.
Needing… I didn’t know what I needed.
But I needed it so bad it hurt. He leaned over and said something to the man that sat next to him that was dressed in a white linen suit. The man’s gaze fell on me, before he nodded and stood coming my way.
I never took my eyes away from the king. I felt like I was his, and he was mine. But that couldn’t be, because I was nothing but a country mouse and he, The Beast of New York.
The man in the white approached Crusher and began talking to him, gesturing toward me. Crusher shook his head no. The man laughed as if the big security guard had told him a joke before he went into his wallet and pulled out five bills. He then folded them in his palm and shook Crusher’s hand.
A moment later, the security guard opened my cage and reached in for me, wrapping his hands around my waist and lifting me out.
There was a small voice inside o
f me saying that this was wrong. But the loud voice in me was curious to see what did the man in white want. I looked up at his face, but he was a blur that I could barely make out. I think he was handsome, clean shaven, unlike the king who had a full beard and long hair that was braided back on his head in cornrows.
“My boss wants to speak with you for a moment sweetheart.” He said taking my hand, leading me across the floor.
I scanned the room looking for Shanice, but the lights were dimmed, and all the girls were busy making money. He began leading me down the hall to the private lounge area.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
My spidey senses trying to cut on but the drugs were working hard to keep them numb. Lifting my hand, I rubbed the wall. Startled it was soft and felt good to my touch.
“Velvet!” I laughed as it caressed my fingertips.
The man looked back at me. I still couldn’t see his face clearly, but he was shaking his head, chuckling to himself.
“Damn, you so sweet. I almost feel sorry for you.”
I frowned at the direction of his back. “Why?”
“The Beast is going to devour you, little one.”
I laughed at his words, but there was something inside me that said I should be afraid.
“You make it sound like I’m a piece of pie.” I cracked myself up.
He chuckled shaking his head again.
“Funny you should mention pie, because my boy got a killer sweet tooth.” Stopping at one of the closed doors, he looked down at me.
“Chocolate pie, that’s how you’re going to feel when he’s done, hmmm, I’m jealous. Suddenly, I’m hungry for some chocolate pie as well.”
He opened the door and I walked into the room. I thought about him calling me chocolate pie, it reminded me of my pa-pa. He used to call me chocolate chip when I was a little girl.
Walking further into the room, I was thrilled to see that the walls in here were red velvet. In fact, everything in here was velvet except for the mirrors. I rubbed my hand on a red circular chair.
“It feels crazy!” I cried turning to look at him, but the words I was going to say next died in my throat.
The man in white was gone and standing there dangerously handsome in all black, looking fierce like the beast so many accused him of, was Gabriel Calhoun. He was so much bigger up close than he had been from across the room.
I took a step back. I think that maybe I should scream for help, but it was something in his deep midnight gaze that caused me to stall. It was as if it could see straight through me and into my soul.
Even with the drugs in my system my heart began to pound loudly in my chest. The power that came from this man was breathtaking. I put my hand to my throat as if that alone would protect me from him.
He was king!
Nothing about him said flexible. Everything about him said that he was extremely dangerous, like Ms. Willie Mae’s bipolar bull. I sucked in my breath sharply when my back came up against the velvet table. I wasn’t even aware I was still taking steps back.
He slowly walked toward me. I knew that I should run, but this powerful man was looking at me as if… as if he wanted me. I mean, really wanted me—not like Reggie, or Crush. Not like Mayor Davenport or the man in the white that said he suddenly had a taste for chocolate pie. The way this man was looking at me bypassed the want I had seen in any of their eyes.
“What do you want?”
My voice shook as I looked to the side to see if there was anywhere else for me to move. He was cornering me and I felt like a gazelle moments before it became prey to a lion.
“A taste.”
I closed my eyes as the vibration from his deep raspy voice caused my inside to come alive like it had never done before.
What was happening to me?
I gasped when his warm hands wrapped around my waist. Slowly, he lifted me and seated me gently on the velvet table in front of him. The whole time he watched me. There was nothing about me and my response to him that he missed.
I inhaled because he was so strong. He had easily lifted me off my feet and had taken his time bringing me up his big body to sit on the table in front of him. I jumped slightly when his hands settled on my thighs. He opened them to make room for his body as he stood in front of me.
The table was tall enough so we were at eye level. His gaze took me in fully. I felt like there were no parts of me he didn’t see. His eyes raked over my hair, my face, my mouth, my neck. He didn’t even try to hide his need for me. I licked my lips. His gaze followed.
I was not prepared for this moment. Nothing in my life trained me for this. My hands were in my lap and I began to twist my mother’s ring around my finger. He was just standing there, watching me—real close. So close that I could smell his spicy cologne. It smelled like danger.
“How is it that you’re here?” He asked.
I licked my lips again not understanding his question. He gently cupped my face with one hand and lightly rubbed his big thumb across my bottom lip; his eyes followed his finger.
“You’re innocent, I can smell it. Why are you here?”
I shrugged. He never looked away from my mouth—his appetite so real. As if it had a will of its own, his head lowered toward mine. He must have realized what he was doing because he paused and raised it just slightly.
“Can I kiss you?”
His hushed voice was causing something strange to happen in the pit of my belly. Oh man, I should say no, but how can I? I couldn’t be this close—so close to this kind of power and not want to experience what it tastes like.
I nodded my head slightly. He lowered his mouth to mine. The first touch of his lips was gentle. It was as if he just wanted to see if I would run, or melt. I lifted my hands to rest on his big shoulders. He brought his head up for just a moment. His thumb gently brushed across my bottom lip.
“You taste good.” He whispered.
I smiled, that kiss had been so sweet and nothing to be afraid of at all. The look he gave me then caused my smile to disappear as fear and excitement shot through me all at once. It was a dangerous look. It was the look a lion wore right before he pounced.
When his lips touched mine again, there was nothing gentle about it. His mouth took control, forcing my lips open. It was pure ravishment. I moaned as intense pleasure invaded my body to settle deep within my awakening core.
He aggressively sipped from my lips as if he was starved and I was his food. When he deepened the kiss the only thing I could do was ball his shirt up in my fist as I held on for dear life. My toes curled by his muscled legs.
Suddenly, he broke the kiss off and looked down at me frowning so fiercely. I shivered.
“Have you ever been kissed?”
His deep voice was playing havoc on my nervous system, I shook my head.
“Give me your tongue.” He rasped out before his hungry mouth took mine again.
I did what he told me, and oh my goodness! The way he kissed me now was beyond scandalous. I was lost. I couldn’t tell you where he ended and I began. He sucked from my lips and I was pleasantly overwhelmed.
At some point, he laid me back on the table as that ravenous mouth of his moved down to my neck. He was relentless, like a level five hurricane washing over me. Unrecognizable sounds were coming from my throat, breathy moans that filled the room.
He stood looking down at me through lowered lids as if I was a feast laid out for him. His hardness pressed against my softness was driving me wild. He used his big hands and easily lifted my hips up and down so that I rubbed against him in a way that was building an inferno inside of me. Causing that need I felt earlier to build, until it felt as if I was going to burst.
He grabbed one of my suspenders and lowered it causing the tape to snap off my breast. I squeaked from the slight pain that came from it, grabbing myself. He grinned like a wolf as he moved my hand away. His eyes darkening as he took in my fully exposed breast. The craving that was there in his gaze caused me to gasp
for breath as he slowly lowered his head and used his warm mouth to sooth my pain.
I can’t begin to describe the things he did to my body on that table. He relentlessly caused that need to grow in me until a scream ripped from my throat when my body began to shutter uncontrollably. Standing over me, he watched as I went up into a million burst, using his hand to gently stroke the flame. I blinked as I slowly floated back down to earth.
The impact from what he had done sobered me a bit; just enough so that the warning bells that had been silently ringing all along were now blaring. I sat up on the table using one of my arms to cover my exposed breast. The other I used to push at his chest, but he was unmovable like steel.
“Please.” I whispered.
My lips quivering from the tears that wanted to fall. The muscle ticked in his jaw as he watched me. I could see that he battled with his hunger.