It was a Monday morning, and almost a week had gone by since Juanty had heard from Johnathon. She missed him dearly and had actually been low key stalking him for the past few days. She didn’t really consider it stalking. She just followed them sometimes, to make sure they were safe. She needed to know if Olivia was getting better and if Johnathon had a rebound chick.
Good thing there was no evidence of that because she was prepared to scratch anyone’s eyeballs out for looking at her man. She couldn’t get him off her mind, and she was miserable for it.
“Girl, don’t listen to Pearl. She’s just mad because she doesn’t have a man,” Ayanna said.
“What? Everybody knows Pearl Yaquita Bone’t Patel has never had trouble getting a man.” She dropped her ass to the floor while bouncing up and down, leopard skirt now above her waist, flashing her matching leopard thong for all of Atlanta to see.
Ayanna frowned and waved Pearl off. “First of all, that is not even your real name, and secondly, girl, don’t nobody wanna see all that. Would you kindly get your tail off our floor? I just mopped.” Pearl hopped up, pulling down her skirt and bopping over to the window, doing Tiffany Haddish’s version of the Nay-Nay.
“What I want to know is, where the hell is the music that got you over there acting like the whole darn Soul Train?” Juanty made the comment and found herself laughing for the first time in days. Zaire and Ayanna joined in, and the four ladies cracked up while getting the boutique ready for business.
The Corset Boutique was the place where they spent most of their time together. They had moved to Atlanta, hoping to finally settle down for good. As long as they had been a family, they lived as nomads, traveling the world, meeting people from all walks of life, both human and preternatural, collecting valuables and living their best lives. As freeing as that was, the yearning to find love was so strong, they decided to settle down, making good use of everything they had collected over the years. Corset represented home for them, but also a place they could share a piece of their lives without sharing their most precious secret: the fact that they were not human.
They enjoyed spending time together daily, and that showed at Corset. They each had unique gifts as business owners and animals. Zaire was mama bear in every sense of the word. She was smart and serious. She didn’t play games when it came to her younger sisters. She would protect them to the death. She was the overseer at the office, handling the managerial aspects of both the boutique and the club, which was next door. Simply put, she was the boss.
Ayanna was sweet and soft-spoken and could sew her butt off. She had a knack for making clothes, but corsets were her passion. The corset came from a time when women were ladies; a time that Ayanna treasured and often wished she could revisit. She was mild-mannered and kept to herself, but was a beautifully fierce jaguar, and very deadly.
Pearl could sell a hotel stay at San Quinten. Yes, she was that good. Her beauty was undeniable. Only, she didn’t know it. She took Ratchet Street everywhere she went. She never took the path of least resistance, as though she welcomed the hard life. She was the best friend everyone wanted in his or her corner. In short, she was unbelievably amazing, making no apologies for who she was. She kept Ayanna busy for sure, making corsets and every other fashion item we had on the racks in the store, but behind the beauty, jokes, and quick wit was a bad ass who took no shit from anyone. She was dangerous and would kill anything that moved when provoked.
Juanty was the organizer. The interior designer. She loved organizing and decorating. She was kind, but a little sad. She was just incomplete after losing her family, and could not figure out happiness until Johnathon and Olivia came into her life. Her animal was the darkest of them all, in more ways than one. The most beautiful as well. She kept her rage locked up, but would release it on anyone she deemed worthy. For that reason, she was the most dangerous of all the sisters. A bomb waiting to do what it was meant to do— explode.
People lined up at the door to get in to buy the antiques the ladies had collected over the centuries. They put careful consideration into their collection of expensive trinkets from the past and kept them in storage within the home they had built for themselves. They sold everything from furniture, to expensive jewelry pieces, dishes, and of course, corsets.
“I wanna know how we gon’ find that billy goat looking bitch to kill her. Since Juanty won’t stop moping around here acting like she’s on punishment, we might as well just kill her, and all them damn gruffs following behind her so she can go get her man,” Pearl reasoned.
Juanty, who was on a ladder, thought the very same thing. She was sick of losing to that witch and was ready to get rid of her, once and for all.
Zaire spoke up. “I have been thinking about this. We don’t have to go searching for her. If Juanty goes to see Johnathon again, it will pull her out of her little hiding place to do something crazy. She does not seem like the type of woman that likes to be challenged by someone of our race. If we piss her off, she will come to us. She is hoping for it.” She made perfect sense, but Juanty was not having it. There was no way she would risk that precious baby any more than she already had.
“No way, Zaire. I won’t put them at risk.”
“Suit yourself, Juanty, but you have been following and stalking him anyway, so you might as well commit to it. Pull her out of her hole. We will be there to make sure nothing happens to them. You already know we have your back.”
“What do you have to lose, Jay?” Ayanna agreed.
“Give me some time to think about it.”
Juanty climbed off the ladder and grabbed one of the mannequins from behind the register. She dressed it with one of Ayanna’s beautiful, sky blue velvet corsets with nickel-plated buttons down the front and white trim at the bottom. The top of the garment was accented with a white Guipure French lace.
“Ladies, can you hold it down for an hour or so? I have something I need to do. Pearl, can I borrow your car?”
***
Juanty pulled up a few doors down from Johnathon’s house. She knew Zaire was right. She had to pull Elizabeth out of her bottomless pit in order to confront her. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her two new favorite people. She suspected Johnathon hated her and would probably never forgive her for dragging him and Olivia into this mess, but she was in way too deep to forget about him, and hoped that deep down, he felt the same.
She could barely breathe without Johnathon and Livy, let alone live without them. She found herself just sitting there, waiting to see if they would come out. She needed to at least know that Livy felt better since she was ill the last time they were together. Before Sye had shown up the morning of the fire, Olivia awoke, screaming at the top of her lungs. Juanty rushed into her room to pick her up and noticed she had vomited all over her crib. After cleaning her up and changing the bedding, she dumped the soiled linen in the wash and started the machine. She then sat with her, singing a song her mother had sung to her as a little girl, and she sang to her own child.
Mama’s little sugar lump a pootanienootnie noo
A pootanienootnie noo a pootanienootnie noo
Mama’s little sugar lump a pootanienootnie noo all the day long
Juanty sang the song until Livy calmed herself and drifted off to sleep again. She held her close and cradled her, remembering what it felt like to be a mother. She vowed from that moment on, that while she could never replace her own child, she would do her best to protect this one with her life.
She left her thoughts when she noticed Sye coming out of Johnathon’s house. She wondered where she was going. There was something off about her, and Juanty didn’t trust her. Her instincts told her to follow. She made sure she stayed a reasonable distance and trailed her several miles to a park in Alpharetta. She waited for Sye to exit her car and walk a good distance before she would get out and follow. She had just decided it was time, but as she opened her door, she saw a white woman approach Sye. She could not believe her eyes.
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br /> The woman gave her a small bottle of something Juanty could not recognize. She placed it around her neck, and the two then walked further into the park. Juanty got out and quietly closed her car door. She pulled her cell phone from her purse and eventually dialed nine of the ten numbers required to make the call before she dropped it to the ground, cracking it to pieces. Sye and Elizabeth had made their way into the restricted part of the wooded area. Before Juanty’s eyes, Sye and Elizabeth both shifted and disappeared into the woods.
Juanty stumbled back, but caught her footing before she fell. She could not believe what she had seen. She was sick without Johnathon, but had she completely lost her mind? This changed everything. She had to warn him of the actual danger he was in, but how could she? He would never believe that Sye was a shapeshifter. Damn, first, his mother, and now Sye. Was everybody a damn shifter? She thought she was keeping a big secret, but it seemed as though everyone had already gotten the shapeshifter memo.
None of this really mattered now. Most importantly, she needed to warn Johnathon. He was literally sleeping with the enemy. Juanty rushed back to her car, leaving the broken phone behind. She climbed in and sped off.
Chapter Twelve
What’s wrong with Daddy’s baby? She was still fussy and couldn’t hold anything down. She was getting more ill by the moment. The doctors couldn’t find anything in her bloodwork, so they brushed it off as a stomach virus that had to run its course. Johnathon was getting more concerned by the moment, but at least he didn’t have to worry about missing work. The center was closed for repairs. He had insurance that would take care of most of what was lost in the fire, but it was an estimated six month of work to be done before the contractors would be finished.
There were still no leads on who could have done this. He had thought about calling Juanty because she knew what was going on, but he had treated her so coldly without even listening to her first. He could barely eat or sleep since the last time they had spoken, and the only reason he got up in the mornings was to take care of Livy. How could everything be going perfectly one minute, then be so messed up the next? He couldn’t get her out of his head. He wanted her so badly and felt like he needed a support group to get over it. Although he knew there was not a program good enough to help him get over this woman.
He left the crib where he was watching his adorable little girl sleeping, something she had been doing a lot of lately, and moved to the rocker seated in the corner of her room to try to get a much-needed nap. He leaned back, put the rocker in motion, and closed his eyes. Of course, his first thought was of Juanty, and those beautiful eyes that mesmerized him. They were not like any color he had seen before, and they captivated him. He thought of the last time they were in his bed. The thought of not being able to feel her once more was pure agony. Everything he looked at reminded him of her. He tossed and turned at night because he could still smell her sweet scent, despite washing his sheets several times.
The doorbell rang, causing him to jump. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up the baby, so he quietly exited the room, closing the door behind him. He rushed to his room and reached for his gun box inside of his nightstand drawer. Quickly, he punched in a set of numbers that unlocked the box and clutched the weapon. He made his way to the living room door. He opened it and was surprised to see who was standing in front of him.
With a bit more enthusiasm than he wanted to show, he asked, “Juanty, what are you doing here?”
“I know I am the last person you probably want to see right now, but I am here to warn you. I mean, I haven’t put all the pieces together yet, but I do know enough to know you are in a great deal of danger. I need you to hear me out.”
Johnathon could barely hear a word she said because her beauty drowned out all sense of thought or reason. She was wearing an all-black corset with gold buttons down the front, pushing up her small, but perfectly proportioned breasts, and black, form-fitting pants. Her hair had her signature side part and was curlier than usual, giving her a softer look. Her face was free of makeup, except for a bit of mascara to extend her already ridiculously long lashes. A fuchsia flower in her hair accented her ensemble, and she smelled clean like soap and her body’s own natural scent. Before he knew what he was doing, he had swept her up into his arms.
“Sunshine, I missed you so much.”
She was in shock. She expected him to try to chase her away. She looked at his handsome features and gave a slight smile.
“I’ve missed you, too, baby, but we need to talk. This is urgent.”
Johnathon pulled away reluctantly and let her in. “Is it safe for you to be here? You said I was in great danger. What do you mean by that?”
Juanty made her way to the sofa and motioned for Johnathon to come sit next to her, patting her hand against the soft cushion.
Johnathon sat beside her, tilted his head, and watched her carefully with concern in his eyes.
“For now, you and Livy are safe, but I must warn you that the danger you seek refuge from is not me, but your nanny.”
Johnathon’s eyes widened, shock on his face. “Who, Sye? No. That could not possibly be right. She was my wife’s best friend. We have known her since high school. She loves Olivia.” He rubbed a hand through his waves and dropped his head. “How do you know this, Juanty?”
“Johnathon, there are many things in this world you have no knowledge of and would not believe, even if I told you it was true.”
“Okay, now you are scaring me. What’s going on, Juanty? Where is Sye now?”
“I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Johnathon? I love you. Do you trust me?”
Johnathon stood to his feet, backing away, stumbling over the coffee table leg. “Fuck! Do I have a choice right now? All I know is when someone asks if they trust them, it’s always something really, really fucked up.”
“I promise you, you can trust me, and I will protect you and Livy with my life. I will not hurt you.” Juanty stood slowly and backed away from Johnathon so she would not pose a threat. She stood on one side of the coffee table and began to remove the beautiful black corset he couldn’t take his eyes off of.
He wanted to be angry at her comment about protecting them. What did she mean? He was a man. A strong, proud and capable man. He wanted to tell her exactly that, but he was busy trying to keep his composure while watching her breasts spill out of the sexy garment.
“SHIT, Jay! Somebody is trying to kill us, and you want sex right now? I mean, that shit is real sexy, but damn you a freak.” Johnathon could not believe the woman. He watched her discard every stitch of clothing and neatly arrange the items on the arm of the sofa.
“Now. Johnathon. I need you to be very, very still, and don’t move an inch.”
“Baby, you’re standing in front of me naked. Trust me when I tell you that I cannot help but for my inches to move. All eight of them.”
Juanty shook her head and pulled the coffee table to the other side of the room, creating a large, open space. She had a strange look on her face, as if she were nervous but determined.
“Juanty, what is this about?”
She answered him when her nails stretched from their beds, hooking into claws, and her long, sharp teeth began to protrude. Johnathon’s eyes widened in horror, but he remembered that she told him not to move an inch. He stood motionless as her neck cracked and bones snapped, making him want to upchuck. She crouched down before morphing into a humungous black cat before his eyes. Her eyes were now the most brilliant gold he had ever seen. He remembered the same eyes flash at him as he made love to her in her office for the first time. However, he had no time to think about that now since his girlfriend was about to eat him.
The beast did not move, and neither did he. It was huge compared to what he thought a panther would be. She was well muscled. Her legs were short and strong, and her head was massive. All of that paled when compared to her color. She was as black as a hundred starless midnights. She was amazing to behold, beautiful and
majestic.
Johnathon obeyed the massive creature and did not move an inch, but his mind was thinking of a way out, to get his daughter to safety. He didn’t want to lead the beast in that direction and thought she would be safer if he just let her sleep. The doorbell rang, but he dared not move. He heard a key engage the lock, and he knew it would be Sye. The beast growled.
“Fuck.” Now was not the time for visitors, he thought.
Once the door opened, his mother entered, and Johnathon rushed towards the woman and tackled her to the floor.
“Ma, don’t move!” He covered her with his body, waiting for the animal to attack, but instead of feeling teeth clamping down on his leg like the jaws of life, he felt his mother push him off as she helped herself from the floor and brushed the imaginary dust off her dress.
“Boy, you are so darn dramatic. Get up off the floor and come greet this fabulous creature.” Johnathon looked perplexed and stood in awe as his mother walked in close proximity to the cat.
“I was coming by to check on my gorgeous grandbaby and was pretty surprised when I saw Juanty in her more beautiful form. I decided if she was brave enough to let you in on her little secret, then surely, I could do the same. Now, I will not shift while this beauty is in animal form. We have not gotten to know each other yet, and I am not sure if our animals will like each other, so you will have to wait for a more opportune time to see how beautiful and deadly your mother is. I still got it, son.” She winked at him for effect.
He looked around the room for the camera. “Am I being punked?”
“I assure you, this is no joke. There are things in this world that I have tried to protect you from. Things you had no idea existed until now.”
“So what are you saying, Mom? You’re one, too?” His head started swimming, and he felt as though he would faint. He caught himself on the edge of the kitchen island and held firm to it.
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