“Tell me his name.”
“No,” she says.
“You know I can find it easily.”
“Your brother already knows.”
My eyes narrow. “Kenzo?” She nods. “Did your husband hurt you?”
“You hurt me,” she reminds me, moving her body and wincing.
“You enjoyed that though.”
“My face didn’t the first time,” she scolds.
“I didn’t like you then,” I say. “So who was I to care if you fell.”
“So, you like me now?”
“You’re fuckable. Or have you forgotten?” I slide my hand up her towel and touch her pussy.
“No. No way. I’m sore.” She pushes my hand away. “Shoo.”
I chuckle as I pull my hand away.
“Why was your hand bloody?” she asks, running her finger over the hand that rests on her stomach.
“I’ve learned some things I’m not happy about,” I reply.
“Do you want to share?”
“If I tell you and you leave me or share the information, I will kill you.”
“Okay, best not to then.” She nods in agreement.
I pull my hand away and look up at the ceiling, silently thinking.
Before I got home, I went to see Pops, and he lied to my face. I asked him if he knew why the last hit was taken, and he gave me the same story as before.
He lied.
He was paying back a favor.
But I think that favor was his own.
A cover-up.
He was mad, furious, that I was even questioning him. It’s not something any of us have done previously. We’ve always trusted his judgment, and maybe we shouldn’t have.
We’re no angels, far from it, and I’m sure there is a special place in hell for us, but right now, we aren’t there.
Pops asked me if I wanted to stop. Said he would stop giving me jobs for a while. That I most likely simply needed a break.
It’s interesting because before I found out his dirty little secret, he would be mad as hell at me for wanting to stop, but now he’s offering a choice.
Which makes me believe he’s hiding something more.
But what?
“I can hear you thinking,” she mumbles, her eyes closed and half asleep. She reaches out and places her hand on my bare chest then taps it with her fingertips before she settles her hand flat on me. “Time for sleep. I have work tomorrow, and I would hate to tell them I’m late because I have a sore ass.” I laugh and soon hear a small snore leave her mouth. Turning to my side, I watch her, then fall asleep with the shape of her face behind my eyelids.
And I wonder, Can I kill her husband without her knowing?
Sixteen
Kalilah
When I wake, Kyson is not in bed.
My ass is stinging, but I had an amazing sleep. The door opens, and Nancy quietly enters. She’s careful not to turn on the light, but I see her kind smile anyway.
“Mr. Hunter asked that I wake you if you didn’t wake in time. You have work soon.”
“Thanks, Nancy.” She stands there for a moment, and I know she’s dying to say something else. “What do you want to know, Nancy? Just ask me… I’m not him.”
“I want to say this makes me happy.” She smiles and waves a hand at the bed before she turns and leaves the room.
Sitting up, I feel the sting straight away on my ass. Managing to stand, I walk over to the mirror in his mahogany walk-in closet and switch on the light before I turn around to look. His handprints are evident all over my ass. I bite my lip as I study them and remember why I’m so sore everywhere.
In the best way possible.
Who knew sex could be so much fun? Instead of wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, which is all I was used to. Now…
“That ass sure does look good.” I jump at the sound of his voice but don’t bother covering myself. The man’s seen me naked, peeing, passed out, and possibly worse. Kyson stalks in, and when I say stalk, I mean exactly that. Dressed in all black, he walks straight over to me, bends down, and before I can figure out what he’s doing, his lips are on my ass, and he’s placing a soft kiss on it before he stands back up. “I got back early. You were snoring, so I didn’t want to wake you.” He removes his black jacket and steps past me to hang it up in his walk-in closet.
“My brothers will be over soon, and you have work, so I’d suggest you get out of my sight before I fuck you again. Keys for the car are on the hook near the door.” He turns to face me, now in only a black button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I reach for the jacket he just hung up. Slinging it on, I smile, not saying a word before I saunter out and straight to my room.
Or his room.
Actually, they’re all his, but this is the one I have been staying in.
After quickly getting dressed, I fix my face and brush my hair back, pulling it into a high ponytail. I step into the hallway to the sound of talking. At the bottom of the steps are four men. One is Kyson, two are his brothers, and the fourth is a man I don’t know, who seems to be a little older. He stares at me intently. I descend the stairs and shoot them a smile as I head for where the car keys hang and pluck them off their hook.
“Have a good day, Kalilah,” Kenzo says.
A part of me doesn’t want to turn back around, but I smile at Kenzo and nod. Taking one last glance at Kyson, I walk out the door with my head held high.
It’s late when I arrive back at Kyson’s house.
I stayed a little longer at work for more training in customer service, and I think I finally have it down. Not all of it, because I’m obviously still learning, but I like what I’m doing. I wish I could earn enough to even think about owning half the things these women come in to buy. Like, what do they do?
I realized early on that I should never assume it’s the husband’s money. Over sixty percent of the women who come into the shop are independent and not married. One lady said today, “I buy things because it makes me feel good. Money comes and goes, but that feeling of knowing I earned and deserve what I buy is wonderful.” And I smiled at her as I handed her the twenty-thousand-dollar bag and thought how crazy that sounded.
I guess coming from someone who struggles, it would be out of the norm. But for all I know, she may have come from nothing and worked her way up. And why wouldn’t you celebrate that? No one will love you as much as you do or celebrate your wins as well as you can.
At least, that’s been my experience.
I married Tony when I was eighteen, and from then on, I lived with him and did everything he wanted to do. That included turning away from my family because I believed what he said.
They didn’t want us together. And I have since realized, what person, who loves you wouldn’t want your happiness?
I even let him steal from them.
Now that was an all-time low.
Even I know that.
It’s why I’ve never gone back.
Because they know it was me who let him in.
They had locks and passcodes, and the only person who knew them and had access was me.
But Tony said we needed the money.
We didn’t, he did.
That should have been the first major red flag, but I let it go.