Prologue
Cordae
I know there’s a heaven. It’s where my mother ended up after my father beat me out of her womb twenty-two years ago. How do I know she’s there? It’s hard to say. I’ve always felt it in my heart but never knowing her, I guess that doesn’t mean much. I like to believe she is though.
I also know there’s a hell. It’s where my father ended up after I took his life. He raised me, if that’s what you want to call it, until I was twelve. Beaten time after time until I couldn’t see straight, I finally stood up for myself. The man I called dad for all those years stood in front of his already six-foot-tall son with a smirk on his face.
“You think you’re a man?” The evil glint in his eyes still remains seared into my memory even to this day.
“A better man than you will ever be.” I moved in on him, the blade slowly slicing into his flesh. The bright red blood trickling its way free of the evil hold over him. I stabbed him multiple times in a fit of rage. The world around me turned red and all I could see were the eyes of the man who took so much from me.
I went to stay with my Uncle John after that. Not like his home was any better. Although the beatings stopped, new things were introduced into my life: sex, drugs, women.
Use em’ and lose em’ was his motto. He showed me how to close off my emotions, how to not care, but there was always that little nagging voice in the back of my mind that I’d like to think was my mother. Always telling me to do the right thing. Don’t use those poor girls, stay away from the drugs. Sometimes I’d listen to it but most of the time, I fell into step next to my uncle.
There’s a thin line between heaven and hell. I would know. I walk that line every single day waiting to trip and fall into one place or the another. I’ve grown accustomed to this line. Complete opposites. Heaven is bright and full of hope whereas hell is dark and full of fire. I crave them both. I’m on the precipice of tumbling to one or the other. Never knowing which way I’ll fall, I live life the way I’ve always lived it.
The only way I know how.
Cordae
“Let me see that shit?” Benny holds his hand out to me, wanting to check the bruises that now form on my skin. Black and blue are not new colors to me. They are however colors that I wear with pride.
“It’s fine, B.” Shaking him off, I head into the locker room ready to hit the showers when I see Angie. That tight black skirt does little to cover that little strip of red hair I know to be between those legs. Licking her lips, I give her a grin. She already knows what this is. Benny follows me inside the locker room mouthing about my hand, but I just ignore him, blowing him off.
“Look, B. It’s fine. It’s nothing I’m not used to man,” I tell him, flashing him my hand once more, as he eyes it with his own suspicions. He knows that shit is broken but doesn’t dare say a word to me about it. I know it’s more than likely broken too, but I don’t slow down to find out.
“Fine, Cord. Have it your way, but don’t bitch when you can’t bend that fucker.” Letting out a huff, he stomps from the room as I pull my shorts to the floor. Kicking them off to the side, I stalk straight towards that pretty little red head that awaits her turn to ride my cock.
“Who did you have to beat to get in here?” I ask her curiously. Her eyes sparkle as she licks her lips before sliding to the floor in front of me. To some women it’s degrading. They don’t like being on their knees sucking a man off but to her, she thinks it’s a fucking dream come true. I don’t complain either. She can suck better than any street whore and the beauty of her, she doesn’t cost a cent. My hand knots in her hair as she pulls me deeply into her mouth. The little hum she makes only vibrates my insides to the point of losing my sanity. Guiding her head, I want her to take me deeper than she is right now.
“Take all of it!” I growl. I shove her head until she gags on the length of me. Chuckling low in my throat, she begins to suck me harder knowing I’m not going to let up on her.
“Do it, slut,” I growl. Rolling my hips, she sucks like her life depends on it until I can’t hold back any longer. Blowing my load deep into her throat, she has no choice but to swallow it all. Pulling her up in front of me, I don’t give her the chance to kiss or touch me. I’m not into that sort of thing. Instead, I slam her against the wall and hike that little skirt she’s wearing up her thighs before slamming my cock as far into her as it will go.
“Stop, Cord! That hurts!” She cries out in pain but that doesn’t stop me.
“Shut the hell up. You’re so fucking loose I could fit another cock in here.”
Ava
Sitting in the rocking chair on the back porch, I lay my head back and close my eyes. I try to remember if I’ve done everything that my dad had on that meticulous list of his. I did the laundry and cleaned the living room, as was requested. I don’t know why the hell he makes me do all that if we have a maid that comes in three times a week. Oh hell, yes, I do. He likes to keep me locked in this house with nothing to do but attend to his list of duties.
My dad’s the Governor of this fine state, while my mom stays at home hiding out in her bedroom. There’s a lot of tension between them lately, tension I’ll never understand. I’m not allowed to. My cell phone rings in my pocket playing the song Snuff by Slipknot and I automatically know that it’s Taren. If it wasn’t for that girl, I’d be hiding out in my own room too.
“Please tell me we are going out tonight?” Begging her instead of saying hi, she laughs into the other end.
“Have I ever let you down?” she asks. Smiling to myself, I let out a sigh.
“There was that one time when you said we were going to the beach.” Taren huffs before cutting me off.
“That doesn’t count. That was a mechanical problem. Anyway, Eric has tickets to some kind of fight tonight. He said it was like MMA type shit. You in?” Hopping off the chair without a second thought, I move towards the door. Was that even a question? I need out of this house before I slowly go insane.
“Are you kidding? Of course I am. Where is it?” I make my way through the kitchen before jogging up the massive staircase.
“I have no idea. I think he said we have to cross the border.” My heart stops when she says that. Last time we did this, my dad found out and I can tell you for sure, I didn’t leave the house for a week straight.
“I don’t know if I want to go.” Whispering it more to myself than to her, she sighs.
“It won’t be like last time, I promise. Besides that was with Charlie and he isn’t going to be anywhere near there.” Hearing her say that does little to ease my mind. If there’s a fight to be found Charlie is going to be there. And where you find Charlie, you find Daniel.
Daniel is my ex. We dated for years before I caught him cheating on me. I gave him another chance only to see it happen again and again. He knows my father like the back of his hand. He’s a highly respected man around the area but he has a dark side to him. The fights are something he loves due to all the blood and death that comes with it.