Amira listened to the phone ring and didn’t hang up until it went to voicemail. It was the third time she’d called Tevin’s phone, and he didn’t answer. She was trying not to get an attitude, but it was getting harder and harder. She shot him a text, asking where he was.

  “Girl, I have never seen you trip this hard over a boy before,” Meka said.

  The two of them lay in Meka’s bed watching TV. Well, Meka was watching it. Amira was too in her head and wondering why Tevin wasn’t answering her calls or calling her back. It wasn’t like him to do that, and she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. Had he gotten what he wanted from her, and now he was done? She couldn’t bear that thought, not with her feelings for him growing so strong.

  “It’s just not like him to ignore me like this,” she whined.

  “Maybe he’s not ignoring you, crazy. Maybe he’s busy.”

  “Nobody is too busy for me.”

  “Oh, hell no. You sound like a narcissist.”

  “Girl, go to hell.”

  Amira rolled over on her back and looked at the ceiling. Was she being clingy? She knew the kind of business Tevin was in, and there were bound to be times when she wouldn’t be able to get in contact with him. It was just that outside of Meka, he was the only person that made her life seem like a life. Things at home were so tense, especially with her father working on his case. She’d never seen him so stressed out behind a client. In her hand, Amira’s phone started to ring. When she looked at the caller ID, her heart fluttered when she saw Tevin’s name.

  “Hello?”

  “My bad, baby. I’m in the field,” his deep voice came through.

  “Mmmm. I thought something happened to you.”

  “Nah, you know I’m a Titan. It would take Zeus to take me down.”

  “Here you go,” Amira teased with a giggle. Meka sat next to her, rolling her eyes. “When you’re done, let’s go get some food. I miss you.”

  “Uhh—”

  “Tevinnnn!” Amira heard the singsong voice of a woman in his background, and her heart dropped. “Come here, baby.”

  “Baby? Tevin, who the hell is that?” Amira demanded, and Meka scooted closer to hear what was going on.

  “It’s nobody,” he said.

  “Are you fucking with one of those bitches at Tranquility?”

  “Amira—”

  “Are you?” she asked, and Tevin sighed.

  “Chill. I probably won’t finish what I’m doing until late, though. Let’s link tomorrow.”

  “You know what? Don’t worry about it. Go back to fucking your bitch.”

  “Amira, wai—”

  Amira hung up, and it felt like she was about to throw up. Not Tevin. She never would have thought he would do her like that. But why wouldn’t he? They were still in the beginning stages of their relationship. She’d trusted him. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

  “He ain’t shit, girl,” Meka said, shaking her head.

  Amira sniffled, thinking about just lying down and sleeping, but the sadness in her chest soon was replaced with white rage. There was no way she would let another man get away with hurting her. She would find him and give him a piece of her mind. The only place she could think of where he might be was Tranquility. She jumped up from Meka’s bed to grab her purse and keys.

  “Where are you going?” Meka asked.

  “To catch me a cheater,” Amira said and was gone.

  When she got to Tranquility, she parked and sat there for a moment, staring at the steering wheel. Amira honestly didn’t know what she was in for. She hadn’t prepared herself for what she would do when she found Tevin. Maybe she just wanted to see with her own two eyes that her knight in shining armor wasn’t really a knight at all. He was a dragon, just like Jerron.

  Not only that, but also in her fit of rage, she had forgotten that she technically wasn’t even old enough to get inside Tranquility. Still, she grabbed her purse and got out, walking to the door. Although it was the middle of the day, the line to get into the club was as long as it was the night she’d been there. She noticed some executive-looking men able to skip the line and go right in after showing security some kind of card.

  She walked by the line of people and marched right up to security. They were different from those who were there the night she was with Tevin. Both looked her up and down in her corset top and stacked high-waist pants with smirks on their faces. Amira put a hand on her hip and pointed at the door.

  “I need to get in there,” she told the guard closest to her.

  “No problem, beautiful. You just need to show us your membership card and ID.” He held out his hand.

  “I don’t have those things with me, but I need to get in there.”

  “I’m sorry, pretty face. No ID, no entrance. Club rules.” He shrugged carelessly. “Next.”

  “I’m the girlfriend of the motherfucka who runs this place. You’re going to let me in there.”

  “I’m going to give you three seconds to—”

  “It’s cool. I got it,” a voice said, coming up behind security. Amira looked and saw it was the same man from that night, Sparrow. “Well, look at what we have here.”

  “I’m looking for Tevin. Is he here?” Amira asked.

  “I don’t know. How about we go see? Let her through.”

  The security did as they were told and let Amira pass them. Sparrow put an arm around her and led her inside the club. It was just as packed as before, but the music wasn’t as loud. The crooning from the speakers was soft and sexy. The couples on the dance floor grinded their bodies slowly into each other. There was a nice vibe in the air.

  Sparrow took her to the bar. He helped her onto the stool, and she began to look around once she was seated. She didn’t see Tevin, but she also knew that there were doors that led to other places inside the club. The image of him in an orgy with multiple women invaded her mind. The voice she’d heard on the phone sounded very sensual. The bartender, a sexy woman wearing a bralette and a short pair of shorts, approached Amira.

  “What will you have, doll?”

  “Make her our Long Island Special. It’s on the house,” Sparrow told the bartender.

  “Coming right up.”

  She went on to make Amira’s drink and left the two of them to talk. Sparrow stared down at Amira with a sparkle in his eyes. She paid him no attention; she just wanted to find Tevin.

  “Did you say if Tevin was here?”

  “I did not. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen him today.”

  “So why would you bring me in here?” Amira made a face at the older man in annoyance.

  “Because you looked like you were about to fight my security, and I can’t have that. Plus, you seemed like you needed a drink to calm you down. Everything good?”

  “I don’t know.” Amira shrugged. “I heard some girl on the phone when I talked to him and—”

  “You came down here to beat up a bitch?” Sparrow asked with a chuckle. “Baby girl, I’ll be the first to tell you guys like Tevin aren’t the settle-down type. They live a fast life, too fast for just one woman. You might be his main girl, but trust me, there will always be a few on the side. It’s just how the game goes.”

  “You’re wrong about him.”

  “Am I? If I was, you wouldn’t be down here . . . right?” Sparrow raised a brow in a knowing way.

  To that, Amira had nothing to say. The bartender returned with her drink, and she slurped a huge gulp of it from her straw. Amira had never had a Long Island iced tea, and it was strong. Good, but strong. She took another drink and tried to ignore Sparrow’s words. But it was hard to. Maybe he was right.

  “By the way you’re downing that drink, I can see I struck a nerve,” Sparrow said, amused. “Let’s talk about other things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you.”

  Amira made another face as she took another drink. Why would he want to know about her? She hoped he wasn’t trying to make a pass at her. He was her father’s age, and even if he wasn’t that old, he wasn’t her type. Sparrow was a little too rough around the edges. He dressed nice and smelled good, but everything about him screamed thug.

  “What about me?” she asked with a slightly turned lip.

  “You’re a very special girl, Amira.”

  The way he said her name made chills run down her spine. She looked into his eyes and saw that they were fixed on her. It gave her a weird feeling in her stomach.

  “H-how did you know my name? Tevin didn’t tell you. And neither did I.”

  “I know everyone who comes into my place of business. Especially someone so”—he ran a finger down her cheek—“valuable. Do you know your father is Kaleef’s lawyer?”

  “What . . . What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Everything,” he laughed. “Kaleef paid your father a lot of money to ensure what happened didn’t happen. Unfortunately, now we must go a different route with things to make Daddy work harder.”

  Amira didn’t like the way the conversation had turned. She felt that it was time for her to leave. If Tevin wasn’t there, there was no reason she still was. She got up from the bar stool and began to walk away. On the second step, something felt off. She felt woozy, and her legs were like Jell-O under her. It was like they had forgotten how to function. The next thing she knew, she was swaying back and forth. She was about to lose her footing.

  Sparrow grabbed her from behind. “You made this so easy for me. I thought I would have to tear the whole city up to find you. But you came right to me. I guess I’m a lucky man.”

  Feeling sleepy, Amira said, “What . . . What did you do to me?” as he led her away from the bar.

  “Shhh . . . Don’t worry about that. I have something special in store for you.”

  Chapter 12

  “Amira!” Tevin said into the phone, but it was too late. She’d hung up in his face.

  He was just about to call her back when a pair of arms wrapped around him, and a set of lips kissed his ear. A flowery perfume snuck up his nostrils, and he heard a giggle. Tevin shrugged the woman off him and turned to face her. With a disgusted expression, he looked down his nose at the half-naked woman.

  “I told you the last time I was here. I don’t know where the fuck you’ve been, so don’t touch me. Where the fuck is Jerron?”

  She was clearly high because all she did was giggle some more. A small stack of money she’d been counting was in one of her hands before she interrupted Tevin’s phone call. Her perky breasts jiggled when she shrugged her shoulders as an answer to his question. Tevin didn’t put his hands on women, but if he did, she would have been one to get smacked.

  “Get the fuck out of my face and get back to work,” Tevin told her and pointed for her to go back to the living room with the others.

  Tevin was about to search the house but didn’t have to. A different girl emerged from the hallway that led to the bedrooms upstairs. She wiped the corners of her mouth and smirked at Tevin as she passed. Shortly after, Jerron came after her.

  “Are you ready, or what?” Tevin asked, not impressed at the sight of him.

  “Damn, I can’t get some head before we go kill a motherfucka?” Jerron scoffed.

  If it hadn’t come at Kaleef’s request, Tevin would have never agreed to do a job with Jerron. At one point, the two had been cordial enough to be around each other sometimes, but there was always something about Jerron that Tevin didn’t trust. He was a thoroughbred when it came to business. Tevin would give him that, but Tevin didn’t think his humanity was intact, and that was what made him dangerous. But that was fine because Tevin was dangerous too.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  He left the house, and Jerron followed him to his car. The word was Eddie Lanes didn’t want to be aligned with Kaleef anymore. The sudden parting of ways would mean a blow to Kaleef’s business, which wasn’t good for anybody. Tevin had known Eddie since he was a kid. Eddie wasn’t a boss back then; he was barely even a worker. Any chance he got, he was begging Kaleef for some work or to put him in position. So when Kaleef did, and he blew like he had, one would think loyalty would be a given. However, some people liked to repay the hand that fed them with a knife to the palm.

  Tevin wished Sparrow would have put someone else on the job with him. He kept a level head, though, even though he saw Jerron keep mugging him from the passenger seat. Their personal differences didn’t matter at the moment.

  “So, where we about to find the foo man?” Jerron asked, finally breaking the silence.

  “For the past week, Eddie has been at the same diner every day and at the same time. He either likes the food that much, or something else is happening. I’m thinking about the latter.”

  “You think that’s HQ?”

  “Maybe. Every time he goes, he enters through the back. He walks in with a briefcase and walks out with nothing.”

  “So what am I ’sposed to do with this information? If that’s HQ, it gotta be hella motherfuckas guarding that bitch. Sparrow said we have to make it look like an accident. Stupid. I can’t believe he sent me on a mission with yo’ ass.”

  Tevin took a deep breath to calm himself.

  “Who said anything about killing him there? Shut the fuck up and listen,” Tevin said, driving with one hand. “When he leaves without the briefcase, it signifies the end of his day. When he leaves, his security stays at the diner.”

  “That don’t even make sense. Why the fuck would he be naked out here for?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve followed him to a place over South every day for the past week. He gets dropped off at night and picked up in the morning.”

  “You think it’s his bitch’s house?”

  “Maybe. Whoever’s house it is, he’s really secretive about it. He doesn’t even want his people to know about it. It’s about to be five now, so he should be pulling up to the diner. Let’s head over South and wait for him.”

  “If he shows, what’s the move?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Tevin didn’t say another word, and before Jerron could keep talking, he turned the music up. The tension in the car could be cut with a knife. His mind went to Amira. He knew he would have some explaining and making up to do later, which he didn’t mind. He enjoyed spoiling her and treating her well. His grandmother had always told him that he had an old soul. He would have to agree. His views on women and dating were different from the men around him.

  Tevin didn’t want to have a slew of women. He didn’t want to have to spread the pieces of himself from person to person. He wanted one woman who he could give his all to. He was young, but he lived fast. There was no telling which day could be his last, so what was the point in living the “young” life when he could just live the life he wanted? Plus, his grandparents had been together since they were fifteen years old. They stayed together for fifty years until his grandpa died, and when he did, Tevin’s grandmother never even thought about another man.

  “Once you meet the love of your life, your soul knows. And it will never yearn for another.” They were his grandmother’s words, and ever since he met Amira, he knew they were true. What he felt was deeper than mere attraction with her, and that was why he knew he would do whatever it took to get back in her good graces.

  He and Jerron drove to the house he’d followed Eddie to, and they parked across the street.

  “What now?” Jerron asked.

  “Look,” Tevin said and pointed at the house.

  A tall woman stepped out of the house and locked the door behind her. Tevin got a good look at her even from where they were parked. It wasn’t a woman at all. It was a man dressed as a woman.

  “What the fuck?” Jerron said incredulously beside Tevin. “This motherfucka is gay?”

  “It’s looking like it.”

  “It looks like he/she is about to leave. We just supposed to wait here?”

  “Yup. My grandma used to tell me that one thing a man can’t shake is a habit and a fetish. He’ll be here.”

  Aramous paced back and forth in the kitchen while rubbing his hand down on his face. He was waiting on one of his connects to give him a callback with details about the Kaleef Hinton case. He had never been so stressed out about a job. He feared he would have to move or get security to surround his house if he didn’t get something sorted out soon. Kaleef was a very powerful man, and Aramous had to admit he’d acted in a cocky manner with the case. He thought they were smooth sailing, and being blindsided with Cheryl Pond was the last thing he expected.

  He had no idea where she was since they pulled her from the prison where she was doing her bid. They must have known how much influence Kaleef had. She was a sitting duck in a prison cell. It was like she’d fallen off the face of the earth because he couldn’t get a lock on her no matter who he reached out to. He paused from pacing to pour himself a shot of Jack on the rocks. When he took a swig, the burning in his chest was almost therapeutic. However, when his phone rang, he was brought right back to reality. He scrambled to answer it, thinking it was his guy at the bureau.

  “Dave, did you get the info I need?” Aramous answered the phone without looking at the caller ID.

  “This ain’t Dave, Aramous.” A deep voice came through the phone.

  “Who is this?”

  “A messenger. Kaleef needs you to work harder.”

  “Kaleef hired me, but he’s not my boss. I’m working as diligently as I can to get him out of jail.”

  “Well, he feels that you aren’t working hard enough. He feels you need more motivation.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” He heard a commotion in the background, like a struggle was ensuing. “Hello?”

  “Daddy? Daddy, is that you?”

  It was Amira. Hearing his daughter’s voice sound so feeble made his entire body turn as cold as ice. The hand holding the glass of Jack shook so furiously that he could hear the ice hitting the glass.

  “A-Amira?”

  “Daddy, please come get me. Please. They—”

  “That’s enough.” The man who had called Aramous got back on the phone. “Now, do you see how serious Kaleef is? And if you go to the law, she’s dead. Don’t forget we have moles. You have twenty-four hours to find Cheryl Pond and seventy-two hours to get his charges dropped. Understand?”