Sunny heard the door to her bedroom creak open and she snapped her eyes shut as tight as she could. Maybe if she pretended to be in a dead sleep he would leave her alone this time. The scent of alcohol entered the room before he did and when she smelled it, Sunny lost all hopes of escaping it tonight. She could hear him breathing like some wild animal in heat. Sunny cracked her eyes and he was jerking his dick to get it hard enough. She swallowed hard because that meant there would be more than touching this time again. After a few minutes, she felt her bed moving under all of his weight. Sunny clutched her blankets in a death grip, but they were ripped away from her anyway.
“Please! Stop!” Sunny yelled out, hoping that her mother would intervene.
“Shut the fuck up,” he growled, pointing his gun right in her face. Sunny swallowed her screams back down her throat.
“Open your fucking legs. You love this . . . I know you. You a fast
-
ass little hot bitch,” he panted. Sunny looked down and caught a glimpse of his tiny, slimy, musty dick. She snapped her eyes shut and did as she was told.
“I'm a virgin,” she croaked out through tears.
“Even better,” he snarled. He leaned down and let a gob of his alcohol
-
reeking spit fall from his mouth onto Sunny's nearly bald vagina. Sunny let out another belch of sobs.
“I said shut the fuck up or I'll blow your brains out and that bitch of a mother of yours,” he said gruffly as he swiped his hands up and down to make sure his spit served as a lubricant.
“Ouch,” Sunny cried as he probed her virginal opening with his finger first. “Yes. Nice and tight like I like it.” He reared up over her and grabbed his dick in his hand. With his knees he forced her slim, child
-
like thighs open.
“Please don't,” Sunny tried one more plea. Her words seemed to just turn him on.
“Ahh,” he grunted as he thrust into her with all his might.
“Ahhhhh!” Sunny belted out. Pain like she had never experienced before shot through her vagina, butt and abdomen.
Sunny jumped out of her sleep so fiercely that she scared Sean. His head immediately began pounding from being snatched out of his own fitful sleep.
“Sunny? You all right?” Sean wolfed as he jumped up. He looked at her strangely. Her eyes were wild, her chest was moving up and down rapidly, and her fists were clenched like she was ready for war.
“It's me, Sean. You are at my house . . . Remember, you came here last night,” Sean said, trying his best to help her calm down. Sunny looked at him and immediately the corners of her eyes went soft.
“I'm sorry. I just . . . I had a bad dream,” Sunny explained. She closed her eyes for a few minutes because she knew that what she dreamt about was actually her reality.
“One day you won't have to live with all of that, Sunny, I promise. One day I'm going to save you from all of that,” Sean said with a sincerity in his voice Sunny had never heard from anyone in her life. Sean meant every word of it, too.
Chapter Three
Fall 1999
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“Get the fuck up, nigga!” Sean barked, his favorite Glock extended out in front of him. Fox had given Sean the gun as a gift, followed by the words,
“This is the piece that spilled the brains of the nigga who killed your mother. It's yours now.”
“You like fucking with little girls? Huh! You nasty m'fucker! I've been waiting years for this day, you fucking dog!” Sean snarled, cracking the gun over the sloppy, smelly overweight man's forehead.
“Sean! Don't! Let's just leave!” Sunny screamed, her face a mess as the purple, green, and blue rings around her left eye became filled with a fresh set of blood pooling under her skin.
“I said get up, nigga, and face me like a man! You can put your hands on a seventeen-year-old girl . . . well face a m'fuckin' seventeen-year-old nightmare now, bitch,” Sean gritted, this time hitting Sunny's stepfather so hard the white meat became exposed on his forehead. Sunny started bouncing on her legs like she had to pee, her hands flailing in front of her like she had touched something hot.
“Sean, please. Stop! He will kill you or get you arrested!” she pleaded. Sean turned toward her, his face folded so tightly in a frown Sunny hardly recognized her friend standing there.
“You come and tell me this nigga been raping you since you was a little girl . . . your ass just had an abortion with his baby at seventeen and you think I'm gonna stop?” Sean spat so hard small specks of spit flew out of his mouth and sprinkled onto Sunny's battered face.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she hung her head low. Sean was right, she had run to him and confessed after the abortion and after her mother had almost beat her to death for sleeping with her stepfather . . . or as her mother had put it, Sunny had seduced her man. Sean flew into an immediate rage. He had been waiting years to get his hands on Sunny's stepfather.
Sunny had been Sean's best friend since the day he'd met her and he loved her from a place so deep inside of him that he sometimes couldn't explain the things he had done and gotten into with her growing up thus far.
“Please, Sean. I just don't want you to do something stupid and end up in prison. I wouldn't be able to live with myself,” Sunny sobbed. “Let's just leave. Let karma deal with his sick ass,” she urged, shooting an evil eye at her helpless, groveling stepfather.
Seeing Sunny so upset made something inside of Sean soften as usual. He turned back toward Sunny's cowering stepfather and placed the Glock against the man's temple.
“You fucking lucky nigga. If you ever fucking touch her again, you might as well cut your own dick off and swallow it because next time I won't have any mercy on your ass,” Sean said through his teeth. He grabbed Sunny and pulled her out of the house. Once they were back on his grandmother's porch next door, Sean turned to Sunny with a look of love in his eyes.
“It's time for us to get a place of our own. You'll be my roommate and I'll take care of you until you can get on your feet,” he told her with sincerity. Sean was making enough money now that he was helping his grandmother with her bills, buying his own clothes and practically taking care of Sunny already.
Sunny threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, her tears wetting his neck.
“I love you, best friend,” she cried. He couldn't say a word to that.
Something inside of Sean changed that day. He had too much pride to admit that he was in love with Sunny, who all these years had just been his best friend and nothing more. He couldn't see himself telling her he loved her, only for her tough girl to come out and say something smart in return. Sean decided he'd keep that information to himself until the time was right. If the time was ever right.
As they stood there embracing, a long, sleek, smoke gray big-body Mercedes-Benz pulled up in front of the house.
“Aye, lovebirds! What's the word!” Fox called out from the Benz.
Sean quickly unhooked himself from Sunny and stepped away from her like she had a disease. Sunny blushed, waved at Fox and scurried into Sean's grandmother's house. Sean put on his best Fox imitation walk and bopped over to Fox's car. Sean leaned down into the open passenger side front window, trying not to look so flushed from his encounter with Sunny and her stepfather.
“You in love! I see that shit all over your face,” Fox joked. Obviously Sean's efforts to hide his emotions hadn't worked on the man who knew him so well.
“Nah, nah. She's just my best friend. She's like my sister, man . . . you know that,” Sean replied, his cheeks still burning.
“Yeah, I used to say that same shit about Mook. The chance I never took and never got to take in the end,” Fox replied, his voice trailing off a bit.
“Anyway, I guess when you're ready to admit that you love that little fine thing you will. For now, get in. Let's talk,” Fox said, flashing his signature sparkly smile. Sean hurriedly got into the Benz. He gave Fox some dap with one hand and dug into his pocket for a knot of money with the other. Sean handed the money to Fox eagerly like he did every time his mentor and boss showed up.
“Dayum, boy . . . you just like Mook. All business, all good, all the time,” Fox complimented, flicking through the stack of cash real quick. Sean loved to get compliments from Fox, so he was smirking to keep himself from all out cheesing.
“Listen, you been really putting in that work. I see you out here living your mother's legacy. I'm telling you, she would've been proud,” Fox continued. Sean nodded, his stomach feeling funny like it always did whenever Fox reminisced about his mother. He never really knew what to say back to Fox when he gave him compliments or spoke of dreamy memories that Sean most times wanted to put out of his mind. Fox was his idol, most times Sean was so awestruck by the man that he just liked to listen to Fox speak.
“Take a ride with me. I wanna show you something,” Fox said, as he pulled away from the curb. After riding in silence for a few minutes, Fox spoke up.
“You know I always think about what it would be like if my son was still around . . . you know . . . you and him, growing up together,” Fox started, his tone a little more serious than usual. Sean shifted in his seat as his friend Liam's face showed up in his head.
“I never blamed you for what happened you know. I know you blamed yourself for years, but that was just what was in the cards for him . . . you know, part of some plan that I'll never understand but don't question no more. I just want you to know that I never blamed you . . . never,” Fox went on. Sean turned his face and stared out of the passenger side window; tears were burning at the backs of his eyes as he tried to fight away a memory.
“Let me show you something,” Liam whispered to Sean. It was the middle of the night and one of the many occasions Fox had picked Sean up for a sleepover with Liam after Mook had died.
“I'm 'sleep,” Sean had grumbled. Sometimes Liam annoyed him. Sean was already eleven and Liam was just eight so sometimes the younger boy was a little babyish and pesky to Sean.
“C'mon you gonna like it. Everybody is sleeping and I won't be able to show you tomorrow before you go home. I'm telling you . . . c'mon,” Liam urged, pushing Sean's body to keep him awake. Sean let out a long exasperated breath, tossed the blanket back and got up from Liam's oversized bottom bunk bed.
“Hurry up,” Liam whispered, waving Sean on. Liam opened the door, peeked down the long hallway of his parent's huge mini mansion and crept out into the hallway. Sean followed him, sleep still clouding his brain. Both boys went down into the basement, where Fox had his office, his bar and his private area set up. Liam knew his father's sanctuary was off
-
limits, but he was too excited about his discovery to care.
He kneeled in front of Fox's large, cherry wood, executive
-
style desk and called Sean over silently with his hands.
Sean knelt down next to him, his face folded in confusion.
“My father left his drawer opened by mistake,” Liam said as he tugged on the large bottom drawer on the side of the desk. “And look what I found in it.”
Sean's eyes almost bulged from his head and his heart kick started in his chest.
“You better put that back,” Sean whispered harshly.
“It's not loaded,” Liam said, picking up the .50
-
caliber, Desert Eagle Special and pointing it.
Sean jumped out of the way and pushed Liam on his arm.
“Don't point that! Put it back!” Sean whispered harshly again.
“Man, we could play cops and robbers. This ain't got no bullets in it,” Liam said. “Watch,” he said, quickly turning the gun into his chest. Sean's eyes shot into huge circles, but before he could snatch the gun from his friend, Liam had already put his finger through the trigger guard.
“Don't . . .” Sean started. Bang! His words were clipped short by the gun going off. Sean threw his hands up to his ears because the loud boom had instantly deafened him. He fell backward because he had been so close the Liam that the power from the shot had even knocked Sean on his ass.
Sean opened his mouth to scream, but no sound would come out. He lay rocking back and forth covering his ears when Liam's mother and Fox raced into the room.
“No!” Liam's mother screeched. It was the last thing Sean remembered from that night before the shock of the situation had caused him to slip into darkness.
“Yo, we here. Where ya mind at, man? You daydreaming about that girl, huh?” Fox said, snapping Sean out of his memory.
“Nah . . . nah,” Sean replied, swiping his hands over his face to shake off the painful memories of his friend Liam.
Sean looked out the window and then looked back at Fox with his eyebrows up.
“That's right. We here for you. Good work deserves to be rewarded. You know who used to always say that to me right? Mook, that's who. Man, I'm telling you I should've made her my lady back then,” Fox said dreamily. “Let's go inside. Pick out what you want. It's only right.”
Sean couldn't open Fox's car door fast enough. He had been dreaming about getting a car for months since he'd gotten his license early, but he knew he would be saving forever to get the car he really wanted.
“Make sure niggas know who took you to your first dealership and made a all-cash transaction. Hear me,” Fox told Sean, putting his hand on his shoulder like a father would a son. Sean shook his head up and down vigorously. He wasn't really even listening to Fox anymore.
Sean was in awe of all the Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks lined up on the lot. He rushed up and down the aisles, smiling all goofy like. Fox walked up behind Sean as Sean used his hands to shield the sun so he would peek into the window of an all-black E-class.
“Hey, man, let me rap with you for a minute,” Fox said, interrupting Sean's excitement. Sean stood up straight and looked at Fox expectantly.
“When you walk into a place like this . . . one that screams class and wealth, you don't run around like an excited bitch in a shoe store or something. Nah, you walk in smoothly, cool and shit. You act like you ain't buying shit and you let them beg you to buy something. When they see you looking like you look right now, they know they got them a dummy nigga willing to pay his ass for anything they throw his way . . . feel me,” Fox lectured, his tone more stern than Sean had ever heard it.
Sean nodded his understanding and stepped away from the car he was admiring like it all of a sudden had poison on it.
“And a E-class is a bitch's car. As a man, you shouldn't be looking for shit less than an S or maybe that new G truck . . . nothing else. How am I going to retire if I can't trust you to make me proud out here?” Fox went on. Sean looked at him with wide eyes.
“What? You thought an old ex-NBA player with two bad knees and a bum hip would be hustling forever?” Fox asked, smiling. Sean couldn't answer because that's exactly what he thought. He had never even contemplated the fact that one day Fox might not be around to hold his hand through the game and help him navigate the streets.
“I just thought you had some more time,” Sean said with a regretful tone.
“C'mon, man, this is what all of my work is all about. You . . . the next generation that will take the torch that me and your mother lit for you. Making sure you have a good grasp on the game before I sail away into the sunset is what it's about, baby boy. A nigga ain't never plan to stay this long, but I had to make sure Mook's kid was good. Remember the money you gave me in the bag the day your mother was killed? Well I'm about to show you what we gon' do with it. I told you it was yours,” Fox said with genuineness. “Now let's go start this over again and let these white motherfuckers scramble for us out this bitch. Shit, I was looking forward to my glass of champagne from these cats. That's how I make them get down when I roll up in here,” Fox joked.
Sean laughed, but he was seriously taking it all in. He was like a sponge learning everything Fox did and said. Sean felt like all of Fox's lessons would one day serve him in the streets, he just didn't know how soon it would be.