Sexual Deception (New Adult Interracial Romance, Bad for You Series Vol #1) (7 page)

“You get three days to run. Remember?”

“Hmm.” She strolled past me and headed to the front door. “Can you tell me something?”

“Sure. Anything.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Who lives in that blue house on the corner of Amelia and Cannon street? You know that house in Orangeburg, South Carolina.”

All arousal drained from me. My blood froze to cold. My body ran numb. It happened every time, right before I watched the last breath leave a person's face. In that moment I imagined my hands around Melody's neck as I crushed those tiny bones within my fingers. She knew where my mom lived, which meant she held on to more of my secrets than anybody else. And even worse, her knowledge signaled that Miguel had Mom's address too.

She clasped her hand onto the door knob. “Kane? Did you hear the question?”

“Yes.”

“Who lives in that house in Orangeburg? I assume it's someone related to you. You both have the same eyes and complexion.”

She’s seen Mom too?

“It doesn't matter who it is. You know what resides in that house for
you
? Death. And not just for you, of course. I doubt you fear it. Death is for all of those you love, ever have and ever will. It's one thing to stupidly battle with Miguel, but suicidal to bring any war to me. I don't send cute boxes of body parts with bows. You go near that house in Orangeburg and I'll catch you.” I took two steps her way. “I'll keep you somewhere private, chain you up against the wall, and let you watch me tear your relatives limb from limb. Torture and suffering is what sits in that blue house on the corner of Amelia and Cannon Street, if you continue to wonder about it.”

Sighing, she gave me a sort of half-smile. “Kane, I'm honored you would do all of that for little old me. But you see, I don't have anybody left. Miguel already exhausted his efforts taking those that I loved away from me. The first box with my little sister's head wasn't my only gift. It was just what started it all. By the end of the week, I had eight gift boxes on my living room floor, and they all had Happy Retirement cards stuck to them. When are you up for retirement?”

My mouth went dry. “In a year.”

“Do you even know who's assigned to kill you, if you choose to assert your retirement?”

What the hell was she talking about?

“We all have somebody that's assigned to us. Everybody. Miguel even has a stripper in his club, Strawberry, I think.”

“Yeah. I know her.”

“Strawberry's only order is to kill Miguel's son Julio, if Miguel ever asked. That's all she does is work there and wait.” Melody tapped her head. “Miguel doesn't think like the normal individual. He's always considering the consequences and possibilities years ahead of us. So ask yourself, if he has someone in place to kill his own son, would he already have a person here to take out you?”

She left me in my living room, shook and rattled from the inside.

Chapter 6

Pawn Weakness

~Melody

The beauty about the best chess openings was that a player could avoid creating any pawn weakness later in the game. Pawns were those lowly pieces, the worker bees in a hive. There were a bunch in the game and they could only move forward one square at a time, barely doing damage to the opponent's team.

When Miguel waged war against me, I never considered my family as pawns on the board. I'd lost contact with them, once I entered the world of professional killing. Granted, weekly I traveled to my small town in Alabama and within the shadow of night, I peered into each of my sisters' windows and watched their lives like regular people looked at television. He must've had someone following me.

I'd tried to be careful and clear all of my tracks, but in the end no one can truly erase everything.

How stupid was I?

Miguel's first move was to take all of my pawns out.

I used to have five siblings, all sisters. Mom did drugs throughout all of her pregnancies. Once she birthed us, a family member took us away and designated a cousin or aunt to help raise us. Mom never took care of any of us. Granted, the few times she was sober, she would come by and visit, maybe ask about school or some other thing that she probably didn't care about. That was it. That was how far her parenting went. Later, she overdosed and died.

Miguel took out all eight of my pawns. Five sisters and three aunts, gone.

The day I decided to get up and play Miguel's game, all of my family's heads sat in a circle around me. It hadn't been a pretty sight. If anybody walked in, they would've dialed 9-1-1 and ordered them to take me off to a mental hospital. Blood soaked into my sunflower patterned carpet. Gray cracked flesh covered Tamia, Cindy, and Veronica's heads. They rotted the worst since they’d been dead the longest. My older two sisters' heads, twins Lena and Leeda, maintained the best, but that was how they lived. I expected nothing less from them. My mother had them first. They came out of the womb addicted to crack cocaine and with faulty lungs. My Aunt Zenobia always told me that those two were blessed by God's grace because somehow they survived it all and thrived as children.

Although the twins didn't live with me, they rode their bikes around to each aunt's or cousin's house to check on all of us and make sure we did our homework and were being good. Lena would beat my ass when I got a B in school. The other twin, Leeda was the one who forced me to sign up for the chess club in elementary school.

“But Leeda, aint nothing but white people in that room,” I cried as she dragged me in there.

“You leave this room and I'll make you cry louder.” She propped me in the seat between a red
headed boy and a geeky looking girl with glasses. “And there's nothing wrong with white people.”

“They're racious,” I whispered and widened my eyes, shocked that Leeda didn't know that. I'd
assumed she was the smartest of us all.

“You mean racist, not racious. And just because someone's skin color is a certain way, doesn't
mean they are automatically racist.” She set my book bag next to me. “Take notes. Treat chess like
math and English.”

Groaning, I hit my head against the desk. “Why?”

“Because if you could be one of the best players at chess, then you could do a lot.”

That peeked my interest. Still laying my head on the desk, I quirked my eyebrows. “What could I
do?”

“You could rule the world.” She shrugged. “Now stay in here until it is over. Take your bike
back home. Don't go to Bush's Candy store. I mean it. There's nothing but dirty old men hanging
outside of there.”

“But they have the best candy and sometimes the guys give me money to--”

“Don't take nothing from them.” She lifted my head up and directed my view to the front of the
room where the chess club teacher set up a board in the center of the area. “Pay attention. This might
be the most important thing you'll ever learn in your life.”

So on that last day, I sat in the middle of my living room with Leeda's dead gaze on me as her head lay in my lap. In my mind, her lips moved as she yelled at me.

“What are you going to do?” Her dead head asked. “Just sit on your dumb ass and go crazy?

Get him. He took us, but what about our kids? He'll get them next. Wouldn't you?”

“Yes.” I turned to the other heads for suggestions.

My aunts’ heads surrounded me too. Somehow Miguel discovered every person that ever loved
me. I'd hid my life from him as best as I could, but he found them all. And as soon as I stopped doing
the things he required, he ripped them away from me.

“Should I go after him?” I asked.

All of my aunts nodded their scarred faces. “Kill him and his or die trying, Melody.”

In my hotel room, I peeled off my tattered dress, lace bra and panties, and got into the hot, steaming bath that I'd ran for me.

I have an hour or so before I make my next move.

I had a few guesses for what Kane would do next. After all, I’d studied the man for many years.

He didn’t really have any friends. Miguel was the closest thing to a buddy. The only other intimate relationship was the stripper.

Let’s hope my guess is right this time.

Tons of bubbles glittered on the watery surface. As soon as my toes entered the liquid, calm seeped into me. I didn't peel away my composed mask until I immersed my entire body into the water.

It rose around me, warming my whole essence. That was when my hard persona cracked and shattered into pieces. My hands shook as I wiped away all of the tears streaming down my face. The hysteria that I’d held in all night fled my body and rocked me back and forth while I hugged myself.

Kane could've killed me at any point this evening. The only reason why I'm alive is because I
made him curious. Stupid moves and dumb actions on my part.

I sank deeper into the water.

Kane and my over confidence would've ended all of this tonight.

It used to be that when I made mistakes like this or came close to losing my life, I would just call Miguel. He'd drop it all to come to me—his movies, media engagements no matter how big they were, and even his criminal activities went on hold for me. It made me think he cared.

“Why did you do that?” I splashed hot water onto my face and took in the sweltering liquid.

“Why would you do things to make me think you loved me, Miguel? Was that all part of some deeper game or did you actually care?”

Miguel canceled an appearance on the Dave Letterman show just because he called me and thought my voice sounded like something was wrong. In one moment, I got off with him on the phone, took a long bath, and climbed my aching body into bed. By the end of the night, a knock came to my hotel door. I limped that way and opened the door, with my gun hidden behind my back.

“Miguel?”

He directed his gaze to the bruises decorating my face. “You said you weren't hurt.”

“No. I said I was fine.”

With those big arms, he picked me up and slammed the door behind us. “When I ask you if
you're okay, you tell me the truth.”

“I did.”

He lifted the side of his lip up into a sneer. “Put the gun down.”

I set it on the night table as he laid me back in my bed. The thin t-shirt I wore rose up to my
hips. I pulled it down with aching fingers. He stopped me and began to take off my shirt. “Sending you
away to kill three guys wasn't the smartest thing I've done in my life. I shouldn't have asked you to
handle this.”

I lifted up so he could pull my shirt over my head. “But I did it. I gunned them down and now
I’m fine.”

Air brushed against my stiff nipples. When Miguel came around me, my body prepared itself for
his cock without him touching or saying anything. My flesh just knew what it liked, and every cell in my
body craved him.

“This was a job for Kane, not you. Not my Melody.” He dove his hand into my panties. “What
was on your mind before I came? You’re so wet.”

Purring, I arched his way as his finger entered me.

“Mami? Who was on your mind?” He slipped two fingers in and out of my wetness.

“You.”

He nibbled at my earlobe and slid another finger inside of me, making it three. Crying out, my
body made room for him as he expanded my opening, readying my pussy for him. Miguel didn't have a
long dick. It was an average length, but fat and wide. When he pushed into me, he stuffed my body with
him. I could focus on nothing else.

“You're so wet.” He placed a fourth finger into me, stretching my flesh and driving me crazy.

Rocking into his hand, I squirmed. He licked the tip of my nipples. “Are you sure it was just me on your
mind?”

“Yes, Papi.”

“Good. I don't think I could share you.” He encased his wet mouth around my nipple and
sucked like he was trying to draw out milk. It was the perfect combination of pain and pleasure, just
like his love.

I feared and longed for him. Did my best to protect myself around Miguel while in the same
time, somehow giving my whole worth.

“Don't ever pretend on the phone with me that you're fine.” He bit the side of my breast. The
hurt was welcomed. He licked the wound and I moaned in delight. “Anytime you need me, just call. I'll
stop everything for you. Any fucking thing on this earth.”

I swallowed and gazed into his eyes. “Okay.”

“With me you don't pretend,” he said through clenched teeth. “I'm the only one that gets the
real Melody.”

I probably shouldn't have dared, but I asked anyway, “And what do I get?”

“Whatever you desire.”

“Your love?”

He laughed. “Dear God, I thought you already knew, you had my love. In fact, my biggest
anxiety is that you'll use it against me one day.”

He bit the other side of my breast. My scream and moan merged together. This time, he kissed
and sucked on the bruise his teeth had left. “What else do you need from me?”

“That cock, Papi. Please,” I whined and grasped the sheets next to me. “Fuck me.”

“You're hurt.” He took those wonderful fingers away, crawled down my body, and faced my
pussy. “Tonight, I'll only give you my tongue.”