“Cam, please don’t do this here,” her voice cracked. Khrome couldn’t pretend she wasn’t afraid if she wanted to. Fighting Cam had never been an issue for her, but she had never fought him pregnant. “I will pay you what I owe you, I swear. I don’t have to be up under your thumb to pay off my debt.”
Cam’s dark pupils remained trained on her horror-stricken face as he slowly rose to his feet. Tears burned her eyes as she thought about how it really did seem as if God hated her. He let her find a job way too easily, only to snatch it right back from herbecause after Cam dragged her out of the bar, Brian was going to for sure fire her. Khrome was so tired of taking two steps forward only to be knocked back ten more.
Trying not to make a scene, she scurried to the other end of the bar. Her only options were to run in the back of the bar or to run outside. Outside, she was a sitting duck. Khrome’s chest heaved up and down as she attempted to dash from behind the bar but before she could do so, someone grabbed her arm. Khrome looked up into the cold eyes of Lethal.
“Please don’t do this right now,” she begged. “That nigga is not my boyfriend or my pimp, but he made me rob you, and now he’s about to beat my ass. Please let me go.”
Her words made Lethal’s brows furrow. It wasn’t hard to see that her words caught him off guard. He turned to the left while still holding onto her arm and sure enough, a scowling Cam was approaching.
“I’m gonna need you to back up, homie.” Cam looked Lethal up and down.
“Make me.”
Frustration coupled with anger made Cam’s nostrils expand. Not even his anger made him forget that he couldn’t beat Lethal in any shape, form, or fashion, but he was too pissed to back down.
“Nigga, let her the fuck go!”
The sentence was barely out of Cam’s mouth before he was hitting the bar, and it wasn’t because Lethal hit him. The assault was courtesy of Block. Lethal’s hands were registered weapons. He couldn’t be out in public knocking niggas out, but Block could, and he did. The blow sent Cam crumpling. The grip he had on the edge of the bar kept him from hitting the floor. Finally becoming aware of the confrontation, two security guards made their way over to the group, and one of them eyed the hold Lethal had on Khrome’s arm.
“My ex was bothering me.” Khrome glanced down at Cam as he struggled to stand upright. “This guy was just helping.”
Rio nodded and snatched Cam up by the collar of his shirt.
“We need to have a conversation.” Lethal’s voice snapped Khrome out of the daze she was in.
“I’m pretty sure this will be my last night at work because now that he knows where I work, I’m not going to have any peace. Can I please just make some money, and we can talk once I get off?”
Lethal wasn’t sure what kind of situation Khrome was wrapped up in, but he released her and took a step back. Perching back on the barstool, he planned to stay right there until Khrome’s shift ended.
At the end of the night, Khrome had $524 and a heavy heart. The kind of money she had made in two days was the kind of money she needed to keep making, but she was smart enough to know that Cam wasn’t going to peacefully let her work at the bar. She had never been a bad person, so it was extremely difficult for Khrome to figure out why she had to go through so many storms. For every two good days she had it seemed as if twenty bad ones followed, and she was exhausted.
The moment she stepped out of the bar, her eyes swept the parking lot for signs of Cam. There was no way he was going to give up easily. For the first time, she was looking forward to possibly seeing Lethal. If she had to guess, she’d say she was safer with him than Cam. Khrome didn’t spot Cam, but she did see Lethal with his lips set in a hard line as he leaned against a black Escalade. Swallowing hard, Khrome ambled in his direction.
“Where’s your car?” he asked in a gruff tone.
“I don’t have one. I caught a rideshare here.”
Lethal’s jaw muscles flexed as he glared at Khrome. After a brief stare down, he opened the passenger door of his SUV without saying a word. Khrome felt her heart beating in her throat, but she still wholeheartedly believed that she was safer with Lethal than with Cam. More than likely, he was somewhere in the shadows waiting to follow her home. Willing to take her chances with the lesser evil, she took small steps toward the vehicle.
After climbing inside, she released small breaths in an effort to calm her nerves. Maybe if she simply explained to Lethal why she did what she did, he’d drop her off at the hotel and let her go on about her pitiful life. From the day she knew she couldn’t abort her baby, Khrome had been mentally preparing herself to do it alone. She’d never fix her mouth to ask Lethal for help, and she refused to take him to court. She was just going to have to hold her L. Lethal walked around the vehicle and got inside. The silence was loud and uncomfortable. Khrome attempted to steady her breathing, but she was afraid.
Without a word, Lethal started the car and pulled out of the parking space. She had no clue where he was taking her. Sudden thoughts of him snapping her neck with his bare hands or strangling her then dumping the body made her breath catch in her throat. Maybe getting in the car with him wasn’t a good idea. Khrome’s stomach churned as her body temperature rose, and she felt like she was suffocating. They’d only been in the car for two minutes when he pulled into a well-lit parking lot of a restaurant. The diner was still open, and Khrome breathed a sigh of relief. Lethal made no move to get out of the car. He sat back and looked over at her.
“What’s up with you and that nigga?”
Khrome pushed out a deep breath. “I started dating an older guy when I was sixteen. My mom let me move in with him and not long after, he started abusing me. He wouldn’t let me have friends, I couldn’t work, and I didn’t have a car. If I left him, I wouldn’t have had anywhere to go, so I stayed. When I was twenty, I met Cam, and he acted like he wanted to help me. Turns out, he actually killed my ex because he wanted to rob him. I moved in with him, and he told me I didn’t need a job. He turned me on to scamming, transporting drugs for him, all kinds of shit. On top of not having a job and no car, I now have a record.”
Khrome paused to try and gauge Lethal’s thoughts, but his expression was unreadable.
After clearing her throat, she continued, “The last time I was arrested, my bond was $75,000. He wouldn’t let me leave him until I repaid my debt to him. He made me sell your necklace, and he only gave me $4,000 from what he got. When I found out I was pregnant, he was on me like a hound and wouldn’t let me get an abortion because he said your child support payments would finish paying off my debt.”
Lethal’s jaw muscles ticked as he stared at her.
“I had no plans of doing that, though. I know it was wrong, and the last thing I need is a baby, but she’s coming. There isn’t anything I can do about it. I was determined to find a way to leave his house before I had my baby. I just needed a plan because I knew once I had her, I wouldn’t be able to work. I was trying to be strategic, because I wasn’t letting him around my child.”
“How did you get away?” Lethal’s tone was still gruff and far from friendly.
“His girlfriend actually helped me. He told her since I was pregnant, he wanted her to start having sex with men and setting them up, and she wasn’t with it. She took some money from him,gave me some, and dropped me off downtown. I paid for a hotel room for a week, and I got a job at the bar. The plan was to work until I was too big to hide my belly. I’m sure that’s over with now because Cam is going to bother me every night that I work.”
