“Let me see these earrings.” He stopped fighting the urge. Fuck it. He could afford the jewels, and he was going to treat himself. It had actually been a minute since Lethal bought himself anything. He had just gotten his father a car, a dirt bike was purchased for Mario, and he bought his mother a pair of Chanel sandals. There was never any hesitation when it came to spoiling others, however, when it came to him, he always tried to talk himself out of making large purchases.
“Excellent choice.” The salesman placed the box holding the chain on the counter, so he could unlock the display case. With a slight bob of his head, Lethal inspected the diamond-encrusted Cuban link that had a pair of boxing gloves hanging from it.
It had been four months since his chain was taken and seeing the replica in front of him was almost like buying the piece for the first time. Lethal pulled his card holder from his pocket as the earrings were being placed on the counter.
“What else can I get you, my friend? We got some new watches in last week,” Jacob tried his luck one more time.
“I’m good,” Lethal asserted. After paying for the earrings and having his items packaged, Lethal trekked out of the store and toward his car. It was his day off from the gym, so he planned to grab a bite to eat and go home.
While inside the car, Lethal scanned the area to see if there were any restaurants he wanted to eat from. Before an establishment caught his eye, a person sauntered by that made Lethal do a doubletake. There was no mistaking her. Her face was almost covered entirely in freckles. It gave her an appearance that was all her own but despite the brown markingsall over her face, shorty was bad as fuck. The Universe had a nasty sense of humor. Before he could stop himself, Lethal had exited the car and was taking long strides toward the woman.
“Yo!” he barked, causing her to look over her shoulder with a frown. The moment their eyes locked, hers widened, showcasing her guilt. He wasn’t tripping; it was her.
Looking away from him, she kept walking. Lethal increased his pace until he was directly in front of her. Khrome attempted to step around him, but Lethal grabbed her arm.
“Are you fucking crazy?” she hissed.
“Are you?” Lethal shot back. The rest of his words became tangled in his throat as his orbs inadvertently fell on her slightly protruding belly. It was so small, he almost missed it. Lethal felt like he had to throw up. Normally, he would have gotten the hell out of dodge with no questions asked or fucks given about her belly.
She hadn’t reached out to him, so he would’ve never assumed the baby could be his, if it hadn’t been for him being sensitive to smells for almost three months. There was no way he’d run up in that thieving bitch raw, or maybe there was because he’d been so gone off whatever she gave him, he didn’t even remember the sex.
“You a rotten-ass bitch,” he seethed. “First, you put something in my drink, then you rob me and what, let me get you pregnant, so you can try to get child support?” He inched closer to her. “On everything I love, I should pay some bitches to do you real dirty.” Lethal glared at Khrome like she was shit on the bottom of his shoe.
Attempting to keep her composure, Khrome took a small step back. “I didn’t take anything from you, and I don’t want anything from you.” The slight tremble in her voice hinted at her nervousness.
“Is there a problem?” a male voice inquired behind Lethal.
Unfazed, he turned around and looked the short man up and down. “Fuck is you, her pimp?” It took half a glance for Lethal to get sleazeball vibes from the light skinned man standing before him.
“Pimp?” The man chuckled. “You got me fucked up. This my bitch.”
Lethal’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, you look like the type to let his bitch fuck and suck the next man for a come-up because you ain’t got shit. You can’t love her because you have to know that doing that shit to the wrong man will have her brains splattered on a wall. Lame asses,” he spat before turning to walk away.
Had he stuck around, Lethal was sure he would have ended up doing something he regretted. They weren’t worth it. All he could do was pray to God that the child in her belly belonged to anybody but him.
“I should have beat that nigga’s ass!”
Khrome cut her eye at Cam before rolling them. Cam was the type that only had hands for women. When it came to men, he was either going to pull a gun or walk away. He was simply trying to save face because Lethal had embarrassed him. He could lie to anybody else; he could even lie to himself, but he couldn’t lie to her.
Khrome despised everything about Cam. He literally made her skin crawl. They weren’t even a couple anymore. According to Cam, she owed him, and he wasn’t going to peacefully let her leave his life until he felt she had paid her debt. As far as he knew, he got $34,000 from the sale of Lethal’s necklace. Her cut of the money was $4,000. Of course, Khrome was pissed, butlittle did Cam know, she’d actually gotten $38,000 for it, but he made Khrome do the dirty work and talk to potential buyers.
Anyone with good sense knew the chain belonged to Lethal. Cam didn’t want to be seen with her while she was shopping the chain. The person that ended up buying it knew Cam wasn’t shit, and he lied to him about the price he would pay so Khrome could skim some off the top. The chain was worth more than $38,000, but knowing it was stolen gave the buyer an advantage. He was only going to pay so much, but he would sell it for top dollar. That was how the game went. Khrome drugged Lethal, had sex with him, robbed him, and Cam only gave her $4,000 willingly. Khrome wasn’t as dumb as he thought she was, and she found a way to look out for herself.
Adding in what she took, Khrome had $8,000, but that wasn’t quite enough to leave Cam and start over with nothing, especially while being pregnant. Khrome’s life was fucked up, and the last thing she wanted was a baby, but Cam’s vindictive, psychotic ass stayed so deep in her business, he damn near knew she was pregnant before she did. She had long before stopped having sex with Cam, so they knew it was Lethal’s baby and getting rid of it was a no-no. In his mind, Khrome’s first child support payment should’ve been enough to clear her debt with him. Since she was pretty much being forced to keep the baby, she had to woman up and get out of Cam’s clutches before she gave birth.
Most thought it was as simple as leaving him, but that wasn’t the case at all. When Khrome was twenty, Cam saved her from an abusive relationship. Or so she thought. Cam killed the man that had been beating her since she was sixteen. He swooped in like a knight in shining armor and saved her from a torturous existence. Her ex kept her where he wanted her by not letting her work. Cam introduced her to a life of crime. From scamming andtrafficking drugs to robbing niggas; he let her get money, but it was in unconventional ways.
By the time she was twenty-three, Khrome had one felony and two misdemeanors. As soon as she tried to get a place or a job in her name, the background check alone got her rejected every time. The last time she was arrested, her bond was $75,000, and Cam wasn’t letting her go until he was reimbursed. Her life and circumstances made Khrome angry, and it got worse when she drank or popped pills. She became numb, damn near invincible, and she fought Cam all night if she had to in order to keep him from in between her legs. She never hesitated to tell him that she hated him, and he ruined her life.
Cam’s nonfighting ass barely kept up with Khrome when she was under the influence. He was almost as tired of fighting her as she was of fighting him, but he saw good money with her, and he wasn’t letting her go until he was ready. At that point, he had a whole ‘nother girlfriend and didn’t trip too much about her not having sex with him. The five-foot-eight, light skinned baddie possessed some of the best pussy he’d ever had, but he got tired of going rounds in the ring to get it. Not long after Khrome moved in with him did she find out the real reason he’d killed her ex. It had nothing to do with saving her but everything to do with him robbing her ex and getting drugs and cash off him.
Her ex kept her with no money, no car, and no friends. Cam took over and was the exact same way. Whatever she needed, they went shopping for it together, and he always paid. Her mother wasn’t shit, and she was an only child. Khrome literally had no one except her abusers. Any time she thought about running, the idea left her mind as soon as she thought about where she’d go. A hotel would have only been temporary. Prior to getting pregnant, she spent her days drunk, high, or both just to escape reality. Being pregnant had forced her into sobriety,and Khrome spent most of her day plotting on getting herself and her baby away from Cam.
After the run-in with Lethal, Khrome was so pissed, she stared out of the window as Cam ranted and raved. “I can’t wait until you take that pussy-ass nigga to court for child support. I might need to push you down some stairs, so you can have that lil’ muhfucka early.”
His words made her jaw muscles flex, but she didn’t speak. There were many reasons that Khrome stayed put rather than going to a shelter or even the police. She fought Cam and kept him from abusing her, sexually, but she stuck around for the verbal abuse and his poor treatment. Most days, she felt weak and disgusted with herself, but becoming pregnant had given her a second wind. She’d kill the nigga dead before she let him harm her unborn child. She had failed herself many times, but Khrome refused to fail her child. Time was ticking. She had to come up with a plan, fast.
CHAPTER 2
