With a laugh, Blossom lifted her glass and finished off the drink. “You know better than that.”
“Jesus”—Fancy used her hand to fan herself—“I want you to do it, Friend, but I’m a little scared for you. “I can tell he has some gangsta in him.”
Discreetly, Blossom glanced in Tech’s direction. She could tell too and for some reason, that was the best part about his interest in her.
CHAPTER 4
Lookingover at his brother as they walked toward the entrance of a local bar, Lethal smiled. “Boy, had I known that a woman and your pops coming home from prison would make you relax your shoulders and smile more, I would have been took your ass on that Pop the Balloon show or some shit.”
Kissing his teeth, Block waved his brother’s comment off. “Fuck outta here, nigga.”
He’d never admit it out loud, but he was less stressed. Tech kept his word and was on Mario’s ass. He was very involved with his schooling and extracurricular activities, and Block no longer had to worry about calls from the school.
The fact that he was sliding dick up in Symphony every chance he got kept his balls drained and his mood relaxed. They had fallen into an amazing rhythm and for the first time in his life, Block was in love and including a woman in his plans for the future. Everyone around him saw how his mood had improved. He was smiling more and overall seemed happier.
Lethal laughed as they crossed the threshold of the establishment. He was about to start training for a match, so this would be his last night out for a while. Anyone that didn’t know him for real thought he was exaggerating when he said heabstained from sex, smoking, drinking, sweets, and fried foods during training. When women got to know him and saw how he actually stood on business, his discipline was always sexy to them and made him even more desirable. Lethal wasn’t opposed to being in a relationship; he simply hadn’t found the one to make him explore that option.
The bar wasn’t packed, and there were a few available seats at the bar. The moment he slid on the stool, the freckle-covered face that caught his eye made Lethal’s nostrils flare. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he growled, lowly. Despite the fact that he wasn’t loud, Block heard his brother’s words.
“What’s good?” he implored.
“That fuckin’ bitch at the other end of the bar is the one that drugged me, fucked me, and took my chain.”
Block’s eyes shot in the direction that Lethal was glaring, and he had to admit that shiestiness aside, shorty was pretty. He saw why Lethal had sex with her. “Oh hell nah, she’s a bartender. Imagine how many times she’s done that shit.” Both men stared in her direction as she spoke to a patron seated at the end of the bar.
“That whore can’t fix me a fuck ass thing to drink. I should get her fired,” Lethal seethed as he stared at the black pouch that was secured around her waist and hiding her slight pudge. “And the bitch is pregnant,” Lethal announced, making Block’s eyes widen.
“How you know?” His head whipped from right to left as he eyed his brother and then the bartender.
Never taking his eyes off her, Lethal recanted the details of his run-in with Khrome. It had been six days but seeing her in the flesh pissed him off all over again.
The laughter that pushed from Block’s throat pissed Lethal all the way off. He finally tore his attention away from Khrome and eyed Block.
“The shit isn’t funny, nigga.”
“I beg to differ. How the hell you gon’ co-parent with a broad that drugged you and stole your chain? Shorty is tough.” Block shook his head while Lethal snarled.
He diverted his gaze back on Khrome, and their eyes locked. Lethal saw her light skin reddening underneath the brown markings. Every time she saw him, Lethal wanted her to sweat bullets.
“There isn’t any part of me that would ever willingly be a dead beat, but she can’t never get shit from me. I don’t even know how that would work,” Lethal spoke to Block as he glared at Khrome. She quickly looked away as the other bartender walked over to take Lethal and Block’s orders.
“Well, she didn’t tell you it was yours, right?” Block inquired once the bartender walked off.
“Nah, but that’s because she knows she’s dead-ass wrong. More than likely, she’ll just wait until the baby is born and try to put me on child support. I’ll never box again before I let her come up off what she did. The chain had better gotten her enough money to never ask me for shit else,” Lethal growled.
No one could ruin his mood the way Khrome did. Even though the other bartender had never done anything to him, Lethal watched her like a hawk as she fixed his drink. Ironically, the night he met Khrome, she wasn’t a bartender. Whatever she slipped in his drink, she did so during their conversation. Lethal had to hand it to her, shorty was slick as fuck. Lethal couldn’t fathom life being cruel enough to make Khrome’s child his. His sensitivity to smells had subsided, but Lethal would never forget the few months when almost every scent to infiltrate his nostrils made him gag. He didn’t even know how that shit was physically possible.
At the other end of the bar, Khrome was sweating bullets. Things had been too good to be true. First, Keyonna’s helpwasn’t a trap. She actually made it to a hotel to check in. Aside from that, she got rid of her cell phone and got a new one with an entirely different number. The day after her escape, Khrome was scrolling Instagram from an account that wasn’t linked to her identity, and she saw that one of her old classmates had a bar, and he was looking for a bartender. From what she remembered of him, Brian had always been cool. Biting the bullet, she messaged him and practically begged for a job. Khrome was afraid because she was honest about being pregnant and though she wasn’t huge, she doubted anyone wanted to buy drinks from a pregnant bartender.
She had no choice but to tell him her situation and ask if she could work for as long as she could conceal the pregnancy. Luckily for her, Brian had a heart, and he hired her. The plan was to survive for as long as she could off the money she made bartending and to only touch the money she had put away when she no longer worked. She had daycare to think about. Khrome decided that she would get a car and drive for a rideshare company once she was too big to bartend. Her first night bartending, she made $385, which was way better than nothing.
It was her second night, and Khrome feared that her luck had run out. Diamond Cove was way too big for her to be running into Lethal multiple times. Drugging and robbing him wasn’t her idea, and she didn’t want to do it. Despite the sex being amazing, she damn sure didn’t want to get pregnant by him. In order to go through with the plan, she had to drink more than she usually did that night her-damn-self. Lethal was barely coherent, so she didn’t expect the sex to be as good as it was, but she fucked up and let him start round two with no condom on. Pregnancy was not on her bingo card, but she couldn’t be mad at Cam. Khrome could only be mad at herself, and she couldn’t blame Lethal for looking at her like he wanted to slap the taste out of her mouth. Even when she didn’t know how she was going to get away fromCam, walking into an office and putting Lethal on child support was never going to happen.
Seeing him at the bar put an immediate damper on Khrome’s mood. She couldn’t be for certain that Lethal wouldn’t put hands on her. The hateful glares he tossed her way made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Relief washed over her when her coworker went to help Lethal and the person he was with, so she didn’t have to ask her to. Khrome’s heart pounded profusely in her chest as she kept her head down and tried to act like she didn’t know Lethal was staring a hole into her.
Khrome was so busy avoiding Lethal that she missed the fact that Cam had eased onto the barstool right in front of her. When her head lifted, all the color drained from her face as Cam joined in on the Khrome hate train. His glare was just as vicious as Lethal’s, and the gleam in his eyes made her aware that he couldn’t wait to fuck her up.
“Who would have thought you and that bitch, Keyonna would have ever teamed up? I’m still looking for that bitch and since I found you first, you gon’ get it the worst,” he promised. “I suggest you walk from behind that bar quietly because if I have to come get you, it’s gon’ be real damn ugly,” Cam’s tone was low and calm. Shit, it could almost be considered friendly. And that was when Khrome knew that he wasn’t going to show any mercy. He didn’t give a damn about her being pregnant.
