Taking the elevator up one floor, it wasn’t long before I was walking into the forensic lab. Looking around, I sighed when I found Marsha crying at her desk.
“Massey wanted me to bring you this,” I spoke evenly as I approached her. “Can you sign for it so I can head out? I have a body up there waiting for me.”
Wiping her eyes, she pushed her chair from the desk, signed the log, and took the tray from me. Placing it on the table, she didn’t bother to speak or even look at me. Shrugging, I turned to make my way out of the lab. Along the way, I noticed several vials of hair and blood samples markedSpecimen Sample 3from Lisa’s body. Checking the evidence printout, the sample was matched toHines, Tyreek. I checked around to make sure the coast was clear before I swiped one vial and placed it in my smock.
“You know, you could have asked me what was wrong with me?” Marsha called out as I stepped back into the hallway. “You act as if you don’t care.”
When Marsha started working here two years ago, Sheena didn’t make it a secret that I was off limits. While she thought she had claims on me, it didn’t stop me from fucking Marsha’s throat once or twice. She was a little too clingy for me, so it would have never gone any further than that. They made good friends because they were both delusional as hell.
“What’s wrong with your melodramatic ass today, Marsha? Every time I come up here, it’s some shit with y’all.” I folded my arms and frowned as I mugged her. “Spit the shit out so I can sew up the old hag downstairs.”
“This is what’s wrong!” She threw her hands up as the tears fell. “You act as if you don’t care! Sheena is gone, and you haven’t checked on me once! You act as if what we had?—”
“You’re right, I don’t care. Peace.”
I chucked up the deuces as I made my way back to the elevator. Sheena’s death didn’t move me in the slightest. No one could tell me she wasn’t plotting on me with that fuck nigga, so either he was going to kill her or I would’ve ended up doing it. She got off easy, if you asked me.
Headed back to the morgue, I couldn’t help the feeling that coursed through me. I hadn’t put in much effort to find TJ since we came back from the Virgin Islands. I had been too busy dicking down Bloss Baby to care what that nigga was doing. Death was around the corner for him now, and I hoped he was ready to receive it. Feeling the vial in my pocket, I smiled as I thought about how TJ’s problems were just about to begin. Not only was he going down for the murder of his mistress, but for his mother’s murder too.
“Friend,I don’t understand why you’re mad. I wish a big dick, knife-toting, getting money-ass nigga would come and sweep me off my feet!” Stacy fussed, and I couldn’t stop the giggle that slipped from my lips even if I tried. “Not only that, but he’s always got one of his fine-ass brothers there with you when he’s not there. When you think about it, it’s because of him that you’re safe.”
Leaning against the headboard, I nibbled my bottom lip as I scanned the room. Since the night JJ introduced me to his family, I’d been sleeping in his bedroom. I’d tried so hard to keep my feelings for him tucked away, but it became harder and harder with each passing day. Thinking about what Stacy said, Irealized she was right in a sense. It was because of him that I was alive, and I would always be thankful for that.
“I know that, and I’ve thanked him repeatedly for it. But what part of him having cameras installed in my home is sexy, Stace?” I frowned in confusion. “So fuck my privacy?”
Being stuck at JJ’s house with only my thoughts, I had no choice but to call my best friend to confide in her. Before going to the McKnights’ mansion, JJ had given me my phone back after taking it the night I found out everything about him and his tabs on me. When we got back to his house later that night, he told me I could keep my phone if I promised not to try to leave again. I hurriedly agreed because boredom without a phone was equivalent to torture.
Talking about all the changes, good and bad, with Stacy was good for my soul. I told her as much as I could, leaving gaps that I was sure she noticed but didn’t push on. I had to omit some facts, like JJ killing a man or two, but she now knew my brother had set me up to be kidnapped. The thought of Rowan doing me like that still broke my heart, and I didn’t think our relationship would ever be the same.
“Friend, I get it… He invaded your privacy.” She paused for a moment before adding, “But that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I just—I don’t know, Stacy. I need to process everything, and I can’t do that here.” Dressed in yet another silk pajama set that he so graciously purchased for me, I tiptoed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Every day, he had a private chef come prepare delicious meals for me. Granted, I was free to roam the home as I pleased, but I didn’t want to. I looked around once or twice because the realtor in me couldn’t resist, but hanging around the house in various rooms was a no-go. Since this was a hostage situation, I treated it like one.
“Here I am wanting to go home, and I don’t even have one. There’s no way I can go back to my townhouse when I know he has me under surveillance. Not only him, but Damien and TJ have violated my solitude as well. What am I going to do, friend?”
“If it makes you feel better, you know you can always come over and stay with me if you really don’t want to go home.” I smiled at her offer as I stepped onto the first floor. Stepping into the living room, I noticed a red light emitting from a door I thought was a closet. Opening the door, I was hit with the smell of marijuana and R&B music playing.
“Has TJ tried getting in touch with you?” Stacy asked as I decided to descend the stairs that were behind the door. My guess was that the staircase led to the basement that JJ had converted into a man cave. From the light, music, and smell, this was a space meant for grown men.
“Every second of the day.” I groaned thinking about TJ and how he had been blowing my line down, wanting to see me one minute and throwing out threats the next. “Have you seen the news? I can’t believe he shot up Karlie’s rehab center and killed all of those people. They’ve labeled him armed and dangerous! Only I would leave one lunatic and end up with his cousin.” I giggled softly as I hit the bottom step. “These men are something…”
My words trailed off as my mouth hit the floor. Stepping further through the doorway, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Various sex toys and equipment were scattered about in the finished basement as if it were a sexual chamber. Whips, chains, and toys were organized in wall units with shelves to hold every object you could think of. I couldn’t help but wonder what JJ was really into, seeing all the ropes, swings, and other hanging gear.
What shocked me the most about the room was the way my body hummed in curiosity.
“Close your mouth, mama, or I might be tempted to stick something in it.”
Startled by the sound of his voice, I jumped before spotting JJ seated in the corner of the room. His eyes were low as he eyed me lustfully. Scanning him, my mouth watered at the sight of him shirtless with a blunt in one hand and his dick in the other.
“Girl, what the hell are y’all over there doing?” Stacy screamed in my ear. “Answer your FaceTime so I can see.”
“Let me call you back, friend.” I pulled my phone from my ear, disconnecting the call with my eyes still on JJ. “W-What is all this?”
Stroking himself, he pulled from his blunt as he kept his eyes on me. Exhaling, smoke surrounded his face as his eyes dropped lower over my body. I shifted from one foot to the other and tried to suppress the tingling feeling in my middle.
“This is where I come to relieve stress, and you, my baby, have been stressing a nigga the hell out. Do you know how hard it is to be under the same roof as you and not slide into the home that I know was created for me, every second of every day?” He licked his lips slowly, and I swear, my knees buckled. “I want you, mama. Don’t you want me?”
Swallowing roughly, I took slow steps in his direction. I shouldn’t have wanted him. It was insane to be yearning for a man who’d crossed so many boundaries. My body wasn’t supposed to respond to him the way it did, but I couldn’t help myself. I may have been less sexually experienced, but I knew my way around a toy or two.
