“And what’s that?” he asks.
“I came over here to seduce you, get my back blown out, and sneak back into my room.”
“And in the morning, what was going to happen?”
“We would have gone to meet Honey,” she says matter of factly.
As his large warm hand caresses her back, he says, “Just like that? Back to business? You was gonna pretend I didn’t kiss your sweet pussy until you came and fucked you till you screamed my name.”
“Damn. You just gon’ say it like that?” she asks, half amused at his arrogant but factual words.
“That’s how it is or would have been but you didn’t want to do that. If you did, you would have kept going to the door. I’ve learned already that you do what you want and try to remain in control. Even when I had you restrained, you tried to one up me. That’s why I never got close when you had your little weapons,” he says and her head shoots up.
“You knew?” she questions, astonished.
“Yeah. I had been in the apartment before you and in the bathroom. I knew what was in there and what wasn’t when I went to grab your bag. I can’t do what I do if I don’t pay attention to shit,” he admits.
When he first realized she had taken the scissors and little blade, he kept it to himself. Part of him wanted to see if she was really going to try to use the shit on him; the other part was amused. He admired her tenacity and will but thought the shit was funny. Those two little items are no match for him in any way.
“That’s fucked up. You knew the whole time,” she says while shaking her head with a grin. She lowers her head back to his chest. Sleep overtakes her, hard. She yawns and it triggers one from him too. For the first time in a long ass time, Sunjiya willingly falls asleep in a man’s arms and actually sleeps with both eyes closed tightly.
“Try that shit again,” he insists, sounding as frustrated as he had said the exact same words less than two minutes ago.
“It’s going to do the same thing,” Sunjiya insists while shaking her head. Although she knows, hell, they both know the call isn’t going through, Sunjiya dials Honey’s number again. Just like it did the other three times she tried and the two times he did as well, the line rings then immediately sounds off the busy signal. “She cut it off,” Sunjiya says.
“Fuck,” he grits. “This shit’s not making any sense. She wanted to talk to you,” he says while scratching his beard. As usual, this morning, Akeem was up early. He was out of bed, showered and dressed before Sunjiya even considered opening her eyes. While she slept another hour, he replayed all the events of the night and mentally prepared for their planned conversation with Honey. Her not responding to them wasn’t part of the plan. “This is weird,” he huffs.
“I know and I even checked the number last night. As soon as we got back here, I called to make sure it was her real number,” she says and his eyes widen, questioning her. Reading them, she adds, “And her voicemail picked up. Her voice, saying her name.”
“What the fuck happened?” he asks out loud, not expecting an answer because he has his suspicions.Somebody got to her. Maybe Marcelin.Akeem stops pacing and scratching his beard. “You packed?” he asks.
“Yeah. I packed this morning just in case,” she admits.
“Good. We’re going to the club to get to the bottom of this and we might not come back. I’d just rather be ready. If somebody got to her, two things might be happening: we’re getting close to Tanjaya and so is Marcelin. Imma grab my shit then hit him to feel his grimy ass out,” he says as he treks toward the door but she stops him.
“Wait. Call him in here. I want to hear his voice and what he has to say,” she insists.
Akeem makes his way back to the sofa. With his phone on speaker, he dials Marcelin’s number and he answers after the first ring.
“Bonjou,” Marcelin greets. “Sa k pase? I hope you have good news,” he says and Sunjiya’s eyes widen in anticipation of Akeem’s response.
What is he going to say to that?she wonders.
“Just news,” Akeem responds coolly. “The lead to Crescent Falls turned out to be a dead end. It wasn’t shit. I’m about to head to Atlanta. Face recognition software spotted her there,” he embellishes and Sunjiya relaxes.
They need more time and the goal is to keep Marcelin baited but truly in the dark about what’s really going on. If Akeem informs Marcelin that the contract is over and he’s no longer working for him, without a doubt Marcelin would find someoneelse to find or even kill Tanjaya. Akeem wants to prevent that until he has Tanjaya. Then and only then will Akeem give Marcelin all the details. They will be the last thing he hears right before Akeem sends a bullet through Marcelin’s weak body.
“Perfect. As soon as you find her, call. I don’t want her to get away,” Marcelin says.
“You will know when I have her,” is all Akeem offers before ending the call.
“I don’t like his voice,” Sunjiya says with a hint of disgust.
“I don’t like shit about the nigga,” Akeem admits. “But he didn’t sound like he got to Honey. He’s the type of nigga who shows his hand and likes to brag about shit. If he had gotten to her, he would have said it to show me up. He was too quiet. I don’t know what happened with her,” Akeem says.
“Maybe she got scared,” Sunjiya says.
“Let’s find out,” he urges. “Where’s your bag?”
