“Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.” She pointed toward the open door.
The bathroom wasn’t big, but it was large enough for us to fit inside. White walls made the room resemble a cage for the mentally insane, and the smell of chemicals triggered memories of chopping up bodies.
“How do you expect me to do this with my hands tied?”
She placed the handle of her knife between her glossed lips and walked over to me. I peered down and watched her tug on the waistband of my sweats as she dug in my pants. Her cold touch made me shake when she pulled my dick out and aimed it at the toilet.
“Hurry up. Don’t take all day.”
“I can’t piss like this.”
“You don’t have a choice.” She giggled, revealing gold caps over her fangs. “Do you need me to jerk it off a little to get it going?”
She thought the shit was a joke, while I thought about head-butting her funny ass. As thoughts of an escape plan rushed into my brain, the sensation of relief caused my head to fall backward. When I glanced down at myhandler,I noticed she was staring at me with her mouth unfastened. Instead of overthinking her body language, I concluded she was freaky or insane.
“Why are you sweating? Scared? Sick?” she asked once we were back in the room with me tied to the hard seat.
“How long do you plan to keep this bullshit going on? Why are you doing it in the first place? Somebody paying you, Kitty?”
“I already explained why you’re here,” she blurted out. “You’re asking me all these questions. Maybe you should’ve asked your family for a loan.”
“I never needed a fucking dime from nobody, and I’m not beggingyoufor shit.”
“It wouldn’t help you anyway. Once Junior makes the call, you’ll either pay and die or just . . . die.”
Junior?
I racked my brain until a face popped into my mind. The name was common, but there weren’t manyniggaswith the name who called plays in the city. Junior Blackstone. He loaned people money, cars, and other illegalpossessions they came to my casino and lost. I didn’t know him personally, but I knew he was the oldest son of a man I’d heard stories about—stories that involved my father and Junior’s. My old man kept the details of their feud short, but I knew enough. Levi did too.
Now that I knew about Kitty and Junior’s connection, I concluded they looked nothing alike. Junior was tall, but his baby sister couldn’t be taller than five-feet-five. Her short hair gave her cat-shaped eyes and high cheekbones room to stand out. Had it not been for the tattoo on her face and the piercing in her upturned nose, I would say she looked like a model.
“We can cut everything short if you just pay your debt.”
“I’m not giving you shit, shorty.”
She shrugged. “That’s on you. Your debt moves on to your next of kin once you’re gone. I would hate to snatch up your mama.”
“Hopefully, she’s in hell. When you get there, stay and keep her company.”
“What about your girlfriend, or your siblings, or your father?” she sang.
The mention of my lovedonesput me on edge. There was no wayKcould get to the people that mattered to me, but the idea was enough to make me flinch at her. As much as I asked for privacy,there was a chancethe only person looking for me was my baby brother. For years, I worked hard to get Easycomfortable with the idea of us not living together; assuring him that he could talk to me at any time was an important part of the transition.
“Water.” She pressed a plastic bottle against my lips. “Drink it.”
“Why are you giving me water?”
“Like I said earlier, I don’t know if my folks want you dead or alive.”
I smirked. “Kitty ain’t calling the plays after all.”
“I don’t need to be the coach. I’m the quarterback, baby.”
I filled my cheeks with water, ready to spit it in her face, but I couldn’t let my pride get me knocked off. A lot ofniggaswould love to hear somebody found me in the dirt, but the revelation would rip my little brother apart. That was enough for me to play it cool and let the pretty bitch think she was running the show for now.
Chapter 3
Kannon
