La’Nova
La’Nova
FIRE…
The first thing I saw when I stepped out my camper was muscle. Every last one of Balani’s men looked like they could fold grown men in half and still have the energy after doing it. I took one step forward with my hand resting comfortably on top of the swell of my stomach.
When my eyes landed on Troy, I lost it. He glared hard at me, placed his hand on his hip, and frowned.
“Hey, Tuckalicious.” I winked.
Troy rolled his eyes then looked over at Nookie.
Both of them quickly became my favorites since we constantly went back and forth shooting insults at each other on the low.
Troy and Nookie were both over six feet tall, chocolate, and nothing but muscle.
One look at them you’d think they had deep masculine voices.
Instead, their voices were as soft as mine.
There was no secret, all of Balani’s men were either openly gay or bi-sexual. Balani was a hoe, but Troy and Nookie were his main lovers. They also were best friends outside of Balani.
“Balani is waiting for you, Demon eyes.” Troy puckered his lips out.
“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered under my breath.
Nookie chuckled as I walked toward the both of them. The other guards got in formation behind us as I took in Troy’s neon green glitter eye shadow.
“That’s not your color, boo,” I stated lowly.
His eyes were bright as hell; he looked like a handsome clown today.
“Just like that dingy ass camper of yours—”
“Don’t do her camper,” Nookie cut in.
The three of us fell in step together.
“I told Lani, I wanted a camper for Christmas.” Nookie continued.
“Chilee, I swear you just run out of shit for my man to buy you.” Troy rolled his eyes at Nookie.
Nookie was a couple inches taller than Troy. If I had to guess, Nookie was a top. He was more masculine than Troy. Nookie dressed in nice, tailored suits that didn’t hug every curve and muscle. Troy liked his butt poking out so all of his pants hugged him super tight.
They walked me toward the back entrance of Balani’s casino, moving like synchronized shadows on either side of me. It was crazy how I no longer saw this place as somewhere Lennox used to dwell at and run. Balani gave the casino a face lift inside out.
“Y’all got shit tucked today?” I joked lowly.
“Damn right.” Troy smirked over at me just as the door opened before we reached it. “Nine on my hip.” He tapped his side. “Today I went light with a deuce deuce in my ass.” He winked.
“Freaked out ponks.” I giggled.
“That’s right!” They both sung out in union.
Soon as we stepped inside, the AC smacked us dead in the face. By now, I wasn’t new to this. I was used to the new elegancy in here. I never asked Balani about what all he had going on in this place after he made it clear the underage girls that Lennox had working here had been saved and uprooted.
The men that I eyed in passing didn’t look like the men that Lennox had here. Grown women accompanied these men like pieces of art, waiting on their men to hit big at the cards tables. There were slot machines in the far corners with older men sitting with cigars tucked in the side of their mouths.
A few heads turned as we passed in acknowledgment of security trailing closely behind me.
Balani’s men had me feeling like the president walking on expensive marble floors.
The deeper we walked, the louder the casino got.
I hadn’t explored every part of this place and didn’t care to since gambling wasn’t my thing.
We took an elevator down to the lower level and the moment we stepped off and inside of Balani’s space, everything turned white.
Right in the center of the room sat Balani.
I stopped walking and didn’t check to see where Troy and Nookie was at because I was sure in the next couple of seconds they would be right by their man’s side.
Balani was super dramatic the more I got to know him.
He loved being catered to, like now. He was laid back in a wide white leather chair fit for a king.
Two men knelt at his feet, massaging them like they were working out knots from a long day of him standing when I knew he probably hadn’t stood past an hour today.
Another man stood behind him, gently working oil into his hands.
The man blew hot breath in the palm of his hands then placed them on Balani’s shoulders.
“You can’t be serious.” I laughed.
Balani kept his eyes closed for a while and hummed.
“I am always serious, Honey Boo.” He rolled his neck and moaned lowly as the man behind him worked his shoulders with perfect precision.
“If you’d like, I can have them run you a nice bubble bath then give you one of those pregnant women massages,” he offered.
He opened his eyes and smiled. For a minute I got lost in his ocean blue eyes and just the beauty of him.
He grew his hair out, and now soft curls framed his face.
The tips of his curls were a copper brown color that complemented his pale face.
Balani looked ethereal as always. Like a beautiful vampire with perfect white aligned teeth, almost too real to stand close to and witness.
“No thank you,” I scoffed and dropped into the chair across from him like I wasn’t impressed.
He laughed softly while one of the men finished massaging his hands and stepped back.
My eyes scanned the room, and that’s when it dawned on me that Nookie and Troy must have been mad at Balani about something.
Normally, they did not let Balani breathe, now they had disappeared soon as I stepped inside.
“Leave us,” Balani demanded.
As if he snapped his fingers, everyone efficiently moved out quickly.
“A problem for you has come to my attention.” He wasted no time saying. He leaned forward in his seat then picked up a cherry, popping it in his mouth.
My stomach dropped the longer I studied him. I started to feel uneasy at once.
“What’s the problem?” I asked carefully, feeling my hands shake.
Balani didn’t speak right away, that’s how I knew this meeting wasn’t going to go how I thought it would. He leaned back slowly in his seat, fingers steepled together under his chin. His cold blue eyes studied me in a way that made my stomach tighten again before he even opened his mouth.
“I understand distance,” he said finally.
“From what?” I frowned, shutting my eyes.
“From him.”
My eyes popped opened, mouth instantly going dry.
I batted my eyes in confusion, wondering what exactly brought us to this conversation.
Balani kept a straight face, indicating no apparent direction he was getting ready to take this.
I released a weary sigh followed by my shoulders dropping in despair.
I didn’t need him to say Luca’s name. I could already feel it sitting inside the room with us.
“You don’t tell me your personal business,” he continued calmly. “You tell me what you want, I respect that.”
“Then respect it,” I replied quickly.
Balani hadn’t dropped the bomb of why he decided to bring Luca up randomly. To be honest, I was scared shitless. Suddenly, I had a strong urge to hop up as fast as I could, run to my camper, and get gone.
“I do.” His angelic voice cut through my chaotic thoughts.
“Then there is no need to bring him up.”
He didn’t react to my tone nor get defensive, that’s what made shit worse.
“I’m also a man of fairness… and fairness inside of my world means balance… balance sometimes come with consequences,” he retorted smoothly.
Fear splintered my heart, I licked my moist lips then tried to mentally calm myself down.
“If I was a straight man—”
“But you’re not,” I snapped, cutting him off.
“If I was a straight man,” he paused, giving me a pointed look. “And I found out a woman hid my child from me…”
My heart skipped a beat. Dammit he knows…
I wasn’t all the way honest with Balani. I lied and told him Luca wanted nothing to do with my baby. I opened up a little and also confessed how I killed Dontrell. I painted a picture as if Luca knew about our baby and told me to stay away. Now it was about to bite me in the ass.
Panicking over my own fuck up, I quickly stood to my feet.
“Sit down, La’Nova… no harm will come to you, Honey Boo, I promise.” Balani sounded sincere, but I couldn’t trust him even though I was the one who lied.
My hands shook, I couldn’t bring myself to even look him in the eyes.
“Very well, you can stand… but I will get to the point in what I’m trying to say,” he uttered, sitting back in his seat comfortably.
“If I found out a woman that I caused no harm to… hid her pregnancy from me… I would become something she wouldn’t recognize. Honey Boo?” He said my nickname cautiously.
“Hmm?”
I blinked back tears, already knowing where this was headed. Suddenly, I could feel Luca… I could even hear his raspy deep whisper and see those dark feral eyes staring at me with hate. Luca was close….
He might have not been in this room close, but he was in Vegas close.
He knows. I’d lied to myself thinking Lucille would have told him months ago.
When deep down, I knew he loved me too much.
Luca wasn’t a typical man. Just from the way he took in the twins, I knew he’d be a proud father of our child.
I felt paralyzed in place with shaky hands and a trembling heart.
“I had a very long talk with Luca last night,” Balani’s voice dropped dangerously low. “Him and his men came prepared for a war with me and mines.”
My stomach clenched. I became unparalyzed with guilt for bringing drama Balani’s way.
“I’m sorry,” I said somberly.
“Honey Boo,” he said slowly.
I locked eyes with Balani, clutching my stomach. My baby girl moved; her foot was moving across the top of my stomach in a slow wave.
“He’s not taking it well,” Balani continued.
I couldn’t find my strength to utter out a word.
“Fires are starting…” His words trailed off.
Before I could process what he meant, a loud explosion sounded off, shaking the room. I jumped, heart slamming against my ribs. Fear crawled up my spine followed by another boom.
“Got dammit!” Balani yelled, standing immediately.
He moved bare chest across the room, his bare feet slapped against the marble floor.
“He wasn’t supposed to do this shit on my fuckin’ property,” he gritted out, snatching up his Versace robe from his lounge chair.
A contraction tore through my lower abdomen so hard my knees buckled.
“Ah—” I screamed at the top of my lungs, losing my balance.
Balani rushed over to me and kneeled. A gush of water spilled out of me as I cradled my stomach and crotched down low.
“Honey Boo—”
“Balani, please,” I cried, not looking up at him as the pain pulsed through me again.
“Nova,” his voice was full of concern.
“No, no, no!” I wailed, overwhelmed with emotion and pain.
This wasn’t how my labor was supposed to go.
“Was that—” I swallowed down saliva and forced myself to breathe through the pain.
“Was that my camper?” I forced myself upright, my knees slid against the liquid that spilled out of me.
“Yes, it was.” Balani offered me an apologetic look.
A low sob escaped my mouth before I could stop it. Another wave hit my lower stomach before I doubled over slightly, gripping my stomach now with both hands.
“Call somebody, my water broke,” I managed to get the words out.
Balani’s face became distorted. I started to see two of him. It felt like my mind was all over the place. My camper was gone… I was about to give birth… and Luca was setting fires…