Chapter 2 #2
“We are not in the courtroom, Abria. You are talking to your future husband right now. Be truthful and admit that Jehovah got Kairo killed because his testimony was going to send him to Rikers. That isn’t a secret to anyone in New York right now.”
“That may be an assumption, but no one in New York can prove it. Jehovah was willingly fighting for justice the right way.”
“If you say so, Abria. We both however know the truth.”
“Whatever, Marcus, but again, why are we on the phone in the first place? I told you that I was done with this after my birthday. What you and I are doing is over with. Now, goodbye and good riddance.”
I hung up the phone and put his contact on do not disturb.
No one knew about our secret relationship except us, and the conflict of interest was so high that if someone even suspected we were dating, we would lose everything, including our careers.
Yet somehow, that danger only made me want Marcus more over the past years.
For some reason, I’ve always been drawn to the men who are no good for me.
The flames I know will burn me down. The trouble that smiles sweetly.
At first, I thought I was doing everything right, entertaining the man who could be the next District Attorney in New York. He had the credentials, the respect, and seemingly, the kind of future planned out that I wanted for myself. He was the kind of man mothers prayed their daughters would marry.
Marcus and I dated casually when we first met.
We went out to dinner and went on trips, and we said we wouldn’t get too serious because of our jobs.
Time went by, love was made, and eventually he proposed to me in the most beautiful way possible at a quiet resort in Rhode Island, one of the many places we went to be alone and out of the way.
I was happy about that ring even though I knew someone had gotten one from him many years before I did.
Marcus was married and had been for six years and I should’ve left him when I found that out, but I didn’t.
As I said, it was the rush of what I knew I didn’t need that drew me closer to him.
I pulled out of the parking garage and went in the opposite direction of the courthouse to avoid the traffic still crowded outside. I zoned out completely, not even listening to any music, and before I knew it, I was pulling up in front of Club Raw.
Walking up to the club doors down the sidewalk, I could hear the music blasting from the inside. Both men and women were making their way inside the strip club, some looking like they were fresh off of work.
I tried to slid past the line, but then a guard grabbed my arm before I could walk in the door.
“Cover charge is $20.”
“I don’t need to pay a cover charge, I’m just here to get my sister.”
“Cover charges are mandatory to go inside the building. No one gets inside those doors unless they pay me a twenty-dollar bill shorty.”
“That’s dumb. Do you people even have a liquor license for this club?” I peeked around his large linebacker frame.
“You people? Shorty, I know you up here in your lil’ Gina from Martin work suit, but yo little ass black too.”
“I wasn’t saying it like that, but don’t let the suit fool you. I will get with your ass.”
He stepped into my face, towering over my body like some sort of statue.
I guess his size and the look on his face was supposed to scare me, but I’ve seen much worse.
Imagine having to do interviews with a rapist for case studies in college or working with a notoriously violent man like Hov.
A broke ass security guard is not scaring me.
“You need to get the fuck out of my face before you regret it.”
I clutched my purse even closer to my body.
The guard took it an inch further and grabbed my arm tightly, squeezing it like he was crazy. If this is how they treat their customers, I can only imagine how they treat the women who work here.
“Get your hands off of me!”
I snatched away from him, and my phone started ringing from my purse.
It was Ryan, and I’m sure she was rushing me or in immediate danger by now, so I swallowed my pride, reached into my bag, and then grabbed a twenty out my wallet.
I could tell by the look on his face that he was now satisfied, feeling that he had somehow won, when I handed the money to his stupid ass.
“This was all I was asking for. You may enter now.”
He stepped back with a grim laugh on his face, pocketing the twenty-dollar bill just as I knew he would. I walked into the club and instantly stopped the first waitress that I saw.
“Excuse me.”
“Yeah?” She threw her braids over her shoulder with an attitude.
“Can you show me where the restrooms are?”
She rolled her eyes and then pointed to the corner behind us before she took walked away. I went into the restroom, turning up my nose from the stench that hit me at the door.
“Ryan, are you in here?”
I opened every restroom stall before I finally realized that she wasn’t. I walked back out of the restroom and stopped the same waitress who had pointed me in the direction of the restroom in the first place.
“Excuse me!”
“What girl? I am busy!”
“I understand that, and I apologize for bothering you, but have you seen my sister. Her name is Ryan?”
“Who?”
“Ryan.”
She snickered and rolled her eyes.
“Sis, we don’t go by real names around here. Do you have a picture of her?”
My phone was still in my hand, so I pulled up Ryan’s Instagram profile as quickly as I could.
“Oh, you are talking about Racks skinny ass. She got called into the back for a private dance like fifteen minutes ago. I told that nigga her lip was bleeding, but he was persistent on getting a dance from her.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Can you go get her, please?”
“No, we are not allowed to break up private dances. You need to just wait until she comes out.”
She walked away from me and back over to the bar.
When I finally spotted a dark hallway to my left, I caught sight of a stripper in a glittered-blue bodysuit disappearing down the hallway with a heavy-set white guy whose hands were glued to her hips.
I followed a few steps behind them into the hallway, which had no guards giving me free access to roam.
This had to be the area where they gave away private dances.
As I walked further down the hall, I saw small velvet curtains draped over doorways lining the narrow hallway, and I quickly started to pull back curtain after curtain, revealing some shit I wish I'd never seen.
I could smell the cheap cologne floating through these back hallways, which fully explained what kind of men were back here.
The most desperate and freaked out ones who probably got no play in real life.
I was mentally preparing myself for what I might see when I found Ryan. But still, every curtain I pulled back showed me a view of everything but Ryan.
I eventually snatched the curtain back on the second-to-last booth, and what I saw legit stopped me in my tracks.
The first thing I spotted was a woman spread wide open getting her vagina licked by another woman.
That wasn’t even the sight that had me caught up the most. It was the fully erected dick standing up from the man’s lap who was blessed as hell and there was no denying that.
He was fine as hell and nothing like the stereotype I had attached to the men who I felt came back here to get sexual favors from desperate women.
After catching eyes with him, the realization flooded my brain as I stood in the doorway, looking at him.
I know exactly who this man is. One of Hov’s closest allies. Crew Banks.
A few months ago, when I was building a character profile on Hov and combing through his Facebook, I saw the same man who stood out next to Hov in a photo from last Christmas.
But none of Crew’s photos compared to how he looks in person.
In those photos, he was undeniably attractive, but sitting here before me, he looked like a basketball player or a big-time rapper or some shit.
After about five seconds of us making eye contact, he shook his head and looked back at the girls going at it, who also hadn’t stopped.
“Unless you want to join them, can you please get the fuck out? We busy.”
He spat while motioning his hands up and down his dick.
I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to escape, but my heels felt like they were glued to the floor for what felt like an eternity.
“I, I, I’m sorry.” I finally rushed out of the room, having to take a break in the hallway to catch my breath.
“Okay, where the fuck is my sister? I have to get the fuck out of here. This place is insane.”
I fussed to myself, thinking about the security of my career and how much I worked my ass off to get here.
I can’t let being in a place like Club Raw mess up my reputation.
The attorney industry is male-dominated, and women have to work twice as hard and be ten times as perfect to be seen.
Shit is even harder than that when you are a black woman.
I can hear my partners now, wondering why I would come straight to the strip club after the botched opening day of a trial.
Right now, I should be at home making up new opening remarks since I wasn’t going to be attacking the credibility of the witness who was now headed to the morgue.
Instead, I’m at club Raw watching one of Hov’s homeboys get his rocks off in the private area.
I made the decision that it was best if I call her baby father, Nathan, to save her before she’s not the only person who needs saving. After all, him losing his construction job is a lot better than me losing a job that is paying me upwards of $325,000 a year, and that’s before bonuses.
I pulled out my phone and called Nathan, listening to the ring and ring until he finally answered.