Chapter 8 #2
We came out onto the road behind the club like Proctor was running from someone, or should I say bullets. There were fewer cars back there, but still enough traffic to slow things down. He leaned on the horn, impatient, forcing cars to shift like he owned the road and was letting them use it.
“Get the fuck out of the way. I’m ready to get to my shit.”
He cut through gaps that barely existed, jumped the curb, rolled half onto the sidewalk, horn blaring as people scrambled out of the way.
It should’ve scared me, but it didn’t. If anything, it was kind of funny the way he moved like someone who left something on the stove and couldn’t get back fast enough.
Maybe he was trying to get me there to see if something was still in my system.
It was not. I was just using him for the access. The ease.
Proctor finally hit the freeway and then sped up until he pulled up to The Palms Casino Resort, and I leaned forward, looking out the window, my eyes traveling all the way up until my neck had to tilt back.
“I thought you said we were going to your condo. This is a hotel.”
“I see you are not educated about Vegas,” he said calmly. “The Palms has hotel rooms, Airbnbs, and condos all in one. Most of these units are privately owned. I live on the second-to-top floor, and my son owns the one on the very top.”
“What does your son do if you don’t mind me asking. You just said he owned a penthouse at the Bellagio too?”
“He does a lot. Most importantly, Nina Francis.”
The valet stepped up to the driver’s window, interrupting our conversation.
Proctor climbed out, handing over the keys without breaking stride. We followed behind, wobbling slightly, moving in a loose line as we entered the building.
Once we got upstairs and stepped through the front door, I stopped with my eyes now shifting in every direction.
The condo opened up wide and clean, polished floors stretching out beneath soft lighting that made everything glow warm and expensive.
Floor to ceiling windows framed the city like a backdrop, and the place felt lived in without being cluttered.
Nothing about it screamed security guard, and everything about it confirmed what I already knew.
Proctor was much more than just a guard. He was Vegas royalty
The way he moved at the club, and the way people listened at the pool, all made sense now. He had power with money behind it. Lots of fucking money to be exact.
As I walked further in, my eyes caught on a large mural hanging along the wall. It was of a man standing in front of a massive mansion, hands in his pockets, posture confident, and unbothered. I recognized him instantly because this was the same man Cyn had left with earlier.
Tania stepped up beside me, looking at the same picture I was.
“Proctor, why do you have a picture of him in your place?”
She always asked what everyone else was scared to.
“That’s family,” Proctor replied.
“Oh. I see you love your boss.”
He smiled without turning back.
“Yeah, I do. He’s a good boss, but I love him mostly because he's my son.”
He walked off like he hadn’t just dropped something heavy into the room.
I stared back at the mural, my chest tightening as everything clicked. The resemblance hit me all at once because they had the same bone structure, the same quiet dominance in their faces. It was crazy how the mind worked. Before that moment, I hadn’t noticed it at all. Now I couldn’t unsee it.
Proctor disappeared deeper into the condo, leaving us standing there like we were supposed to already know where to go.
“Make yourselves comfortable.” I heard his voice echoing from wherever he disappeared to.
“This is fuckin nice,” Tania whispered, running her hand along the walls, and every surface we passed by that she probably shouldn’t even be touching.
We drifted toward the kitchen, wide-eyed at the full bar, stacked up neatly.
“I think we should take another shot.” Tania got excited.
“I don’t know. I’m done with drinking.”
“Then I’ll do the drinking for us. Shit, maybe I can get me some dick tonight.”
“Dick from who?” I snapped my neck toward her.
She grinned.
“Girl, that nigga in there. I’m due for a one night stand.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should leave that one alone.”
“Hold on. You claiming a nigga when you already have a nigga?”
“It’s not that Tania, he’s just been getting at me. Why would you want to fuck him?”
“Getting at you and fucking you are two different things. I can take him off your hands, no problem. He will belong to me then.” She smirked.
“So you think him wanting me is going to change after y’all have sex?”
“You obviously don’t know what big moose can do.”
“Girl, you don’t even know this man.”
“We didn’t know Hawk either, and we let Cyn go off with him tonight. He could have killed her.”
“That’s not the same.”
“It is the same. Just say you're checking for Proctor and getting married.”
“That’s not fair, Tania, you know I-.”
Proctor walked back into the room, cutting us both off mid-sentence. I didn’t know how much he heard, but the corner of his mouth lifted slightly like he was a bit amused.
Proctor didn’t have a shirt on. Just red sweatpants hanging low, chest out, salt-and-pepper beard setting him off in a way that had no business working as well as it did. This was the equivalent of me walking around with no shirt and no bra on.
“I see y’all found the bar.”
“Yeah,” Tania said quickly. “You mind if we help ourselves?”
“Go ahead. I told you to make yourself at home.”
His eyes locked on mine when he said it. Slow. Intentional.
I slid onto one of the barstools, and Tania went over to the bar, struggling with a bottle of Ace she grabbed to open.
“I can’t open this. I need help,” she acted helpless because this was her favorite act around fine men.
Tania was about 5’3 at most, so she was small, but all curves where it counted.
She had a little body with a big presence.
The kind that drew attention the moment she walked into a room.
Men noticed her fast, gravitated toward her like it was instinct.
I guess a lot of them had a thing for petite women, and Tania knew exactly how to work it.
She was pretty, no denying that. I just wish she saw herself as more than what men wanted from her in the moment. She definitely needs to stop chasing dick so hard and let the dick chase her for once.
Proctor stepped in and popped the top open effortlessly without even flexing a muscle.
“So, Proctor, how much money do you have to have a place like this?” Tania pried in his business.
“The money should speak for itself. Just imagine after you look around shorty.”
He lifted his hand, motioning around the condo.
“I mean, it does. It really does.”
Tania’s eyes slid up and down his body from head to toe. She was really about to flirt with this man. Sometimes I could really strangle her ass.
“Beautiful, you're not drinking? You came all the way over here just to sit on a barstool and take up space?” Proctor said to me, and Tania rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m over my limit with drinking for the night.”
“Nah. You gotta have a shot to celebrate your marriage and union coming up.”
The smile on his face showed his sarcasm.
“If you don’t, your friend is going to drink up all the liquor in here.”
A laugh followed.
“I’m just fucking with you.”
“Don’t fuck with me. Fuck me.”
The way he looked at her made it clear he heard her, but he didn’t even give her the attention she so desperately craved.
“Anyway, y’all can continue having your drinks or don’t. I’m about to step outside for a little me time for a few minutes.”
“Can I come outside with you?” Tania asked.
“Nah, baby. This my little time to relax. Give me about five minutes, then I’ll come back in and let you have the blunt. I need that time to decompress. I see a lot of shit throughout the day.”
He walked away just like that.
“Mm, mm, mm. I know you mad, but I’ll let you know how the dick is.”
Tania danced a little, then froze grabbing her coochie.
“Fuck. I gotta pee. Where the hell is the bathroom?”
“Probably down the hall. There has to be one close to the kitchen.”
“I’ll be right back.”
She took off down the hallway, disappearing fast.
I was so fucking mad at her that I wished she’d fall asleep on the toilet like she did back in 2017 while we were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Sleep would give me time to breathe, time to do whatever I wanted without feeling judged or talked about afterward.
That’s when the idea hit.
I had two Benadryl tablets in my pocket because I always carried them around ever since my father killed my mother. Getting to sleep quickly had become a problem, and no matter how drunk I got or how sleepy I felt, I always had these two pink pills to take on my ride home.
“Lord, forgive me,” I said out loud when I committed to the idea that shot through my mind.
I glanced over my shoulder, and then I slipped off my shoe and crushed the pills under the sole, grinding them down until they were nothing but powder.
My heart was beating faster now, and I hurried and poured the crushed up pills into a glass, then went back to the liquor to fix myself a shot.
I knew we’d be taking one together anyway once she came back.
This would shut her ass up long enough for me to actually breathe.
Long enough for me to talk to Proctor without all the side shit she always did.
Tania came back around the corner, maybe a minute after the pills dissolved, and I handed her a shot and then took one myself to make sure I played it off.
Her and I then moved over to the couch in the living room tucked right off the kitchen. I didn’t need her falling out, cracking her head on the bar, and me ending up in jail for murder because I slipped something in her drink.
“Girl, that bathroom is so laid back there. I mean, could you imagine living like this every day? Waking up and looking out those big ass windows, and that view.”