21. September
It took over an hour, but I finally found what I searched for.
“Bingo!” I replied after I removed the AirPods from my ears.
“What?” Priest asked.
He sat on the couch across from my father’s desk, where he and Sunny spoke in low tones. Every now and then, he would look up and ask if I had found anything useful. When Sunny noticed my stress level rise, he told Priest to chill because these things took time. That was when I finally plugged in the AirPods.
“My father is a brilliantly stupid man,” I answered. I paused and then corrected, “Was.”
It was unsettling in some ways to know that neither of my parents was still alive. It scared and confused me because although it was still hard some days, I accepted the fact that my mother was dead. My father had always been here to love, protect, and nurture me.
Over the last four weeks that Priest kept me at his cabin, I had time to come to terms with the fact that my father wasn’t who he pretended to be, and he protected me as long as I did what he required. The minute that went out the door and I questioned his integrity, all bets were off.
I had four weeks to become acclimated to the fact that he didn’t give a shit about me and that I was alone in the world. I knew that I would be on my own and would have to make my life work the best way I could. Yet, there was a secret part of me that hoped there was some explanation and that maybe I’d been mistaken about things.
That possibility was no longer on the table for two reasons. One, my father was dead, and he wasn’t coming back. Two, the evidence of who my father was and what he’d done in conjunction with my “fiancé” was in front of my face.
“Did you find evidence?”
“A shitload of evidence.”
“This had better be some good shit,” Sunny declared from his spot on the couch.
“There are hours of recordings of phone conversations between Daddy and Daniel. I’ve viewed videos of them at the warehouses where the kids and women were taken to. Several of them include my father and Daniel, watching as the victims are loaded on and off the trucks. The conversations include discussions about how many ‘sales’ they had on each shipment and how much they would get for them. They even have a list of buyers on here,” I explained.
“How fast can you get that shit transferred out of here and to somewhere safe where we can look over it? I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to,” Priest remarked beside me, where he looked over my shoulder.
“Another two minutes.”
“Here, send them to this location,” he remarked before he slid a slip of paper my way.
Priest moved away from my side and pulled out his phone. While I transferred certain files, he spoke with Ox.
“At the Crypt? Nah… tell Keeper to hold off. We leaving these bodies. I’ma let the folks handle ’em.”
Priest continued his conversation with Ox as Sunny glanced warily at me from time to time. When Priest ended the call, Sunny glanced at me and nodded.
Priest looked over his shoulder and shook his head.
“Hey, guys. I’m right here. If you need to talk in private, just step out of the room, but don’t play me dumb like I don’t see y’all talking about me in my face.”
“My bad, baby.”
“Baby? Nigga, yo’ ass is gone,” Sunny declared. He shook his head but cut off his chuckle when Priest mugged the hell out of him.
“Nigga, you got a problem with me and my old lady?” Priest asked.
Sunny’s eyebrows damn near rose off his forehead, and he replied, “Old lady?” at the same time that I did. Priest turned to look at me over his shoulder, lifted his eyebrows, and then asked, “Did I muthafuckin stutter?” He looked back and forth between Sunny and me.
“Priest, you can’t just tell me that I’m yours. I mean, we need to discuss this.”
“Ain’t no discussion to be had. You ain’t have no problem letting that bum ass nigga make plans to marry you. I know you ain’t got no fucking issues with me claiming you, ’specially not the way you rain on this mouth and dick.”
“Priest.” I hissed in embarrassment with a glance between him and Sunny. “I’m not property to claim.”
“You right about that. I didn’t mean that shit that way.” He apologized and dragged his hand over his head.
“Aye, I’ma let y’all have some privacy. Look like y’all got shit to work out. Meantime, I’ma check in with Morgan’s security team to make sure they paid and got shit straight,” Sunny explained when he stood and headed for the door.
I looked at the computer as a ‘ping’ sounded that notified me all the files had been transferred to the designated location.
“Listen, princess.”
“No, you listen. The files have been transferred as you requested and?—”
“Good, Geek will know what to do with them, and I know that he’s been notified that they’re there. We got other shit to talk about, but we can discuss that back at the clubhouse.”
“Before we go, do you mind if I grab some of my things and my phone? It’s been crazy being without my personal items the last month.”
“Grab what you can, but hurry up. I ain’t got no problem buying you some more shit. We can only carry so much on the bike anyway.”
“I was thinking that I would just take my car.”
Priest rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Gahdamn, woman. You gonna be the fuckin’ death of me.”
I shrugged and replied, “I don’t need you dying on me too, Priest. There’s been too much of it.”
“Gone upstairs and get what you need. I’ll be waiting. We ain’t going nowhere without you.”
I nodded and ran upstairs. About fifteen minutes later, I had all I could transport in my car, including my phone. I hollered for Priest, who ran upstairs with Sunny to grab my things and load them in my trunk, the back seat, and the passenger seat. Five minutes after that, we were on the road.
“It’s been a long day. How’re you really feeling?” Priest asked.
He trailed a finger down my bare shoulder and across my collarbone. He lifted my chin with that same finger when I didn’t respond.
“Tired. Shocked. Disbelief.”
“Tired? That’s understandable. What’re you shocked about?”
“That my life was a complete lie and that the people I thought loved and cared for me weren’t who they said they were.”
“People will let you down every time, but you can’t let that stop you, baby.”
“I know. It’s just so heartbreaking. The only person I have left in my former life is my best friend, Phaedra. Like me, my mother was an only child. Her parents died over the last three years. My daddy didn’t know his daddy, and his mama’s mean ass finally died last year. His brother is in prison, and his sister is strung out on drugs.”
“Damn, you’d think that he would have gotten them help with all the money he had.”
“You can only help people that want to be helped, Priest.”
“That’s true. What is the disbelief about?”
I sighed and rested my palm on his bare chest. I looked up at him and answered, “That my father is no longer here.”
“I’m sorry, Ember. It was him or me.”
“No, I don’t blame you, Priest. Please don’t think that I do. My own daddy held a gun to my head,” she replied in disbelief. “I mean, what more would it have taken to pull the trigger? I just hate that he won’t get to pay for his crimes. I feel like he got off easy.”
“He didn’t get off easily. He left this world knowing that you knew the truth about who he was. He was exposed in your eyes, and that’s worse than any penalty the judicial system could have imposed upon him.”
“I guess you’re right. I just can’t believe that the man I loved all these years, and whom I thought I knew, would do these things. It’s hard to believe he was capable of everything that he had done. I felt loved throughout my life by my father.”
“He always was capable of the shit he did because he did it, but that’s not to say that he didn’t love you. He did. But he put on a facade about everything else. That’s it.”
“God, I hate this feeling. I’m an orphan, Priest.”
He tugged me closer and kissed the top of my head. “Welcome to my world. It’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
“I thought you didn’t know your daddy.”
“Same difference.”
“Do you think the fact that I’ve conveniently moved out with everything that’s happened will be a concern in the investigation?”
“No. That’s easy to explain. Because you learned the shit your daddy was into and your engagement fell apart, you needed some space. You wanted to start life over.”
“You don’t think they’ll think that I played a part?”
“Listen, baby. We’ve got more than three dozen niggas willing to vouch that you’ve been at the MC and living up here with me in the cabin.”
“You’re right. I’m just scared. You know?”
“Yeah, I get it. I do. But trust me, I’ma take care of you, Ember.”
He brushed my lips and rose on his elbow. He looked down in my eyes with all the fire and passion I’d ever seen reflected in his beautiful brown ones. Priest leaned down and kissed me.
“I know you will. You do know that I can take care of myself, though, right? I mean, financially.”
He sighed. “Baby, taking care of you involves so much more than finances, though. I’ve got you there too. But I’m talking about here….” Priest tapped my head. “And right here,” he asserted and tapped my chest. “And all this,” he added and cupped my pussy.
I clenched my legs around his hand.
“I appreciate you.”
“I know you do. This journey won’t be quick or easy, but I’ll be by your side, Ember. Let me ask you something. You told me that Daniel and your father planned for you not to work, even though you’d gotten your masters. What do you want to do?”
“I’ve just finished school, and now I want to focus on finding a job in my field.”
“I’m right beside you. Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
“Why are you so accommodating?”
“I came from a world where everyone wanted to put a foot on you and keep you down. All this shit you see with the MC—the businesses, the legal ones, and the illegal ones—are all about lifting our people. They’re about helping out the disadvantaged with a special focus on the homeless and the runaways.”
“Because of your past.”
“Exactly. The only real difference between you and me is that your daddy had money, and my mama didn’t. Truthfully, you were left to fend for yourself. Everything you’ve been told was a lie. I want to see you shine, Ember. I want you to get out there and light up the world, girl.”
“What did Daniel do to his previous wife?”
Priest sighed. “Without getting into the details, he used to beat Myesha, cheat on her, and ‘loan her out’ to his business constituents. When he threatened to sell her to some men in Tokyo, she managed to contact her cousins in New York. They arranged a way to get her out of there and brought her to New York to live.”
“He would’ve done me the same way.”
“Exactly,” Priest explained.
“How can I thank you for saving me?”
“Like this,” he replied. Priest spread my legs and moved down between my thighs. He hooked each of my legs over his shoulders and covered my mound with his mouth. His fingers reached up and massaged my breasts before he rubbed and pinched my nipples.
“Oohh.” I hissed.
My back arched, and my ass lifted off the bed. Priest pressed his lips against my clitoris and rubbed it in slow circles with his lips. I pushed against him, but he continued that same movement until I exclaimed, “Boy, get in this pussy!”
He laughed and licked out his tongue to slide it back and forth across my clit. Then he pulled it between his lips and worked it over until it was hard. Priest slid two fingers inside of me and then slowly pulled them back out. He did that several times while he sucked my clit, and I wasn’t sure how long I would last.
“Mmmphh, Priest,” I moaned.
He pulled his fingers free and slid his tongue inside of me. My legs automatically closed around his head, and my hips bucked. Thick fingers pinched my thighs and pried them apart. The sound of him slurping from my pussy caused me to shout, “Priest, ohhh, boy, you know you can eat some pussy.”
He pulled back briefly and looked up at me with glossy lips and dark eyes. “Not just any pussy, baby. Your pussy.”
Priest buried his face between my thick thighs again, and I pushed up, eager to meet him. He dragged his tongue back and forth through my slit and pushed it in and out repeatedly, and he plunged his fingers inside of my asshole until I came on his tongue.
“Wanna taste yourself?” he asked when he slid up and hovered over me.
I gripped the back of his head and pulled him close. I sucked his lips and then kissed him hard and deep. Priest grabbed my hips and squeezed. My legs involuntarily lifted and wrapped around him.
“This my pussy, Ember?” Priest asked and slid inside me.
“Ohhh, yeah.”
“You ain’t giving my shit to nobody else, are you?”
“Mm-mm.”
“Betta not ever give this sweet gushy to no other nigga.”
“I won’t,” I whined.
“You my woman, Ember?”
“We gotta talk about that later,” I murmured.
He pulled back and shoved inside of me harder. Priest reached down, removed one of my legs from around him, and then forced it back toward the headboard. He thrust into me so hard that I swore I felt that shit in my chest.
“This my shit, Ember?”
“Yeah.”
“You my woman?”
“We… need to talk—owww!” I screamed when he thrust into me hard again.
“This my shit, Ember?”
“Yessss.”
“You my woman, Ember?”
“Yeaaahhh.”
“I get this pussy whenever, however, and wherever I want, Ember?”
I didn’t respond quickly enough, and Priest thrust into me hard again. I clenched around him so tightly, and it took several seconds before I released my grip.
“Ooh, shit. Do that again, baby.”
I did.
“Mmm, swear you gonna get a nigga fucked up ’bout this pussy.”
Priest grabbed my other leg and pushed it all the way back. Both my legs were pushed back toward the headboard, and he gripped them with one hand. With his other hand, he slid a finger into my ass.
“I can’t… mmm… it’s here.”
“What’s here, baby?”
“I gotta cum.”
“Cum on this dick, baby.”
I did. Priest pulled out of me and moved up by my head. “Suck this nut out my dick,” he demanded. I flipped over sideways and grabbed his dick. I licked up and down his shaft before I sucked him in toward the back of my throat. I felt him pulsing inside of me, and I sucked harder while I played with his balls.
“You ready for my shit, Ember?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Let me see you play with that pussy.”
I slid my fingers into my pussy and fingered myself hard while I sucked his dick to the back of my throat and slid it out again. I did it repeatedly until he couldn’t hold out.
“Gahdamn, girl.” Priest shot his cum down my throat.
I swallowed, and he pulled me onto my knees to kiss him. When he pulled back, Priest’s hand looped through my hair, and he jerked it back and bit my neck.