Chapter 1 #2
It had been nearly a year since I’d typed in the code, but muscle memory kicked into overdrive. I bypassed the notifications that came in one after the other, storming the screen. I navigated the applications, landing on the one I was most interested in.
Fuck!
My heart stilled as I stared at the email I’d been alerted to. As I tapped the message, it restarted, beating erratically with each scroll of my finger.
It was her.
The perfect stranger.
The pretty stranger.
In front of my car.
Next to me on the driver’s side.
Taking the wheel.
Beside me in the car at The Balgaria.
At Bar Balgaria.
Arm looped through mine in the lobby.
At the elevator.
In the hallway.
At the hotel door.
Entering the room.
Leaving the room.
I stiffened in my briefs at the sight of her. Since she’d entered my line of vision, she hadn’t left my mind. Thoughts of her felt baseless staring at the images.
Her long legs journeyed for miles, finally reaching her round ass.
She was lean, but it was obvious she hadn’t missed a meal.
Just like everything else in her life, food was plentiful.
She had everything. Everything she needed.
I zoomed in on the image. My pupils focused on her hand.
Except a ring.
A woman of her caliber deserved unwavering support, security, and a soft place to land when the world felt like too much.
I scrolled until the images ended. A heavy sigh landed between my cell and I. Disappointment followed the threads extinction. I pulled a hand down the back of my neck, selfishly wishing there were more.
Of her.
“Ish,” I chastised, bringing myself back to the matter at hand.
And, it wasn’t her. Not exactly.
“You should be more careful. I’ve found the same set of eyes on you since I arrived.”
Her words resurfaced. While the night was a total blur, she wasn’t. In the back of my head, she’d held a spot and she was crystal clear.
My fingers wrapped around my main cell. Instantly, it vibrated in my hand.
Unknown.
“What is it that you want?”
“Terminate your campaign or your opponent will receive this shiny email I have.”
Their words were like blades across the belly.
“Not a fucking option.”
“You’re not the one calling the shots here.”
“Then why the fuck are you on my line?”
Silence swept over the line. The caller’s steady breaths are the only thing left to be heard.
“Name your price.”
“I–”
“Price or I’m hanging this phone up. I will not be responsible for what happens to you after my offer expires.”
Malice laced my words. As much as I wanted to regret them, I didn’t. I wasn’t too far removed from the same streets Indigo was still running. We were one in the same at many points of our lives. However, I cleaned up my act and pledged to be a part of the change I wanted to see happen.
“Is that a threat, Mr. Mayor.”
“It is whatever you want it to be.”
“2.5 million.”
“Don’t hold your breath, motherfucker.”
Venom spewed from my lips as I ended the call. There was nothing left to be said. That $2.5 million would still be in my account when this was all said and done. Whether or not the bitch on the other end of the line still had breath in his body, I couldn’t be certain of.
The phone rang again. I didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Speak, bitch.”
“Twenty four hours to decide or–”
Chuckling, I asked, “Or what?”
I wasn’t making light of the situation. Neither did I think it was humorous. I stood on my feet and began pacing the floor, hoping the fire from my body didn’t burn a hole in my mattress and the expensive ass sheets covering it.
“Your friend and you– all over the news. And, you can kiss that office goodbye.”
My jawline grew rigid as I drew in a slow, steady breath. Every muscle in my body tightened as I halted. Nostrils flared, I pulled a hand over my mouth.
“We should me–” I paused, “We should meet and talk about this face to face. Man to man. You want the money and I want every image in your camera ro– matter of fact, I want the entire fucking camera.”
Taking a page from my book, the caller chuckled. His laughter awakened parts of me I promised to allow rest.
“Just like I know your future… I’m privy to your past. I’m not that stupid.”
“Gots to be. You’re on my fucking line.”
My eyes bulged as my head nodded. He was contradicting himself.
You should fucking know better.
“Twenty-four hours, Mr. Mayor.”
I squeezed the cell in my hand. The chunk of titanium didn’t bend or break.
“Fuck!
The call ended, leaving me in the middle of my floor, steam emitting from my nose and ears. My teeth pressed into each other. The sun’s light did nothing to cure the darkness inside of me.
I pressed forward, bypassing the living room, the guest bedroom, the third restroom, and my office.
I took the steps of my condominium to the first level.
I went through the main kitchen, pulling the pantry door open.
Behind the glass jar of granola, I pushed aside the small cut out to reveal the keypad.
842212.
Double doors parted the pantry in two. I step inside of the bunker. Revolvers of all kind welcomed me into the room. I wasn’t in search of them. Not yet, anyway.
On the desk, near the computers, I retrieved the flip phone. Beside it were six SIM cards, all unused but prepared for use. I slipped one into the back and laid the battery on top. Once the cover was back on, I powered the cell on.
Numbers. Numbers. Numbers.
One glance at a number…
One recital…
And, I’d never forget it.
Once in my head, I knew it backward and forward and then backward again. A number I knew by heart rolled off my fingertips. I pressed the phone to my ear and waited for the line to connect.
“Speak to me.”
Indigo answered on the first ring. I didn’t expect anything less. A soldier by default, there wasn’t a second of the day he wasn’t ready. Willing. Able.
I cleared my throat, trying to suppress the tension I was feeling.
“Got a call this morning.”
“Who I need to shoot? My trigger finger been itching all fucking night.”
“If I knew, I would be scratching my own finger.”
“A coward, huh?”
“At his finest.”
“What he talking about?”
“Pictures. Pictures that insinuate something that didn’t happen.”
“Like?”
“I was paying for pussy.”
“Wrong nigga.”
“Wrong fucking nigga. But, that doesn’t matter. The pictures say otherwise.”
“Understood.”
“Pictures of me picking up something I’d double take on even the darkest night out and I can’t see shit.
I’ma see her. I was fucking around in Clarke on some other shit,” I confessed, “Lost my way and needed directions. Instead of giving them to me, she hops in my ride and makes me get on the passenger side. We were both headed to the same spot.”
“And this nig–”
“Picture after picture,” I confirmed, knowing exactly where he was going.
“Say less. I’ll handle it.”
“If it were that simple I wouldn’t be calling you, Indie. I’d have someone at the office handle it. But, this isn’t that type of–” I struggled with my words. It was uncharacteristic of me, but here I was.
The last thing I wanted was that perfect stranger’s images plastered over the news stations, insinuating something that wasn’t remotely close to the truth.
She didn’t deserve that type of scrutiny.
Slander. Judgement. She deserved to be showered with compliments.
Designer threads. Handbags. Jewelry. And, as many martinis as her system could handle.
“Not me, Ish. I know somebody that knows somebody.”
“I need that somebody in front of me within twenty-four hours.”
“I’ll see you at your office, bro,” he confirmed.
“My office? Indie, thi–”
“They’re legit. Legal. Whatever the fuck you good niggas call it.”
“Good niggas?”
“The kind the law ain’t looking for.”
“They aren’t looking for you either.”
“Not right now. Not as long as I stay out of their way. But, maybe they will be if I bump into whoever the fuck was on the other end of that call.”
“We’re not taking that route.”
I massaged my forehead.
“I need to get my day started. Goodbye, Indie.”
“Stay ready.”
“Ready right now.”
I closed the phone and flipped it over. I removed the battery and then the SIM card. It cracked under the pressure of my fingers. I tossed it into the graveyard with the rest of the broken cards and placed the phone back in its rightful position.