Chapter 13 #3
I long-pressed the camera button. When her face appeared on my screen, I snapped a picture.
And then another one.
And then another one.
“Smile, bitch.”
She forged a smile for the camera.
I snapped again.
And again.
And again.
“Now, this will look incredible on the front page.”
I removed the test from her hands and placed it on the counter. I took more pictures, sure to capture her lousy bathroom decorations.
“I thought we had something,” Asia admitted, beckoning for my attention. “Him and I. We were good when we were together. Fun.”
“Nobody ever told you, love? Fun girls are usually good for– well, fun. There’s no fun in forever. There’s hardships, compromising, consideration, ups, downs, shifts, and a plethora of changes. Occasional fun that doesn’t last too long or happen too often.”
“It was enough for him.”
“Is it air up there? Is that what it is? You’re willing to deceive the public because you wa–”
“It wasn’t about me.”
My brows furrowed. My eyelids pulled closer together. I shoved my phone into the side of my leggings. Asia took a step backward every time I took a step forward. Everything was beginning to make sense.
She ran out of room for movement. The door halted her steps.
“How much?”
“What?”
“How much?”
“How much what?”
“How much did Daniels pay you?”
“Dan– Daniels–”
“Asia, don’t piss me the fuck off. You and your invisible fetus have already taken away precious time from my day and made my job a little harder than it should’ve been. Start talking.”
“He didn’t tell me I would be on the front paper.”
“How much?”
“He said it would just be a rumor. He needed it to stick, so it had to be someone Ishmael was actually involved with. I was upset. Seeing you and him everywhere… all over social media… all over the news stations. I thought him and I were working toward something. You know?”
“How much?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
I wasn’t sure when my hand had rose or when the heel of it crashed into her mouth and nose. The blood that rushed down her face, chin, and chest is what brought me back to reality.
“Cheap piece of shit.”
I stepped around her, snatching open her door. My journey to the elevator was eventless. I waited for the moment to release something from my clip into Asia. However, she never appeared in the hallway and I never raised my weapon.
I unlocked my cell and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I was in search of. After two rings, the line connected.
Silence.
“I need you. How soon can you get to me?”
“Minutes.”
I stared at the phone, unsure if I’d dialed the correct number.
“Rugs…”
“Minutes, Ro.”
“You’re here?”
“The election is days away. I came just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
“He needed to keep his hands clean when the race got dirty.”
“It’s muddy.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Click. Click.
Clack. Clack.
Click. Click.
Clack. Clack.
Our bodies were in sync. Every turn. Every step. Every move.
Rather stopped prematurely, glaring at the disheveled mayoral candidate. His appearance was deplorable. A smile curled my lips upward.
He’d been the mouthiest candidate of them all. Boisterous. Haughty. Cocky. Disgusting. Dirty. And, so damn crooked.
“Evening, ladies,” Rugger called out.
“Evening,” Rather breathed out, stepping closer to Daniels.
She placed a hand on his cheek, sliding it down to his chin.
“Who the fuck are you?” He grunted, eyes masked with a black strip of fabric.
“Your wettest dream… prettiest nightmare,” Rather confessed.
Her presence was a gift. I hadn’t expected her to appear in front of Mercer’s door alongside Rugger, but every part of me rejoiced at the sight of her.
“I’m the Mayor of this city. Do you know who you’re fucking with?”
“The issue is, I’m not sure you know who you’re fucking with,” I explained, pulling the black fabric over his head.
“Oooooh… You bitc–”
The butt of Rugger’s gun was inches away from his skull.
“Aht. Aht. We need him pretty when he addresses the world after his defeat.”
Rugger didn’t lower her weapon. She redirected it, landing a blow to the back of Daniels’ head.
I sighed, understanding it was too much to ask Rugger to keep a level head.
Her head was never leveled. Her trigger finger was always itching.
Her readiness level should’ve been studied by people around the world.
“URG.”
His face pinched together. The restraints on his arms and hands restricted his movements. He couldn’t stop the blood running down the back of his neck. His shirt did as best it could.
“Goddamnit. Grayson won’t see another podium in his life as long as I’m living.”
“Your death can be arranged,” Rugger promised, stepping around to face Daniels. “She wants you alive. I don’t.”
The barrel of Rugger’s Beretta slid Daniels’ tongue to the back of his mouth.
“Now that we have the introductions out of the way… Let’s get down to business so we can all go on about our day.”
I placed a hand on Rugger’s arm. She lowered the gun from his mouth, placing it by her side.
“Grayson–”
“Just a thug from the projects thinking he deserves something that doesn’t belong to him.”
Though mouthy, Daniels’ knees were colliding at a rapid rate. His voice was shaky and his breathing was erratic.
“Has done well making this a clean fight, seeing as though he can get his hands dirty. He is above the games you politicians like to play, but I’m not. When you motherfuckers go low, I go to hell.”
I opened the folder and removed the first image from the stack. Daniels’ eyes blossomed with fear. His mouth widened and his yellow skin turned pale.
“I would hate to bring Kait into all of this, seeing as though she has a bad heart, but you didn’t give a damn about my heart when you broadcasted my pictures all over the news for all of Berkeley to see.”
“My wife has not– nothing to do– Where’d you get those?”
“From the escort you hired to fuck your wife while you watched. I don’t blame you. He has a gorgeous dick.”
I lifted the second photo.
“That Kait loves to suck.”
The third image was of Kait on her knees, sucking Lamar’s dick with Daniels just feet away with his mini sausage in his hand.
“Kait is innocent.”
“Is she?” I chuckled, lifting one photo after the other, slamming them on the table beside Daniels.
Kait was far from innocent. Her affair with Lamar had been going on for two years, now. She’d found her lover with the help of her husband. It was an added bonus that he could please both her and Daniels.
“What do you want from me?” He mustered, unable to look at the images before him.
“But wait– there’s more.”
I slammed another photo on the table.
Perfect lines of cocaine sat before Daniels. One was already up his nose and entering his system. His smile was wide. His eyes were glossed over. He was surrounded by his team, his brothers, and a large group of exotic dancers.
“Wh– where– where are you ge–” he stuttered. “What is it that you want from me?”
“We have four days until the election. You have two jobs.”
“Kait won’t survive her face bei–”
“Frankly, I’m above exposing what women do in their personal time. I applaud Kait for taking her happiness into her own hands and sliding down a big, gorgeous dick after years of suffering with your index finger wiggling around her insides every fucking time you’re horny.”
“Sh–”
“Shut the fuck up,” I demanded.
“I–”
“Four days. Two jobs. Your first order of business is to contact your friends in media. The ones you like to dial up when you think you have new leads on Grayson when in actuality it’s all just bullshit.”
I removed an image of Asia posing with her pregnancy test from the folder.
“Make sure this image is on the front page of Berkeley News in the morning. As well, make sure it comes across every news station.
“What is this?”
I removed another image.
“Or, I will make sure this makes the news by noon.”
It was Asia’s bank statement. He’d wired $100,000 to her account on Friday morning. Her image hit the papers bright and early Monday. She forwarded it to Berkeley News Sunday at nine in the morning. Printing began at noon. The changes were made to the front page between nine and noon.
Had she gotten the image to the publication even an hour later, it wouldn’t have been her face on the front page. It would’ve been the faces of the women who decided to be proactive and strive for early detection for breast cancer.
“Second task. It’s fairly simple, right ladies?”
Rather nodded.
Rugger didn’t budge. Her eyes were on Daniels, waiting for him to as much as sneeze in my direction.
“Fight clean or your wife will be scrubbing your blood from the tiles of your home until her knees are raw. Do we have an agreement?”
Rapidly, Daniels nodded his head.
“Yes. Yes. We have an agreement.”
“Good.”
“Now, if that front page isn’t pleasing tomorrow, understand I won’t be the one visiting your home tomorrow. She will.”
I pointed at Rugger.
“And seeing her means your date with death has come. Understood?”
His head never stopped moving. He was still nodding, still agreeing.
“Tell Kait I said congratulations.”
“Congratulations?”
“On the baby.”
I removed the final image, sitting it on the table. Lamar and Kait exited the OB/GYN clinic hand-in-hand. Joy was scribed in their postures.
The color drained from his face. His body slumped with defeat. He didn’t share children with Kait. He had a son with his first wife. Since, he’d been trying for a child, but couldn’t produce one.
It made him question the paternity of his son.
Test results revealed he wasn’t the father.
However, he never shared the news with Tammy, his ex-wife.
Neither had he shared the news with his son, who was now an adult.
I discovered the results from my extensive search, digging up any and everything I could on Daniels.
“Karma is a bad bitch, but Royce is badder.” I chuckled.
“That’s what you should’ve been hollering at the podium instead of making false claims about Ishmael and I.
Every lie you’ve told on him is your truth.
I wish you nothing but hell. Good fucking night you fat back, micro dick, powder snorting, booty eating, slew-footed, knock-kneed, viagra popping piece of shit. ”
Click.
Clack.
Click.
“Arrrrrrrgh!”
Daniel’s screams throughout the empty space halted my stride. I turned to find Rugger with the butt of her gun to Daniel’s temple.
“Now why’d you do that?”
Rather sniggered, unable to contain herself. Asking Rugger to behave herself was far too much.
“He said you were selling pussy,” Rugger murmured.
I quickly recalled the nasty remarks he’d made about me months prior.
“You know what–” I nodded.
“Exactly,” Rather agreed.
I removed Rugger’s gun from her hand and returned to Daniels’ side. He deserved everything that was coming to him, including the headache he’d wake up with in the morning.