EXTORTION
In silence, we rode toward Anderson Mills. My attention was focused on the outside world, but my fingers were tangled with Serenity’s. Every attempt to free herself from my grasp was met with willful refusal. Tightening my grasp, I asserted my stance. I wasn’t letting go. Never letting go.
Reed came to a stop at the massive family estate boasting several houses on the property. At the gate, he entered the access code, prompting it to open and allow us entry. In the center of the wraparound drive was a large fountain. Three massive homes were stationed across the property. We pulled into the drive of the smallest one. My home on the estate before I’d gotten married.
For years, it sat unoccupied. My desire to maintain my privacy was the cause. Despite having a separate home from my father and grandfather, they still were able to be a pain when they got ready. To rectify the problem, I opted for the penthouse after selling the mansion. Healthy maintenance of our relationship required distance.
Without hesitation, I exited the backseat, grabbed the box of tapes, and reached for Bee’s hand. Following my lead, she stepped out of the back and waited for what was yet to come.
With the press of a button, I opened the garage, causing her to jump yet again. A frown disfigured my features in response, but that didn’t stop me from eating our distance and grabbing ahold of her waist.
Peaches and hibiscus .
The scent of that shit could put me in a frenzy. The prospect of losing her—losing that scent to some bullshit had already catapulted me there.
“Why you so jumpy, hmm? You think I’d do anything to hurt you?”
I knew the reason for her shifty behavior. She’d never witnessed this side of me. The side of desperation. The side of exasperation. Of frustration. It was new territory for us both.
“No,” she answered, putting my fears and fluttery chest to rest. “No. I know you’d never.”
The fully open three-car garage housed two vehicles. A Porsche and a Bentley I’d long since stopped using. Having a driver allowed me time to multitask while commuting. It was a symptom of being a workaholic. Stalking toward the empty side, I grabbed a steel trash can in the corner. Creaks and groans filled the air as I slid it out of the garage and into the driveway.
Dumping the box of tapes inside the trash bin, I ambled toward the garage again, returning with a bottle of lighter fluid. Dousing the interior of the trash, I hunted through my pockets and located a torch lighter—one of many I used for my cigars.
“ Duke .”
Before further words could form, the trash can was on fire. I watched as the collection of lewd memories with other women burned to a crisp. It brought my loyalty into question alongside my character. To know those questions danced at the forefront of Serenity’s pretty head was fucking suffocating. The box of tapes was something that should have been discarded long ago. With the task underway, I just hoped it would now suffice.
I set my sights on Bee, boring into her soul. Boring deep. Silently, pleading. Hoping she’d notice the fire in me. The fire dancing in my eyes. The passion. It was the same look I gave when I was drowning inside her body. It was the same look when I first told her I loved her.
“I wasn’t keeping anything from you. The tapes were placed in the closet when I moved into the penthouse and were long forgotten. And now you can rest assured they’ll forever remain that way because…”
I motioned to the burning can.
“I don’t hold any qualms with proving myself to you, Serenity.” She’d stepped several feet away from the fire and even further away from me. Tugging her shirt, I pulled her closer. “I just hope if and when the time comes, you’ll do the same for me.”
All night .
Over and over, the disarming sensation of pleasure coursed through me as I slid in and out of her creaminess. Savored her peachiness dipped in fucking cream. A symphony in motion, I played my favorite tune.
All night .
“I’m cumming.”
All night.
“Cum on this dick like it’s yours. Cum with me, Bee.”
Tap . Tap . Tap .
With every stroke, I tapped her G-spot. With every deep stroke, I hit her cervix.
A single leg hiked over my shoulder as I drilled into her from the side. Vulgarities fought to be freed from her lips as I fucked her from behind. Reverse cowgirl, she rode me out of my fucking mind. Tie covering her eyes, I drilled her while blind. Tie restraining her wrists, I fucked her in a bind.
I’d had her all night .
Between naps, showers, my lips feasting on her flower, her ambition to suck me and our devour, and chugs of water, we fucked. I couldn’t unburrow myself from that pussy if I tried. In the morning, I was glued right beside her. Behind her.
“Baby.”
Shifting in the bed, she gave me her full attention.
“There’s one more thing you should know.”
It was early. Earlier than the crows rose. The sun hadn’t even risen, but there was something else. Something other than dozens of sex tapes with women of my past. One more thing .
“What is it now, Duke?” She probed, wiping sleep from her eyes.
“Mya tried to extort me.”
Over a month ago, I received the threatening text from Mya. Recalling the day in vivid detail caused my anger to swell.
“She threatened to blackmail me with the videos I sent.”
Wildly, Serenity’s lids fluttered as her brows threatened to connect. The hum of the ceiling fan overhead, paired with the faint noise of the icemaker, broke our silence. Her frown deepened. Tension filled her body, stiffening her posture.
I waited.
And waited.
Incredulous laughter in the form of a chuckle tumbled from her lips before discernible words surfaced.
“ A he. He, he. He, he, he, he, he .”
Finally regaining her composure, her eyes cemented to mine.
“I want the tape of us,” she stated.
The request was met with the suffocating presence of apprehension.
Nope. No. Naw. Hell naw .
“What do you plan to do with it?” I probed.
“Keep it safe.”
My brows furrowed. “ It is safe. In a safe .”
“ Duke .”
Rising from the bed, her eyes cemented to my frame and bobbing dick as I moved across the room. I tugged against an abstract painting on the wall, which opened to the door of a safe. After keying in a combination, I unlocked the vault, reached inside, and grabbed the small black cassette. Resealing the safe, I ambled toward her purse on the nightstand and slid it inside.
“You don’t trust me anymore.” With the revelation came an ache in my fucking chest.
“I trust you with my life, but I’d much rather keep the tape.”
“Aight,” I resigned, heading to the bathroom. to empty my bladder before eventually brushing my teeth.
Far and vast, my thoughts roamed. I wondered if this would be our lives together. The simplicity of settling disagreements. The compromise. The ease despite conflict.
It was never this way with Mya. Locked and loaded, she was always ready to stir the shit pot and hide her hand. Always ready to incite conflict.
“Do you ever argue?” Bee called out, trailing my thoughts.
Reappearing in the door frame with a toothbrush in my mouth, I spoke through a mouthful of toothpaste. “Aight shit to argue about.”
Disappearing back in the bathroom, I freed my mouth of toothpaste.
“I don’t want war with my woman. I did that already with Mya. Do you see where that shit led us?” I asked, drying my face with a towel as I emerged from the bathroom. I was a grown-ass man. The need to yell and shout to get my point across never appealed to me.
“So, ahem, what are you doing about this attempted extortion?”
I wanted to put a bullet in Mya’s head.
But I’d be the prime suspect if she ever went missing. I had the most to gain from her demise. They’d look at me for sure. They always looked at the spouse.
“I let my legal team handle it.”
“So, you’re pressing charges—”
“No,” I finished, redirected her line of thinking.
Serenity’s brows crumpled again for the morning. It was too early “You said you got a legal team on it.”
“I did. I’m handling settlements now.”
“ Settlements ,” she repeated with a scowl, unimpressed.
“To prevent any future lawsuits as a result of her actions. That’s all I could do, Bee.”
Despite obtaining consent to record, I didn’t have consent to share the videos with Mya. I wasted no time rounding up the three women Mya threatened to show the tapes to. Before she could get to them, I did. Staying ahead of her bullshit was essential. All of the three women agreed to sign non-disclosure agreements in exchange for a check. Considering I never uploaded the videos to any sites, they were content to accept the funds and walk. If Mya ever misused the content, she would face jail time.
“Hmm,” Serenity mumbled. Sliding back into bed, she issued a look that could melt the Arctic. She wasn’t happy despite my coming clean. She wasn’t happy with how I’d chosen to handle things. An unsettled soul dwelled in her bones. This shit was bothering her. Disturbing her peace.
“Mya’s not a threat, Bee,” I vowed, pulling her close and running my fingers up her spine.
I needed Serenity to grasp that I was taking things seriously. Nothing or no one would jeopardize what we’d been growing.
“I never felt threatened by her, Duke.”
“Good,” I said, laying a kiss atop her head.
Silence and deep breaths consumed our airspace.
“So, once the settlements are finalized, will this all go away?”
“I don’t see why it would ever resurface,” I said, scratching my chin. “She— Mya has placed her alimony on the line with the threats and attempts to extort me. It’s still a work in progress, but I just wanted to keep you informed.”
A mile a second, Serenity’s thoughts ran with the revelation. It was apparent in her silence and far-off gaze.
I could have taken Mya to court and sued her for blackmail and extortion threats. I could have had my legal team file for a petition for modification of alimony payments, but Mya had burrowed herself back into her little hole. Mya’s ass wasn’t a threat. Me and Serenity were good.
“And you’re telling me all this because I found the tapes?” She asked, jarring my turbulent thoughts.
Intrusive wasn’t the intent, but she needed her questions answered. All of them. She needed reassurance. She needed the safety I’d carefully curated over the course of our relationship.
“I came home intending to share all of this shit with you. I didn’t know I’d be walking into a war zone. An angry hive .”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come home to peace.”
“I don’t think it can ever become that with you, Bee. I wouldn’t allow it for one, and secondly, I’d let you know if I ever felt like you were compromising my peace. This ain’t that.”
“Promise?”
My assurance was necessary. She required it like nourishment, sleep, and every breath.
“Of course,” I confirmed, pulling her closer under the sheets until her thigh was touching my dick. “Bee, your concerns are valid. We shouldn’t be dealing with any of this shit right now.”
“But we are . And you told me you’re handling it, so my heart is at rest. Right here,” she said, palming the center of my chest. “I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m not here for you. I am,” she vowed, raking her fingers through my goatee. Massaging my fucking chin.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”