Chapter 4
FOUR
Tunk
The sound of my phone vibrating in the middle console had my eyes glancing down to see a number I hated that I was familiar with. It was the strip club, Roulette. Since I wasn’t a frequent visitor, I knew the call was about one person.
Boss.
I peered in the rearview mirror to see Oakley was still on the phone. So against my better judgment, I took the call. I huffed as I hit my earbud to accept the call. As soon as I did, I was hit with bullshit.
“Hey Tunk. We got a situation. Boss is here and this shit is bad. I tried calling BK and Tino, but I got no answer. If you can’t come, I’ma have to call CFPD.
He can’t stay.” I groaned as I listened to the manager of the strip club.
It was close to opening time for the night shift, so I knew I had to hustle across town.
“Shit. No, don’t call them. I’m on my way. Please keep him there.”
“Don’t worry. If he leaves, it’ll be on foot.
I took his keys this time.” I ended the call then looked at Oakley in the back seat.
That quickly I’d forgotten I even had her there.
I was close to her house, but I couldn’t chance Boss dipping out of Roulette before I made it there.
So now my fingers were moving fast, hitting BK’s number.
I knew the manager said he’d called, but I was stressing right now, praying he was available.
Of course, he didn’t answer.
“Fuck,” I said lowly, not even paying attention that Oakley wasn’t on the phone anymore.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I apologize. It was a personal call that I shouldn’t have taken on the job. It won’t happen again.”
“Tunk, you don’t have to apologize. Trust me, I understand. You can’t control everything nor everybody.”
I chuckled because she had no idea. That was exactly what I did and loved to do. But none of that was her business.
“No, you’re right. Still, while I’m on the job, I’m here to serve and protect you. My personal life has no place when I’m here.”
“As long as you can still shoot and kill when I need you to, an emergency call isn’t a problem for me. Besides, I won’t tell Boss, he knows how Wood and I are. We aren’t like the other clients. We’re no strangers to crazy ass, unexpected things going on.”
If only you knew it was about Boss’s ass.
I could only laugh again as we reached the gate of her neighborhood.
After I dropped Oakley off, I jetted back across town to pick up Boss. I tried calling Tino this time, who answered.
“Yo, Tunk. What’s going on, man?”
“Ay, are you busy? I just got a call from Roulette about Boss. I still have a site to cover today. I can’t put this on my load.”
“Shit, I told BK I should’ve stayed local. Me and Summer are out the way for this mid-year anniversary she got me celebrating. I know no one likes to call Art since he’s the least responsible, but BK is in the field, so hit him up once you get him.”
“Hell no. I’ll see if someone can cover. Ain’t no way I’m calling Art. That’s like leaving Boss in the care of a child.” I was cordial with Boss’s whole friend crew, but when it came down to handling Boss when sobriety no longer mattered, Art was not on the list.
“Trust me, I understand. If it’s too bad, let me know. I think it’s time for an intervention.”
“Way past. But, ay, congrats to you and Summer on your six months.”
He snorted. “Thanks.”
The scene I walked into when I finally got to Roulette had me ready to fuck Boss’s ass up myself.
There were two ladies on the stage. One whose BBL let me know she was an employee while the other one I remembered far too well from the night at Seventh Heaven.
Lourdè didn’t give me stripper vibes then and definitely not now, even if her homegrown, naturally stacked body had the power to draw in the male gaze.
Something about her persona told me this wasn’t her type of environment on a regular basis.
Not to mention, Lourdè yelled at Boss, who she was familiar with, that she didn’t, in fact, be here all the time.
“Boss, for the last time, I don’t work here. There is nothing to tell him. He knows I’m here,” she stressed as her voice got louder with each sentence.
“Johnni, your ass just worked the fuck outta that gotdamn pole a little too good. It looks like your ass is a gotdamn professional. Q is a cool ass dude and a man of status, he doesn’t deserve no hoe for a wife.
” His words were heavily slurred, but clear enough to be understood.
One, her name wasn’t Lourdè, and two, she wasn’t a single woman, yet she had been all mine at Seventh Heaven with no nigga in sight.
“Whoa, who the fuck are you calling a hoe, muthafucka! Boss, look, I’m cool with your peoples but I’ma fuck you up if that mouth keeps running!
” By now, Lourdè was moving fast toward the edge of the stage where Boss’s ass stood with a bottle of beer in his hand.
The dancer behind thick mama reached out, trying to pull her back, but she snatched out of her hold, pushing her hands out as if she was cool.
The menacing glare daring to hide her beautiful features told me she was everything but.
I nodded at the manager behind the bar talking to a bartender as I headed toward them.
I was a couple feet away and prayed Boss kept his mouth shut, but of course, he loved to get the last word.
“Q should fuck you up for being here, tossing ass around for a couple dollars, Johnni. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I guess even the high class will do anything for a few bucks and some dick. Here, hoe!” When Boss reached into his pocket and proceeded to throw loose ones, with a few hitting her in the face, I knew shit was about to get worse.
Something flashed in her pretty brown eyes that had me putting a quick step in my motion, catching her just as she went to dive off the stage to attack Boss. The lick intended for him landed right in my damn eye.
“Nigga, you don’t know shit about me. Fuck you, Boss! Drunk ass muthafucka!”
“Ay yo, baby girl, you gotta calm down,” I said, still holding her in my arms while she kicked and fought to get out of my grasp.
“No, you need to get your gotdamn hands off me so I can fuck his ignorant ass the hell up! Boss, you got the right one today.”
“Psst, Tunk, you don’t want this one. She doing it for money,” Boss’s ass said, trying to whisper to me but of course everyone heard him before he busted out laughing at his own non funny joke.
“Nigga, fuck you! Don’t worry though. I’ma whoop your bitch ass for free!”
His words only had Lourdè going wilder in my arms, hitting me in my face again.
Between these two, I was over this shit.
I had to get a handle on her so I could get his dumb ass out of the club.
I did what I could only think of at that moment.
I didn’t plan on hopping into my chief mode, especially since it was out of my element, but Lourdè needed direction.
In a low but stern tone, I spoke directly into her ear, taking in her floral apple scent that had my mind trying to make sense of the combination mixing so well.
Her light musk added something that had me almost stumbling, but when she bucked in my hold, I gripped her tighter, gaining control again.
“I said chill the fuck out before I take my belt off and put it to use on this ass. If you need me to get you straight, keep playing with me. You already know I’m just the man to do it,” I said through gritted teeth.
The gasp thick mama delivered was low, but it was her deep pools stretched wide that had me peering down to see a glimpse of what I assumed to be fear, but something else peeked though.
Yeah, I’m that nigga that had you strapped up and taking my dick this past weekend and ain’t afraid to do the shit again.
I knew I’d fucked up by breaking a rule of the NDA of the club by not only exposing her but lowkey threatening to handle her attitude adjustment offsite too.
“I’ma let you go so I can get this nigga and you better behave. Do you understand me, baby girl?” I took the same tone like I had that night, with Lourdè nodding her agreement. That wasn’t enough for me. No, I wanted to hear her words.
None of this should even matter anymore, especially since I just found out she belongs to somebody else.
My thoughts acted as a reminder of that detail, but at that moment, having possession of her like this, I didn’t care. I wanted her in the worst and best ways.
“Naw, we communicate with words, baby girl, ‘member? Let me hear that pretty voice of yours,” I said with authority heavy in my tone, still in my zone.
“Y-yes,” she stuttered lowly.
It was a simple answer. But her delivery was everything.
Soft and tempting. That quick response had my dick hard, like that night I’d approached her in the club.
I could tell Lourdè was equally turned on by the hardening of her nipples, now poking through the thin ass material she called a shirt, giving the illusion that she was braless but I knew she wasn’t.
Fool, no the fuck you don’t.
“Good girl.” I placed her feet on solid ground, only turning her loose enough to help her readjust her clothes, but gripping the back of her shirt to keep her close to me.
“Boss, apologize to the lady,” I said as calmly as I could. Tino said something about an intervention, but I was ready to just throw his ass into treatment today.
“Hell no. Tunk, she need—"
I cut him off.
“I wasn’t asking, nigga. Your ass is one second from sitting pretty in county, especially if you say her old man is of status. Now, apologize so we can go.” It grew quiet.
“Can you just let me go? He’s not going to be a man and apologize.”
I wasn’t raised to disrespect women, and I for damn sure wasn’t letting shit ride in front of me either. I didn’t give a fuck who it was.
“Naw, and yes he will, even if I have to make him.” When Boss’s response was to turn up his beer, I snapped, fully letting thick mama go to smack it out his hand, which gained his full attention.
“Muthafucka, you ow—"
I yoked him up.
“I’m trying to be mindful and not show my ass in here because I know this ain’t you for real, Boss, but you pissing me off.
It’s already bad enough I got a call to come scoop you when I have another location to work, one you were supposed to cover.
But now you got me wasting my gotdamn time to play babysitter to a grown ass man who won’t apologize for being an asshole to a lady.
This your last chance before I let them call CFPD to finish taking care of this. ”
“Man, you going hard for a ho—"
I should’ve seen the punch coming, but it took me by surprise that Lourdè was able to sneak it in, clocking him right in his mouth. It had to be her height that made her little fist connect so well. Lourdè was not only holding all the right curves, but she was also at least five-foot-six.
She stopped Boss mid-word.
“Nigga, fuck you and your apology. Oh, don’t worry though. Q will be in touch, muthafucka.” I stared in amazement as she walked out.
I chuckled while I released Boss who was currently rubbing his mouth and flexing his jaw.
“Man, let’s go. I don’t even want to know who Q is and why I got the feeling that him being in touch is going to cause problems.” I shoved him toward the exit, passing the bar, placing two one-hundred-dollar bills on top, swapping them for Boss’s keys.
I wasn’t sure if Boss had closed his tab, but that should cover the inconvenience.
The manager offered another nod and we were gone.
Once I had a stumbling Boss in the front seat, I pulled out my phone to send a text. This was the last time I did this shit.
Me: I got this nigga. Intervention tomorrow morning, make time.
I waited for a second before I cranked the truck, hearing the collective dings.
BK: Just send the location. I’m there.
Tino: Damn, that bad. Aight.