Chapter 14 #3
She diverted her attention from the window to me.
“I haven’t been able to experience it… America.
I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to experience it fully.
But from what I’ve seen, it’s remarkable.
I… I can’t explain it. The air smells different, feels different, and I probably sound like a mad woman saying that because I’ve only been in it twice.
But, it just feels like… I don’t know what it feels like. ” She shrugged.
Solana had been sheltered. Her father allowed her to run amok in Mexico City, but I could guarantee that she had a guard on her heels unbeknownst to her.
She was his most prized possession. One that he held near and dear to his heart until it was time to trade her for his own selfish greed.
She’d had a leash put on her back in Mexico, and even though she likes to sleep the fucking day away, I only have one motherfucker captive.
That nigga was starving in the basement of the cabin, which was a drastic difference from her pretty ass being in my home.
She was free to do whatever she wanted here, and I was just realizing that maybe she didn’t know that.
“You can do what you want,” I prattled.
Her lash extension batted. “What?”
“You can do what you want. Solana, you a grown-ass woman in a whole new country. If you want to get out and explore, do that shit.”
Solana wasn’t chained to my house. If she wanted to disappear until her father popped up, demanding that she return to Mexico, she could do that. She was free to explore all she wanted.
“I cannot do what I want for many reasons.” She drove her back into the leather seat, making her chest poke out.
“Yeah? Name ’em.”
Swiping her tongue across her shiny red bottom lip, she pondered as if she were grouping a list. “My father sent me here to prepare for marriage. That’s a reason.”
“You can still do whatever it is he feels like you should be doing, all the while living.”
“And I don’t know anyone out here. I don’t have a car. I don’t have any money. Remember… I was screaming at my father’s wife because of my credit cards.”
Rubbing my hand down my chin as I pulled into the venue lot, I waited in the valet line.
The lot was full, and I’d already spotted four more Maybachs.
Two of them looked like they were the same color as mine.
Well, they seemed to be because my truck had been sprayed onyx, and you could see the difference when the moonlight hit it.
Sitting back in my seat, I crossed my hands in my lap.
I was arriving at this event with a woman who was more trouble than a two-year-old.
I would be taking Solana back home, all the while going into two different rooms. Solana was beyond gorgeous tonight, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t desire to pleasure her, as she calls it.
But I wouldn’t. She was off-limits, and I was a man with restraint.
The most I had for her was a prayer when she went back across the border to her fiancé.
While she was in my possession, she would have the same privileges as any other woman who occupied space in my world.
“Aye.”
Solana had been watching a nosy-ass Pia walk into the building. I knew it was her from the Rose clutch folded in her right arm. Nel had mugged my car, but the nigga and his fiancée couldn’t see inside. The most they could make out was that I had someone in the front seat.
When I caught Solana’s attention, I noticed that she had a hair out of place. Reaching in, I tucked it into one of her curls before speaking. I didn’t miss the way she sucked in air, but I let it roll off my back.
“I have five cars in the driveway. All the keys are inside them. Money isn’t running out over this way.
I’ll break you off. And as far as not knowing anyone, there are about seven women who are about to be all over you as soon as we walk through the doors.
All they do is spend their niggas money and get into shit.
You’re in mob-land, Solana. You’re safe here.
You can do whatever the fuck you want to do.
Ain’t nobody tell you to be cooped up in the room, sleeping all fucking day. ”
She winced at my last sentence, but it wasn’t my intention to blast her.
She didn’t have to sit in the house all damn day like she was Rapunzel, though.
I wanted to ensure she understood that no one was holding her hostage and that she was free to do whatever she wanted.
It was my turn to move up in the valet line, so I did while keeping my eyes on her.
When she still hadn’t responded, I tried to reason with her again.
“Look, I’m not trying to clock you or anything like that. But from what I heard about them Rodríguezes, they don’t fuck with the States. It’s your first time here, and it might very well be your last. Make the best of this shit.”
“So you are encouraging me to go out and party?”
“It’s more to life than standing on couches and choking on a hookah stick. But if that’s what you want to do, cool. I’m just letting you know that you’re free to explore. No harm gone come your way.”
I could see the wheels turning in her head. She was thinking too much. There wasn’t shit to think about, though. If she wanted to get out of the house, she could.
“How do you know? That I’m safe.” Her eyes rounded.
The valet stood at my door, so I opened it for him.
“Because a muthafucka not insane enough to play with anyone on the side of me. Whether that one be temporary or permanent.”
Noticing the shiver her body gave, I didn’t wait for her to reply because that was a good enough response.
I bumped elbows with the valet as I got out.
He was a familiar face since the mob kept the same workers for obvious reasons.
The less motherfuckers knew about what we did in our downtime, the better.
“Aye, big dawg.” The valet’s eyes scanned the lot as he lowered his head while speaking to me.
“Yeah?” I didn’t know what he wanted, and had no interest in finding out, but I waited to see what it was he was gearing up to spit at me.
Reaching into his pocket, my arm immediately went to the back of my waist to clutch my gun.
I could hear Solana gasp behind me, but I wasn’t tearing my eyes away from the potential threat.
I was on whatever the hell he was on, and if he was on bullshit, he’d be taken out, discarded, and made a missing person before the next hour.
“Whoa! I ain’t on no shit like that,” he assured.
Using the gun, I tapped his hands that were still in the pocket of his hoodie.
“Slow,” I instructed. I could feel Solana’s eyes on me, but I wasn’t worried. She’d be dealing with much worse shit once she was released to her future husband.
The valet, moving as slowly as a snail, pulled out a folded gallon-sized bag of white powder. At a second glance, I realized that inside the bag were small baggies filled with the rich white man’s drug. Scraping my bottom lip with my top teeth, I relaxed a little.
“I was just letting you know, I had some white girl for sale.”
Tucking my gun back under my shirt, I kept my eyes on the young, eager dope boy.
Had this been Don, he’d approach—which I knew he wasn’t stupid enough to do—he’d be eating a bullet right now.
But I had respect for him. Not only was he working, but he was hustling too.
Working these events was the perfect lick.
My people and I didn’t play with our noses, even though we sold enough white to fill one of Preston’s arctic simulations.
Just because we didn’t, didn’t mean other motherfuckers inside didn’t.
“I fuck with the hustle. If somebody in there looking, I’ll send ’em out here.”
With a grin on his face, he nodded.
As I said, I respected the hustle, but that didn’t mean other niggas would. His hunger would either get him rich as fuck or dead as fuck when it came to the mob. There would be no in between.
Rounding the car, I waited until her door opened with the sensor I had installed and held my hand out for her to exit.
She wasted no time placing hers in mine.
Her heels were tall, but she was able to step in them with precision.
Swapping from hands to arms with hers now hooked in mine, we were skin to skin since I was wearing a short-sleeved collar Versace shirt.
Ignoring my thudding heart, I led her into the building.
She hadn’t mentioned or questioned what she’d witnessed, which I appreciated.
Sticking my hand in my pocket, I pulled out a wad of twenties that I usually used to tip. “Open your bag.”
She gave me a questioning look but complied.
“A woman shouldn’t ever walk around with an empty purse. Especially one that cost three bands.”
“Lesson numbre tres (number three)?”
Instead of replying verbally, I held up my pinky, index, and middle fingers. She nodded, and we proceeded into the building.
Upon stepping inside the space, the all-black color scheme had me giving a nod in approval.
The décor was sleek yet dramatic, with touches of silver accents complementing the black.
The decorations greeted us at the door—flowers, silks, and the scents of perfumes, food, and money flowed throughout the space.
There was no doubt that plenty of fucking paper was in attendance.
Stepping in stride on my side, the team had definitely done their job with Solana’s look.
She blended in well with the evening looks everyone else was sporting while also standing out due to the curious eyes glancing our way.
I had yet to spot any of my blood relatives, so we kept moving into the main ballroom.