The Smoke Hour

2. Colton Joash “Smoke” Socco

Colton Joash “Smoke” Socco

“ W e’ve got a problem, Boss,” Sam declared when he stuck his head into my office.

I looked at my brother, Everett Josiah, whom I had called Jo-Jo since I was a toddler and couldn’t pronounce either of his names. Jo-Jo was five years older than me, and though we both inherited our father’s whiskey distillery, which he’d inherited from his father, Jo-Jo was the CEO.

Of the two of us, he was the more responsible one when it came to overseeing something of that magnitude. I was an entrepreneur in my own right as an illegal arms dealer, which I knew could potentially put our family business in jeopardy.

After I was bought out of the family business, I became a silent investor in the distillery. I opened a West African café in honor of my father’s Nigerian roots. That took hold like a wildfire, and I opened two more. Finally, I opened this place, The Smoke Hour Gentlemen’s Lounge.

Jo-Jo had come to brief me on the board meeting for Socco Distillery that I’d missed earlier this morning.

Jo-Jo nodded at me, and I sighed before pushing my chair back from my desk. Whatever the fuck it was that was important enough to disturb my business with my brother had better be worth it. If not, then Sam and the dumbasses who decided to interrupt my business would catch a bullet to the head.

I pulled my gun out of its holster, checked the chamber, and then left my office.

“Boy, you wild,” Jo-Jo said from behind me.

I left him in my office and followed Sam down the hallway.

“What the fuck is going on? Them bitches had better not be fighting again,” I warned.

“No. We had an intrusion.”

“The fuck you mean an intrusion?”

“A young lady approached the front desk and inquired with Pharris if we were hiring. She told her that we weren’t, and when the young lady insisted one of our dancers said we were, Pharris went to check. That’s when she slipped to the back with two of her friends.”

“And where was security?”

“Jake went to take a piss, and Rock was walking Exotic and Joleen to their cars.”

We rushed to the lounge area just before the hall that led to the private rooms. Those rooms allowed our clients to have private meetings with our dancers. They received massages and private dances, and for a fee to the house, they could negotiate any sexual services that occurred beyond the walls of The Smoke Hour.

I refused to get my shit shut down for prostitution over a bunch of horny muthafuckas or a bunch of hos who wanted extra money beyond the gwap I paid them. So, I charged a finder’s fee of 15 percent since the initial hookup took place here, along with the background checks I performed to ensure the girls’ safety.

The only bitches allowed in here were the receptionist, the servers, the dancers, the office manager, and the house mother.

Men paid a pretty penny for their membership, which guaranteed them privacy. The last thing they needed was their secrets getting out or anyone discovering they were here. There were NDAs in place for a reason.

“Them,” Sam said.

I looked up at the stage where he pointed and counted four women instead of the usual three. There were two women on the main pole, which generally was a problem. Only one woman should be there.

But damn if she wasn’t fine as hell. Her hips were in perfect harmony with the music, and when she bounced her ass, she made it jiggle for several seconds after she’d finished.

She glanced over her shoulder at the men in the audience, winked, and blew a kiss. She was working in perfect harmony with Fantasie. They looked as if they had rehearsed their routine thoroughly.

But where Fantasie was completely nude, the intruder wore clear, floral-shaped pasties over her toffee-colored nipples, and I could still see how erect they were through the fabric. She also wore a lavender thong that rode her ass as hard as I wished that I were. She climbed the pole, held on to it like a lover, and let her legs fly out behind her as she slowly twirled back down.

My shit was hard as hell in my pants, and that fact alone pissed me off. I never fucked with my dancers. She wasn’t currently working for me, but if she was auditioning to work for me, I wouldn’t touch her.

When the two of them finished the dance, I saw Brandon moving quickly toward her to remove her. That was the first time that I realized that Kevin and Porter were standing behind him with two other women.

“The fuck is this shit?” I hissed.

“What do you want us to do with them, Bossman?” Sam asked.

“Bring all their asses, including Fantasie, to my office. Now!” I barked and stormed off.

Within five minutes, they were outside of my office.

“Send them in, Sam,” I stated after I had finished preparing my cigar to smoke.

He nodded and ushered the women into the room.

“The fuck y’all think this is?” I asked.

Three of the women looked nervously at each other before looking at me.

“If you can’t speak for your damn self, you had no right being in this club.”

“Smoke, I was in the middle of a performance when—”

“Shut that shit up, Fantasie. I don’t wanna hear that shit. Your ass was on that stage with her.”

“I didn’t want to create a bad look by leaving, Smoke. I thought it was best if—”

“You thought, huh? I don’t pay your ass to think. I pay your ass to dance.”

“That’s what I did, Smoke.”

She had a point, but this wasn’t the time for that.

“I’ma deal with your ass later. Get back out there on the stage and finish your set,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

I knew that she was pissed, and honestly, it wasn’t her fault. But I had to hold someone accountable. There was only so far that I could go with these broads.

“Y’all wanna sneak your asses up into a club without paying the fee?” I asked the remaining three.

“The fee wasn’t the problem,” the petite one with the shoulder-length hair, wearing glasses, stated.

“Twenty G’s ain’t a problem for you, li’l mama?”

Her little cute mousy ass actually squeaked and lowered her eyes to her shoes.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Could you not smoke that in here, please?” the tall, light-skinned one, who wore blonde locs, asked.

I chuckled. “Ain’t that some shit. You sneak your ass into a cigar lounge and ask the owner not to smoke. Your ass got some fucking nerve.”

She rolled her eyes at me.

“Listen, I’m gonna do y’all a favor and let you walk out of here free and clear. I won’t call the police and file trespassing charges or no bullshit like that. Just don’t bring your fine asses back up in here unless you’re actually looking for work.”

“Thank you very much,” the smaller one stated humbly.

The tall one rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “I highly doubt you’d have the cops up in this establishment.”

“I’m not doing shit illegal in here. I ain’t got a problem calling their ass, but I don’t wanna see y’all black asses going to jail. That’s the problem with our people now. Forgetting where the fuck we come from and turning our backs on each other.”

“We didn’t come here for a history lesson,” she replied.

“Then what the fuck did you come here for?” I asked.

Both ladies looked at their other friend who, although she had worked her ass off on that damn stage like clockwork, had remained quiet until now. She stood between them. They were all arranged by height, and somehow, I didn’t think that was planned. It looked as if it was something they were accustomed to doing.

“You’re the reason they’re here?” I asked her.

She didn’t say anything but just kept staring at a point over my head.

“I would ask if your ass was deaf, but I know the way that ass clapped on beat, you can hear,” I remarked.

She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t move her gaze from that point above my head.

“Ladies, you can leave.” I dismissed the other two.

The three of them turned to go.

“No. Not you, Josephine Baker.”

She spun around and mugged me so damn hard when I said that shit.

“I want to speak with you.”

“You don’t have to stay,” the tall one stated.

“Yes, the fuck she does if I say she does,” I disputed and rose from my seat, daring them to challenge me.

“You can’t hold her against her will,” the tall one argued.

“You’re right. But I can hold her until I call the police. I don’t know where all she went inside my club before I arrived. For all I know, she could have been in the office and stole some shit. I’m making a gahdamn citizen’s arrest,” I declared.

“You’re kidding me,” the tall one stated.

“Please, sir,” the short one pleaded.

“Y’all can go,” I repeated.

“But she didn’t—” the tall one commented as the short one remarked, “She just wanted one final night of fun before marrying that bastard next week.”

“Christina!” the other two women shouted at the short one.

Her eyes went wide behind her glasses, and she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

My curiosity was piqued.

“Goodbye, ladies. Josephine, you can stay, precious.”

She huffed out a breath but didn’t make another move to leave.

“You’re not coming with us?” the tall one stated.

“No. I don’t need you all to protect me. I can handle my shit on my own.”

I walked up to her and locked the door behind them.

“Are you holding me hostage?”

I took several steps to take myself closer to her.

“Are you drunk?”

“No. Are you?”

“Why would I be drunk, running my club?”

“Why do you think I am?” she challenged.

“Trying to make sense why a woman like you would pull the shit that you did tonight.”

“A woman like me?”

I shrugged. “You give me professional vibes. I mean, I know secretaries and bosses need to let their hair down once in a while, but…”

“I’m no secretary.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a dancer either. I know them a mile away, and that’s not you.”

I noticed that she didn’t say that she wasn’t a boss.

“You don’t know me.”

I smirked at that truth. But I wondered why that simple statement made me want to know her.

“Am I being held hostage?” the woman repeated.

“Not at all, Josephine.”

“The name isn’t Josephine.”

“Well, that’s all I have to call you since I don’t know your name. Either that or the barefoot beauty.”

We stood in a standoff for almost two minutes before she relented.

“It’s Kaifiya Michelle Simmons.”

“Kaifiya Michelle Simmons, I’m just interested in why you thought it was okay to bust up in my club and show your ass, literally and figuratively. Ya li’l ass thought you were Josephine Baker up on that stage.”

“Why don’t you allow women in here?” she asked, ignoring my comment.

“I do. You just didn’t fit the qualification list. Or maybe that’s what you were here to prove. That you should be added to my roster.”

“In your dreams.”

“Then why your ass up in here dancing for free?”

“Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Smoke.”

“What kind of name is that? Your mama just gave you a crazy name for no reason?”

She had a fly tongue.

I chuckled. “That’s not my birth name.”

“I told you mine. Now tell me yours.”

With a smirk, I replied, “A similar and more fun version would be I showed you mine, now show me yours.”

“Not a chance in hell,” she retorted.

“My name is Colton Joash Socco, but the people call me Smoke. Now, back to business. Why did you crash my club?”

“To have fun.”

“Oh, that’s right. You wanted to have one final night before you married the bastard. Who is he, by the way? Because if he’s a bastard, in my opinion, he’s a lucky bastard.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You’re right, it’s not. But you’re my business, sweets.”

“Don’t call me that. That’s not my name.”

Tilted hickory-colored eyes flashed fire from them.

“What is it that you want from me?” Kaifiya asked.

“The truth about why a beautiful woman with a supporting cast of characters and so much talent packed into that fine, thick ass of yours would pull a stunt like you did tonight.”

“I don’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted.”

With a shrug, I replied, “Take it how you take it. I’m confused as to how a woman with so much determination, bravado, feistiness, and stubbornness found herself engaged to someone who doesn’t complement her and she doesn’t love.”

Her eyes lowered to the floor briefly, and her bottom lip trembled. That lasted only a moment before she lifted her gaze to mine again, and the defiance flared powerfully from them.

I gripped her chin in my hand and stated, “There has to be a reason, sweets. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

I searched her gaze for a long while, and the defiance seeped out of her. She licked her lips, and my eyes dropped to them. I rubbed my thumb across her lips, and heat flashed in her eyes.

“Nothing to be curious about,” she whispered.

“Them lies you tell,” I replied softly and folded my bottom lip under my teeth.

Her gaze flickered to my lips and up again, and her chest rose and fell in deep inhalations and exhalations.

“I’m not a liar.”

“Do you feel the chemistry between us?” I asked.

“No.”

“Liar.” I grunted before I leaned in and bit her bottom lip.

She gasped, but she did not pull back. She remained where she stood, even when I licked her bottom lip to soothe what I was sure was an uncomfortable sting. I held her chin in place, looked into her eyes, and continued licking the seam of her lips before I sucked them into my mouth.

Never had I freely taken liberties with a woman I did not know. Never did I kiss a woman I had just met. Yet, something fiery in her drew me in like a moth to a flame.

A whimper fell from her lips, and I brushed mine against hers.

“Wanna know how I know you’re lying?” I asked quietly.

When she didn’t respond, I went on.

“Because I can smell your arousal, sweets. It’s so powerful that it’s damn near tangible. And I got a feeling that if I touched you, I might find that you’re wetter than Cherokee Springs.”

“Blame it on the alcohol,” she replied.

I chuckled, especially when her mouth parted. I took the liberty to slip my tongue inside. I crushed her mouth underneath mine and enjoyed the powerful almond, white pepper, and vanilla flavors of my finest Belvedere Vodka in stock.

When I stepped back, she stood with her arms hanging limply at her sides.

“That’s the price you needed to pay for that damn Belvedere you stole, sweets. That and the pleasure I have of seeing how tight them nipples are.”

Her arms flew up to cover her nipples in the dress she put on before being sent into my office. A gasp seeped from her lips.

“I have to go.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stick around and talk about employment opportunities?” I asked.

“Fuck you,” she hissed.

“That could be arranged as well. How much?”

Her hand went up to slap me, but already prepared for it, I grabbed her hand. She stomped on my foot and grabbed my crotch.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I warned in a low growl.

Slowly, she released my crown family jewels, and I released her.

With a nod, I stated, “I get it. You just wanted to cop a feel. It’s all good, sweets.”

She rushed to the door, and I didn’t make a move to stop her.