Chapter 2
Neptune
Amateur-ass bitch.
Being forced into a situation I knew little about had me pissed, but I was entertained every time the lady with the dark-brown complexion and pixie cut came into the room.
Every move she made was one of a fool. It was like watching a crash dummy try to avoid the inevitable.
There was no way she had done something like this before, and if she had, I didn’t believe she had done a decent job.
As thoughts of how I would make it back to the city ran through my mind, amusement rocked my chest. Amateur or not, I had to give it to her.
She caught me slipping after I agreed to do my cousin’s job.
For my business and my family, I would do anything from work behind the bar at our casino to killing a thief for crossing the wrong bloodline.
It was obvious K and her crew didn’t know who I was, and the lack of a crew or security didn’t help the situation.
Since we were young, my cousins clowned me for being a loner, but I never felt the need to walk around the city with protection. I was the fucking protection.
I shifted my weight from side to side to give my ass some relief.
Beads of sweat trailed down the side of my face, even though the room was cool.
I knew it was because I had gone too long without my medicine.
Born with Isolated Dextrocardia, I had always been different, though I didn’t miss out on shit.
I played basketball in school, beat ass when I felt the need, and I ran around the city despite being born with my heart on the opposite side of where it would normally be.
My condition was rare, and thankfully, it hadn’t caused many hardships in my life.
The sound of footsteps grew close, adding strength to my slouched posture.
Unlike the night we met, the head honcho entered the room in clothes that showcased a sleeve of flowers and symbols tattooed on her left arm.
Though her white tank top was basic, the Gucci cargo pants tailored to her waist revealed she had a sense of style.
The black Timbs on her feet looked small enough to fit a kid, yet her big breasts confirmed she was a grown-ass woman.
Simple stones adorned her belly button, wrists, and ears, but her sideburn tattoo was bold.
I remembered how out of my mind I was when I got ink put on my face.
It was intriguing to think a woman pulled the same stunt.
From opposite sides of the room, we mugged each other as she positioned a chair across from me. With the same knife she used hours before, she sliced into an apple, then fed herself.
“I bet you’re hungry,” she said in an antagonizing tone.
“I have to use the bathroom.”
“Oh. You finally decided to stop holding it?”
“I’m two seconds from pissing on you.”
“Nigga, please. I will chop off your wee-wee before the stream can land.”
Despite tension packing the room like smoke, I smirked at her response.
“Is that a smile? A second ago, you looked like you were about to pass out.” She giggled. “Get up, Levi.”
On the surface, I upheld a straight face, but on the inside, I was fuming when she referred to me by my cousin’s name.
From the moment the short-haired lady approached me, I knew she’d made a mistake.
People had the right to make mistakes. It was human nature.
Still, her ignorant ass made one that would change her life.
While Kitty used one hand to keep her weapon trained on me and the other to release my ankles, I studied her.
I knew I could pin her to the floor. Yet, my lack of energy made me unsure of how long I could maintain control.
I also wanted to hear more about why I was here.
I didn’t trust a soul without having proof of what came out of their mouth, but I knew Levi enough to know the lady wasn’t lying about him.
He had always been a pain in my ass, and the only reason I hadn’t carved his face off was because of our elders.
Considering our fathers were twins, I could see how the mix-up happened.
Levi and I shared a similar birthmark around our right eyes, but that was where the comparisons started and stopped.
Levi was lazy, while I was a go-getter. Every luxury and opportunity the elders offered to my other cousins and me had been offered to Levi.
However, unlike the rest of us, he accepted the benefits but acted like a bitch when someone mentioned work.
He loved the power and respect that came from being a Sinner, but he didn’t want to contribute to the legacy.
“You’ve been in this chair for over twenty-four hours. I know your legs will be weak when you stand. If you try anything, I’m going to kick you in the back of your kneecaps and watch all 240 pounds of you hit the floor.” She delivered the last line with the conviction of a final verdict.
I tried to play it off when I lifted my body from the chair, but I grimaced.
My legs felt like stones when I lifted my feet to walk.
Even with my ankles loose, I had to take small steps to keep my balance.
When we exited the room, I didn’t hear any movement.
The place was hardly lived in but appeared fully furnished.
Sealed windows highlighted specks of red dirt on the windowpane, confirming we were on the South Side of Slyde City.
The information wouldn’t mean anything if the crazy lady’s plans panned out, but being observant was second nature to me.
“Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.” She pointed toward the open door.
The bathroom wasn’t big, but it was large enough for us to fit inside. White walls made the room resemble a cage for the mentally insane, and the smell of chemicals triggered memories of chopping up bodies.
“How do you expect me to do this with my hands tied?”
She placed the handle of her knife between her glossed lips and walked over to me. I peered down and watched her tug on the waistband of my sweats as she dug in my pants. Her cold touch made me shake when she pulled my dick out and aimed it at the toilet.
“Hurry up. Don’t take all day.”
“I can’t piss like this.”
“You don’t have a choice.” She giggled, revealing gold caps over her fangs. “Do you need me to jerk it off a little to get it going?”
She thought the shit was a joke, while I thought about head-butting her funny ass.
As thoughts of an escape plan rushed into my brain, the sensation of relief caused my head to fall backward.
When I glanced down at my handler, I noticed she was staring at me with her mouth unfastened.
Instead of overthinking her body language, I concluded she was freaky or insane.
“Why are you sweating? Scared? Sick?” she asked once we were back in the room with me tied to the hard seat.
“How long do you plan to keep this bullshit going on? Why are you doing it in the first place? Somebody paying you, Kitty?”
“I already explained why you’re here,” she blurted out. “You’re asking me all these questions. Maybe you should’ve asked your family for a loan.”
“I never needed a fucking dime from nobody, and I’m not begging you for shit.”
“It wouldn’t help you anyway. Once Junior makes the call, you’ll either pay and die or just . . . die.”
Junior?
I racked my brain until a face popped into my mind.
The name was common, but there weren’t many niggas with the name who called plays in the city.
Junior Blackstone. He loaned people money, cars, and other illegal possessions they came to my casino and lost. I didn’t know him personally, but I knew he was the oldest son of a man I’d heard stories about—stories that involved my father and Junior’s.
My old man kept the details of their feud short, but I knew enough. Levi did too.
Now that I knew about Kitty and Junior’s connection, I concluded they looked nothing alike.
Junior was tall, but his baby sister couldn’t be taller than five-feet-five.
Her short hair gave her cat-shaped eyes and high cheekbones room to stand out.
Had it not been for the tattoo on her face and the piercing in her upturned nose, I would say she looked like a model.
“We can cut everything short if you just pay your debt.”
“I’m not giving you shit, shorty.”
She shrugged. “That’s on you. Your debt moves on to your next of kin once you’re gone. I would hate to snatch up your mama.”
“Hopefully, she’s in hell. When you get there, stay and keep her company.”
“What about your girlfriend, or your siblings, or your father?” she sang.
The mention of my loved ones put me on edge.
There was no way K could get to the people that mattered to me, but the idea was enough to make me flinch at her.
As much as I asked for privacy, there was a chance the only person looking for me was my baby brother.
For years, I worked hard to get Easy comfortable with the idea of us not living together; assuring him that he could talk to me at any time was an important part of the transition.
“Water.” She pressed a plastic bottle against my lips. “Drink it.”
“Why are you giving me water?”
“Like I said earlier, I don’t know if my folks want you dead or alive.”
I smirked. “Kitty ain’t calling the plays after all.”
“I don’t need to be the coach. I’m the quarterback, baby.”
I filled my cheeks with water, ready to spit it in her face, but I couldn’t let my pride get me knocked off.
A lot of niggas would love to hear somebody found me in the dirt, but the revelation would rip my little brother apart.
That was enough for me to play it cool and let the pretty bitch think she was running the show for now.