3. Charisma Rae Jones
CHARISMA RAE JONES
“Unlock the fucking door.”
Chills raced down my spine, and I was certain my heart was going to leap out of my chest. If it weren’t for the hard steel pressing deeper into my head, I never would’ve found the strength to insert my key into the lock.
I released a shaky breath, doing as I was instructed.
My life was not worth any valuables I had in my home.
“Hurry the fuck up!” the person barked, and I froze, thinking the voice sounded familiar, but I was too afraid to turn around and face the truth.
Instead, I convinced myself that it couldn’t be him.
He would never rob me, right? Before I could even twist the knob, I was being pushed inside, and the door was closed behind me.
“Take me to the fucking safe, and empty that muthafucka.”
My eyes widened when I heard that because there was truly only one person in this world that knew about my safe. “Sa-safe? What safe?” I stuttered, trying to feign innocence.
The safety on the gun was clicked off, and the barrel was pointed in my direction. “Bitch, take me to that fucking safe before I flatline yo’ ass.”
“Bryaire. . .” I whispered his name in shock.
I wanted nothing more than for this masked man to be some random man who assumed I had a safe, but that was unlikely.
With the lifestyle I lived, I’d seen crazier things happen, so someone I loved and trusted switching up on me for some money wasn’t that surprising.
Closing the distance between us, he yanked me forward by the front of my cropped jacket, tearing it open in the process.
I barely had time to cradle my breasts to my chest before he was nudging me down the hall where I kept the safe in the closet of the second bedroom I’d turned into my vanity and closet.
That was when I knew who the culprit was, and instead of testing my luck, I figured I should give him what he wanted so he could leave.
Only then could I process the truth of not truly having anyone in my life I could depend on or trust.
Keeping quiet, I switched on the light and rushed over to the safe. I could feel the heat of his body hovering over me, and it made my hands shake. Once I cracked it open, he tossed a duffel bag at my feet. “Fill it up.”
I could hardly see through my tears as I drained my life savings into the duffel.
Anytime I went into the bank, I always got judgmental stares when I tried depositing thousands of dollars in dollar bills.
So, I invested in a personal safe and became my own bank instead.
All I knew was stripping, so I had no other skills, but I was saving my money so I could get out of the club one day.
I wanted to give myself a chance at another life, and watching that future disappear with each stack of bills I placed in the duffel ripped my heart open.
When the bag was full, I tossed it behind me without turning around. “That’s all of it?”
Red-hot anger coursed through my veins before exploding out of me. “Yes! Now get the fuck out!” I yelled with a quick glance over my shoulder.
I almost leapt out of my skin when I saw how close he was standing to me.
Before I could prepare myself, he snatched me by my hair and slung me on the floor.
We began to tussle as he tried to rip my jacket open the rest of the way.
“Stop, stop! Bryaire, stop!” I begged, and I pleaded through the queasiness in my belly.
There was no way I’d made it ten years in this industry, and the person to violate me most was the one man I trusted more than anyone in this world.
My blood ran cold when he stuffed his hand in my shorts and tried to fiddle with my clit.
“I been wanting this pussy for a long time, Rizz. You gonna give it to me?”
My heart sank as I heard this from him. At this point, he didn’t even need the mask, but I was glad I couldn’t see his face.
I felt like that would make things worse.
He used his knees to spread my legs. While he was busy fumbling with his zipper and lowering my shorts, I stretched my hand to the right, trying to find something to grab a hold of.
I happened to grab onto a shoe, so I picked it up and started beating him in the head with the heel.
“Argh!” he yelled out in agony as I hit him until he released me.
Once his hands were off me, I kicked him in the balls, which sent him crashing backward.
I used that moment to hop up and race out of my apartment.
Someone laying on their horn snapped me out of my thoughts.
I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt a tear land on my chest. I eased off the brake, pushing my car through the green light with no true destination.
The robbery had happened three days ago, and I hadn’t been home once.
I skipped out on work, knowing he would be there.
I was so fucked up about the situation. Bryaire grew up in the streets with me after he was abandoned by his addict parents, so we became attached at the hip, knowing we were both kids forced to raise themselves.
He knew how afraid I was of being sexually assaulted and how many times it came close to happening over the years.
Now, he was the monster who’d almost made that fear come true.
I think it was worse, knowing going to the police was useless because this type of thing came with the lifestyle.
I drove aimlessly around the city, too afraid to stop anywhere I felt he would find me.
Who knew if he had plans to finish what he started in my apartment or if he was angry about the damage I’d done with my heel?
I’d never been more thankful for a red bottom in my life.
It had real value when it mattered most.
I think what scared me about Bryaire was that he knew everything about me—where I lived, what I drove, and where I worked. It felt like, if he wanted to find me, he could, so I just kept driving around the city until I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore.
I’d already run through the little bit of money I kept on Cash App for emergencies over the last few days.
If it weren’t for the handsome stranger I’d approached earlier today, my car would already be on the side of the road with me cooking alive inside of it because the August heat was relentless.
Thankfully, the sun had gone down, and I could ride with the windows down now.
Pulling into a random neighborhood, I drove around, looking for somewhere to park.
I sighed in relief when I saw there was a dead end on one street, so I went down there and parked near the tree line.
Turning off my headlights, I released a heavy sigh before allowing my head to rest. For a minute, I just sat there trying to stabilize my breathing, but the sobs tore out of me with a mind of their own.
My shoulders shook, and my eyes burned from the flood of tears bursting forward quicker than my eyes could produce them.
I had always tried to remain positive, even though I felt like I was given one of the worst fates someone could have in this world.
Leaning my seat back, I curled on my side and hugged my knees to my chest. I was so fucking exhausted with living a fucked-up life, always only having myself to rely on, never being able to trust others or even get close to them because I never knew if their intentions were pure.
Now that I was betrayed by Bryaire, I was certain I would never trust another soul again.
Was it God’s plan for me to be all alone?
I glanced out the window, hearing thunder roll in the distance, shaking not only the sky but the earth below.
Not even a minute later, the sky exhaled, and it began to pour down.
Even the sky had something to cry about tonight, making me feel less alone.
I related to her pain on a spiritual level, but it felt good to not be the only sad one.
At some point, I stopped fighting my body and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
I jumped out of my sleep frantically. My eyes bounced around as I looked for the source of the sound.
I rapidly blinked away the sleepiness to see a shadow standing on the driver’s side.
I sat my seat up and started the car to be able to roll down my window.
My heart began skipping beats as I waited to see who’d approached me.
The world slowed as a familiar face appeared in my open window.
I gulped down the cotton lodged in my throat, feeling as if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but no.
It was the guy from the gas station. Because he was over six feet tall, he had to bend down to peer inside.
There was no way I could forget his Hershey complexion, low-tapered cut, chiseled and strong jawline, or his dominating and demanding brown eyes that were framed by his naturally long lashes.
He had a Nubian nose that fit perfectly in the center of his face and full, flesh-toned lips surrounded by a low-cut beard.
I gulped down my nervousness when I saw him studying me. A beautiful smile spread across his handsome face when my identity registered in his mind. Then he said the last thing I expected.
“I guess you have to go on that date with me now, or are you stalking me, Pretty?”