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Explicit language.
Adult themes.
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*UNEDITED*
Chapter Two
4:27 a.m.
Lira Armstrong
“One, two, three hundred thousand….” I said, stacking the money up in piles all around me on the thinly padded motel quilt.
I sat beside my boyfriend, Jevan, in nothing but a black cotton tank top and panties inside a seedy motel room half a mile away from the Miami airport. My eyes glazed over all the neatly stacked piles of money atop the bedding that looked like it had been in style in the sixties. I glanced over at him, and he smiled wide as the Cheshire Cat.
“What are you smiling so big for?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“I can’t believe we pulled this shit off, Lira,” he said, puffing from his blunt.
“Hey, you were the mastermind behind the plan, baby. I just drove the getaway car.”
“Well, your driving got us almost half a million-tax-free fuckin’ dollars!” He boasted before passing me the blunt.
I inhaled before smiling. “Yeah, I guess it did.”
Stealing was nothing new to me. I’d been a hustler all my life. That’s how I kept clothes on my back and food on the table long before Jevan even came along. I was the byproduct of not one but two crackhead parents who both tried selling me for their next fix at one point or another during my adolescence. I never had anybody look out for me before Jevan and I met. Although we’d only been together for almost seven months, I loved him as much as someone who was never loved herself could. There were things he still didn’t know about me, and there were things I probably didn’t know about him, but when we were together, none of that shit mattered. I wasn’t going to lie and say his actions didn’t make me question his sanity at times. I’d watched him rob a stash house of one of the biggest dealers in the city, and he didn’t seem to be the least concerned for his safety or mine. He was getting high and living in the moment. For the first time in my life, I finally had some real mothafuckin money.
“You sure you good?” He asked, eyeing me closely.
“Yeah, my—my heart is still racing.”
He cheesed. “Mine too.”
“I’ve never done anything this crazy before. I feel a rush inside me. We’re so close I can taste it!” I squealed.
“I can’t wait to be as far away from this shitty ass city as we can be and start our new life together in L.A. The sunny breeze and palm trees of the west coast are calling my name, baby!”
“And we will be tomorrow morning. I already booked the flights.”
“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have left tonight. I don’t know…I just got a bad feeling about all of this,” I admitted, unable to shake the rush of emotions flowing through me. I’d gone from relieved and excited, only for an eerie feeling to settle in the pit of my stomach. Smoking had only made me more paranoid.
“Stop stressin’. We gon’ be good. I promise.”
I nodded slowly before hitting the blunt again. “Okay.”
“You trust me, don’t you?”
My eyes landed on his warm, dark brown orbs, and suddenly all the butterflies tormenting my insides faded away. I bobbed my head and said, “Yeah.”
“Look, Lira. You’re the Bonnie to my Clyde. When I tell you I got you, I got you. I’d never lie to you about that.”
I stared into his eyes before glancing upward at the small tattoo of an ace centered between his eyebrows. Jevan was a twenty-six-year-old hustler who grew up in the Landover Projects and made his way through the streets. All I had to do was stay down long enough, and we’d been able to come up together. I glanced over at my suitcase next to his by the door. I couldn’t wait until the sun came up in a couple of hours. I was finally going to be able to live a life that didn’t consist of always trying to figure out where my next meal was going to come from or if I was going to get locked up over some petty shit. Most importantly, I’d finally be able to go back to college and get my dance degree.
“I trust you, Jevan, but I worry about you sometimes.” I admitted.
“Me? What do you mean?”
“This plan of yours…robbing Rome. I don’t know him like that, but I’ve heard shit, and I don’t think a nigga like that will take the shit lightly once he realizes his shit is gone.”
“Bae, will you relax? Nobody knows we were the ones that took his shit except for the two people in this room right now, and I sure as hell don’t plan on tellin’ anybody. Do you?”
“Hell no! I’m not sayin’ shit!”
“Me either, so we gon’ be good,” he assured me.
I cocked my head to the side. “You never did tell me why you ain’t like his ass.”
“Who? Rome? What makes you think I don’t like that light-skinned mothafucka?”
“First of all, you’re just as light-skinned as he is,” I chuckled, “but we specifically hit one of his spots because you knew he’d be out of town. That seems real…calculated. That’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Does it really matter?”
“If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked,” I assured him.
Jevan started shoving money inside a black duffel bag while he talked. “My older sister Jhene got mixed up with him some years back…and um, you know, she let all his money and shit go to her head and cloud her judgment. I told her not to fuck with that nigga, but she ain’t wanna listen to me.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants, I guess,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, well, her heart got her fuckin’ killed. A nigga like Rome don’t go long without making enemies, and one night they caught his ass slippin’ right outside the club. They shot his car up with my sister inside. She bled out inside that nigga’s whip.”
I lowered my head in silence. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry, baby.”
“Yeah. That nigga survived without so much as a scratch on his bitch ass head. Those bullets were meant for that nigga, not my sister! Since then, I’ve spent every day of my life wishing he’d die.”
“So why not…you know, kill him? Why’d you want to rob him?”
“Like I said, a nigga like Rome doesn’t go too long without making enemies, so I knew he’d have his brothers and goons ready to go at any given moment after that hit. He’d see me coming and trying to retaliate before I could even cock my gun. Nah, I wanted to hit him where it hurts the most, his wallet.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“Do you really?”
“Yeah, family over everything. I can respect that, baby.”
“Good,” he said, pulling his shoulder-length dreads back into a low ponytail. “I’m tellin’ you, them niggas ain’t seen nothin’ yet. That shit we pulled tonight, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. When my brother Bankx gets out of jail, Rome and all them Snow niggas are gon’ get that work. Believe that.”
“What’s your brother got to do with this?” I asked, secretly praying we didn’t have to split our cut three ways instead of two.
“Everything.”
I chuckled. “You’re being kinda vague, baby.”
“Look, my brother was locked up when all that shit with Jhene went down. Rome be on that street shit, and so do Bankx. And on the streets, it’s a life for a life, and it’s time for that nigga to pay up for what he let happen to our sister. It’s been a long time comin’, and I’ve been itchin’ to come up off this nigga, but Bankx wanted us to wait.”
My forehead creased. “Why?”
“He’s comin’ home soon. In another year or so, and when he does, Miami better take cover.”
“How long has he been locked up?” I inquired.
“Eleven years,” he answered.
“Wow.”
“Yeah. He’s been waitin’ for this.”
I rested my head against the rickety wooden headboard. “You know, this is the first time you’ve ever talked to me about your family, baby. I know I don’t have shit to share about family, but you have siblings. That’s dope, the bond you have with them.”
“Like you said, family over everything. And you’re my family now, Lira.”
Jevan walked over to put the bag beside our suitcases when his phone vibrated against the dresser. He quickly picked it up and looked at the screen, sent a quick text message, and then slid it inside his pocket.
I snapped my neck at him. “Who was that?”
“Nobody, chill.”
“If it was nobody, then why you tellin’ me to chill?” I asked, folding my arms tightly across my chest.
Jevan sighed and shook his head. Instead of responding, he walked over and crawled on top of the bed beside me like everything was all good. It wasn’t the first time I’d caught some lame-ass bitch in his phone, and I was tired of him thinking I would take that shit lightly, especially when we got to L.A.
“So, you don’t hear me talkin’ to you?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
He whipped his neck around to look me dead in my eyes. “Are you done?” He asked, gaslighting me.
“Hell no, I’m not done! What kind bitch do you take me for, Jevan? I’m not to be fucked with!”
“All I’m saying is we just hit one of the biggest come ups, and you wanna argue about some bitch texting my phone? Grow up, Lira.”
I quickly rolled over on top of him, pointed my fingers in the shape of a gun, and slid them inside his mouth."Look, this is the last fucking time I'm gonna have this conversation with you, nigga. Let me catch a bitch texting you at four in the morning again, and it's over for you and her!"
I quickly pulled them out when he attempted to bite me. "You know I love it when you talk that gutta shit, right?" He admitted before snapping at my fingertips.
"Stop, Jevan! I'm not playing with your ass! I'm tired of you having me lookin' crazy out here to these hoes that you still feel the need to entertain! We’ve been together for seven months now. You’ve said it yourself you’ve never felt the way you feel about me before. I just drove your getaway car! We’re about to move to California together. What more do I have to do to prove to you that I’m the only one you need?”
I could feel myself getting emotional and tried to roll to the other side of the bed before I felt a tear slip down my cheek. If there was one thing I hated, it was looking weak, especially to a man. As Summer Walker would put it, I was simply over it.
He cleared his throat, deepening his voice before he spoke. "Lira, come here."
"No. Forget I said anything."
Jevan rolled over and pressed his dick against my ass. "I said come here,” he whispered against the nape of my neck. Fuck, I groaned inside my head. His deep voice instantly sent chills up my spine. Some seedy motel room was the last place I wanted to buss it open, but as long as I knew there was a higher thread count in my future, I didn’t mind the celebratory fuck. In my mind, we’d finally made it.
"Jevan, stop."
He ran his hand down his thin mustache and goatee. "Oh, you really want me to stop?"
"Yeah, I do. Because you don’t take me seriously."
"Nah, I don't think that's true at all,” he said as he kissed my neck and nibbled on my earlobe.
"Ugh," I groaned. "Stop it. I’m serious.”
“Not until you stop being mad at me,” he said, licking his juicy, pink lips.
“I’m not mad, now stop!”
“Say it again, and this time, make sure you mean it,” he said before stealing a kiss.
I pushed out another soft groan laced with aggravation. “I swear I fuckin’ hate you sometimes!"
"Yeah, aight. I love you too, baby girl, and I'm about to show you how much.”
“Wait, you—you what? You love me?”
“You heard me.”
“Say it again.”
“You heard me say it already. Why I gotta say it again?”
“Because you’ve never said it before and I wanna hear you say it all the time!” I squealed.
He looked me in my eyes. “Well, in that case, I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“How much?” I asked.
“I’ll show you better than I can tell you.”
“Mmm. How you gon’ show me?” I asked, sinking my pearly whites into my bottom lip.
He smirked, revealing the dimple in his left cheek. “By fuckin’ that pussy on top of all this money!”
Jevan jumped up and shook out all the money from the duffel bag all over the bed. Benjamins and Jacksons were raining down on us like a money shower. “Oh my God, bae! Your ass is crazy as hell!” I giggled.
Jevan climbed on top of me and let his tongue gently part my lips. He kissed my neck as his fingertips slowly ran circles around my nipples, making them poke through the thin fabric of my tank top.
“Mmm,” I moaned, knowing he’d hit one of my most sensitive spots.
I shivered in pleasure as his long tongue swirled across my chest, leaving a trail of kisses from my breasts down to the piercing in my navel.
“Mmm, shit, baby!” I cooed.
My body jolted forward when his lips touched my sweet spot through my moistened panties. I shifted my body upwards as he slid them to the side and slipped his index finger inside me.
“Mm, this mine, right?” He growled.
“Yes, baby,” I purred.
I looked in between my thighs and saw the passion flickering in his eyes as his lips smacked against my tender, wet flesh. “Oh shit, don’t stop, baby.” I moaned while running my fingers through his dreads.
Jevan’s lips glistened as he reached up to squeeze my nipples. He knew exactly what he was doing to me, each flick of his tongue and squeeze of my nipple inching me closer and closer to my peak. I was seconds away from cumming when the bedroom door burst open, knocking our suitcases over in its wake. I screamed as Jevan quickly turned around. As soon as our eyes focused on who’d kicked in the door, we were both facing down Rome’s gold-plated pistol barrel.
He clenched his chiseled, latte brown jaw before tightening his index finger around the trigger. “Move, and both you mothafuckas die.”
Stay tuned for A Lover's Heist II coming 4/19! If you haven’t already preordered it, you can do it here.