Power (Romantic Suspense) (47 page)

I targeted him with my gaze. “What other tricks have you heard I had?”

“Heard you’ve killed more than many.” The tall man spat on the ground in front of me. “Heard you got a hard-on for cutting men’s dicks off. Heard you like to make women cry and kids fall on the ground in terror.”

“Those are tall tales.” I laughed. “So you must be one of the guards that get to fuck Butterfly.”

The tall guy lost his words.

“Or did she give you some pussy at first and then moved on to someone else?” I asked. “The new guy is probably in there right now. Is he? How does it feel?”

The tall guy kept a hard gaze on me, but his hand trembled. “What do you want?”

“To talk to Butterfly.”

“Why?”

“None of your business,” I said.

“You talk pretty big to not have a gun in your hand.”

“Do I?” I asked.

“Yes.” The tall guy closed the distance between us and placed the point on my cheek. “Why do you talk so big, when you don’t have a gun in your hand?”

“Because I can take yours.” I slapped him with my left hand and took his gun with my right. A simple trick, if one does it hundreds of times. My friends and I always practiced stealing guns from one another. One instant, they held a weapon. The next minute, I snatched it from them. Other boys sat in front of television screens playing video games, while my little crew explored the game of life.

I gripped the tall guy’s gun tightly and returned to raising my hand in the air. “Hey, I don’t want any trouble. I’m going to give you the gun back. I just figured you needed me to show you, instead of tell you.”

The men exchanged glances as I slowly handed the gun back to the tall guy with the big mouth.

He snatched it from me. “Don’t do that again.”

I bowed. “I’ll try not to.”

“Fucking idiot,” the short one muttered under his breath and knocked on the door. It opened a few inches, but I couldn’t see the person on the other side. “Madam, he has no weapons on him.”

Butterfly’s voice flowed out. Smooth and full of venom. “Are you sure?”

I’m going to snap your little neck, sweetie.

“Open the door, Butterfly.” I stepped pass the guys and pushed through the entrance. It was fast enough that they didn’t have a chance to grab for me. The door flung open. She edged back as I kept my hands in the air.

“I just want to talk.” I licked my lips and let my eyes move over her body. “And maybe we can do other things afterwards.”

Let her see the truth in my actions and lies, but you’ll never understand the truth of my heart.

People believed what they wanted. Especially some women who hoped with all of their energy that a certain guy would fall for them. They ignored the signs, pretended he cared, and let the tiniest signs of affection become more than what it was. Tonight I hoped Butterfly fell in the latter group.

Before saying anything else, Butterfly checked my body herself as the guards remained in the doorway. Inch by inch, she dragged her fingers along my upper body and then trailed them down my legs and over my behind, lingering longer around my dick and balls. However, I didn’t get hard like when she’d touched me before.

Did she notice?

When Butterfly finished, she quirked her arched eyebrows at me. “We can do
other things
afterwards?”

“You look beautiful tonight.”

She was as sexy as ever, but more like a painting I thought was beautiful and then walked by to forget about later. Next to my woman, Butterfly had no chance. Mary Jane’s loveliness entranced me. It wasn’t some fake result of products, shame, and surgery. The natural parts of her excited me more. And when it came to Mary Jane’s core, she glowed so brightly that light radiated around her.

“I always look beautiful,” Butterfly said.

Tonight, she wore crimson lace dress formed from tiny roses that revealed more skin than it hid. Had she already been wearing it? Or did she rush to put it on when they told her I was coming up the stairs? With Butterfly, everything was an opportunity for a performance. Her lush hair tumbled down her shoulders in curls.

“Yes, very beautiful,” I whispered.

She widened her eyes in shock. “What are you trying to do, Noah? I know you better than you know yourself.”

“If you do, then what am I trying to do?”

“This is some sort of move.”

I nodded. “It is a move.”

“To what?”

“To peace.” I scanned the rest of the place.

Clearly Butterfly had tried to fix things up. A coat of red paint covered the walls. Emerald green and violet satin curtains hung in front of the windows and fell to the floors. With the storm outside and the window half open, the shiny material swung back and forth. Red lanterns dangled from the ceiling. Cursive letters decorated the paper and gave a twisted vibe to the space. The old full sized bed had been replaced with one for a queen, although I bet death still lingered on the mattress. No matter how new she’d bought it, nothing that Butterfly lay on could hold positive energy.

If wicked people bred evil things, then sinful, little immoral eggs crowded the space. I just couldn’t see it, but nothing good would come from this room or this night. I had to kill her and all of the negativity in here. I had to wash this room in blood and then burn the whole place down to the ground. I had to one by one purify my city and make sure that happenings like Aristotle’s house would not sprout up all around.

Someone coughed behind her. A man sat in a chair next to the bed, holding a gun and aiming the point at me. His shirt had been opened as well as his pants. He must’ve been one of the many guards that she enjoyed fucking.

I have to get him out of here if I want to kill her. How am I going to do this? Doesn’t matter. I’ll figure out a way. For now, I need to get her comfortable around me.

“Is this the new guy in your life?” I asked.

The man frowned.

“No.” She waved him away.

He put the gun down.

“This one just keeps me company,” she said.

“Hmmm.”

She formed her poisonous lips into a smile. “Are you jealous?”

I frowned. “What do you think?”

“I think you are, but you’ll never admit it.”

“Then there is no reason for me to answer.” I directed my attention back to her.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Butterfly batted her eyes. “Did you come over here to end the war or fuck me?”

“Is there a difference?”

“I’m sorry, sweet Noah.” She had the nerve to blush like a school girl. It was always a performance with her. “But your dick won’t end the war.”

“Are you sure about that, Butterfly?”

“I would need more than just your dick.”

“What would you need, baby?”

“Baby?” She blinked, knowing that I’d never called her that in my life.

Did she believe me? Did she crave my love badly enough that she held on to these little moments as if to show her that she’d finally became the victor?

These sweet lies will be the last you hear. That’s what you’ve done to yourself. You could’ve had a man that loved you, just by going after him. Instead you chose to force me to love you. And still with the war and all the bloodshed, you’re nothing to me.

After all of this crap that had happened. She was less than nothing. Garbage within a sexy package. A soulless monster with make-up and a weave. That was all she was too me. I recognized her beauty. God had blessed her with those lips and eyes. But what was the use of having pretty eyes that held a fucked-up point of view? What was the use of a mouth shaped like a blossoming flower, if it rotted on the inside?

“Keep your new guy in here if you’re that scared of me.” I gestured to him. “You should feel safe. It’s just that eventually, after the peace talks are over, he might get a show. Has he seen you naked yet?”

She flinched like I slapped her. “What are you doing here, Noah?”

“You wanted me here.”

“Is that a question?” she asked.

“No.”

She flicked her fingers at the two guards who’d remained in the doorway. “Go back outside, but keep the door half way open.”

“You already have a guy in here with a loaded gun. I have nothing. Two guards will be outside, but you want the door halfway open?” I grinned. “You flatter me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“No?” I stepped closer to her and took off my jacket. “Why don’t you trust me, baby?”

She edged back. “You’ve been threatening to kill me.”

“What? Me? Are you sure, my love?”

“My love?” Her bottom lip quivered. “Why are you talking like this?”

I placed my jacket at the end of her bed. “Isn’t that what you want? My love? Or is it my power? I can’t figure it out right now. You killed Rasheed and Domingo, so now what do you want to take?”

Backing away from me, she shook her head. “I didn’t kill them.”

“You sparked the flame that burned the city down.”

“I said the things that needed to be said.”

“You said it to the wrong ears, Butterfly.”

“You stopped listening to me.”

“I never listened.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“Hmmm.” I walked over to the bed, sat, and with a fuck it attitude, leaned back, my legs dangling off the side. “Have them close the door. They can stand outside and listen intently to me fucking you. I’ll even let this guy in here watch me fuck you, but it won’t be a goddamned show for your whole security team.”

“Who says we’re fucking?”

I lifted my head and glared at her. “It’s been a long couple of months, Butterfly. Accept your victory and close the fucking door. You know I missed it?”

“It?”

“Her.”

She bit her lip. “You missed her?”

“I’ve always missed her.”

A wicked grin spread across her face. She did as I asked and signaled for the two guards to leave. The door shut close. And then she strolled back my way, with more sex in each step and desire glowing in her gaze.

“What are you doing, Noah?” she asked.

“Resting for once.”

“Only the dead rest.”

“Maybe we never die.”

“No,” she said. “We all die.”

“Yes, but maybe death is not what we think it is. Maybe you should get your rest when you can. Because, maybe, when we die, close our eyes, and take our last breath. It’s possible that we wake up as a newborn being pushed out of another pair of mother’s thighs in another part of the world or even in another part of reality. Maybe we should get as much rest as possible.”

She giggled. “Noah, you’re still crazy.”

I thought about the Ebony Forest and even Aristotle’s house. “Anything is possible. The more I live, the more I know less about life.”

She got on my side, unable to resist being near me. It was something I used to ignore and pretend would go away. When we were at the same place, she always remained less than two feet away from me. For that reason, I avoided being around Butterfly, hoping that would help her think of someone else. Every year, I figured she’d fall for someone else. A decade went by and still I disregarded her.

Shivering, she placed a hand on my chest and stared at me with widened eyes. Her expensive perfume filled the air, but couldn’t hide the rotting inside of her. If the man hadn’t been in the room, I would’ve broken that hand, wrapped my fingers around her neck, and took away every last breath that moved within her.

“Is this an act?” she whispered. “What are you playing at now? What do you think is going to happen if you pretend to love me?”

I unbuttoned my shirt and opened it. “Am I pretending?”

Glancing at my chest, she bit her lips.
Oh, come to me, Butterfly.
With her fingers, she traced little circles on the curves of my muscle. Nothing resulted from her touch. No sparks. No desire. No need to have her closer to me. Nothing. If it had been Mary Jane caressing me, I’d be rock hard with my tongue already between her thighs.

Butterfly drew a circle around my belly button. “You never act this way.”

“How do I act, Butterfly?”

“Cold, mean, and unloving.”

“Then why love me?”

She lowered and kissed my belly button. “Because I know that on the inside, there is so much more. You have a huge heart. It just takes the right woman to warm that ice inside of your chest.”

“And you’re that woman?”

“Am I that woman? Of course, I am.” She rose and pouted. “I’ve been there from the very beginning. How long do you think that college girl would be with you?”

“Not for long. She’s already left.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That’s not my problem.”

“She’ll be back. How can anybody resist you for too long?”

“The brothel massacre scared her.”

She kissed another part of my stomach. “It scared me too and I’ve seen blood and death.”