Page 9 of A Capo’s Love: Featuring A Don’s Love

I started in the direction of the door, Tasha stepped in front of the doorway like she wasn’t done trying to save me yet.

“You don’t understand who you about to meet…I uhh… once was around Luca… he’s quiet and dangerous… R-Roy is different from him.” Tasha stuttered over every other word.

I couldn’t do shit but offer her a shit-eating grin. I turned in Keisha’s direction and laughed tauntingly with a sick idea since she loved to inquire so hard about my celibacy.

“Nah, Tasha.” I winked at Keisha. “I think he about to understand who he meeting.” I pivoted on my feet and closed the space between Keisha and I so I could talk between just us. “If all goes well, I might take some of your advice and get laid by the nigga since he got both of y’all so shook.”

I busted out laughing while Keisha’s face fell slack, not finding shit funny. She should have known that I was just joking. Not wanting to waste any more time, I pushed past Tasha and into the world of Spike’s.

CHAPTER 3

Amaris

YOU ONE OF THEM ARCHITECTURAL KIND OF BROADS…

“I can make the dope stretch, I can teach finesse (finesse) And I’m ’bout my check, you better come correct. These hoes stay choosin’, trap straight boomin’! I’m a pack mover, I’m a weight loser…

The second I pushed through the stockroom door and stepped back onto the floor of Spike’s lounge, a permanent crease dented the middle of my forehead. The music wrapped around me louder than what it normally did. Spike’s always came alive a little after nine p.m. but this alive felt different.

The lights were dimmed low enough to soften everybody’s edges. Gold wall sconces casted shadows across the brick panels my dad had imported piece by piece to make the place feel older than it really was. Long amber shelves behind the bar glowed with liquor bottles. Black leather booths curved along the walls elegantly.

This wasn’t no strip club chaos. This was grown money nightlife where bosses got away to have quiet conversations and possibly make private deals. People who didn’t want cameras but still wanted attention. Tonight felt like the opposite.

My boots clicked steady across the dark hardwood as I walked past the main bar.

“Evening, Miss Reed.” Marcus nodded from behind the counter while polishing glassware. He paused to admire me like he always did.

He licked his pink lips and winked at me. I smirked and nodded my head instead of speaking to simply feel Marcus out. He loved to flirt. Although he made it seem like it was playful banter, I knew somewhere deep inside he wanted me. Marcus was fine with long curly hair that he kept braided neatly to the back. He was tall and medium built, and was a pretty boy. Nothing was wrong with that to me.

It’s just that Marcus was bi-sexual and freaked the hell out.

“You behaving tonight?” I asked, finally deciding to make small talk with him.

“Always, Miss Reed.” He winked, wetting his pink lips again.

“That’s a damn lie,” I spoke over the music, finding myself annoyed that it was so damn loud.

Marcus grinned before I kept walking toward the Velvet area. Two regulars near table four lifted their drinks when they saw me.

“Boss Lady.”

I nodded back before speaking.

“Spend something.” I winked.

They laughed, making everything feel a little more normal besides the blaring rap music. My stomach, however, still felt tight because the deeper I walked toward the back velvet hallway that led to the VIP lounge, the more I started noticing something didn’t belong.

Security wasn’t mine. The ones that I spotted blended in with people but still stood out to me as out of place. One of them was near the second bar ordering a drink. I knew he was security by the way he was dressed in nice street clothes with a gun concealed at the small of his back under his shirt. Another leaned against the pillar observing the entire space.

My eyes skipped over the entire room and landed on another guard sitting at a corner table watching exits instead of women.

My stomach flipped slow with recognition. Men like the one’s inside of the lounge didn’t come to places like this by accident. Royal was Capo, so he sure as hell wouldn’t move alone.

I kept walking anyway because this was still considered my building. I didn’t care if my pulse started beating somewhere higher than my chest. The velvet curtains separating the VIP room shifted slightly when I reached them.

I can make the dope stretch, I can teach finesse (finesse) And I’m ’bout my check, you better come correct. These hoes stay choosin’, trap straight boomin’! I’m a pack mover, I’m a weight loser…

I blinked my eyes to see if I was trippin’ out and seeing shit that wasn’t really there. There were two thick, naked ebony strippers in front of the booth making their asses clap in front of my dad’s booth. A big bulky man stood off to the side, making it rain on the strippers with a grim look on his rugged face.