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“I’m not hiking up these fucking hills, King. Do you see me? I have on YSLs,” I fumed.
“Take them off,” he said, “We’re walking.”
“How about you buy me new ones if I mess these up?”
“Deal. I could buy you a trunk of them. Now shut the fuck up and walk.”
“Watch your damn mouth,” I said, shoving him forward.
“I swear to god, I’ll toss your little evil ass down one of these hills.”
“I’d love to see you fucking try,” I snipped. King stopped his stride and turned to face me, making me back up a few paces. Without a word to me, he tossed me over his boxy shoulder and continued up the dirt hill that seemed to go on forever.
“Put me down! I’m not a fucking toy!” I shouted on the way up.
“Annoying ass,” he grumbled but didn’t lose his breath or his gait as he carried me to the top of a landing. It was the only place where people weren’t scattered around talking, eating lunch, and taking pictures or making videos.
The moment he sat me on my feet, I balled my fists up and swung on him. We scuffled while King tried not to hit me back. Instead, he restrained me, wrapping long, strong arms made of marble and stone around my much smaller body. His chest was to my back and his mouth was at the top of my head.
“You can’t be in my fucking gang and fight me like this. I just had to knock Sumo’s ass out for being defiant.” His rush of words came out like a confession.
I stopped struggling and he let me go. I shielded my eyes from the harsh sun beaming down and looked up at him. He was so much taller than me that his head seemed to disappear into the light.
I said, “You had to fight Sumo’s big ass?”
“Yes.” He leaned against a tree and stared out at the view. I turned to look too and it was gorgeous. How had I never been up here before?
“Wow, this is beautiful,” I remarked more to myself than to him. “During the days when I didn’t have anywhere to sleep, I could have curled up right here. I bet the sky looks amazing at night.” Pastel blues painted the skyline while the HOLLYWOOD sign sat in the distance, an old guardian of LA, keeping watch. Beyond the sign was the outline of the Santa Monica mountains. They seemed to stretch on forever, running along the outside of the city.
“You had to sleep outside?” King asked quietly.
“At some points. Sometimes me and my sister got separated because she was in school and well…I wasn’t.” I remembered Jay’s undergrad days when she worked so hard all the time that I was out here by myself. I was good at getting money but life in LA wasn’t cheap. “I could always siphon money from my sugar daddies but when the pool ran low or one of my sugar daddies got violent, I had to crash on the street.” My casual shrug belied my inner turmoil. Those were some dark ass times and I hated reliving them.
“What the fuck do you mean when they got violent?” King asked. His own violence seeping into his words.
“I don’t want to talk about it, King.”
“Well, I’m telling you to talk about it,prospect. I want to know everything.” The rolling growl in his voice tied knots in my stomach.
“I want to know why you fought Sumo. He’s your brother. You talk. I talk.” The sun eased behind a fluffy cloud the color of blue cotton candy, and I could see more of King’s fine face. God knew damn well he didn’t have to make King look like…that.
It didn’t help that he was so fiery and passionate or that he saw what he wanted and took it. He didn’t ask for permission and it scared everyone. His inner power was on one thousand. If nothing else, King had my respect.
“Alright,” he sighed rubbing his hands together. “It’s exhausting fighting with your little ass over everything, you know that, Juju?”
“Then stop fighting me and give in.” I smiled.
“Yeah, fucking right. Never. I gotta keep you in check.” He walked up on me so close that I smelled his scent again. My body reacted immediately. My skin was hot and my insides were mush. Good dick did that to a girl and King was in my top three. Okay, he was in my top two. I’d never tell his arrogant ass though.
“You first,” King said, staring down at me with his arms folded across his chest.
“Okay,” I sighed, tucking a wind-blown chunk of black hair behind my ear. Nerves collected in my hands and I fidgeted with my nails. I needed them done. “I aged out of the system and I didn’t have anything lined up. My sister had been accepted to UCLA and I was alone.” I hated that word. It made me feel weak and shaky. “I had jobs here and there but I liked money and luxury too much to keep working retail. I’m not built for that shit.” At my words, King snorted out a laugh. I rolled my eyes at him and continued.
“I realized quickly that my looks and my body pulled a higher caliber of men. The kind of men who gave me credit cards and told me to shop. Sometimes they let me stay at their condos or summer houses as long as they could keep it from their wives and kids. When the shit hit the fan though, I had to roll out. Those were the times I found myself on the street.”
“You never robbed these old motherfuckers?” He pulled out a rolled blunt and handed it to me along with a lighter. I took both gladly.
“I did. Once.” The memory haunted me, biting and drawing blood as I lit the blunt and took a long pull. “I don’t like to talk about it.”
