“Look, I don’t want any problems. I’m new to town and just trying to find my way.”
“What do you do? Dance? Sell pussy?”
“No. Neither.” She turned up her nose at the thought of him assuming that about her. “I don’t knock nobody’s hustle; it’s just not my hustle.”
“So you don’t dance, and you don’t sell pussy, and you not going to sell no drugs. What are you here for? Who sent you?”
“Nobody sent me here. Actually, I was invited here and just thought that since I had a few pills, I would sell. Honestly, it was no disrespect.”
“No disrespect, huh?’
By the look in his eyes, Bianca could tell there was an underlying message behind his words.
“Look, the people who brought you here are going to be dealt with. That’s it; that’s all. Yogi’s little boyfriend, Tree, for letting your ass in, and that fucking Yogi, are going to pay.
“She ain’t know nothing or have nothing to do with what was in my purse.”
“I don’t believe you,” he shot back with no emotion.
“Look, she was just being nice. She knew I was new to town and invited me out to have a drink.”
“So she didn’t even know you?” he said. “That’s even worse.”
“Look, it was innocent. Don’t blame her for what I did.”
He shook his head then took one last puff before putting the blunt out in the palm of his hand. “And I really liked Tree, too. We were first cousins.”
“Were?” Bianca asked.
“Of course.” With the unlit blunt, he pointed at the shirt Bianca was wearing. “You didn’t think that was your own blood on that shirt now, did you?”
Bianca looked down. Her own blood curdled at the thought that she was wearing the shirt Tree had more than likely been killed in. Vomit came up her throat. She had a knee-jerk reaction, but did not open her mouth and let it rip. Instead, she swallowed the vomit and tried not to throw up again on the thought that she’d just swallowed a mouthful of vomit.
The entire time, the gentleman stood there watching Bianca. She figured he was trying to get a reaction out of her, so she gave him nothing.
His eyes on her were like laser beams. At that very moment, she knew that she wasn’t playing for marbles; she was playing for her life. These people’s “Den” she had fallen into was a real web of dangerous stuff that was way over her head and out of her pay grade. His long, silent, empty look shook her inner core, but with everything in her, she couldn’t let on that he intimidated her. With everything she had been through in her life, she wasn’t going to start begging for a break now. If she was going out, she was going down like a warrior, not like a coward begging for mercy.
“You like me, don’t you?”
“That’s what you did, came here so I could fuck you?”
“What?” She shrugged. “That’s really not my style,” she said with great confidence, not letting him know that she was indeed, without a doubt, scared shitless.
“Exactly what is your style?” he asked. “Tell me who you are. Where do you hail from, little girl?”
Bianca gave him the side-eye. “For one,” she spoke boldly, “I’m not a little girl. I’m all woman.” She gave herself a once-over with her fingers. “As you can see.” She laughed then continued. “And for two, I’m sure that Rocco fellow told you all about me already. No need in me wasting my breath to repeat myself.” Bianca placed her bottom back on the bed. “So now that we have all that out of the way, I know Rocco, I know Yogi, I know Tree, pardon me—” She drew an invisible cross across her chest—“I knew Tree, so who the fuck are you?”
All of a sudden, Bianca could hear him breathing heavily out of his nose. She imagined fire coming out like a dragon. He stalked back over to her, and then it was déjà vu. He had her by the neck.
“I’m your worst fucking nightmare if you ever come back here trying to take a shit in my house, you fucking hear me?”
Although he had her by the throat, at least, unlike Rocco, he wasn’t trying to squeeze the life out of her. He had a nice grip, but it wasn’t even as tight as the grip Caesar used to have around her neck when he was having sex with her.
Bianca reached up and touched his hands. He was probably expecting her, just as Rocco had, to try to pry his hands from around her throat, but she didn’t.
“You and your friend Rocco got a thing for domestic violence against women, huh?” Bianca managed to get the words out.
With that, he did tighten his grip around her, jerking her slightly.
“You don’t want to hurt me, Mr. . . . whatever your name is,” Bianca said. “If you wanted to hurt me, you would have done it by now. You could have even had your pit bull Rocco do it. The fact that neither has occurred means only one thing.”
“And what is that?” he asked. “Do tell.”
“Come closer,” Bianca whispered, secretly wishing he’d release his hands from around her throat.
With fire in his eyes, he leaned in.
Bianca put her mouth to his ear and said, “You don’t want to hurt me. You want to fuck me.” She then pulled back and looked at him, licking her lips. She had no idea how crazy she must have looked right at that moment. Lord knows her hair was all over her head. She was sure her lipstick was probably gone, or smudged all over her face. But she had an aura about her, and she had sex in her eyes. That would have to be enough.
He released her with a push
