Tiara smiled at the way he said, “boo-boos.”
“Stop it,” she mumbled and tried to pull away from him.
“What?” Stevelle said, kissing her forehead and sending chills down her spine. “I can’t kiss your boo-boos?”
His lips were so soft, and Tiara really wanted to lean her head back so that she could feel them on her own. Instead, she pulled away from him and went back to the ledge of the roof. Her eyes were on the traffic below, but she really wasn’t looking at anything. A part of her wanted Stevelle so bad. But a part of her felt like he needed to take another pick, and she felt like he needed to know why.
“You know,” she started in a barely audible voice, “Mario, the man you killed? I lost my virginity to him back in high school when he was my boyfriend. I gave him the most sacred piece of me to a man with a heart as black as night. He literally took everything from me. Everything.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah,” Tiara said and thought back to that night. “I thought, I just thought—”
“At least you thought,” Stevelle interjected. “That’s what sets you apart from others.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, finally looking him back in the eyes.
“Don’t thank me for telling you something that you already know.”
Something overcame him. It was a like a shock wave in his stomach. He was nowhere near a sensitive man, but the only thing his entire being wanted to do was protect her . . . and kiss her lips. So he did. He leaned down slowly, giving her enough time to pull back if she wanted to. But she didn’t. Instead, she placed her arms around his shoulders and cuffed the back of his head with her hands. When their lips met, their bodies meshed closer together. When Tiara closed her eyes, she swore she saw fireworks on the backs of her eyelids.
“Mmm,” she moaned in a guilty pleasure when his tongue slid into her mouth.
Her body was giving her confused signals. It was the first time in a long time that she’d been willingly intimate with a man. She was afraid. She thought images of Doctor Pierce and Mario would plague her mind, but surprisingly, they didn’t. Any confusion she felt, however, her heart sorted it out for her, letting her know that what she was doing was OK.
She sucked hungrily on his tongue and bit his bottom lip, turning him on and making him wish they didn’t have a move to make in less than an hour. If it weren’t for his phone vibrating in his pocket, he would have stood there tonguing her down for another five minutes. He pulled away from her, breaking the kiss, and tried to catch his breath before he answered his phone.
“Aye, Chief,” Mook’s voice sounded on the other end, “we’re ready to head out.”
“A’ight,” Stevelle said and hung the phone up. He looked down into Tiara’s doe eyes. “We’re going to have to finish this later. It’s time to put you back on the throne, Princess.”
Chapter 17
The eight of them decided to take two separate cars; two black Toyota Camrys to be exact.
“Some niggas have burned phones,” Keys told Tiara as she hopped in the car with her and Stevelle. “My crew has burned cars. We go through these mothafuckas like Swisher Sweets. Plus, nobody is ever gon’ suspect a fuckin’ Camry dog. These mothafuckas look straight like mom cars.”
It took about forty-five minutes for them to get from Stevelle’s condo to Blake’s community. They drove past the other Camry that was parked a few blocks away from the gate and parked in front of them. When Keys drove past Mrs. Sanchez’s place, Tiara remembered going there sometimes after school when she had soccer practice and instantly felt a pang of sadness. Her life growing up hadn’t been the worst one. She owned up to the fact too late that she was just a selfish kid. But it was all right because she was about to make up for it. They parked far enough from the gate to not be seen but close enough for their binoculars to reach.
“Get down!” Keys said just in time, and they did as they were told. Their heads ducked down as an Audi A8 pulled past the car they were in. “Shit. I shoulda had Li’l Tay come and case this place earlier.”
“It wouldn’t have done any good. Cat gets up and leaves at any time of the day. She has never had any kind of schedule. Ever. That bitch’s feet are made of wheels.”
Tiara leaned up in her seat just in time to see the car go through the gate. Almost ten minutes after that, she had the urge to jump out of the car and just empty her whole clip. She watched as Cat stepped out on the balcony connected to the master bedroom, the one she used to share with Blake. However, she was not alone. Tiara’s cousin Vincent trailed closely behind her. She wanted to throw up as she watched Cat being fondled by him with a huge smile on her face. Tiara had to set the binoculars to the side while she tried to stomach what she’d just seen.
“Your moms is foul, yo,” Stevelle said, shaking his head. “Not only is she fucking her deceased husband’s cousin, but she done moved him up in the crib too. That ain’t right.”
Tiara silently
