The more Dough sat across from me with this dumb look on his face, the angrier I became. I didn’t like to be lied to. Dough should’ve known this by now. It didn’t matter who you were, how long I’ve known you or any other bullshit, you didn’t fucking lie to me. And at this moment, Dough was lying to me. I didn’t need him to say it, I could tell by the way he carried himself.
“I didn’t see any harm in letting her shower in here, Shadow. She did do a job for you.” Dough was quick and sarcastic with his words as he laughed a bit. However what seemed to humor Dough at this moment, didn’t humor me at all. “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK IF THAT BITCH DID A MILLION JOBS FOR ME, YOU DON’T FUCKING LET PEOPLE IN MY PERSONAL SPACE WITHOUT MY FUCKING PERMISSION.” I slammed my hands down against my desk as I shot Dough a death glare. I had to admit, some of my anger came from not actually being able to witness Mosadi’s escapade in person.
Dough quickly nodded and mumbled, “No problem, Shadow. It won’t happen again…you have my word.” He kept his eyes on me I shook my head. I glanced at the face of my watch and without saying a word I stood to my feet and slid my arms into my suit jacket. I kept my silence as I gathered the things that I needed for today’s events. “You can stay here today.” I spoke as I glanced at Dough. He still wore a scared expression on his face. “Why?” He challenged my statement causing me to laugh lowly. “I don’t need your services.” I cut my eyes at Dough before I left him in silence.
I don’t know what the fuck has been up, but Dough ain’t been the Dough I knew from them grade school days. The nigga been off, real off. And I wasn’t feeling that shit one bit, but you can bet I was going to get to the bottom of that bullshit. I was starting to feel like the mothafuckas closest to me were becoming the people I could trust the least.
I made my way through the streets of my city by myself. I had decided that today I would put this Banks nigga to the test. I had a different test for him than I had ever given anyone else. Something about that little nigga told me he could probably do more than the average to take a nigga’s life away. But yet I still had my doubts about him. His young ass face was one factor that kept repeating in my head. Nobody would forget a face like his. That why I had that specific test in mind. I know he won’t be Johnny fast, no one would be, but I need to see what this Banks mothafucka could do.
Within the next forty-five minutes, I had Mosadi, Banks and the guest of honor waiting inside one of the many abandoned houses that Chicago had to offer. I couldn’t help but keep my eyes glued to Mosadi as she spoke lowly to Banks. I slowly licked over lips as the images of her with her fingers buried deep inside of her started to flood my mind. Mosadi was that one bitch that actually had me wondering what her moans sounded like…what she felt like at that. And now I was even more confident in the fact that she was wondering those same fucking things about me.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” Mosadi snapped in her normal tone. I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess I wasn’t the only one putting on act. I stepped forward, moving closer to her and Banks. “I’m still trying to figure that shit out. Your body tells me I’m looking at a woman, but that attitude…” I trailed off, letting Mosadi size me up as she dropped her hands to her hips. “What the fuck do you have to say about my attitude now nigga?” I watched as her eyes traveled somewhere and quickly snapped back to my face. I licked over my lips and chuckled some. “Your attitude is all man.” I stated as I looked her dead in the eye.
I watched as Mosadi tensed up. I chuckled a bit but that didn’t stop me from noticing Banks out of the corner of my eye. I could see him reach for his waist, presumably to retrieve his gun. I turned my head in his direction. “Your OG would be paying for your funeral before you could even get the safety off, young bull.” I looked Banks dead in the eyes as I spoke. He had to have heart if he was willing to try and take my life. “Banks, don’t.” Mosadi directed towards him but she kept her eyes on me. “What the fuck are we here for, Shadow?” Mosadi continued on. I slowly brought my eyes back to her.
“To see if he can pass.” I smirked as I moved towards the heavyset Arabian. His time was up and I was giving Banks the opportunity to be the one to handle it.
“I’m giving you sixty seconds to end his life.” Banks chuckled at my statement. Not a damn thing was funny and my patience was running low. Instead of one dead body being left inside this shithole, it might just be two. “That ain’t shit. I can end his life in ten seconds.” He boosted as he finally withdrew his gun. “You’ve mistaken me, Banks.” Now I chuckled as I glared at the young boy. “You have sixty seconds to end his life using no gun and no knife. Utilize your surroundings. You never know when it’s time to send niggas to the shadows with no form of the typical weapon.”
This time Banks didn’t laugh. Instead he glanced toward Mosadi. I could see the amusement hidden behind her eyes. She was addicted to killing and watching people be killed. She didn’t have to tell me that, I just know. I know because that look in her eyes is the same one behind mine.
“Can you handle that?” Banks nodded in response to my question. “Good.” I stepped away from Sam and Mosadi made her way to the side of me. I could feel the heat radiating off her body as she stood close enough for my body to touch hers if I even moved the slightest. I looked at my watch, waiting for a fresh minute to began. As soon as the second hand slid across the twelve I gave Banks a nod. My eyes going back and forth from him to my watch. I anticipated his every move as he glanced around the junky home. I couldn’t tell if he was nervous or focused. However, I can say this when Banks’ intent was to kill, his face was no longer readable. That was indeed a great asset to have.
I watched as he quickly reached for a wooden board, breaking so the end became jagged. I glanced at my watch yet again. Banks had a little under thirty seconds to prove himself. The moment my eyes left my watch and returned to Banks, he was driving the broken end of the wood deep into Sam’s chest until it began to show through his back. I smirked as I watched the blood began to seep from Sam’s body as his life left his body. I took one last look at my watch. Banks still had a mere fifteen seconds to spare. “Good enough for you?” Mosadi finally spoke after awhile. I turned and glanced at her.
“There’s still a few things to work on, but good job Banks.” I turned my focus back to Banks. “I’ll sit down with you and discuss a few things later this week.” I nodded in Banks direction. “But for now…” I paused as I snapped my fingers. Two clean up men appeared from the dark shadows of the house. “You’ll help them clean up this mess.” I kept my eyes on Banks. I could tell he didn’t like my commands, but he wanted the job. “Okay, Shadow.” Banks finally responded. I didn’t say a word, I just made my way towards the door leaving him and Mosadi to talk.
“Michael?” I heard a familiar voice call from behind me as I made my way to my vehicle. I didn’t know whether to keep walking or turn around and acknowledge her. I went against my better judgment and turned to face her. “What?” My tone was icy as I eyed her. Her appearance the same as it had been for years. Her hair was matted down and she smelled like she hasn’t showered since the last time I paid for her a room to stay in. “How are you?” Her yellow eyes peered into me. I wanted so desperately to kill this bitch. But yet I wanted to make sure she was okay. “Don’t worry about how the fuck I’m doing.” Even I could hear the hate I had for in my voice. That was the one thing that probably bothered me the most in life.
“You don’t have to be so cold, baby.” The voice that I once always wanted to hear but now couldn’t fucking stand, crawled from her dry wind pipes. “I just wanna know how you’re doing, Michael.” This time her voice was shaky and I could feel the dry skin of her fingers against my face. In this moment I had wished I could step outside of my body just to see the expression on my face. I knew it read nothing but pure hatred and disgust. The two things I felt most for this sorry excuse of a woman. “DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME BITCH!” I could feel the ground shake from the loudness of my voice as I smacked her scaly fingers from my face. “I will fucking kill you if you ever touch me again, Joi.” I couldn’t help my anger as I soon found my hands clutching her skin, threatening to harm her in ways she couldn’t imagine.
Even as she stared at me with tears in her yellow eyes, I still had no sympathy for her. It wasn’t until I seen the anger in Mosadi’s eyes from behind Joi, that I knew it was best for me to let this bitch go. “Shadow, you need me to handle this bitch?” Mosadi eyed her. That killer instinct evident in Mosadi’s gazes. I dropped my hands from her and glanced at Mosadi. “Nah, she good.” I turned back to Joi. “You got ten seconds to get the fuck away from me, before I take you out of your misery..” I didn’t hesitate to let hate drip from my words. She didn’t argue or even speak, she just shook her head and walked away. I kept my eyes on her, finding it hard not to watch her. On everything, I hated this bitch, but I still wondered where she was going.
“What the fuck was that about?” Mosadi’s voice brought my eyes away from watching Joi disappear. “Nothing.” I mumbled and started towards the car. “Fuck that bullshit nigga! Since I met you I never seen you look at somebody the way you looked at that junkie. Fuck is up with that shit?” I stopped in my spot and looked over my shoulder at Mosadi. I don’t why this bitch was so concerned with my business. I won’t lie, I wanted to know what look she was speaking of, but a part of me already knew what look she meant. “Mind your fucking business, Mosadi.” I spat. “Okay. Fuck you too then nigga, stay mad. But I know something got you right now. You was about to drop a junkie bitch in daylight. And you Shadow don’t just kill anybody in daylight for just any reason.” I stared at Mosadi in amazement as she read me a bit too well.
I sighed. “Look, I won’t talk about that shit. But I can admit I’m mad as fuck and I need to go do something about it. I could do something stupid or I could…” I trailed off, carefully choosing my next few words so I won’t offend Mosadi. “Or I could take you somewhere and you could help me fix that.” I watched her face. For a moment I seen her face soften. She must’ve noticed too because she looked away. “Take me where, Shadow?” Mosadi slowly looked up at me. “My sanctuary.” I spoke calmly as Mosadi continued to look at me. This time I felt like she was trying to read me, that or she wasn’t sure I was serious. I stepped closer to Mosadi and took her hand in mind. For a moment I almost let go. Not because I didn’t wanna hold her, but because of the feeling that ran through me when her skin touched mine.
“You wanna help me fix this shit or you want me to drop a junkie bitch in daylight?” I eyed her as she kept her hand in mine. Mosadi smiled a bit before she dropped it. “Sure nigga, whatever.” She mumbled, but never let go of my hand.
The ride was silent, not the weird kind of silence, but the comfortable one. No matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes off of him I couldn’t. We sat inches apart and it allowed me to study his face. I could tell he was still feeling some type of way about seeing that junkie. Memories of her face flashed in my mind, even though she was a junkie you could still see how beautiful she was. I couldn’t help but wonder who she was and why was Shadow so bothered by her. I’ve never seen that emotion across his face, the anger, the hint of sadness. All it did was intrigue me and made me want to end her life all together. For some odd reason I was feeling some type of way about him, nothing major but sometimes it was hard to get the image of him out of my head.
“Can I have my face back?” Shadow’s chuckles filled the air as he spoke. Turning my head I almost allowed myself to blush at the words he spoke. I didn’t know I was staring at him until his eyes was staring back at mine. Licking over my lips, I let my eyes wonder out the window. The car fell back silent as the car slowly came to a stop. “We’re here.” He muttered before opening the car door and getting out. Doing the same, my eyes came in contact with his “sanctuary”. It wasn’t as flashy as I would’ve thought it to be for someone like Shadow. But it was beautiful nevertheless. I felt a slight shock run through my body as his hand gripped mine.
“Come on..” His voice was firm but had an unusual softness to it. Nodding my head, I let him lead me up the driveway and to the front door. I watched him closely as he took the keys from his pocket and placed the correct one in the keyhole unlocking the door and pulling me in. Instantly it was like I was suffocated in him as his house reeked in his scent. My eyes roamed and it was exactly like I imagined. It had a warm feel to it. I watched as he sat his suit jacket on the edge of his all black leather couch and motioned for me to sit. It took me a minute to obey because I was in complete awe at the sight.
“So you want something to drink?” I heard him ask. Nodding my head I slipped my jacket from my shoulders and placed it next to his as he slipped out of the room. Naturally I took it upon myself to study my surroundings. He didn’t have many pictures hanging around but he did have one. It was a picture of a little baby and a man. He was gorgeous as he wore a big smile across his face while holding on closely to the baby in his hands. Before I could reach out for the picture and get a closer look Shadow’s voice filled my ears.
“Don’t.” His voice was firm as he spoke. I could feel his chest pressed up against my back as he grabbed the picture turning it down. “That ain’t important right now.”
“Was that your father?” My voice came out almost as a whisper as the words slipped from my lips. Turning around I was a face to face with Shadow as his eyes stared down into mine. It was silent for a minute before he let a slight chuckle leave his lips. His hand softly caressed my cheek, his thumb gently running across my bottom lip. His touch alone sent an unusual sensation through my body. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I watched as he leaned down so that his lips were inches from mine. At this point I was immobile. My eyes never left his as he inched a little closer.
“You know..” He started. “You’re not too bad when you’re not talking.” I watched as a smirk spread across his face causing me to playfully push him away. Him going into a fit of laughter.
“You’re not funny at all.” My voice gave off slight attitude only for him to continue laughing. No lie, it was pissing me off and I was seconds away from walking out but the feeling of his hands against my waist slightly soothed me. “What are you doing?” I asked as he came closer to me, pulling my body to his. The feeling this was giving me was so foreign as I almost allowed myself to pull away.
“Don’t worry about all that.” After that it seemed as if everything else was a blur as his lips pressed against mine.
The sounds of my phone ringing woke me from my slumber. Wiping my eyes it took me a minute to realize where I was. The black silk sheets draped against my body as I stood and looked for my clothes.
“Fuck.” I muttered as I looked back over at the bed to see a sleeping Shadow, laid out on the bed. Taking a second, I let myself admire him in his most innocent state. He looked so at peace as his chest slowly heaved up and down. Last night was something I never thought me and him would’ve shared. It was something that I didn’t think me or him were capable of. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to get back in bed and crawl up next to him, but my pride wouldn’t allow that. I just wanted to get home and put last night events and Shadow behind me.
I rushed to put on my clothes before grabbing my phone.
“Where you going?” His voice was deep and firm as he sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes. I let my eyes wonder over him, studying his demeanor. For this slight second his guard was down. He reached up and rubbed his eyes before glancing over at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s 6am, Mosadi.”
I watched more as he stretched, causing the covers to fall just below his waist, showing off his sculptured abs. I wanted so badly to touch them but I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t like the feeling he was giving me at this moment and I knew that the more I stayed in this room the more I wanted to be on him.
“I have shit to do, Shadow.” I muttered while looking for my purse. I couldn’t remember where the fuck I placed it and it was making me irritated as fuck tight now. Not because I was dying to get out of here but because my strap was there and all these emotions he was causing, was making me want to shoot him in the face. “Where the fuck is my bag?!” I spat. I was looking all over his room and still couldn’t find it. I could hear Shadow’s chuckles fill the air as the bed started to shift a little, letting me know he was getting up. I refused to look at him because I didn’t know what I would do.
“Chill out. Housekeeping put it up in a safe place for you.” His voice came out soft as I now could feel his body against mine. His large hand fell against my waist and pulled me into his chest as I instantly relaxed at his touch. The effect he had on my body and my mind scared me to death but I couldn’t help but to lay my head against his chest as we stood by the window enjoying the view. “You don’t have to go.” He said softly while trailing his lips gently against my ear. Letting out a soft breath, I allowed myself to get mixed up in his embrace. Turning to face him, I wrapped my arms around his neck, studying his face. Shadow might have the city scared but at this moment, right now I could see the real him. His brown eyes stared down at mine as we just took in eachother. No words needed to be exchanged because we knew what we wanted. With my free hand, I slowly caressed the side of his face, bringing it down closer to mine. Just as his soft lips were about to engulf mine, a knock was at the door causing us both to instantly catch a attitude. Rolling my eyes, I pulled away and watched as he went to see who was interrupting our moment. I knew that whoever was behind that door was about to get an ass whooping and I couldn’t wait to watch. I laid down against Shadow’s silk sheets just waiting to hear the authority and control in his voice only to be let down. Instead there was a soft feminine voice echoing throughout the room.
“Im sorry Shadow, is this a bad time?” She said. Getting up, I walked over to him just as he was about to speak.
“Yes, it’s a bad time. Who the fuck are you?” I spat as I sized her up. She was beautiful. It was something about her that I couldn’t put my finger on, but by the way Shadow wasn’t at least attempting to rip her head off, I could tell he could sense it too and that alone was enough to make this bitch my next target.
“Mosadi, don’t.” He spat and we were back to square one. I couldn’t help but to scoff at his bitch ass. For one why was this bitch in his home? I for one knew he only let a select few in here and for this bitch to be here, knocking on his door, talking to him made me heated as fuck.
“Shut the fuck up, Shadow. Finish entertaining this bitch.” I couldn’t hide the anger in my voice as I pushed passed them both, making sure to give the little bitch an extra push as I walked passed her. “GIVE ME MY FUCKING PURSE SHADOW! WHERE THE FUCK HOUSEKEEPING?!” I was storming around his house like a mad woman trying to find my purse and he was right behind me calling me every name in the book.
“Why the fuck you showing your ass huh?! Get the fuck back upstairs!” I couldn’t help but laugh at his attempts to get me in check. He had me so fucked up if he thought I was going to go back up those stairs to his room. That wasn’t happening unless I was going to scar up that bitch’s pretty little face. I don’t know what made me angrier though, Shadow yelling at me like I’m some kid or the fact that the bitch was still upstairs.
“You got company, tend to that bitch. Have my bag in your office tomorrow.” I spat with a slight mug before walking towards his door. He was right on my heels and I was pretty sure he was going to snatch me up by then but he didn’t and I was relieved.
“I can’t fucking stand yo’ ass.” He said. I could tell by his tone he was restraining himself from being the beast himself.
“Likewise.” I muttered before walking out of his house, making sure to give his door a good slam.
