Love & Gunplay: A Novelette Read online

  Hollywood was in a bad way and he knew it, even before Ashanti shoved him into the bathroom and produced a roll of duct tape. Ashanti had bound him to one of the kitchen chairs and sat him in the bathtub, which was filled ankle high with water. From the mischievous grin on his face he knew that the youngster had something sinister planned for him.

  Ashanti sat on the edge of the bathtub. He had the cattle prod in his hand, which was now covered in a dish glove that he'd found under the sink. He regarded Hollywood. "See, we could've done this real simple, but you wanted to be a hard ass about it. We'll do it your way. You gonna sign the papers?"

  "Listen, it ain't gotta be like this. I got some bread coming to me real soon from this lawsuit. Whatever Don B. is paying you, I'll double it." Hollywood tried to barter.

  "Wrong answer." Ashanti touched the water with the end of the cattle prod. Hollywood shook violently in the char as sparks leapt from the water around his feet.

  "Oh my God. Please stop." Hollywood pleaded.

  "I'll stop as soon as you sign the release forms." Ashanti told him.

  "You don’t understand, man. This nigga Don B. has been jerking me for years over this music. He keeps me chained up in the studio working damn near around the clock for free. My girl had to go on welfare just so we could feed our kids." Hollywood tried to appeal to Ashanti's sense of humanity.

  "Not my problem." Ashanti touched the cattle prod to the water and gave him another shock.

  Hollywood's whole body tingled. His fingers and toes were numb and he was lightheaded. He was about to make another futile attempt for his life when someone appeared in the bathroom doorway, startling both of them.

  "What the fuck is this?" Hollywood's baby's mother stood on the door way watching the strange sight before her. She was a pretty girl with fair skin and long hair, which she wore in a ponytail that day.

  "Baby, run!" Hollywood shouted.

  His baby's mother turned and tried to bolt, but Ashanti pulled her back into the bathroom by her ponytail. "Wrong place, wrong time, shorty." Ashanti threw her against the sink.

  To her credit, Hollywood's baby's mother had more heart than he did. She came at Ashanti throwing a series of combinations that caught him off guard. She managed to land a lucky shot to the lip, drawing blood. Ashanti spat the blood into the murky tub and glared at her. "You know you fucked up, right?"

  Hollywood's baby's mother came back at Ashanti, but this time he was prepared. She threw wild punches which he easily swatted and gave her a strong hook to the gut. She folded like a sack of potatoes at his feet.

  "If you touch her, I swear to God I'll kill you!" Hollywood struggled against his restraints.

  "Shut you bitch ass up." Ashanti dipped the cattle prod into the water. This time he left it in long enough for Hollywood to get a good taste of the voltage. In the midst of his torture session, he had an idea. He rested on the tub and pulled the semiconscious girl onto his lap. He stroked the side of her cheek. "Your lady ain't bad looking, man." He taunted Hollywood.

  The look in Ashanti's eyes and the intimacy of his touch filled Hollywood's mind with thoughts of the worse. "See, you going too far. This is between us. She ain't got nothing to do with it."

  "She has everything to do with it. Guilt by association, play boy." Ashanti told him. "Now, you can either sign these paper or I'm gonna let you watch me fuck this fine bitch in every hole in her body, before I kill the both of you."

  Hollywood weighed his options. He knew that if he signed the papers then all was lost and he would be left with nothing, but if he didn’t sign, only God knew what would happen to his baby's mother. A part of him wondered what life would be like without her nagging ass, and he was almost tempted to hold out. Truth be told, Hollywood loved her, even if it was in his own twisted way, and he wasn’t willing to risk her. "I'll sign." He said just above a whisper.

  Animal plunged the cattle prod into the water. "I didn’t hear you mutha fucka!" he shouted over Hollywood's screams.

  "I said I'll sign. Just please stop." Hollywood gasped.

  Ashanti retrieved the papers and placed them on the side of the tub, careful not to get them wet. He cut one of Hollywood's arms free and placed a pen in his hand. Hollywood had a murderous look in his eyes and his grip tightened around the pen.

  Ashanti smiled. "You're welcome to try it, but you better be damn sure." Hollywood wisely abandoned the heroics he had planned and signed the papers. "Now that was painless." Ashanti tucked the papers back into his pocket.

  "You got what you want. Now get the fuck outta my house!" Hollywood snapped.

  "Sure thing, tough guy." Ashanti grabbed Hollywood's baby's mother and shoved her into the tub with her man. The water woke her up with a start and her eyes narrowed to slits when they landed on Ashanti. "I'm gonna leave you two love birds to it, but before I do, I wanna do my part to help bring the spark back into y'all relationship." Ashanti tossed the cattle prod into the tub.

  Both Hollywood and his baby's mother shrieked as the prod broke the surface of the water. They expected to die excruciating deaths, but the rod sank harmlessly to the bottom of the tub. The couple looked up at Ashanti with confused expressions.

  "It's gotta be on to generate a charge and I turned it off before I tossed it in." Ashanti answered the unspoken question. "I'm a criminal, not a monster." He told them before slipping out of the apartment.

  Ashanti waited until he was outside before letting go the laugh he'd been holding for the passed ten minutes. Hollywood was a pussy that Don B. shouldn’t have had to call him to handle, but he wasn’t mad that he did. He would be five thousand dollars richer for a few minutes of work. The best part was that he didn’t have to kill anybody to get the job done. He was growing up. Ashanti beamed because he knew that if Animal had been there to see him in action he'd be proud.

  CHAPTER 8

  Normally Animal would’ve stalked the victim for at least a week before moving on him, but he didn’t have that kind of time. He needed to get back to Gucci ASAP, so he kept it to three days; two to get a feel for Flames' movements and one to push him off the planet.

  Because of the incident with the sneaky valet it was deemed best if Animal abandoned his hotel room. His identification and method of payment had both been fakes and the few pieces of clothing he had left behind wouldn’t be missed, so there was nothing tying him to the room. Diamonds had set him up in an apartment out by the airport that he usually reserved for his jump-offs. It was small, but neat and more than enough space for Animal. He didn’t plan on being there any longer than he had to.

  Animal didn’t know Miami so he needed a guide. He had expected it to be Minister, but was pleasantly surprised when Reign showed up one early morning. She'd abandoned the purple wig and contacts, so for the first time Animal saw the face behind the mask. Reign was pretty girl, who looked far younger than she had with her face caked in makeup the first night he'd met her. Reign's real hair was twisted into neat black locks which she wore braided into a thick bun at the back of her head. She was dressed in a pair of blue denim shorts that were so tight they looked like underwear and a pink baby doll tank top that read Born 2 Ride. Her thick nipples pressed against the fabric without the restraint of a bra. Animal tried not to look, but he couldn’t help himself.

  Picking up on his distraction, Reign placed one hand at the top of the doorway so the tank top hugged her breast a little tighter. "So, you just gonna stand there looking at my tits or let me in?"

  From the moment Animal invited Reign across the threshold he knew she was going to be trouble, but he liked living on the edge.

  The first order of business was to get a line on Flames which proved to be easier than Animal would've thought. It seemed that everyone in South Florida indeed knew Flames. Finding him was one thing, but getting to him would be another. He moved carefully and rolled with a ruthless gang of young boys under him, who all loved to commit murder. They were with him almost twenty-four seven. Animal was ready to just run up on
him and gun it out, but Reign had a better idea.

  Flames had homes all throughout South Florida that he used for various things, but his best kept secret was a townhouse just outside Coco Beach, which Reign just happened to track down the address to. On the second day of their surveillance Reign took Animal to a small apartment that was located a few blocks from where Flames' place was. When Animal asked her how she was able to get an apartment so conveniently close to Flames' place on such short notice she simply said "It belongs to a friend of mine." He didn’t believe her. Animal could tell from the time he'd met her that there was more to Reign that met the eye, and he intended to find out what it was before he made her his co-defendant on a murder case.

  That night Animal and Reign lounged in the apartment, laying their final plans. It was hotter than the devil outside so Reign was wearing a pair of shorts and a bikini top. She sat in a chair, legs spread, letting the fan cool her off. With Reign, gestures as simple as fixing her hair seemed seductive and Animal found himself staring at her even when he didn’t want to. Watching Reign was a distraction so to take his mind off it Animal busied himself cleaning the guns Diamonds had provided for them.

  "I think those guns are about clean enough, don’t you?" Reign asked.

  "You can never be too careful." Animal said, not bothering to take his eyes off the guns.

  "Can I ask you something?"

  "Sure." He said.

  "How come you never look at me?"

  Animal was confused. "What do you mean? I look at you all the time."

  "Yeah, but that's mostly when you think I'm not looking. I mean, how come you don’t look at me? It's as if you're afraid to make eye contact." Reign explained.

  "I ain't afraid of nothing." Animal boasted.

  "So, I'm told. That only leaves me to wonder why you get so nervous around lil old me?" Reign got up from the chair and came to stand before Animal.

  His eyes traveled from her flat stomach to her playful eyes. "Reign, you tripping." Animal got up to walk away, but she blocked his path.

  She moved closer to him and invaded his space. "I don’t think I am. Most men can't take their eyes off me, but not you."

  "I learned a long time ago not to ogle things that don’t belong to me." Animal said.

  "Reign belongs to no one." She shot back.

  "What about Diamonds?"

  Reign laughed. "Diamonds is my business partner and my comrade. Have I fucked him? Sure, I fucked a lot of niggaz, but I don’t belong to Diamonds. I'm a free agent." She reached out to touch Animal's face, but he backed away.

  Reign closed the distance between them.

  "Too bad I'm not." Animal backed up, but she kept coming. Eventually she forced his back against the wall. Reign was standing so close that he could smell the remnants of turkey from the sandwich she'd had earlier.

  "Who're you talking about, Gucci or Sonja?" Reign smiled as the look of surprise registered on Animal's face. "Don’t look so shocked, boo. I deal in information, amongst other things." She touched his chest.

  Animal grabbed her by the wrist. "Don’t."

  "Don’t what? Make you feel good?" she laid her other hand on his chest. "When is the last time you've been shown the kindness of a woman?"

  "There's only one woman's kindness I'm interested in." Animal told her, but he didn’t make an attempt to move her hand. Feeling the heat from her palm spread a warmth through him that pooled somewhere in his groin.

  Reign leaned in and whispered in Animal's ear. "That little broken angel in New York can have your heart. I'm interested in the simpler things." She ran her hand over his dick, which was rock hard in his shorts.

  Animal moved to push Reign away, but she spun with his weight and took his legs out from under him. They ended up crashing to the floor with Reign on top of him. She looked her legs around his and bent one arm behind Animal's head. He tried to use his other one to push her off, but she had him at an awkward angel and it was hard for him to get the leverage.

  "Stop playing with me, Reign." Animal said in a threatening tone.

  "Who is playing? Nigga, you come down here talking that distraught lover shit, when I know you're fresh out the next bitch's pussy." Reign said.

  "You don’t know what you're talking about." Animal told her.

  "I told you, I deal in information. I heard all the little nasty stories about you and Red Sonja. I'll bet that warm Latina mouth helped keep your mind off poor old Gucci plenty of nights." She licked his chin.

  Animal bucked and managed to toss Reign off of him. He rolled over on her and wrapped his hand around his throat. He had a fire burning in his eyes that danced somewhere between hate and lust. Reign just looked up at him with playful eyes and laughed.

  "You must've heard that I like it rough." Reign grabbed Animal by the back of his hair and yanked so hard that his neck cracked. With his hand free of her throat, Reign slid between his legs and came up behind him. Animal was in a kneeling position and when he tried to get up, she kicked his leg out from under him so he dropped back on his knees. Before he could react, Reign came around front and wrapped her legs around his neck, straddling his chin.

  "Reign, you better stop fucking around before I…" Animal was cut off when she tightened her grip around his neck.

  "Before what? Before you decide to stop lying to yourself and feed that monster clawing at your back right now. You smell this good shit here?" Reign moaned, grinding her pussy against his face.

  Reign's scent made Animal dizzy and his control was slipping fast. A part of him wanted to bite a hole in the skimpy shorts and taste her, but wouldn’t be manipulated. Animal cupped Reigns ass and got to his feet, with her still attached firmly to his neck. He ripped her free and slammed her to the bed roughly. He had a maddened look in his eyes when he jumped on the bed after her.

  "You wanna play games, little bitch? I'll show you how I play." Animal tore her bikini top off. Reign's breasts were plump and stood firmly, with dark chocolate nipples peeking at him accusingly.

  Reign licked her fingers and began playing with her nipples. "That's right, baby. Show me that boogey man that I keep hearing about. Take this pussy."

  Animal dove on her and ravaged her breasts. He gave each nipple equal attention as he traced circles around them with her tongue. Beneath him, Reign slipped out of her panties and shorts. With her free hand she snatched his belt off and slid his shorts down over his lips. Animal's dick burst free like a roaring elephant trunk. Reign jerked his dick, using her thumb to smear pre-cum over the head as it leaked out.

  "Let me taste that." Reign slid from beneath him and laid Animal on his back. She spit on his dick, rubbing her saliva up and down his shaft to get it nice and slick before she attacked it. Reign jackknifed Animal's dick in and out of her throat, occasionally making gagging sounds. She was rough with the dick but that balance of pleasure and pain turned him on.

  Animal grabbed a hand full of Reign's locks as she sucked him to new heights. He forced her head down further, but instead of pulling away she went with it. She let Animal fuck her so deep in her throat that he could've sworn his dick brushed against her tonsils. She started sucking him at an angle, moving her head from side to side and brining him closer to a climax. Animal howled like a wounded dog and exploded in Reign's mouth. She continued to suck him, making sure she got out every drop and then some, while he lay there with his leg shaking.

  Animal had never cum so hard in his life. He looked over at the silent television screen mounted on the wall and saw the scene that had just unfolded in the glass' reflection. He laid there, chest heaving and spent. Reign had slowed her sucking to a suckle, working to keep him erect. Animal suddenly felt like shit on a stick. He had come to Miami with a purpose and let his dick sidetrack him. He had betrayed Gucci…again.

  "Chill out, baby girl." Animal pushed Reign off him gently and got off the bed.

  She watched him fixing his shorts with a look of confusion on her face. "Where you going? I just about had
ya man ready for round two." Reign got off the bed and moved to put her arms around Animal, but he stopped her.

  "I said chill."

  "I can dig it. You need a few minutes to recover? A'ight, I'm about to roll up and when can finish what we started." Reign said.

  "Nah, I don’t think that would be a good idea. We should've never gone there, Reign. It was a mistake." Animal told her.

  Reign gave him a look. "A mistake? No the fuck you didn’t. I didn’t hear you talking about no mistakes when you were blowing your load in my mouth, nigga!" she was furious.

  "Reign, I ain't trying to argue with you and I sure as hell ain't trying to blame you. All I'm saying is that we both know what it is and why I'm here, so going there would only complicate shit." He said sincerely.

  Reign folded her arms and tapped her foot. "You New York niggaz kill me the way y'all think you can take what you want and not be held accountable. It ain't the fact that you don’t wanna get involved with me that's got me tight. That's a blessing because you got too many issues for a bitch to deal with. I'm just tripping on the fact that you don’t even have the common decency to let me get my nut after you got yours. That's some crab shit."

  "You're right, and I'm sorry, Reign." Animal was trying to defuse the argument by conceding.

  "I'll fucking bet. I know your type, Animal. I see niggaz like you come in and out the club every night, but you're a master at your bullshit. You sing this sad ass tale of woe and being ready to die for love, but that's how you get chicks to let their guards down. As soon as a bitch is all wrapped up in your cause, you get what you need and leave them high and dry. I know how that's how it played out with Sonja and it's what you're doing to me right now. You probably did the same shit to ol' girl in New York and now guilt got you running back trying to play Captain-Save-A-Ho."