Page 15 of Deuce

“Yeah. What? You give me this money and then what? You want something in return? Am I gonna have to fuck you for it?”

My eyes passed over her in this robe. It was little as hell and did nothing to hide the luscious curves of her body.

I smirked, deciding to be the asshole.

“Do you want to fuck me?”

She scoffed. “No!”

“Really? That’s a first for me. I must be getting rusty.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Big time.” I sighed. “Look. You taking this money doesn’t come with any stipulations. I felt bad that you lost your job. It was the least I could do. I was being… nice.”

“I don’t take you for a nice guy.”

I chuckled as I fingered her chin. “I’m not.”

I turned back to the door and this time when I opened it, there was a woman standing there preparing to enter.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting you to have company, Salima.”

“He was just leaving, Mama.”

“Mama?” I said, throwing on my charm. “Ain’t no way this beautiful young woman is your mama.”

I took her hand and kissed it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Navarro.”

“Uh huh… who are you?”

“My name is Deuce.”

“Deuce? Like the card? Your mama named you that?”

“No ma’am. My mama named me Stanley.” Behind me, Salima snickered. “Deuce comes from being named after my father.”

“Well,Deuce, I believe you were leaving?”

I chuckled. “Yes ma’am. I see you don’t play.”

“I don’t.”

“I respect that. Have a good day. Bye, Salima.”

“Bye, Stanley.”

I shot her a look that wiped the smirk off her face. Nobody called me fucking Stanley, but my mama and I hated that shit. I love my Pops, but I couldn’t rock with his name. Who ever heard of a thug named Stanley?

Shaking the thought from my head, I walked back across the street to my car. As I settled in, I saw Salima looking at me through the front window. I gave her a head nod, then pulled my hellcat into the street to see what kind of trouble I could get into.

I stoodat the window watching Deuce pull out of my neighborhood. Part of me was livid that he showed up here uninvited. The other part was intrigued with putting a face to those eyes up close. That man was so damn fine. As mad as I was about him putting a gun to my face, I was just as curious about the six foot three, caramel colored, tattoo covered, arrogant ass man that just left here.

How did he find me so quick? How did he know my mom was out of work? A few months ago, she had open heart surgery. Her doctor put her out of work for four months. She had already been out sick for two months before that. I’d given up my apartment and moved back home to take care of her.

I was happy to do it until a fire completely destroyed my work site. With no consistent cash flowing in, I had to dip into my savings time and time again. I was down to five hundred dollars in my account. With my tips from last night, I had maybe eightfifty to my name. That wouldn’t even put a dent in the mortgage and bills. Mama was set to return to work next week, but that still wasn’t going to help us now. We were in a bind, and Aura had been my best chance to get us out of it.

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