Page 39 of Deuce

For a moment, I thought I saw fear enter her eyes. She pulled it back and sat up straight.

“If I did?” she asked.

“You’d come up missing,” I answered.

She swallowed hard as she looked around the table. I let her sweat it out for a few seconds before a grin broke out on my face.

“I’m just fucking with you.”

A look of relief entered her face. She punched me hard in the chest and I had to admit that shit stung.

“Do you realize we live in a city full of corrupt officials? The mayor, the councilmen, the police, prominent doctors, and lawyers… all of them have their hand in the cookie jar. What better way to run your city than to team up with the people who control it? They don’t have the power you think they do. There’s a lot of dirty, underhanded shit going on. People pay big bucks to keep their secrets. They don’t realize that by getting in bed with a criminal, they’re already fucked. Nobody can stick shit to us without implicating themselves first. For people like us, that is power and privilege. What better way to take back reparations than to take if from a muthafucka that oppressed you?”

“But the guilt… it doesn’t bother you?”

“Put it like this. I’ve never taken life from anybody who didn’t deserve it.”

“So, you get off on playing God?”

“God? No. Judge, jury, and executioner… maybe.”

Jaeda rolled her eyes. “All right. I’m about to go play pool because I did not come here to talk about work.”

She got up and the rest of my family followed suit, leaving me and Salima alone at the table. I was grateful for that. I hadn’t had a moment alone with her since before the grand opening. She sat at the table quietly, sipping her drink.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked.

“Alot.”

“Like?”

“Like why I agreed to come here with you? You irritate me.”

I chuckled. “I irritate a lot of people. It’s my charm.”

“Ha! You actually think you’re charming?”

“You don’t?”

“I think you think very highly of yourself. I think you think you’re God’s gift to women and somehow your dick is supposed to make up for the fact that you’re an asshole.”

“I mean, the dick is immaculate.”

She scoffed as she shook her head. Cupping her chin, I turned her to face me.

“All jokes aside, I’m really not that bad once you get to know me. This is just my personality. I do a lot of dark shit, Salima. I have to find humor in something.”

“So, it’s a defense mechanism?”

“If that makes you feel better, sure.”

“It’s not for me to feel better about anything. You are an attractive man. And I get that some women might be inclined to certain behaviors from men like you. But at some point it becomes a lot, too much even. I like men with a little thug appeal. But I also like men who know how to be soft and gentle with me. I don’t like men who see my body as a conquest. I know that I’m a beautiful woman. But there is more to me than good pussy.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to comment on the good pussy part, but I let it go because I can see that she was serious.

“I respect that. So, tell me… what’s it gonna take for me to get close to you?”

“Why would you want to get close to me?”

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