Page 28 of Memphis

The mayor left after the two shared another hug, and he grasped my hand.

“Dance with me, King,” he said, and as much as I wanted to refuse, I couldn’t. After all, he was touching me.

So I stood, allowing him to guide me to a spot on the dance floor situated in front of the stage and pull me into his arms as Lucky Daye’sDiamonds in Tealplayed. It was a beautiful song, one of my favorites, really, and despite it all, he felt good…as always.

Leaning in close to his ear as we swayed to the music, I said, “You fucked the mayor,” rather than asking the question. It was too damn obvious. “I know you have anegro’s onlydick, so I can see it since she’s Black, but she’s a bit thin for your taste, don’t you think?”

He turned to face me, his eyes smiling. “You jealous?”

“She wants some more, too. It’s written all over her,” I said, ignoring his dumb ass question.

“Like it’s written all over you, right?”

I rolled my eyes.

He grinned. “Don’t worry, she ain’t got nothing on you.”

“Shut up and dance, nigga.”

He chuckled as he pulled me closer and we continued to dance.

16

Ifelt her eyes on my back as I left our bed and headed into the bathroom. She’d been too tired to interrogate me or do anything else when we returned home from the party last night, but she seemed bright and alert this morning. I was sure she was going to let me have it…and she did.

“How’d you meet the mayor?” she yelled from the bed.

Standing at the toilet, I smiled. “Uh…through business.”

“She was a client?” Her voice was low now, conspiratorial.

“You know I can’t tell you that, King.”

“And you handled it yourself,” she correctly surmised.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as I flushed and moved to the sink. Returning to the bedroom, I approached the bed, reaching for her foot and pulling her to the end of it.

“Now, who was the target?” she mused as I opened her legs and dropped to my knees. “Who—wait, her husband was killed in a robbery. Her whole campaign was centered around being tough on crime because of his death. You killed—ohhhhh, shit!”

I had a mouth full of her pussy at that moment and was torturing her clit with my tongue.

“You…are…so…evilllll!” she wailed.

“Mm-hmm,” I hummed as I ate the shit out of her pussy.

I was soready for this, probably a little too ready if I was being honest with myself. More than anything, I needed to be awayfrom Bo for a while to clear my head. Otherwise, I might’ve started believing we could really beusagain, and that was downright ridiculous. He and I being a legitimate couple was actual insanity. So was this trip I was taking to Mexico. The route Jerryn had planned was tiring and more than a little stressful, but I trusted it would keep me off the grid and anyone’s radar. I needed to get this job done and done right. If anyone deserved to be eliminated, this motherfucker did.

After driving for hours, I was now in a secret compartment of a semi, traveling from Arizona to Mexico. Apparently, the driver owed Jerryn a favor. Someone always owed Jerryn a favor. While I’d spent all my working life ridding the earth of scum, Jerryn had started out rescuing people, liberating cult members and abuse victims—you name it. He couldn’t seem to rescue his wife, though. I could relate since I couldn’t rescue my own damn self from Bo.

As if I’d conjured up my employee, his voice filled my ear. “You guys are coming up on a checkpoint.” He was tracking our movements via GPS and some other tech shit.

I didn’t answer, but he knew I could hear him. At that point, he probably could hear my heart racing through the little recording device I wore.

I felt the truck slow to a stop and closed my eyes as I sat in the cramped space. I couldn’t wait to get to my accommodations for this trip. I needed to stretch out.

Involuntarily holding my breath, I listened as the rear doors groaned open. Unshuttering my eyes, I focused on the walls around me. The small space I occupied was directly behind the sleeper cab and almost imperceptible. That is, if you weren’tlookingfor it. They shouldn’t have cared about checking too closely unless they knew to check closely. I hoped they didn’t know to. I also hoped the driver was as trustworthy as Jerryn believed him to be.

Shit, shit, shit!

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