Page 95 of Roulette: The Madam

“She wants it to meet her where she is. She doesn’t want to center a man for love. She wants to remain the main character of her story. Their story. My story.

“Heck, everyone’s story. That’s Roulette, and that’s what makes us love her so much. She’s all woman. Every inch of her. So much so that she went to school just to study what makes us,us.

“Our anatomy. Our hearts. Our hormones. Our capabilities. Our brains. Our bodies. Everything. She’s just that brilliant. I love her so much it hurts sometimes. And, that’s how much she loves, which is why she chooses who she loves carefully.”

A chill ran up my spine. I shook it off, eager to hear more. When Roulette was the topic, I could listen all fucking night long.

“One day, though, Mr. Kingston, she will love you. And it will be so profound that she won’t know how to contain it. How to control it. How to control herself. She’ll be scared. She’ll self-sabotage.”

She cleared her throat and repeated herself.

“She will self-sabotage. It will be an attempt to do damage control. Mistakes will happen and you’ll be there to right her wrongs. To tell her there’s no fun in being strong. Because, like most women, she doesn’t understand that. Or that her strength is justoneof her superpowers. It doesn’t have to be her only one. Or even her main–”

Rome shook her head and sucked her teeth. Passion was spilling from her guts. Her love for her sister was unwavering. Those brown eyes were even softer and glistened more from the tears welling in the corners. Her spine had curved slightly.

Upon realizing she’d gone off the deep end, she straightened her back and wiped the tears that had yet to fall. I wanted to reach out. To give her a hug. To tell her that I believed every word she’d said. To tell her that my patience wouldn’t allow Roulette to self-sabotage. To try and fix what wasn’t broken.

To try and free herself from her fate. To try and escape me. But, she wouldn’t. I wouldn’t allow it. She was too precious of a gem. She was too raw. Too real. To fucking cold to let her slip away, no matter how determined she was to do so.

“Ugh. I’d sit here for hours and tell you about that special, often misunderstood girl of mine, but I can’t. Someone very important is waiting to see me to dinner. Goodnight, Mr. Kingston.”

She popped up from her seat. The men that had been hiding in the shadows stepped closer. One grabbed her bag. The other stood beside her, only moving when she moved.

“Goodnight, Ms. Childers,” I whispered, watching as she tiptoed out of the room, humming a familiar tone that I simply couldn’t put my finger on.

Her voice was angelic. It raised bumps across my skin. As it trailed off, her words circulated in my head. She’d dropped a load on me, but it wasn’t too heavy to bear.

Discernment.I shook my head.

“Discernment my ass. The girl is a fucking psychic.”

I exited the dressing room to find the hallways nearly empty. Everyone had poured out of the theater, including the woman of my latest dreams.

And, where the fuck are my bullets?I wondered, making my way out of the door.

I stepped out onto the parking lot, realizing the forecast hadn’t been truthful. The stench of rain was heavy in the air. Evidence of precipitation was on the pavement.

“El!”

Raquim summoned me with a wave of his hand. I headed in his direction where my car was waiting and running.

“You good?”

I opened the door and slid into my whip.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“Nigga, you’re weird as fuck. Coming to the theater for a ball–”

“Get in your whip and mind your business, Raquim.”

“Say less. Where are we headed?”

“To her.”

He paused with a shake of the head. It was becoming abundantly clear that she was slowly becoming a permanent fixture in my life.

“By any means.”

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