Page 76 of Bossy Surprise Baby

“What is it?” Charlotte asked. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head because I couldn’t answer her quite yet. There was still stuff I needed to figure out.

Meech answered on the third ring. “Yo! Bad timing, my friend. I’m kind of in the middle of someone.”

“What’s Viper’s number?”

“What do you need it for?” Meech questioned, his voice going from slurring and labored to focused in a split second. “Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of taking up his offer. I was just messing with you on that.”

“Fucking send me the number now, Meech.”

Meech sighed. “Alright, suit yourself, but can it wait? As I said, I’m with a hot Caribbean chick, and—”

“No, it can’t wait.”

He seemed to finally note the urgency in my voice because he didn’t say anything else. He simply hung up. A few seconds later, my phone dinged with a message. Viper’s number flashed in front of me. Charlie moved closer as I dialed, glancing at the phone with a worried look. “What’s wrong? Do you know who it is?”

I didn’t answer her again because I was too focused on making the call. The bastard didn’t answer the first time it rang. Nor the second. I was very sure he wasn’t away from his phone but simply enjoyed sitting by it, watching the phone ring, and mocking whoever was on the other line.

He knew it was me calling, and he was savoring his fucking victory.

When he finally picked up, he answered with a gravelly, “What the fuck are you ringing my phone so many times for, you bastard? Who’s this?”

I wasn’t going to play his fucking game like we both didn’t know what the fuck was going on. “Where is he?”

There was a pause at the other end, and the silence only made me angrier.

“Well, well.” He cackled, a sound that was grating, and I felt like ripping out his vocal box. “You might be the dumbest motherfucker alive. It took you a long time to figure it out.”

“Is he alive, bastard?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Viper said in a sing-songy voice. “And you might not want to use that tone with me, motherfucker. Right now, I have your balls firmly in my hand.”

I clenched my fist hard so hard that it probably left imprints on my palm. I tried to calm down, choosing instead to focus on the fact that Toby was still alive. He was alive. I knew from the pictures that he was alive and somehow in Viper’s grasp. But that knowledge didn’t comfort me because I knew Viper wasn’t keeping him alive to save him. He was only keeping him alive because he had something even worse planned for him.

Meech was right. Viper was and has always been a sadistic bastard, and this was just watching him in action.

“What do you want?” I demanded, tired of the charades.

“I want a lot of things,” Viper said, continuing in that irritating mocking tone. “I want about twelve bitches sucking my cock right now, and I want a billion motherfuckers’ blood at my feet. But for now, I’ll settle for a rematch.”

“Done,” I said. I couldn’t wait to pound him into dust at my feet.

“Oh, and this time, you might want to heed the warning your manager gave you last time,” he cautioned. “You see, my guys don’t like to see me lose. Bad things might happen to your friend if I get too banged up.”

My blood ran cold as his true intention came to me. “So this is how you win your games? By threatening people?”

“It’s not a threat. I’m just fucking around. And I absolutely love fucking around with you.” Then, just like that, he hung up with a laugh.

“Fuck.” The word exploded from me, and anger wanted me to throw the phone against the wall, but I resisted.

I knew it couldn’t be as simple as just a match. I should have known. Viper didn’t fight like someone who gave a fuck about technique or training. The motherfucker didn’t give a damn about fairness or honor or anything. He just loved to see people bleed. And I was sure my win the last time put his pride on the line, which was why he concocted this fucking plan of his to rip me apart.

It was fine. A small price to pay for Toby’s life.

Even if he ended up killing me.

“Who was that?” Charlotte asked in a quiet tone, and I could see from her face that even though she didn’t understand everything that was going on, she was concerned.

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