Copyright © 2022 Keta Kendric
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Nevah
This club scene had run its course. I was no longer in the mood for any more of the drama. I knew how to mingle for drinks and for dick when I needed to get laid. However, at this moment, there was a mob boss in the building who thought I was his woman. I needed to get away from this place before he found me and tried to lay claim again. The way I saw it, if I left now, Mr. Sexy DeLuca would have no idea where I’d gone, and as depressing as the notion was, I’d never see him again.
“I’m going. Will you text me later to let me know you two made it home safely?”
Tracy pursed her lips and nodded, knowing that once my mind was made up, there was no changing it. She reached for my hand, giving it a caring squeeze with sorrow resting in her eyes.
She and Maya assumed I was lonely and miserable since I rarely did anything outside of work and hang out with them from time to time. Their answer to fix what they assumed was my problem was to stick a man into my situation.
I did get lonely for male company. However, the prospect of forging a relationship had always been a daunting task. Men, the ones I often encountered, were tools. I’d run the gauntlet of them—the cheaters and the misogynistic pigs. The worst monster I was involved with was the one I had foolishly married behind my friends back. A month into our union I was forced to find a way to get rid of him. It had taken time to uncover his abusive nature and that he’d served ten years on an attempted murder charge. My naivety had led me to believe that an older man could help solve all my problems.
Amid the drama of my younger years, I had also taken on the financial responsibility of providing care for my mother, not that she deserved my dedication based on the way she treated me growing up. Neglect, hunger, and beatings were the ways she’d shown me attention. She teased me incessantly about naming me Nevah Moore, saying after she’d had me, she was never having any more babies. The joke was on her because most people liked the name.
After my thirteenth birthday, the abuse she dished out intensified, and her slaps and name-calling turned into kicks and punches. Due to years of drug abuse, she ended up suffering a massive stroke at forty that left her unable to walk or talk. I’d worked two jobs from the time I was seventeen, throughout college, and a few years beyond, just to afford a decent nursing home for her.
The energetic bodies bumping into me pulled me back to my current reality. I tossed one final glance across my shoulder at Tracy before I became lost in the crowd. I appreciated my friends campaigning for my social life, but getting out usually ended with me attempting to save them from situations they would have been involved in regardless.
I ordered my Uber while walking towards the front door. A smile slid across my lips when I saw that one was ten minutes away from the location I requested to be picked up. The corner of Chestnut and Bittle was a few blocks away and parallel to this club, which left me more than enough time to make it to my location.
I pushed past the crowd near the door and stepped into the long hallway that would lead to the exit. The dim setting gave the space an eerie vibe that had me speed-walking to make it to the exit. Heavy footsteps approaching from behind put an anxious tingle in my spine and caused my shoulders to tense.
Unable to help myself, a glance back showed a tall guy in a suit whose face was shaded by shadows. His solid build reminded me of Primo, but there was no mistaking him. Primo had that vibe that let you know you were flirting with danger. He possessed the kind of dark passion that drew you in like a strong drug because he was so damned sexy and confident.
My footsteps quickened, and so did the man’s. I maintained my rapid pace and was reaching out for the front door’s push-bar seconds before I got there. The door sprang open from the hard push I delivered. The twinkling night outside, along with the crush of dancing bodies along the sidewalk, filled my view, and relief brushed away the panic that had risen.
The tall man continued to approach behind me. Could Primo have been right about me having eyes on me already?
I sped past the threshold of the door. A satisfied smirk surfaced once I was safely outside, and the thump of quick-moving bodies met mine. If the big guy from the hall was following me, he was shit-out-of-luck now because I was quickly sucked into the crowd. A deep sigh of relief rushed out before I glanced down to check the status of my Uber.
“Thank you, Lord,” I breathed out. For a minute, I was afraid I’d end up tied to a mob boss.
I approached the crosswalk that led to my stop with thirty seconds left on the countdown time remaining to cross the street. I marched across it, my heels attacking the pavement with each of my quick steps.
Instead of standing near the busy intersection, I eased back into the shadows of the nearest building. The edgy prickling along my spine while leaving the club hadn’t dissipated and had me glancing around like a paranoid addict. The streetlights and headlights blended and illuminated the surrounding area. A distant view showed only dark blurs of movement, like the light clung to only the most active areas.
My fidgety fingers and feet stopped tapping when the shape of the gray Camry I was expecting came into view, making its approach through the energetic flow of traffic. A smile stretched wide across my face, and I stepped away from the shadows when the car pulled to a stop at the edge of the sidewalk behind a big black SUV.
A strong hand locked around my wrist, causing a long-winded gasp to inflate my lungs as I reached for the back passenger door handle.
“What? Who? Let me go!” I yelled, attempting to yank my arm from the man’s vise grip.
“I’m your protection,” was what I thought he said.
Damn what he said. A killer would say anything to gain your trust. With me locked in his tight grip, he knocked on the front window of my Uber, so hard I expected the glass to break.
The window came down, and the driver bent and peered up at the big bulky white guy effortlessly holding me in place while I struggled to break free. I was using my fist to pry his hand from around my arm, but my attempts were useless.
He tossed some bills at the driver. “That’s for your trouble. The lady already has a ride,” he all but growled at the man.
“No. I don’t already have a ride. He’s kidnapping me! Call the police!” I shouted, getting the attention of the driver and other passersby. My shouting made the walkers speed up and zip past us, glancing back with raised brows to avoid my troubles. Their total disregard for my safety caused my rapidly pulsing heart to sink deep into the pit of my stomach.
The big bully leaned down and peeked into the window at the Uber driver, who looked like he was swallowing rocks at the sight of the bigger man. I wasn’t sure what words were exchanged, but when my abductor straightened his intimidating posture, the driver screeched away, almost getting hit by an oncoming car.
I continued my useless struggling while being dragged closer to the back of the big black SUV that I should have been more suspicious of when it drove up and parked. The big hulking man with me in his tight grip opened the back door.
It took little effort on his part to manhandle me. First, he spun me to face him before he got a good grip under my arms and lifted me into the back of the vehicle, even as I kicked and screamed like a madwoman.
As soon as my butt landed on the dark leather, my imposing captor climbed in after me. He used his body to shove me further into the vehicle and closed the door. He didn’t say a word but flashed me that glare a mother flashes a child who’s been acting up. The driver was a small figure shrouded in black who merged into traffic with ease.
Why hadn’t I listened to Primo? Now, I was being taken and had no idea if it was by his guys or his enemies.
***End of Primo Sneak Peek***
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