Red Lineage Page 2

  “So you want me to entertain her?”

  “I want you to stimulate her. Tease her. Show her something nobody ever has. That’s how you’ll get her tonight.”

  I blew out a breath. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Just looking at her I could feel my pulse rising. “Damn, Red. I don’t know about this one.”

  The look on Red’s face was a mix of disbelief and disappointment. “You sittin’ in a motherfuckin’ Chiron, D. Yet you still need a fuckin’ confidence boost?”

  “Come on, Red. You know this shit isn’t even me though.” I waved a hand around the interior of the car. “I don’t flaunt material things like this. Besides, it’s just a car.”

  “Just a car? We’re sittin’ in the belly of a motherfuckin’ dragon. You bought this bitch to flaunt. You bought that watch to flaunt—that thousand-dollar suit. Who are you fooling’? Man, rev this engine.”

  I laughed again and shook my head.

  “I’m serious, D. rev this fuckin’ engine.”

  "Fine, fine." I revved the engine, and the low rumble that had been vibrating the soft leather bucket seats of the idle engine roared to life.

  “Look at ‘em, D!” Red shouted over the wailing engine.

  Every face on the line turned towards the car. Some openly squinted trying to see inside the tinted windows that were several shades darker than the legal limit—a fact that’s earned me more tickets than I can count. Others quickly turned away, trying a little too hard not to gawk; those were mostly other guys battling their insecurities.

  I revved the engine again, and the rest of the outside world disappeared. There was something about the sound of that engine, the feeling of the torque as it shot through the wheel, up my arms, and into my chest, that hit me in my bones. It was like an injection of testosterone directly into my veins. I immediately felt a boost of confidence and aggression, an awakening of something primal.

  I pulled up the car door and stepped out into the warm summer night feeling like I owned the world. Standing on the back of the line was never even a consideration, not with the cost of an average car dangling on my right wrist, a big house strapped to my left, and the combined monthly salary of both bouncers on my feet. You don’t make that wait in line.

  Walking across the street with my chin to the sky, one of the two bouncers—the taller man with slick black hair tied back into an oily tail, walked over to me. He wasn’t the valet. Hell, I’m not even sure the spot had a valet, but when he got close to me and held up his hand, I pressed enough money into his palm that I didn’t have to break my stride before he quickly turned and signaled to his partner to pull aside the rope and let me in.

  I gestured to my car with the suicide door still up as I passed him. “My car better be here by the time I’m ready to leave.”

  Just before I stepped through the door, I glanced at the sista with that little black dress near the middle of the line one last time, so that she knew I'd chose her. She was watching me, of course. Everyone was watching.

  “That’s the swag I like seeing, D.” Red said as we stepped inside.

  As I made my way inside the packed room, I remembered why I wasn't big on clubs. It was a bit too much body thumping music and a bit too many drunken people. However, I forced that out of my mind. Tonight was going to be my last time, for sure this time, so I planned on making the most of it.

  “We can hit the VIP.” Red shouted into my ear, no doubt sensing my discomfort. “Pop some bottles and then wait for the hens to come flockin’ to us as the night warms up.”

  Turning over my shoulder to glance at Red as I pushed through the sea of bodies, I raised a brow at him. “So I’m drinking tonight, then?”

  Red’s face got serious as he shouted back. “Come on now, D. You know we ain’t out here drinkin’.”

  I laughed. Messing with Red was almost as fun as partying with him. “I’m good down here. I’ll get a feel for the spot, and then I’ll chill at the bar until I find Chocolate.”

  “It’s on you, D.” Red said as he turned away. “I’ll be around.” The people dancing seemed to almost part around Red as he glided through the tight dance floor, never once even nudging someone else.

  It didn’t take long for me to get comfortable in the spot, with so many beautiful women everywhere. I reached out and wrapped my arm around the waist of a woman right beside me wearing a dress almost as red her straight shoulder-length hair. She flinched and spun around, but gave me a quick once over and smiled, pressing close. We started dancing as soon as the beat dropped again, and she was surprisingly good. So much so that I stayed with her for three full songs before moving on.

  I moved on to a few other women, all the while keeping an eye out for the sexy woman in that little black dress. At one point, while grinding behind a gorgeous toned and tanned blonde that had leaned into my ear after a few dances and confessed she had spotted as I entered the place and had always been curious about being with a black guy, I had come close to switching up the prey. But then I spotted Chocolate, swaying her thick hips and narrow waist in a hypnotic motion near the far wall all by herself, and that was the end of those thoughts.

  The big guy she had been with on the line was nowhere in sight. She balanced a single drink in hand, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere else at the moment. It was such a waste of beauty.

  Keeping an eye on Chocolate as I danced, I got drawn more and more into her beauty. She seemed to move just for my eyes, and my body responded in turn. The girl in front of me tossed her hair to the side and leaned back into me, speaking close enough to my ear her lips brushed my skin. “I see you’re nice and warmed up.”

  Realizing just how aware of me she must have become, I Stepped back quickly adjusted myself, and gave her as warm a smile as I could manage. The song thankfully mixed into another, and I excused myself and walked away. She had a confused frown on her face for a moment, but another smiling guy grabbed her hand before I managed to get a step away. Just like that, I was forgotten as they began moving to the music.

  When I turned back around Chocolate was gone. I started making my way through the dance floor, trying to look as casual as possible externally, but on the inside, I could hardly ignore my body's demand to find her. It took much longer than I would have wanted, but I finally spotted her when the sea of people parted just enough for me to see her curly hair at the bar. She glanced at me for just a moment as she put her full lips to the straw and took a drink., making eye contact, and then she turned her back.

  I brushed my sleeves and gave myself a once-over as I walked over to the bar and stood beside her. She acted like she didn't see me, but I knew she felt it when I stepped beside her. She leaned across the bar with her body angled slightly towards me, just enough for me to see a hint of her full cleavage as she twirled her finger around the rim of the empty glass.

  The bartender was at the opposite end of the bar, but when I raised my hand to flag her down, she all but cut the group of guys off that were chatting her up and came right over to me.

  “Give this beautiful sista another one of whatever she's drinking.”

  The bartender glanced at Chocolate and nodded. “And what will you have, handsome?”

  “I’ll have a Manhattan.”

  Chocolate rested her hand on my bicep and squeezed it just enough for me to notice, but soft enough to tell me I should act like I didn't, then leaned into my ear. Before she could say anything, I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in close, so her body pressed against mine, taking in her scent that was every bit as intoxicating as she looked.

  This was when I would have typically gone in for a kiss, or just let her know we were going back to my place, maybe flashed my fold of money to settle the bill and be done with it, but Red said she would take a different approach, and he was never wrong.

  She tensed for a moment and pulled slightly away. I gave a little but tightened my grip before she could pull entirely away. I felt her body relax in my gras
p, then press further into me. "So you're a Manhattan type of man? I would have expected Henney."

  “Is that so?”

  “Mmm hmm. And you offer to buy me another one of ‘whatever I’m drinking’, instead of ordering me up a Long Island, or some other trashy drink for girls just looking to hook up.”

  “That's not my style. Not with a beautiful woman like you. What's your name, Chocolate?”

  “And now you’re trying to charm me instead of trying to convince me of the life you could show me as your Bonnie. I don’t come across too many gentlemen.”

  "I don't hustle." I said as I slid my hand down her narrow back. Just before it got to her curve, her hand fell on top of mine and held it firmly in place. I smiled, "And I never claimed to be a gentleman."

  She returned my smile. “That’s good, bec—”

  The bartender placed two glasses down, one in front of each of us. "One Manhattan for the handsome gentlemen, and another Long Island Iced Tea for the lucky lady." She winked at me, then turned back to the group of guys at the end of the bar.

  I glanced at her drink and then back up to her eye.

  Chocolate flashed a coy smile and shrugged, and then guided my trapped hand down to her ass. "That's good because gentlemen are boring. And you can call me Chocolate if you like.”

  I smiled and gave her another look from head to waist, then frowned. “What about that guy you were with?”

  She sipped her drink and shrugged. “Around. Somewhere. Find the girl with the straightest hair and the biggest tits, and he’d be there, trying to get between of her thighs until we leave.”

  She took another sip, this one deeper, and then paused. “Am I drinking alone tonight?”

  Fuck. I thought, so caught up in her hypnotic voice that I completely forgot to pick the glass up from the table. People never really notice if you don't take a sip if you're holding the drink and moving it around your face. Now that she was aware, she would be paying attention to it. Cutting my losses and moving on at this point would probably have been the best bet, but Red was right; she was what I wanted.

  Not having much choice, I brought the glass to my lips and drank. I had only planned to take a sip but ended up swallowing half of it and riding out the wave of fire as it rose and fell in my chest. Chocolate smiled, downed the rest of the drink, then raised a brow at me. I shrugged and finished the rest of mine too.

  She pulled my arm, and the next thing I knew we were on the dance floor. It didn’t take long for her to become aware of just how much I wanted her. She pressed her body into mine, and we moved to the music, exploring each other's body with both hands. Over the span of several songs, we stopped for more drinks, and I lost all track of time and surroundings.

  When we finished the last song, she turned around and gave me an expectant look. Everything in me wanted to pull her out of there and hop in the car, but again I remembered Red's words and took a step back. "You stay sexy, Chocolate."

  Walking through the press of people, I dared not look back and no idea how I was going to move on to someone else after experiencing that. It didn’t matter, because before I could even make it ten paces away, a hand grabbed mine and spun me around. It was Chocolate, staring at me with a look I couldn’t quite figure out. Then she turned and pulled me, leading me through the packed dance floor. I only realized where she was taking me after we had arrived, pushing open the ladies room door.

  We passed two shocked women on their way out as we raced through the surprisingly clean room and into the second stall—the first one occupied. Before I even thought to lock the metal door behind me, we were back in each other's arms, ripping at each other's clothing.

  The straps of her dress were at her waist, and the bottom of her dress was above her thighs in the blink of an eye. Did I do that myself, or was there a gap of missing time? It didn’t matter, because I was now flicking my tongue around the dark nipples of her ample breasts. I grabbed a fist-full of her hair, turned her around, and bent her over the toilet.

  I thought I heard my name called but dismissed it as I pulled her lace panties down to her knees with one hand and worked my belt free with my other, letting my white pants fall to the stall floor. I heard my name again, this time from right outside of the stall. It was Red’s voice.

  Shit! "What is it?" I yelled out on impulse, then clenched my jaw shut, so I didn't say anything else.

  "It's time to go, D," Red yelled back.

  I stepped back and pulled up my pants as Chocolate awkwardly turned around, bracing herself on the wall with one hand as she scrambled at her dress with the other, the moment broken.

  “Wha…what’s wrong? Where are you going?”

  She reached for my belt, trying to stop me from fastening it, but I pushed her hand away and hurried out of the stall, barely getting a chance to close my belt before I left the stall. I was far from presentable, but I heard the urgency in Red’s voice.

  He was waiting by the entry door with his arms crossed in front of his black sport coat, looking anything but the calm and confident dude I usually saw.

  “D, what the fuck are you doin’?” He approached me and leaned in close to my face and sniffed, then frowned. He clenched his jaw and started pushing me towards the door. “You’ve been drinkin’. We both fuckin’ agreed, D.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Hey, chill out. You’re the one that told me to loosen up right…hey.” I pulled my arm away, and Red shoved me hard into the door.

  “Right now you need to listen. This bitch’s man is coming. Right now. You need to be outta here.”

  The stall opened, and Chocolate staggered out, confusion plain on her face as she swayed towards me under wobbly legs. She frowned. “Look, you’re fucking creeping me out. I'm gonna go.” She took a step and swayed just a bit before balancing herself.

  She was way drunker than I thought. I glanced over at Red, and my vision swam. I realized somewhere in the back of my mind that I was way more intoxicated than I'd realized too. Red looked like he was about to yell again when I turned and fled out the door.

  When I stepped back out into the dance floor my adrenaline was pumping, eyes scanning the sea of faces as if I could sense something was about to happen. I started pushing my way through the pack of people, back towards the entrance of the place at the far side of the room, when a hand closed around my arm and spun me around.

  I attacked on instinct, connecting with a tight left hook that crumpled an unsuspecting man that was dancing with a pretty girl behind me to the ground. I was impressed with myself, despite my years of training. I might have even called it the cleanest knockout I’d ever scored, had it been the right person.

  I saw the fist from the corner of my eye an instant before it connected with my jaw and sent me staggering back into the press of people. It was the big dude, of course, the one Red said I shouldn't worry about, the dude that looked like he might have given me a run for my money with sheer size alone even if I was sober. He would no doubt give me a long night now that I was too drunk to stand on my own two feet without swaying like a tree in the breeze.

  He came at me again, putting on a show of flexing all exaggerated like some pro wrestler. It made sense when I saw Chocolate behind him, clawing at his back. He needed to put on a show. He needed to prove his manhood to me, to his girl, and, most importantly, to himself. It was going to be a long night.

  Or, it would have been, but I was grabbed from behind by another two pairs of hands—one pair under my left armpit and around my neck, the other pair around my leg. I was hemmed up at an awkward angle and carried/dragged through the packed room with admittedly impressive swiftness.

  It wasn't towards the front door, all the way at the opposite end of the dance floor. We went maybe a dozen feet before we burst through a set of narrow double doors, down a short corridor, and then out another single door. They tossed onto a hard floor. It wasn’t until I rolled end over end and came to a stop, looking up at the clear night sky, that I realized I was outside in the midd
le of an alley.

  Considering the fact I was most likely going to get my ass kicked, especially in my drunken state, I'd think this would be the best possible outcome to the situation. I climbed to my feet and started to fix myself up, but noticed the dark stains on my white pants and jacket, and didn't bother.

  My right wrist felt a little light. I glanced down and noticed my bracelet was gone. My watch was still there, and I placed my hand to my chest and sighed in relief when I felt my chain. It looked like I was right about not wearing that big pendant Red wanted me to buy. I shrugged it off; the bracelet was likely more than whoever ended up with it probably made in a year.

  I glanced both directions to get my bearings, then walked towards the front of the club. I got about a hundred feet from the mouth of the alley when Red came sprinting around the corner.

  “Run! Those Motherfuckas are comin’. Bouncers told the big fucker and his boys to come cut you off.”

  “Shit!” I turned and sprinted back down the alley. I sped past the door I got thrown out of, swaying from the left wall to the right and back as I ran. I came to the end of the alley and glanced left and right. One way led to another dark corridor and the other to an equally long alley but had a busy two-way street at the end. I turned the direction of the street, but only got a couple of steps when a tall, pale skin man wearing a long leather coat turned into the shadowed mouth of the alley and stood watching me, unmoving.

  I slid to a stop and frowned. My every instinct told me to get as far away from that man as I possibly could.

  Red caught up to me then and sprinted down the opposite direction. “This way. Hurry!”

  I turned and sprinted after him. Red got to the end of that alley and made a right without breaking stride, and I followed hard on his heels. It felt like we were getting further and further away from the sounds of the busy Brooklyn streets. Was he trying to hide?