Unconditionally Single

DAFINA BOOKS

Chapter One

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As I fired the pistol, my body hammered against the mat, forcing me back a few inches deeper inside the SUV. Four gold bullet shells lay in front of me. I had nine rounds left plus one in the chamber. I prayed I'd make it out of this situation alive. The sound of police sirens blaring close by, then fading in the distance gave little hope of my being rescued. My only option-escape. I squinted at the beaming sunshine, searching for an answer to my prayer.

Brain? Courage? Heart?

I should've put each bullet in Benito's forehead. I couldn't. I once loved him. How did we get here? How does any couple go from love to hate, a hate so deep they could kill one another? I was still in love with Benito's brother but this was not the time to have compassion for my enemies. Grant's abandonment of my heart made him my enemy too. He should've been man enough to stay with me.

"Ah!" Benito screamed soprano when the shots were fired, ducked, covered his face, peeped at me between his parted fingers. His .22 fell, clacked three times on the pavement, spun, stopped in front of his feet.

I flexed my toes. The charley horse had subsided. Pressing my lips together, I swallowed my chuckle. Benito's reaction reassured me I'd done right getting rid of him. Former pro-quarterback champion punking out in a shoot-out, intentionally grounding his weapon, terrified of being defeated by a female. If I were a referee, I'd throw a flag on the play, give Benito a fifty-yard penalty, and restrain him from coming near me again. Why was I still protecting Benito? Kill Benito, kill all my chances of getting back with Grant.

Lying knees to chin in the trunk, messing up my red designer pantsuit, inhaling exhaust fumes along with the new car scent oozing from the mat, I aimed my gun at Valentino's head. My target. The same place I'd shot and killed his bodyguard, Reynolds Ramsey, between the eyes. I wouldn't miss, if my brain prevailed.

Aw, damn. My cellular was partially exposed. Rolling onto my side, I hid my cell phone. The only person I'd phoned repeatedly in transit to this deserted location was the woman who'd given me Valentino's money and the one woman who could track down any man in America and wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Sapphire Bleu. Called her repeatedly, something they didn't need to know. Left her one message not to call me back. I'd call her again when it was safe.

"What the fuck is your problem, Valentino?" I said. "Onyx is not going to listen to you. Hand me your goddamn phone," keeping my gun and eyes fixed on him, with Benito in my peripheral vision.

"Benito, if you bend over to pick up that gun, I'll slap you upside your head, then shoot you in your ass."

Standing, Benito brushed his dingy black slacks, squinted, stared over his shoulder as though trying to figure out how I'd shoot him in the ass while he faced me. Maybe I should ask God to give him a brain.

"Nigga, I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with the gun," Valentino spat out. "Fuck what she say. Pick up the gun and shoot that bitch."

The last time I'd seen Valentino was the day Sapphire arrested him at his mansion in Las Vegas. Sapphire gave me a way out of the business without my having to figure out how to exit alive. What if she'd given him a way out too? Would Valentino have had a reason to kidnap me? I had what Valentino desperately needed. Kill me and he'd never get what he'd come for.

Why were these low-down dirty bastards agitating me to the point of wanting to blow their brains out? I could kill them both. Splatter the cells God intended as two male masterpieces against the scorching asphalt beneath their insidious souls. No one would know. But I didn't want to go to jail or go insane without Grant in my life.

Curling into the fetal position, I pulled the trigger to scare Valentino. Waited a few seconds, pulled it again. Valentino dodged my first bullet, escaped the second. He moved in the right direction both times.

"Slowly toss me the damn phone before I kill your ass for real!" I growled.

Valentino tossed his cellular inside the trunk. "Shoot her ass, nigga," he said to Benito. "Don't just stand there! You want her to kill me?"

I wanted to laugh. One toy gun between the two of them and it was on the ground next to Benito's worn black shoes that curled at the toes.

Valentino tightened his fingers into fists. "Bitch, you gon' give me my money before I bash your face in."

This time I had to do it. "Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha," I belted from my belly, keeping my gun aimed at Valentino. "Benito, get the gun. Give it to me." I pressed the speaker button on Valentino's phone, hoping Onyx was still on the line. I laid the phone on the mat, kept my gun aimed at him.

Money was the root of evil for the person who didn't have any. The cash was mine, a gift from Sapphire. I didn't owe Valentino shit. Neither did she. Easy come, easy go. "You didn't bust one nut for that money."

"The one I bust inside your pussy don't count?" Valentino asked. I hated to admit. Valentino and I were more alike than we were different. I'd fucked him once and it wasn't bad. If we'd met under more amicable circumstances, would we be friends?

My assistant Onyx shouted, "Honey, tell us where you are."

"McDaniel and University."

"At the university?"

Benito frowned at Valentino, eased toward me, kicked the gun closer to Valentino. Shifting my aim from Benito, I quickly pointed the gun back between Valentino's eyes. Coldly stared at him. Eased back the trigger.

"One wrong move and you're dead. I intentionally missed the first time. You're bad. Go on. Try me."

Benito sadly asked, "You fucked my girl, V?"

"Pussy can't come between us, nigga. Let's go. That bitch is crazy."

Sometimes a woman had to be a bitch to get a man's attention. But I wasn't crazy. I was a woman who didn't take shit off abusive men. Not any more. Dealing with two life-threatening marriages and these two fools here, I should be crazy, but I wasn't. The only people I was crazy about were Grant and my deceased sister, Honey.

I'd killed myself on paper, buried my birth name, Lace St. Thomas, then resurrected my sister's name, Honey, dropped the St. and kept the Thomas. Maybe if I were more like Honey, my past life of prostitution, being a madam and a murderess would perish and never return to haunt me.

"Onyx, I got this. Don't hang up. Stay with me."

"What? You're naked? I think we have a bad connection."

Valentino stooped to the ground, crawled alongside the car. "Lock that bitch in the trunk and let's go! I'ma personally put a bullet to the back of her head!"

Always smarter than Valentino's wannabe pimp ass, I'd organized and ran his escort service, Immaculate Perception. Managed his twelve escorts for a year. Now they were my girls, all except the one he'd killed. Losing Sunny made me retire the survivors from their pain and suffering, give them restitution, and let them live with me. I was proud of them and myself. They were no longer prostitutes and I was no longer a madam. Whoever said "Money doesn't matter" had enough of it.

Valentino had sufficient time to do whatever he'd intended. Instead he ran like a bitch. Valentino wasn't a coward-he was outgunned. He'd be back. I'd be prepared for his return. Next time I wouldn't...