Motown Takedown (Motown Down Book 3) (20 page)

“I’m having a pool party,
”
she says to Ares while I pour her coffee. “I’ll bring you in to swim, I promise.”

“You stressing about this party, Cinn?”

“No,
”
she shrugs.

“Talk it out with me,
”
I urge her.

After sipping her coffee and petting the mutt, she looks up and whispers, “What if they don’t like the real me?”

Coming to her side and kneeling before her, I tilt her chin up and remind her of the truth as I know it. “They won’t like the real you,
”
I say kissing her nose. “They’ll love you.”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah.”

No way could I watch this shit show alone. I had to have a partner, so I called Ransom up right as the girls got sauced. No bullshit minus Venessa and Kandace they were hammered and my woman was the highlight. The best part was Cinn’s sense of humor coming back online. My woman was fucking hysterical and clearly had no idea that she was.

“Did Ares just…
”
Ransom asks leaning in. “Boss, even the dog is drinking now. Can dogs drink alcohol?”

“Look at her,
”
I prompt him. “She’s happy.”

“Where the fuck have you been?
”
he asks. “She’s always happy.”

“She never had girlfriends,
”
I tell him. “This is a first for her; I’d do this shit every day to see her laugh like that.”

“Then you ain’t looking when she’s laughing with you.”

Floating on some noodle looking things, Cinn throws her head back while Venessa dunks Lina. Camo, I noted, was a sentinel even while buzzed. The female loved Cinn; they had serious history, and I owed her for her part in getting her back. She was funny as fuck, but her guard was never down, a true soldier. Out of fucking nowhere, she treads over to Cinn yells, “Spice girls!
”
and dunks her. Ready to fly out of my seat, she surfaces all hair and limbs screaming, “Die bitch!”

And then they started to wrestle.

“Hot,
”
Ransom says crossing his ankles. “I got twenty on the queen.”

Breaking it up, Jules splashes them both in the face while Ares swims over to check on his momma. Smiling, kissing, and twirling him, Kandace asks the one question that had Ransom and I both leaning forward. “This war,
”
she says addressing Cinn directly. “I’m not sure how it works but will you fight in it?”

“Yep,
”
Nope.

“I expect a call if you need medical assistance or you know, a sniper. I’m a double threat, just sayin’.”

“Doc,
”
Venessa says splashing her. “Stick to what you know and be glad you save lives instead of taking them.”

“Everyone dies eventually,
”
she shrugs.

“It changes you,
”
Cinn says quietly, and some of the girls nodded. “Not for the better or for worse, it just…alters shit. None of us can say we’ve never taken a life. Outside of this room, how many people will you ever meet that have? Trust me, we aren’t the norm.”

“Truth,
”
Lina says holding her drink up. For a tiny female who doesn’t say much, what she does say spoke volumes. According to Cinn, Lina is a God damn human lie detector. She was also a female I’d be keeping my distance from.

“Anyway,
”
Cinn says kissing Ares. “Can we talk about my man now?”

“Duh,
”
Macy says twirling on her noodle.

“He found me in an alley and then killed four men for touching me.
”
She sighs. “I fell in love at thirteen.” Then like she was zapped with electricity she throws her hands up and announces, “And last night we made a porno! Very high quality too! FYI; we are both hot when we orgasm.”

“I fell in love at eighteen,
”
Jules admits. “I was a virgin. Max and I made a porno once, and it was way better than pay-per-view.”

“At first sight,
”
Venessa smiles. “Or rather first handshake. We tried the porn thing; Rogue prefers my eyes see one cock, his.”

“Junior year of college,
”
Kandace says. “Best, worst year of my life. Rome was a living porno before me, so pass
…
But I do work a pole like a pro just saying.”

“I was eighteen too,
”
Camo grins. “But let’s face it, I was wise beyond my years. Oh and porn? I’ll set you up to meet my Bobo, you’ll get why I don’t do skin flicks. Ever.”

“I fell when he jacked off into a tissue in my hotel room,
”
Lina tosses out getting silence in return. “What? It’s hot. Better than a fucking porno.”

“Yeah, well I got all you bitches beat,
”
Macy says throwing a fist in the air. “I fell when I tazed Rafe in the balls and pornos? I’ll send you the link to ours.”

“You posted it?
”
Cinn asks grinning. “On the internet?”

“You didn’t?
”
Macy asks looking around, and when they all shake their heads, she was rendered speechless.

“We’ve got a winner!
”
Cinn roars falling off her noodle and going under.

“We’re gonna need more men,
”
Ransom says scrubbing his face.

“Shit,
”
I laugh loud. “Hang on, they’re making plans to go out.”

And they did too. Karaoke at Lush on Thursday, yeah we’d need more men and Ransom sent the message out. No way was my woman hitting a fucking bar without protection.

Throwing a hand up, Venessa looks at Cinn and Camo and asks, “Spice girls? What the fuck is up with that?”

Deferring to Camo, Cinn just smiles. “I’m Pepper, she’s Cinnamon, do the math.”

“I would have had a field day with that shit in school!
”
Lina laughs.

“Whatever vale-dick-torian,
”
Jules snorts.

“Fuck off chastity belt,
”
she retorts.

“These bitches are nuts,
”
Ransom laughs.

“I’m positive with tequila they’re all like this,
”
I point out.

“Makes me glad I’m single,
”
he says pouring a drink.

“Thanks for coming over,
”
Cinn says almost sadly. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Get used to it,
”
Kandace adds. “We’re going to do this a lot!”

“Yo Cinn,
”
Venessa calls out. “You got a nip slip.”

“A what?”

“Your nipple slipped out,
”
Macy points.

“It happens,
”
Jules shrugs.

“Not to Camo,
”
Lina laughs. “She wears like sixteen sports bras.”

“At least I wear bras miss tits-sags-a lot,
”
she retorts.

“I had a fucking kid!
”
she shouts.

“Good for you
and
your saggy titties!”

“My tits are grade A,
”
Jules throws in.

“Mine too!
”
Macy says popping her top and I covered my eyes.

“Bitches be trippin’,
”
Venessa says kicking away from the flock. “And seriously, Cinn, fuck you for having nice nipples. I’ve got a lazy one who swear to God, tries tripping me when I walk.”

“I can’t help it,
”
she shrugs. “I’m perfect.”

“And modest too!
”
she laughs.

“She’s telling the truth,
”
Lina adds. “Bitch,
”
then smiles.

Through it all, my woman never bothered tucking her nipple back in. Another hour later, the women all said their goodbyes and I came down to retrieve a very drunk queen who jumped right back in the pool. Who if she had her way, would stay there. It took me twenty minutes of coaxing plus physically getting in the water to get her back out. Turns out she wanted to wrestle and looking to wear her out, I showed her no mercy.

“My queen is hammered,
”
he laughs while peeling my suit off. “Lean on me, I’ve got you.”

Lean on him? Which one? Because I saw four. “I’m spinning,
”
I moan into his skin. “Make it stop.”

“Breathe,
”
he says lifting me slowly. Then walking me over to our bed, he lowers me down, and I felt like I was sinking in a vat of margarine.

“Don’t let the butter swallow me,
”
I beg him.

“Close your eyes,
”
he says climbing in next to me. Doing as he said, I closed them, and the spins turned into a steady boat rocking and I decided this was worse. “Calm yourself, Cinn.”

“I don’t like boats!”

“You ever been on a boat?”

“No.”

“Want to?”

If I answered him, I honestly don’t remember.

Queens are supposed to be immune to hangovers.

With coffee in one hand, aspirin in the other while my head rests on the kitchen table I realized I was a lightweight. To be able to hang with the girls, I needed to step up my game. These chicks were pros, and I did not want to be the one who passed out first. This meant I needed to add alcohol to my diet. But right now even the thought of tequila…oh God, I was going to throw up. Jesus, we even bought the good stuff…

“Morning!
”
Ransom yells entering the room.

“Dick,
”
I moan into the ditch of my arm.

“Rough night, your highness?”

“Fuck off,
”
I moan again.

Rooting around in the cupboards I swear it sounded liked cannons going off but I was too busy squeezing my eyes shut hoping to stop the spins to notice. Then he used the fucking ice machine, and I covered my ears. A minute later, he slides a glass in front of me and says, “Hair of the dog.”

“Huh?”

“Drink it,
”
he says taking a seat. “You’ll feel better.”

“I smell alcohol.”

“Vodka,
”
he agrees. “Drink.”

Sitting up, I pull it toward me and almost lose it. “No,
”
I say pushing it away.

“Bloody Mary’s are God’s gift to the hungover. You’ve got a meeting at the den today, drink it. You’ll need a clear head. Fuck knows his head won’t be clear, and since it’s your turf, you need to be alert not puking on the floor.”

Growling at him, I snag it and take a sip. Coughing at the burn from the spice I narrow my eyes. Nodding to do it again, I take another and another plus a few more. My stomach oddly enough started to settle. Weird. “He’s making some calls,
”
he says before I can ask. “Got a shipment coming in that could catch some heat. He’s making sure it doesn’t.”

Ignoring him, I focus on my drink, shocked that it was, in fact, helping. “Demo’s acting up,
”
he says sipping his coffee. “You gonna let him continue or you planning to intervene?”

“First, Demo always acts up;it’s his thing. Second, I’m keeping an eye and third…
”
Blinking at my glass I forgot where I was going with this.

“Third?
”
he prompts.

“Third is shut up.”

Laughing he leans back in his chair and just stares. Men stared at me; I was used to it, but Ransom never did when Monarch was in the room. “Where’s Ares?”

“Cujo’s with Monarch,
”
he smiles. “Dog has issues.”

“He’s perfect,
”
I snap.

“You would think so since he doesn’t want to chew your leg off,
”
okay so this was true. “First strike, who do you think will make it?”

“Hard to say,
”
I admit. “Not Demo, if that’s what you’re thinking, his loyalty is to me. Marco won’t either, he’s too focused on his auctions, the pig. Possibly Casper, if the densmerge. It’s what I would do.
”
I was lying to Ransom because none of this was his business, and I didn’t like that he was asking. Out of all the potential threats, there was only one I kept an eye on. His name was Shade. He was the pig, Marco’s first and gearing up to take over. Although, I wasn’t totally sold on the idea, he’d make a move either because he was engaged to a woman named Luna. She was Marco’s daughter. A daughter that was very vocal about hating the skin business. I don’t watch television so that family was the closest I’d ever get to a soap opera. If I was a handful, she was me on crack. Luna Bella never disappointed, ever. I did feel for her, though. Because if Savage was rough with me, Marco was cruel to her. Shade was to Luna what Monarch was to me. At least last I heard, anyway. I’d been out of the loop for the last year, you know, house arrest and what not.

“I don’t trust Demo,
”
He grunts.

“Why would you?”

“Do you?”

“My trust in Demo is a grayarea.
”
This much is true, but there was more I wouldn’t say. Demo and I have history. He’s looked out for me when my head was on the chopping block. However, he also played by his own rules which were nearly transparent considering how much he liked cocaine. But, in a pinch he’d back me. Hell, if he wanted to live he’d have no other choice. “I need to get ready, thanks for the drink.
”
Then my phone rang, and I answered. Camo asked me how I was doing to which I said, “I’m dying,but the good news is I look fantastic. I’ll rally and prep for round two on Thursday.
”
She laughed, hung up and I wanted to go back to bed. Only I had to do queen shit first. Sometimes being perfect was exhausting.

“Cinn,
”
he says standing. “Watch your ass with those females. They get ideas. You don’t want to be a part of those ideas. Monarch will not take to you acting a fool.”

“Those
females
are my friends,
”
I remind him. “They aren’t interested in this war
if
there is a war. Your job is to keep Monarch and I safe. It is not to school me on friendship or my behavior.”

“My mistake,
”
he says putting his mug in the sink. “It won’t happen again.”

Once he left, I downed the rest of my drink and set in the sink too. “Cinn,
”
Monarch says through the speaker. “My office.
”
It sounded like a 747 just landed in the kitchen and covering my ears didn’t help. Briefly, I wondered if hiding in a corner while sucking my thumb was an option but knew it wasn’t.

Hangovers fucking suck.