Thin Ice (3 page)

“You were gonna cut me,” he asked angrily as he pushed her onto the sofa glaring at her.

“I don’t know why the hell you’re here Ice,” Kaitlyn began fully angry and holding her own. “But if it’s to screw me, cancel that thought,” she told him point blank. “This is my body, and I decide who and when I give it up,” she finished rising from the couch breathing hard and looking Ian directly in the eye.

Almost smiling, Ian caught himself. He loved Kaitlyn’s fire. He was glad she stood up to him. He needed a strong woman, not another lap dog like all the others he’d taken and thrown away. “OK, KiKi,” he told her still holding her stare. “I’ma let things be cool for now,” he replied heading for the front door. “But the shit ain’t over, and trust me, you don’t want me for an enemy,” he told her opening it and stepping into her hallway.

“I meant what I said about the junkie,” Ian added once more ominously as he closed the door, and Kaitlyn sank onto the couch breathing hard and thanking God he hadn’t killed her.

2

“Hello,” Kaitlyn mumbled into the receiver, still groggy from being awakened.

She’d lain down earlier in the afternoon to take a nap. At first she wasn’t sure anyone was there. “Wassup girl,” Jaleesa shot back giggling slightly.

“Hey Tweety, I was asleep,” she told her trying to sound annoyed.

“Well get your ass up, its time to make that paper,” Jaleesa replied still chuckling as Kaitlyn sucked her teeth and chuckled with her.

“Where you at?” she inquired heading to the bathroom and turning on the shower.

“I’m at the Arena,” she replied. “Game starts at 8:00, have your ass here, call me as you’re walking to the gate, I’ll be there to get you in,” Jaleesa told her.

“OK cool,” Kaitlyn replied taking off her clothes. “What am I bringing?”

“Weed, and coke,” Jaleesa replied. “No orders for smack,” she added as Kaitlyn told her she got the order.

“Have you talked to Landon lately?” Jaleesa asked changing the subject, knowing the answer already.

He and Evan were close. She’d heard them talking, with Landon admitting how disappointed he was that Kaitlyn wasn’t attracted to him. Jaleesa thought Landon was sexy as hell, not seeing why Kaitlyn didn’t.

“No,” Kaitlyn replied simply, sighing deeply.

She just wanted them all to leave her alone about that. She couldn’t pretend to feel something she didn’t. She assumed Landon was a nice enough guy; she just wasn’t interested in him romantically. He’d completely turned her off that night at the club.

“You need to give that man a chance KiKi,” Jaleesa scolded her. “You spend too much time alone, or thinking about Tripp’s raggedy ass,” she finished knowing she’d hit a nerve again.

“I’m not trying to get caught up right now Tweety,” Kaitlyn told her with a tense edge to her voice. “He’s just not my type,” she went on. “Why can’t everyone just leave it alone,” she finished sighing deeply.

“Because I know you want a good orgasm or three just like every other woman, that’s why,” Jaleesa threw at her again.

“Well hell, I’m not even sure he could do that,” Kaitlyn tossed back. “This guy couldn’t even man up and tell me up front what he wanted that night at the club, using that old tired ass line,” she returned as Jaleesa sighed deeply.

“OK, I get that,” she told her friend. “But look at it from a business standpoint,” she tried again. “Landon and Evan can open doors for us to richer, more powerful clientele, which could help us get deeper into the distribution end, and make us more money,” Jaleesa continued. “Hell if we wanna compete with Ice we gotta start thinking bigger,” she finished and waited on Kaitlyn to respond.

The mention of Ice’s name brought back the memory of his surprise visit almost a month ago. Since then Kaitlyn hadn’t seen or heard from him, which in her book was great. Still, she didn’t forget or take lightly the threat he’d made as he left her apartment.

“Look, I’ll try and see if I can stomach dude tonight,” Kaitlyn replied, bringing a smile to Jaleesa’s face on the other end of the phone.

“Cause I know he’s gonna be there, right?” she asked as Jaleesa confirmed Landon’s attendance and that it was the teams suite they would be enjoying the game from.

“Wear that cute sundress you got, the deep blue patterned one,” Jaleesa directed.

“Yeah OK,” Kaitlyn replied without much enthusiasm.

“Girl get it together, we’re gonna meet the GM and VP’s tonight,” Jaleesa told her once more. “Like I said, business,” she ended as Kaitlyn promised she would be a ray of sunshine by the time she arrived.

“Bring condoms,” she admonished as Kaitlyn again sucked her teeth and Jaleesa burst into laughter. “What have I gotten myself into?” she mumbled heading to shower to wash away her apprehension and lather up a brand new mood.

*****

“Baby, Kaitlyn is coming to the game,” she told Evan as he and Landon sat in the suite talking over business.

She saw the smile come immediately to Landon’s face. Evan turned to her and looked her over before speaking.

“That’s cool,” he replied, going back to the documents in front of him.

“Does Kaitlyn have a favorite color?” Landon asked Jaleesa.

She smiled slightly and told him it was purple. He tucked it away in his memory as he joined Evan and went back to business.

Leaving them alone Jaleesa ventured into the posh bathroom the suite hosted and began putting on her makeup.
Please let them hook up tonight,
she thought of Kaitlyn and Landon. Jaleesa had done her homework and there was plenty of money to be made throughout this league. She’d also found out the GM had a penchant for sexy brown sugar. Sighing softly as she looked herself over in the mirror, Jaleesa gingerly applied makeup to the bruises on her breasts and upper arms. This was a secret she had to keep. Kaitlyn could never find out that Evan had been beating her on a regular basis. Jaleesa knew without a doubt her best friend would plant a slug in Evan’s head, or cut his throat and watch the life drain out of him if she ever found out.

Normally Jaleesa would never allow herself to be treated the way Evan was treating her, but in her mind it was simply a minor inconvenience to the road of success they were trying to gain access to. The doors Evan opened far outweighed the temper and violence she had to deal with when he was drinking and moody.
Just a few more weeks, maybe a month and we’ll be where we need to be and I can kick Evan’s crazy ass to the curb, or shoot him,
Jaleesa thought as she finished her make-up and headed back out into the suite.

Evan gave her a look when she entered the room which Jaleesa immediately recognized. He was volatile this evening because of changes being made in the front office. Jaleesa couldn’t let that deter her however and she plotted to keep Kaitlyn close as a distraction while she made in-roads with the GM. Smiling back at Evan to reassure him nothing was up, Jaleesa headed to the outdoor area and sat in one of the chairs watching as the teams warmed up.
Let this plan go right tonight, please,
she prayed silently as Evan called her name and she rose grudgingly headed back inside and to the bathroom where he directed her.

“Suck my dick,” he commanded as she stood before him.

Jaleesa immediately complied not wanting him to beat her right now with Kaitlyn on her way, as he closed his eyes to enjoy her service.
Please help me not to kill this monster tonight,
Jaleesa thought as Evan held her head and matched her strokes. Jaleesa knew he was going to cum in her mouth, and she absolutely hated it. She would swallow him dutifully though and let it be over. Jaleesa just wanted to get through the night, put her plan into motion, and deal with foolishness tomorrow.

She felt his rhythm quickening and knew it was almost over. Suddenly the hot rush of fluids filled her mouth, causing her to almost gag. Jaleesa caught herself before she did and swallowed. Evan groaned deeply and shuddered as he came, pushing her away, and leaning back onto the sink breathing hard.

“Thanks,” he told her plainly as he zipped his pants up and turned to leave. “Try to act like you have some class tonight,” he admonished and gave her a condescending look before walking out of the door.

I wanna put three bullets in this sonofabitch in the worst way;
Jaleesa was thinking behind the small smile she gave Evan in response. As soon as the door closed, Jaleesa turned on the water and poured the entire trial size bottle of mouthwash sitting on the sink into her mouth.

*****

Evan and Landon watched Jaleesa return to the outside viewing area and close the door. They waited a few more moments more before they began to talk.

“I don’t know what to do to get through to this one,” Landon was commenting as he sipped his drink. Evan shook his head thoughtfully.

“Yeah, she’s nothing like Jaleesa,” he said rather distastefully, having no idea how dangerous the woman he was abusing on a nightly basis, truly was.

Landon called him on it.

“So why do you keep her around?” he asked his friend, knowing Evan could easily dump the woman and have her replaced in less than twenty-four hours.

“Sex is good, and I love the way she worships me,” Evan chuckled to his friend.

They both laughed at his statement before Landon got back to the subject of Kaitlyn.

“She’s a beautiful woman,” he said wistfully. “I just wish she would give a brutha a breathing chance,” he went on, staring out of the window. “I would treat her good,” Landon finished as he swallowed the last of his drink.

Evan walked over to his friend as he stood beside the window. “Tonight you need to be on point with your game,” he told him. “From what Jaleesa tells me, Kaitlyn hasn’t been with anyone for a while now,” he continued. “The ex dogged her out and she’s very leery of guys in general,” he finished waiting on Landon to comment.

“Do you know what happened?” he asked Evan, referring to the ex-boyfriend.

“Yeah, seems they’d been dating about a year or so, idiot named Tripp, he was a small time drug thug,” Evan said nastily, completely oblivious to Jaleesa and Kaitlyn’s own illicit activity, as Landon nodded his understanding.

“Well he decides he wanna start taking coochie credit for dope, feel me?” Evan threw out again as Landon sucked his teeth in disgust. “So of course Kaitlyn catches him with about four different women before she finally has had enough,” he went on as Landon listened intently. “But oh this muthafucka don’t wanna hear that, he stalks her, jumped on her one night and messed her up pretty good,” Evan stopped to sip his drink as Landon’s mouth hung open.

“What did she do?” he asked, curious how Kaitlyn would handle the situation.

“Her and Jaleesa got together and went over to dude’s house,” Evan told him beginning to chuckle slightly from the memory. “They did the usual, broke out all the car windows, slashed all the tires,” he told him as Landon again nodded in agreement. “Then they walked in the front door,” Evan told Landon explaining Kaitlyn had a key. “Caught that fool with his pants down getting his dick sucked, and both of them kicked the snot outta him,” he laughed full out now as Landon chuckled lightly himself.

Landon was impressed with Kaitlyn’s strength. He would definitely try to get beyond that wall with her tonight.
I was a real jackass that first time,
he thought sighing deeply.
Please let her give a brutha another chance
. Landon had developed deep feelings for Kaitlyn without knowing why. She just stayed with him after that first meeting. So much so that he’d had two or three erotic dreams about her. Landon told Evan he would be back shortly as he left to go and change for the game.
Tonight is gonna be different,
he thought of Kaitlyn; making up his mind to get beyond her walled fortress and inside her heart.

3

Kaitlyn checked her reflection in the mirror and decided she looked good. She changed her mind about the sundress Jaleesa suggested and instead decided on the purple and white paisley patterned skirt, partnering it with a soft lavender T-strap top. There was a deep v-neck to the shirt, enough to get attention, but not enough to get arrested. The outfit was form fitting and showed off her flawless curves. Kaitlyn checked her make-up deciding to go with a simple eye and brow liner, a light touch of mascara and lipstick. Grabbing her bag she put in the weed and coke that Jaleesa told her they would need and headed to the front door.

“Wassup KiKi,” Ian said smoothly taking in the shocked look on her face as she opened the door.

Kaitlyn tried to gather herself. She was completely taken aback that this man was standing outside her door.

“Nothin’ much Ice,” Kaitlyn replied. “I was just on my way out,” she tried again hoping he would take the hint.

Instead Ian walked inside and headed to her kitchen, grabbing himself a soda from her fridge and taking a seat on her couch. Sighing deeply Kaitlyn dutifully returned to the living room and waited on him to speak again.

“You look nice,” Ian told her amiably looking her over and loving the outfit. “Where are you going?”

“To a game,” Kaitlyn replied honestly.

“Arena game,” Ian questioned again, as Kaitlyn nodded in the affirmative. “Mmph,” he grunted but said nothing more for a while.

“Listen Ice,” Kaitlyn tried again. “I don’t know what it is you want from me, but I wish you’d get it off your chest,” she finished hoping it would prompt him to talk so she could leave.

Kaitlyn knew Jaleesa was probably growing restless waiting on her.

“You dealing tonight?” Ian asked instead of answering her query.

Sighing again, Kaitlyn told him yes.

“The arena is my territory you know,” Ian told her calmly.

Damn,
Kaitlyn thought behind the tranquil façade.

“I’ve been hearing rumors that your girl Tweety is tryna muscle in and start her own supply chain,” he went on still speaking calmly.

“I don’t think she knew Ice,” Kaitlyn tried. “Neither of us would knowingly disrespect you like that,” she added quickly as Ian continued to regard her.