When A Woman Hustles

Chapter 14.

Chapter 14

VROOM VROOM.

Pumpkin revved up the engine as she pulled her Range Rover into an empty parking space. She did 60 in a 40 mile zone the entire ride here, riding with the windows down letting the air's warm breeze blow through the wind. A relaxing car ride was a great way to calm her nerves. She placed the ignition in park as she slid on her sunglasses. She checked for the time. 5:58 pm. King should be arriving shortly. He never showed up late. He fully understood Pumpkin's lack of patience and rarely kept her waiting. As she waited, her eyes slowly traveled up the large building towering over her vehicle. Queen's Hair Salon. The salon sat alone and deserted, chained and locked up. Pumpkin lost herself in her thoughts. She never understood why King put so much money into a salon that he never opened to the public. She became frustrated all over again.

Pumpkin was in a very negative space right now. She kept replaying her last meeting with Reese in her head over and over again. She was angry. That was not the way she wanted to find out about King's inner harbor condo, and she couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened if she never did. King has never invited inside his home. Why Reese? Why her??? She didn't want to over think it but she couldn't ignore her gut feeling. She was intimidated. Sickened with panic.

Pumpkin caught a glimpse of King's Porsche truck pulling into the parking lot. Her heart stopped. She grew weak each time he came around. She shuddered in fear. Pumpkin couldn't shake this scary feeling on her chest. Witnessing King fall in love with another woman was one of her worst nightmares. She may have been thinking too far ahead, but Pumpkin had to step in and put a stop to it before it happened. She reached over in the passenger seat clutching the large black duffel bag that sat next to her. She got that football coach for almost $500,000 last night. That was one of her biggest hits in her entire career. She didn't even make that kind of money back in the days when she and Trix used to hustle. Pumpkin was anxious to show King what she was bringing to the table this time, but also hesitant because she didn't want him to think Reese had anything to do with her success. She would have got this money regardless to if Reese was there or not.

King's truck pulled up beside her. She took another deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for this conversation because it wasn't going to be easy. It had been a few days since she spoken with King. He had no idea that she knew about his Inner Harbor Condo and today was the day she planned on confronting him about it. She reached over, grabbing the duffel bag before exiting her truck. Shutting the door behind her, she nervously trailed around the car heading towards the passenger side. Pumpkin locked eyes with King, staring at him through the dark tint as she approached the car door. She had to get her emotions under control before she began this conversation, because she was bound to fuck up and say the wrong thing out of anger right now. She placed her hand on the door handle, swinging open the car door so she could climb inside.

"What's up Punk?" he greeted her. She smiled a half smile while climbing into the passenger seat. "Hey." she responded quietly. Pumpkin shut the door behind her, sitting the duffel bag on the floor at her feet. She wanted to talk personal before they talked business. She had a lot she needed to get off her chest.

"Soooo King." she looked over at him. He sat laid back in his seat, his wrist glistening in pure gold. She observed him. As usual, he dressed in a casual blue shirt and faded blue jeans. He wore a matching hat which gave him the perfect look. Her insides jumped, her skin grew hot. She could not fight her attraction to him no matter how hard she tried. She hated how irresistible he was. Pumpkin tried to so hard to forget about King. Find her a real man and move the hell on with her life. But she couldn't. She had an inner connection with him that she never shared with anyone else. Not with Mason. Not anybody.