Onika
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"What?" I ask, terror running rife at her whispered curse.
"I'm thinking." Megan holds up a hand.
"Has she done this before? Is there a playbook for this?"
She shakes her head. "No. I mean, the woman has plenty of mistresses. She usually orders them from out of the country."
"And?"
"After a few months they disappear. Like they never existed to begin with."
I think of Beyoncé Knowles, the girl we knew from church that no one has seen or heard from her again and was rumored to have been one of her mistresses. As far as I know, the police consider her disappearance a cold case.
My breathing speeds up again. No matter which way I look at the situation, the only ending that seems to be consistent is me dying.
Megan eyes me carefully, as if studying my every feature for the very first time. "After that mess with Beyoncé, she hasn't been with any local girls."
"Why deviate from her pattern now? Why me?" My words come out sounding just as frenzied as my brain.
Megan shakes her head. "God only knows." Her reply doesn't make me feel any better about the situation. She steps away, crossing to the counter to grab her cell. "I need to make a phone call."
She leaves me on the couch as she walks out of the room, and I draw my knees up to my chest and contemplate my options. Magically come up with five hundred thousand dollars. Prostitute myself out to a woman who has either killed or ordered people killed, and everyone she sleeps with disappears afterwards. Or, prepare to die a horrendous death, knowing my friends and family are going to die too.
All because of Meek.
How could I have been so stupid? We'd met online, my first foray into the world of internet dating. We'd been ridiculously compatible. Our first date had been a dream. It was effortless, the way I thought real love should be. And our chemistry? Off the charts. At least, at the very beginning. I was the one who brought up eloping, and he said it was the most romantic idea he'd ever heard. So, we did it.
And he was a con artist.
I thought he'd been so interested in the distillery because it was my passion, and after we got married, he wanted to be part of running it. We were going to be an unstoppable team, and that thrilled me. Until I spotted him and the other woman. All of a sudden, his reduced interest in sex with me became utterly apparent. He was too busy fucking someone else to want to go another round with me.
It was time to truly face the facts. Meek Mills conned me. He never wanted to be part of a team. He wanted to use the distillery as collateral for a half-million-dollar debt to a woman scarier than any villain Hollywood has yet to create.
I can't stop picturing a woman dancing on shattered glass until the pain was so horrendous she slit her wrists.
She's a monster.
I squeeze my arms tighter around myself, and Megan returns a few moments later.
"I only have a hundred liquid. I could borrow another two, maybe two and a half from my connections, but I can't pull together five hundred in a week."
I blink twice and stare at my best friend until I realize she's talking about giving me the money. "I didn't come here for that. I couldn't take--"
"Of course you wouldn't come here with your hand out, because that's not the kind of girl you are. But I would give it up for you if I could. Your ass isn't on the line by itself, sweet thing. If you default, we all go down with you."
Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling like I normally do–determined to take on the world of whiskey and make Seven Sinners the household name it has never been. Today, I'm worried about whether I'll be alive in another week.
All because of Robyn Fenty. No. Because of Meek.
"I already told her I don't have the money. She knows."
Megan nods, her teeth skimming her lower lip. "Doesn't surprise me at all. The woman knows everything that happens in this town. What does surprise me is that she's willing to take pussy for payment on a half-mil debt."
I cringe at her crass language, but one thing I've always respected about Megan is she calls a spade a spade.
"I've heard of her taking property, houses, boats, racehorses, and cars, but never a woman. This isn't her normal behavior."
The gears in my brain turn slowly, as though rusted together from information overload. "Why change now?"
Megan tilts her head to one side and studies the wreck I surely am. "Have you looked in the mirror lately? I mean, when you weren't puking your guts up?"
I roll my eyes.
"Nicki, you are a hot girl. I could book you out every night of the week and twice on weekends."
"I know you mean that as a compliment, but--"
"But nothing. You got tits, ass, and those gorgeous curls. And don't get me started on yo big ass eyes. You've cornered the market on untouchable class. And what's more, you're totally and completely oblivious to it."
"Meek clearly didn't think so." I don't even know why I say it. Reminding myself my husband was cheating on me sucks more every time.
"Meek was a asshole and never deserved you. And right now, you need to quit worrying about him and start worrying about Fenty."
I unwrap one arm from around my chest and pinch the bridge of my nose. "I don't even know where to start."
Megan cocks a hip to the side. "I have a feeling she'll be calling all the shots, so it won't matter anyway. Actually...maybe that's what'll save your ass. From what I've heard, the others were all meek and submissive."
I jerk back into the couch cushions. "That's definitely not me."
She holds up a hand. "No shit. And maybe that's it. You're full of fire and sass to match that ass of yours. You gotta use it."
I don't like where she's going with this, and my belly flips in agreement. "I seriously have no idea what you mean. At all."
"When you're Robyn Fenty, no one defies you. No one gives you sass. Something about you caught her eye. I feel that in my bones. You have to use it. Work it. Don't let her walk all over you."
Megan's voice quiets. "Don't let her break you, Nicki. You keep ahold of your pride and never let go. She won't know how to handle you."
The thought of Fenty handling me turns my stomach again. "There's really no other way? No other client--" I can't believe I'm throwing the option out there as a possibility.
Megan destroys my last hope with a shake of her head. "You've already been marked. Rihanna owns your ass, regardless of whether she's tapped it yet. No one else will touch you because they'll want to keep their limbs intact."
"She gave me a week. I have to find another alternative."
"That's the part I've been trying to figure out. Normally, when a debt to Fenty is due, it is due."
"Can't I go to the police? Won't they do something?"
Megan looks toward the ceiling, as though seeking patience from a higher power. "Please tell me you're joking. Because if you take one step in that direction, we're all dead."
"So you're saying...I have to do this."
She lowers her gaze to mine, and I feel the grimness of her stare. "You don't have a choice. Not another one you can live with, anyway."
"And you want me to defy the woman who's never been defied?" I cough out a strangled laugh. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
She shakes her head again, biting her lip as she holds up a finger. "No. I'm trying to save you."
"Fuck," I whisper. Because honestly, what else is there to say in this situation?
"But there's one more thing you gotta watch out for, girl."
I don't want to know where she is going with this, probably down some other dark and gruesome road, but I have to ask. "What?"
"When you have as much power as Rihanna, that much charisma, that much presence, it does things to people."
"You're losing me."
"Listen to me, Nicki. Hear me." Her sharp tone clues me in to the fact that this is no joke. "She's going to make your head go to war with your body."
My heart kicks up again. "I don't understand what you mean."
Megan lets out a long sigh. "I'll put this in plain terms. You're gonna tell yourself that you don't want her, that you hate her, and that this is all happening against your will. But there's something about that woman that tells me she's gonna fuck with your head and turn your body against you. Mark my words, Nicki. She will make you enjoy it. She will make you want her."
The gravity of her stare presses me back into the couch. "No way. No fucking way." I jump up, my arms at my sides, my hands fisted.
"Yes fucking way. Get this through your head." She comes toward me and wraps a hand around my arm, her nails digging into my skin. "There's no shame in enjoying it, if that's what's gotta be done. My girls do it all the time. Drop-dead gorgeous client, one they'd fuck for free? Doesn't even feel like work."
I stiffen under her grip. "I'm not one of your girls." The words come out from between gritted teeth.
"But you're still female, and chemistry isn't something you can fight." She surveys me with knowledge in her eyes I can't begin to imagine. Her grip on my arm loosens. "Just...be careful. She's not like any girl you've ever met. But whatever you do, don't show fear. Don't let her fuck with your head. You're strong. Hold on to that. But if you enjoy it...what's the harm?" She releases her hold on me with a shrug.
"No way in hell."
_________
Thoughts?
Nicki?
She's so clueless about anything illegal☠️
Do you think she'll go along with Megan's plan?
Megan?
Is she looking out for Nicki, herself or both?
Her plan?
You learned a little more about Meek..
What do you think of him now?
What do you think will happen next?
Keep or delete?
••••••••
A/N: This dark mode: 🤩
Word count: 1735
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~Pooh