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  “Nia…, I need to get out of here. Charlene is—”

  “Not yet,” Nia said. “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times; I get real hot and bothered after running and gunning. You gonna keep me waiting another day?”

  Bobby threw his head back and silenced. Nia was there, parading that perfect body of hers before him as he lay back, and she would not let him go. He could not resist forming images in his mind of her curvaceous naked form once again riding atop him and grew excited at the idea of touching her, kissing her, pleasing her once more. The whole time they were together, from the time they left Kim’s place until they reached the apartment building, Bobby tried to make Nia lose interest by being cold and insensitive toward her. It clearly didn’t work.

  Bobby made a decision. He would do it once more. But it was going to be different this time.

  “The hell with it…” Bobby stammered, undoing his belt buckle.

  “…What did you say?!” Nia gasped, incensed by his tone. “You act like this is some kind of chore. If you don’t want me, never mind.”

  Bobby’s heart jumped. “What—?! I…I ain’t mean it like that!”

  Nia tightly folded her arms and twisted away from him, her frustration seething like a blazing furnace.

  Bobby was excited now, and refused to leave before satiating himself. He immediately sat up and grasped her hips, stroking her belly with his thumbs as his tone softened. He knew he had to say whatever it took to get Nia to open back up.

  “I’m sorry,” Bobby said, as he looked up at her. “I’m stressed. I’m so sorry.”

  “I know you’re stressed, Bobby,” Nia cried, returning the look. “I’m stressed too. We’re here alone together and you’re acting like I got fat and nasty all of the sudden, like you can’t stand the sight of me.”

  Bobby pulled Nia’s belly to his lips and began to kiss her there. Nia tripped over to him, rolling her eyes and pouting as he dragged her close.

  “Girl, ain’t nothing I love more than your body,” Bobby whispered, kissing her some more as he eased her skirt down with his thumbs. Nia finally stopped resisting her smile when her skirt fell around her ankles and Bobby’s teeth grasped the top edge of her panties.

  “My baby looks like he’s hungry…” Nia whispered. She kicked off her skirt and dropped it to the floor before kneeling upon the bed and resting her rear on Bobby’s lap. Bobby’s fingers slid upward across her sides, digging underneath her top as she raised her arms. Bobby pushed the top past Nia’s shoulders, freeing her breasts as Nia took hold of the shirt and pulled it off.

  He slid his mouth over her left breast and circled her nipple with his tongue. Nia whimpered as Bobby’s tongue continued to gradually roll and swirl about her breast. He alternated from her left breast to her right and Nia enjoyed every second his warm touch oozed over her. Bobby wrapped his strapping arms around Nia’s waist, this time swinging her around and laying her flat on her back upon the bed. He immediately pulled off her panties and traced a line of tongue kisses from under her chin to between her thighs, where he stopped and pulled away.

  No oral pleasure.

  Nia was confused, but she didn’t mention it. She was certain Bobby loved to provide it for her, yet for the first time since their relationship began, Bobby didn’t do it. He only continued to kiss her around her thighs, with only his breath caressing her. She groaned excitedly and trembled, anticipating when Bobby would cease with the foreplay and give her what she wanted.

  But Bobby never drew his tongue. He stood to his feet and stripped down. He donned his condom and immediately thrust inside of her, taking Nia by surprise.

  “Ooh!” Nia gasped. “Go ahead…rough rider!”

  Bobby, still silent, hurriedly and rhythmically probed Nia as he moved his groin back and forth. Nia stared at her lover and saw he was looking skyward, as if ashamed to look upon her.

  Nia raised her legs to wrap them around his back, but Bobby arched his spine and Nia’s short legs couldn’t reach. They fell to the floor, her feet slapping the wood planks.

  Then it hit Nia. She looked upon him as his breaths echoed from his pursed lips in perfect rhythm with her body rocking back and forth, almost in a mechanical way.

  Bobby wasn’t making love to her.

  He was just fucking her.

  Nia sensed the difference even in her ecstatic stupor. The feeling was different. It was more…typical. No emotional connection, no embracing, no passionate gaze shared. Just penetration.

  Nia wondered for once who Bobby was actually trying to please. Did he care at all how she felt?

  Soon, Bobby seemed fatigued and pulled out of her, his head hanging. Nia, her body trembling, could only lie back and glance at him with half-closed eyes. Then, as if he suddenly got a second wind, Bobby quickly reached out and grabbed Nia by the arms, pulling her up to her feet.

  “Huh?” Nia wondered, her wobbling legs barely able to support her as she stood naked before him.

  He grabbed her shoulder and pulled, silently compelling her to turn her back to him. He pushed his palm into her shoulders and eased her into a kneeling position, her butt high in the air.

  Nia shut her eyes and smiled uncontrollably as she spaced her thighs, waiting feverishly for Bobby to make his way inside of her.

  Bobby slammed into her with brute force.

  “Ouch!” Nia yelped.

  “You mean to tell me you can’t take it?” Bobby suddenly grunted as he grasped her hips, supporting himself as he forcefully rifled in and out of her. “Supposed to be all strong and shit…”

  “I—I can take it!” Nia shouted as if in competition. “Go ahead! Do what you gotta do, rough rider!”

  Bobby rapidly pounded her from behind with all the strength he could summon, slapping Nia’s butt so hard, the sound of the smack echoed. Nia screamed in a mix of pleasure and pain as he took hold of her mangled hair, yanking her head back and thrusting inside her like a piston.

  Nia growled like a lion in combat. She spread her legs wider and raised her butt, leaning forward until her cheek pressed against the mattress. She moaned loudly, closed her moistening eyes and clawed the bedspreads, pleasure rippling through her every nerve.

  Bobby leaned forward, pressing even deeper inside. Both of them roared louder and more bestial. The bed began to quiver with their force and eventually the entire room was shaking with a cadenced banging, all the furniture rocking from their weight and force.

  Bobby roared, “Yeah! You like that, bitch?”

  “W-what?!” Nia stammered.

  “Shut the hell up!” Bobby clawed the soft flesh of her butt as he continued to thrust and groan. “You ain’t nothing but a ho anyway…get fucked! That’s all you’re good for…”

  Nia suddenly pushed herself away and rolled over, making Bobby withdraw from her.

  “Who you think you’re talking to like that?”

  Bobby lunged forward and threw himself on top of Nia, grasping her pendant in his fingers.

  “Take this off! I told you I was sick of this damn thing scratching me up!”

  Swiftly he yanked the pendant from around Nia’s neck, breaking the chain and casting it away.

  Nia shuddered, her eyes following the necklace as its pieces drifted to the floor.

  “Bobby! That’s my mother’s—!”

  “I told you to shut up!” he roared. “You want this so bad, you’re gonna get it…raw!”

  Bobby snatched off his condom and leaned toward Nia, then all movement ceased.

  Nia stared daggers at Bobby, pressing her feet into his chest. The muscles of her calves tensed.

  “Bastard…”

  Nia thrust her legs outward and Bobby soared backward!

  He flew across the room, his arms and legs flailing helplessly until he crashed into the wall near the front door and tumbled to the floor like a rag doll.

  Nia leaped to her feet. “Bobby…what the…what the hell was that?!”

  Bobby grumbled as he looked at the
naked woman standing over him with clutched fists, rage in his eyes. But his rage turned to shock as his eyes rolled down to Nia’s thighs and calves. The muscles had hardened and thickened to twice the size they normally were, as if the legs of a much larger, more muscular woman were attached to Nia’s diminutive body. Then, the muscles and veins pulsated and trembled under her skin until her legs shrank and returned to normal.

  Nia herself finally noticed it, and gazed at her legs with bulging eyes. Is that…what happened to my body when…

  Bobby moaned as he pulled himself up by the door handle.

  “What the fuck are you?”

  “I…” Nia stammered, then shook her head.

  “Fucking whore…that’s what you are…fucking science freak monster whore…”

  “What did you say?!”

  “What the hell was I thinking…” Bobby muttered, fishing for his clothes. “Wasting my time with a freak-of-nature skank like you when I got a real woman at home…”

  “What…?” Nia cried.

  “Look. You got your shit and you got your crib. So do me a favor. Do me and Charlene a favor. Stay the hell away from us, Nia. Just…just stay the hell out of my life, all right? We’re through.”

  Nia flopped backward on the bed. Her body trembled with a cold that had nothing to do with the temperature.

  Bobby’s face hardened and he turned away from Nia. He looked as if he were disgusted with her.

  Nia crossed her arms over her breasts and squeezed her thighs together as if suddenly ashamed. She finally realized the heartrending truth; what she should have known from the start.

  Bobby made every effort to preserve his relationship with Charlene and sleep with Nia. Have his cake and eat it too.

  But no matter how things turned out, he would never let Charlene go.

  Charlene was the woman he loved. Nia was just the shorty he fucked on the side.

  That’s all Nia ever was to him.

  Bobby rambled on. “I don’t see what you’re so upset about. It is what it is. We fucked. That’s all it was, wasn’t it?”

  Nia sobbed, yanking a sheet from the bed and covering herself. “You don’t know a damn thing. All like, ‘Not Nia. Nia doesn’t feel that way about anybody.’”

  “You…you heard—?” Bobby gasped, turning back around.

  “Heightened senses…” Nia interrupted. “Apparently that’s one of my gifts. I hear real good. Yeah, I heard everything Kim said to you and everything you tried to say back. All you ever care about is getting the most ass.”

  “It ain’t just about sex, Nia!” Bobby hollered. “Charlene and I have something special together. Something real. Not just late night fuck sessions.”

  “So do you always creep around on somebody that you got something ‘real’ with?! Is that your thing? That’s just how you do?” Nia snapped. “You already lost Charlene, so why—”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Bobby interrupted. “She and I talked just before I came out to see you. She forgave me for cheating on her. We’re still together.”

  And Nia finally understood his drastic change in behavior. Charlene took him back. In Charlene’s shoes, Nia would never have done it…and then it hit her.

  Maybe that’s what love really was.

  “Yeah,” Bobby went on. “And I promised her I’d never let it happen again. But you just couldn’t let me get away clean, could you?!”

  “Oh, yeah right!” Nia sobbed. “Like I forced you to run your little dick up in me! I can’t believe myself…I thought you were something special…I thought you were the shit! You’re just as dirty as any other raggedy-ass, fake-ass player out there. You know what, Charlene’s stupid ass deserves to be with a cheating-ass piece of shit like you. Get the hell out of my apartment!”

  “Gladly.”

  Bobby quickly turned toward the door. She looked away as he left, curling up in the sheet, shaking with grief. Bobby lingered for a moment before he ultimately left the room and closed the door.

  Bobby darted downstairs where Gallagher still sat at the lobby desk.

  “What in the hell was all that ruckus?! I can’t have all that—”

  “Chill, Gallagher,” Bobby muttered, slowing down as he walked toward the entrance. “It won’t happen again.”

  “…I’ll take your word for it, Bob,” Gallagher shouted as he left. “Hey, don’t be a stranger, all right? We haven’t been fishing in ages!”

  “I won’t. Peace, Gallagher,” Bobby’s voice shouted from outside as he started his jeep.

  Soon, he was driving away, and exhaled a sigh of relief. I knew she was some kind of monster… I think I’m lucky to be alive…all this time I was fucking around with somebody that ain’t even human…

  An hour passed. Gallagher lifted his large frame from his seat, shut off his television and headed toward his own room on the first floor to retire for the night. As he turned toward the hall leading to his domain, a breeze glanced across him from behind, and he flinched.

  “What in the river’s name…” Gallagher mumbled to himself as he turned and saw the building’s front door, wide open. Outside of the building, he saw a silver motorcycle already speeding away, a plume of dust and smoke rising like a typhoon in the wake.

  “That…that couldn’t have been—I’m getting too old for this.”

  Nia’s sport bike exceeded the speed limit. The roar of its engine could be heard miles away.

  As she bolted through the late night under the orange street lamps that lined and illuminated the near-empty road, Nia could only think about her hunger for support. She felt a sense of abandonment she hadn’t experienced since she was younger. She cared nothing about whether she just compromised her hideout or if she’d run into any sort of conflict. She needed to talk to someone again.

  But this time she couldn’t see Marc. She couldn’t bear to go anywhere near the Jazz Hall, where she first met Bobby. With night having fallen, the club would be packed as usual. She did not want all of the Jazz Hall’s regulars in her business. She only had one choice. Nia needed to see the one person left whom she could rely on.

  She pulled up to Kim’s warehouse and found the lights were on, unusual for the time of night; he was usually asleep by that time.

  As soon as she stopped, she saw Kim, standing in front of the building, waiting with his hands clasped behind his back.

  Kim was expecting her.

  Nia climbed off the motorcycle and sauntered toward Kim, staggering with little energy in her steps.

  Their eyes met. Immediately Kim stepped forth and wrapped his arms around Nia, stroking her back as she fell into his embrace and buried her face in his chest, letting go of her tears at last.

  Twenty

  …They said they knew Mom. They’re good people, Nia. They said they would teach us about ourselves, give us good jobs, and even train us.

  You don’t know that, Tia! Just because the headmistress said that doesn’t mean…

  Anything’s better than being here. We’ve spent our whole childhood in this house. All the other kids are scared of us. No one’s ever going to adopt us. We have to get out of here!

  Those people gave us the choice. They said we can stay or we can go…I’m staying. That’s the only way we can find out the truth…it all happened here, in this city…don’t you care?

  You still believe he’s coming back, don’t you? You still believe dad’s coming back…he’s not going to get us out of here. He can’t. He’s dead. No one wants us. Only them. Only the Phoenix Group. I want you to come with me. I need you to.

  Don’t leave me, Tia…please. I meant what I said. If you leave…

  If you’re stupid enough to believe anyone besides the Phoenix cares about us, then I don’t want you for a sister anyway. So say what you want.

  Tia!

  … I’m leaving. I can’t take this anymore. I want to have a life. I’m done with this orphanage and I’m done with you, Nia.

  The morning sun rose.

  I
nside a room deep within the warehouse, the sun shined through a window and beamed across Nia’s body as she rolled away from the light. As the heat of the concentrated sunlight began to sear her skin, Nia finally forced herself awake.

  She had managed to cry herself to sleep the night before; incessant rubbing left her eyes reddened and irritated. Her head throbbed with a stress headache. Bobby. He still weighed on her mind.

  She wanted nothing more than to lie down all day, but the sun, lancing across her skin like a laser, would not allow it. Wearing only a halter-top and panties, Nia lifted herself from Kim’s cot in the back of the warehouse. As soon as she sat up and looked ahead, she saw Kim standing over her.

  “Nia Black.”

  Nia rubbed her head. “That’s me…”

  “On your feet!”

  Nia grumbled. “Kim, what’s up with you? Why you all up in my face this morning? I’m not even dressed! What time is it?”

  “You are a warrior, Nia Black. You cannot dwell on what has happened in your personal life. On your feet.”

  “Five more minutes.”

  Kim grunted in disgust.

  “On! Your! Feet!”

  Though he did not condone Nia’s dangerous lifestyle, Kim understood why she deemed it necessary. As such, it was up to him to make sure his protégé remained strong and focused when a mission was at hand.

  “You must harden your body and mind. We will practice right now!”

  “Now?!” Nia gasped, sitting up. “Come on man, Kim…you know I’m not up to that right now. Besides, if anything comes my way, my guns will take care of it.”

  Kim grumbled in another language before raising his knee. He quickly shot out his foot, slamming his heel into Nia’s chest! She shot backward like a toppled chair and crashed back on the cot.