“THAT WAS INCREDIBLE, Solomon. Oh my god, he looked so heart broken,” Reina says behind loud giggles. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? And where’d you get this car?”
I press on the gas and take a second to marvel at how I can push this car to go this fast. I don’t know if there’s any cops around, but as the speed climbs, I get a rush that I love. Sixty. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. The black leather interior, the blue lights illuminating the inside the car, the bright LED headlights glistening off of the other vehicles around us, the smell of Reina’s sensual perfume, the black night sky littered with bright stars, the fear I felt emanating off of Charlie as I spoke to him—it all mixes and fills me with an excitement like never before. I could get used to all of this. I could get used to feeling like a god!
“I got the car from Nix, who rented it for me,” I reply, staring straight ahead, doing my best to hold back a smile I barely understand. “So that was Charlie? I wasn’t impressed.”
“Yeah that was him, and he’s not impressive, so there’s no surprise there. You, on the other hand, were extremely impressive. I’ve never seen him more afraid. It seriously looked like he was gonna cry.”
“Aww, poor Charlie. Now he knows not to ever mess with you again. He knows you’re not his to mess with.”
As we drive down the dark road being lit up by white street lights on both sides, I can feel Reina staring at me. Her blue eyes burn into me as I speed right through a stoplight with nowhere in particular to go.
“So,” she says, still smiling about the thing with Charlie. “Now that you have me, Solomon, what’s next?”
I look over at her and return the smile, her blonde hair hangs over half of her face and makes me feel an urge to stop the car and answer her question on the side of the road. “Whatever you want.”
“My parents aren’t home tonight,” she says, her smile fading into something else—something much more seductive.
“Is that right?” I reply with a smile and she nods a yes. “Then the night is young. Guide me to your place.”
“With pleasure.”
Reina does her best impression of a GPS and before I know it, we’ve passed a bunch of fancy, luxury houses in the gaudiest residential area I’ve ever seen, and we arrive at her own mini mansion.
“This is your house?” I ask as I park in the expansive driveway made of perfectly laid red brick. I know it is, but it just can’t be for real.
“Come on. I’ll give you a tour,” Reina says as she opens her door and climbs out.
“I don’t want a tour,” I snip. I can’t really explain it to her, but seeing all of this is like a slap in the face to everyone I know in Strawberry Mansion.
“What’s the matter?” Reina says, sensing my annoyance. She walks over to me, her heels clunking on the brick, and wraps her arms around my waist.
“I’m not interested in seeing your parents’ house. I don’t care about how much money they have. I’m here for you, and if it isn’t yours, then I don’t want to see it. So just take me to your room. I want to see where you sleep, where you live, where you think about me.” Reina takes a second to let my words settle on her, then she smiles and leads me up the driveway and into the luxury home.
Inside, the lights to the house are off, and Reina doesn’t bother turning them on as she leads me through the place, weaving in and out of rooms that feel humongous, but it’s too dark to really tell. Even in the dark I can see that Reina’s parents own much more stuff then they could ever need. I see paintings on the walls that look expensive—like they were done by some fancy painter with a name I’ll never hear simply because I’m poor and unworthy of it. The handrail to the staircase is thick and feels like it’s made of ivory or some other extravagant material, and I feel as if I’ll be arrested just for brushing my hand against it as we ascend the stairs.
Finally, we make our way inside a room as Reina flicks on the lights and closes the door behind us. The space is filled with lavish furniture that looks like it shouldn’t even be in a bedroom. Everything is thick and trimmed in gold. Even the headboard is gold and pink—hideous colors, but what stands out to me isn’t the furniture, it’s the fact that this is where Reina sleeps every night. This is where she goes when she’s not with me. When I’m lying on my crappy twin-sized bed that should’ve been upgraded a long time ago, she’s here, living a life of luxury in Center City West.
“Solomon, what’s wrong?” she says as she sits on her bed with the thick, white, warm comforter. “I know you’re thinking something, and you’re not one to keep your thoughts to yourself. So what’s up?”
“What the hell are you doing going down to Strawberry Mansion when you live in a place like this?” I ask, which seems to surprise her. I lean back against a dresser that could fit my entire wardrobe inside and still have room to spare. “What could you possibly want with someone like me? I’m not normal, Reina, and you’d be giving up a life of comfort to be with me. Legitimate comfort. I have to steal everything I want, and you already have it all. You have it all right here, ripe for the picking, ready for the taking. It’s all laid at your feet. So what are you doing?”
She takes a deep breath and furrows her eyebrows. Even with the wrinkles in her head, she’s still beautiful, and I think that’s what scares me. Maybe she does belong in this world. Not the world I live in. She deserves better than anything I can give her right now.
“I’m surprised you’re even asking me that. I told you a long time ago, having money doesn’t mean you have happiness. You make me happy, Solomon. You even said it down at the car before we came up—this belongs to my parents, not me. This is their house, and it’s their money. The happiness I have though, that belongs to me—to us. My heart belongs to you, Solomon. You may not have a house like this, but you have my heart, so don’t you dare start thinking you’re not good enough. I don’t care about any of this, and I’d gladly give it all up to be with you. So I’ll keep going to Strawberry Mansion as long as you’re there. Because I love you, Solomon King.”
Suddenly, I feel like my heart has just been run over by a truck. It’s a new feeling deep inside me and I don’t know what to make of it, so I just stand there and stare at her beautiful face. With all the shit that goes on in my life, I have Reina—the beauty that shines through all of it. What did I ever do to deserve this—to deserve her?
“I don’t expect you to say it back,” she continues as she stands up and approaches me. “I know you’ve been through more than I could imagine. Your life has been beyond difficult, and I know things like love are hard to understand and deal with when your mother has tainted the word the way yours has. You don’t have to say it, because I know you love me too. You wouldn’t even be here if you didn’t. So I don’t need to hear it because I already know it, and that’s enough for me.”
Reina smiles at me as she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls my body into hers. Our mouths connect and both of us are filled with a passionate heat that overtakes our bodies. We kiss like it’s our last day on earth together as we inch our way over and fall onto her bed. Our hands roam each other’s bodies as our clothes start to come off like they have a mind of their own, and before either of us knows it, it’s happening.
It isn’t my first time, but it’s the only time that has mattered. As Reina and I enjoy the feel of each other, I know that from this moment on, we’ll be together. We’ll take everything we want from this world, and soon, everyone will know the two of us. They’ll know us as the couple of the century! We’ll be king and queen, because even though I didn’t say it out loud, I know it’s true just like she does. I do love Reina. It may be my own twisted, crazy version of love, but it is love. We’re partners in crime—king and queen of the underworld. Long may we reign.