“THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!” Reina shouts as we drive out of the parking structure of North-X-Northwest luxury apartments, where my loft rests on the sixteenth floor. After taking the rental car back and having Marcell drop us off at my loft, Reina and I decided to go on a ride through the city. Our city!
“I can’t believe we pulled that off!” Reina continues as she rolls the window down on my Alfa Romeo 4C RS and I veer the car towards the on ramp, heading for the highway. “Did you see the size of that fireball and the look on his face? Oh my god, it was perfect. The plan actually played out exactly the way we thought it up. It was genius. We make a helluva team, you know.”
“Of course we do!” I reply as I step on the gas and the lightweight sports car revs up, sending us shooting past traffic on the highway. Wind zooms in through the open windows as our speed rockets past eighty and quickly eclipses ninety miles per hour.
“Do you know how powerful we can be in this city?” Reina goes on, her adrenaline still pumping from watching Dante stand in the street surrounded by his shattered hopes and dreams. “This is gonna be our city, Solomon. Yours and mine. Nobody will ever try to step in our way, because they’ll know we’re willing to do anything to get what we want. We can be unstoppable. Untouchable!”
“As long as we’re together,” I reply, keeping my eyes on the road as we fly by slower cars. “I never thought in a million years that you’d come back here, Reina. Seeing you at that restaurant was the best and worst thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
“What? Why the worst?”
“Because you were next to him! Seeing you sit down next to Dante was like having a little man inside my chest, kicking the crap out of my heart while wearing steel-toed boots.”
Reina lets out a soft giggle that makes my heart jump a bit.
“You’re crazy,” she replies, smiling at me while I drive on. “I was wondering, what made you keep quiet that night? I was worried you’d have some sort of an outburst when you saw me, but you and Nix both kept it together.”
“Two things. One, I was worried that if I reacted, it could get you killed. I didn’t know what Dante would do if he found out we knew each other. And two, you were wearing the bracelet I bought you.”
“Yeah, the bracelet,” Reina says. “I was hoping you’d notice and know I was sending you a message. Good eye.”
“How could I not see that? Once I noticed it, I still didn’t know what to think, but I was hoping that it meant you were trying to communicate with me. Then you sealed the deal by blowing that kiss as we were leaving.”
“That was genius, and Dante had no clue. Hell, he still doesn’t!”
“How often do you guys normally go out together?”
“It’s only a handful of times a month. We’re not in a serious relationship or anything. I keep him at a distance for a reason.”
“Well I’m glad,” I reply. “I couldn’t handle you guys being together all the time and sleeping together. I never would’ve been able to pull off what we did today if that was happening. Knowing it wasn’t is what helped me stay composed.”
“You? Composed?” Reina jokes, giggling in the way that only she can. “I’m kidding, my love. You did well. It was impressive, sitting there watching you at the head of the table, commanding your troops in the club you own. You told me that you’d change your life, and you did it. You’ve become exactly what I thought you would.”
“Well,” I answer as I yank the steering wheel and the car responds by weaving through two cars. “You became more than I ever imagined. You became so much more, Reina. I was so focused on what I wanted to do when we were teenagers that I never thought about what you’d be doing. You went through hell with what your parents did to you, but you came back bigger and better than they could ever have thought. They made you their perfect enemy, a beautiful, sexy, evil genius, and I couldn’t be more impressed. All those years you were gone, no one could ever come close to replacing you in my mind. It was always you, Reina. There isn’t anybody else that could handle being with me. I know I’m not like everybody else, and neither are you. There’s nobody else in the world like the two of us. That’s why we’re perfect together. That’s why we’re gonna run the world together. You and me. King and queen. Forever always.”
“Have I told you how much I missed you?” Reina says, and I hear how wide her smile is. “And have I told you that I love you more than anything in this world? Because I do, Solomon. I love you.”
As I see red flashing lights in the side-view mirror, I smile at Reina’s words.
“I love you,” I reply. “Don’t ever think I don’t. I’d kill for you, and I’d die for you. You’re the only person I could say that about. I love you. And we’ve got company. I guess you’re not supposed to drive a hundred miles per hour.”
Reina turns around in her seat and her eyes light up at the sight of a cop car speeding up to catch us. Other cars on the road slow down to let the cops pass them, and before I know it, the police car is nearly right behind us.
“Oh no,” Reina jokes with an amused laugh. “I guess we’re going to jail!”
I chuckle as I look over at her.
“They’ll have to catch us first, baby.”
I turn my head and look out the windshield as I downshift and stomp on the gas pedal, pressing it all the way to the floor. The engine revs and lets out a loud, high-pitched scream as we speed forward. The pressure from accelerating so quickly presses us back against our seats, and we immediately put distance between us and the cop car. I weave through traffic like a NASCAR racer, nearly hitting a few cars as Reina lets out an excited yell.
“Yeah! Do it, baby!” she screams, and I feel instantly motivated.
The feeling I have as the two of us evade cops is something I’ve never felt before. This woman, instead of cowering and telling me to slow down, is telling me to lose the cops! She’s egging me on and has a look of exuberance on her face as we narrowly avoid deadly crash after deadly crash. How could a woman so perfect possibly exist in this world? She’s incredible, and putting that smile on her face drives me more now than it ever has.
Behind us, there are at least two cop cars trying to chase us down, but my car is too fast, and my skill behind the wheel can’t be matched. Before too long, I can’t see their lights anymore as we manage to get away before they can deploy their helicopter to hover above us, and I take the car off the highway and into Strawberry Mansion for a little trip down memory lane. When Reina recognizes the neighborhood, her excitement jumps again.
“Wow,” she exclaims. “Strawberry Mansion. Never thought I’d see this place again. Look, there’s the train station I used so often.”
Now that I’m not speeding at over a hundred miles per hour, I take my time cruising through the neighborhood. I look out my window and recognize the old, decrepit houses I used to walk past and I’m filled with memories of my childhood. I’ve owned my mother’s house since she passed away, but I don’t come down here too often. Too many bad memories, but now that Reina is back and we’re together again, the thought of how she left doesn’t sting like it used to, so it’s easier to be here now.
After a slow drive through the neighborhood, passing by Cash N Check and Aaron’s Arcade, I turn the car onto the street Nix and I grew up on. As if time has stood still, there are still poor people on the corner with liquor bottles wrapped in brown paper bags, and homeless people all over the place. It’s been a while, but I’m reminded of what life in the hood is like. It’s like being forgotten about by your own country. Nothing you do is good enough for people who live outside your area and judge from the outside, and your environment doesn’t provide enough for you to ever make it out, unless you’re willing to get grimy and break the law. Breaking the law is what made me who I am today, and as I bring my luxurious car to a stop in front of my mother’s old house, the people on the street look at us with admiration as we get out.
“What up, Solomon?” a man says as he walks by slowly, eyeing the car. I simply nod to him in response.
“Hey, Solomon!” a woman shouts from her car as she drives by.
“Wow,” Reina says. “They love you around here.”
“They respect me,” I explain. “They know what I did to come up, and they think of me as some sort of mob boss, ironically. That’s why no one messes with this house.”
“Yeah, I was actually wondering about that,” Reina says as we leave the car parked in the street and approach the house. “So no one tries to mess with the house when you’re not here? Nobody is gonna mess with the car? I mean, it stands out a lot.”
“After everything I did to make it out of Strawberry Mansion, there isn’t a single person who’d mess with this house while I’m not here, and we don’t have to worry about anyone messing with the car either. They all know me.”
“That’s crazy,” Reina answers with a smile as I open the door to the house and we step into the living room.
Inside, nothing from my childhood has been touched. I could’ve renovated the entire house, but after Whitney died, I couldn’t bring myself to change any of it. So, the crappy tan couch, vomit-green recliner, and twenty-seven-inch TV all remain untouched.
“Wow,” Reina says with a smile as I close the door and sit down on the same broken recliner I was on when Whitney came in and knocked my cereal out of my hand. Ah, the memories. “I’m not sure what I expected, but I don’t think I expected it to look exactly the same.”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to change it,” I reply. “We both know I hated Whitney, but after she died, I spent a lot of time here, game planning and plotting my rise to the top. I moved out of the basement and into her old room, but other than that, I stacked my money as we stole it instead of putting it back into the house. On those rare occasions that I do come back here, I like that it looks the same as it used to. It’s a good reminder of how far I’ve come. It still motivates me.”
“That’s good, because I’m surprised you still get motivated after seeing how high you’ve ascended. It can be easy to be complacent and happy with where you are, but you’re still working for more, never satisfied. I’ve always loved your ambition, Solomon. It motivates me.”
“Is that right?”
“Oh yeah,” Reina replies as she walks over to me and slowly lowers herself, straddling me. “It’s a turn on, too. A man who has everything yet still wants to work for more. You’re a force to be reckoned with, Solomon King.”
Reina wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me softly on the cheek. I can feel the warmth of her breath as she leans over and nuzzles against my neck.
“You keep this up, Ms. Wilde, and I’ll have no choice but to fuck you right here on my mother’s couch,” I whisper in her ear.
“Oh yeah? Prove it.”
In an instant, I stand up with Reina’s legs still wrapped around my waist. I walk over to the couch and turn around, laying her down underneath me. She lets out a playful, seductive giggle as I press my mouth against her neck and suck her skin while I slowly pull down her black pants.
“Oh yeah. Show me how much of a boss you are, baby,” Reina says into my ear as she reaches for my waistband and starts to pull my pants down as well. “Give it to me, Solomon.”
I don’t reply with words. Instead, I snatch her pants completely off and push her panties to the side, slowly sliding my fingers inside of her as she moans. Reina grinds against my hand as I stroke my fingers in and out of her with one hand, while pushing my pants and underwear off with the other. I feel her warm wetness on my fingers and take in the look of her face as she watches me, staring at my naked length with desire in her blue eyes.
“Take all of it off,” she tells me. “I want to see all of you.”
At her command, I pull my fingers out of her and take off my shirt, giving her a full view of my completely naked body, covered in tattoos and small beads of sweat from my rising body temperature. Once I’m naked, I reach down and tear Reina’s lace panties completely apart. She giggles at the sound of her underwear ripping, but I can tell it turns her on even more as she reaches up and grabs me by the waist, pulling me down on top of her.
I slide into Reina with ease, and it feels like we were always meant to be together in this way. It’s like her parts were made for me and mine for her. Both of us moan and grind with each other, rocking the couch backwards and to the side as the intensity picks up. Reina’s moans get louder and louder as I pound into her, not holding back in the slightest. We’re like two animals having sex with no regard for anything but what we’re doing.
After the couch, Reina and I switch positions violently, knocking the old coffee table completely over on its side as we slide down to the floor, and Reina climbs on top of me. I force her shirt over her head as she sits down on my erection and takes it deep inside of her. Reina doesn’t work slowly, she immediately starts grinding as hard as she can, giving it to me like the excitement from earlier today has been building this up inside of her the whole time. She screams my name as I spank her on the ass and leave a giant red handprint in my wake, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if there were tons of people in Strawberry Mansion who could hear everything, because the two of us are sweating, panting, and moaning like there isn’t anybody else in the world but us. When Reina comes, it’s like a freight train hit her, and she releases a gut wrenching, guttural scream that turns me on so much I end up coming at the exact same time before she collapses down on top of me, panting heavily.
“Damn,” she says between gasps for air. “How did I ever live without you for seven years? Holy shit, Solomon.”
I lay my head back on the carpet and try to take in as much air as I can, breathing heavily as sweat pours down my face. “I ask myself that question all the time,” I reply behind a chuckle.
On the drive back to my loft, I make sure to take my time. We let the windows down again, enjoying the feel of the cool breeze against our hot flesh, and the two of us hold hands when we’re on the highway and I don’t have to shift as much. It’s like we’re kids again, and every now and then, I look over at her and marvel at her beauty as she leans her head back against the headrest and stares out the window. She’s a vision, and for the first time in my life, I feel like everything is exactly the way it should be. I couldn’t ask for anything more, and I truly couldn’t be happier. Reina is back, and she’s better than ever.
“So,” I say as I take the ramp off the highway and head towards the loft. “Where have you been staying since you came back to Philly?”
Reina lifts her beautiful head off of the headrest and looks over at me as if sensing what I’m about to say.
“I’ve done a lot of hotel hopping,” she replies. “I settled on a fancy hotel suite on the outskirts of Center City recently though. Why?”
“You know why,” I tease before telling her what’s on my mind. “We never mentioned it since you popped back into my life, but why don’t you stay with me for a while?”
“You want me to move in with you, Solomon?”
“Let’s not call it moving in. Just stay with me for a while. You can go back to your fancy hotel suite whenever you want, but for now, just hang with me.”
“Sounds intriguing,” Reina replies. “We’d have to be careful though, at least while Dante is still alive. Once we’re rid of him, then we can do whatever we want, but until then, we don’t want to risk him finding out about us.”
“I don’t care what he finds out,” I rebut. “He’s as good as dead anyway, and I won’t let thoughts of Dante keep us from doing what we want to do.”
I slow the car down briefly for a stoplight that turns green before I can come to a complete stop, before finally turning onto my street and heading for the parking structure beneath the North-X-Northwest building.
“We’re not letting him control us or anything like that,” Reina replies, sensing my frustration. “But you gotta remember that I’m conning him until he’s dead. If we would’ve just killed him tonight like I wanted, we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
“I know you wanted to kill him, but I wanted to humiliate him first. The streets are tricky, and the people who work for him needed to see him brought to his knees before seeing him dead. They needed to know that there is someone with considerable power now. So, now that we’ve crippled Dante and killed Angelo’s consigliere all in one night, we can take out Dante and show the world it was us. We’ve set it up perfectly, now we finish it.”
“I know, my love,” Reina begins to say. “But until we take out . . .”
In an instant, Reina is interrupted by the sound of a booming crash. Metal bends and twists all around us, and glass explodes everywhere as the car takes a direct shot from the driver’s side and begins to roll over. Reina and I rock to the right as my Alfa Romeo rolls onto its side and keeps going until it completes a full rollover and comes to a stop right-side-up directly in front of my building. Once we come to a stop, there is nothing but silence. No car horns, no screaming from injured people nearby, just the sound of our breathing and grunting from the impact of the crash.
“What . . . what the hell happened?” I hear myself croak, although my voice sounds muffled in my ears. “Reina. Reina, are you okay?”
“Shit!” Reina exclaims as she raises her hand and places it on her head, stopping a thin trickle of blood from going into her eye. “Yeah, I’m fine. What happened? Did we hit someone?”
“I don’t know,” I answer as I look down and check myself for injuries. I’m surprised and relieved to find none, although my head is pounding from the rollover. “I didn’t see anything before it happened. Let me look.”
I look out the destroyed windshield and don’t see anything, so I turn to my left and look through the hole where the driver’s side window used to be. It’s there that I see a large black truck with a crushed front end. The headlights are completely destroyed, and through the windshield I can see that the airbag has deployed. As I struggle to see anything else, there’s movement. The door to the truck opens, and out stumbles a man wearing a black suit with a scruffy beard. I recognize him immediately.
“Solomon!” Dante shouts as he gathers his footing on the broken glass beneath him. He stands next to the truck glaring at our car, holding a nine millimeter in his left hand. “I found you, stronzo. And I see you’ve got company. I guess I’m not the only one who can plant a mole, huh. Nice move. I never suspected Reina. Having her here will make killing you both much quicker.”
“Holy shit, is that Dante?” Reina asks rhetorically.
Dante slowly starts limping his way towards us, and I reach over to unbuckle Reina’s seatbelt after unfastening my own.
“Oh yeah, it’s Dante, and it looks like he wants to play,” I reply, keeping my eyes glued to Dante. “Get out of the car, Reina. Now.”
As Reina reaches for her door handle and pulls it, the sound of gunfire erupts and brings the night to life.