by D. Camille
“I’d like to speak with Diamond,” Jason requested and Six looked back at her.
Diamond smiled and took a step toward Jason. “It’s fine.”
Six nodded and gave Jason a hard look.
“Are you two related?” Jason asked, looking at the cousins.
“Why?” Six asked harshly.
Jason blinked. “Uh…you both have the same eye color.”
“Are you related to everybody with dark eyes?” Six questioned.
Pausing, Jason answered slowly. “No, I’m not.”
“Exactly…damn,” Six told him and turned back to watch the stage.
Diamond looked at Six and shook her head.
“How can I help you Jason?” Diamond asked.
He turned his attention back to her. “I wanted to let you know about John Brown.”
She widened her eyes. “What happened?”
“He’s dead.”
Diamond gasped. “What? What happened to him?”
Jason shrugged. “They’re saying it was a heart attack.”
“How unfortunate…do you know any details?” she questioned as Six stood listening.
“He was found in his hotel room.”
She looked concerned. “Was he alone?”
“All the reports said that an anonymous distress call came in, and he was found in a manic state, before his heart stopped. No one was with him.” Jason reported.
Diamond glanced at Six, then back at Jason. “I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know him, but it’s a terrible situation.”
Jason looked out at Xavier on the stage. “Your guy looks good out there tonight.”
“He’s amazingly good,” Diamond agreed, turning to watch his performance.
While she was watching, Jason stepped closer and she looked at him.
“I know a nice place in New York, that serves incredible pasta,” he told her, above Xavier’s thumping music.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?” Diamond asked.
“Not when I want something,”
Diamond lifted a brow. “What is it that you think you want, Jason?”
“To break down your walls…” he answered.
“You want to be different from the others?” Diamond questioned and he nodded.
“I want to be your exception,” he said with a smile and she frowned.
Diamond folded her arms. “You’ve been on too many tours, that have clearly given you false impression of what engages a woman, who isn’t a sexy girl who loves thugs.”
Jason grinned. “You think that your brush-offs deter me, but they really only make you more attractive.”
Six shook his head as Xavier ended his set, and headed in their direction. Diamond saw Xavier coming and stepped away from Jason to greet him. Grabbing the bottled water, she had waiting for him, she handed the cold beverage to Xavier when he reached them.
Eyeing Jason, he took the bottle then looked down at Diamond. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, then Xavier stared at Jason.
“Did you need sumpthin’?” Xavier questioned.
Jason looked Xavier over in the diamond chain and rapper attire that Skye had selected. In his suit and tie, he turned to Diamond.
“Have a safe trip, Diamond.”
“You, too…” Diamond replied, then turned back to Xavier.
“Great performance, tonight.” Diamond congratulated him. “We can stop at your dressing room before heading to the bus. The rest of the team will meet us there.”
Xavier nodded then placed a hand on her back, before Six led them away, leaving Jason to watch them depart.
******
When the concert ended, Justice stood speaking with the dancer, Ciara. She held his tie and stared up at him.
“So are you coming on the road, Justice?”
He nodded. “Yes, for a few cities…then I need to get back to California.”
“So you own Watson Entertainment?”
Justice smiled. “No, our company owns Watson Entertainment.”
“But you’re the boss?”
“One of them…I’m on this tour keeping an eye on the new talent.” Justice explained.
Ciara moved closer. “Did you see my performance tonight?”
“I did. You’re a very good dancer.” He complimented.
“Thank you.”
Justice stared down at her. “Why did you want to meet the X-Ception, when you dance for the headliner?” he questioned.
She shrugged. “He’s handsome, and he looks very fit and healthy.” Ciara looked over Justice. “So are you…”
“You like fit and healthy dudes?” Justice asked suspiciously.
“I do.” She smiled and continued to touch his silk tie. “And I like how you dress,”
“I try to look good,” Justice explained.
“You do.”
Justice chuckled. “So, Ciara, what goes on during these tours?”
“A little bit of everything,” she answered. “What are you interested in?”
“I’m into making money,” Justice replied. “Any way I can…”
She nodded and looked him over, in the expensive suit. “You seem to do it well.”
“Besides, having access to that ‘X’…what else are you into?” Justice asked her.
“You want to move something?”
Justice took the hand creeping up his tie. “Last night’s package wasn’t my personal thing. That was a gift for an associate. I’m a successful business man, not a drug user or dealer.”
She frowned. “I’m not either. That was my dance partner’s stress reliever that I shared with you.”
Justice smiled. “And I appreciated it…”
“Everybody has a vice…since you’re not into pharmaceuticals, what is yours?”
He grinned. “Sexy girls that love thugs…”
Ciara laughed. “You’re not a thug.”
Justice lifted a brow. “Don’t let the suit fool you, little sexy girl.”
“What do you want from me, Justice?” she asked.
He touched her face. “Not what you think…”
Justice saw Ciara off with her crew, before heading to the tour bus, that Steph had set up for the X-Ception, that was parked near the end of the lot. He passed a few other busses as he approached, then Xavier exited and met him halfway.
“Justice, we need to talk.”
Justice looked at his friend. “What’s up?”
“No more swings,” Xavier told him. “Because I don’t want us to keep fighting…”
“My sister, Xavier?”
Xavier shook his head. “You never saw it?”
“Hell no! I didn’t want to see nothing like that.”
“Who would you rather see her with?” Xavier asked.
Justice looked at him. “Not you!”
“Why not?” Xavier questioned. “Do you honestly think I would do anything to hurt Diamond? You know me better than almost anybody. We’ve been together all of our lives.”
Justice sighed. “Damn, I know you used to take her side in everything, but…”
Xavier frowned. “Not everything.”
“And do whatever she told you,” Justice continued.
“No, I didn’t.”
“I thought you were just a punk around her, I never thought that you were feeling her.” Justice finished.
Xavier stared at him. “First of all, I’ve never been a punk, so check that right now, before I swing on you.”
Justice smiled and shook his head. “My Daddy is going to lose his damn mind, Xavier. I’m telling you.”
“Uncle Jordan will have to get used to it.”
“You’re in love with her?” Justice asked confused.
Xavier nodded firmly. “Always have been…”
“I guess you have, when I think about it.” Justice reluctantly agreed.
“I know she’s your sister,” Xavier told him. “But she’s also my heart…”
Just
ice groaned. “Dude no! Not the ‘she’s my heart’…”
“Shut up, Justice.” Xavier said. “What happened with the dancer, Ciara?”
“I think she knows more than she’s letting on,” Justice relayed. “I’m going to keep a close eye on her, while I’m around.”
Xavier nodded. “Okay. Come on, we’re about to debrief on John, while we hit the road.”
Together they walked toward the waiting bus.
“Are we going to be good?” Xavier asked.
Justice looked over at him. “You and Alex are my brothers…and always will be.”
Xavier smiled. “You’re not going to warn me not to hurt your sister?”
Frowning, Justice said, “I need to tell her not to hurt you.”
“See that’s why she always wanted to kick your ass.” Xavier told him, before they both laughed.
Turning to one another, they gave each other a manshake, patting one another on the back. A shot rang out and they both dropped to the ground, reaching for their weapons.
“What the fuck is that?” Justice yelled as another shot came in their direction.
Xavier got quickly to his feet. “I don’t know,” he growled, springing into action.
“Check the bus!” He yelled at Justice, as he took off toward where the shots rang out.
When Justice reached the bus, all the Heirs were heading out with their weapons.
“What’s going on?” Six asked Justice.
“A shot came from the west,” he informed them. “Xavier went that way.”
Diamond took off in that direction and Six turned to Justice. “Stay with the women.”
Justice frowned. “Why can’t you stay with them?”
“Okay, go get shot then,” Six told him.
Skye looked at the pair. “One of you go after them!”
Six took off, running across the lot and Justice looked at the women. Jade shook her head. “I told you to train with Daddy.”
“Get on the bus,” Justice told her. “Everybody get on the damn bus…”
******
Xavier kept his target in sight as he closed the distance between them. They’d crossed into an empty park but Xavier could still make him out in the trees. His adrenaline was pumping as he ran full speed, but the gunshot stopped him in his tracks…
Diamond saw Xavier chasing the man, and quickly closed in on them. She stopped and planted her feet, raised her arm and squeezed the trigger, firing at her target.
Xavier turned and looked back to see Diamond standing with her gun still pointed. He looked back at his target on the ground, writhing in pain.
Six showed up at Diamond’s side. “Did you shoot him?”
“Yes, I wasn’t going to keep chasing his ass.” Diamond lowered her arm, and they went to meet Xavier, who was now standing over the man. Xavier grabbed his shirt, pulling him from the ground and putting his weapon in his face.
“Why were you shooting at us?” he demanded.
“I wasn’t trying to hit you!” the young man cried, holding his arm and looking at the blood.
Xavier frowned. “Then why the fuck are you shooting?”
“I was showing the gun off to a couple of the girls…” he moaned in pain. “And it went off…”
Diamond and Six looked at each other.
“Why’d you run?” Diamond questioned.
“Because he was chasing me!”
“You’re trying to get your dumb ass killed,” Xavier said, dropping him to the ground and shaking his head. “This isn’t a damn game.”
Diamond bent to look at him. “I aimed for your arm, but if you mention the X-Ception’s name in this…the next one is aimed at your head…and I don’t miss. Understand me?” she whispered.
He nodded in fear. “I’m sorry, I won’t say nothin’ to nobody…”
Diamond stood and looked down at him. “Put some pressure on that until you get attention.”
The young man glanced down at his arm and when he looked up, Xavier, Six and Diamond had disappeared into the darkness. He looked around and they were nowhere in sight…
Back at the bus, the three climbed aboard and Six instructed the driver to take off, while the rest of the team was waiting for their report, with Alex on the screen.
“Is everybody alright?” Skye asked as they took seats on the luxury bus.
Six looked at Diamond. “Yes, but our trigger happy, Aunt Chloe clone, shot somebody.”
They all looked at Diamond.
“It was just a flesh wound. His little ass will live.” Diamond told them.
“What happened?” Jade asked.
Xavier sighed. “Some little dude trying to show off for some of the dancers, and didn’t know how to handle a real gun.”
Justice frowned. “What? He could’ve killed somebody.”
Xavier turned to Diamond. “I was about to catch him, but Miss Sharpshooter, took him down.”
“I think you guys like doing all that damn chasing and running. That’s aggravating…” Diamond told him.
“I was trying not to bring attention to us, by…uh, not shooting somebody that we didn’t need to,” Xavier explained pointedly. “I could have shot him, too.”
Diamond shrugged. “He won’t say anything about us, this tour knows how to keep secrets…and I thought that he’d shot at you and Justice.”
Justice smiled at her. “You love me, don’t you?”
“Sometimes,” Diamond answered. “Not when you’re fighting Xavier...”
Xavier turned to Justice. “We’re straight now,” Justice told Diamond. “But I’m not Daddy…”
“I’ll deal with Daddy,” Diamond told him.
Jade nodded. “You’re the only one who can.”
Skye smiled. “I love when we’re all just one big happy family, chasing shooters and finding murderers.”
They all laughed and sat back as the bus rolled along.
“Let’s talk business…” Six announced. “I can’t believe we’re just beginning this tour.”
Lilac agreed. “I know, I’m looking at my Daddy as even more of a hero, right now.”
Skye and Jade agreed wholeheartedly about their fathers as well.
“Xavier did his Benjamin Rucker today with John Brown,” Six told the group.
Diamond smiled at Xavier and took his hand. “Yes, he did. We watched you, and Uncle Sean would be proud.”
“Yes, you did that,” Lilac agreed.
Alex laughed. “You seemed to enjoy it, too.”
“I did,” Xavier told him. “Watching that bastard die was a relief. There’s no telling who he had lined up as his next victims.”
Jade smiled. “Well, he was the victim today. Those animals tore him apart.”
“It’s amazing what some MDMA and hypnosis can do,” Xavier commented.
Lilac agreed. “When you mix hallucinogenic drugs with a form of mind control, you can make anything seem real to a person’s mind.”
“So you altered the Ecstasy I got from Ciara?” Justice asked Lilac.
“Just a bit,” she answered. “I had to increase the potency in order to achieve the desired results in a short amount of time.”
Six frowned. “Yes, we saw those results.”
“The drug works as a vasoconstrictor, narrowing blood vessels to the penis. Which makes it retract and become almost entirely useless.” Lilac explained. “It’s very painful…”
“We should’ve just cut it off,” Diamond told them.
Xavier looked at her. “A little too obvious, goddess…”
She smirked. “Jason seemed to get the information very quickly about John’s death. I think he had some sort of ties to him, even though he denies it.”
“He’s a liar, and I can’t wait to catch him in his lies,” Xavier said firmly.
“He’s latched on to Diamond,” Six confirmed. “And I don’t think he’s going to back off…the more she puts him off, the harder he presses forward. I think he enjoys the chase.”
> Xavier nodded. “Good, let him chase, because when I catch him…John got off easy, Jason won’t.”
“Believing that you’re being mauled by wild animals is easy?” Justice asked.
“Yes,” Xavier confirmed. “What I have in mind for Jason, is almost unspeakable.”
“Relax, Xavier…” Alex told his twin, reading his thoughts. “Let’s see what he knows first.”
Xavier sat back. “I can wait.”
Diamond looked at Xavier’s lethal expression and smiled. Skye caught the look and laughed softly…yep, a Hurricane, when those two hooked up.
“I could find out, if he actually thought about anything besides how he wants to get Diamond into bed.” Xavier said angrily. “With his sorry ass pickup lines…”
Jade agreed. “They were terrible.”
Diamond laughed. “Tonight he said that he wanted to by my exception. As if that was clever or funny…”
Six laughed too. “I heard that. I was like, dude…no.”
“I need to be around him alone,” Xavier suggested. “When he’s not focused on Diamond, so I can see what he knows.”
Justice agreed. “We need to make that happen in New York. I don’t like him stalking my sister like that.”
Xavier nodded. “Let’s make a plan.”
“I think I might need to be in on that plan, too.” Six told them, with a look. “To keep an eye on you two…”
Both Xavier and Justice smiled.
“I agree, Six.” Alex told him.
Six sighed. “This mission is moving faster than I expected. We’ve already eliminated one target and there are several more on the radar. We have to be smart,” he paused and looked at Diamond. “And not draw undue attention to ourselves or make anyone think that we’re not who we say we are.”
“We’ve left no loose ends in D.C. John Brown’s death will be ruled a heart attack. The paramedics will swear they never saw us. The distress call can’t be traced and Alex controlled the hotel cameras, so we were never seen entering that floor. Since Xavier killed him with his own thoughts, there’s no weapon and nothing connects his death to the X-Ception or his team.” Six finished.
“What about the drug?” Alex asked.
“I altered it, so it can’t be traced back to any other product on the street,” Lilac confirmed. “And when they run the autopsy, it’ll just look like he was indulging, like more than a few people on this tour.”
