No Loyalty

by De'nesha Diamond

  Nichelle looked at the children. “Well, I guess I’ll get you guys off to bed.”

  Mykell and Mya groaned.

  “No, we want to sleep in here.”

  Nichelle started to argue back when Javid cut her off.

  “Let them. It’ll be fun to camp out here around the fireplace.”

  Nichelle clamped her jaw tight while a smile strained her lips. “I guess it’s settled. You sleep in here tonight.”

  The children erupted, “Yea!”

  Javid smiled. “C’mon, I’ll walk you guys to your bedrooms so you can change into your pajamas and grab your sleeping bags. I gotta change, too, anyway.”

  After another jubilant shout, the children clustered around their father while he led them out of the family room.

  At Mykell’s bedroom door, Javid handed over the flashlight with the instructions for his son to escort his sister back to the second floor after they changed clothes and grabbed their sleeping bags. Mya snatched the flashlight from her brother.

  “I’ll do it,” Mya said, indignant. “I’m the oldest.”

  “Just by two measly minutes,” Mykell complained.

  “It still counts.”

  Javid smiled. “All right, you two. No fighting.” But feeling his son’s pain, Javid added, “Mya, just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you can’t allow your brother to be a gentleman and escort you to the family room.”

  Mykell’s bottom lip stretched out further.

  “Fine. All right,” Mya said, handing over the flashlight. “You can have it.”

  Mykell beamed.

  Javid ruffled his son’s loose curls and headed off to the master bedroom, where he peeled out of his wet clothes. He had every inch of the room memorized, and moved around in the dark easily. Since it was the end of a long day, he hit the shower. Most of the day’s tension washed down the drain, but not all of it. Tonight, he had Klaudya on the brain. Nothing he did shook her off, especially the memory of the first time he’d laid eyes on her dancing on a golden pole.

  The shower door opened, jarring Javid out of his private memory. When he spun around in the marble enclosure, his eyes played tricks on him. “Klaudya.”

  Nichelle cocked her head and settled her hands on her naked hips. “Try again.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Lieutenants Armstrong and Schneider had connections in a lot of law enforcement and federal agencies. A casual drink with his buddy, Agent Leo Sullivan with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led to an exchange of information he wasn’t supposed to be privy to about a hot case against a drug kingpin, Emilio Vargas. Their case was heating up when an inside man had recently turned federal witness. When Armstrong heard the name, he choked on his drink.

  “Arlington Chase? The same Arlington Chase who was a business partner with my murdered vic, Javid Ramsey?”

  “The one and only.”

  “Is this your way of telling me that you’re taking over my case?”

  “Not yet. But I figured as a courtesy that I’d let you interview.”

  “Aw. You want to see if I can eliminate the mother-in-law as the murderer first.”

  “No sense in our showing our hand prematurely. We’ll get Vargas on the drugs and money laundering charges. Murder these days is getting harder to prove.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “So do you want to talk to him or not? In a few days, he’s going to disappear until we solidify our case and have the bastard on trial.”

  “Witness protection?”

  “Likely.”

  “Yeah. Sure. When can I do this?”

  “We can go now.”

  “Deal.” Armstrong stood from the bar and tossed down a folded twenty. A few minutes later, they drove to a low-rent hotel outside of Orange County. When they entered the room, the first thing Armstrong noticed was Mr. Chase looked as if he hadn’t slept or shaved in a week—the same amount of time his business partner had been dead.

  “You’re investigating Javid’s murder?” Ari asked.

  “I am.”

  “Then you should look at Emilio Vargas.”

  “Any proof?”

  “He’s not the kind of man who leaves proof.”

  “That puts me at a crossroads since the court will be needing it. Why don’t you believe the mother-in-law did it?”

  “I guess she could’ve, but it’s a little too neat for my blood.”

  “Neat?”

  “Obvious, I should say. But anything is possible. I just know that shit is cutting a little too close to home, if you know what I mean.”

  “Why don’t we just back it up a little? How long have you known Klaudya Ramsey?”

  Chase bounced his shoulders. “For as long as Javid had. I was there the night they met . . .”

  2007

  Javid Ramsey was in love.

  He was drunk—but he was in love, too. It didn’t take alcohol to fall in love with curves like the goddess sliding on the pole in front of him. Their potential client and Colombian drug kingpin, Emilio Vargas, sat equally mesmerized.

  The woman had moves, not just the well-rehearsed moves of seduction. No. This beauty had a natural rhythm that hypnotized. Long legs, pillowy breasts, and a face etched from a dream.

  “I found the future Mrs. Ramsey,” Javid said after the dancer, Baby Doll, exited the stage among a shower of dollar bills and thunderous applause.

  Arlington Chase, Javid’s partner and best friend since grade school, tossed back his head with a loud laugh before dropping a heavy hand against his buddy’s back. “Slow your roll, Romeo. You’ve had too much to drink. One fiancée at a time.”

  Javid’s scotch raced down the wrong pipe and jetted out his nose.

  “You okay?” Ari questioned, whacking Javid across the back.

  “Yeah. No thanks to you,” he joked but meant it.

  “Sorry about that. But maybe you forgot you already proposed to one girl this year. It’s not supposed to be a habit.”

  Emilio Vargas exploded with laughter and wiped a residue of cocaine from his nose. “Sound advice. I wish someone told me that when I was your age. I’m on my sixth wife.”

  “Sixth?” Javid and Ari wore matching shocked expressions.

  “What can I say? I’m a fool for love.” Vargas saluted before finishing his drink.

  “But you’re not a fool in business,” Ari segued before blowing Vargas’s head up with all his accomplishments. It wasn’t necessary, Vargas knew more about them than they knew themselves. He was looking for a new firm to help launder the cartel’s illegal money and was confident he’d found the perfect west coast candidates with the Ramsey & Chase financial firm.

  Ari and Javid had about nine months’ worth of capital to keep their boutique company afloat and weren’t in a position to turn down a deal that would prevent them from closing their doors permanently. Javid didn’t want to run back to his wealthy father with his tail tucked between his legs. As far as he was concerned, they could do this for three years and then get out of the game. It was just temporary.

  Though he needed to focus on the deal at hand, Javid’s mind kept zooming back to the luscious Baby Doll.

  “Look at him.” Vargas laughed. “Your boy is sprung.”

  Ari halted his spiel to cast another look at Javid.

  Sensing everyone’s eyes on him, Javid jerked back to the present. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

  Vargas laughed harder. “So you like black girls, huh? The man has taste.”

  Ari’s brows careened together, but at the client’s laughter, he forced out a few more chuckles of his own.

  For the rest of the night, the men talked business and enjoyed a bevy of beautiful dancers—but none of them held a candle to Baby Doll.

  After the deal was struck and cemented with a handshake, Javid and Ari waved goodbye to their new client outside Kitty Kat.

  “We’re fucking good,” Ari marveled, turning toward Javid. “We fucking did it!” They slapped palms a
nd exchanged bro-hugs.

  “Yo, man. Do you know what this means?” Ari asked. “We’re set!”

  “No doubt.”

  The partners slapped palms again as they headed toward Javid’s car. Before he slid the key into the ignition, he looked in his rearview mirror and instantly recognized a pair of golden brown legs marching across the parking lot. After un-lodging his heart from his throat, he twisted around in his seat to track Baby Doll to her car.

  Then another man jumped out from behind the car. “Where’s my fucking money, bitch?” the man growled, clutching Baby Doll by the throat and pinning her to her car. “And I know it was you and your bitches Sassy and Brandi behind the lick! I ain’t stupid!” He placed a gun to her temple. “Talk, bitch.”

  Javid’s eyes widened. “Yo, what the fuck is this?”

  “What?” Ari twisted in his seat.

  “Hey,” a woman shouted across the parking lot before she and another woman raced to the defense of their friend. “Let her go!”

  The armed man sneered, “Speaking of your bitch-in-crime, here she comes.” He moved the gun from Baby Doll’s head and leveled it at them before shouting, “Where’s my money, you ugly-ass yellow bitches?”

  Ari rolled his eyes. “Man, this is some hood drama going down. We better get out of here. We don’t want to witness shit out here.”

  Javid opened his glove compartment and withdrew his .45.

  “Whoa, man. What are you doing?”

  “Playing hero,” Javid said, sensing an opportunity for the sexy dancer to be indebted to him.

  “Hero? Since when are we heroes?”

  “You strapped?”

  “In this neighborhood? Is that a rhetorical question?”

  “C’mon,” Javid instructed, opening his door.

  “I don’t give a fuck about neither one of you hoes,” the angry gunman barked. “I want my stacks back, and I know you bitches were behind the shit because you pulled the same lick on my nigga Cameron out in Long Beach. Your little tag team act is over. So start talking before I pump the three of you thieving bitches full of lead.”

  Fearless, Sassy got in the man’s face. “Bullshit. We ain’t got shit to do with your punk ass getting jacked. And you need to get that gun out of my face.” She mushed him upside his head and dared him to shoot.

  When he clicked off the safety, it was clear he was willing to take her up on it.

  Javid and Ari crept up to the other side of Baby Doll’s car.

  Brandi was the first to see the men’s approach, and when her gaze shifted to them, it alerted the gunman. However, it was too late for him to spin around before he heard the two handguns rack.

  “Let her go,” Javid said.

  The gunman shifted nervously but barked, “Look, man. This shit ain’t got nothing to do with you. These bitches stole from me. I just want my shit back.”

  “I’m not going to repeat myself,” Javid said.

  Sassy smiled. “You heard the man. Let her go.” She grabbed Baby Doll by the arm and jerked her out of his grip.

  At the first burst of oxygen, Baby Doll doubled over coughing.

  “All right. All right.” The gunman held up his hands, his finger off the trigger. “I let the bitch go. Are you happy?”

  Javid rushed around the vehicle and took the man’s gun.

  The gunman scowled when he saw the two suits who had got the drop on him. “Who the fuck are you two muthafuckas?”

  “Hey! What’s going on out here?” One of the club’s brick wall-sized bouncers finally appeared.

  “This shit ain’t over,” the angry gunman told the women, waving his finger as he backed away from the scene. “It ain’t over by a long shot.”

  Baby Doll glared. “Fuck you, Dorian. If you ever put your hands on me again . . .” She searched around and then grabbed Dorian’s gun from Javid’s hand and took aim.

  Dorian ran, but not before the stripper pulled the trigger.

  Javid and Ari jumped but were relieved by the fact the girl had missed.

  The bouncer’s heavy boots chomped up the pavement.

  “Trick muthafucka!” Baby Doll fired again, though it was clear now she aimed above his head.

  Javid was appalled and turned on at the same time.

  The bouncer arrived and snatched the gun from the stripper’s hand. “Klaudya, what the fuck are you doing out here shooting? Have you lost your mind? We don’t need the muthafuckin’ cops out here.”

  “Where the fuck was you?” Brandi snapped. “We got johns out here lying in wait and jumping on us. Ain’t it your job to make sure we make it to our cars and shit safely?”

  He blinked and then stared at Javid and Ari.

  “Not them,” Sassy snapped. “If it weren’t for them stepping in, the cops sho’ nuff would be out here white-chalking our asses outside this five-dollar pussy establishment.”

  While the other women argued with the bouncer, Javid’s gaze found Klaudya’s while he chiseled on a smile. “Hey.”

  She returned his warm look with suspicion. “Hey yourself.” She tucked Dorian’s gun into her coat and went to open her car door. Plopping behind the wheel of her sun-bleached blue ’98 Ford Taurus, Klaudya jimmied a metal clip so that the two wires jutting from under the dashboard would touch and turn on the lights. They came on for a few seconds and cut off.

  Javid leaned into the car. “You’re welcome.”

  “What the hell?” She jiggled the clip and . . . nothing. “Fuck!” She pressed the overhead interior light on, but it didn’t come on either. Her heart stumbled over a few beats, the way it always did when car trouble was on the table.

  Javid heightened his voice. “Oh, thank you for coming to my defense. I don’t know what my friends and I would’ve done if you’d hadn’t helped us.”

  Klaudya jammed the key into the ignition and, sure enough, it didn’t turn over. The engine didn’t even try. “No. No. No.”

  Twisting the key again, she pumped the accelerator for a magical spark. “C’mon, baby. C’mon,” she begged. At the car’s continued silence, Klaudya dropped her head against the steering wheel repeatedly until her eyes stung with tears. Car repairs would eat into her savings and push back the date of her moving out of her shitty apartment.

  “Why can’t I catch a fucking break?”

  “Do you need any help?” Javid asked, despite being ignored.

  She shook her head. “No thanks. Everything is fine.”

  “Are you sure?” he double-checked. “Doesn’t look like everything is fine. I have jumper cables in my car. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get you started right up.”

  Klaudya hesitated while she looked him over. Her heart found its rhythm again, even though this potential serial killer looked more like Jared Leto back in his heyday.

  Seeing the contemplation on her face, Jared Leto 2.0 expanded his smile. “I’m harmless.” He held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

  Klaudya’s shoulders collapsed. She even chuckled. “I never met a Boy Scout before.” She opened the door and climbed out of the car. “You sure you don’t mind?”

  “No. It’s no trouble at all.” Her knight-in-shining-armor backpedaled. “I’ll be right back.” He jogged to his black Mercedes.

  Ari looked up from his conversation with Brandi. “Are we leaving?”

  “Not yet,” Javid said. “I’m going to give her a jump.”

  Klaudya whispered to her car, “Looks like you’re about to get some expensive juice, Betsey.”

  Javid pulled his car next to hers. Klaudya scowled for initially being impressed. After all, Mercedes were a dime a dozen in L.A. Usually assholes who drove them acted like they owned the roads. They were either movers and shakers or hustlers and posers. The Kitty Kat attracted them all.

  “All right, let’s see what you’ve got here.” Javid popped the hood and sprang out of his car.

  Klaudya flashed him a smile and popped her hood, too. She hovered and watched him clamp the cable
s on the corresponding prongs.

  “Start her up,” he instructed.

  “Huh? Oh!” She sprinted back to her car, her cheeks inflamed. With a quick prayer, she twisted the key—the interior lights came on, but the engine remained silent.

  “All right. Turn it back off.”

  “It never came on,” she mumbled.

  “Give it a moment,” he suggested, folding his arms.

  Klaudya reluctantly gave it a rest while he hung out at her window, grinning. “So how long have you been working here?”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Just making conversation.”

  “I’m not much of a talker.”

  “You don’t have to be with a body like yours. It does a helluva lot of talking for you.”

  Despite trying not to, she chuckled. “That’s a corny-ass line.”

  “Yeah, but it made you laugh. Mission accomplished.”

  “So it did.”

  “All right. Now give it another try.”

  “C’mon, Betsey. Start for Momma,” Klaudya begged.

  The car started.

  Klaudya sighed. “Thanks, old girl. Momma is going to get you a nice oil change for that solid.” She rubbed the dashboard before she hopped out. “Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

  “Ah, it was nothing.” He removed the clamps from the battery. The second he did, her car shut off and went dark.

  Confused, Klaudya asked, “What happened?”

  He sighed. “Looks like your battery has seen its last days.”

  “Huh?”

  “Your battery is dead. It won’t hold a charge. You’ll need a new one.”

  “Shit!” She dropped her head into the palm of her hand and rubbed her temples.

  “Do you, um, have a tow service?” the stranger asked.

  Hell. Klaudya didn’t even have insurance. “No,” she croaked.

  An awkward silence lapsed between them before he offered, “We could give you a lift.”

  Klaudya peered at him through her spread fingers.

  “We can even grab a cup of coffee along the way?”

  “Uh, that’s not necessary.” She shook her head. “We’ll call an Uber.”

  He cocked his head. “C’mon. We’re already right here.”