Love In the Red Zone (Connecticut Kings Book 1) Read online

  “Childless for the night and now with no plans.” I pulled up a stool to the island. “Let’s be reckless!” I slapped my hands together, rubbing them with excitement. “Let’s play 2500 and I’ll give you a real reason to pout.”

  Jade shook her head like a child without even looking at me. “I told you I only know how to play one game. I’m not in the mood to learn another.”

  “Okay.” My mind ran. “Let’s play a different game. No cards.”

  Her neck snapped back. “What kind of a game.”

  “I ‘on’t know. A competitive one where we can keep score because you know I’m going to slaughter you.” I tried for the most smug look I could make up. “Ooh!” I leaped off my seat, crazy excited now. “What about the Memory game? You have to ask the other person a question about a life event to see if they remember.”

  Jade seemed to have winced at that idea.

  “Like what?”

  “Like who was your first grade teacher? My question would be the principal. That’s more challenging.”

  “That sounds cumbersome…to have to really think back that far to events like that.”

  “There you go with your bourgeois.” I exhaled waving her hesitation off.

  “Cumbersome is bourgeois, Trent? Really?” But I saw the challenge tweak in her eyes. Jade didn’t like to be outsmarted or backed down. “If you want me to play something silly like this at least make it fun.”

  “How?” My brows narrowed.

  “What are the consequences of losing? How many times can you lose before being considered the loser? Does this thing keep going?”

  “I ‘on’t know. You’re always asking me questions; I figured you would like it.”

  She hit me with a suspicious glare. Those hazels firing off all types of dangerous red flags. Jade stood and strutted over to the cabinet, giving me a generous view of her jiggling booty in pink sweats with a matching hooded jacket. Jade’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a long one that reached the middle of her back. I swear…she had a body made for exploiting…in a manner she’d like. The arch of her back was fucking teasing. I watched, transfixed as she pulled out a bottle of Patron Silver. I had no idea where it came from. I only kept Mauve stored here, maybe Shiraz.

  She went to another cabinet and pulled out two shot glasses. As Jade poured the drinks, placing one in front of me, I knew these were treacherous waters.

  “This what you drink?”

  “On occasion. Yup.” She positioned hers in front of me.

  “Pretty bourgeois girl like you don’t do wine?”

  “Nope. Not my speed.”

  My eyes went wild. “What is your speed?”

  “Whipping your ass at your own game. Who’s going first?” Her face was blank, but eyes showed her confidence.

  “I think you should go first. I don’t want your light-weight ass puking all over my kitchen.”

  “I’ll be the one cleaning it anyway.”

  “Not if you don’t have a good memory, you won’t,” I threatened, talking my shit.

  “Bring it.” Her eyes narrowed.

  Pretty eyes.

  Sexy ass eyes.

  It wasn’t just the color of them; I’d seen countless chicks with exotic eyes. It was the color of Jade’s, the shape of her lids, and expressive way they communicated.

  “What type of car did your mother have when you were eight?”

  “Years old?”

  I nodded, every other part of my body stilled to catch cues of her lying. She rolled her eyes.

  “That’s easy, a white ’99 six series BMW. Damn!” she sighed. “That ride was sweet. All of hers are. I’ve only known her to drive white vehicles.”

  High maintenance… It’s where you get it from.

  That was another issue I had with Jade: yeah, she’d hit rock bottom, but everything about her spelled diva. It was in her upbringing, presentation, the fact that her son’s father was a drug dealer with fast money, and down to the designer clothes she had packed up in the garage and in Kyree’s room. I was cheap. Had no time for an expensive woman.

  “My turn.”

  “Hit me,” I challenged, stumped by that revelation.

  “How many steps did your first house have on the outside?”

  “I never lived in a house. Only apartments before I bought this.”

  “But your apartment had steps in front of its building. Was it a multi-family?”

  “Two.” I nodded. “Five.” I suddenly recalled.

  “How do you remember when you didn’t even realize you lived in a house after all?”

  “Because I jumped and fell down them enough to even know the measurement in between.” I grumbled. “What was the last name of your first crush?”

  “Hmmmm…” Her eyes danced around as she thought. “That was so long ago, I can’t remember if his name was John or Jim. I think it was Johnny—no! Jimmy. Wait… I don’t know.”

  “Drink.” I demanded with no pity.

  After a huff and a rolling of those hazels, Jade tossed back the glass. Once it hit the table top, I poured another.

  “You think you’re going to need a bucket?” Jade giggled with her palms on her face. Her eyes were reddened in inebriation.

  “Nah. That was just my third.” I gestured to her full glass waiting in front of her. “You on the other hand are going to need a damn diaper from all the pissin’ you’re gonna have to do any second now.”

  Jade blew air through her lips. “I’m only on five. I’m a G, my nigga.”

  “Yeah, a’ight. Talk ya shit.” I found myself tickled by her tipsiness.

  I wasn’t too far behind her, drinking on an empty stomach. Twenty minutes ago, I pulled out a couple of bottles of water to help us in the morning.

  “Where was the first place you had sex? The address!” She narrowed her eyes, thinking she was being slick.

  “Easy. 1624 Melrose Street, Camden, New Jersey.”

  “Buuullshit!” she sputtered on a drunken laugh.

  My forehead stretched. “No bullshit.” I put my palms in the air. “My first piece of ass was in the basement of my grandmother’s house.”

  “Ewwwww…” Jade’s face wrinkled. “Was it finished?”

  “No, not finished at all. Mostly used for storage, but it served its purpose.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Sixteen.”

  Jade slapped the marble countertop abruptly. “You lie!” She gasped.

  “I’m not shittin’ you. I told you, sex has never been a big deal for me. I was good beating my meat until then.” I laughed, wiping my eyes.

  “What changed?”

  “A bad ass new dancer at the club where my uncles were dancing, at the time. She was in college and I was in love with the way she made her tits shake behind these tassels she wore.” I brought my fingers to my nipples to demonstrate.

  “You were underage, Trent!” Jade’s face turned red in anger.

  “I was a big boy,” I defended. “And apparently one she wanted to handle, so I let her. She handled all four minutes I had in me, too!” My palm hit the table and I clenched it for balanced as I laughed my motherfucking ass off at that piece of truth. I remembered it all too well. Cherry didn’t give a damn. All she wanted was to fuck Shank’s nephew. “Cherry popped my damn cherry!” I couldn’t stop laughing.

  “That’s not funny, Trent!” I chanced a glance over the island I was curled beneath, laughing. Jade was red. Pissed the hell off. That was somewhat sobering. “I bet we haven’t passed the statute of limitations! She should be brought up on charges! What college student wants to do a damn sixteen-year-old?”

  “Jade,” I called defensively, still in a fit of humor. “It was a rite of passage. It actually helped my development. All my boys got ass by eleven/twelve. It was all good. She even put the condom on for me.” I tried to pull a laugh out of her. But to no avail. Jade was livid.

  “Next question,” she demanded with tight lips.

  “Dam
n! Okay!” I dried my eyes. “Uhhhh… Let’s see. What color panties were you wearing when you had your first orgasm by Kyree’s father?”

  I honestly did not think that question out. I was more or less shooting for a difficult detail. Could not give a single fuck about somebody bringing her to an orgasm.

  But me…

  Jade scraped her top lip with her bottom row of teeth, eyes cast into the corner of the kitchen. Then she rolled her eyes and sighed, as though she was defeated.

  “That’s easy. Not like it was a lot. He’d only do it with his fingers and that was on my clit. I wore hot pink satin Victoria’s Secret.”

  My jaw fell on the damn counter. “Only with his fingers?”

  She rolled her eyes again, annoyed. “Yeah. Next question is on me.” She moved us along quickly. “And I’m coming over there to look you dead in the face, because if you lie to me, I’m gonna beat your ass.” She toed over, scooting my glass closer to me as though it was a foregone conclusion. “What fabric of bra and underwear did the girl wear the last time you got head?”

  My neck snapped back. “Damn! You tryna win this, ain’t you?” I was stumped for real. Didn’t know how to answer the question because there had been two women, and I damn sure wasn’t going there with Jade. Look how she reacted to my first lay.

  Without preamble, I grabbed the shot glass and downed it.

  “A’ight. You won.” I moved to leave. I was tired any damn way.

  I was out of the kitchen and down the hall that led to the elevator. I was definitely too bushed to take the stairs. Between the rough week of working out and not having drank anything heavy in a while, my body was taxed.

  “No! I have a bonus question.”

  I turned and saw those golden eyes darken to a brown I’d never seen as Jade approached me. I had no idea she had followed me out. Her lids were narrow from the shots and more. Jade was aroused.

  What the fuck?

  To play down what I thought I was seeing, I rubbed my eyes. A yawn followed as I spoke, “Yeah, a’ight. I ain’t taking another shot if I don’t know the answer.”

  “When was the last time Ms. Matthews went down on you?”

  “Who the hell is Ms. Matthews?”

  Had the joke turned into me fucking my middle school teachers?

  Jade didn’t speak. She just stood close to my chest with her hands on her hips like she was accusing me of something.

  I went to rub my eyes again, feeling the effects of the clear monster. “Look, Jade—”

  My words were yanked and breath snatched from my lungs at the feel of her warm soft hands down my sweats stroking my dick. My hands dropped from my face and before I could process it all, Jade’s little frame was headed south with that rounded ass arched in the air. My fully awakened cock was between her little palms; her red nails were spread across me, coordinated to grip as much as her hands could.

  “Goddamn, Trent,” she breathed while studying my throbbing erection that looked crazy vulgar…freaky, but very well handled in her care. “You’re a big boy…”

  I thought for a second she’d put me back in my pants, but it all went down so quickly. Those darkened hazels locked to me as she opened wide and took me into her mouth. She jerked me in while sucking and twirled her tongue when she pulled me out. She couldn’t take in more than my swollen head at first, but Jade stayed at it until she worked me to the back of her throat and what couldn’t fit, she worked down to my root with her hands. And she knew what she was doing. This woman angled her head, moved me in and out like she’d known my body for years. My head spun and small bumps raised on every inch of my body. My neck went out and head hit the wall behind me in the darkened hallway.

  The sounds she made while blowing me had my jaw tightening, and whether I liked it or not, Jade was sucking me off and doing a hell of a job—and I liked it. A lot. My belly started warming and the pads of my feet heated in my Timbs. Her phone sounded from in the kitchen causing my head to jerk up. When I looked down at her she fluttered her eyes closed saying she would not be told no. I was relieved and let my head collapse again as she upped the tempo of her fisting me. Jade wouldn’t tire as she worked me over, never letting up on her grip or losing the rhythm of her suction. Goddamn… I couldn’t help but take her at the back of the head, feeding myself to her. I didn’t know how well it would go over, considering how she felt about her weave. She didn’t seem to mind when she moaned. I could feel her saliva drip down onto my balls. That visual set off my orgasm.

  “Jade, baby,” I could barely breathe out. “I’m about to…”

  I pulled my pelvis back. Jade moved up, moaning and shaking her head like a damn porn star. She was fisting me even harder now, begging for my come. With those heavy-lidded ambers and a burst of a few pleading moans, my balls tingled, working to shoot. I pumped into her hungry little mouth forgetting she was the mother of a cool little kid. I forgot she was a boarder who I came home to pitying herself. In a split second she was a tempting baddie with a tight ass body who’d wanted me in this exact same position since moving in my crib, making it hard for my knees not to wobble, the chills not to take over my body, and my damn shoulders not to flap as a milky liquid squirted from my head and Jade caught it with a wide tongue. She kept stroking me, kept sucking me, and caressing me with those damn eyes. I couldn’t take the hypnotic pull I felt while coming for so damn long. Too damn long. I squeezed my eyes closed and dropped my head back on the wall.

  When she knew I was done she pulled me from her hot mouth with one long suction, her hazel webs still on me. As I tried catching my breath and calm my chest from rising and falling, I tried gauging her mood. Where would we go from here? Did this mean we were going to fuck? Did she want me to return the favor? Could I?

  Jade’s phone rang, making her leap on her knees, startled. Her eyes widened then curved apologetically. She slowly pushed on her feet to stand and took a few steps back before turning for the kitchen to answer the call. I fell more into the wall, freely heaving and fighting my tipsiness, frustration at myself for taking advantage of her, and confusion about why she would want to give me head in the first place.

  “Hello…”

  “Hey…” My eyelids squeezed in frustration. “It’s me, Shawnie. What’re you up to?”

  “Shit. Tired as a muthafucka.” She yawned.

  “Oh, okay.” I bit my lip then took a deep breath. “So, I’m finally calling you back about your text last week.”

  “‘Bout damn time. I almost forgot about that.” She burst out laughing. “No, I didn’t. Trent Bailey is fine as fuck!”

  I rolled my eyes, feeling a sting of jealousy my cousin didn’t deserve. It was evidence of my rampant feelings for this man. This stranger. “I know my mother told you about running into us in church.”

  “Yeah. If Aunt Chéri didn’t tell my mother, I wouldn’t’ve known shit.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I squeezed my eyes shut again. “I’ve been vague about me and Ky’s living situation too…”

  I didn’t know how much time I had on the clock, and to be honest, the time had actually been generous before my mother told her sister, Lashawn’s mother, that she ran into Ky and me with a man at church. Gratefully, my lecture to Ky about privacy worked because he hadn’t told my mother we’d been staying with Trent—at least not that I was aware of. But after last night, going down on that man, I felt like I lost control. I’d always been impulsive, and possessive, but never this out of control and confused about my motives. I didn’t know what I was doing here. I didn’t know why even after I deep throated the man and knew it was wrong, I didn’t feel an ounce of regret. I did feel slight embarrassment over losing control like I had.

  “What about it? Landlord caught up to you?”

  “Yeah.” I muttered softly, my throat closing up on me. “Last month. They put all my things out on the curb and I didn’t have time to call for help.”

  “Get the hell outta here!” she gasped her words. “I ain’t even know
. Ky didn’t mention it when I saw him.”

  “He doesn’t quite get that part of it. But he does get that we moved.”

  “Where are y’all?” she croaked in a panic.

  “Ummmm… Alpine.”

  “Alpine?” she shrieked. “How? Without—Trent Bailey?”

  She put the two together.

  That struck a thought.

  My eyes narrowed. “Shawnie, do you follow football?” My head angled over the countertop. I tried keeping my voice low because of the late hour. Ky was upstairs sleeping and Trent could be home any minute. “How do you know about Trent?”

  “What the fuck, Jade! You been living under a damn rock?” she trilled into the phone with incredulity, “Aunt Chéri had you in too many of them Home Ec classes and shit. Too many fancy balls, etiquette schools, and shit. She should’ve put you in a damn sport! Everybody know TB the QB from the Kings!”

  I grabbed the front of my neck, feeling eerily uncomfortable.

  “I don’t,” my voice cracked.

  “It’s all good. It was like 2012-2013 when all that went down anyway,” Shawnie tried to soothe.

  My hands started shaking on the marble countertop. “When all what went down?” I heard my aunt Magness shouting in the background. “Yo!” Lashawn charged back. “What is all that volume about?”

  As my aunt returned her daughter’s tone, I thought how it had always amazed me how Lashawn took on this hood girl persona when she came up in a stable household in Nutley with two educated and committed parents. It was so hypocritical a thought when I considered how I had the same padded fortune only with more money and a great deal of influence, thanks to George.

  “Look, she trippin’ I gotta go—”

  “Wait, Shawnie!” I called out dramatically because I felt so much of my life—or yet another major error—was hanging in the balance. “I need to know what’s up with Trent.”

  “Oh, that’s easy. Google “Trent Bailey’s conviction and prison sentence” and you should be good from there.”

  My heart stammered in my chest and mouth went completely dry.