Page 12 of Grand Master

THE BIGGER THE BITCH, THE HARDER SHE FALLS.

I could almost still feel the steam from the shower that clung to my skin.

I stood in front of the mirror afterward wanting to stay inside of the bathroom all night to avoid going in front of Grand.

The windows were too high, walls too slick to even attempt to break free.

I was sure more than an hour passed by, and someone would be coming to get me soon, yet no one came.

That made me even more nervous. I combed through my soaked tresses then wrapped the towel tightly around my body.

The lavender scent that rose from my skin relaxed me a bit.

Normally if I was home, I’d take pride in my night-time routine.

I loved sitting in front of my bathroom mirror lotioning my skin while listening to music.

I even enjoyed doing my skin care regimen then sipping a little bit of wine to ease my nerves.

Here I stood in a luxurious gothic styled bathroom with all of the amenities that I used at home but better and couldn’t bring myself to lotion my skin nor grease my soon-to-be dry scalp.

I didn’t know how harsh his water was but the water that came out of my shower back home was harsher than harsh.

If I didn’t lotion my skin, I’d be sure to become ashy within the next hour after my damp skin absorbed all of the water.

Good, I don’t want to look an ounce of appealing to this man!

It was no telling what he had planned for me.

Being taken against my will wasn’t something that I could ever imagine.

I thought about it a time or two but quickly discarded it.

I always ended those type of thoughts with who would want a fat chick like me, and what would my captor actually do with me.

It was foolish thinking to even think that a kidnapper would ever want a big girl to hold.

I just thought it would be easier to snatch someone else up that was small and easy to drag away.

I was proved wrong and wished like hell I could rewind time and take my friend up on her offer to give me a ride home after work.

I just didn’t want to wait until five in the morning when my relationship with Darius was ending.

That night my mind played awful tricks on me.

I planned on going back home and talking to Darius again.

A part of me felt like he was lying and just trying to hurt me.

I wanted to fix our relationship; too much time was put in to just throw it all away.

If none of what I planned to do worked when I got home.

I would have ended up at home, crying my heart out while playing my mother’s violin.

I desperately wanted to count out the tips I made that night as well to save my apartment.

My apartment was all I had; it wasn’t much but it meant something to me.

Although Darius did me so wrong, that was something right he did do, and I would forever be grateful for that.

I ended up taking slow steps out of the cold bathroom until I found myself back in the long hallway.

I practically tiptoed, holding my breath as I made my way back into the closet to put on the clothes that I decided to wear.

When I walked inside, I was grateful for the warmth that wrapped around my skin.

I quickly dropped the towel and slipped the black Nike dress that clung to my skin over my head.

I didn’t put on any panties, nor a bra because I felt too weak to do so.

I wish I could stay in here, it’s so warm…

My stomach growled viciously reminding me again that all I’ve had was cucumbers and vinegar.

I needed something hefty to hold me over, but I probably ruined that with staying in the shower forever.

I left the closet space and stood outside of the door for another five minutes.

I sighed roughly then finally picked my feet up to walk to the end of the hallway.

The smell of bleach mixed with other cleaning supplies drifted up my nose. I took in a deep breath then stepped back into the room that wasn’t dark this time. Staress sat with her legs crossed on the huge bed that I refused to sleep on to make myself comfortable.

My eyes shifted towards the area that I remained cooped up at. To my surprise the big black velvet couch was gone. Maybe they got rid of it because I had cried, pissed, and spilled vinegar from the cucumbers I ate.

“Mira, I understand that you are distraught and have not adjusted yet. But making Grand wait is something you just don’t do around here.” Staress’ pretty brown face frowned up.

“You’ve been back there for three hours and some change. What’s worse is he checked up on you himself then removed that funky couch from his room.” She shook her head in disbelief.

Goosebumps spread all over my skin at the mention of him checking on me himself. Did he come into the bathroom, and see me naked?

“His room?” I mumbled under my breath really wanting to say fuck him!

“Yes, this is his room.” She huffed out.

The owls got my attention by their feathers ruffling. I looked up at them only to see them watching me with big bold eyes.

“Tone should be here any moment, go over by the wooden chess table and eat the baked chicken and?—”

I didn’t need to hear her words because soon as she said the word eat, I moved quickly to the left of the room to attack the plate of food that sat on top of a huge oval chess table.

The aroma attacked all of my senses; I looked down at the plate and dug in immediately with my hands.

Baked chicken that was seasoned to perfection nearly melted on my tongue.

I didn’t chew; I swallowed. Once the chicken was gone, I moved to the broccoli and devoured that in under a minute.

“Mira, my goodness. That is disgusting how you’re eating.” Staress words carried across the room.

I ignored her for what it was worth, I didn’t give a damn how I looked to anybody here.

I scarfed down the mashed potatoes next then picked up a heavy glass of juice.

Soon as I took the first sip, I paused then choked.

How the fuck does he know? I swallowed the juice down hard and continued to gulp the rest down like it would be my last time enjoying my favorite drink.

Fresh pineapple juice mixed with fresh lemon over ice with a little bit of sugar was my ultimate favorite.

You had to be close enough to me to know this.

The drink tasted just like what I made at home.

It was something I learned when I was staying in different foster homes.

Most of my foster parents liked to tuck the money that they got for me and would barely feed me.

I used to love juice and felt sad that I didn’t have it all of the time.

I used to steal cans of pineapple juice and lemons from the store and make my own juice and share it with the foster kids.

When Darius and I got our apartment, he bought me a juicer for my birthday.

I loved juicing fresh pineapples with lemons then adding sugar to it then storing it in jars for my work week.

Pineapple, watermelon, and cucumbers are my favorite fruits.

I placed my hands flat on the chess table and burped loudly after I was finished. My hands had mashed potatoes smudged all over my fingers. I started to wipe my hands on my dress just to make a bigger mess but was stopped by Staress quickly putting a pack of wet wipes next to my plate.

“Thank me later for helping you. You are really in for a few surprises since you insist on making shit hard for yourself. Grand wanted you to dress nicely this evening, and he wanted you on time. I pray for you.” She shook her head and stepped away from me.

I quickly turned her way pissed.

“I can thank you, if you’d help me get the fuck away from him. None of this is cool, whatever the fuck it is?—”

“Bitch shut the fuck up and clean yourself before I get mad. I’m trying to be nice and show you mercy. I don’t have to do half of what I’ve already done. I see that there is something different about you since you all up in Grand’s room.” She held her hands out for emphasis then did a little spin.

“Don’t get shit twisted, with the snap of his finger,” She snapped her fingers right in my face.

“You’ll be a distant fuckin memory quick.

So, clean yourself up and get ready to take your ashy ass down the hall with Tone so you can get ready to meet Grand.

I’ll tell you this in advance since you got it set in your thick ass skull to try to find a way out.

You run; you’re good as fucking dead. You try some slick shit, you’re fucking dead.

Like I said before, he’s saving you.” Staress spat out.

My stomach churned as she reached around me and snatched the wet wipes up.

She peeled the top off and pulled a couple out then held them out for me to grab.

I burped once more then blew the funky air in her face.

I waited to see what she wanted to do. I had energy and was ready to beat her ass.

She frowned her face up, then quickly turned it back emotionless.

I then took the wipes out of her hand. I thought she was a little nice, maybe even understanding.

I misjudged, which was a big mistake on my behalf.

I cleaned my hands then wiped at the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t help but to keep sizing her up.

“You can try.” She seemed to read my thoughts.

“The bigger the bitch, the harder she falls.” She chuckled dryly rolling her slanted eyes.

I moved my mouth to speak but abruptly shut my mouth when the mural opened up. Tone walked in, this time he didn’t wear a mean mug. His eyes landed on Staress first then me. I felt naked as his eyes raked up and down my body slowly.

“At first, I was against Grand taking you. I thought you was nothing more than a worthless broke bitch that wouldn’t be worth saving.” He chuckled then leaned against the wall.

He remained quiet for a couple of seconds, took his blunt from behind his ear then dug into his jean pocket to retrieve a lighter.

Once his blunt was lit, he inhaled deeply then blew the smoke in our direction.

I looked over at Staress, she looked perplexed by Tone’s presence.

There was definitely something swirling between the two of them.

“Now, I think you’ll be entertaining…I just wonder if I’ll end up getting the honors to kill you. I don’t think you’ll survive here. Most women did and begged to stay forever. The ones that failed didn’t get to?—”

“Tone, you are crossing the line. Take this bitch to where she needs to be.” Staress spat.

“You comfortable now with calling me a bitch. If he didn’t have that gun, or if I wasn’t in this predicament, I know for a fact I could beat your ass.” I spat.

“Tone won’t shoot you; he can’t do shit but hurt your feelings with his words. If you want to get down where you mad at, move some shit now.” She smirked.

She stepped back then parted her long legs apart, getting into a fighter’s stance.

“Look who crossing the line now?” Tone’s dry laugh made my skin crawl.

“I don’t got time for this shit, let’s go. Your punishment awaits you.” He took a long pull from his blunt then held it out for Staress to take.

“I can’t wait to see this shit.” Staress laughed. She switched her ass hard towards Tone.

She snatched the blunt from Tone’s hand then walked out without looking back at me. I was officially on both of their bad sides; didn’t really matter what side I was on when I didn’t know either one of them.

“You try some stupid shit?—”

“You’ll kill me, I get it.” I rolled my eyes.

I sounded brave but on the inside my stomach did somersaults.

“All of that smart shit with me and Star is cool. It’s Grand you should watch that shit with. You fuck up, freeze up, or do some shit that’s out of line with him, there’s no limits to what he’ll do to make you feel it.” His voice went low and cold.

He made his way across the room and stepped close to me.

My throat went dry as my pulse slammed violently inside of me.

Roughly, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me close enough to feel his breath against my face.

His rough fingertips brushed against my forehead until he pushed loose strands of my damp hair off of my face.

“Grand loves to teach lessons that no one can save themselves from.” He grabbed my wrist and snatched me as he turned towards the mural.

Tone’s laugh was a deep ugly sound that bounced off the walls and sent shivers down my spine.

“I can’t wait to see you crack tonight.” He murmured loud enough for me to hear him.

Before he let my wrist go, he threatened me one last time by telling me if I tried some funny shit following behind him, he would break my legs.

I followed behind him barefoot and scared.

The hallway we stood in seemed to swallow me whole.

The lights were almost nonexistent, once again I was greeted with blackness.

The walls were black; I could smell faint weed smoke from the blunt Staress took from him and wondered where else did she go.

Tone walked in front of me comfortably like he owned the place, he was so confident in his words, he didn’t look back to check if I was following.

I heard feathers ruffling in the distance and knew the owls were near.

The hallway stretched longer than I expected as my feet slapped against the marbled checkered floor.

We made it to a steel silver door, my stomach churned as I followed behind Tone down about twenty steps.

The further we went, the more I felt the pull of Grand.

We went down one more hallway until Tone’s boots scuffed to a stop at the end of the hall.

He reached for double doors that were black and gold then glanced over his shoulders with a sinister smile on his face.

He turned away and pushed the double doors open then waved me in as weed smoke slapped me in the face.

“Walk in bad ass, you’re late enough.”