Page 19 of Taming a Menace

“Let me make sure you get home safe. I won’t try anything. I just want to spend more time with you. I’ll just walk you to the door and kiss you good night.”

I pressed my lips together attempting not to smile. “Can’t forget that kiss, huh?”

“Your lips look so fuckin’ soft, I want it now. I’m on your time though. I’m giving you time to get used to the idea of us.”

“There is no us.”

“Not yet. We’re working on it,” he stated.

“Is that what we’re doing?” I asked him.

“Of course. Where you been, beautiful?” He chuckled.

“I was definitely unaware of that.”

“Well now that you’re all up to speed, go let your girls know that your man is giving you a ride home.”

I sighed. “I’m sure they would love to hear that.”

“I’m about to go to the back and let my brother know I’m out. I’ll meet you back right here in a second.”

“OK.”

I almost jumped out of my skin when he kissed my forehead before walking away. I watched his confident stride as he walked down a long hall and disappeared behind a door. He was too sexy, too intense, too magnetic for me to resist.

I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Even if he was a perfect gentleman, I knew I was tripping. Still once I got my feet to move, I walked to the door where my girls had gone outside. I quickly spotted them leaning against the wall. Patrice was taking one of her cigarette breaks.

“Girl, you did not say the chef was that damn fine,” Isis said, pushing off the wall once she saw me.

“I’m trying to tell ya. I would have been somewhere on my knees by now,” Patrice added.

“Well even if I was a whore like the two of you, I would have known better than to sleep with a patient.”

“Sis, you’ve already fucked the man. It’s too late to take it back.”

“But that was before he was a patient,” I mentioned.

“So why are you seeing him? You should have told him that you couldn’t so you could keep seeing him,” Isis suggested.

“I tried,” I whined. “Not so that I could keep sleeping with him but because I had done it already.”

“It must not have taken,” Isis joked.

“I couldn’t find anyone else to accept him. Dropping him might have meant he was going back to prison. I couldn’t do that to him.”

“Now you gotta watch that fine ass specimen of a man walk around looking like an African god knowing you can never ride that dick again. It must be torture.” Isis shook her head.

I huffed. “You’re not making it any better.”

“I’m just trying to make it make sense. Nobody has to know you’re seeing him. There are ways to keep people out of your business, sis. I know you want him. I saw how you were looking at him like the last slice of pie.”

“Well if you would shut the hell up for a minute, I came out here to tell y’all that he was giving me a ride home. You’ve almost talked me out of it.”

“No, ma’am. Don’t blame that on me. Go get that dick,” my sister urged.

“It’s not like that. He’s just giving me a ride. We already discussed that.”

“He’s about to give you a ride all right.” Patrice snickered.

“Exactly! Tell me all about your ride in the morning, baby sis,” Isis teased.

“Whatever. I hope the two of you grow up one day,” I said.

“If it means being a stick in the mud afraid to get dick I already had then I don’t want to.” My sister laughed.

“Go to hell. I’ll call you when I make it home.”

“OK, baby girl. I love you,” Isis said, pulling me in for a quick hug.

“I love you too, crazy. Night, Trice.”

“Good night,” Patrice said as I turned to walk back to the door.

When I opened the door, I scanned for Key and quickly spotted him sitting on a stool next to the wall facing the door. He was talking to a couple of other men but kept his eyes on me. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I walked deeper into the club.

A smile curled the left side of his mouth, making me take a deep breath. What was the plan again? Before I could remind myself that he was just giving me a ride home and walking me to the door, someone grabbed my arm.

“Gah damn, girl. You thicker than a bowl of cold oatmeal. What’s your name?”

“Can you let my arm go?” I scowled as I attempted to pull my arm away.

“Damn a nigga can’t even ask you your name?” The man snarled.

“Not with your hands on me,” I fussed, irritated that he was still holding on to me.

“Y’all hos kill me coming to the club with all this short ass tight shit on with your titties and ass all in a nigga face but don’t want nobody to say nothing to you. You must eat pussy?”

“Let my fucking arm go,” I fussed.

As the words left my mouth, someone hit him, causing him to stumble back and lose his grip on my arm. By the time I realized that it was Key, he was hitting him again. Blood leaked from the man’s mouth and nose as he looked between us with wild eyes.

“The lady said take your hands off her,” Key informed him.

“You must want the pussy yourself, nigga? You put your hands on me about this stuck-up bitch.”

“All of this is mine. I should put more than my hands on you, but I’m trying to charge it to all the liquor you probably drank tonight.”

“Key, let’s go,” I said, shaking my head. This was not how I wanted the rest of my night to go.

“Yeah, Key. You better go unless you ready to die about that pussy,” the belligerent guy said as he brandished a gun from behind his back.

Suddenly I was frozen in place. I knew I should have stayed my ass at home tonight.

Now I was about to die in the back room of a club.

Key grasped my arm, snatching me behind him as he charged the dude pointing a gun at us.

When Key grabbed him the gun went off, causing everyone in the room the scream, including me.

While the other few people had the wherewithal to run, my ass was stunned into immobility. I didn’t know what to do.

Every cell in my brain was screaming for me to run like hell and never look back, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t just leave while Key was defending me. I couldn’t leave knowing something might happen to him. I couldn’t just leave him, so I didn’t. I stood by helplessly as the gun went in the air.

The hand holding the gun pointed toward the sky while Keywan held the man in a chokehold.

He clawed at Key’s arms, struggling unsuccessfully against the power of his hold.

There was no use. My eyes watered as I started to wonder what the hell I had gotten myself into.

I should have been in bed watching reruns.

Instead I was in the middle of a club fight. These never ended well.

“Key!” a man barked.

My head snapped to see a huge guy charging across the room. Keywan didn’t respond. It was like he was no longer in the room. Instead he focused on disabling and possibly killing the man who had lost the will to fight him back.

“Keywan, let him go, bro,” the man demanded.

When he reached them, he slapped Keywan on the top of the head, causing me to jump.

Key wasn’t fazed. I don’t even think he realized that somebody had hit him.

I was terrified. I reconsidered my reasoning for not running out with the crowd.

There was still time to get out of there if only I could move.

The other guy slapped Key’s face twice. The impact sounded across the room.

Apparently, that did the trick. Keywan let the man go, causing the gun to fall to the floor with a thud right before its owner slumped right next to it.

His chest heaved as he finally focused on the man standing in front of him.

“What the fuck, man? My guys had to come pull me off Carrie’s bus to get your ass. You good?”

“I uh . . .” Key’s eyes darted around the room until they landed on me. “Yeah, I’m good. How he get in here with a pistol and they made me leave my shit back here with you?”

“I don’t know, man. I can’t babysit you tonight, bro. Do I need to have somebody to drive you home? Are you drunk?”

“I’m not even drinking, Kannon. I didn’t start that shit either,” Key explained.

“They waiting on me out there. Are you good to drive?” the man checked.

“I-I’m . . . yeah,” Key stammered, still trying to gather himself.

“Call me when you get to the crib, nigga. Go straight fucking home. I can’t believe this shit, Key. You just got home.”

“Kannon, the nigga pulled a gun on me and my girl, bro. I wasn’t on no shit tonight.”

That’s when the other man finally looked back at me. I don’t think he even realized I was in the room until Key mentioned me.

“The girl look like she scared shitless, Key. Take her the fuck home and call me when you get there.”

He was right. I was physically shaking. When Key looked at me again, his shoulders fell in defeat. I had never been so scared in my life. There was no way I could put myself in a situation like this again.