Page 56 of Welcome to the Table

Calliope

K idnapping.

I repeated that shit in my head over twenty times.

This wasn’t what the fuck I did. I ran a money laundering and gambling ring.

I didn’t fucking steal people. Hellcat should have left this girl where the fuck she was because I didn’t want to bring her to my house, and she looked scared as fuck of me when she shouldn’t be.

This was the type of shit I hated about living this life because the shit was full of surprises.

I couldn’t kill her because Jaci had already killed her fucking brother, and I wasn’t trying to have a woman’s blood on my hands.

I had walked around her body five times since everybody left.

I had to wait for the sun to set to even carry her ass out to my car because I didn’t want anyone to see.

Crackheads, dope fiends, or even hookers to see shit because they would snitch to anybody for a fix, and we didn’t need that type of heat.

I looked down at my watch and noticed it was 8:00 p.m. The sun was starting to set, and I knew I could move her soon.

Her eyes followed me everywhere I walked.

I stopped in front of her, rubbing my hands through my braids.

I took a good look at her. She was beautiful.

Chestnut complexion, blue eyes, and curly hair.

I couldn’t really see her body because she was sitting down, but I knew she had one.

Why the fuck would Hellcat put me in this shit?

Furthermore, why would he have niggas go to another country and kidnap this innocent woman?

I could tell by the look she gave me that she didn’t even know where the fuck she was.

I didn’t believe in taking or killing women, but Hellcat didn’t give a fuck, and I was always left to pick up the pieces.

He was probably busting down a bitch, and I was stuck with a beautiful stranger.

I walked closer to her, and she looked up at me, scared.

Spit and slob ran down the tape that was on her mouth.

I knew it would come off soon. My stomach crawled at seeing that shit, but I didn’t have anything to wipe her mouth with, and my jacket was off limits.

I backed up a little but was within hearing distance from her.

She reeked of piss, and I wondered how long she had been in this fucking building.

“If I take this tape off yo’ mouth, will you scream?”

I knew it was a stupid question, but I needed to see if she would be honest. She shook her head up and down. Fuck, at least she was honest.

“Well, I guess you gon’ be here all night. I’m about to dip,” I told her, walking away.

She tried to move the chair to get my attention. I turned around and went to her.

“If you scream, your head will be like your brother’s, and you will feel everything like he did,” I threatened.

She nodded in agreement with me. Tears flowed from her eyes, and it somewhat softened my hard heart.

I couldn’t feel sorry for her because I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, and from the looks of it, she didn’t know either.

Hellcat had me in some shit that I didn’t even know about.

He was bringing unwanted heat to the city that I couldn’t afford.

I reached inside my jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of black gloves. I never left home without at least two pairs. I pulled them over my hands and got as close as I could to her without vomit spewing from my mouth. My hand reached for her mouth, and I ripped the tape from it.

“Ouch!” she yelled, almost falling back in the chair.

I caught it just in time for her not to flip backward.

“Didn’t think it would hurt that bad since yo’ fucking slob was all over this shit.” I threw the wet tape across the floor. I thought about untying her, but I didn’t trust her ass. She might try to escape, and I would have to kill her.

“Well, that didn’t make it any better! What do you want from me? What did I do to be taken from my home? Where did they take me?!” She rattled off questions before I could answer the first one. She wasn’t giving a nigga a chance to say shit.

“Quiet! Fuck, give me a chance to answer one fucking question before you ask another one.”

I didn’t mean to yell at her, but between her accent and her squeaky ass voice, that shit was about to make me flash the fuck out. I walked in front of her and bent down to eye level.

“I don’t know why the fuck you here, but you in New Orleans, and it’s gon’ be a while before you get to go home.

It’s fucked up because I don’t want you at my shit, but I ain’t got a fucking choice,” I told her, and she rolled her eyes at me.

I could tell she was spicy and sassy, but she was gon’ get in line or I would flatline her.

“I don’t give a fuck what my family is into, but I’m not. I just graduated from college and wanted to live a little bit, but that backfired. I should have stayed my ass in the house,” she said more to herself than me.

It made me wonder how the fuck Hellcat and his comrades got to her and why. She wasn’t part of the contract. I took one of my gloves off and pulled my phone out of my pocket because Hellcat had some explaining to do. I wasn’t a fucking babysitter.

He answered on the first ring.

“Nigga, what?” he had the fucking nerve to say.

I pulled my phone from my ear to look at it because this nigga had me fucked up.

“Nigga, what the fuck am I supposed to do with the girl? You just left her here, and this shit wasn’t in the fucking contract,” I barked into the phone, and he started to laugh.

“I made her a part of the contract. She is going with you. And why the fuck you still at the fucking warehouse? I done got me some pussy and everything, and you know I ain’t no minute ass nigga.” He laughed until he was out of breath, but I didn’t find shit funny.

“No, for real. She is harmless. She snuck out of the house, and I had her snatched. She didn’t want to be home anyway, so I helped her out, but I left her friend in the club. Enjoy her. It ain’t like she ain’t pretty. She just the way you like ’em, nigga. I know I picked a good one, huh?”

He really thought this shit was funny, but it wasn’t.

I had to admit he wasn’t lying. She was beautiful as fuck.

Even with her mascara running down her cheeks and her eyes red and puffy, she was beautiful.

The thing that stood out was her eyes. They were blue as the fucking ocean.

She looked so innocent and scared at the same time.

“Nigga, you tied to the fucking chair. What the fuck were you thinking?” I asked him.

“You need somebody to play with. That’s what the fuck I was thinking. Klarity been invading yo’ fucking thoughts and causing yo’ ass to clean and clean. I didn’t like the bitch, but she killed herself, nigga. You need a distraction, and I got you a beautiful one,” he said.

A switch clicked in my head. I could use a play toy, and that’s exactly what little Miss Dakota was about to be.

“Nigga, I already know what you’re thinking, but this ain’t that.” Hellcat brought me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, but it is now. You want me to take her to my house? Then she's going in the fucking box until I wanna set her free,” I told him with a wicked laugh.

“Nigga, don’t do that. She ain’t ready for that type of shit. That’s torture,” he tried to reason with me, but it was too late. He shouldn’t have brought her to me when he knew I was a fucking monster.

“Fuck you, nigga. You should have taken her with you then.” I disconnected the call before he could respond.

He knew I could be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I wanted to be, and Ms. Innocent was about to find out.

The sun had gone down, and I walked back over to her and cut the cords from around her wrists.

I pulled it so hard that the entire chair moved.

I bent down and did the same to her ankles, and she yelped in pain.

I ignored that shit and grabbed her waist, throwing her over my shoulder.

I grabbed my keys and walked to the back door with her over my shoulder.

“If you fucking scream, it will be the last thing you do.”

She frantically nodded her head up and down as I pushed the door open and walked out.

I went to my car, opened the back door, and threw her ass in there.

She was so scared she closed her eyes tight as fuck.

Something about her innocence and her being afraid of me made me want to torture her even more.

She didn’t know what was in store for her, fucking with me.