Devilish Taste

Strip Wild

Once we reach to Tasha and Ashley place, we all decided to separate and take a nap before we head to the new club that's opening tonight. Luckily, the girls had an extra bedroom for me to stay instead of sleeping on the floor or with one of them. I made myself comfortable as I organize my things around the room, since I was going to be staying here for a while, I might as well make the guest room feel like home.

As I finish putting the clothes in the hanger in the closet, I plot myself on the bed lying next to my phone. A text message comes in and I realize that I forgot to text back Nino. I turn my phone screen on to see who text me, and I giggle reading the text message from Nino he sent just now. Right when I was typing in mid text, Nino name appears on my phone screen as my phone was now ringing. I answer it after the third ring.

"Hey Nino." I greet him.

"Ma, why you haven't answer me through the text message I sent you? You don't want to chill with me?" His husky voice sent a shiver down my legs and I automatic cross my legs. His questions made me smile knowing he was thinking of me.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up with my friends that I forgot to text you back. I'm staying with them right now, because I had an argument with my brother." I confess to him.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He tells me, and I stay silent over the line.

"Is there any way I can see you tonight?" He asks me, and I already know I have to let him down, because of the event I'm going with my friends.

"I'm actually going out with my friends to this new club opening tonight..."

"So I'll see you there then." He states cutting me off, and I'm slightly surprise how eager he is to see me.

"You're going to be there? You don't even know the club we're going to."

"Yeah why not? And I'm pretty sure it's my homeboy club that he just bought. I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to come with me, but it seemed like your friends already beat me to it." He says making me blush.

"That doesn't mean we can't chill with each other though?" I said, hoping he'll chill with me. I couldn't imagine Nino dancing or flirting with another girl while I'm in the same building as him.

"We are going to chill; I've been wanting to finish what we started that night." He seductively says through the phone, and I mentally did a happy dance.

"Can't be patient I see." As we both chuckle.

"So what are you doing?" I change the topic since I knew he was going to be there tonight by my side.

"Driving to my spot." He says. Spot? He must be talking about the place where he conducts his business.

"What do you do beside your side business?" I question him, wanting to get to know him more.

I heard him slightly chuckle.

"You want to get to know me more, about my lifestyle?"

"Of course." I smile.

"I'll tell you what, how about I take you out tomorrow night and you can ask me all the questions you want." He responds and I blush letting my heart skip a beat. A date? Hell yeah, why not. But wait! I work. I groan forgetting that I work, and I won't be done until around nine.

"I have work until nine."

"I can wait." He said, as this wasn't bothering him. I heard a beep sound on the line, and I check to see my phone had no notification. I'm guessing it was Nino as I heard shuffling in the background.

"I got to go ma, I got some business to take care of." He said ending our conversation that we never have more than twenty minutes to talk. I sigh in sadness as I understand his situation right now.

"No problem."

"I can't wait to see you tonight, and do me a favor wear something that I won't be able to keep my eyes off of you."

Right when I open my mouth to respond, I heard a couple of men's voices shouting for Nino to hurry up. The line went dead as Nino had hung up on me. I shake my head tossing my phone lightly away from me, as I lay my head on the pillow to finally rest my eyes.

'I woke up to the smell of food floating around the air. I take in my surroundings to see I was wearing a see through nightgown. I swing the covers away from me as I jump out the unfamiliar bed and walk towards the bedroom door. I carefully twist the knob making sure I didn't create any noise. I tip toe, following the smell that was filling the place. Each step I made forward made my heart pound louder as I didn't know what to expect. I stop in front of a caramel skin tone man, his back facing me. I watch as his back muscle flex doing whatever it was he was doing. The tattoos were clearly visible on his back as I began walking closer towards him.

Why am I here? I thought to myself as I was trying to find an angle to see the mystery man's face. He turns around slowly as my breath disappears from my lungs. My body is paralyzed from the shock that I'm receiving. My heart drops drastically on the face I once love.

"Jerome, this can't be" I said in a taut voice. He stops what he's doing, letting his eyes find mine.

"Baby, you up." He puts down the knife as he walks around the counter over to me, letting his eyes roam over my see through night gown that I forgot I was wearing. He licks his lips slowly and I quickly turn letting my back face him as my hands try to cover my body. I shut my eyes, waiting to wake up from this dream. This can't be my future; my heart is no longer with Jerome. My heart has moved on to Nino now. This has to be a nightmare right? Why am I not waking up? Is this reality?

"Don't be shy now baby." His deep voice I once shiver to enter my ear and I feel disgusted. His large hands settle on my waist tightening it making sure I won't escape. I yell at him to remove his hand away from me. Breaking free from his grip, I step forward, leaving distance between each other, and I heard him let out his frustration. Silent fill between us and then I heard his footstep getting close.

Out of nowhere he grabs a fist full of my hair and yank back as I scream as the pain was beginning to rise.

"Don't you ever yell at me, you b***h! You better learn how to respect me or else I might have to teach you a lesson. You would love that, huh?" A sinister smile spread over his lips, as tears were beginning to fall. I plead for him to stop and to leave me alone, but that only increases his anger. He grabs my arm roughly, dragging me to a door where he opens the door harshly to reveal Nino tie up on a chair with bruises and blood clearly shown on him. He looks so dead, and in that moment my heart drop thinking my Nino might be dead, because of this lunatic man next to me. The hair on the back of my neck sticks up, and the gut feeling I'm receiving makes me think he is dead or unconscious.

"You let this fool touch what's mine! I love you Ashanti! But I see this man this foolish nigga come between us." Jerome roars at me, as he pushes me down onto the cold floor as he proceeds to Nino. He stops and position himself in front of him, making sure he had an angle to see Nino and I. He takes something out his waist band and my heart literally drop as I see he has a large gun on him. I stood up sprinting over to him, but every time I got close it was like the universe was pushing me back somehow. I kept pushing my legs to sprint, but once again, my dream didn't want to let me have my way.

"You are mine Ashanti! I told you no one would ever come between us!" He screams at me in anger, he angles the gun at the side of Nino head, he places his finger on the trigger watching me sprint towards them. The next thing I saw made me scream, dropping to the floor shaking. Jerome laughs evilly as I look up to Nino lifeless body.

"Ashanti wake up!" Tasha voice fills my ear as I shot up from my pillow.

"Damn girl, you must have been getting jump for you to be screaming like that. Hurry up and get ready. Ashley in the shower and I'm about to put on my clothes." She walks out the room leaving the door wide open. I calm myself down as I place my hand on my chest. I glance over to my phone to see it was ten forty-five. I rush to the second bathroom they had and I began showering.

Once I took care of my hygiene, I made my way to the room, putting on my strapless bra and thong. I sat in front of the mirror taking out my make up to lightly, add some things onto my face. I decided to add big curls on my hair as I turn on the curling iron.

"Girl you ready?" Ashley walks in on me as I'm sat at the corner of my bed strapping my heels. I nod my head over to her as she turns and walks back to the living room. I walk over the mirror staring at myself.

'Jerome is out my life, Ashanti, don't pay him no mind.' I whisper to myself remembering the nightmare I had.

"Yes girls we are looking so sexy in our outfits!" Tasha said, staring at herself in the mirror that's out in the living room. Ashley takes a picture with all of us posting the pictures on her social media.

We grab our things and head outside to the car.

"I'm loving the club name, Strip Wild." Ashley mention as we walk inside the club. The music filled our ears and the smoke, liquors and other things I couldn't identify were filling our nose. I wasn't into smoking and drinking so I told them I will be the designated driver when it was time to go. We were able

to find a place to sit before the club begin to fill up. Ashley was already getting wild as she begins dancing to songs that were playing.

"You guys lets go shake our ass and turn up!" Ashley yells at us through the loud music. Tasha and I followed Ashley through the crowd in the middle of the dance floor, letting the beats of the music control her body as we stood there watching her. Tasha starts dancing with me, so no guys would come and snatch her up.

"I'll be right back Ash; I think I'm about to throw up." Tasha yells in my ear and I nod as she turns running to the restroom. I whip my head around trying to find Ashley, but she was no longer in sight. I sigh, letting where ever Ashley went out my focus as I push through the crowd trying to get to the bar.

"Can I just get some water?" I ask the young man.

"You sure you don't want to try our new strip wild drink? It's really delicious." He questions me, and I shake my head no as I just want some damn water. He nods at my denial and after a few seconds he slides a glass of water with a lemon on the side. I turn my chair to face the dance floor as I took on the appearance, the lights were flickering crazy colors as there were drunk people waving glow sticks and those gloves that lights up the fingertip. I chuckle silently as I watch those people go wild with the upbeat song.

I glance around taking the rest of the design of the club. It was just a regular club to me, there was nothing unique about it. Nino said it was his homeboy club, so knowing Nino it was probably a way to use this club to transfer things in and out without the cops knowing anything.

I move my eyes looking at every part of the club, until I saw the v.i.p section upstairs. There was mostly men's just smoking, drinking and taking lap dances from women's who wanted attention. I was actually entertained watching one particular woman literally throw herself on a man who was ignoring her. She whispers what I'm probably guessing something that would make a man eyes light up, but again the man didn't budge from where I was sitting. I'm guessing has a girlfriend or wife at home.

"You having fun watching that hoe throw herself to that man." Tasha voice fills my ear as she takes a seat next to me. I smile at her as I hear her ask the bartender for a glass of water. I scrunch my eye brows confuse, knowing damn well she loves drinking alcohol.

"I thought we decided I'm the designated driver. So go ahead and drink you know you want to. Isn't that why you rush to the restroom to throw up?" I eyed her and she shrugs her shoulder gulping the water down her throat until she was done. Somethings been up with her ever since I came down. Tasha has been avoiding my looks and questions. I couldn't bring it up now as we were supposed to be having fun.

"I'm surprise you're not throwing yourself at niggas." Tasha smirks.

"What about you?" I question at her. She didn't hear me as she looks down on her phone. She quickly stands up saying one of her old friends was here and she was going to say hi for a second. I roll my eyes at her excuses, knowing damn well it might be a nigga.

"I didn't think I'll see you here." A deep voice whispered in my ear and I smile hearing it. I turn my face waiting to see my future man, but to be faced with Jerome. My smile drop as I stare motionless at his eyes.

"It's like that now? I guess you were expecting someone else, huh? They way your smile lit up before seeing it was me." His voice was filled with hurt, and I didn't care. I haven't seen him since the funeral, and out of all places to see him would be at a club. I move my head side to side pretending to look for someone.

"I see your hoe not with you." I start turning away from him. I heard him chuckle grabbing my hand with force as he pulls me to a corner on the dance floor. I tried to snatch my hand away from him, but it didn't budge as he held a death grip on me. He stops walking as he drags me into his chest as he places his hands dangerously low on my back almost touching my ass. The only thing I can smell is his heavy cologne that I use to buy him all the time. I shake my head not wanting to be around him, knowing I will start getting drawn to him from our past memories.

Where was Nino?

"You look beautiful, baby." He said acting as if nothing didn't happen between us from the last time we spoke. I tried pushing at his chest for distance, but absolutely nothing I was doing was working. I was getting angrier every minute as I felt helpless in this position. He looks down at me, watching me squirm in his arms. The slow dance, we were doing was nowhere near going at the club music that was blasting a fast beat song. I was confused and helpless and I wish Nino would come to save me. For some odd reason, the nightmare I had earlier made me feel like it might actually come true.

"Don't fight me baby, you'll end up hurting yourself." He kisses my forehead as he strokes my lower back with his thumbs. My posture stiffens at this and my heart pounds at my chest in a painful way.

"Leave me alone Jerome!" I yell at him through the music. He looks down, gripping his hold on me as I fought to push some distance from him. He suddenly grabs both my wrist, pushing me against the wall. He places his knee between my legs so I won't be able to knee him where his sun doesn't shine. I was completely and utterly helpless. No one was paying attention around me.

"What I told you baby, don't fight me." He whispers in my ear as he began throwing kisses on my neck. I wanted to throw up, the way his lips were touching my skin made my skin burn and itch.

"You better get the f**k away from my girl." Another deep voice broke Jerome and I as we twist our head to follow the voice.

Nino! My heart jumps in joy as a smile breaks out my lips. Jerome sees this and he gets pissed clutching onto my arm painfully so I won't escape. I was able to set my leg free, stomping on his shoes to let me go. Luckily my heels were able to cause pain on his toes as I scurry over to Nino side.

"Your girl? The f**k you think you is coming between us while we talking." Jerome takes a step close over to Nino as he finishes saying this. I look between the two trying to decide how was I going to calm them down before something starts. Nino was way bigger and taller than Jerome, but you never know what Jerome can do in a fight. Never doubt someone's height and weight. I shake my thoughts away from my mind as I came back to reality.

I grab Nino arm, pulling him back so he can get the idea to leave with me. Nino snatches his arm back and I almost trip trying to regain my balance. Well damn!

"Yeah nigga you heard me right. If I were you I'll step back, cause you don't want no pressure in, my homeboy club." Nino growls back. He lifts his shirt slightly that made Jerome looks down in pure hatred. He looks over to me and then at Nino shaking his head. Whatever it was he showed to Jerome, had Jerome steeping back in defeat. It was probably a gun.

"Watch your back nigga." He threatens as he turns and disappear into the crowd. Nino continues to watch Jerome back side walking towards somewhere to make sure he was officially gone. He grabs my hand, taking large strides to wherever he was going. I had to literally jog to keep up with him. We enter an elevator, silent filling our surroundings as I stood in front of him not wanting to look back. The energy he was sending me; I didn't want to make it worst.

The elevator finally stops and I step out to the side so he can come and direct us to where he's taking me. We finally get to the location as he punches in the numbers on the door to open. After I walk in, he closes the door shut, locking it in the process. I walk over to the large dark tinted windows seeing the club dance floor and everything else on the bottom.

"Why the f**k, when I finally see you, you in a corner, letting that nigga touch you like that?" He questions me. His tone was normal, but I can hear the anger behind the question. He walks over, sitting on a chair watching me carefully.

"You saw him take advantage of me, but yet you are accusing me I let him touch me so freely." I reply to his question. I wasn't upset, just excited to finally have some alone time with him. Of course I was disappointed he had to see me in Jerome taking advantage of me, but what can I possibly say. He sighs loudly leaning back in the chair, closing his eyes. I take that chance to walk over to him, placing myself on his lap.

"I don't like the thought of another man's hands on you. I would kill him with my bare hands to show you how serious I am." My heart skips a beat; my stomach tightens hearing this. He would kill another man with his bare hand? I didn't know what to think about that now. His eyes are filled with emotions swimming around. I couldn't help but feel hypnotized by this.

"Have you killed someone Nino?" He didn't flinch from my questions. His emotion he was showing didn't change. when he didn't answer to me after a few minutes, I turn my head not wanting to show my reaction. Is my heart choosing the right person to be in love with? God, did you give this man to be my soulmate? He killed someone! Does that mean he could possibly hurt me or else end my life?

"I will never hurt you, ma." As if his voice answer one of my question.

"You hurt other people though." I state as a fact. He wraps me in his arm, letting his cologne drug me.

"Why you asking all these questions now? You can ask them tomorrow night when we go on a proper date." He tells me as he places his lips on my shoulder. His lips linger on my skin for a few more second and I shut my eyes admiring his lips on me. He's trying to distract me! I jump down from his lap giving us distance as I went back to my original spot by the dark tinted window. I watch as people on the dance floor dance wild with no care in the world.

"Ashanti." He calls me, as he places both his hand on both sides of me, trapping me in the process. He nuzzles his head against the side of my neck, letting my perfume drug him also.

"I want you, baby. When will you let me show you what a real nigga can do for you?" His tongue teases my neck and my queen down there begins to moist. I couldn't answer his question as I was now distracted. He takes this advantage to pull my skirt up with one hand as the other hand directs both my hand to be placed on the window in front of me. I smile as I love the way he's taking action.

He slaps my ass as I c**k my head back, letting out a soft moan. He wraps his arm around my waist, letting his hand slip inside my thong. I can't believe I'm letting a man I barely know touch and feel me up in a club where no one can see me because of the window that's tinted.

"You so wet for me baby." He groans in a sexy tone. My n*****s harden at this, and I feel myself getting turned on fast. My body heats up from this reaction of him messaging my queen, and I need him to quench my absolutely dry up thirst.

I open my eyes up, letting my eyes fall on the dance floor as I saw Ashley beating some girl's ass. All traces of being turned on was out the door as I snatch Nino hand away from my body.

"My girl is fighting; I need to go check on her." I snap Nino back from his fantasy of us, as he glances down to where the fight was happening. He curses under his breath probably blaming Ashley for ruining his chance to pleasure me.

He leads me back to the dance floor, where I sprint to where Ashley was located, making sure she wasn't getting jump. Tasha was next to her fighting another girl, probably the girl friend that tried to jump in. Nino was nowhere to be found as I lost him in the crowd. Ashley and Tasha were beating those girl asses. There was no need for me to help out as I watch my girls fight it out with their street fists and not the regular cat fight that you wave your hands all in the air trying to snatch the hair out.

A couple of gunshots were fired, and I snatch Tasha and Ashley from their fight. We dash through the frantic crowd trying to get to the exit. Some women that was right behind us, scream painfully slamming her body to the ground as she got shot in her leg. I really wanted to stop and help her, but Ashley grabs me rushing us to the exit.

"Are you stupid Ashanti! You could off have got killed trying to help that random girl!" Ashley scream at me, as Tasha slams her foot on the gas pedal. I ignore Ashley comment as I stare out the window into the dark sky, thinking about Nino if he was okay.

Nino was definitely going to strip me wild if Ashley and Tasha didn't catch my attention. I know I won't be safe in the next opportunity Nino and I have alone time. The question that will stay in my head is will I stop him from going further.