Working Girls (16 page)

Kareem didn't give him anything. If there was one thing he wasn't, it was a snitch.

Rome extended his gun to Jewels and asked her if she would like to do the honors. She looked at him and grabbed hold of the gun happily.

Red stood in the corner, about to witness a point of no return. This was what he didn't want to see happen. Jewels was about to be stained with blood. “Don't make her do it,” begged Red. “C'mon, man. Think about this.” He knew that once Jewels pulled that trigger, it would drain all the purity left in her soul.

Rome ignored him. “If you riding wit' me, go ahead and lay this nigga to rest.”

Jewels took one look at Kareem. All the bruises and blood had her shaken. She thought back to Rome holding Los's head in his hand. Then she recalled the kick from Kareem, which sent her into a rage. Without ever having any target practice, she let one shot loose. It landed smack in the side of his neck. Seeing the blood gush out made her sick to her stomach.

Kareem didn't go down right away. He grabbed the side of his neck and gasped for air. Jewels panicked. She released her grip on the gun, and it fell to the floor. Red silently shook his head, wishing she had never been involved. Rome picked the gun up from the floor and put two shots in Kareem's face, taking him out of his misery.

Showing no emotion at all about everything that had just happened, Rome turned to Red. “Call the cleanup team so we can get this faggot out of here.” Then he threw his arm over Jewels's shoulder. “C'mon. I need to get you out of here and looked at,” he said as he escorted her out of the garage.

It didn't take long for Rome to get Jewels to the hospital. He waited for her to be discharged. When Kareem kicked her and she fell, she had fractured two of her ribs and had bruised two more. Other than a little pain, Jewels was fine, let her tell it. The doctor prescribed her some painkillers and informed her she was in no danger from her injuries.

She looked over at Rome once they were back in his ride. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

He gave a long head nod to let her know he was listening.

She quit talking and took advantage of the silence. Even though his mind was elsewhere and he had more important matters to handle than tending to her, Jewels was grateful that Rome had put everything on hold to see to it that she received the medical attention she deserved. Not that she would have expected anything less. It was because of her and the injuries she'd sustained that Rome was now in the best position he'd ever been in, in his life. She turned her body slightly toward the window and gazed out at nothing in particular.

Rome periodically turned his head to look at her. He didn't know why he had jumped to get her to the hospital. He was not a “knight in shining armor” type of guy, but he felt responsible for her condition, even though it had been her choice to put herself in the line of fire. She could've been killed—again. Still, she'd been willing to go through with the plan. It had earned her a lot of respect from him. Stomachaches, headaches, colds, fevers, and things of that nature were the usual reasons for doctor visits for normal women—not broken ribs because they set a nigga up. Jewels was not the typical around-the-way girl, he knew. There was more to her than he'd thought.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

She took a minute to think. She wanted to be by his side but didn't think it would be possible, even after her help. “Home,” she answered.

There was a brief pause before he said, “Okay. Do you want me to stay wit' you?” He looked over at her.

His question caught her by surprise. Just as her immediate response did him.

“I don't mind you staying wit' me. You can stay wit' me as long as you need to.”

“Cool.” He nodded. “I just don't want to see anything bad happen to you. My bad for even putting you in this type of situation. I know you not about this life. Not my world, anyway,” he said. “I know you're much smarter than this. Whatever you got going on in your life is on you, but I didn't bring all that extra baggage into your world. I've survived these streets for several years with this kind of drama, so I'm used to it, just like I know you used to what comes with your lifestyle.”

“Thank you for that. But I'm a big girl.” She smiled. “Yeah, I may not be about that life, but my mama ain't raised no punk, either. Yes, it was a messy situation, but I signed up for it. I'm stronger than you know,” she offered. Jewels wanted to tell him everything so badly. It was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say anything. Every time she parted her lips to speak, nothing but hot air came out. She couldn't even believe that Rome had her wanting to tell him her entire life story. She stared at Rome, who cut his eyes over at her occasionally and said nothing. She was looking for him to say something, anything.

“You can sit there all quiet if you want to, but I know you got something to say,” he finally told her. He looked forward and gazed out the windshield and then glanced back over at her. “You can trust me,” was all he said.

Suddenly, he cut the wheel real hard, almost sideswiping a car in the outer lane, and then sped off.

Jewels's eyes widened. Out of all of the things he could have said in response to what she had shared with him, those words were not what she had expected. She was about to say something, but when she looked up, Rome was hopping on the interstate and going in the opposite direction of her place.

“This isn't the way to my house,” she announced.

“Yeah, I know. I need to go check on things with my partner before we go to your spot. It's close,” he informed Jewels.

It had been a long and tiresome night, and she just wanted to go home, shower, and climb into her bed, but she understood the game and knew how it went. Like she had said, she'd signed up for it, so she had to see it all the way through.

“That's fine.” She nodded.

Rome made his way across town, heading to the area where he knew Red would be. This would be the first time he had ever brought someone to their main stash spot, but Jewels was an exception, thought Rome. It was because of her that they had come up in the first place.

Jewels sat quietly, with her seat leaned back, enjoying the cool breeze. She was in her own little world, thinking about everything that was going on in her life. Rome took the opportunity to learn more about her. Jewels told him half her story. She shared things she rarely told anyone, like how her mom had told her she had the HIV virus and how her father had been killed when she was a young girl. She told him that she wanted to go to college to study business, something she had never told anyone, and that was determined to accomplish this goal.

“It sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders,” Rome offered. He wanted to say more but held back.

Jewels picked up on it. She gave a weak smile before saying, “It's all about the hustle for me.”

“You made it through the best way you knew how, and that's real. Some people give up, but you didn't, and that tells me a lot about you,” Rome responded.

It had been a long time since a guy had spoken to Jewels in such a concerned way. Money was almost always the main topic of her discussions with anyone. Rome, on the other hand, made her realize how important school was. There was something about him, and that had her wanting to change the game.

Rome pulled into a driveway and then drove all the way to the back. “Sit tight. I'll be in and out,” he told Jewels after he put the car in park.

Where the hell am I gonna go?
she thought, but she shook her head as confirmation instead.

Rome jumped out. Less than ten minutes later, he hopped back in the vehicle and headed back across town. Once they were back on the highway, Rome reached into the front pocket of his black hoodie and pulled out a huge stack of bills.

“This is for you.” He made sure he used the same words Jewels had uttered when she returned his money.

Jewels looked at the wad of cash.
This is at least twenty-five grand
, she thought.

“You earned that.” Rome handed her the money. “Twenty-five stacks,” he said.

Jewels kindly accepted her cut. Rome veered off at the intersection. A few minutes later he was pulling up to her gate. She decided to save whatever it was she intended to say for when they were inside.

He drove his SUV through Jewels's gate entrance. Once they were inside her condo, she told him to make himself comfortable and then made her way to her bedroom.

Rome found a seat in the living room. He watched as Jewels vanished down the hall and into her bedroom. For some odd reason, he had missed this place, which had been his home for nearly two weeks.
It feels good to be back in her presence and under her roof,
he thought. He picked up the remote to the stereo system and put something on. Drake's voice came blaring through the speakers. He lowered the volume and sat back.

Meanwhile, Jewels undressed, went into the bathroom, and ran a bubble bath. The doctors had told her not to strain herself or get the bandages wrapped around her too wet, so she made sure she didn't fill the tub to the rim. She took a minute to look herself over in the mirror. The reflection wasn't of the same girl from a couple of years ago. This was someone totally new. She whispered aloud to the mirror, “I lost myself.” A lot had happened in the past few months. Her mind was all over the place, darting from her first meeting with Rome to Sassy's murder and to the events that followed. She felt drained. “I can't continue to live like this,” she told herself out loud.

For the first time in her life, Jewels was contemplating her lifestyle. Rome had her weighing some things. She had already come to terms with the fact that she was attracted to someone she had never even thought was her type. Any person with one good eye could see that he was attracted to her too. At that moment she felt like giving up on everything. Not on life, but on death. She began to realize that if she kept living like she was, there was a big possibility that she might not make it.

“I got to do something. I can't let this control me any longer,” she said aloud, referring to what she loved and had been doing to take care of herself since she was a young girl.

She climbed into the bathtub, closed her eyes, and tried to relax her mind, but instead it ran wild. She envisioned everything exactly as it had happened, from the fat white trick's attack to Sassy's disappearance, missing nothing in between. Her eyes shot open. The whole place was pretty quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the soft sound of Ashanti singing her hit song “Baby” as it drifted from the speakers mounted on the bathroom wall.

Against the doctors' orders, Jewels slid her whole body down into the water. The only thing above the water was her head. She drifted into deep thought again. Moments later, she slid down farther, letting her head join the rest of her body underneath the suds. Her count reached thirty-six before she couldn't take it anymore. She came up for air just before the water took her last breath. The drenched remains of what used to be a silky soft perm covered her face. She used both hands to brush her hair toward the back of her head and then lost herself again in deep thought.

The thought of dying alone frightened Jewels. Now that Sassy was gone, she had no one. The more she thought about it, the more she realized who and what all she really had. Jewels took a deep breath. She rose from the bathtub and wrapped the towel around her dripping body. She stuck one leg out of the water and planted her foot on the floor. The moment she planted both feet on the floor, she wanted something different and decided on taking a new direction in her life.

“Jewels? You okay?” Rome called out as he walked toward her bedroom. “Hey . . .” Rome stood at full attention when Jewels met him at the doorway of her master bath with a towel around herself. “I'm sorry. You didn't answer me, so I—”

Jewels reached for him, and her towel dropped to the floor. Rome physically didn't hold back his feelings for her, but she reminded him of her ribs, and he gently scooped her up, then laid her on the bed. There they continued revealing their feelings for each other and where they saw each other in a future together.

 

Rome and Jewels arrived at Newark International Airport in New Jersey around noon that day. The layover in Chicago had been one full hour of torment for Jewels's body and mind. She had not been able to get into a comfortable resting position in the flat and wide airport chairs. It was like any other time she had flown with Rome, and still, she didn't like it. Like the other times, she'd been on edge, anxious. She still couldn't believe she had let Rome talk her into flying on their six-month anniversary as a team and a couple. In those six months, it seemed as if he had had her in the air more than on the ground. She preferred it when they drove to their destination, but this trip would have taken too long in a car and would have thrown them off schedule.

They took a car service all the way from the airport to Atlantic City, which was over an hour-and-a-half drive. That would be their home for the next two days. Rome was mixing business with pleasure on this trip, thanks to the Jersey connect he had made by using the numbers Jewels's mother had sent her. Rome had been doing business with an East Coast heavy hitter named Jameel, who was from a city called Plainfield in New Jersey. He was a major figure not only in the drug game but also in the gambling world, which was why it was nothing for him to roll out the red carpet for Rome and Jewels. Jameel had told them to meet him in A.C. so they could enjoy themselves while they visited. Rome didn't have to put up any cash for the trip. Jameel had everything set for them. He'd told Rome he'd be offended if Rome stuck his hand in his pocket while he was in Jersey.

The driver pulled up to the entrance of the Caesars Atlantic City Hotel. Being from the Midwest, Jewels was awed by the hotel's elegance and architecture, the likes of which she had never seen. It was a world that was unknown to her back in St. Louis. Caesars was just one of the four properties owned by Harrah's that sat snugly on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Jewels liked the hotel's crescent shape, and the layout facing the beach was divine. There were restaurants, nightclubs, a spa, a hair salon, a gym, shops, and an indoor pool. Jewels would have access to them all on the trip with Rome. She had the option to unwind at the spa, shop until she dropped, or swim in the ocean or the pool. The hotel really offered far too many activities for Jewels to partake of in just two days. Everything she could ever want to do during this trip was within walking distance, but she would have the limousine at her beck and call.

The rays of the sun streamed through the window of the oceanfront suite, which stared out at the Atlantic City beach, waking Jewels from her jet lag–induced sleep on the enormous king-size bed. Her eyes slowly opened to see who it was that had pulled the curtains back, allowing the sun to wake her.

“Rome, what are you doing?” she asked. A great yawn followed, and then she turned over, away from the window.

“Baby, it's eleven a.m. Get up, Ma!” he said, looking out one of the suite's windows that faced the boardwalk. He had just finished smoking a blunt. He stepped out onto the balcony and looked to his right and saw the mall that sat on the boardwalk. To his left was Bally's Beach Bar. He had chosen to stay at Caesars because it was centered between the other buildings and the most iconic. Rome inhaled the fresh Atlantic City air. He enjoyed the beautiful, festive atmosphere, one he could find only in Atlantic City.

This city will probably never lose its fire
, he thought.

Jewels looked at him, dressed in shorts and a wife beater. She was loving the weather, and as she watched the sun bounce off his skin, she wanted to climb out of bed and join him on the balcony as he looked out over the beach and its occupants from their suite on the top level of the building.

When he came back into the suite, she said, “It's eleven out here, which means it's ten back home.
Technically
, I'm still asleep,” she teased.

Rome snatched the covers off her body and laughed as she curled her body into a ball to keep warm. He got on top of her and began kissing her arms and neck. A grin appeared on her face. She turned over so that she could look at him.

“You took a shower already?” she asked.

“I sure did,” Rome said. “I wanted you in there with me, but you were sleeping so peacefully. I didn't want to wake your pretty ass up.”

“Well, that's too bad, 'cause I would have loved to shower with you,” Jewels said, looking to her sides, at his muscular arms. “Guess I'ma have to get you dirty again.”

“You wanna get dirty, eh?” Rome asked. She had read his mind. His dick was already throbbing with the desire to feel her moist vagina.

Jewels had felt his hard imprint through his jeans and wanted to do something about it. She flipped him over so that she was on top, and then moved down between his legs. She tugged his jeans off and did the same with his boxer briefs. Her hand jerked his stiff dick for a moment, and then she moved her mouth to the head and began to suck slowly. A raspy moan crept out of his mouth, letting her know that he loved the sensation. She picked up her pace and put more of him into her mouth. Jewels reached into her shorts and stuck a finger in her vagina and discovered its moistness. Once his dick was as hard as it was going to get, she pulled her shorts down and moved her panties to the side, then mounted him.

Rome ran his hands up her shirt, grabbed her full breasts, and pinched her nipples as she rode him like a champ. She used every muscle in her legs as she performed squats on his manhood and tightened her vagina with every levitation.

“God. Damn. Girl,” Rome muttered as he struggled to look at her as she did the damn thing. He wanted to watch her ride him, but his eyes kept rolling to the back of his head from how good she felt and how good it felt inside her.

“Is it good to you?” Jewels cooed into his ear.

Her tongue flickered across his earlobe, and she gave him kisses from his neck to his pectorals. Rome's senses were taken to a new height when she kissed his nipples and ran her tongue down the crease in his abs. She threw her head back and decreased her speed when he gave her his answer.

“Hell, yeah, it's good,” he groaned.

Trapped in sheer ecstasy, Rome grabbed her buttocks with his hands and squeezed them with everything he had. He felt the semen swelling up toward the tip of his penis, marking the onset of an ejaculation. He removed her from on top of him and told her to jack him off.

Jewels smiled seductively and placed her lips around the firm head of his dick and jerked at it until he exploded in her mouth. She grabbed the bedsheets and spit the cum out of her mouth. Rome shuddered, wishing he could have held out a bit longer.

“All right. Now we can get in the shower,” Jewels said, walking into the hotel bathroom. She cut the faucet on in the shower, then removed her underwear and shirt.

Jewels peeked into the bedroom to see what was taking Rome so long. He was still lying on the bed and was now looking at his cell phone. She sighed, walked toward him, and planted her bottom on the edge of the bed.

“You all right? Did I hurt something?” she joked.

Rome smiled faintly and turned his attention away from the phone. “I'm good, baby girl. I was just texting ole boy that I'm going to be a few minutes late,” he answered.

“So . . . the shower?” Jewels said, tilting her head twice in the direction of the bathroom.

“I have to pass, Jewels. I'm already a little behind,” Rome said, sitting upright, then standing to his feet. He walked into the bathroom, stood at the sink, and grabbed a hand towel. He wet it with warm water and wiped Jewels's remains off his genitals.

“What time will you be back?” Jewels asked as she walked up behind him.

Rome turned around to face her and wrapped his arms around her nude body. “I should be back in a couple of hours. I'll leave some money on the table so you can have a good time out here.”

“I don't need any money. I'm good,” Jewels said, with the wave of her hand. She had promised herself that she would not bother him when he had business to take care of. She was certain that when it was their time to be together, Rome was going to sweep her off her feet in a new way. He always did.

For the past few months, they had been traveling from state to state, and from country to country, for both business and personal reasons, checking off the list of contacts Jewels had. Each time, she had been left alone and had had a ball in his absence, and she'd also enjoyed herself whenever he had free time. She made sure, though, that she maintained her independence, so no matter where she was, she knew how to find her own way and enjoy herself by herself.

Just then she was hit by his kiss, which sealed his departure.

“I'll call you,” Rome said, before setting the promised money on the table and leaving the suite.

Jewels watched the door close behind him and then went back into the bathroom, where the steamy shower was waiting for her. After she showered, she wrapped her body in a large towel and sorted through her new wardrobe to find what she was going to wear on her first day out in Atlantic City. She held up a two-piece Victoria's Secret bathing suit.

“I know for sure I'm going to the beach,” she said aloud to herself.

Jewels finished drying off and oiled her body with the new Victoria's Secret lotion she had found in her bag. She slid into the sexy swimsuit and began searching through the clothes for a top and bottoms to wear over it. She decided on a miniskirt and an Abercrombie & Fitch baby tee. A pair of gold open-toe Jimmy Choo flats topped off the look. Jewels grabbed the wrapped box of Vera Wang Glam Princess perfume and unwrapped it. She sprayed her wrists and dabbed some perfume behind her ears using her fingertips. She spritzed her hair and applied light makeup to her face.

I have too many designers on for my own good
, she joked as she put on a pair of gold diamond studs and a matching necklace. She slid on three gold bangles, two on her left wrist and one on her right. Once she felt “Atlantic City approved,” Jewels emptied the contents of her purse into her new tan Prada handbag. She grabbed the roll of money Rome had placed on the table and counted the bills.

“One thousand eight hundred, eight-fifty, nine hundred, nine-fifty . . . two thousand.” Jewels thumbed through the cash to make sure she had enough to spend on whatever she desired.

Ever since she had joined forces with Rome, she had seen more money than she thought possible. She loved her and Rome's new lifestyle. The two thousand dollars made her realized just how far she had come. Normally, she'd already be thinking about how she was going to replace the money she intended to spend, but nowadays, it seemed the more she spent, the more came in, without her having to do much. She was so far removed from her old lifestyle that she couldn't see herself ever doing anything other than what she was into now.

Jewels grabbed the room key, stuck it in the front pocket of her handbag, and left the suite to see the rest of what the hotel had to offer. She took the elevator down to the main lobby and was greeted by the same large gold and crystal chandeliers that had welcomed her when she first arrived.

Jewels stepped up to the front-desk clerk. “Excuse me, ma'am. Can you tell me where the spa is?”

“The spa is right next door, in the building with all the black mirrors covering it,” the perky clerk answered. She pointed in the spa's direction.

Jewels thanked her and stepped out into the Atlantic City heat, instantly telling herself that she was going to the beach later to show off her milk chocolate figure.
I better put this bathing suit to good use in this heat,
she thought as she walked next door to the spa.

She stepped into a room that was overwhelmed by white marble tiles on the floor and the walls. A large hallway was the pathway to the front desk. A smile was all the communication that she needed.

“Hello there. Welcome! What can we do for you today?” said the woman in charge at the desk.

Jewels stared at the spa services menu and asked for a moment to decide what she wanted. After staring at the menu for a minute, she chose to get two services, the Mineral Soak and the Swedish Rubdown Therapeutic Massage. She paid the four hundred dollars up front and was instructed as to what would happen next.

“Okay, Stephanie here is going to take you to the changing room, where you can get undressed, while we start the mineral soak bath for you,” the woman said after closing her cashier's drawer.

Stephanie led Jewels to the changing room. Jewels stripped out of her clothes, keeping on the bathing suit she had on underneath, and got into the robe the spa had supplied her with. She met a woman by the name of Farina outside the changing room and then followed her to the jetted bath infused with natural minerals that was waiting for her. She removed the robe, got into the bath, popped on her headphones, pressed PLAY on the iPod in the pocket of her robe so that she could listen to the Floetry Pandora station, and instantly closed her eyes. She soaked her body in the tub for the next sixty-five minutes, putting the minor aches in her muscles at ease. She could tell that her body was replenished when it was time for her massage.

Jewels put her robe back on, then walked up the stairs of the spa and into the white marble room where she would be receiving her massage. Jewels waved at the handsome Spanish masseur. He instructed her to lie down on her stomach on top of the massage table, which was covered in a brown plush towel and had a leather headrest.

“Do you want to take off your bathing suit?” he asked, knowing some customers preferred to lie naked underneath a towel while receiving their massage.

A coy Jewels clung to her robe with a tight fist. She shook her head with a smile. “No, no thank you,” she answered. She sat on the edge of the massage table.