King's Promise Read online

For some reason, he took her answer as an invitation to start tossing his weak mack game at her. “Whoa, shawty. How did you get all of that in those jeans?”

  Cheryl smiled even though she wanted to hit him with a side-eye herself.

  “You’re thick as hell. How come you ain’t one of these dancers trying to get paid?”

  “I’m cool where I’m at. Thanks.” She set his drink down in front of him and then moved on to the next brother that rolled up to the bar.

  “Humph. Humph,” the bus driver said, shaking his head. “I know I can get you on Mad Monez’s next video. You’ll be a star. For real.”

  Cheryl’s eyes threatened to roll out the back of her head. “Really. I’m good.”

  “No. What you are is fine,” he said, rolling his beady-eyed gaze over her body. “I’m telling you that the camera would love you.”

  Cheryl ignored him and again moved to make the next drink. But a couple of seconds later, Mr. Bus Driver yelled above the loud music, “You got a man?”

  This is going to be a long night. “Yes! I have a man,” she lied, hoping that would just shut him down.

  Two more guests stepped up to the bar. They each had two women tucked under their arms. “Nuvos for the ladies,” one of them ordered.

  “Coming right up.”

  “Yo, shawty. Is your man here tonight?”

  Cheryl’s hands flew to grab the glasses and bottles and poured the round of drinks ready in less than ten seconds.

  “Damn, girl. You got skills, don’t you?”

  Cheryl collected her tips and kept her smile elevated at the right angles. What she wanted to do more than anything was bust a bottle over dude’s head if he didn’t shut up soon.

  “Yo, shawty. You didn’t tell me where your man at. Is he here tonight? Because if he isn’t, then what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Nah-what-I-mean?”

  “Look. I’m working,” she told him. “If you want another drink, then I can get that for you.”

  “What are you going to do after your shift?”

  “I’m going home to my man,” she said, folding her arms.

  “Oh. Is that right?” Xavier’s deep baritone floated from behind her.

  Cheryl jumped and spun around.

  “Well, that explains a lot,” he said, smiling.

  “Oh, hey…baby,” Cheryl cooed.

  Xavier’s brows crashed together over his eyes while confusion shone in his eyes. “I just came over to make sure that you were all set up and…” He glanced over Cheryl’s shoulder to the dude hugging the bar. “You all right?”

  “Everything is great.”

  “Good. Good.” He still stared at her as though if he tried hard enough he would be able to read her mind. “Well…Q and I are floating around. You can grab one of us if you need any help with anything.”

  “Cool. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry,” the grinning man at the bar cheesed. “I’ll take good care of her.”

  “Is he—?”

  Cheryl kissed him. Without thinking or processing what she was doing through the rational part of her brain. The reaction of her body felt like a nuclear meltdown. From the moment her lips landed on his, reason and reality fled. All her life, she had heard and read in fairy tales about how there would be magic and fireworks exploding in one’s head when they finally kissed The One. Who hadn’t laughed at that?

  So why was it happening now?

  Heat—a scorching heat—blazed through her body, yet it didn’t burn. If anything, it felt wonderful. Parts of her body that she had long forgotten about sighed in relief. Like a drowning victim finally breaking through icy waters for air.

  It was supposed to be a brief kiss. But before she knew it, she was leaning into his hard, chiseled frame for support and ignoring her lungs that were begging for oxygen. It was either that or fall at his feet. She didn’t even come to her senses when he wrapped his arm around her body and pressed her even closer.

  Cheryl felt every inch of him, above his waist as well as below it. Quite simply, she was lost—lost in her head and her emotions, which felt an unbelievably heightened sense of awareness. Just the taste of him was sweet with a hint of spice. And the way his tongue boldly explored her open mouth made her nipples hard and her clit thrum with a growing need.

  Was she wrong for fantasizing about him laying her on this bar and having his way with her? Hell, at that moment, she didn’t even care if the camera captured it all for public viewing. It made no sense. And if it wasn’t for Xavier pulling back a little to nibble on the lining of her lips, she would have never breathed in the oxygen needed to allow reality to seep through.

  Cheryl’s eyes fluttered open and the cogs in her brain started to churn once again. She pushed back against his chest and forced the muscles in her legs not to atrophy.

  Staring at each other, they wore the same confused look. What in the hell was that?

  “Damn, y’all. I thought you guys were just going to inhale each other,” Mr. Bus Driver said before getting up and turning away from the bar. “Get a room before you get her pregnant in front of everybody.”

  “I’m, uh—” Should she apologize for that kiss?

  Xavier was equally lost for words. “Yeah. That was, um, interesting.”

  Cheryl lifted an inquisitive brow. “Interesting?”

  “Nice,” he corrected, smiling. “It was very, very nice.”

  She felt the heat rise again and she took another step back, hoping that would help clear her head. It didn’t really. Pull yourself together.

  “Well.” Xavier clapped his hands together and then looked around the bar. “I see that you pretty much got everything under control.”

  “Yes!” She seized on the opportunity to change the subject and retain some shred of dignity. “I’m good to go over here.”

  Xavier took a step backward. “But if you need any thing…”

  “Yeah…I’ll holler for you.” Cheryl winked and shot her hand like a gun.

  “All right.” He took another step. “Then I’ll just leave you to it.” He turned around and ran straight into Quentin. “Ooof!”

  Q twisted his face. “I see what you mean. She really can’t stand you.” He delivered a hard slap across his back and shook his head. “I can’t believe that you almost had me feeling sorry for you.”

  Xavier rolled his eyes. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  Cheryl’s head didn’t clear until the men had left and then she just slapped her hand across her forehead and chastised herself. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” Before the inevitable internal questions came, she received a stream of new drink orders. That occupied her mind for a few minutes.

  The later the hour, the wilder the party got. However, the highlight of the evening came close to midnight when Cheryl got her first glimpse of the man of the hour. By then her expectations were high solely based on the rapper’s posse bragging about all the record sales Mad Monez had been breaking since he had come onto the scene. There was plenty of talk about him becoming the next R&B mogul who was going to be expanding his empire into fashion, fragrances, cars and jewelry. However, when Mad Monez strolled by the bar with one video vixen and one gold digger tucked under his arm, Cheryl had to do a double take at the four-foot-ten megastar.

  She frowned and had almost managed to convince herself that she was probably looking at the dude’s teenage nephew or something. No.

  That was him.

  Keeping her smile, she fought her instincts not to ask for ID when he ordered a rum and Coke. “Coming right up,” she said.

  “Wow.” Mad Monez tilted down his sunglasses just enough so that he could peek over the rim. “What’s your name, mama?”

  Here we go again. “Cheryl,” she answered, smiling and setting the drink down.

  “You know what? I think I’d like to change my order.”

  “Oh? What would you like?”

  “You buck naked with a bottle of baby oil, lying across my bed.”

&
nbsp; “I don’t think that your fiancée would care too much for that,” she volleyed in a lame attempt to remind him that he was getting married in the morning.

  “Hell, she can join us.” He looked around the room. “We can ask her. She’s around here somewhere.”

  “Your fiancée is at your bachelor party?”

  “Hell, yeah. And she’s going to be the star of the show.”

  I see this marriage isn’t going to last.

  Mad Monez turned his attention back to Cheryl. “So what do you say?”

  “Thanks—but I got a man.”

  The young rapper pushed up his glasses. “I didn’t ask you all that. And what does your man have to do with me?”

  Cheryl laughed. These young guys were all the same.

  Mad Monez folded his arms and leaned over the bar. “I’m serious, li’l mama. Like the great 50 Cent says, ‘Have a baby by me and become a millionaire.’”

  She continued to laugh. “Does that line really work?”

  “Like clockwork. I have six babies and four baby mamas.”

  And how old are you again?

  “I promise you,” Mad Monez carried on. “If you know how to work all that good junk in your trunk, I’ll buy you a house tonight.”

  “Tempting, but I think that I’m going to stick with my man.” She winked. “Now can I get you something else…to drink?”

  “Humph. Humph. Humph. And you’re faithful, too? Ain’t that just my luck?” He smiled and winked back at her before slapping a hundred-dollar bill on the bar counter. “Here you go, mama. You earned that. But if you change your mind…?”

  “I’m flattered,” she said, and then watched him stroll off. The women flanking his sides frowned at her like she’d lost her damn mind.

  Shaking her head, she shoved the hundred-dollar bill into her tip jar and went back to sloshing out drinks and dodging pickup lines. In truth, that was pretty much what happened nightly at The Dollhouse, too.

  When the Dolls started their late, late show a few minutes later, all eyes zoomed in on them. As usual the girl’s choreography was tight and they looked amazing when they dipped it low, backed it up and clapped hands free.

  Through it all, Mad Monez looked like he was in hog heaven, especially when Diamond took center stage and started performing. It wasn’t until the end of the slow, seductive song, which had even Cheryl blushing, did she hear whispers about Diamond being the bride-to-be.

  Great. A rapper and a stripper. Who didn’t see that coming?

  “Now, that’s a lucky son of a bitch,” one dude at the bar said in all seriousness.

  “I heard that,” the man’s sidekick said. “Heard that she’s going to be hitting the road with us, too.”

  “Aw. Damn,” the first dude complained, shaking his head. “The beginning of the end. First thing wives do is ban the groupies from the tour buses.”

  Cheryl snickered and shook her head.

  “Heeeey. Don’t I know you?” a man at the other end of the bar asked.

  Cheryl glanced up and then blood in her veins froze. “I don’t think so.”

  Kendrick Hodges nodded. “You look familiar to me.”

  She shook her head, though she remembered arresting Kendrick for breaking and entering last summer clearly. “Not ringing any bells,” she said. “Do you go to Emory University?”

  Kendrick’s face collapsed. “What?”

  “I’m in school there,” she told him.

  “Nah. I don’t go to no damn university,” he said, waving her off, but his gaze kept sneaking back over at her. “But I swear that you could pass for this one chick’s twin.”

  “Oh? They say everybody’s got one.”

  Kendrick bobbed his head while his eyes feasted on her hind side. “It ain’t like me to forget a…face.” He snickered.

  Asshole.

  “Anyway, I’ll have bourbon on the rocks.”

  “Coming right up.” She grabbed a bottle and flipped it behind her back, more to convince him that she was nothing more than a simple bartender. However, when she sat his drink down, his hand snaked out and grabbed her by the wrist and held firm. “Ow. Let go.”

  His grip tightened. “I swear I know you.”

  “Like I said. Unless you go to Emory…or hang out at The Dollhouse, I don’t know where I would’ve bumped into you.” She tried to tug her hand away.

  Kendrick held firm.

  “Is everything all right over here?” Xavier asked, stepping behind the bar, watching Cheryl and Kendrick’s stalemate. She tugged.

  Kendrick glanced over at Xavier and finally released her. “Everything is just peachy keen,” he said, smiling.

  Xavier cut a look over at Cheryl and waited for her answer.

  “Like he said, everything is cool.”

  Xavier looked far from being convinced and he didn’t look like he was in any hurry to leave, either. “So what’s been going on with you, Kendrick?”

  “Same ole. Same ole, man.”

  “You know, now that the club is back open there is always a spot for you.”

  Kendrick shook his head. “Nah. I’ve decided to go into business for myself. Sort of like you and your brothers.”

  A few drink orders came in and Cheryl went back to work while pretending not to listen to their conversation, though she suspected that Kendrick knew the truth.

  “So what kind of business are you in?” Xavier asked.

  “You know me. I’m a jack-of-all-trades.”

  “That I do.”

  “I’m even the one who hooked you up for this gig.”

  That clearly came as a surprise to Xavier. “Is that right? Well, thanks, man. I really appreciate that.”

  “Well, our differences aside, you and your brothers know how to throw one hell of a party.” Kendrick glanced back over at Cheryl. “Not to mention that you seem to find all the beautiful women, too.”

  They shared a laugh.

  Xavier leaned against the countertop. “And have you seen about your old man?”

  “Can’t say that I have,” Kendrick said, dropping his gaze. “But I’m sure I’ll make it over that way soon. You?”

  “Actually, yeah. I’ve been hitting the gym again these past few weeks.”

  Kendrick’s lips hitched upward. “Really? Thinking about getting back into the ring?”

  “Nah. Those days are well behind me.”

  “Are you sure? You look like you’re in tip-top shape to me.”

  “Well, looks can be deceiving,” Xavier said with a note of sadness.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Kendrick’s gaze crept back over to Cheryl, but she was making sure that she kept looking busy.

  “I’m sure that disappointed the old man,” he said, but flashed his first genuine smile. Clearly, he and his old man didn’t get along that well.

  “You should get over there. I’m sure that Ricky would love to see you.”

  “Ah.” Kendrick glanced at his watch. “That sure didn’t take long.”

  “What?”

  “You and my old man.” He shook his head. “Sometimes I think you forget that he’s my father. Not yours.”

  “I know that,” Xavier said defensively.

  “Do you? You know, sometimes I wonder because all while I was growing up, all my old man could ever talk about was you. How much potential you had and how far you were going to go. How hard you trained.” Kendrick shook his head. “Nah. He was more your dad than he ever was mine.”

  Xavier stared at him. “Sorry. I never knew that you felt like that.”

  Kendrick shrugged and then tried to put a smile back on his face. “It’s all good. And it’s in the past, too. Right?”

  “Right.” Xavier nodded, but his expression held lingering doubts. “He would still like to see you.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  Xavier paused and that brief silence said everything.

  “Yeah. Well…” Kendrick picked up his drink and started to back away. “I’m
sure that I’ll make it out there sooner or later. I’ll catch up with you.” His gaze swung back over Cheryl and he caught her listening. “Later.”

  She just smiled and hoped that he bought her story.

  Once Kendrick disappeared into the crowd, Xavier exhaled.

  “Former employee?”

  “Yeah. And the son of a good friend of mine. He got in a little trouble a while back. I just wish…” He drew in another deep breath and shook his head.

  Cheryl frowned. “What?”

  He continued to shake his head. “Have you ever had to just stand back and watch someone make all the wrong choices because…they just wouldn’t listen?”

  “More times than I can count,” she answered honestly. “It’s not easy.”

  Xavier glanced off to where Kendrick had disappeared. “No. It’s not.”

  There was more there, lying just under the surface, Cheryl realized. But there was no way for her to get at it right now. Luckily, their awkward moment came to an end when she was hit with another rush of drink orders. So much, in fact, that Xavier had to pitch in. With his help the rush only lasted twenty minutes. When it was over, Xavier and Cheryl glanced over at each other and smiled…until the memory of the kiss bubbled to the surface. The same heat and ache surged through her and, like some addict, she started trembling with an overwhelming desire to be swept back into his arms like one of those women on the cover of a romance novel.

  She didn’t have to ask whether he was thinking the same thing. It was written clearly in his dark eyes, just as she was sure that it was written in hers. This time, she saved herself by turning away before she was too deep into his spell.

  “Right,” Xavier said. “I better go and check on some of the other girls.”

  She nodded and was relieved to see him go.

  It was near four in the morning before Xavier gave most of The Dollhouse crew the okay to leave, while passing out their pay in white envelopes. The Dolls left hours ago, but the service crew lagged behind. It didn’t mean that the bachelor party was over. It wasn’t.

  Mad Monez and his crew were now plugged in out on the deck and performing some of the new material that he’d been working on in the studio. The crowd had dwindled to half its size, but people were still dancing, drinking and blowing trees. Most of the media outlets were gone. But BET and MTV were hanging steady.