"Oh, God, they done let out the Grim Reaper." She laughed.

All three of them did.

Lamar's mother and father were abusive to one another, and he lost both of them when he was five-years-old; his mother choked to death by his father, and a week later, his father was murdered by drug dealers that he owed money. Tragedy forced Lamar into boarding school until he was twelve. Tired of being picked on by the other children for wearing tattered clothing, Lamar ran away and moved in with Gunna and his mother for a while. At sixteen, he moved in with Nikia and her mother and been with them since.

"Yeah, mom, they let this creep out earlier," Nikia said, "and he better stay out."

"Uh huh. I see you done got all muscular. I hope you gon' leave them guns and them fools alone."

He nodded. That wasn't happening. Ten-million.

She continued. "You'll be twenty-one in a few months. I don't want to hear about you getting locked up again. That'll break my heart." Nikia's mother had a firm spirit and didn't bite her tongue. Although she was a professional woman, she used to be a firecracker.

"Yeah, I know," Lamar replied as sincerely as he could.

He wanted the lecture to end so that he could get upstairs to Nikia to put her flame out. She had awaited this day as much as he had because she was a rider by doing any and everything that he needed and wanted to be done. She exposed her loyalty by assuring him that he could count on her at any time. Nikia loved everything about him. From his walk to the name he had made for himself in Bartram Village and the surrounding streets. His tattoos to the clothes he wore. Just the way he rocked his shirt unbuttoned, his V-neck T-shirt underneath, his fitted hat tilted to the back of his head, and usually a big gun on his hip. It all turned her on immensely. Although she would never tell him how much she liked his hardcore ways, she could not deny how much she loved his swag.

Lamar opened the bedroom door, strolled in, and found Nikia on her bed reading a piece of mail.

"Baby, wassup?" he asked, falling down on the bed beside her.

Nikia twirled her long, silky, black hair around a high-yellow finger. In heels, Nikia stood five-feet-six, and she could look right into his eyes. He liked that, but her height was incidental to her overall appeal. Her dark eyes danced with sincerity, a sharp compliment to her fair skin. Nice lips, he thought, and full.

She looked up at Lamar, and said, "I'm just reading a piece of mail from my dad."

"Your daddy right here," he said with a frown on his face. "I know you ain't trying to play me throwing no other man in my face?"

"Hell no. My real dad."

"Huh?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "I thought your mom always told you that he was dead?" He was puzzled.

"Calm down. She did, but, she lied to me. He's been in jail for a murder from before I was born," she said forlornly, looking at the floor. "My mom hated him so much that she lied to me and everyone. He had one of his sisters track me down. She found me at my school and gave me a letter from him and an old picture of him rubbing my mom's belly with me inside." She looked up and tears ran down her face.

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "Damn, baby.” He had no idea how to console anyone. "It's going to be aight. You go to school?"

"Yes, I enrolled into Temple U. Since, I couldn't visit you, I needed something to do. I missed you so much, Lamar. Soon, I may have two strong men in my life. I really hope that he makes parole and come home one day soon." Her voice was full of optimism as he stared at a Polaroid photo of her father taken when she was still in her mother's womb.

"That's ya pop, right there?" Lamar asked, pointing at the picture.

"Yeah."

"Let me see." He grabbed the photo and put it next to Nikia's face. She began to wipe her tears away.

"Oh, so this is where you get that big ass head and light skin from." Lamar joked in an attempt to lift her spirits.

She laughed.

He said, "Don't trip, boo. That parole shit just takes a minute. He'll be home, though."

She was smiling. "I sure do hope so. Its been two whole decades since he's been away."

Without another word, Lamar placed his gun under his pillow and removed his shirt. He knew how to make her better. He walked to where Nikia sat and stood between her legs with a bulge in the front of his pants. Taking the hint, she unfastened his belt buckle and unzipped his pants. Once she had a handful of his manhood, she teased him by putting her warm mouth around its tip, before stopping to give Lamar an alluring look. She then rose and walked to the door, securing the lock.

Nikia placed her back to the door to take in the breathtaking body of her man. When she returned to his side, she pushed him on his back, dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth again. This time slowly, moving more of him down her throat. Lamar groaned until he finally exploded. She swallowed.

He got up and turned Nikia around, pushing her on all fours. Her ass pressed against him and he massaged her firm breasts. Grabbing his manhood, he circled the head at the opening of her center. She reached back and tickled his balls before she rubbed his length. She leads the head inside of her and he rammed his entire stick balls-deep inside of her. Starting to kiss all over her neck and back, he used a thumb to flick her clitoris, forcing her to push back and open her legs wider, creating more access to him.

Lamar growled between strokes, vigorously pounded her guts, and pulled her hair to slam inside her. She collapsed onto her stomach from the force. He fell with her and was long enough to continue to stroke her as she laid on her stomach. She purred blissfully.

He slowed down and lifted her back onto all fours. She panted trying to catch her breath.

"Come on, take this dick, baby. I'm 'bout to cum," he said, speeding up his stroke.

"OK," she said. "Fuck me harder. I love you." She looked back at him as he wildly slid in and out of her.

She began to moan so loudly that Lamar put his hand over her mouth, so her mother wouldn't hear him beating her daughter's back in. The sight of sliding all the way out of her, pushing back into her, and her ass bouncing off of his thighs made him cum at the same time that she did.

"Get naked," he said, "we fucking until tomorrow."

CHAPTER 3

Lamar Dunken stood on the porch properly revved for the day, inhaling the fresh scent of carbon monoxide, the filthy scent of urban living, loathing the derelict homes on Nikia's street. He wanted his own place in a better neighborhood. The police had been heavily patrolling the area, forcing the residents to disappear. The area was incredibly quiet, strangely serene. When Nikia walked up the street and joined him on the porch, he looked at her and smiled. Time had stood still for her while he was gone. Not all men might agree, but in his eyes, she was as beautiful and alluring as ever. He loved that she had an unmatched ability to stand by her man, no matter what. For the past week, they'd lived completely in each other's thoughts, and stayed together mapping their future together. Her ability to focus on her school work and him was mind boggling, though, and he had used the times that she was in classes to run errands. He had bought a cell phone, picked up money from people, and bought a 2006 Mercury Marauder with limousine-tinted windows.

"How was class?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Not bad. I'm hungry and exhausted, though," she replied crisply.

"Where'd you park?" he asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Down the street," she said. "Let's go out to eat. I'm famished."

"Later. I have some moves to make, and then, we can go to dinner and the mall."

"Make moves?" A troubled expression appeared on her face. "I'm not for any bullshit, Lamar." She felt her stomach spinning. "I have a lot going on and I want you to get on the right path before something bad happens."

Lamar was flabbergasted. "I need to make some money so you can keep having a lot going on." He stared down at the cracks in the sidewalk.

"Look, you made me a promise to get out of the game."

"And, I am," he said, "as soon as I put up like ten-million, Nikia." His voice was low and seductive. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "I'm making moves for us. Give me a chance." He kissed her forehead, and said, "I have to go. Text me if you need me." He walked away before she could protest anymore.

In the car he leaned his seat back, barely able to see over the steering wheel, and listened to Lil Wayne's, The Sky's the Limit. Pulling into traffic, Lamar knew no one would stop him from getting to his ten million dollar target. He had promised himself, once he had gotten back into the streets, he was going to make an even bigger name for himself, even if it had cost him his life or got him LIFE in the Feds.

Reaching Gunna's crib in the projects, he let himself in through the front door. Inside he found Gunna on a pullout sofa bed with a naked woman beside him. Lamar walked up to them frowning, his head hung low.