Alice in Gangland: Chapter Two

Chapter Two

This has to be Mecca.

In the six months that I’d been in Gangland, it was impossible to get through a day without hearing someone utter the name Mecca. In fact, people on the west side said the name Mecca with the same reverence in which they said the name of God.

In fact, to many people, he was a god.

He was the one they claimed was responsible for every good thing that happened in the city. The thing was... no one knew what he looked like. Rumor was most members of the G Squad had never even seen him. You had to be high-ranking in the squad to even get close.

As I waited on edge, I took a peek at Goshay who was fussing over his clothes, aimlessly adjusting them.

Is he nervous?

After watching for a moment, I shoved that thought away. It didn’t make sense for him to be so nervous about someone who was allegedly ‘his homeboy since they were kids’. But then I took another glance in his direction and saw him shuffling his feet like he couldn’t sit still. Either he was nervous or he had to pee.

Commotion at the entrance reclaimed my focus at the exact moment when the back door of the SUV opened. I bit my lip in anticipation, eyes narrowing in on the figure of a man stepping out from behind the door. I could barely make out his figure under the dim moonlight outside, so I wasn’t at all prepared for what I saw once he stepped inside.

Damn.

I clenched my teeth to resist the sudden urge to lick my lips. Thanks to the hooded sweatshirt and the knitted beanie on his head, I couldn’t see his face, but the body on this man was pure foreplay. There wasn’t a muscle on him that hadn’t been toned to absolute perfection. And because of that, I could also easily see the small bulge of the gun tucked at his waist. There was no doubt in my mind, this man was definitely Mecca.

“Ain’t seen you in a minute, man,” Goshay began as he took a step up. “’Bout time you step out the palace to hang with us commoners, nigga. The side ain’t got shit for you no more?”

He laughed a little and they slapped hands in greeting. That’s when Mecca lifted his head. It was the first time I saw his face. He was sexy as hell, like a chocolate model. But there was something so nonchalant about him, as if he didn’t truly understand how sexy he truly was.

“It ain’t like that. But thanks for the connect. I been looking scruffy for a minute,” Mecca replied, pulling off the hoodie and beanie to expose a head full of thick, shiny, charcoal-black waves. I had no idea what he was talking about because there was nothing scruffy about him.

Goshay nodded his head and then Mecca continued, “Just know I’mma hit you with that ya-ya if yo’ peoples fuck my hairline up.”

The upper corner of Mecca’s lips curved into a smirk that only added to the natural magnetism that came from him. He was the type of man who pulled all the energy in the room without even trying. I wasn’t the type to get caught up so easily by a man but even I felt it. The pull was so strong and he wasn’t even looking at me. I was caught up by him the second he entered the room. Who was this man?

“Man, you already know I wouldn’t do you like that,” Goshay was saying. “Toni’s been hooking a nigga up since she moved to the city.”

And that was the moment that Mecca finally turned his attention to me. He caught my eyes and held them with a familiar curiosity that made me feel as if he had seen me somewhere before.

“Your name is Toni?”

I nodded my head at his question. “Yes.”

His lips curved slightly. Most likely, he was amused and I already knew why.

“I know what you're about to say. But I'm named after the Toni, the author. Not the singer,” I decided to clarify.

I waited for him to respond, but he said nothing. His eyes remained on me, piercing in a way that was almost other-worldly. Probably meant to create discomfort. Most people in my shoes would have probably looked away, but I wasn’t going to be the first to let down my guard. He didn’t know me just as much as I didn’t know him.

“Nah, it wasn’t that,” he said finally.

He didn’t offer anything more and I didn’t ask. Something about the way that he was watching me, as if wondering whether I was a friend or his enemy, was making me nervous and aroused at the same time. It was an intoxicating feeling and more than anything, I wanted to finish his hair and get him out of my shop.

“You want to go ahead and sit down so we can get started?” I motioned to my chair, but once again, he didn’t move.

“How long you been cutting Go’s hair?” he asked casually as if it were just a simple question.

But everyone in the room knew that his questions were anything but simple. He was analyzing everything about me, trying to figure out if I really was who I said I was. Asking questions and watching my face. Like a human lie detector, he was watching for any signal that I was lying.

If this was Mecca, which I was certain it was, he was in a position where he couldn’t trust anyone. At any point, any new person in his life could be someone who was working for one of his two enemies: either Monster or the Federal Government.

“Around three months.”

“That’s how long you been here?”

“No, I’ve been here for about four months. Moved out here from Cali.”

Mecca’s brows jumped at that. “You moved from California to here?” He pointed down at his feet. “To Gangland?”

It was a reasonable question. Most people didn’t move to Gangland unless they had to. Most of the people who lived in the area came from families that had been in Gangland for many generations.

“I didn’t know anything about this city before I came. I didn’t have much money and needed a shop that I could afford.”

“They didn’t have that in Cali?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I wanted a new start.”

He surprised me when his lips curved into a half-smile. “Man problems?” he asked.

He hit the nail so squarely on the head that I couldn’t do anything but smile back. “Among other things, but I guess you can say that.”

Apparently, that was all the reassurance he needed because only a few moments later, he was sitting down, waiting for me to get to work. Sitting near the door, Goshay was already fully engrossed in his phone, most likely texting the same girl I’d seen him flirting with when he was in my chair.

“What all do you need?” I asked Mecca as I wrapped the apron around his neck. As I waited for his answer, I tilted my head to the side and slid a smile onto my face as I watched him.

Posing the question that way was something I did for business. To connect with my customers in a flirty way that most men usually liked. It was at this moment when niggas like Goshay would respond with something like ‘I need whatever you wanna give me,’ or ‘I need a woman like you but I’ll settle for a fade’.

“Just a line-up,” Mecca said, his brows tight as he studied me as if wondering if I really knew what I was doing. “Nothing too difficult. Simple clean up.”

He kept it all business. Clearly, he wasn’t taking the bait.

With a nod, I got right to work, making magic happen. However, I did notice that even though he kept quiet, as long as I was in his line of sight, Mecca’s eyes never left me. I could almost feel the heat of his scrutiny on my skin as he observed my motion around him. His curiosity was so palpable, it was felt.

“Aye, all of y’all can leave,” he startled me by saying just as I’d stepped away to change the guard on my clippers. “I’ll hit you up later, Goshay. Thanks for the recommendation.”

Frowning, my head popped up and I looked at Goshay who appeared just as startled as I did.

“Ali asked me to stick around so I could walk her home,” he informed Mecca. “She doesn’t usually leave this late. Wanna make sure she doesn’t run into no bullshit walking home.”

“She won’t,” Mecca replied, shutting him down with ease. “She’s good with me.”

Goshay lifted his eyes to me and shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

“I’ll hit you up later.” Placing his hand to his forehead, he gave me a salute. “You’re with good peoples. I trust that man right there with my life.”

That said, he turned around and headed right out of the door without giving it a second thought.

I narrowed my eyes at him the entire time he made his way out the door. The nerve. When he got my invoice later on, he better believe that I was going to charge him double his normal fee.

“He vouched for me so you can take that look off your face. I’m not going to hurt you. Go is one of the most paranoid niggas I know and you heard what he said. He trusts me with his life.”

“Doesn’t mean I do,” I sassed, playfully cutting my eyes at him. The hint of a smile on my lips softened my meaning, but I still meant it.

Yeah, Mecca was sexy and I was definitely intrigued by him. Back in my 20s, if I’d met him randomly in the club, he would have definitely gotten my number and my panties on the first night. But he wasn’t just some random nigga in the club and I wasn’t in my 20s.

He was the leader of a gang that operated with the precision of a Fortune 500 corporation. He wasn’t just a young rich nigga with muscles, he was a criminal mastermind who was just as intelligent as he was merciless.

He was a murderer.

Some considered him a saint, but he was nothing like that.

In some circles, some would even call him a psychopath.

Personally, I just wanted to ride his face and call him daddy, but there were several reasons why I couldn’t do that.

“That’s kinda fucked up,” he snickered at my comment. “Have I done something to not earn your trust?” he asked, his tone casual as if asking a genuine question.

“No.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Because you can’t trust people you don’t know.”

Something about the way that I said it made him smile.

“You feel like trust should be earned.”

“Yes,” I spoke factually. “And anyone who doesn’t feel that way is a fool.”

“And yet, I’m the one sitting here in your chair as you use a straight blade to line up my hairline. That’s trust. And you haven’t done shit to earn it. So... am I a fool?”

“Is that so?” By this time, I was smiling so hard that I totally forgot that we weren’t alone in the room until that moment. “Easy to say all that when you brought those two with you.”

I tilted my head in the direction of Ace and the other guy who were still standing guard in my waiting room. They weren’t looking our way but they were posted up just in case something popped off that warranted their attention.

Mecca laughed and the sound of it was so unexpected that even Ace broke character to glance our way. He was shocked at the ease of our exchange and, truthfully, so was I.

At the mention of his bodyguards, Mecca sent them both away and in seconds, the two of us were completely alone.

“Now it’s just us,” he said. “No one’s here to hear you tell me all your secrets.”

He smiled as he said it and it was contagious. I was grinning hard as hell even though I wasn’t trying to.

“I don’t have any secrets. At least not ones that I’m about to share.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know you,” I repeated with emphasis.

“Noted,” he said thoughtfully. “Well, how much time you got to get to know me then? I’m free all night. Until morning.”

He smirked as he added the last part and I wasn’t sure how I should take it.

I sighed and let out a heavy exhale. As much as I was intrigued by Mecca, everything about him was setting off warning signs in my mind.

“I’m kinda stingy with my time,” I told him, being honest.

“I’m willing to pay for it,” he countered. “How much will a conversation cost me?”

Right then was the moment—the moment where I could have shut shit down and ended what was coming before it even had a chance to begin.

Mecca was a storm that I should’ve seen coming a mile away.

Yet, my body reacted to him in ways that I couldn’t explain. He hadn’t even touched me, barely said anything, but the way he looked at me had me ready to do things I would regret.

“Well…” I drew out the word because I knew damn well that I was going to hell for what I was about to do. Experience should’ve taught me not to play with fire because everyone who did eventually got burned.

“If that’s all you want, I guess I could make time for a little conversation.”

Tune back in for chapter three...Friday!