pillowtalk.

five | vulnerability

The cuts, the bruises, the pain. It all began to pile up on Heart's body. The more she stuck up for herself, the more Mr. Bigs punished her for her ways. Mr. Bigs always had to be right. She's been fed up for awhile, but she knew this was the only saving grace for her to get by. 

Heart sat at the table, doing her best to conceal the scratches on her face. She jumped a bit as Mr. Bigs entered the room, smirking at her. 

"Yeah, you better cover those scratches real good, sweetie." He grabbed her face to get her full attention. "Maybe this time you'll learn." She winced as he gripped tighter before letting go. She simply looked up to prevent the tears from coming down her face. One, she didn't want to attract more attention from the man. Two, she didn't want to be conceived as weak and vulnerable. She knew she was everything but the two, but being here tested her greatly. 

It's been a couple of days since she's seen Wardell, & with everything going on at the club, she hasn't been able to text back or answer his calls. It's not that she doesn't want to, but she was starting to think realistically about their situation.

Did he really want her for her or was he just showering her attention for the wrong reasons?

Again, she didn't want to be conceived as weak or anything of that matter, so she's been keeping her distance from him. She didn't want Mr. Bigs to find out that Wardell was talking to her or trying to see her cause Lord knows what he's capable of. 

But mainly, a big part of her felt like a lot of it was too good to be true. 

She shook her head & sighed, letting go of all the negative energy so she could go out there, do her job & go home. As she entered the club, she found herself looking for him, knowing he wouldn't be there. She put on a fake smile to please the men around her, a couple of them calling for her attention. Making her way to the bar, she grabbed the drinks that were needed to be delivered to a couple of men around the club. 

"Hey sweet stuff, you wanna give me a quick dance?" An older man tugged on her garments, calling for a subtle eye roll from Heart. 

"I'll be back in a few." She simply says, winking at him. 

"Aw come on, just one." There were always a number of persistent men in the club. Although Heart has learned how to deal with them, she didn't have the energy to. As she gently tried to remove the man's hands from her thighs, she noticed a very familiar figure coming through the door.

"Sir, I'll be back, alright? I just got a few more drinks to deliver." She smiled sweetly to make sure the man wouldn't get upset. He nodded and winked, slapping her bottom area as she walked off. She sighed, slightly banging the tray onto the counter. Heart put her hand on her hip as she waited for the drinks, watching Stephen talk to his teammates before looking around the club and catching eye contact with her. He smiled before whispering something into Klay's ear, gaining a nod from him before walking off.

Heart rolled her eyes as he approached her, not knowing where the anger was coming from. "Care to tell me why haven't you answered my calls?"

"I'm a bit busy." She says, fixing the drinks onto the tray.

"Come meet me in the room after." He winks, before walking off to the private room. As she delivered the drinks, she thought about whether or not she wanted to speak to him at the moment nor even see him. But on the job, she had no choice, being that Stephen was one of Mr. Bigs' best clients. She made her way to the private room, seeing him sitting comfortably in the chair, chewing on a toothpick. He smiled at her with Heart trying her best not to keep eye contact. "So, are you going to tell me why I haven't heard from you?"

"I've just been busy."

"If something's wrong, you could tell me. But from the looks of it, we had a pretty good night the other night." He stood up, his hands in his pockets. "What is it, Heart?"

"Nothing. Now, can you sit so I can do my job--"

"That's really not what I came here for." He said, putting his hand on her back, preventing her from moving forward with her dancing. She turned to look at him, a bit confused as to what he was doing or what he was trying to do. "What's that?" He pointed at her cheek.

"Nothing, Wardell. You're not making this any easier." She put his hands against his chest, trying to push him back down onto the chair. But with the difference between height & weight, it didn't work out so well for the petite girl. He gently grabs her face, examining her face under the light, worry filling his expression.

"Heart, come on baby girl. Look at me. What is that?"

"Nothing."

"Who did this to you?"

"No one."

"Are you really just going to lie to my face?" He said sternly, as he continued to examine her face. His thumb gently ran over the scratch on her cheek, his touch slightly startling her. She looked into his eyes, not being able to stand the affect he was having on her at the moment.

"I'm not lying to you."

"Then tell me what this is." His eyes widened, noticing more smaller cuts around her face, down to her neck area. No matter how much she tried to cover it up, he could tell there were bruises lying underneath her foundation due to the way she was wincing at the pain. "Heart, I'm only going to ask you one more time."

She sighed, knowing she couldn't hide from him any longer. She gently pushed away his hand as her head fell.

"Mr. Bigs." She quietly mumbled through her sniffling.

"What?" He lifted her chin only to see the tears coming down from her eyes. He couldn't understand why, but seeing her like that made his blood boil. Well, in general, he hated seeing women cry. It was something he couldn't really stand for an odd reason. Stephen didn't want to sound like an asshole, but there were things that many women placed on him when it was never really his problem to begin with. But when it came to Heart, he couldn't stand it in a very different way. "Sweetheart, come on. I'm not going to do anything."

"Mr. Bigs did it."

"Why did he do this to you?" She shrugged, avoiding an explanation. He tilted her chin towards him once more, their lips only inches away. "Why is he hurting you?"

"I don't know. But you can't say anything, Wardell. You can't do anything."

"& I cant because?"

"Because you don't know what he's capable of. Please." She pleaded.

"Heart, I'm not going to let him get away with hurting you." He caressed her cheek, still stuck on observing her cuts.

"Stop." She put his hand against his chest to push him away a bit. "You need to promise me you're not going to do anything." She looked into his eyes, noticing him easing up a bit. He looked back at her, preparing to say something else before hearing Mr. Bigs speaking to another individual outside the room. "I have to go." She placed her finger onto Wardell's lips before hurriedly leaving the room.

Mr. Bigs caught the girl rushing out the room, a bit confused as to what was happening. Sooner or later, Stephen made his way out of the room as he fixed his coat. He arched his eyebrow in suspicion, eyeing the two. 

"Mr. Curry, how are you this fine evening?" Mr. Bigs eyed Heart once more before returning his attention on the point guard. Stephen clenched his jaw as he looked down at the middle-aged man.

"Perfectly fine." He eyed the man once more before walking off to find Klay and Draymond.

~

(Anytime - Ray J)