pillowtalk.

twenty two | the reminder

"I'm going to let you keep going to that job & that school but you will never leave this club, you hear? I gave you a better life. You do as I say and no one will get hurt." Mr. Bigs hunched over the petite girl. "You two wanna play me like a fool, I'll show you two what its like to be played like a fool." He pulled on her hair before aggressively releasing and spitting to the side.

~

Heart sat at the tiny desk that used to be her vanity in the back room of the club. She sat quietly and focused on her sketches, afraid to move or speak. 

"What did I tell you?! You were supposed to give that man what I told you to give him!" Mr. Bigs yelled as he came and struck another girl across the room. Heart winced at the sound of the contact and watched the girl cry and fall to the floor. She has never seen the girl before, but she reminds her much of herself when she was younger.

Young & naive.

Heart immediately ran to the girl as Mr. Bigs left the room, helping her sit up to examine her wounds. "Hey, are you okay?" She brushed the hair away from her face before examining the girl's cut on her cheek. "I'll help you take care of that, alright? I'm Heart." She smiled softly, earning a smile from the girl in response.

"Kamaria."

"Come on." Heart nodded over to a seat. Kamaria followed behind her and quietly sat, allowing Heart to cover up her wounds. "How long have you been here?"

"I just recently got a job here, so I'm still learning." She shrugged.

"May I ask how old you are?"

"I'm 20."

"You're so young." Heart slightly pouted as she leaned against the desk to look at her. "Why did you come here, Kamaria?" Kamaria sighed and looked down at her hands.

"My family doesn't think too much of me. I just needed to get a job so I could go & be on my own, you wouldn't understand--"

"Yes, I would. Come on, try me." Heart chuckled. "I want to listen to you." Kamaria softly smiled before looking back down at her hands.

"It's really just my family. They expect a lot out of me and want me to do things that they'd want me to do. Not necessarily caring about my interests or what I see myself doing."

"Which is?"

"I wanna get into journalism, you know? And my family wants me to do science. Be a nurse. A doctor. Learn science-y things." She threw her hands up in defeat, making Heart chuckle a bit. "They just don't get it. I'm so tired of it. So I figured if Bigs gave me the chance to earn a life on my own, then why not?" Heart sighed.

"I was just like you." Heart looked down before looking back at Kamaria. "I lost my parents when I was young, and I never got a chance to go to college. I lived in a small apartment with my aunt and her son, but she was into drugs and all that. So I had to help out financially to help take care of our place and Logan."

"Wow, I-I'm sorry Heart. I didn't know it was like that."

"It's cool." She chuckled. "No worries."

"I haven't seen you here since I started, though."

"Well, it's cause I left to pretty much get my life together."

"So why did you come back?" Heart sighed and looked up, preventing the tears from falling down her face. The first person to pop up in her head was Stephen, and boy, did she miss him. Everything about him. 

But she was only doing what she needed to do to protect him and to make sure Bigs wouldn't hurt him.

"It's a long story." She bit onto her bottom lip as the tears welled up in her eyes.

"Aw man, Heart. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"You're fine, girl. Don't worry." Heart leaned over to cover her wound a little bit more. "But you need to get out of here, alright? That man can promise you the world, but you'll only end up to be a slave in his. You don't want that, and just by the looks of it, you have so much potential & talent to exert elsewhere. This isn't your place."

"But, I need the money--"

"Honey, that could only get you so far. I know I can't force you to listen to me, but I'm telling you Kamaria. Your family is what you need. Not Mr. Bigs. & I'd hate to see you go through what I went through." Heart waited for a response, but all Kamaria could do was silently nod. She didn't mean to worry the girl, but she figured if she could help her get out now, she wouldn't have to be in the same kind of mess Heart was in.

"Sir, you're not allowed--"

"Get your fucking hands off of me, bruh." The two quickly looked towards the door, hearing the commotion happening right outside of it. Kamaria stood and hid behind Heart, afraid of what was going on.

"Sir, if you dont--"

"If you 'Sir' my ass one more time." Jomari said, busting through the door. "Heart!" He yelled, relieved to see her alive & well. But before he could get to her, Bigs' men came after him and easily swept him off his feet to try and carry him out. "Yo, let go of me. Let her fucking go!"

"Hey, let him go!"

"Ah, Mr. Jomari Wiggins." Mr. Bigs laughed as he held out his arm to prevent Heart & Kamaria from proceeding any further. "You didn't tell me your friend was out of jail."

"Just let me talk to him." She begged. "Please, that's all I ask for." Mr. Bigs simply eyed the girl and signaled for his men to allow the two to talk. "Jome." She ran to him as they continued to hold his arms. 

"Yo, Heart you need to get out of here." He said lowly. "Why did you tell Steph all that?"

"I needed to, trust me. I can't leave."

"What?" His voice raising. "Heart, don't let this man tell you how to live your life. You're done with this."

"Jomari." She said sternly, hoping it would prevent him from going on so he wouldn't get hurt.

"No go ahead, Jomari. Voice your feelings." Mr. Bigs laughed.

"You ain't shit, Bigs. And I'ma let you know right now, I'ma get her out. You ain't running your shit on her no more, you hear me?"

"I don't think you want to threat me, boy."

"I ain't afraid of you. You ain't winning this." Bigs silently nodded and chuckled before striking Jomari in the stomach. Heart looked away, not being able to watch Jomari get hurt.

"Get him out of here." 

"We're coming back for you, Heart." Jome struggled to say as he was still recuperating from the hit. Two men aggressively threw Jomari outside of the club, making sure he knew he wasn't allowed on these grounds anymore. Once he finally regained his energy, Jome stood and spit the remaining blood out of his mouth. "See if that shit stops me." He managed to spit out before walking away. He made sure to drive away before calling up Steph so he wouldn't be obvious about everything.

But he knew at this point they needed to do something else to shut Mr. Bigs down. He couldn't do it on his own.

"What's up, Jome?"

"I hate to tell you this, Steph. I really do."

"W-what?"

"She's at the club. Bigs got a hold of her."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, but he's not letting her go anywhere. You need to get people involved, Stephen. Not only for your guys' sake but there's other people in there that could benefit from all that."

"Man, I don't even know. She said she didn't want me around anymore and all this stuff. It hurt."

"She's only doing it to protect you, do you think she'd really do that to you?"

"I dont know anymore."