The Kingpin

•03•

  While unconscious, Amelia saw everything flash before her eyes. She saw herself swinging as high as she could at the park with her dad as he helped her get higher. She could hear his laugh when she became to scream in joy. She saw her first day of high school. She even saw the day she met her.

  Amelia couldn't see why she would need to wake up but then she felt something hitting her cheek. Sounds began to slowly filter in too but the voices were muffled. A man was speaking and patting her face a bit roughly.

  "What the fuck did you give her?!" The first voice berated.

  "Smack, man! Straight. She didn't even want snowball or anything." The second man sounded panicked, she could make that out now.

  "Wake up, girl." The scarier man from before commanded. "Wake the hell up!"

  She didn't want to wake up. She didn't want to leave behind the playground or the girl. Dammit. Why was he hitting her face?

  Amelia couldn't control when her eyes fluttered back open but before she could even process this, the bile shot up her throat again and she vomited.

  "Fuck!" He yelled and knocked things clear off a table, causing them to clatter to the floor.

  "I'm sorry, sir." The other man, the panicked one, said quickly.

  "That doesn't fix this!" He roared and Amelia jumps before groaning in pain.

  "Where the hell-" She begins to sit up but gets dizzy and her body decides to lower once more.

  The angry man walks back over to her and pushes a breath out of his lips.

  "Stupid." He mumbles.

  "What?" Amelia asks, shutting her eyes closed quickly as the nausea hits.

  "Stupid girl. You overdosed."

  "I kind of figured." She manages to respond bitterly.

  "Well I couldn't leave your dumbass laying in the Alley in your own vomit."

  "Would've been better than whatever the hell is happening right now."

  "I saved you." He retorts.

  "Good for you?" Amelia replies before yawning intensely. "Jesus. Your supply is really uhm, potent."

  "That's my specialty."

  The man who had been apologizing steps up and clears his throat. "I'm sorry, babe."

  She sees now that it's the first man she met. The angry one who had broken everything was the one she hadn't yet seen.

  "Don't apologize to her. It's her own damn fault."

  "Okay, fine. I'll go clean up the Alley."

  "Good boy." The man replies sarcastically.

  "Yes, Ace." He nods quickly before leaving the room.

  Ace... Amelia runs this name through her head. It sounds familiar. Ace. Oh my god.

  "You look a bit startled there."

  "You're...you're the Black Ace?"

  "*Thought you thought." He smirks.

  "Wow." She manages before running a hand through her hair.

"What? Can't have word spread that some girl OD'd on product from me. Plus, you've been a nice addition to our clientele."

The smirk on his face is downright dark and it manages to crawl under her skin, even though it only passes his lips for a moment.

  "You can leave whenever you please. Just don't go tellin' anybody some lies about what I push. If you do, I'll come after you myself."

  Amelia nods quickly and has already started to pick at the skin on her arms. The more he stared at her, the more anxious she became.

  She left shortly after this and made a slow walk back to her apartment. The only question she had was why would a drug dealer have Nalaxone for overdoses? Dealers don't care if their customers OD. They just want the initial gain from their purchase.

  The door slams behind her as she enters, not bothering to lock the door. She takes her time while on the way down to lay on the couch, her body feeling heavy with each movement. At about the time her back hit the cushion, she realizes her blanket is on the floor. And she's cold again.

  Her muscles don't seem to want to move to get the cover and her eyelids grow weary within minutes, so she allows herself to succumb to the dark sleep.

••••

1 week later

It had been a week since Amelia's face to face meeting with the Black Ace. Since the day she got back to her apartment, she's been going through withdrawals and only using whatever was left from the coke she had. In her mind, it was a substitute. She had lost the rest of her money somewhere and was trying to make things work.

She was laying on the couch underneath a blanket and staring at the ceiling before the thoughts came. The rumors about him were pretty much true. He was a bit scary, she wasn't going to downplay that at all. Just from his demeanor, Amelia knew he was a dangerous man.

But most importantly, she wasn't sure if she could get out of the situation she had put herself in.

  Amelia hadn't gone to her corner in a while. She liked the money but hated having to sell herself to get it. After much debate, she forced herself up off the couch and into the shower before getting dressed.

  She did her makeup and walked to the street she used to work on. Ashley gives a small smile in her direction and she returns it. Amelia hopes that girl was taking care of herself.

  Now, it didn't take long for a car to pull up to the curb. The window to a 1966 Chevrolet T-Bird rolled down and a man leaned over to the passenger side to point at Amelia.

  "Ooh! He's a big spender. Girl, get it." The girl next to Ashley says.

  All Amelia saw was a hand adorned with rings beckoning her over. She made her way over to the car and leaned down just enough that he could see her but she couldn't quite see him.

  She did, however, see that there were four 100 dollar bills resting on the man's lap. This was enough to have her attention.

  "That all for me?" Amelia asks, using a voice reserved for when she must do such things.

  "Of course, baby." The man replies.

  With this, she opened the passenger side door and slid into the seat before glancing over at her new client.

  The Black Ace shares her surprised look as he can't help but begin to now trail his eyes over the rest of her body.