Discipline & Desire

Chapter 20

My heels padded against the carpet in the hall as I rushed to get back to the club. Suddenly, I stopped right in my tracks at the sight of Yula.

"Well, well, well." Yula began stepping toward me as she spoke in her thick accent. "If it isn't Brigitte."

"What's your problem, Yula?" I asked, every time I saw her blonde hair I got sick. She always had animosity toward me and I could never put my finger on the reason.

"You were glowing when you came to the club tonight." Yula complimented, but it wasn't long before she'd add an insult. "You almost looked half decent."

"And you look like someone used Clorox on your head everyday, yet I don't go around rating your decency." I clasped my hands together as she began walking a circle around me.

"I saw you slip away with that man. He wasn't Frank, was he?" She asked as she stood in front of my face. I didn't answer, I only gave her a scowl. "He seemed very familiar. I'd say he's about this tall, brown eyes with beauty mark by his lips..."

"Are you done flapping your gums?" I crossed my arms. "I actually have a client waiting for me."

"A client you're about to use." Yula rose a brow as she began walking past me and down the hall. I turned around to watch her walk away.

"And why is that?" I called out after her.

She smirked and turned around. "I heard Frank tell his friends about that necklace."

"And?" I placed a hand on my hip.

"Where is that necklace?" Yula furrowed her eyebrows. I looked down at my chest to find that it was bare. I quickly began running in the direction Yula was headed, back to my hotel room.

Yula walked behind me quickly, trying to torment me as I tried to figure out where the necklace could have gone. "I saw you give it to that tramp."

"The only tramp here is you." I answered as we walked through the halls.

"Valarie, that's her name, no?" She smirked as she tried to keep up with my quick walking. I stopped in my tracks and looked at her.

"Valarie has nothing to do with this." I squinted at her, she smirked.

"I saw you give her that necklace, in fact, I'm not the only one." Yula told me. "What are you going to do, sell it and split the cost?"

"Shut your mouth! I didn't do any such thing!" I defended myself.

"Is it that you gave it to her to hold and now you're both going to profit off of the thing?" Yula asked.

"I swear—" I protested.

"Frank shouldn't have taken a chance on a negro. Everyone knows they have sticky fingers." Yula laughed out. I couldn't help it at that point, I lifted my hand and smacked her across the face. She was still for a moment, holding her cheek as her blonde hair was swept across her face.

She slowly looked back up at me, but didn't hit back. "You're going to regret that." She mumbled, then began walking away from me down the hall in the opposite direction.

I didn't know where she was heading to, but at that moment, I couldn't care. My heart beat out of my chest as I stumbled toward the wall, my head was spinning.

Finally, I exhaled once I remembered the last time I had it.

The suite!

I took the elevator back upstairs and ran through the halls as I tried to remember exactly what suite Marlon had that night. I knocked at multiple doors, most didn't answer.

One old lady opened the door, she wore a dark dress with a neckline that covered her body thoroughly. She wore long sleeves that were too warm for the temperature in the hotel.

"My goodness, why would you be banging on the door at this hour?" She asked, without an explanation, I ran off to find the suite.

As I ran down the hall, I bumped into someone. I shouted, stuck in the middle of my traumatic experience. When I got my senses back, I realized the man who was now holding my arms was Marlon.

"Are you alright?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows. "What did those thugs do to you?"

"Nothing!" I said in a hoarse voice.

"Why, I'll bust his lip whether he's in the mob or not." Marlon began to push past me. I held on tightly to Marlon's arm, pulling him back toward me.

"No, it's not him, Marlon, please." I kept trying to pull to him. "Please, look at me."

Marlon's cold demeanor melted and he now faced me, his brown eyes looking down at mine. "What's wrong?"

"It's the necklace." I said with tears coming down my face. "It's gone."

"Damn it—" He said through gritted teeth. Holding my hand, he guided me as both of us jogged through the halls to the suite.

Once we got there, he quickly opened the door and allowed me inside. I looked all around the place. The bed, the desk I thought I put it on, the side tables, the drawers.

The bathroom door opened and out came a maid in a uniform. We hadn't even noticed her. In her hand, she held a bag with her supplies in it.

"Excuse me, I thought you called down to check out?" The maid asked. Marlon's jaw clenched as he grabbed her bag from her. She was scared and shaken. I walked to Marlon and stood behind him, holding onto his arms as if to prevent him from doing anything foolish. My cheek rested against his back as his hand moved around in her bag.

"Fuck!" He shouted as he through the bag across the room. Toilet paper and cleaning supplies spread everywhere.

"It's not her fault! Don't blame her!" I shouted up at him as I stepped forward to look at his face. He reached into his pocket and dropped $100 dollars on the floor where the maid crouched in fear.

"Come on, we're getting you out of here." Marlon announced as he held on tightly to my arm. We walked through the halls quickly in an attempt to avoid the Frank and his posse.

Neither of us wore masks on our faces, we had forgotten them in the room. It was too late to go back, we needed to leave immoderately. Altering hailing a cab, Marlon opened the door for me to get in and then jumped in after me.

He shouted his apartment address to the driver. The sky was a grey-blue, it was the early morning hours. Off we drove to Marlon's sanctuary.