It was the summer of '93, and the weather was almost hotter than the location. But then again, what could be hotter than hell? The Ninth! Some would assume that the steam which rose from the broken sidewalks in front of the brick apartment building justified the neighbor hood's nickname, the Ninth Circle of Hell. The heat wave however, had nothing to do with why people associated Messalina projects with Dante's Inferno. No, that honor went to the infestation of dealers, crack heads, boosters, and hoes. Dope boys handled their business like it was legal, and everyone learned to look the other way. If they didn't learn, then they never got the chance to look again. Life in the ninth operated by the code of the wild, predators ate and prey got eaten. The drug dealers sat on the top of chain. Boosters, strippers and hoes fell somewhere in the middle, while the crack heads and the civilians clung to the last wrung. Everyone knew their assigned roles and no one ever deviated from the script. Cleopatra James, an unremarkable thirteen year old girl, understood better than anyone, her dictated place in the procession. But that didn't mean she accepted the role she'd been given to play.

There are two kinds of secrets. The ones we keep from others.... "I don't f*ck studs but I had you moaning and squirting like a damn fem yourself" she laughed. "Remember, this stays between us" and the ones we keep from ourselves... Before I knew it, he was making love to my neck and sensually rubbing my body as I looked down and flushed. His small breaths in between kisses had me in awe as my skin started to bruise in red. "Why do you keep doing this to me?" I asked breathlessly. "Want me to stop?" I bit my lip in frustration of my true answer. "No..."

You've seen the Bacardi stories in fame, what would life be like if these two stars weren't stars.. taking on a different perspective as these to fall in love and in danger.

"Cause I usually do, stick to the business but you came out the blue and then you just flipped it, God damn baby my mind's blown" "I got more than a thing for you, tattoo it in ink for you, right over my heart girl I'd do the unthinkable"

"A fatal attraction is common And what we have common is pain"