The Devil Wears Timbs

Prologue

Prologue

The night was as beautiful as it had ever been from the glow of the moon and the twinkling stars resembling crushed diamonds sprinkled throughout the black sky.

Raphael’s was a very exquisite five star restaurant in West Hollywood off of the sunset strip. You couldn’t get through the doors unless you were normally dressed and had made reservations months in advance. Its décor looked like it belonged inside of an 18th century castle with its white and gold fixtures. The painting on the ceiling was of Thor about to clash with the likes of Loki. The tables scattered throughout the establishment were covered with white cloths that were trimmed in gold with a gold candle holder sitting at the center of them. The windows were floor to ceiling and draped over them were gold curtains. A white marble dance floor was at the center of the room and a see-through glass bar sat off to the side.

The pianist’s fingers moved like the waves of the ocean as he played the ebony and ivory keys of the grand piano serenading the scenery of the restaurant. Couples and lovers alike sat at their tables conversing or just gazing into one another’s eyes. The waiters were busy throughout the establishment en route with entrées, filling champagne flutes, taking down orders, and pulling the corks out of wine bottles.

“You look nice tonight.” Fear complimented his date from the other side of the table, taking a sip of wine.

He was a short dark skinned brother that rocked a close fade and a clean shaven face. Square diamond earrings hung from his earlobes and a Michael Kors watch adorned his wrist. He was wearing a gold Cashmere sweater and Versace loafers with Medusa heads on them.

“Thanks.” Constance tried to conceal a smile. She was absolutely smitten by him.

Constance was a strikingly attractive woman with high cheekbones. She had hazel brown eyes and the sexiest pair of lips you’d ever seen on a woman. She wore her long thin, dreads pulled back into a tight bun. She was wearing a Badgley Mischka off the shoulder black form fitting dress, diamond earrings with a matching necklace, and a gold bracelet that looked like it belonged around Wonder Woman’s wrist. The bracelet deserved to be in one of those glass display cases with an onyx plaque with some sort of inscription engraved on it inside of a museum of ancient artifacts. “I see a G got chu blushing over there.” Fear flashed a sexy smile, showcasing all thirty two of his pearly whites.

“Whatever,” she sucked her teeth, still unable to conceal her smile.

“Seriously, girl, you looking good enough to eat right now,” he admitted. A nigga not used to seeing you like this. Normally, you’re on that rah rah s**t. Army fatigues and Timbs ready to bussa nigga head to the red gravy.”

“I put the beast to bed for the night,” she took a casual sip of wine.

“Talk that s**t,” he replied. “I tell you one thang, ma. The Constance with a purse and dress on is a lot hotta than the one with that banger in her hand.”

“Is that right? Well, tell me which one you like best?”

“The one that’s gon’ have my back when we’re in them streets,” he answered. “There ain’t no room for love in the life we live.”

Hearing those words disheartened her, but she kept her game face on. She liked for him to believe that she was just as detached from her feelings as he was. But no matter how hard she tried, her true feeling always managed to break the surface.

“Live fast, die young.” Constance uttered their mantra.

“That’s right,” Fear conceded.

“How are you lovely folks doin’ tonight?” The waitress approached with a radiant smile, sticking a corkscrew into an expensive bottle of red wine. She was a redbone with a cute face and large bust.

“We’re doing okay, how about chu—uh?” He looked closely at the nametag, trying to read her name.

“Brandi,” she told him. “And I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

Blip!

She clumsily pulled out the cork from the black bottle accidently spilling red wine on Fear’s lap. He jumped up from his chair looking down at the stain on his Ferragamo slacks.

“Oh, my God, I’m terribly sorry,” Brandi said, whipping out a cloth, “let me get that for you.” She patted the wine from his crotch and slowly his d**k print began to appear. Brandi gasped seeing his girth and length. “Damn, is that all you?” she questioned wide eyed.

Fear cracked a smile, peeling back his lips and boasting that million dollar kisser of his.

“Yeah, that’s all me. But don’t wake ‘em up now, he might bite cha,” he capped.

“I sure do hope so,” she flirted, biting her bottom lip and eying him seductively.

Constance’s face contracted with anger bunching the skin of her forehead and causing the skin around her nose to wrinkle. She was on fire and about ready to beat that b***h, Brandi, blind and bloody.

“Again, I’m sorry about that,” Brandi apologized. “I’ll get chu another bottle, on me.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’re good,” he waved her off. She was holding a bottle of Henschke Hill of Grace. That little black bottle was $500 dollars and he was sure that she wasn’t clocking enough bank to foot the bill for it.

“Nah, we want another bottle,” Constance insisted. “And this time can you send someone out that’s not gonna spill the s**t every goddamn where?”

“Relax,” Fear gave her a look like be easy.

“I am relaxed,” she gave Brandi the evil eye. The gaze coming from her was so intense you would have thought that Brandi was going to burst into flames at any given moment. “But she spilled the bottle of wine that you got for me on my birthday to go with my dinner. If that bottle’s going to break her pocket, then oh well, maybe next time she won’t be so clumsy, oh, daffy bitch.” She kept those lethal eyes of hers on Brandi as she threw back the swallow of red wine in her glass.

Brandi stood there with one hand on her hip and the other gripping the bottle of wine. She was so heated that her face had turned a tinted rose red. She was wearing a scowl and a tight lip that she dared to spit venom out of like a poisonous snake. According to her watch, it was a quarter past her sticking her foot up Constance’s ass.

“Oh, you still here?” Constance rolled her neck real ghetto like. “I guess you didn’t hear me. Chop, chop!” She clapped her hands. “Hurry along now, servant, and fetch us another bottle of wine,” she spoke as an 18th century king would to his royal subjects.

“Constance!” Fear said through gritted teeth, slamming his fist down on the table and rattling the dishes. The noise he made snatched the patrons’ attention away from what they were doing. Seeing that all eyes were on him, he settled down.

She ignored his attempt to control her. The ladies held one another’s gaze as Brandi talked s**t under her breath before leaving to procure another bottle.

Fear leaned over the table locking eyes with Constance, “What the f**k is your problem embarrassing me in here? A nigga take you out somewhere nice and this is how you act?”

“Embarrass you?” She looked at him as if he had some nerve.

“Nigga, you the one over there flirting with this b***h,” she began mocking him. “Yeah, that’s all me. Don’t wake ‘em up now, he might bite cha. What the hell was that? s*x playing that skeeza in my face? You’za disrespectful ass nigga, Alvin,” she called him by his government name. This was something she did whenever she was hot at him. “I gotta use the restroom,” she shot to her feet, wiping her mouth with the napkin cloth and throwing it on the table. She rolled her eyes at Fear and headed to the ladies room.

Constance went into one of the available stalls. As she sat on the toilet to relieve her bladder, she gave herself a one on one.

I don’t even know why you’re tripping over some d**k that doesn’t even belong to you. Youz about a silly ass broad, Constance. You can’t even be mad at Fear. He came at chu in a real way. He told you from the get go that y’all was just gon’ be about getting this money and f*****g from time to time. You acted like you could handle it, but chu can’t. You f****d around and let that donkey d**k nigga get chu open and you caught feelings behind him. What happened to you b***h? You used to be something beautiful. You used to get what chu wanted outta these niggaz and leave their asses stranded on the curb. Now look at chu, a love sick goddamn dog. Bend over so I can kick you in your ass!

After her pep talk, she concluded her bathroom routine and left. She journeyed down the hall feeling invigorated after taking the time to think things over. Rounding the corner, she saw something that made her step back and take a gander. Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw Brandi at their table. She sat the bottle on the table and jotted something down on her order pad. She tore the slip of paper from the notepad and handed it to Fear. After looking it over, he tucked it into his pocket. Brandi walked away throwing that big old ass of hers from side to side with Fear watching every step of the way.

Constance leaned up against the wall in the hallway. She squeezed her eyes closed and sneered, balling her fists as tightly as she could. She fought back the anger and frustration coursing through her veins, tainting her blood. When she thought that rage had vanished, she opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Her palms were bruised red from her nails digging into them. Constance took a deep breath and turned out of the hall, heading back toward the table where Fear was seated.

For the remainder of the night, they talked and laughed forgetting about what happened earlier between she and Brandi, or so Fear thought. He called for the check, dropped two crisp big face hundred dollar bills for their meal and fifty for the tip.

He stood to his feet slipping on his black suede blazer. He extended his hand toward Constance, “Come on, ma.”

“I gotta use the restroom before we leave.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, I think it’s the wine.”

“Alright, I’ll post up.”

Constance picked up her clutch and rose from the table. When she noticed that Fear was no longer clocking her, she deceptively dipped off into the kitchen located nearby. She scanned the walls until she found where the timecards were. She quickly looked over them until she found Brandi’s. Bingo! There it was. Brandi Gillard. She’d punched in at 2PM which meant she’d probably get off at ten o’clock that night. Constance stuck the timecard back into the space and returned to her table. Allowing Fear to lead her out of the restaurant, she locked eyes with Brandi who was placing entrées on another couple’s table. The stare down was vicious and if looks could kill, both of them would have been laid the f**k out inside of that restaurant.

A few hours later, Fear was asleep on his stomach butt ass naked and calling hogs. Constance had put that p***y on him and now that ass was in a coma. Hearing him snore so loudly, she knew he wasn’t waking up anytime soon which meant this was the perfect time to act. She mashed out the joint she’d fired up after s*x and slid out of the bed, slipping her black thongs back on.

She moved toward the closet and pulled open the door. She didn’t waste any time getting dressed and slipping on some Timberland boots. She tucked a pair of black leather gloves into the breast pocket of her red camouflage army jacket and stepped to Fear. She kissed him gently on the head and headed for the door, turning off the light as she disappeared through the doorway.

It was after eleven when Brandi came through the door of her house hanging up her purse and kicking off her flats. She pulled off her coat and threw it over the back of the couch. She picked up the remote control and turned on her 42” LG flat screen. She flicked through the channels until she found something that she wouldn’t mind watching. Once she came across The Usual Suspects, she escalated the volume and tossed the remote control onto the coffee table. Brandi sang Drake’s ‘From Time’ as she walked down the hall, unzipping the back of her skirt. She was about to walk into the bathroom when she noticed the window was cracked open at the end of the corridor. She frowned as she approached the window, closing it shut and then locking it. Thinking that she’d heard something, she froze where she was and her brow furrowed as she listened for it again.

“Humph.” Brandi shrugged before entering the bathroom and flipping on the light switch. When the light didn’t come on, she flipped it off and on rapidly. Nothing. Frustrated, she exhaled and stomped her foot. “Damn it. This light done blew out again? s**t!” she exasperated. This would have been the third time she’d changed the light bulb in the bathroom this week. She didn’t know what the problem was, but she planned on calling an electrician to come out tomorrow since she didn’t have to go to work the next day.

As soon as Brandi got the notion to turn around, something sharp jabbed her in the pupil. “Agh!” She held her eye as she staggered back into the hall and bumped into the wall. She opened her injured eye but couldn’t see anything out of it, she had been blinded. Brandi touched her wounded eye and her trembling hand came away sticky with blood. Hearing a feral snarl, her head snapped up and she unleashed a scream so loud that her uvula shook at the back of her throat.