Unconditionally Single Read Online Free PDF

can’t withdraw funds from Honey’s account but I think I can arrange a wire.”
    “What? Are you crazy?” I snatched the phone from Onyx. “We ain’t giving your ass shit, you hear me. No Honey, no money. You wanna talk? Meet us tonight at Stilettos Strip Club at eight o’clock and don’t be late. I want to meet your retarded ass in person.”
    “You’re a hothead. Liable to get yourself killed tonight. I’ll be there. Eight o’clock. But your forty-eight hours start right now,” Valentino said, ending the call.
    “Hello? Hello?” I looked at Onyx, then said, “He’s gone.”
    Onyx sat behind her desk.
    I sat on top of her desk. “Now what?”
    Onyx pointed at the leather-cushioned seat beside her desk. I eased into it.
    “I want you to come to our house, meet the other women, but keep this between us for now. I can’t trust any of them, especially Girl Six,” said Onyx, picking up her cell phone. She touched her keypad several times, placed her cell phone back on the desk.
    Who was Girl Six? If I had to meet them, I had to look right. I got my lipstick and compact mirror, then said, “We need Sapphire Bleu.” I stroked on a fresh coat of red. “She’ll take care of Valentino.”
    Our triangle had the law to protect us. Sapphire was a cop, Honey’s friend, and my new friend. But I didn’t know Sapphire or Onyx the way I thought I knew Honey.
    Onyx held my hand, then said, “I owe Honey my life. We all do. The other eleven girls too.”
    “Where they at? The other girls you keep talkin’ ‘bout. Shouldn’t they be here? They could help us.” More like take over for me so I wouldn’t miss my flight to LA. My relocation was in a few days but no one knew how long Honey would be missing.
    “They’re all out working, trying to convince prostitutes to stop selling their bodies. Red Velvet, we were all escorts in Vegas. High paid escorts. Honey was our madam. Honey started this business in Atlanta to help women get off their backs. Now she’s the one who needs our help. Let’s go,” said Onyx. She picked up her purse. “I just texted Girl Six and she hasn’t hit me back.”
    I followed Onyx to the door, stood outside and waited for her to lock up. I was beginning to understand that Honey was like the drug dealer who’d built a community center for neighborhood kids. Her money was dirty but her intentions were pure. What if Valentino didn’t bring Honey to Stilettos? What if he didn’t show up? What if Trevor was still upset with me for quitting?
    Trying to reassure myself more than Onyx, I said, “We’ll find Honey. Believe that. This car is straight sexy.” I settled into her sweet ass black-on-black Lexus LX with tinted windows, the kind of car men envied a woman having. This was not the car Onyx was in when she dropped Honey and me off at Hartsfield when Honey took me to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
    Onyx kept her focus on our surroundings as she drove past the Fox Theatre. I had to ask, “What was it like? Being an escort. You know, lots of females have sex for free, let men used them. Must be better getting paid. How much did you make?”
    A cold, hard expression appeared on her face. Onyx stopped at the red light at Seventeenth, then stared at me. “A woman would be better off auctioning her soul to the devil than letting a different man stick his dick in her mouth…pussy…asshole every night. Sometimes two, three, four men a night. Back-to-back-to-back. Two grand a night isn’t worth it when you end up shot in the head like my best friend, Sunny. One day before her twenty-first birthday, that bastard Valentino killed my best friend.”
    Onyx wiped her tears. We passed the King Tut exhibit on our right, the Margaret Mitchell Museum to our left. I prayed Honey’s spirit hadn’t gone with the wind. Honey was a survivor. Onyx made an illegal U-turn, doubled back to Seventeenth, turned left, headed toward Atlantic Station. That was near my house.
    “Don’t take me home. Best if