Lady Swagger-The Beginning

Lady Swagger

By TKO

Lady Sw
agger
is a work of fiction. It is not meant to depict, portray, or represent any particular gender, real persons, or group of people. All the characters, places, incidents, and dialogues, are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by TKO

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever without direct permission from the publisher or author. Reviewers may quote brief passages only to be included in periodicals or on reviewer’s websites for promotional purposes.

Interior Typeset: Literary Champagne Suite

Email: [email protected]

Lady Swagger (The Beginning)

TKO PRESENTS

P.O. BOX 04131

DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48204

Acknowledgements

First and foremost I want to thank
God
almighty, without him this dream could never of become a reality. I thank you for your love and peace that surpasses all understanding.
My mother Ella
, the one and only woman in my life who’s never ending love and support  brought me to this moment. To
N’Tyse
, Author of Twisted Seduction. Girl you are a gem. I remember reaching out to you back in 2011. During a time when I was getting discouraged about writing, you listened and encouraged me to keep on writing. Thank you for listening and encouraging me when I needed it the most. You have truly been a blessing. My family
Troy Kidd, Richard Kidd, Michael Covington
you guys are absolutely the best. Thanks for all the late night talks, listening to me go on and on about the characters in my story. Your listening ear paid off, ’cause I’ve talked these characters into existence. To Mike Warren, for all your constructive criticism on my storyline and explaining some of the ends and outs of writing a book. To all the ladies at the African American Fiction Book Club on facebook. You guys know that you are the best book discussion group on social media. To Nicety, the graphic designer on this project. Girl thank you for your patience with me in all the changes I requested and for doing an awesome job on the cover. I’m looking forward to many more projects with you in the future. And to all my facebook family, friends, and all those I have not personally mentioned.

In loving Memory

JD
Hawthorne

&

Clornia Covington

Man, I miss you both so much.

Life is truly not the same without you here

Ni
kki

“I can’t
fuckin’ believe her trifling ass has the nerve to be over there booed up with that hooker ass tramp like that!” Nikki hissed. “We haven’t been in here five seconds and I already have to see this shit!” Never in a million decades would she have imagined her 30
th
birthday turning out like this. It was already messed up that she hadn’t received one single happy birthday call from her girlfriend all day, which led her to believe that she must have still been upset over their most recent argument or she flat out forgot.

Nikki’s best friend,
Jazz, shook her head in contempt as she lacquered her full lips with another coat of lip gloss. “You think she saw you?”

“Hell naw her drunk ass didn’t see me. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been so damn brave.”
Nikki paused as if a bulb had gone off in her head. “Then again, maybe she doesn’t care who sees her. Maybe she broke it off but forgot to send me the memo.”

Nikki’s
tone revealed exactly how she was feeling deep down. She couldn’t let this one slide. Not even if she wanted to. Because if she saw her she was sure everyone else in the club did as well, and there was no telling what those greasy bitches were saying right about now behind her back.

If Lady Swagger wasn’t known for anything else
in its eight years of existence, it was irrefutably known as the hook-up spot, break-up spot, and drama madhouse. So before any nasty rumors could spread, Nikki was going to let it be known that she saw the hooker, her term for stupid popcorn bitches, with her own two eyes and that she’d already dumped Dream’s ass like last week’s garbage. She was over Dream, over love, and she was over women … well maybe not
all
women. Just Dream’s dirty ass.

Jazz exhaled sharply as she
dropped her makeup essentials back into her purse. Usually, she seemed so self-conscious, but not tonight. Jazz owned her thickness with a stylish symmetry that exhibited grace and sexy. Her radiant brown skin shimmered under the bright light and every detail of her makeup was effective. She looked incredibly beautiful and Nikki was proud of her for coming out of her shell and letting her hair down for a change. Especially since all she ever did was sit around and mope about how she needed to lose weight before that convict boyfriend of hers got out of jail. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration, but when she walked in and saw Dream, it killed her spirit.

Jazz
swept her hand over the flattering tangerine colored Maxi dress and adjusted the low-slung gold chain belt that hung off her wide hips. Her zillion style micro braids draped slightly past her broad shoulders and the curls at the end blanketed her thick arms. She directed her undivided attention back to Nikki who was checking out her flawless features in the mirror. Jazz circled her hand over Nikki’s back.

“
Well we came to do
you
. It’s your day, so please try not to let that ruin the rest of your night,” Jazz told her.

Nikki’s
oversized silver hoop earrings sparkled in her reflection. “Tsk! Too late for that,” she retorted.

As more women filed in
to the bathroom, Nikki recognized at least six of them as superficial regulars. She never broke her stance as they inched past her in slutty outfits, reeking cheap perfume and no fashion sense. Nikki upstaged every single one of them without even trying. Her good genes didn’t require all the cosmetics they advertised nor did she need a designer brand to feel worthy. She shook her head all while thinking how desperate they must have been for the attention. Typical hooker.

One of the women
leaned into her girlfriend’s ear who immediately brought her colored contact wearing eyes to Nikki. That was the only cue Nikki needed to bounce up out that joint before she had to check a hoe.

“
Come on girl, let’s roll out,” Nikki summoned Jazz while rolling her eyes in the mirror at the whisperer. “I’m seriously not in the mood right now.” She promptly turned the other cheek and headed for the exit with Jazz following closely on her heels.

The damper of their evening
was brought on by no one other than her two-timing, arrogant, and disrespectful girlfriend, Adreama, who everyone knew as Dream. While Nikki really didn’t like to put a label on herself, Dream liked to be referred to as a hard stud. She cursed the fact that she was born a woman and hated for people to remind her of it. There were many who could testify that she did indeed look and acted more masculine than most of the guys they knew, but it was even more evident that Dream tried too damn hard to be something she was not. She would even boast and hi-side about the things she did for her woman. But little did everyone know, she was thirty-eight and still living at home with her mother, barely able to pull her own weight with that tattoo gig.

As soon as Nikki and Jazz
stepped back into the sea of partygoers, Nikki looked toward the back of the club. A blind woman could have spotted Dream from a mile away. Not because she was the sharpest dressed stud in the building in red and black from her hat right down to her shoes, but because of her arrogant pretty boi persona which Nikki both loved and detested. The groupies Dream attracted mistook it as swag, but Nikki was behind the scenes to witness that Dream’s swag was nothing but a costume.

As
she figured, Dream was still hugged up with that same dizzy hooker from earlier. Nikki almost lost it but somehow managed to hold her composure.

The duo
headed in the opposite direction, parting the crowd of women that stood in one spot blocking their path. R&B music blared from the tall speakers that were situated in every corner of the room, and as the worse birthday luck would have it, Nikki and Dream’s favorite song, “Fool For You” by Cee Lo, wafted through the nightclub. Nikki picked up her pace and didn’t look back as they made a beeline toward the front. They chatted amongst themselves as they headed out of the double glass doors of Lady Swagger―a popular hot spot for lesbians. The club’s owner, Lady, was the mother of her first ‘girlfriend experience’. And every time she saw, Lady, her thoughts raced to Kelli and what they could have been together. However, at a time when a much needed distraction was welcomed, Lady was nowhere in sight.

On their
way back to the car, Nikki reaffirmed that leaving the club was definitely a wise decision because had they stayed in there a second longer, she was going to catch a couple of cases.

The trapped heat and rising humidity resulting from the 100-degree temperatures Detroit had been experiencing, seemingly caused her soft apple butter skin to flush red and her MAC makeup to melt.
It felt like someone had lit a blowtorch to her face.

“Damn,
it’s
still
hot as hell out here!” Nikki complained, needing at least one more thing to take her frustration out on. Her blood was practically boiling after catching Dream flirting with one of her exes.
No class at all
, she thought, driving the gold heels of her stilettos into the asphalt deep enough to carve out every letter of the alphabet. “And to think I was going to let her ass move in with me,” she fumed.

Jazz drew her neck back.
“As much as y’all argue and fight?” She was obviously surprised. “I’m sure glad that didn’t take place because I know I wouldn’t have heard the last of it.”

“That makes two of us
glad that I wasn’t stupid enough to do that.”

“Lord knows you guys already have enough drama as it is.”
Jazz opened her purse and fished for the keys to her silver Infinity G35. She hit a button to deactivate the alarm.

“I need a cig
arette.” Nikki extended a hand out to Jazz.

Jazz twisted her lips and frowned at Nikki as if she had asked for a million bucks.
“Wait a minute. I thought you quit.”

“I
did. Blame my relapse on these hookers that can’t seem to keep their fingers to themselves! Literally.”

Jazz
didn’t utter a word, only gave her a stony look that Nikki knew all too well. She knew exactly what she must have been thinking. They’d been best friends since elementary so if she couldn’t decode Jazz’s facial expressions by now, something was definitely wrong. If Jazz told her once she’d told her a thousand times that Dream was no good for her. She hated to see her hurt and upset over the constant childish mind games Dream played and the abuse she had sustained during their relationship. She fail for her
I love you’s
and
I’ll never hit you again
. And the latest one yet;
You’re the only woman for me
. It was that line actually that almost got her the keys to Nikki’s house and a semi-permanent spot in her bed. Boy was she damn glad that she came to her senses. So while Nikki hated to be wrong and for Jazz to be right again, it could only mean that her time with Dream had run its course. It was time to move on.

Jazz passed her a Newp
ort and a lighter. “I’m not going to say I told you so because that would only be adding fuel to the fire. But you know what you need to do.”

Nikki quickly fired up the cigarette and took a desperate drag.

“So what you wanna do, go hit another club or something?” Jazz queried. “I mean … the night is still young. Besides, I hear Blaze is poppin’ on Friday’s now.”

Nikki gave Jazz the eye. “
Blaze!” She feigned offended. “I don’t have time to be trying to convince the thirsty brothers up in there that I’m gay and the insecure sisters that I don’t want their man. Too much energy required.”

Jazz shrugged her shoulders and sighed.
“So basically what you’re saying then is that we’re going home … this early … on your birthday?”

Nikki pursed her lips
and chugged out smoke, leaving the remnants of her foul habit to linger in the air. “Negative! We’re going to sit right out here in this parking lot so that I can chin check that ass as soon as she walks out of that door. She ain’t getting away with this one. Hell no! Not tonight.”

Jazz
shook her head. “Can we please have a drama-free night tonight? I don’t want to be involved in y’alls problems,” she murmured.

“You won’t have to be. This between me and her.”

Wwwwsssshhh!

They both
stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to see where the whistling was coming from.

“What’s up sexy ladies
!” Cheryl hollered. Her and her motorcycle clique took up an entire row. It was at least twelve of them and they all represented D-Bois to the fullest with custom shirts, bandanas, and matching tattoos. They were some of Detroit’s finest studs and were known as such, along with their famous motorcycle club.

Nikki and Jazz offered
a reluctant wave and a forced smile.

“Aw hell. H
ere they come,” Jazz warned through clenched teeth.

Cheryl
walked right over to where Nikki stood. Her lustful eyes roamed her entire body and Nikki knew that she still wanted to take her for a spin. And tonight seemed like the perfect night to take her up on her offer.

“I know y’all ain’t leaving already,” one of the
D Bois said. “The party don’t start ’till we step on the scene.”

Nikki looked over at Ja
zz before bringing her flirtatious eyes and smile back to Cheryl. “Actually, we were just pondering what else we could get into,” she said seductively. “You see, it’s my birthday. And I haven’t found anyone to blow out my candles.” Her sultry voice was dripping with seduction and lingering possibilities.

Cheryl licked her lips and tucked in her bottom lip. She squinted her eyes and nodded as if she was reading between the lines. “
Well happy birthday beautiful. And I’m pretty confident that I can put that fire out.” She cleared her throat and blushed so hard her dimples became more pronounced.

Nikki’s pussy began to gush with excitement. “Is that right?”

Cheryl gave her a confident nod of the head.

As the D Bois waited patiently for their leader, they tried to get their mack on with every other woman that w
as either going or coming out of Lady Swagger. It didn’t require much effort at all because the D Bois name alone was a pussy magnet.

Nikki shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
She stood 5’5” and was barely 140 pounds with a perfect hourglass figure. She placed her right hand on her hip and allowed Cheryl to soak up her sexiness. She was clad in a turquoise strapless knee length dress that hugged her curves and accentuated her firm breasts. She kept it simple and classy with minimal accessories. Her pointed six-inch leopard print stilettos showcased her long and smooth brown legs for all to notice. Oftentimes she wore her natural hair in a short pixie cut which made her resemble the actress, Monica Calhoun. However, tonight she decided to explore the other side. She had Jazz add extensions, transforming her mane into wild and free coils.    

Cheryl looked back at her
biker bois who were all waiting on her. “Hey! Y’all gone on ahead. I’ll be in there after I finish rapping with my old friend Nikki here,” she said smoothly.

“I’m
going to go wait in the car,” Jazz said.