The Prada Plan 2: Leah's Story (3 page)

The crying…the wailing…the screams of her dead baby tormented her, causing tears to flow from her disengaged eyes. It was as if the baby’s spirit was haunting her, providing a deafening soundtrack as she sped through the country roads. Her conscience was begging her to stop the madness, but she couldn’t. Leah was too far gone and hell bent on settling the score. She could not stop herself if she wanted to.

Waaa!

Waaa!

She turned up the radio to drown out the sounds, but they only grew louder. There was no erasing the bricks of burden that weighed heavily on her shoulders. She was haunted, and the shrill screams in her head were a constant reminder of the monster she had become. Her hands shook violently against the steering wheel as tears wrecked her. The thought of the things that had brought her to this point were sickening.

Mediocrity and rejection had plagued her since childhood. The people that she put her trust in were always the same ones who let her down. She had never been enough; she was always second choice. Her cold heart was no fault of her own.

People bring pain on themselves. YaYa made me do this to her. She made me the way that I am. Fuck her,
Leah thought. The events she had set in motion were about to ruin Disaya, and she felt no inkling of remorse. YaYa had made her hurt in more than one way. Leah was intent on showing Ms. Morgan that karma was real.

As Leah drove, flashes of her past plagued her, and she was taken back to the place where her lunacy began…

“Oww,” Leah complained, cringing in pain as the sharp bristles of the hairbrush pressed against her tender scalp. “Mommy, that hurts.”

“Girl, hush. I told you today is a big day. We’re going back to New York City. That’s where Mommy’s from. That’s where your daddy lives,” Natalie stated. Seven-year-old Leah could see the stars in her mother’s eyes, and an infectious smile spread across her young face.

Natalie had regaled Leah many times before with stories of her father and the magnificence that life with him in NYC had to offer. She had waited for this day to come, and finally her mother was taking her to meet him. Dressed in her best Sunday dress, Leah couldn’t stop her eager heart from racing. Usually, she would complain about the itchy stockings and extremely tight hair bows, but she wanted to look her best. From the very first day Leah was born, she had been groomed for this reunion.

“You have to be perfect, Leah. Everything has to be perfect. Your father only loves the pretty girls,” Natalie would say. “We can’t go back for him until you are flawless. Everything about you has to be just right, so that he will fall in love with you as soon as he sets his sights on you.” Her mother had drilled the ideal of becoming the perfect daughter into her for so long that Leah rarely made a mistake. From her appearance to her grades to her speech, she did everything without error.

Despite her youthful innocence, Leah was well aware of what her life was missing. Every little girl in Durham, North Carolina had a daddy to call her own. Sadness filled her when she saw fathers with their daughters on the playground. Envy ate away at her when she saw her classmates get dropped off at school by the big men who loved them so much. She yearned for the missing piece in her life. She wanted a father to take her fears away and make her the center of his world. She dreamed of meeting her daddy every night, and now her mother was finally granting all of her wishes.

“What is he like?” Leah asked excitedly as she turned to face her mother, only to receive a hard pop to the top of the head with the wooden hairbrush.

“Quit asking so many questions, Leah, and be still. I’ve told you about your daddy a million times. Turn around so I can finish. I don’t have all day to get you dressed. Mama got to look good for Daddy too,” Natalie stated with seduction in her tone. It had been eight long years since she had seen Leah’s father, and the thought of him still caused her southern lips to cream in anticipation.

Messing around with a taken man, she had known that she was simply a little girl playing adult games. At seventeen, her heart had been stolen by someone she could never truly have, but he made her feel so good that she didn’t care that she would never come first. When Natalie popped up pregnant, she thought that a baby would be the answer to all of her prayers, but when she was dropped off at the abortion clinic instead of accepted with loving arms, she decided to flee. Moving down South was the only way for her to have her baby in secrecy, but as she looked at Leah, she knew that it was time for the dark truth to come to light.

I’m not the same little girl who ran away all those years ago. I’m going back to get my man and embrace the life that I was supposed to lead. I’m supposed to be his number one…his only. I have his baby. He can’t turn me away,
she thought with renewed determination.

It took the twosome all day to prepare themselves for the reunion, but when they finally dragged their heavy bags to the car, they were perfect from head to toe. Dressed in their Sunday best, they climbed into the car to make the thirteen-hour drive up North. The overwhelming smell of perfume and hair grease filled the interior of the vehicle as they prepared to make the uncomfortable trip. Despite the miles of road ahead of them, they felt closer to home than they ever had before. New York City was where they both wanted to be. It was where they belonged. The man that they loved the most was unknowingly waiting. Whether he was ready or not, they were coming to claim him.

Natalie drove the entire way. Too eager to stop, she pushed forward until she could see the skyline of Manhattan’s tall buildings. Eyes heavy from fatigue, she wanted nothing more than to drive to the nearest hotel, but she was too excited to delay the inevitable. The man she was searching for was one of predictability. He had been making the same moves on the same corners, frequenting the same spots for years. Being his young mistress in the past, she knew exactly where to find him.

An exhausted Leah looked up at her mother. The sandman was personally tugging at her eyelids as she struggled to keep them open.

“Are we there yet?” she asked with a big yawn. “Mommy, are we there? Is this where he lives?”

Natalie smiled and replied, “Yeah, this is NYC.”

Leah’s lazy smile was lopsided as her sleepy head rested against the seat. Natalie sighed. Knowing that Leah needed some rest, she reluctantly decided to stop at a motel. Seedy and in the worst part of Queens, the dilapidated neighborhood was no place for a single woman and child. She had used all of her finances to make the trip to the city, and luxury wasn’t an option.

She went inside and quickly put Leah to bed, but found that sleep was evasive for her. Her mind was spinning with thoughts of her former love, and like a HEMI engine, her heart raced, unyielding and unforgiving, as it took over her wild emotional state. Natalie couldn’t go to sleep—not before doing what she had come to town to do.

I’ve got to go find him,
she thought restlessly. She peeked over at Leah, noticing her daughter’s contentment as her tiny chest rose and fell.
I can just leave her here. She’ll never know I’m gone. By the time she wakes up, I’ll be back…and hopefully her daddy will be with me,
Natalie thought as she rushed to the mirror to refresh her makeup. She smoothed out the baby hair that rested along the edges of her neat, long ponytail, and brushed the wrinkles out of her skin-tight red dress before creeping out of the room. At that moment, it didn’t matter to her that she was leaving a seven-year-old child alone.

Leah was just an accessory anyway, a pawn in a game of bait and hook. Natalie needed Leah to bait her daddy and convince him to make a home with them.
With me is where he belongs,
she thought as she drove off into the night.

Natalie walked into Jimmy’s Bar, and although eight years had passed, everything about the place was unchanged. From the old jukebox that sat in the corner to the busty bartender behind the counter, the atmosphere was exactly as she remembered it. Cigarette smoke painted seductive pictures in the air as Leah stood in the doorway, nervous energy consuming her. Her eyes scanned the patrons in the joint. It was Saturday night, ladies’ night, and all of the working girls were out on the prowl as they flirted with the men who frequented the spot.

At twenty-five, she was a far cry from what she used to be. Her memories were bittersweet. She remembered the long nights of tricking on the cold streets, but the mere thought of one man’s warm embrace brought the corners of her mouth up into a small smile. As she reminisced, she set her sights on the back of the man she so desperately sought—Buchanan Slim—her old pimp, and the father of her child.

Although his back was turned to her, she still recognized him. His dominant demeanor could be spotted from a mile away. With his magnetic swagger, Natalie couldn’t help but be drawn to him. She stepped over to the bar and sat right beside him.

Poison, his favorite scent, graced her body and piqued his attention immediately, causing him to look her way. The little girl he once knew was now a grown woman—a gorgeous vixen—and although she looked familiar to him, he didn’t immediately place her face.

She pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it as she wrapped her lips around it.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked as he spun on his barstool and turned on his charm.

Seducing a woman was instinctive to Buchanan Slim. He knew all the right things to say and do to get inside a woman’s head, but whether he knew it or not, matters of the heart were sensitive. He had played with the emotions of many, and his manipulation was damaging. He owned the hearts of every lady in his stable, but he was only one man. He didn’t realize that he was incapable of keeping up with the demands of their affection.

Greed and arrogance pushed him to pursue the pretty thing to his right, but he had no clue that they had already crossed paths. She knew him inside and out.

She gave him a slight grin as she shook her head from side to side. “You haven’t changed one bit, have you, Slim?” she asked.

Caught off guard by her forwardness, he leaned back smoothly on his barstool to get a better look at her face. Her tight body, thick thighs, and long legs had mesmerized him, but now he zeroed in on her face.

“I know you, don’t I? I can’t quite place a face so pretty, but you look very familiar,” Slim stated.

Natalie leaned into him seductively, her bosom pressing against his firm chest. Her hard nipples poked him, letting him know that she was turned on. “Maybe you’d remember me better with my clothes off,” she whispered as she traced her long fingernail across his lips before she strutted off toward the bathrooms.

His eyes opened wide, but he kept his cool visage as he downed his drink before inconspicuously trailing behind her. The sway of her hips and the criss-cross pattern that her high heels left on the wooden floor caused his manhood to stand at attention. He adjusted himself in his slacks and cleared his throat as he followed her into the ladies’ restroom.

Lifting her dress, she revealed the lace garter and thong she wore underneath. “Come over here and let me remind you, Slim,” she moaned with the huskiness of lust in her tone. The music from the bar spilled into the bathroom, and Natalie began to dance slowly, winding her hips from side to side as her hands roamed her body.

An inexperienced man would have been flustered by her forwardness, but Slim leaned against the door and watched as her fingers crept inside her panties. Slim licked his lips as he imagined tasting her. The faster she massaged her clit, the harder he became. She was the aggressor, and for the first time in his life, Slim allowed a woman to take the lead. The mystery surrounding her identity intrigued him, but he could feel her familiarity.

Natalie’s eyes never left his, and the moans that slipped from her lips beckoned him forward. When he was within arm’s reach, Natalie grabbed him by the front of his slacks and pulled him to her. She grinded on his girth as he fucked her through his clothes. The friction from his hard dick was almost enough to send her into orgasm and he hadn’t even entered her yet. Dry humping was enough to give her the shivers. Her swollen pussy lips left wet spots on the front of his slacks as he placed eager kisses on her sweet neck.

“Take it out, baby,” she whispered as he lifted one of her legs, causing her wetness to stretch into a long, wet smile. Slim placed himself inside of her, and like a long lost key, he fit perfectly. She hadn’t had another man inside of her in so long that her muscles formed a custom mold around his manhood.

“Ughh,” he grunted as he pressed inside of her while cupping her ample behind in his hands. A pussy connoisseur, he immediately knew that he had sampled her before, and he beat it up as if he owned it.

Lust filled the dirty bathroom as she arched her back and closed her eyes while taking the feel-good train to ecstasy. His thick eight inches split her juicy peach in half as she bucked on him. He was smashing it, driving her insane.

“Say my name, Daddy. You know this pussy. It’s yours, Slim. Say my name, baby,” she whispered as she bit into her bottom lip to keep from screaming aloud.

The melody of her voice sent flashbacks into Slim’s mind. He remembered hearing it before. He recalled being inside her, and before he knew it, he was calling her name. “Nat…baby girl, Daddy’s home. Damn, Nat, work it for Daddy,” he groaned as he picked up his pace, his organ vibrating inside of her. The confirmation of her identity was all it took to bring them both to an explosive orgasm.

As they scrambled to dress, Slim eyed Natalie. Many moons had passed since the last time he had seen her. She used to be his li’l mama, the youngest worker in his stable of bad bitches, and he had groomed her well. Like all of the other women he oversaw, she was well versed in the language of sensuality and pleasure. She could make every man think he was the best she had ever had. There was only one who could resist her, only one who could see through her game and outperform her. That one man was her teacher, and she was his pupil. She couldn’t resist Slim. He was the only man she had ever loved, and for eight long years she had waited for the right moment to make her reemergence.

“Long time no see, baby girl,” he said as he buckled his pants.

“I’ve missed you, Slim,” she replied with a sincere smile. She lowered her eyes insecurely as she continued. “It’s been too long.”

“That means we’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he stated. There was nothing better in the world to him than having control. Natalie had left him years ago, but still she couldn’t help but find her way back home. Like a trained dog, she had come back to him whether she wanted to or not. It was instinctive in all his bitches. He was Daddy, and the only place that could ever be home was with him.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about, Slim. Something important,” she admitted. “I have a room out in Queens. Will you come there with me?”

“Don’t need a room to do no talking,” Slim stated. “Unless you got something else in mind?”

“I got everything in mind, baby. Everything,” she insisted as she licked her lips.