Pawn

Chapter 10

"Rise and shine sleepy head." I jumped up out my sleep when someone pulled the curtains back from the window and let the sunlight come on me.

I wiped the sleep out my eyes and furrowed my eyebrows at the sun. "Who opened up them curtains. It's too much light in here. What time is it anyway?"

"It's eight o'clock, time to get up and start work." I looked to my left and noticed Drennon was eating a plate of eggs, bacon, pancakes, grits, and sausage. My stomach started growling instantly as the smell filled the room.

"What you mean start work?" I asked stretching my arms in the air.

"Come in the kitchen and I'll let you know more but make sure you brush your teeth cause I can smell that morning breath of yours from over here."

"I don't have morning breath thank you very much."

"Let me get out of here before you spoil my appetite." I rolled my eyes as he closed the door. I lazily got out of bed and to the bathroom.

I showered and brushed my teeth. When I finished, I put my braids up in a neat bun and applied some Witch Hazel on my face. I got it from Bakari.

I haven't forgot about what I heard last night. It all was a little too much to take in. I mean Bakari is nice to me but right now, getting with him is the least of my worries. That's not where my attention needs to be.

After lotioning down, I put on some all black skinny leg yoga pants with a tye-dye hoodie and a pair of warm fuzzy socks.

When I came into the kitchen, I saw Lee stuffing her face with food. She was eating so much that she had more food on her face than on her plate.

"Good morning miss lady, how are you on this wonderful morning." I tried to hold my laugh in but I couldn't contain myself.

"What? Did I say something funny? Is it my breath?" She asked blowing her breath in palm.

"Wipe your face girl. Looking like a toddler with all that food on your face." Drennon said coming into the kitchen.

"Oh shit, I ain't even know." She said grabbing a napkin and wiping her mouth.

I grabbed a plate and started putting some food on it. When I was happy with what I had, I sat down and began eating. I took a bite out of my pancakes and noticed they were banana pancakes which are my favorite.

"I see you're enjoying the food miss lady." Lee said leaning over the counter. I nodded my head as I took a big sip of apple juice.

Her phone started ringing before I could say anything else. She excused herself and walked out of the kitchen. As I was eating, Drennon came back in and sat in a chair across from me.

"Like I was saying this morning, it's time to start work. You're not going to be lazying around here all day everyday."

I stopped eating when I started thinking of what he could have me do. With Drennon it's always unpredictable.

"I'm not about to be selling drugs or hoeing." I said throwing my hands up.

"You right, you're not. What you'll be doing is something that's very easy." The suspense was killing me. I wished he would just come out already and say it.

He let out the kitchen but soon returned holding a bag in his hand. He placed it in front of me and sat back down.

My heart started beating anticipating what was in that bag. I stared at it before putting my hand it and pulled out some bright yellow gloves and some cleaning appliances.

I looked at Drennon with a confused face. "Um, what is all this for? I don't see how this relates to me."

"It should be obvious. You'll be cleaning, mopping, dusting, and whatever else around the house. The only place you are not to go is the warehouse downstairs."

My jaw dropped when I looked inside the bag and pulled out more cleaning stuff. "Are you serious? So basically, you want me to be a housemaid. Great. I go from escort to housemaid within a few days."

"Technically, you were never a escort, only a pretend one and it's better than hoeing or selling drugs so stop complaining."

"Wow so I'm supposed to jump for joy or something?" I asked sarcastically. I was not feeling this at all.

"You might as well cause you have no choice. I hope your breakfast energized you up cause your work starts today." He said getting up from the chair and pushing it back up to the table.

"Today? What you mean today?"

"You need a definition. Today means present time, day, or age meaning get your ass up now and start cleaning."

Lee came back in and went in the fridge for some water. She noticed I had on the gloves that were in the bag Drennon gave me. "You must about to get quarantined. Why you got them gloves on?"

"I'm the housemaid." I replied in a dead tone.

"Oh shit a housemaid. That's messed up but good at the same time."

"How is that a good thing?"

"No offense to you miss lady but it's a lot of shit to be need done around here and you know that me, Drennon, and Bakari be too busy to tend to stuff like that."

"Why you just can't get one of the girls that work in the warehouse to do it?"

"Cause they already occupied." Drennon replied stepping in.

"Dre, you seen Bakari? I ain't seen him since yesterday. We got a meeting in five minutes." Lee said going through her phone. "I text him this morning but he didn't reply back."

"Last time I seen him was when we came back from the bar."

"He been acting strange lately. I wonder what's going on with him."

I could feel Drennon looking at me when Lee said that. I was scared to look up cause I didn't want him to feel like I knew something.

"I don't know but whatever it is, he better get it together."

"We gotta go Dre, see you miss lady." Lee said waving goodbye to me. I lightly waved back at her.

Drennon turned to me fixing the diamond crusted Rose Gold Rolex watch around his wrist. "You got your work for today so I'll leave you to it. Oh and one more thing."

I felt a something cold snap around my ankle. I looked down and saw a ankle detector on me. "Get this off me, I'm not a prisoner or your property."

"While you here, you are. I don't trust you so if you do try to leave, that little monitor will let me know and if I can't get to you in time, take a look out the window and you'll see four fully trained pit bulls waiting for you."

I remembered those dogs like it was yesterday. Those were the same dogs that attacked that poor man when I first got here. If Drennon hadn't cut his ear off, those dogs would have.

"By the look on your face, I can tell you know I'm serious. Now get to cleaning."