messie. rio, g.g

NINE

looks like santa's elves are at work !

     WE SAT IN FRONT of an old warehouse in the car. I easily understood that this was a warehouse for counterfeiters. I had my fair share of business with them as I had always to sometimes make co-depending decisions with their businesses. 

We stared at the old place in silence. We were given instructions to drop the package to this specific address after the pick up and by the strict words, we did.  

"Are we supposed to knock?" Annie had pulled herself more forward to take a closer look at what seemed to be an entrance.

Answering her question the warehouse garage entrance began to life up and I could see silhouettes of people inside, moving busily. 

Beth slowly pulled forward and we got out of the car. I looked around and nostalgia hit me; the men and women standing at their posts either waiting for further instructions or already working on their task at hand. 

"Look's like santa's elves are at work," Annie mumbled and I could only chuckle as I was already occupied with doing something else.

My eyes scanned the factorial room and continued before they landed on the Good Santa himself. He was dressed professionally, different from his attire from our first encounter; his black leather jacket over his plain black tee that hugged his body nicely which were accompanied by a pair of black jeans and some nice leather shoes—also black. His badass black outfit from before was some obvious eye candy, but his professional attire. . . damn. His trademark black style still existed within this outfit, but seeing that he was wearing a button up with a simple pair of pants and shoes that showed his professional side. . . damn (part two). 

From all this observing, a small ghostly smile played on my lips as he reminded me of the warming parts of my dangerous past life. 

Apparently Annie saw me eyeing this guy down because she nudged my side using her elbow, whilst a smirk was placed on her face. Catching on, Ruby's eyes widened and her mouth fell agape.

I rolled my eyes playfully in response to the two and as my eyes were trained on Rio, Beth came in sight. She had walked up to him while I was ogling him and it appeared that they were having a nice conversation with Rio smiling smugly at her. From where I was standing behind her, I could see that she was stiff. It was actually really bold of her to be confronting the main man like this because we don't know how he'll react but he clearly was amused by her confidence. 

I continued to stare at the two and it wasn't before long, Rio's eyes shifted over onto me and his smug smile grew wider. Beth clearly saw his disengagement in their conversation and looked over her shoulder and her eyes landed on me. 

They sparkled in confusion and a little bit of . . . amusement? 

Rio walked past Beth and stood in front of me. I straightened my posture and looked up at him. His expression was blank but his eyes were intense as they looked down at me. 

"Hey there Lil' Mama." I could hear Annie snort behind me at the nickname and I chose to ignore it, focusing my attention on Rio. 

He spoke slowly and it was soothing. It was like his words floated down to me with angels flying behind them. 

I shook away my thoughts that admired him and put on my game face. I perked a brow up and swayed my hip to one side with my arms crossed. "Don't call me that." 

His smiled stayed in its place as he slightly nodded and he looked around before looking back at me. "Oh, but you didn't mind my nicknames when I was at your place? Okay then, tell me. What do you prefer? Baby, Baby Girl, Honey. . . Honey Bunches?"

I ran my tongue over my teeth and smiled up at him. "No thank you. None of the above."

"Oh? All of sudden Mamas is all confident? Well, I gotta call you something. You know my name; it's only fair I get to know yours."

I narrowed my eyes, "I don't think we'll be seeing each other enough for you to know my name." 

His smile morphed into a smirk and his eyes sparkled brightly. "Alright then."

I flashed him a smile before spinning around and walking away, adding an extra sway to my hips. 

I joined Annie by her side and watched as a conversation was placed between Beth and Rio. I tuned out; their words inaudible to me. It seemed Beth was ranting though and in reaction to this, Rio looked off to the side, his smirk falling. It was evident that he was done dealing with moms that just needed spare cash in the city. A little fear grew in me for Beth. He's the main man that deals with those who step out of line and I know how harsh those punishments could be. I was the main man who dealt with the ones who thought they could back out. Ironic really. 

"So you and Boss Man, huh?" Annie leaned into my left side and whispered. 

"You know that's not exactly the best thing right?" Ruby came in from my right.

I chuckled, "Guys. It's nothing."

"It's nothing but he was at your apartment?" Annie asked with interest lacing her voice. I looked to my right and I could see Ruby giving me a look that was saying that she agreed with Annie's question.

"We're good." I hear Rio say before seeing Beth walk back to us.

"We'll talk about it later," I mumbled before we all followed Beth out. I shivered as I felt the lingering eyes of the Boss Man behind me. 

Feeling the cold air hit my face, I exhaled deeply and I turned to the girls. 

"No more?" I asked. 

"No more." Beth smiled cheerfully. 

All of us cheered and laughed loudly. 

I definitely won't miss it. 

author's note ! — i am so sorry for not updating. it's been a hot minute. as cliche and frank it sounds, i am losing motivation and i'm lowkey losing interest for rio but that won't stop me from finishing this book. i never finish books aside from the ones on my main account, only because i was so into it. i also have an idea for the end and some of the plots for future chapters and i don't know if you guys are gonna hate me lmao. a hint: the ending is gonna suck ass, in my opinion. but thank you so much for reading this chapter and until next time <3

love, bela