Page 28 of The Filth Kings

His underground basement stretched farther then I could see; it looked bigger than upstairs. It wasn’t the space that held me captive, it was all the stacks of cash that had stolen my breath away. Piles of cash, stacked from the floor to the ceiling. Some bundles were neatly wrapped, others spilled over in chaotic heaps. The room smelled of ink and paper.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from all of the money before me. I never in my life saw some shit like this with my own two eyes.

“Monni, I?—”

“You left your suitcase at the top of the staircase. I want you to fill it up. When we go out to eat, we can go furniture shopping. You can buy a large suitcase then fill that up too with more money. Only under one condition.” He turned toward me.

“Wha-what’s the condition?” I asked hesitantly.

“Stop selling yourself. There are people around the world being forced to do what you’re doing. You beautiful, too beautiful to be at the hands of any man who has a dollar. The money you take from down here will be enough to start over.” He tucked his hand into his sweats and looked around the money filled space surrounding us.

“Oh Monni!” I choked up.

I tried to hold back my floodgates and all of the emotions rushing through me but it was hard.

“M-my ex, well, I guess you can call him my pimp. He can’t know about this, he’d want a cut. While I’m here with you…I can look for an apartment…better yet, I can go stay with my best friend. I’ll feel more safe. Maybe I can?—”

“Relax, Natavi. No one has to know about all the money that you are getting from me. If you tell anyone where the fuck I live, I’ll?—”

“Break me or kill me, I’m not stupid, Monni, and you don’t have to ruin my moment! This is a life changing moment for me. Your grumpy ass will not ruin it.” I giggled, but was serious.

Monni could stand there looking all mean and handsome, but he no longer scared me. What he had was a hard exterior but inside was made out of gold. He had to have a heart to want me out of the current lifestyle that I was in.Maybe he went through something similar but by force in his past…that’s why he—he wants me to stop selling myself!I choked up, and dropped my head, seconds later I looked into Monni’s eyes with tears falling down my cheeks.

“Tavi?” he raised a brow and looked at me amused.

“First you laugh, now you are crying. Something is off about you.” He shook his head at me.

“Can I… Can I please hug you?” I asked him with a gentle voice that held an unspoken plea; he needed it as bad as I did.

It was more of a request than a demand, I didn’t understand the weight of his soul but I could feel his pain. He stared at me with uncertainty. I let long seconds go by, unafraid of the space between us now. I understood that this was probably something foreign to him, and he was mentally battling with himself right now. I wasn’t going to force myself on him. Today was probably a big step for him, he talked more than he talked to me the entire week of me being here with him.

“I don’t know how, I want to,” he stated hesitantly.

“Can I show you?” I wiped my wet face and took small steps toward him.

He nodded his head yes, just as I closed the space between us. Slowly, his hands moved, tentatively and awkwardly as they reached out to me. His arms encircled me just as my arms tried to close around him. I managed to clasp my hands behind his back. My chest pressed against his chest as warmth flooded through me. I held onto him tightly, he released a breath and tucked his nose and mouth into the nook of my neck.

I released my hands and stroked up and down his muscular back in a soothing motion. Hopefully this moment would make him feel good about himself.

“Sometimes, healing begins with just being held, Monni.”

Fourteen

What’s wrong with me?I asked myself that question every thirty minutes, since Natavi and I left my house to go eat and then shop. I don’t know what changed between her and I. My chest kept doing this weird shit like tightening, each time I stared into her big innocent eyes.

I sat on a bench, admiring Natavi from a distance. She talked to a sales clerk like she owned the furniture store. She knew about fabrics and everything else that she laid eyes on. I was still stuck on the fact that I actually was out and about at a big mall shopping with a woman, instead of being on duty standing in the shadows watching Detavio.

I barely went anywhere, most of the time it felt like I didn’t belong. I embraced the role as a chief guard for Detavio because I scared people easily. But here, Natavi was beside me the entire time since we stepped into the mall with a quiet smile on her beautiful face. She gave me this look that told me without words that she saw the parts of me that I kept hidden in the dark without saying it.

I bowed my head and rubbed the side of my face feeling tensed about this entire situation.

“Come on, they don’t have what I was looking for here. When we get home, I can order online using your card, it’s easier that way.” She shrugged and held her hand out.

The word that stuck out that she used washome.It was obvious that Natavi had grown very comfortable with me. Excitement danced in her eyes as I stood up. I looked down at my clothes and shook my head. Instead of my regular dusty black clothes that I wore on a day-to-day basis, Natavi convinced me to wear something different.

I never let a woman dress me, but Natavi stormed into my room and picked out some tan Levi jeans. She complained about my lack of nice clothes by saying I had all of that money in the basement and nothing decent to put on. Natavi was feisty but entertaining.

“Are you tired? We can go and get another snack, we probably worked off the breakfast that we had earlier,” She said softly, her voice sounded like a lullaby in the chaos of the busy store.

---