°Sweet Dreams° (1)✔️

9. Leave me Leaves.

"You made it!" I threw my hands up in excitement when I saw Nova stroll toward me through other moving bodies.

"Not without bumping into trouble!" Nova yelled over the music and nodded her head over to Vincent.

She had a disturbed look on her face but I could see she was trying to mask it with her usual solid expression.

"What's eating at you?"

She was a bit hesitant to answer. "I just met Vincent Carter and he seems a bit off. A lot off actually."

And she would wonder why I couldn't suppress my temper around him.

As if on instinct I looked up and a couple hundred feet away stood a dark-eyed Vince. He didn't break eye contact when I noticed him either. It was as if he could hear that we were talking about him.

"I've been telling you that he's annoying. What did he say to make you think that?" I turned my attention back to Nova.

"He didn't have to say a word, Amari," Nova said. "When you know you're catching a bad drift from someone, you don't question anything else. All I'm saying is to be cautious around him."

I have known Nova for the longest and she's never been worried about anything or anyone. In this moment she wasn't calm. She looked terrified.

If she had a bad feeling about Vincent then I'm not questioning her. However, her facts aren't completely valid since she can be the most judgmental person in the room.

"I'll watch him. I am watching him. But I should be alright. He wouldn't do more than hit me with his car."

Vincent is a harmless little boy who can sell the hell outta drugs.

Right as the words left my mouth I saw Vince harshly dragging a frightened Claire out of the dimly lit house by her arm.

"Does that look harmless?" Nova whispered before greeting Kiana.

I slipped out after introducing Kiana to Nova and they instantly hit it off. Nova was always very social.

"I know you took it.
Just admit it."

Vincent's voice was a calm rolling storm and it caused me to hug the tree that hid me from their vision.

The two stood in Kiana's gazebo. We were away from the few paparazzi that worked the party and away from the people that were getting drunk inside the house.

Vincent and Claire didn't look like they were trying to hide anything since they were out in the open, but by the hushed tones they spoke in I could only assume.

"I swear Vincent," Claire's trembled. "I didn't take anything."

"Stop the lying!" Vincent's quiet yet loud outburst made both Claire and I jump. Even from where I stood I could see the tears welling up in her eyes like pools of troubled waters.

He briefly closed his eyes and sucked in a breath through his teeth. Then he did what only sadists would do when someone was crying. He laughed.

It was deep. It was breathy. It was a raindrop in a dark tunnel.

His charming smile met his face but it rarely reached his eyes. His ring covered fingers went up to grace her neck and he stepped forward to invade her space.

I could hear her breathing accelerate as he place his forehead against hers. My heart was beating against my ribs like a sledgehammer against pavement in anxious curiosity of what he was going to do next.

Vincent brought his lips to Claire's forehead and then raised her eyes to his. The words he said next put spiders in my ears.

"Sweetie, I will taste your blood before you cross me again."

His face was staid when he dropped his hands from her pale neck.

"Go back to the party. You deserve a night out."

She ran at his request like how her assistant would to get her coffee. I gripped harder onto the tree as Claire passed by the tower of leaves and scrambled back inside the house.

Before she went in I swore she saw me. I noticed the pink from her cheeks vanish into white when she saw me planted against the tree. However she didn't stop to say anything.

Never in my life have I seen someone put so much fear in a person by a few simple words.

I grew up around gangs and was familiar with how arrangements went down when a member deceived the leader. However, they never used their words like Vincent just did.

I heard footsteps and tried to morph myself into the tree. Luckily Vincent wasn't able to see me as he strolled past with cigarette smoke escaping his mouth like a chimney.

Vincent was accusing Claire of thievery? What could she have possibly stolen?

Them being a couple again was a surprise to me since it didn't look like they were fond of each other on my first day working on set. Especially with them being separated for almost three months now.

What had Claire supposedly stole that would make Vincent so upset?

The question ate me up like a worm to an apple so much to the point I didn't feel the autumn breeze erupt goosebumps across my chest.

Nova was right. Something was off about him. And although I am scared shitless, I have to go on to investigate. For the sake of Nova, me, and now Claire.

I didn't move until I saw him squash his cigarette in the grass with his expensive shoes and fell back into the house. I made sure once I was in the house that he didn't see me enter.

He strolled to the mini bar with his phone held up to his ear.

I made my way over to Kiana and Nova where they were swaying with their arms around each other.

Wow they move fast.

I awkwardly intervened in their intimate session and tapped on Kiana's shoulder.

"Do you mind me stealing her for a quick second?"

"Of course, just make sure she comes back," Kiana's glossy eyes winked at Nova before she walked off somewhere. Nova's cheeks automatically became red strawberries.

Brushing off what I just witnessed I got straight to the point.

"I think Vincent is dealing to Claire."

Nova blinked to conceal the tint of red that still lingered on her cheeks.

"You saw him give her something?"

"No. He accused her of taking something of his, and by the way he was speaking to Claire outside can only make me assume that it was something important to the business," I titled my head toward Vincent who was sitting on a stool at the bar with his eyes still glued to his phone.

"Do you think she took it?" Nova asked with fury in her brows.

"There's only one way to find out," I bit the inside of my cheek. "Maybe we can try to kill him with his own product."