Slick (The Mad World Series Book 1) Read online

  Slick

  Sherell Cummings

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  A Romantic Suspense Novel | The Mad World Series, Book One

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  A Romantic Suspense Novel

  The Mad World Series, Book One

  COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Crazy Ink/Sherell Cummings

  Slick – First Edition - Cummings

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout © Crazy Ink

  Edits by Samantha Talarico

  Dedication

  Many, many thank you’s go out to Erin and the entire Crazy Ink team for all the great work they’ve done and continue to do. You guys are an amazing set of people who give authors like me chances to succeed and a great platform to achieve our dreams.

  This book is dedicated to all the characters in my life that helped me create this story. It all started because of them and their desire to be in a book.

  Praxton – Elijah St Hillaire (My Cousin)

  Penny – Shaneise Cummings (My Sister)

  Ryder – Neshelle Mapp (My Cousin)

  Happy – Happy Mapp (My Cousin)

  Isaiah – Isaiah Duncan (My Cousin)

  Beth- Chantel George (My Cousin)

  Justine – Vanessa Dennis (My PA/Friend/Pain in my ass)

  Roslyn- Amanda Gomez (My Friend)

  Prologue

  My ribs screamed in pain as I stood leaning against the counter trying to catch my breath. The black and gold studded corset wrapped against my chest looked stunning on a lifeless store mannequin but was hell on my lungs. This one although not quite as conservative as the others I've worn in the past, left my breast completely exposed as the cups were cut out, leaving just a belt strapped around my center. The black G-string, lace thigh highs, and black stilettos completed the rest of my ensemble. I was grateful for the little I was allowed to wear tonight since at most parties I was completely naked.

  It was a year spent watching and observing and I still couldn't understand these monsters. Their actions, their thoughts, the compulsive need they have to control everything around them. It was as if the world was a puppet show, and they were the puppet masters. It seemed unreal to me at first, some of the things I'd seen. But then I noticed they have this uncanny ability to shut off their emotions, switching from normal to a downright savage. Making themselves hard and untouchable. I was forced to learn the hard way since my parents never instilled the ability to take simple instruction and follow rules. Not that I never did at some point in my life. It depended on who the rules came from.

  Hector was the worst kind of rule giver. The kind that demanded things and never asked and if you didn't comply you wouldn't be alive to tell a soul about it. For some of the women in his life, he had a bit more leniency, and instead of slitting their throats, his punishments went from whippings to torture.

  I crumpled the piece of paper in my hand and dropped it in the garbage disposal before placing the glasses on my tray. With a deep breath, which only caused more pain in my chest because of the corset, I mentally prepared myself for the room I was about to enter. A lot of men have passed through this house during my year there. None quite like the seven currently engrossed in conversation tonight. They were all very handsome, dressed in the finest suits no average man could buy with his simple salary. But not even beauty could hide a true beast. Their faces were masks, made to lure women in and once they stepped into their world, they should consider themselves already dead.

  Chapter 1

  Two Years Ago

  "ASHES TO ASHES, DUST to dust; returns to the ground it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it," said father Moore. His final words before a curt nod, leaving us alone with our mother. My step brother Reed, best friend Praxton and I were the only three people who attended the service today. We were the only people she knew in the end. She wasn't keen on having friends because she was always too high to notice anyone else, even her own children.

  Drugs had stolen her mind for many years leaving us this shell of the beautiful woman we once knew as our mom. Every time I looked into her hazy brown eyes, I wished I could go back to that night she took her first hit. I was six at the time, but had I known the needle in her arm would lead to empty promises, strange men lurking around the house, and her constant zombie-like state, I'd have done anything to stop her. To delay that moment.

  We stood in a semi-circle around the grey casket and said our goodbyes. In my head, I had so much yelling I wanted to do. To finally tell her what a shit mom she was and how we deserved better. And I didn't have to look into her eyes and feel bad about it because she was dead. We deserved better, but she was all we had.

  "I wished we had more than we were given... More of your smiles, more of your laughter, more... time to fix the mess you made of your life," my voice cracked, but no tears came.

  I didn't have any in me to give to the dead because she had taken so much of it while she was alive. Even when I found out she was dead, I couldn't cry. It was as if my tear ducts had vanished and all I could do was gape and swallow. I cleared my throat. "I'll miss you, and I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

  "You couldn't save her, Izzy. No one could, she didn't want to be saved," Reed said with a scowl, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.

  Even for his mother's funeral, he couldn't find a decent pair of slacks or even manage to comb his hair. I got his lack of sympathy toward her. He was the one she called when she found herself in a bind with one of her dealers. He was the one who found her twice before when she'd taken too much and wasn't breathing. He hated himself as much as I did because he tried very hard to help her, but he wouldn't show it.

  "She chose this over us. She always did."

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Stop. Can’t you say something nice for once in your life?”

  He laughed humourlessly before smirking at me. “Why won’t you cry then, baby sis?”

  “Fuck you, Reed.”

  He smirked. "Always your go-to words, Izz. You ready to get out of here. I said my goodbyes the night she died; I don't see the point in being here any longer."

  “Then why are you even here?”

  "For you, baby sis," he said in a serious voice. "If you look around you would notice that you and I were all she had, and now that she's dead all we have is each other."


  He was right. Everyone in town knew she died and yet everyone who knew her chose not to show up. I didn't blame them, she ran off what little friends she had with her attitude and constant begging for money for a fix.

  "And me. Don't forget I'm family," said Praxton with his hand raised as he stood on the other side of me.

  “I almost forgot you were here,” said Reed.

  “You usually do. It’s a good thing I wasn’t offering my familiar services to you, seeing as I don’t like you at all.”

  “Feeling’s mutual.”

  "Okay, you two, everyone in this room knows you hate each other. Now, who's thirsty because I could use a drink right about now."

  "Now that's something we can agree on. Charlie's," Reed said with a broad smile as he hooked his arm with mine spinning us around and down the aisle of the empty church. Because we were broke and couldn't afford the casket she was currently in, let alone a plot in the cemetery out back; our only option was cremation. And since no one had to stick around for that, getting drunk was a pretty good idea.

  We walked out of that church and the sun hit down like a heated blanket on my skin. Home sweet home I liked to say. Brookdale, Nevada was a good place to grow up. It was a small town, not much activity or people to speak of and was only two hours away from the Vegas strip. They called it the passers-by pit stop because it was where you'd stop when you needed gas or a decent place to sleep before making the final lap to Vegas.

  Mom moved when she was eighteen with her high school sweetheart Jared Stone. By then Reed was already a year old and six months after they arrived Jared went missing. And I mean full-on missing persons, police searches, and investigations, gone without a trace missing. He one day left for work and never returned home. No evidence of foul play turned up and every lead lead to nothing. He simply left his family and that was that.

  A year later she met my dad, David Shaw. The man was a true charmer and had the gift of gab. Charmed his way right into my mom's heart, then her home, finally getting her pregnant before stealing every last penny she had and skipping out on us. Luckily two years later she found out he got arrested in Vegas for stealing cars, so at least we knew what happened to him. Mom thought her luck with men was pretty much shot to hell after those two disasters, so she raised us alone until we had to learn to raise ourselves.

  We pulled into Charlie's, a small hole in the wall which was somehow always packed with the same, I-ain't-got- no-money-to-pay-you-back-the-money-you-loaned-me-three-months-ago-but-I-somehow-have-money-to spend-all-my-time-drinking-at-Charlie's-every day kind of people. Brokedale is what they should have named this town because that's all you'd find here. The I ain't got, the I ain't never and the I don't know what you're going on about kind of people. And that's exactly what I was about to encounter as one of the first persons I spotted nursing a glass of gin and coke by the bar was Tony.

  Reed slapped his back so hard it echoed over the crappie music as we slid up next to him at the bar. He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw me standing on his other side.

  “Tony, long time no see. Where have you been hiding?” Reed asked pulling an empty stool over as he sat next to him.

  Tony nervously glanced at Reed before frowning at me, then bending his head down to his drink like he wanted to sink into the glass. I could understand why he was nervous. Reed was still a big guy from his days of high school football. Back then he was a little shorter, but now at six four, broad shoulders and more muscles than most, he used his size to his advantage. Usually to beat the crap out of someone, which landed him in a shit load of trouble. It's why I've had to bail him from jail six times in the past year.

  "Reed, man a- a- a been around. Busy with work and the new baby at home."

  He flicked his nervous gaze to me.

  "Izzy, I know I said this week but I ain't got the fifty dollars you lent me."

  "How'd you pay for that drink, Tony? I mean that's at least a seven-dollar drink right there and I'm betting it's not your first one today. I'm sure if I asked Charlie, he'd say it was your forth, so that's a total of twenty-eight dollars. Twenty-eight dollars which you could have given to me. It's been weeks, Tony."

  I’d admit it was my mistake for lending him to it in the first place, but I wasn't in my right state of mind. He had a baby in his arms that night, and I could've sworn the kid had a puppy dog frown on his face. He asked for fifty, and I was the only sucker within mooching distance drunk enough to be taken advantage of. The first thing I said when I woke up the next morning was, "Shit, I loaned Tony fifty dollars."

  He lifted his hands in defence. "I know, I know, and I got this cheque from my boss today, but the bank said it takes four days to clear, so Thursday. I swear it."

  That was a load if I'd ever heard one. Tony worked at the stables, hauling shit all day, and I knew for a fact they got paid cash every two weeks. Praxton worked there last summer and knew the ins and outs of that place. He also liked to make it rain every Friday and when I say make it rain, I mean he'd throw the small wad in the air and roll around in it.

  "You know what, Tony. Keep the fifty. I doubt I'll ever see it again anyway."

  I turned toward Charlie and ordered a beer, taking a huge sip before moving to find a table. I heard Reed threaten to break his jaw if he ever asked me for money again; before he met us at the empty corner table.

  “Why’d you lend that fucker money anyway?” Reed asked lifting his leg over the stool before dropping down.

  “I told her,” Praxton mumbled taking a sip from his Smirnoff through a straw.

  I rolled my eyes ignoring his I-told-you-so stare taking another gulp of my beer. He thought I didn't know it was a stupid move, but I knew it was stupid the moment I woke up sober.

  "Hey, he seemed desperate, said it was for his kid. And I was drunk and vulnerable at the time and apparently agreeable to anything. Had he caught me on a regular non-drunk day I'd have told him where to shove it."

  “It’s always for his kid and then he’s down at Jerry’s playing roulette. I’ve seen him too.”

  “And if it’s not Jerry’s, it’s here, I mean come on anyone can find you if you’re always here,” said Praxton. “And I told her not to. Even grabbed her purse, but she kicked me in the nuts. You’re a mean drunk by the way.”

  "Alright enough about me and my poor judgment when I'm drunk," I said to Praxton. "And you deserved that kick from earlier that day when you threw that box at me and my drink spilled down my shirt. And as for you." I pointed at Reed. "What are we going to do about our situation?"

  He shrugged unaffected by my words taking a sip of his beer. Two days after mom's death a guy showed up, saying she owed him seven grand for some meth he's been supplying her. Mom didn't have a job, neither did Reed and neither of us had rich fathers who paid for anything. Reed couldn't find a job because he was arrested too many times and people didn't like giving jobs to liabilities. And as for me, I worked at a boutique as a sales girl getting by on fifteen dollars an hour. It's what we lived on for as long as I could remember, and this guy Marcus wanted us to pay the money she owed. Money, we didn't have.

  "Can you give a bit more feedback than a shrug because you didn't meet this guy? He had a gun and although he didn't threaten me with it, he did threaten me. I have enough holes in my body Reed, I don't need anymore."

  “This is fucking bull shit. She fucks up, dies and leaves us with this mess. I don’t have any money, Izz. Where am I supposed to find seven grand?”

  "The hell if I know. Remember that guy that kept coming around the house? The sketchy guy with the bum leg and scratchy voice?"

  “You talking about Remy?”

  I snapped my fingers in remembrance. “Yes him. Marcus said he was the reason mom owed so much.”

  “So why the hell doesn’t he pay it back then?”

  "Because he's dead. The guy died four months ago in a car accident. Since he couldn't pay it back, the debt fell on mom since she used a lot of the merchandise and now th
at mom is dead..."

  He cut me off. “The debt falls on us.”

  I nodded placing my bottle down after taking a sip. "Get a job, at least that's a start."

  “There are no jobs, Izz. It’s not like I haven’t looked, no one’s hiring.”

  "Or no one wants to hire you," said Praxton in a mocking tone.

  Reed pointed angrily at him.

  "Fuck off! No one asked you okay. Look, I got this buddy who said he could set something up at the post. I'll check it out this week and whatever it is, whatever it pays I'll take it, okay?"

  Praxton tapped his bottle with his fingernail breaking Reed's and my staring contest. "Alright, you two now that we've found a temporary band aid because we all know Reed's not going to keep a job for more than two weeks—"

  “Once again, fuck you.”

  "You wish, but I'd oblige if you want to." He winked at him.

  “Why the fuck is he still here?” Reed asked with an angry scowl. Prax knew how to ruffle his feathers, did it every time they were in the same room.

  "Because Izzy is my best friend and her mother died. It's what best friends do, but I guess you wouldn't know since no one wants to be around you for more than ten seconds at a time."

  I giggled and eyed Reed's face as it turned the shade of red it always turned right before he punched someone. Reed and I looked nothing alike for being brother and sister. . He had honey colored skin, dark brown straight hair and blue eyes courtesy of his father. I on the other hand, had pure white porcelain skin with white blonde curly hair. I had sort of an Amanda Seyfried look with the heart shaped face, brown eyes and the tall slender body. I didn’t care much about how I looked and usually placed little or no effort in getting ready. Praxton would say I had a case of beautiful laziness, which meant that no matter how I left the house, I still looked like I took three hours getting ready.

  Reed shifted a little as he fisted his hands on the table. I wouldn’t let him punch Praxton. The poor guy was as fragile as a twig, and Reed would break him in half with a single punch. I’ve seen it happen to others.