Arnessa stuck her head into the room where Cenise was staying to make sure she was okay. Her little sister was sound asleep. The attack on Cenise had Arnessa really rethinking her position in the game. Maybe it was time for her to give it up. Although they were often at odds with each other, Arnessa would die if anything happened to her sister. Besides that, she couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to herself, which would leave Cenise in the world alone. At the end of the day, they were all the other had.

Hungry, Arnessa went downstairs for a snack. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Butta sitting on the couch. “I thought you were gone.”

“Nah, they went ahead without me.” He looked up from the book he was reading and could not take his eyes off of her. Butta had never seen her in anything other than the baggy sweats that she wore every day. Now she was standing in front of him in a tight T-shirt that barely contained her 34Ds, which were sitting up with no bra. Arnessa’s body was tight, no stomach; she had a nice-sized butt too. Not too big, but not too small either. It had a nice round shape that the shorts were amplifying. He was even more amazed by her luxurious long jet-black hair. He had a thing for hair.

I knew I should’ve put on some sweats. Arnessa wanted to break and run back upstairs, embarrassed to have him looking at her body. Butta sensed her uneasiness and focused his eyes back on the book. Attempting to play it cool, Arnessa headed into the kitchen to get what she’d come downstairs for.

For the first time Butta really looked at Arnessa seriously. He saw a female who was doing what she had to do in order to provide for herself and her younger sister. Arnessa was so cool and laid back, he often forgot she wasn’t a dude when they were around each other. Butta knew that she was tough, but not as tough as she would have people think. He could tell that what had happened to Cenise was taking a toll on her already. Arnessa was intelligent and extremely street smart for a twenty-one-year-old chick. She was built for the game, but she was no Kisa Kane.

At any moment the game could destroy Arnessa, and Butta knew it. Look at the effect it had already had on life—her brother, Deon, was dead. Unable to cope with his death, her mother had abandoned the girls.

Although Arnessa was trying to hide her emotions, Butta knew that what had happened to Cenise had shaken her up. Arnessa’s vulnerability was like a walking aphrodisiac to Butta. He got up and went into the kitchen, where she stood in front of the refrigerator, holding the door open. The hem of her boy shorts barely covered the bottom of her protruding ass. Should I cross this line or keep it business? Butta asked himself, feeling his dick swell. Nah, let me fall back. Turning to walk away, he caught another glimpse of her. Fuck that. He walked right up on her, and as he reached over her to get a chilled bottle of Evian, he intentionally rubbed his dick against her so she could feel how hard it was. She attempted to move, but there was nowhere to go but into the refrigerator.