Playing with Fire

Book 0: Playing Dirty

by Kiki Swinson

Genres: African American Women's Fiction; Suspense

Synopsis

National bestselling author Kiki Swinson never lets up with relentless characters, unpredictable twists, and a merciless depiction of Southern striving, scheming—and dying. Now she takes you to the explosive beginnings of wild-card lawyer
Yoshi Lomax, who discovers that even a life of privilege isn’t bullet proof …
The perfect storm …
Young, irreverent, and reckless, Yoshi is struggling to make good at her prestigious college and keep her demanding mother off her back, while living the good life with her peers. But between the overwhelming workload and hostile professors,
she’s on the verge of flunking out. Yet that’s the least of her troubles when her roommate, Gia, winds up in a coma, and Yoshi finds her diary—and a library’s worth of shocking, extremely valuable secrets …
The perfect edge …
For the school’s elite-of-the-elite students, their perfect transcripts, priceless connections, and endless entitlements are fueled by an all-consuming round of drug deals, sex, trading favors—and killer leverage. And in spite of her idealistic
friend’s warnings, Yoshi doesn’t regret being part of this extra-insulated circle, convinced she can handle it all …
The perfect trap …
Until Yoshi discovers that every little lie, dirty secret, and easy betrayal is hiding a secret even she isn’t willing to keep. Now with everything she cares about on the line, she must make a wrenching choice that could cost her more than her life …

Release date: November 30, 2021

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 256

Sample

I knew at first glance that my roommate Gia Santos had snorted a couple of lines of coke right before I’d opened the door to our dorm room and walked in. Luckily for her, I didn’t show up with one of the other girls who lived in the building. Occasionally, one or two of my dorm neighbors would follow me back to my room to borrow a textbook, and today would not have been a good day. She looked out of it. Dazed. She blinked a few times to readjust her eyes.

“What’s eating you?” she asked me as she opened her eyes wide.

I slammed the door of our room and took a seat on the edge of my bed. “I swear, Professor Reynolds is going to make me put a hit out on him if he keeps fucking with me,” I spat.

“What happened?” She asked the question, but judging from her facial expression, she could not have cared less about my problem with our professor. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

“Come on now, Gia, really?!” I whined.

She lifted her head and looked at me. “What?” she said.

“You’re not even listening to me.”

“Yes, I am,” she added as she focused her eyes on me. She tried her best to pretend that she was being attentive.

“What grade did he give you for your exam?”

“He gave me a 92,” she replied, stretching her neck to the side.

“Wait, how did you get a better grade than me? We studied together.”

“I let him eat me out right before class this morning.”

“Oh, so you’re back at that again, huh?” I commented. I was repulsed by the idea that she would even let him come near her in that way.

“You better get with the program, or you’re gonna get left behind,” she warned me. And within seconds she closed her eyes again and lay back on her bed. This time she was out like a light.

I couldn’t sit there and watch her go off into a zone while I wallowed in my state of depression. My mother was going to kill me if she found out that I was failing my classes miserably. She may even be a bitch and pull me out of school altogether. Teach me a lesson, and God knows that I don’t want her to do that. My dad passed away a few years ago in a bad car accident, so the only parent breathing down my throat is my mother. What will I do? Go back home and sit around and watch her berate my stepfather? Boss our housekeeper around unnecessarily?

I swear, my mom could be the meanest person alive sometimes. It’s like she prides herself on being a bitch. No one likes her. Even I don’t like her. I deal with her crazy ass only because she’s my mom and it’s written somewhere in the Bible that you’re supposed to honor your mother and father.

College spring break would be here in two days, and I wasn’t looking forward to flying back to New York to see her. My dad’s side of the family lives here in Norfolk, Virginia, but I’m not close to them, so what other choices did I have?

Instead of moping around in my dorm room, I grabbed my purse and left. I figured I needed to get something to take my mind off all the bad shit I had going on in my life.

On my way out of my building, I walked into Rita Reznik. She wasn’t alone. Three frat boys wearing their fraternity jackets were walking by as well. It was Conner, Eric, and Tyler. They were the popular white boys from ODU’s Division I football team, so they were the cream of the crop. The most admired by other guys and desired by most girls. Each one was cute. But they were dogs, and yet girls always threw themselves at them.

“What’s up, Yoshi? When are you gonna let me spend some time with you?” Conner flirted.

“Yeah, you should come and hang out with us,” Tyler said.

“Wait, Conner, aren’t you screwing the brains out of her roommate Gia?” Rita teased them.

“Who is that?” he said jokingly. “And besides, what’s wrong with the two-for-one special?” He continued to clown around.

“She’ll be interested in me once I show her what I’m working with,” Tyler added as he grabbed and tugged on his genitals.

Eric chuckled in the background and started blowing kisses at me.

“Sorry, but I don’t fuck little boys with little dicks!” I shot back at them.

“I’m sorry but you got me mixed up with somebody else. I’ve got the biggest dick you’ll ever find on a white boy,” he boasted.

“I find that hard to believe,” Rita joked as they continued walking by.

“Hey guys, sounds like Rita is trying to keep Yoshi to herself, huh?” Conner called out.

“It seems that way to me too,” Eric chimed in.

“Rita, cock blocker would look really nice on your resume,” Conner commented.

“Right under ‘the campus Xanax and Ecstasy dealer who makes the bulk of her money from a group of dumb-ass frat boys.’”

“Piss off!” Rita replied, and stuck up her middle finger.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .” Tyler added as they moved on in the other direction.

“They’re such jerk-offs,” Rita commented as she approached me. She’s hot shit on campus. She was pretty too. If you stood her next to Janet Jackson, you couldn’t tell them apart. Word around campus is that her brother was a prescription drug dealer and her father was a coke dealer. I wouldn’t be shocked about it. I mean, where else would she get the drugs she sells around campus? There’s no prescription drug that she doesn’t have. Gia is one of her customers. I cop from her too. But not as much as Gia and a couple of other girls in my dorm. I mentioned to Gia a time or two that she needed to be careful around campus. We had a lot of haters roaming around who would love to see her arrested and put out of school.

“What’s up with you? Why the long face?” she asked me.

“Professor Reynolds gave me a shitty grade on my exam, and my mom is going to shit in her pants when she finds out.”

“What did you get?”

“A freaking 72.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m gonna take care of that for you,” she said confidently.

“And how are you going to do that?”

“I told you not to worry. I got it.”

I let out a long sigh. “You sure?”

“Yes, now let me get out of here. I’ve gotta get to my next class.”

“Thank you so much! I owe you.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.” She chuckled and walked away.

Hearing Rita say that she would take care of my situation took a load off my back. All I could do was wait.

It wouldn’t shock me if I found out that my mother had someone watching me, because as soon as I walked away from Rita and stepped foot back in my dorm room, our room phone rang. When I answered it I found out it was my mother.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hi,” she replied quickly, and then she went into question mode. “What time does your flight arrive? I don’t want your stepfather to waste time waiting on you when he could be doing something else.” My mom never minced her words. She was a straight shooter and didn’t care who liked it.

“The time on my ticket says that I’ll get there at five thirty-five p.m.,” I replied.

“Are you staying here for your entire spring break?”

“That’s the plan.” It took everything within me to answer that question. She has this way of talking to me like she doesn’t want to be bothered.

“Do you have any special requests or things I could get for you before you get here?”

“No, you know I’m a simple person. The regular fried chicken and eggs and turkey bacon is all I need.”

“You know I don’t eat greasy food. It’s bad for you,” she pointed out.

“Has Sydney stopped eating chicken?”

“No, he hasn’t. But I have gotten him to eat baked chicken. There’s a couple of soul food places around here that sells it.”

“Where is he now?” I asked her. I’d learned over the years that if you continue to harp on a subject too long with my mother, she will dominate the conversation.

“Visiting his parents down in Florida.”

“How are they doing?”

“You’re gonna have to ask him. I don’t meddle in the affairs dealing with his parents. They have a weird dynamic. All I ever hear them say to each other is how much they love each other. His mother calls at least ten times a day. She carries on like he’s a teenager. It’s annoying.”

I chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” She said it in a way like, how dare I laugh. What she said had no humor in it.

“Oh, it’s nothing really.” I downplayed it. “So when is he coming home?”

“He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Wow! So you’ve got to make two trips to the airport?”

“Oh no, honey. He drove himself to the airport. You know I don’t do a lot of unnecessary driving.”

“Your anniversary is right around the corner. ”

“Yes, it is.”

“Have you two decided where you’re going this year?”

“Spain,” she replied with no enthusiasm.

I know if someone told me that they were taking me out of the country, I would be ecstatic. “How long are you guys going to be there?”

“Seven days and six nights.”

“That sounds fun. Wish I had someone to take me to Spain.” I said jokingly. I wanted my mother to be happy knowing that her husband was taking her out of the country. He was very wealthy and spared no expense in going all out for my mother. I just had to convince her that she needs to be a little more grateful.

“How’s school?” She abruptly changed the subject.

“School is going great,” I forced myself to say cheerfully.

But my mother was no fool. She raised me, so she knows when I am lying to her. “How did you do on your last exam?” She pressed the issue.

“Not sure. Haven’t gotten my score yet.”

“Think you’ll get it before you leave for break?”

“I should.”

“How do you think you did?” She wouldn’t let up.

“I feel like I did great,” I replied enthusiastically. Once again, I had to act as if everything on my end was on course even though it wasn’t.

“I hope so. Sydney and I are spending a lot of money sending you to that university, so don’t let us down.”

I let out a long sigh. “I know, Mom.”

“Don’t get smart with me.”

“I’m not. But you keep saying the same thing over and over,” I pointed out. What I really wanted to say was that Sydney was the only one forking over the money to send me to school. But I left well enough alone. I knew she’d leave me stranded at the airport if I told her what I really wanted to say.

“And I will say it over and over again if I feel like you need to hear it,” she spat. “Now let me get off this phone before I say something else.”

“Okay, see you in a couple of days,” I managed to say before she ended our call.

I headed to my friend Maria’s dorm room so we could chat. She was a political science major like me. We had a few classes together. Her career goal was to become an FBI agent. I couldn’t see it because she was so laid-back. She was a beautiful and down-to-earth twenty-year-old. Now don’t get it twisted, because she was feisty and she made sure that everybody knew it.

“What’s up?” she asked after I’d knocked and she’d opened her door.

“I need to blow off some steam,” I replied as I walked by her and entered her room.

“What happened?” she wondered out loud and closed the door to her room.

“Professor Reynolds gave me a shitty grade on my exam today,” I hissed as I sat down on a chair placed by the desk. I was livid.

“What did he give you?” Maria took a seat on the edge of her bed.

“A 72.”

“He can be a fucking dickhead at times.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Aren’t you leaving for spring break the day after tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” I reluctantly said.

“You don’t sound like you’re up for it.”

“Am I ever?”

“How is she?”

“Miserable,” I began. “She just never seems happy. She wakes up every day and acts like she hates the world, and I’m over it.”

“Look at it like this, at least you don’t have to be there with her every morning when she wakes up.”

“I can always count on you to see the good in everything,” I told her, because it was true. Maria stayed away from negativity.

She smiled.

“So when do you leave for Florida?” I changed the subject. Maria’s family were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Maria was born here in America. She was the first generation from her family to go to college. Her family was proud, especially since she was given an academic scholarship.

“I’m leaving right after my last class tomorrow,” she told me.

“I know they’re gonna be happy to see you.”

“They always are when I go to see them.”

“I wish I could get that same treatment.”

“How many times have I told you to get her to go to counseling?”

Before I could answer Maria’s question, one of her roommates walked in the room. Her name was Abby Blum. She was a Jewish girl from a very wealthy family. She was from New York but had a few relatives here in Virginia. Her family owned a lot of real estate around town. You’d think she’d flaunt their wealth, but she didn’t. Nothing about her was over the top or flashy. In fact, she walked around with what seemed like the same gray hoodie and sweatpants every day. Maria boasted all the time about how smart this girl was. I’d thought about asking Abby to help me out on term papers a few times, but I can’t deal with rejection so I did them on my own.

“Hi,” she greeted me as she dropped her backpack on her bed and sat down beside it. She sounded winded. “You guys going to the dining hall?”

“Not me. I’ve gotta finish packing my stuff,” Maria answered first.

“I’m not leaving campus until the day after tomorrow, but I’m sick of eating pizza and Chinese food,” I replied.

“Well, I’m not.” She chuckled. “I’m gonna get me a personal pan pizza and savor every bit of it.” She grabbed her wallet and then left the room.

“She’s sweet,” I commented.

“Yeah, and she’s hardly ever in this room.”

“I wish that I could say the same for my roommate. Every time I turn around, she’s lying around like there’s nothing to do outside our room.”

“She’s probably high,” Maria interjected.

I didn’t respond. I looked down at my right foot and started wiggling it like I got a sudden itch.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me,” she pressed.

I looked up from my foot. “What are you talking about?”

Maria gave me a hard stare. “Wait, is she still popping pills?” She wouldn’t let up. She disliked Gia from the day she met her. And she had good reason too.

“The last time I checked, no.”

“Yoshi, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. She told me that after her parents found out about her addiction, they put her in outpatient substance abuse classes,” I managed to say. Now I can’t say how I was able to come up with that terrific story, but it worked, because it got Maria off my damn back. Not only that, Maria doesn’t know that I get high with Gia sometimes. If she knew, I was sure she’d stop being my friend and probably rat us out to the dean. Things would end chaotropic if that cat was let out of the bag, and I couldn’t let that happen.

Maria and I talked a little while longer, and then I left so she could get ready for her trip back home.

On my way back to my room, I saw flyers posted on every wall asking for help to find a missing girl named Kristen Chambers. According to the flyer, she was a student at the university who had been missing for a month now. I didn’t know the girl, but seeing that she was missing and that there was a possibility that she could be dead was terrifying. She was a pretty biracial girl who looked like me. We were almost the same height and weight. The flyer said that she was last seen when she left campus to go to a 7-Eleven store.

Reading this melted my heart away. I knew her family must be going through it. “That’s sad, huh?” said a voice from out of nowhere.

I turned around and saw a black girl standing behind me. I swear, I had no idea where she came from. “Yes, it is,” I replied. “Do you know her?” I stepped back so I could stand next to her.

“No, I didn’t know her. But whoever did this to her, I hope they pay for it dearly.” While she expressed her feelings about the situation, I looked at her from head to toe. She was a very petite average-looking girl who couldn’t have been older than nineteen. She wore a simple ponytail, sweatshirt, and a pair of blue denim jeans. She looked just like a college kid.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Penny. Penny Nelson,” she replied, and then she held out her hand.

“Hi, Penny, my name is Yoshi. Yoshi Lomax.” I shook her hand. “Which dorm did she live in?”

“The one next to this one.”

“Wow! I know her family must be going through it. I know my parents would be going insane if this was me,” I said, even though that was false. It sounded good though. “Do you know who her roommates are?” I added.

“I see them around on campus, but that’s about it.”

“This is strange because I can’t believe that I’m just now hearing about this.”

“Local and FBI agents have all swarmed this campus asking students and professors if they had any information on her whereabouts.”

“Damn! Where was I?” I commented.

“They talked to me,” she confessed.

“What did they say?”

“They wanted to know if I knew her. And if I had seen her on the day she was reported missing.”

“Did they walk around to every dorm?”

“As far as I know they did.”

“Do you live in this building?” I wanted to know.

“Yes, I live on the top floor.”

“How long have you been living there?”

“A year now. But I took a semester off to figure out my life, and now I’m back.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“I wonder why I’ve never seen you before,” I questioned out loud. It was becoming clear that I was clueless about everything going on around me, and that’s not good.

“It might be because you’re very pretty and popular and everybody is always looking at you,” she responded.

Taken aback by her comment, I had to replay what she had just said. I mean, I know that I’m very attractive, but what made her think that I’m popular? I didn’t hang out with a clique of girls.

“Why do you think I’m. . .