Beware of Boys by Kelli London Page A

he’ll tip me. He should just because I got you here in record time. It’s over a thirty-minute ride. I gotcha here in under fifteen—if you subtract the one-on-one time with the cops.” Whip laughed, back to his normal self.
    Charly just shook her head, looking at him and smiling. She’d wondered how someone as professional as Lex had people like Whip and Bobsy in his camp. Now she knew why Whip was there; Lex was looking out for his family and keeping Whip out of trouble. Bobsy, though, was still in question. “Thanks, Whip. It was an experience,” she complimented him facetiously, and slid out of the SUV, landing softly on the sidewalk. She headed in the way he’d pointed.
    â€œCool,” Whip said from behind. “And in case you need me, you know I’ll be right here. If the cops catch me driving home without one of you guys in the car, my freedom is a wrap! And when Lex finds out, I’m a wrap too! So I’m just gonna chill and deal with him when this thing is over.” He laughed.
    Charly stopped and looked down at her shoes, feeling them for the first time. Stilts . That’s what it felt like she was walking on. She hadn’t noticed what they’d felt like before because she’d been in a panic from running late, then dealing with the cops. Now she was aware of them. As soon as her feet connected with the ground, she’d instantly grown five inches, thanks to the high heels pushing her to model-tall height. She was that physically elevated, and emotionally too, she noted, due to making it to the event and the eagerness rushing through her. In seconds, she’d be in the company of television cameras and girls, and Faizon and Lex, whom she was most excited about.
    â€œHmm,” she moaned, looking around and wincing at the noise of traffic and songs that filled the air. Music genres clashed, growing louder as vehicles neared her, then the volumes lowered as they made their way down the street. It was a cyclical process of R & B tunes merging with hip-hop, hip-hop fighting with hardcore rap, and dashes of old-school tracks blending into a hodgepodge of melodies that weren’t too melodic. Charly shook her head as cars whizzed by. Each seemed to have a different flavor of music blaring through its speakers, and all contained passengers that she wouldn’t trust. They looked like dealers, addicts, or thieves. No, she couldn’t be in the right place, that’s what her gut told her. Not for a celebrity event. Something was off. She turned toward Whip, who was still waiting by the SUV, and threw him a quizzical look. She was standing in front of what appeared to be a construction site, on a not-so-appealing side of town or street, which was littered and run-down, lined with buildings that had seen better days. Better structures were on the other side, so she was sure her destination had to be over there or around the corner or anywhere else, but certainly not close to where she stood. There was no way the guys were hosting anything in such an unsafe place. Not with their level of celebrity.
    Whip nodded his head, then tipped his baseball hat toward the fence. “Yeah, that’s the way, Charly. Right through there. I’d come help you, but you know I can’t,” he yelled, indicating that her destination was through an opening in a chain link fence that she guessed was over ten-feet tall. It had bright orange strips woven through the diamond shaped openings and caution signs posted on it that prevented her view of what was behind it.
    â€œReally?” she questioned loudly, hoping to be heard over a hip-hop track, and made her way toward two metal posts that were haphazardly situated as an opening that looked anything but safe. Walking carefully, she begged her legs not to wobble when she stepped off the smooth concrete sidewalk and through the fence opening, which she thought led to the event, but it didn’t. About ten feet