A Street King's Desire: A Dark Romance

By Porscha Sterling

“At the end of the day, the rules of life are simple: Fuck love. Get money.”

Atlanta-bred, Desire Johnson is the kind of woman that hustlers spin stories about. From the beginning, she learned that when it comes to getting ahead in a world that doesn’t love you, having a heart can be your biggest downfall.

Strutting into The Velvet Lounge, she had her strategy down pat: turn heads, work the room, and play all the players. But then she bumped into Mekhari Al-Rashid and everything changed.

The moment Meek saw Desire, something clicked. He wanted her. He thought that once he hit it, he would get her out of his system, but fate had other plans because once he gets a taste of Desire, the last thing he wants is to be rid of her.

And though Desire is a woman who refuses to contained, Meek is the type of man who refuses to let go. In his mind, Desire has no choice because the moment he wanted her, she became his.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Porscha Sterling, LLC
• Release date: Nov 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781637183021

Porscha Sterling

PORSCHA STERLING is an influencer, publisher, and national bestselling author who is widely considered the exemplar of self-publishing success in the digital age. Winner of the SHEEN Magazine Literary Excellence Award, she’s best known for her book series Bad Boys Do It Better.   Sterling holds an MBA, which helped her in the development of her publishing company, Royalty Publishing House, a stronghold in the African-American literary community, publishing many top-selling novels in the urban, contemporary romance, interracial romance, and women’s fiction genres. Sterling has also partnered with fellow best-selling author and publisher, Leo Sullivan, on the launch of a mobile app, known as the LiT Reading App, which connects readers with exclusive material from independent authors. To find out more information about Porscha Sterling, visit all of the social media outlets at @Porscha_Sterling and her website, PorschaSterling.com.

Book preview

Chapter One

DESIRE

Please don’t kiss me. Don’t kiss me. Don’t kiss me... ew!

I cringed inwardly, squeezing my eyes shut as Cedric’s lips, wet and uninviting, made contact with my cheek again.

You’re just so damn pretty, he slurred, his breath reeking of expensive whiskey and peppermint.

His smile, a gaudy display of gold-plated teeth, was enough to make anyone gag. The man was a walking, talking embodiment of excess and poor taste. He oozed money, sure, but also the kind of stench no amount of cologne could mask.

I stepped back, plastering a fake smile on my face.

And you’re too much, Cedric, I said, my voice dripping with feigned admiration.

Too much and yet not enough at all, I mentally added.

Sucking in a breath, I turned my attention away from the trail of Cedric’s stanky ass breath stretching from his lips to my face, and instead chose to focus on the building ahead.

The Velvet Vault.

I couldn’t contain my smile as I looked up at it, almost not believing that I’d finally made it here.

The Velvet Vault was a highly exclusive, invitation only gambling hall that only opened four times a year. The exact time that it would be open and the location of the gambling event was unknown to patrons until about an hour before the call time for entrance. That was a security measure to ensure that it was kept top secret. And though every person with money in the nation wanted to be invited, it was nearly impossible to get on the list. In fact, no one really even knew the algorithm that was used to decide on the guests.

It was in passing that I heard Cedric bragging about how, after years of trying, he’d finally made it on the list. I was sitting at the bar at Cote, one of the best restaurants in Miami to catch the attention of someone with money when I heard him talking about it.

I was there looking for my next sugar daddy (who I could easily rob without giving up any sugar), but when I heard Cedric talking about his invite to The Velvet Vault, I made it clear that if he took me with him, I would be his companion for the night. Of course, I had no intentions of doing that, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Well… not physically. But there are a lot of things worse than damaged pride.

The Velvet Lounge was an underground gambling house where the rich played with their money like it grew on trees. The air was thick with the scent of expensive cigars and the clamor of glasses filled with top-shelf liquor. Dim lighting cast shadows over the faces of men whose fortunes could alter the fate of nations.

And I was there, on Cedric’s arm, a glittering accessory to his bloated ego. My eyes, sharp and assessing, roved the room, cataloguing potential targets. Each man was a walking bank, their pockets heavy with the weight of unearned privilege.

As my eyes scanned the room, I saw each man as a walking ATM. Gold watches, diamond cufflinks, the works. They were all engrossed in their own worlds, blind to the fox in their hen house.

Girl, I can’t believe you were able to pull a stunt like this, my ace and best friend in the world, Becky, said.

I sucked in a breath and turned to her, talking low enough so that Cedric couldn’t hear.

I can’t either, but I’m ready for this shit. By the time I make it out of here, I’m going to be a very rich bitch, I said, quoting my girl Nene from Rich Housewives of Atlanta.

I prayed for the day that I could wake up and live life like one of the housewives—minus the husband. The last thing I wanted was to be up under a man every single day of my life. But I would take the money on any waking day.

Hell yeah, Becky added, pursing her lips as she surveyed the crowd with an expert eye. We ‘bout to kill this shit. I see Rollies and Patek Phillippe’s everywhere.

Becky looked like the typical suburban white girl from a rich family but she was anything but that. Becky was just like me, a hustler, who got everything out the mud. We worked together when it came to hitting licks, scamming, robbing, and whatever we needed to do to make sure that we brought in more than enough money to afford our luxury lifestyles.

We had the shit down to a science. One of us would distract the mark while the other picked his pocket, using a device to scan the numbers and details of every credit or debit card in his wallet