by Tya Marie
Brute raised his hands in mock surrender, shaking with silent laughter. “Listen, we can’t go back in time and fix anything. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all in this together. Everyone’s goal is the same, am I right?”
“Correct,” I cosigned.
J Reed shook his head. “I’mma always ride with my brothers, but I don’t trust neither one of you niggas until I’m sitting at the table. Talk is cheap; show me some proof, nigga.”
Brute turned to address his brother. I stopped him with a wave of my hand. “He’s right; I wouldn’t trust the word of some out of town nigga either. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to operate on faith from here on out. You think he doesn’t have days where he doesn’t trust what I’m doing?” I pointed to Burna. “He’s had faith in me since we were some hungry little boys in DC. I haven’t steered him wrong yet. If that ain’t enough you’re more than welcome to ask about me. Everything I want, I get, and I go for it with blind faith as well.”
My back was pressed against a wall. I had to bring about results or else I would lose any respect I had in the streets. The soft spot I had for Kelsey turned cold as I finished with, “You’re on the right side of history. Niggas won’t know what hit them until it’s done. The Trust will be mine. Put your faith behind that.”
12
Quill
A trickle of wax slid down the long-stemmed candle sitting on the kitchen table. She should’ve been here an hour ago. The dinner I cooked—salmon with wild rice and vegetables—sat in the oven on warm. I shifted in my seat, raising my wrist to my face to check my watch for the tenth time in five minutes. If she wasn’t here in another five minutes, I would call it a night. Eric was the one who convinced me to make this sorry ass meal, and I should’ve known better than to listen to someone who hadn’t been faithful since his beard started connecting. The door downstairs shut, waking me up from my trance. A minute later Kelsey entered the dimly lit apartment, hitting the lights out of habit, cutting them off at the sight of me. I clapped twice, turning on the mood music.
“Quill…”
“Before you start, I wanted to apologize for my actions this morning,” I said, hurrying over to help her out of her coat. She was wearing her clothes from last night. Her shirt clung to her skin, damp with sweat and her hair was dry. “Where have you been?”
“Having the day from hell,” she replied, walking over to the couch to take a seat.
I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her to the bathroom, ignoring her protests along the way. “Calm down with all that. Let me take care of you…”
Kelsey’s brows were knit into a tight line, easing at the bathroom decorated with rose petals. A bottle of champagne was chilling beside the whirlpool bathtub. I took my time drawing her bath, glancing over my shoulder every now and then to see her reaction. She went from impassive to intrigued to flattered.
“I’m surprised you were able to put this together. I was for sure you’d still be lying in bed with a hangover,” she quipped as she stripped out of her clothes.
I lit the last candle. “Last night I was out of line. You know I would never put my hands on you right?”
Kelsey took a seat at the edge of the tub, her hands in her lap pressing her breasts together. I was supposed to be on my best behavior, but with Ro James’ “Permission,” lust was winning an internal battle. My hands glided up her arms, stabilizing her as she turned to slide into the bathtub. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she sunk into the water. I placed her hair up in a ponytail, earning a laugh from her.
“What’s so funny?”
She took my hand into hers. “The little things. You remember the little things…”
“Kelsey—”
“Quill, we can’t keep doing this back and forth. Today I saw a man tied to a chair, beaten with only God knows what, and his brains blown clean out of his head. Guess who did it to him? His own kids.” I took a seat on the edge of the tub, giving her hand a supportive squeeze. “My biggest fear is one day it’ll be you or me sitting in that chair. Last night went way too far—”
“I know,” I agreed.
She kissed our hands. “If we ever get to that point again, it’s time to walk away. I love you, Quill, but I didn’t sign up for you coming home drunk starting fights with me. My own father has never disrespected me like that, and I won’t let you.”
“You should,” I agreed. “My mother let my father walk in and out of our lives. Times were hard whenever he wasn’t around, but they grew harder for the few months at a time he did show up. He was an angry drunk with a hand problem, to the point where he would beat us first and ask questions later. Growing up dealing with his shit, I should’ve known better than to come home the way I did.”
“Then why did you? What was the hard night, Quill?”
I sighed. “I re-upped last night…”
“Yeah, and…”
“Amos calls me telling me to expect another shipment last night. He said he wanted to get some extra product off of his hands. Whoever was delivering it got knocked. Not only do I have no idea who it was, I don’t know what they’ve told the police. I started drinking, worrying that what I’m doing could adversely affect you.”
Kelsey’s brows knit with concern. “Quill…why didn’t you say something? We’re in this together, you hear me? If I can protect you then I will, and I don’t give a fuck who doesn’t like it. How about this? In the morning, I’ll have Nicole do some poking around. Arrest records are public; it shouldn’t be too hard to find a name.”
“You are too good to me,” I said, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips.
She laughed against mine. “And I’m good for you.”
“Oh, is that right?”
“Mmmhmm.”
Kelsey was my weakness; one taste of her would never be enough to satisfy me. I lifted her from the bathtub, sloshing water all over the floor as we moved to the shower. Steamy, hot water rained down on us as I entered Kelsey with slow, measured strokes. She dug her nails into my back, contorting her face as I plunged deep inside of her, filling her until she couldn’t take any more. I silenced her moans with a sloppy kiss on the lips, tonguing her down while picking up the tempo.
“Fuck,” she moaned, arching her back, placing her perfect breasts in my face.
I devoured them, teasing her hard nipples with soft sucks and swirls of my tongue. Her walls clamped down in ecstasy, and if she kept gripping me like that we were going to be welcoming a little Will to the world. Killing the shower, I carried her through the house, the cool air nipping at my naked body waking me up.
“You don’t know what you started,” I whispered as I placed her at the edge of the bed.
Before I could dive in, Kelsey wrapped her hand around my neck, pressing our lips together. She was looking for a connection, to be grounded after a long day, and so was I. I felt around the bed, grabbing the remote to the constellation projector I had hooked up earlier. With a press of a button we were surrounded by stars, painting the room an ethereal shade of blue. Little bright lights spilled over every surface, flecking Kelsey’s skin, giving her a luminous glow. I pressed another button, turning on the music throughout the house. Mariah Carey’s “Underneath the Stars” set the tone.
“I couldn’t book the planetarium on such short notice so I brought the planetarium to you,” I said, peppering her neck with kisses as I made my descent. “After creating a night I don’t want you to remember, I had to create one you wouldn’t forget.”
“You’re right; I’m going to remember this for the rest of my—Quill,” she breathed my name, holding on to the sheets as I spread her legs and tongue kissed her clit until she was cumming in my mouth.
Kelsey’s legs wrapped around my shoulders, intertwining us, which was fine by me because I wasn’t done with her. Hozier’s “Movement” crooned through the speakers, the soundtrack to the seductive roll of Kelsey’s hips each time my tongue flicked her sensitive spot. I slipped two fingers inside of her, stroki
ng as I nibbled, her back arching as she came again. She watched through a tangle of hair as I lapped up her juices, crooking her finger for me to come closer so she could have a taste. I dipped my fingers inside of her again, giving her another sample, my dick throbbing as she sucked on my fingers.
“No, no, no,” she moaned, shaking her head as I tried to enter her. “Let me take care of you.”
I remembered the first time Kelsey ever gave me head. We were fooling around in the back of my car parked over by the pier. I told her she didn’t have to keep me satisfied, that being with her was more than enough. A good girl like Kelsey didn’t need to be tainted by me. At least I thought she wasn’t until she swallowed my dick, doing some absurd things to it. After she was done, I sat in the driver’s seat, chest heaving from the biggest nut of my life, and asked her where she learned that from. From the heart, she said like it was nothing. Five years later, that love hadn’t changed a bit. Kelsey sucked my dick with passion, spitting and slurping, lubing up for her hands to artfully glide up and down. Her eyes locked with mine as her grip grew tighter. I was about to cum and she knew it.
“I’m about to nut,” I moaned, holding the back of her head as I fucked her face.
Kelsey responded by moving faster, bobbing her head up and down in quick, rhythmic motions. I busted in her mouth, shaking as she swallowed every last drop. She disappeared, padding down the hall and returning a few minutes later with a warm washcloth to wipe me off. Tossing the towel into the hamper, she curled up beside me, placing her face in the crook of my neck.
“It was dinner to discuss him expanding,” Kelsey said, intertwining our fingers. “He knows I won’t show up to his house, and our usual meeting place was closed. Peace is smooth, and yes, back in DC we were on the cusp of becoming more than friends, but you have my heart. I don’t want anyone but you. I need you to trust me.”
I planted a kiss on her forehead. “I apologize for my behavior that night. You didn’t deserve to be embarrassed for doing your job. I trust you.”
For the first time since Peace entered the equation, there was peace between Kelsey and me. I wasn’t proud of last night, but it broke down the wall I had built between us. Lying in bed, running my fingers through Kelsey’s hair, I admitted to myself that my issue wasn’t with her. It was with Peace. He was a slick motherfucker, relying on his position to make him infallible. However, I was familiar with his type, and knew it wouldn’t be long before he showed his true colors. Kelsey would learn her first lesson on treachery with that nigga, and I hoped she wouldn’t have to sacrifice her empire in the process.
__________
The early morning sun crept into the bedroom, illuminating Kelsey’s profile. Her soft snores filled the room, blowing the strand of hair covering her face with each breath. I laid propped up on my elbow watching her, wishing we could stay like this forever. Reality set in with an early morning greeting from my phone going off on the nightstand. I didn’t even bother to check the caller ID. Drea had kept Legacy two nights in a row without my help, and there wouldn’t be a third night. I answered with a surly, “Hello.”
“Quill,” my little brother said, his voice panicked. “I’m in trouble.”
I leapt out of bed, making a mad dash for the closet. “Adrian, where are you?”
“I’m at the 10th Precinct,” he whispered. “Quill, they caught me—”
“Adrian, don’t say another word. Don’t let them trick you into saying a word. What did I teach you?”
“I have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer.”
“Good,” I said, slipping into a pair of jeans. “You stay quiet until Mommy gets there, you hear me? Not a word out of you; I don’t give a fuck what they threaten you with.”
Adrian sniffled. “I’m sorry, Quill.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I’m on my way,” I promised as the call disconnected.
Adrian was supposed to be in North Carolina. My mother took the kids back down a few days after I was released from the hospital. Between Amos and the Jinetes, I feared for their safety, and begged my mother to return home where it was safe. Six months later, I had found a healthy balance to my life, which made it easy to promise my siblings a summer in New York. They weren’t due for a few more weeks. My nerves got the best of me on my way to the precinct. Bull going to jail had done a number on my mother; Adrian behind bars was likely to kill her.
“Mr. Evans?” a black woman old enough to be my mother greeted me as I entered the precinct. “I’m Patrice Gibson, your brother’s lawyer.”
“Where is he?” I asked, craning my neck to see if I could spot him sitting in a pocket of the small precinct. “Adrian is a good kid; whatever they’re saying he did, he didn’t do.”
Patrice shook her head. “That’s going to be hard to prove to a jury since he was caught smuggling fifty kilos of cocaine into New York.”
“Nah,” I said, searching for the nearest chair. “Adrian wouldn’t do something like this of his own volition. He must’ve been threatened or—”
“Mr. Evans, I’m not allowed to discuss the details of my client’s case, but I can tell you that Adrian was not under duress when he was brought in. He asserts that he acted of his own free will.”
“Do you have any idea how much time he’ll get for that kind of weight?” The walls of the precinct were closing in on me. My entire body was trembling with rage; whoever did this to my little brother would have to answer to me.
She nodded. “I do. Both you and I know there is no way Adrian would’ve been able to secure such a large quantity of cocaine on his own. He was transporting it for someone, and if he was willing to tell us who, I could work out a deal for him. The AUSA on this case isn’t going to want a kid; he wants the head of this operation.”
“So his two options are to snitch and get killed on the streets or do life behind bars?” I took a deep breath, trying to gain my bearings. “I need to see him.”
“Too late; he’s already been processed. The FBI took him,” Patrice said, her expression apologetic. “The best thing you can do for him is tell him to accept a plea bargain. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to meet him at the other building…”
I jumped in front of her. “You don’t have to meet him anywhere! Public defenders like you are the reason why so many black young men are sitting behind bars. Plead out? He’s a minor! They shouldn’t be questioning him without my mother present!”
“Not if he waives his fifth amendment rights! Something he can do if he doesn’t have an attorney present—”
“He’ll have an attorney, but it won’t be you!”
“You’re not allowed to make such a determination! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to my client,” Patrice spat, marching down the street, her briefcase swinging wildly beside her.
I called Eric, who picked up making grumbling noises, sounding how I felt on the inside. “Yo, it’s eight in the morning, Quill. This better be an emergency…”
“You still sell to that Park Avenue defense attorney?”
“Leonard Bregman? We still do business, why you ask?”
“I need him to meet me at the FBI headquarters in Manhattan within the hour. I don’t care what the retainer is, I’ll get the money,” I said, climbing into my car. “They got Adrian on some major trafficking charges.”
Eric let out a low whistle. “Say no more.”
Leonard Bregman was a legend, a stereotypical Jewish lawyer who chewed up charges for sport. He represented the dredges of society, getting off everyone from murderers to rapists. At this juncture in his life he was able to be choosy with the cases he took on, opting for the ones leading to free publicity. Eric bragged on having Park Avenue connections every once in a blue, and I thought he was full of shit until he got knocked for gun possession. My boy was looking at a few felonies along with some serious jailtime. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when Bregman entered the courtroom moving to have the case dismissed on the grounds of a
n illegal search. The judge obliged. Having him represent Adrian would place a severe strain on my pockets, but there was no price I wasn’t willing to pay in order to save my little brother.
“Mr. Evans,” a thick New York accent called out as I approached the FBI’s headquarters. Leonard Bregman fell in step beside me, tugging me out of view. “Leonard Bregman. What am I looking at upstairs?”
I gave Bregman the rundown, making sure not to leave anything out. His dark brown eyes never left mine, not even as he sipped on a cup of coffee. Every now and then he would let out a “humph” or “is that so?” He mulled over my story, giving me an answer only when he was done with his last dregs of coffee.
“He can’t plead,” I added.
Bregman snorted. “What do you expect him to do? They caught him red handed with the product. He was alone in the car. Either he gives up his boss or he goes down for it. The AUSA covering this case will move to charge him as an adult. Your brother is looking at life in prison.”
“You’re supposed to be the best defense attorney in the city!”
“And as the best, I can get him a better plea deal than a public defender. Either he brings in a big fish or he takes the fall. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I’m pretty sure you’re not unfamiliar with the criminal justice system,” Bregman continued. “As his big brother, he’s more susceptible to your advice. Tell him to take the plea. Hello?”
An idea bloomed in my mind. I was taking a big risk by going through with this, but it was the only way to save my brother. “How big of a fish do they need to drop the charges?”
“In order to save him from prosecution you would have to deliver more than a fish; they would need whale,” Bregman concluded. “Give me a name to walk in there with, and I’ll get the ball rolling.”
I couldn’t give them Amos’ name; Adrian would hear it and panic. There was only one name I could think of that would save my brother. Bregman made a motion for me to spit it out.
