"I said, where were you?" she asked again.
"Oh, I had some running around to do and money to pick up," he lied. "You know, shit like that."
"I thought you told me that once I came home that you were leaving the game and going legit."
"I'm working on that. I just got some more paper to stack so that you and the baby don't want for nothing."
"I think me and Christian will have more than enough as long as you're in our lives"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'm just saying that if you stop doing what you're doing and come home at a decent hour every night, then that's all we'll need."
"Awww, that ain't shit. I can do that," he bolstered.
"I hope so," Cartier replied and touched the side of his face. She loved him so much but in her gut there was this eerie feeling of dread and doom lingering and she couldn't explain it away.
"Listen, I went to the jeweler today to pick you out a three carat, emerald cut ring."
"Why would you do that?" she asked.
"Because I want to replace that gold band you got on. My wife needs bling."
"I love my gold band," Cartier began. "You know what. Don't buy me that ring although I love you for wanting to do that for me. But I want a house. You can use the money you were going to use on my ring and buy us a house. Use that money as a down payment. I want Christian to have a backyard. That's always been my dream."
"You sure, because in a couple of months I'll be able to do both," Jason replied matter-of-factly.
"You mean a couple more months in the game," Cartier replied as she looked at him. "Stop it, Jason. Let's stick to our plans and not veer off. I want the house."
"OK, OK... geez ... you're so bossy."
"That's what you love about me."
"You know it."
That night, after they made love, Cartier asked Jason about the scratch on his face.
"I was slap boxing with Kareem. That nigga is like a bitch with his long nails. I told him that you were going to flip."
Cartier said nothing. She didn't believe one word of his alibi, but instead of telling him that, she snuggled up closer under his strong arms and went to sleep. No sense in arguing about something she couldn't prove.
he next day, Cartier got up early, made breakfast, and thought they'd spend the day together.
"I promise I will be back before noon," the excuse escaped Jason's lips. "And we all gonna spend the next few days together doing nothing but being a family and celebrating that you're home."
Cartier was heated. "Jason, I'm not going to tolerate this too much longer!" She sat at the table and watched Jason wolf down his breakfast in an attempt to get out of the apartment. She realized breaking him in and making a married man out of him was going to be tougher than she thought.
"Ma, calm down. I just said you ain't gonna have to take me handling my business too much longer." He kissed her lips. "I promise I'll be back before you know it."
When Jason embraced Cartier, they began to passionately kiss. Instantly, she felt moist and wanted to make love. Her hand went down to his jeans and she realized they had something in common. His dick was brick hard. Jason ushered Cartier to the kitchen table and sat her at the edge, positioning himself between her thighs. Quickly, he pulled her panties to the side and began to apply pressure against her moist, warm cave. Cartier began to rock her hips, inch-by-inch he opened her up until he had a good rhythm and his stroke was slow and steady.
"Fuck this pussy, baby..." Cartier purred into his ear as he leaned down and began to suck her nipples. As Jason sped up and the feeling began to intensify, Christian began to cry. They tried in vain to ignore her, but her crying persisted and eventually they stopped.
"Damn, see how spoiled she is?" Jason joked as he backed away and began to zip up his pants. "She don't want us to make another baby in here."
Cartier laughed and went to get Christian.
"A'ight, I'm out."
Cartier called a car service to take her and Christian back to her old neighborhood. She wanted to handle her business and get on with life. To move forward she had to go back to her past.
Her first stop was Janet's house. She knew Monya no longer lived there, but this was more convenient and she didn't want to beef with Monya. If she saw Monya, there was no telling what would transpire. She was trying to prevent that. She had already decided to give Janet Monya's share to give to her.
Cartier tapped on the door until she heard a familiar voice. It was Janet.
"Oh my gosh, Cartier. What a pleasant surprise," Janet clutched her chest, "And you brought the baby by to see me."
"Janet, I didn't bring Christian here to see you. If you wanted to see her you could have walked down to my mother's-"
"Cartier, don't get sassy," Janet snapped. "I don't have shit to do with what's going on with you and Monya."
Ignoring her comment, Cartier completed what she came to do. "Would you make sure she gets this? She'll know what this is about." Cartier handed Janet a small paper bag with nine thousand dollars and Donnie's Rolex and ring. After handing over the package, she left.
Next, she went to Shanine, who was equally surprised to see her former friend.
"What are you doing here?" Shanine asked.
"I won't be long. Here." Cartier shoved the bag containing nine thousand dollars in her hand.
"What's this?"
"Your half of our drug empire," Cartier answered.
"What?"
Cartier didn't stay long enough to explain. She still had two more stops, and Christian was beginning to get cranky. Cartier decided against walking up the steps to Lil Momma's. Instead, she rang the bell and told her to come downstairs.
Lil Momma wasn't sure what the unexpected visit was about. From the icy greeting she'd gotten from Cartier only days ago, she decided to be prepared for the worst. She went to her top drawer and pulled out her razor and tucked it in her back pocket. She also tied up her sneakers tightly and put on a hoodie sweatshirt. She couldn't lie to herself and not admit that she was scared shitless. She was. Out of the whole Cartel, Cartier was the nicest with her hands, and Lil Momma knew she wasn't no match for her adversary. But Lil Momma was hardly a punk. Cartier bled just like she did, and no matter what, she could hold her own in a fight.
With her heart beating with trepidation as she jogged down the stairs, she was relieved to see Cartier holding Christian in her arms. Lil Momma's face softened.
"Hey," Lil Momma said as she stepped out onto the stoop.
"This is for you," Cartier handed her the bag. "It's your share of the Cartel money."
Lil Momma opened up the bag and peered down at the contents.
"We always thought that you'd spent this money," Lil Momma replied.
"Well, you thought wrong
Cartier turned and jogged down the steps and Lil Momma called to her, "Why now?"
Cartier tuned her out. Methodically, she was washing her hands of her former crew and felt she certainly didn't owe anyone any answers. She'd made mistakes in the past; now she was rectifying them. No need to dissect who, what, and why.
Last, Cartier went to see Barn. She'd been the only one out of the crew who remained loyal after all was said and done. Bam's eyes lit up as she peered down at the money.
"Cartier, you don't know how much this will help me. I'm swimming in credit card bills and college tuition. This money will be put to good use."
"I know it will," Cartier replied. "I'm so proud of you."
"And I admire you," Bam said. "Always have and always will"
The two embraced and then Cartier jetted home. If Jason's promise was solid, he'd be back home in less than an hour. Then they could finally begin making preparations for moving forward.
he still summer morning was deceptive in the Payne household. Cartier got out of bed first and opened the blinds in their modest bedroom. The sun came beaming inside and blinded Jason.
"Ma, close those curtains," Jason moaned
as he turned over and put the covers on his head.
"Nope. It's time to getup. You know Christian will be in here any moment asking about Dorney Park."
Jason laughed because he knew Cartier was right. Although Christian wasn't Jason's only child, she was the couple's only child; therefore, she was spoiled rotten.
"That little girl looks just like me," Jason said and grinned. Christian had his heart wrapped around her small fingers.
"So you say," Cartier replied and playfully threw a sock at him.
As Cartier went downstairs to prepare breakfast, Jason took that opportunity to turn on his cell phone. Immediately, it began alerting him that he had fourteen messages. He punched in his security code and began to listen. When he heard Monya's voice, he hit the delete button. He wasn't in the mood for her bullshit and didn't want any stress. Today was family day, and he wasn't about to allow Monya to ruin it with her antics.
Monya was the quintessential baby momma who brought drama by the boatload. It was her goal in life to make his life miserable. The only time she was somewhat happy was when Jason was sticking dick to her. When he was with her she was sweet as candy, but the moment he got up to leave to come home to Cartier, the bullshit started. She was never going to accept that he wasn't leaving Cartier.
Message after message, he hit the delete button. Every message was from his psycho chick-Monya. He knew he should have let her go a long time ago as he promised himself and Cartier he would. But she was a stone cold freak. Easily, the biggest freak he had ever been with. Monya could maneuver her legs in ways that no other woman could. She was extremely flexible and it turned him on. The only thing he didn't like about sexing her was she tried too hard to please him. She moaned too loud, sucked his dick too hard, and practically would do anything without provocation. If she wanted to eat his asshole, then she did it in a heartbeat-all without any prompting on his part. But her coochie had a lot of mileage on it. Her name rang bells throughout New York, and up and down 1-95. And that wasn't a good look. Not a good look at all.
Jason finally jumped up and hopped in the shower. As he lathered his body he thought about how his life was evolving. He opened a hand car wash and was turning a profit. It was in a prime location, Kings Highway in Brooklyn, and the most elite cars came through. He made the mortgage payments on time and was happy his honest work was affording him and his family a privileged lifestyle.
When he went downstairs to breakfast, Christian was already sitting in her high chair. Her round face was covered in bacon grease and scrambled eggs. His face always lit up at the sight of her.
"Give Daddy a kiss."
Immediately, Christian puckered up her small lips and said, "Mummm."
"Muah," he kissed her back.
"You two need to stop," Cartier joked. "Y'all love each other more than y'all love me."
Jason slapped her on her ass. "You my baby too. Give Daddy a kiss."
When the two kissed each other, Christian thought it was funny. She began laughing and clapped her hands. "Do it again," she cheered.
The young couple indulged their toddler and kissed again.
After breakfast, Cartier and Christian got dressed as Jason ducked phone calls from Monya. His stress level was nearing its limit.
"This is a stupid bitch," he said as he hit the ignore button on his cell. "She know a nigga is at home chilling."
Jason was talking out loud he was so frustrated with her antics. Finally, after ignoring thirty or more consecutive calls, he went inside the garage and answered.
"What the fuck you want?" he said heatedly.
"Why haven't you returned any of my calls?" Monya asked, equally heated.
"Yo, I'm not gonna keep going through this bullshit. You know I'm fucking home with my wif-"
Jason couldn't even get the word out before Monya went berserk. She always loathed it when he said the word wife. It was a pet peeve for her and the feeling was unsettling. She began a succession of inaudible words and Jason hung up. He couldn't take the foolishness. He turned his phone back off and took his family to Dorney Park.
On the ride home, he and Cartier began making plans about expanding their bedroom into a master suite.
"I think we could hire a contractor and get it done for around ten grand," Jason encouraged.
"I hope so, because I would really like a larger bedroom with a bathroom in it."
"And don't forget your walk-in closet. I know all ladies want a walk-in closet." Jason cut his eyes to the right and he could see Cartier grinning. "What you smiling about?"
"The house," she replied. "Our house and the upgrades we're going to do. After we do our bedroom, then we should do the kitchen and get all stainless steel appliances and granite countertops."
"Slow your role, spanky," Jason joked. "Put the brakes on. We gotta take this one step at a time."
"I know"
"Besides, the market ain't that great to be upgrading too much."
"But, Jason, it will be a good investment in the long run," she said convincingly. "And I want to stay here in our house forever. We live in a great community. We got our house at a steal and we have so much space in our backyard to continue to expand. I think upgrading could never be a bad idea. We just gotta make sure that the contractors are reputable."
"I will kill a motherfucker if they ever tried to take my money and fuck me-
"I know that ain't Monya?" Cartier said in a pissed off tone, as she spotted a familiar looking car in their driveway-Monya's car.
"What the fuck that bitch doing here?" Jason said, not particularly speaking to Cartier.
"You tell me!" Cartier raised her voice. "How the fuck she know where we live?"
"I don't fucking know. I swear to God I didn't tell her," Jason tried explaining.
They both observed Monya perched outside of their house sitting on their stoop with her son, Jason Jr.
Cartier was so angry she couldn't see straight. She hopped out of the passenger's seat and did a beeline toward Monya, who was unfazed by the glare in her former friend's eyes.
"Yo, what the fuck you doing here in front of my house?" Cartier screamed.
Monya ignored the irate and screaming Cartier and directed her attention to Jason.
"Your son is missing his father," she said. "Spend time with him." Those were her last words as she left Jason Jr. sitting perched on the front steps with his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth.
When he saw his mother leaving without him, he burst into tears. His fat cheeks were stained with tears as his small hands reached out to a mother who wasn't affected by his outburst.
"Monya! Monya! Where the fuck you going?"Jason called out to Monya as he picked up his son. "This is some bullshit you on."
"Let that silly bitch keep walking," Cartier spat. She was glad Monya didn't utter one disrespectful word her way. She knew she would be locked up for whipping her ass. For years, Cartier wanted to kick Monya's ass, but she knew Monya didn't play fair. The moment the fight was over, Cartier was certain Monya would have her arrested.
"What's wrong with her? I'm telling you she's crazy," Jason shook his head. He didn't know what Monya was trying to pull but he didn't like it one bit.
Cartier went to the car and picked up Christian, who thankfully had slept through the drama. She couldn't wait to put the kids down to sleep, because she had some issues with Jason. Her gut was hardly ever wrong when it came to him, and this situation didn't sit well with her.
Finally, they were alone. Jason plopped down on the sofa, thinking everything was sweet, when Cartier let him have it.
"You still fucking Monya?" she asked, as her nose flared and her eyes shot fire.
"What are you talking about?"Jason asked innocently.
"I askedyou a simple question. In fact, it's so simple it canbe answeredwith a simple yes or no. Are you still fucking Monya?" Cartier was persistent.
"Nah, I'm ain't fucking with her. I swear on Cee Cee," Jason lied.
"No!" Cartier screamed. "
Not are you fucking with her, but are you fucking her. Are you sticking your penis in Monya? I'm not talking about dinner and a movie."
"You can use all the word semantics you like, but I already answered that question. I said no. Now leave me alone with that bullshit and get out of my face-"
Cartier hauled off and slapped Jason so hard and swift that he was visibly stunned. He couldn't react like he would have expected himself to.
"I don't know who the fuck you think you talking to, but if I ever find out that you're still fucking her after all this time, I promise you I'm taking Christian and we're leaving for good."
"You ain't taking my baby nowhere!" Jason jumped up and got in Cartier's face.
"You heard what the fuck I said. Let me find out that y'all two are still fucking around and not only will I stomp a mud hole in that tramp, but I will cut you!" Cartier threatened. And then I will still take Christian and leave your trifling ass!"
She walked away, not saying shit else to him.
ason stood on the corner of his old stomping grounds, Marcy and Nostrand Avenue, smoking a cigarette down to the butt. The sun was scorching hot and it wasn't even noon. His man, Wonderful, stood next to him, listening to him cry a river. Every couple of minutes, Wonderful would nod his head in agreement and say, "True ... true." Whether the statement was actually true or not was not relevant. Wonderful had been down the same path so many times before and was glad it was someone else who would be losing sleep tonight.
The white tee Jason had on was soaked in sweat. He took it off and exposed a trail of soft baby hair that lay smoothly on top of his six-pack. The ladies loved his body. He had bulging biceps and triceps, broad shoulders, and muscular legs. Those attributes, coupled with his handsome face and fat pockets, kept him on the top ten lists of all freaks.
"Yo, I feel like smashing my fist through her fucking face," he complained.
"Then do that shit," Wonderful encouraged.
Cartier Cartel Page 16
