by Jacob Spears
She looked at herself in the mirror and caressed her nipples. “Damn! I have to get a grip on myself,” she said as she hopped into the shower, where she again masturbated while thinking about Smooth.
“Damn! I hate to break the news to him about Guru,” China said aloud while drying herself off.
After putting on some tights and a sports bra, China walked downstairs and found her nanny feeding Lucky.
“How is he?” she asked.
“He’s pulling through. Yesterday was scary. He caught a fever, but it came down after a couple hours.”
“Why didn’t you call me, Amber?” China snapped.
“I’m so sorry, China. I thought I had everything under control, so there was no need to disturb you,” Amber explained.
“Listen, Amber. If you see anything out of the normal, I don’t care. Call me, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I will.”
Amber was a twenty-four-year-old nanny who China had hired after finding her in an ad in the newspaper.
“Other than his fever, was there anything else?”
“No, ma’am,” Amber replied, pulling the bottle out of Lucky’s mouth.
China stared down at Lucky, who was badly shaking. “I swear I want to kill his mother!”
“The way she did this to him, she deserves it, China. But let God deal with her,” Amber advised China.
“Thanks, Amber. But I’d never harm a soul in my life,” China lied, hoping to sound innocent as an angel.
She didn’t need a stranger knowing how cold her blood was.
“Umm, your friend dropped you off something to eat. It’s in the oven. When I heard you in the shower, I started to warm it up for you.”
“Thanks so much, Amber. I gotta add on to your salary for being so kind.”
“It’s okay, China. I just thought I’d help you out a little since you had a long night,” Amber replied.
“Yes, tell me about it. It was a long night!” China said as she left Amber in the living room and strutted into the kitchen.
The redolence of fried chicken made her mouth water and her stomach turn.
Damn, I’m hungry! China thought as she opened the oven and found a hefty plate of soul food.
China grabbed the plate and sat down at the kitchen table, where she stuffed her face with the special from Roxy’s.
Damn sis! You’re about to be outdoing Kentucky Fried Chicken if you keep making this bomb-ass chicken! she thought.
China laughed when she remembered Spencer telling her that it was Italian food.
Now he knows this ain’t no damn Italian food! China thought.
* * *
Meka was very upset when the receptionist informed her that Smooth couldn’t receive any visitors due to his recent placement in the infirmary. She gave the receptionist a hard time, not believing what came out of her mouth. The receptionist was a woman that Meka knew resented her for fucking her husband years back. Meka threw her speculations in the receptionist’s face and even called her out to the parking lot. It wasn’t until Sgt. Ray came to calm down Meka and tell her that Smooth was indeed in the infirmary that she finally let it go.
He was involved in a damn fight after I told him not to do nothing stupid! Meka thought while driving through traffic.
She never noticed the black SUV trailing her when she came to a red light.
“That nigga told me that he wasn’t gonna do nothing stupid. He even promised me. A nigga’s word ain’t worth shit!” Meka said as she accelerated through the green light.
When she passed by a McDonald’s, she spotted Ham eating a cheeseburger while walking to his badly conditioned Chevy.
“Fuckin’ loser!” she exclaimed, wishing that she could take Ham out right where he was standing.
Meka made a left onto a remote road that led to the hood.
“You’re the reason why Smooth is sitting in jail now, you fucking coward!”
Crash!
“What the fuck!” Meka exclaimed when the SUV rammed into the back of her new Lexus.
Meka quickly braked and then unfastened her seatbelt after throwing the Lexus in park.
“I know this muthafucka ain’t just run into my shit!” Meka exclaimed as she stepped out of her Lexus.
The driver’s side door of the SUV was open, but the driver was still sitting in the front seat, which made Meka grow angrier. As she began walking over to the driver, the driver put the SUV in reverse.
“Oh no! You’re not running bitch!” Meka said.
But she stopped short when she saw the gun come out of the window. She quickly turned on her heels and ran.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Tic squeezed the trigger, nailing Meka and dropping her to her death.
He pulled up alongside her and then hopped out of the SUV. Tic walked up on Meka’s lifeless body and emptied the clip into her.
“What a beautiful bitch to die on a beautiful day!” Tic said as he walked back to his SUV, hopped inside, and left the scene without any witnesses spotting him on the remote road.
When Tic made it back to his motel, he pulled out his iPhone and called his boss.
“Hello.”
“The job is done, boss,” Tic said.
“Good job. Lay down until I arrive on Sunday,” Spencer said as he hung up the phone.
“I got you, boss,” Tic replied as he exited the SUV and walked into his motel room.
* * *
“Mr. Johnson! I’m Nurse Sandra from the Martin County Health Department. And when my office is called, we come out and retest your first results. Well, we tested yours again, sir, and we got the same results.”
“It can’t be good if you’re retesting them, ma’am. So, please, let’s skip all this protocol shit,” Smooth said to the elderly nurse.
“Son, my job is to tell you that you are HIV positive, and if you know anyone you’ve put at risk, please contact them and inform them to get tested. We will start you on medications today, but when you get out, you have to report to a doctor yourself to continue the medications,” the nurse said to Smooth, whose mind was not on her but on the two females who could have given him the deadly virus—Meka and Jane.
But both women looked too healthy to be infected with HIV, he thought.
Smooth was so hurt by the news that he didn’t realize he was crying.
“Baby, you gotta warn your partner,” Nurse Sandra expressed.
Yeah, I know, but do I have the heart to tell her? Smooth thought.
20
ROXY KNEW THAT Sue Rabbit was going through a tough time grieving the death of Guru. So she took off and let Nicole, her assistant manager, run the restaurant. She wanted to be by Sue Rabbit’s side like a real woman was supposed to do when her man was down.
They had just finished making love for the umpteenth time that day, and Roxy felt that it was time to inform Sue of the wonderful news that she had been keeping to herself for a month straight. Roxy climbed on top of Sue Rabbit and straddled him while looking into his eyes. She kissed him and then smiled at him. He knew the look well that something was on her mind.
“What’s the grin for?” Sue Rabbit asked.
“Trayvon, how much do you love me?”
“I love you more than words could explain, Roxy,” Sue said, choking back tears.
“Don’t worry, baby. Let them fall,” Roxy said to him while he was wiping his tears away.
“I know you love me, Trayvon. Now it’s time to love us,” Roxy said.
“I do love us, baby,” Sue Rabbit replied.
“No, baby. Not me and you. I want you to love us!” Roxy said as she grabbed Sue Rabbit’s hand and placed it on her stomach. “We’ve made a creation, and I want us to be one big happy family. This is just number one.”
“Are you serious, baby?” Sue Rabbit asked excitedly as he tightly hugged Roxy.
“Yes, baby. I’m serious,” Roxy said as she kissed him repeatedly.
Sue Rabbit flipped Roxy onto her back and slowly
entered her wet pussy.
“Mmm!” Roxy moaned out, wrapping her legs around Sue Rabbit’s back. “I love you, Trayvon,” she exclaimed as Sue Rabbit thrust in and out of her love box.
“I love you too, baby. I want a baby boy.”
“No, I want a girl!” Roxy exclaimed.
“No, a boy!” Sue Rabbit said as he plunged deeper inside.
“Uhhh shit!”
“A boy, I say!”
“No, a girl!” Roxy moaned.
“Twins!”
“Yes, baby! Twins!” Roxy agreed.
“I love you, baby,” Sue Rabbit whispered into Roxy’s ear as he started sucking on her ear and neck.
“Mmmmm! I love you too, daddy!” Roxy purred.
Damn! I’m about to be a father. Smooth, like it or not, homie, I got to give up the game, Sue Rabbit thought while making love to Roxy.
Together, Sue and Roxy came to their climax and held each other until their climax subsided.
“Give me a minute!” Sue Rabbit said.
Sue Rabbit got out of the bed naked as Roxy watched him walk to the closet. She watched him dig into the pocket of a pair of jeans that were hanging on a cloth hanger on the rack. He returned to bed holding a black velvet box.
“Baby! I know I’ve told you that I’m leaving this game alone, and I mean it. From seeing my homie get killed to Smooth being set up, that’s all the game has to offer. It takes the smart, wise, prudent—all of the above—to get you and then get out. I dropped a whole football team of women for you. Roxy, a man like me who could drop the game for a better life deserves a wife. And I’m asking you, Roxy Morrine Preston, to be my wife!”
“Oh my gosh!” Roxy exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands trembling when Sue Rabbit showed her the big diamond and platinum ring.
The ring has to be worth a quarter million dollars! If not, then close to it! Roxy thought, completely awestruck.
“Will you marry me, Roxy?”
“Yes, Trayvon!” Roxy choked on her tears. “I will marry you.”
Sue Rabbit removed the ring from the box, grabbed her trembling hand, and slid the ring onto her finger.
“I love you, woman, and I refuse to let these streets take me from you,” Sue Rabbit professed as he kissed her hand like a king would to his queen.
“I love you too,” Roxy replied with so much emotion in her voice.
* * *
When Agent Jones got the urgent call to report to the Metro-Dade County Jail to meet with an inmate who had information but wished to remain anonymous, she hurried and got over to the jail. She had no idea who the inmate was or what information he was willing to give up.
When she entered the investigation unit of the jail, she met with Captain Baldwin, who she had known for many years. He thought she was the strongest black woman he had ever met. He was a white man in his mid-fifties, who stood six four and weighed 205 pounds, and he had a thing for black women.
“Nice day, Jones,” Captain Baldwin said as he escorted her down the hallway that led to the interview room, where the inmate sat at the table with his head down.
“He wrote an inmate request form and asked to speak with a captain. I came to investigate the problem, and he asked for you,” Captain Baldwin briefed Jones outside the interview room.
When Agent Jones took a look inside at the inmate, who now had his head up, she smiled after identifying him.
The big ones always break! Agent Jones thought.
“Thanks, Baldwin. I really appreciate you getting in contact with me,” Agent Jones said with a smile on her face.
“You’re always welcome, Jones. I’ll be close by in the booth, recording for you,” Baldwin said as he walked off.
When Agent Jones looked back into the interview room, the inmate’s head was back down in his hands on the table. Once she entered the room, the inmate looked up, and Jones could see his eyes, bloodshot from crying. She was accustomed to seeing inmates break, so it didn’t bother her to see someone crying.
“Mr. Corey Nelson. I never thought that it would be you in a million years,” Jones spoke as she took a seat at the table.
“Yeah, well it’s true!”
“Wait a minute! Before I speak with you, I have to inform you of your constitutional rights,” Jones said as she read him his Miranda rights.
When she was done, she asked him if he understood his rights, and he agreed that he did. It was a protocol that had to be followed for evidence to stick against a witness or suspect in court.
“So tell me, Nelson, what are we here for?” Agent Jones
asked him.
“I know who Smooth is,” Big Mitch informed Jones.
It took all the strength and training techniques she’d learned for Jones to bridle her excitement.
“So you personally know who Smooth is?” Jones asked while jotting down information on her yellow notepad.
“Yeah, I know that pussy muthafucka!” Big Mitch said, with so much hatred in his voice. “His name is Donavan Johnson.”
After Big Mitch learned that China and Sue Rabbit had slumped all his workers, he wanted revenge. Five of the workers were Big Mitch’s cousins, and now he wanted Smooth and everyone involved to pay for it.
“So how are you acquainted with Donavan, Nelson?” Agent Jones began.
“Listen, lady! Before I tell you anything else, I want to get this clear. I’m not giving this information for nothing. I need to walk them streets again. I’m thirty-seven and got a fifteen-year-old daughter who needs me.”
“And I understand that, Nelson. You know if my office can help you, then we will,” Jones told him as he began to chuckle.
“See, woman, I don’t know shit about your office. I never dealt with you people. Let’s not forget that you people sent me to prison at eighteen years old. We have never gotten along!” he replied.
“Okay, that’s in the past. What are you looking for now?”
“I’m looking to get the fuck out of here for giving y’all who you’ve been looking for. I’m not like everyone else. Like I said, I know the boss personally,” Big Mitch informed.
“Do you know where we can find him?” Jones asked.
“Of course I know where to find him. But like I said, until we come to an agreement, I don’t know who the fuck y’all talking about,” Big Mitch said as he crossed his arms.
He knew what he was doing was a coward move that could get him killed, but he had to free himself and get to Smooth’s bitch. Money was another name on his list who he wanted to get. He was told by one of Sue Rabbit’s lieutenants that Money helped set up the slaughter trap where his cousins were killed.
“Mr. Nelson, could you give me a day to get with my superiors to discuss a deal?” Agent Jones asked.
“Take a week if you want. Just remember that I’m not disclosing his location until y’all talking right,” Big Mitch reiterated.
“Okay, Mr. Nelson. I will be in contact with you in a day or so. Pretty much, you’ll get this deal once I voice it. Just don’t make me look bad,” Agent Jones said as she gathered her things to leave.
“Work your magic, and I’ll do my part,” Big Mitch told her as she made it to the door.
“Okay, Nelson. Like I said, give me a day or so,” Jones said as she departed from the room with a smile on her face.
Agent Jones walked into the booth where Captain Baldwin was awaiting her with three of Donavan Johnson’s juvenile mug shots.
“Recognize your man?” Captain Baldwin asked Jones, who immediately laid eyes on the man called Smooth, who everyone knew to be the boss.
“Yeah, that’s him. Is there an address?”
“His last address was a foster home, but that was years ago.”
“I see you still have your touch, Captain Baldwin.”
“Agent Jones, I’ve been in this field just as long as you have. Catching criminals will never get old for me. No matter where I’m at.”
“Thanks. Well, I have to go see what deal I can br
ing Mr. Nelson.”
“Make sure you exhaust all of your resources first. He slipped up when he gave you his name, and I think he knows that,” Baldwin said.
“Let’s pray that he did slip up. You know what I mean?”
“Exactly!” Captain Baldwin replied.
* * *
The news of Meka’s death had Ham paranoid. It seemed that everybody who was close to him was falling dead. They were all murdered, and something in his gut told him that the man suspected of killing Banga had something to do with killing Meka. Ham just knew that he was next on the list to die.
But who killed Tina and took our baby? Ham wanted to know.
He was stuck in his bedroom smoking his crack, and all the lights were out. He was waiting for his turn to die. If it was not tonight, Ham thought he’d have a chance to go get his enemy and supplier.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Who’s there?” Ham shouted as he grabbed his Glock .40 at the sound of knocking.
Ham stood near the door of his bedroom and walked to the front door with his gun in his hand. Without checking the peephole, Ham opened the door and regretted it the moment he saw his visitor. Ham put his hand behind his back to hide the gun.
“Hamilton, you smell like a kilo of fucking crack, son. Do we need to place you in rehab, or are you just stressing?” Sgt. Running Man said to Ham, whose eyes were bloodshot red.
“I’m okay, man. Someone killed my cousin,” Ham said.
“That’s exactly why I’m here to talk with you about it, Hamilton. Do you know who could have done this to her?” Running Man asked.
“I have no clue, sir.”
“What about Tina Scott? Can you tell her to come to the door?” the sergeant said.
Ham’s eyes shot wide open from panic and fear of the sergeant discovering Tina’s remains in the freezer.
“Is something wrong?” Running Man asked Ham, who looked like he had just seen a ghost.
“Tina . . . Tina . . . Tina?” Ham stuttered. “She’s not home.”
“What? Is she somewhere inside, just as high as you are?”
“No! She’s not here, Sergeant,” Ham said, trying to straighten up.
