Pawns & Kings

by D D Bridges

  Just as I was unwrapping my towel I heard the door open and close. I turned around and saw Derek coming in. He was dressed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and was about to head up the stairs to the gym area until he saw me. He stopped and let his gaze linger on me for a few seconds. I wasn’t completely sure, but I think he was checking me out.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “What’s up,” he replied, a little hesitancy in his voice.

  “You about to go workout?” The answer to that question was obvious, but I was just trying to make conversation.

  “Yeah,” he said and then gave me the once-over again. “What you about to do?”

  “I was thinking about relaxing in the hot-tub for a while. You wanna join me?”

  He chose not to respond. Instead he slipped his Nikes off of his feet and then pulled his shirt off over his head. He began to walk toward me and I had to admit that his body was on point. Derek was in great shape which I hadn’t known before now since he wasn’t always walking around shirtless and in tank-tops like the other guys did. It was a shame that he had been keeping this chest and six-pack of his hidden.

  He met me at the side of the Jacuzzi and waited while I hung my towel on the wall. I stepped down into the bubbling water and he joined me, sitting across from me so that we were facing each other.

  I filled my glass with wine and we almost instantly fell into smooth conversation. We talked about everything from what high schools we went to, to how things were back in the hood, we talked about our college experiences and we even talked about past relationships. Derek was really easy to talk to and he had a way about him that made me feel very comfortable. As a matter of fact, the only other person that I had ever felt more comfortable around was Darius.

  I was on my third or fourth glass of wine and somehow Derek and I had migrated toward each other. I hadn’t even realized how close I was to him until he said something funny and I leaned my head on his shoulder while I laughed hysterically. The physical contact made the atmosphere a little awkward between us, so I moved away. I didn’t want him to think that I was flirting with him.

  “Sorry,” I said as I moved back to my original spot on the other side of the hot-tub. “I didn’t mean to get all in your personal space.”

  “Nah, it’s cool,” he said, his voice sounding all velvety. I knew then that it was time for me to go to bed. The wine was definitely having its effects on me.

  We both left the Jacuzzi and headed upstairs. We walked through the mansion, which was dark and quiet since it was after midnight, and we went upstairs to our bedrooms. We tried to keep our voices down so that we wouldn’t wake anyone, but honestly I was enjoying my conversation with Derek and I really didn’t want it to end.

  We arrived at our rooms but he didn’t go into his right away. I opened my door and stood against the doorpost while he stood on the other side of the doorpost. He still had his shirt off and we were both still a little wet. He just stood there looking at me like he was waiting for me to tell him what his next move should be. He had his head tilted to the side while he watched me and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.

  “Well…” I said. “I guess we’ll have to finish this conversation some other time.”

  “I honestly think that I could talk to you all night,” he said. He reached out and grabbed my hand and before I knew it I was walking up to him. Maybe it was the wine that was causing me to be this forward, but I don’t think there was any excuse for what I did next.

  I focused on my fingers while they grazed his chest. I didn’t have enough nerve to look at him before I did what I was about to do. Before I could even talk myself out of it, I pressed my lips against Derek’s. I could tell that he was a little surprised at first, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. He deepened the kiss as his soft lips took control of mine. We were so caught up in the kiss that I thought it would ever end, but finally we reluctantly pulled away from each other.

  We knew that what we had just done was not right, and as I looked into his eyes I knew that he felt just as bad as I did about it. Kissing each other was wrong on so many levels and it could never happen again. I backed away from him and he began to move away from me as well. I didn’t know what the hell just happened, but I did know that if Darius ever found out about it then there would be hell to pay.

  Part 4

  Check…

  Chapter XXII- Darius

  When I left Marcia’s house I headed to the part of town where the card game was being held. Using the address that Janelle had given me, my GPS led me to a rundown part of the city where an old personal storage facility sat. After rolling past the first few garage-style doors I decided to go a few blocks down to a Chinese restaurant that I saw on my way over.

  I went inside and ordered a sweet and sour chicken dinner then went back to my car to eat in peace. The last thing I needed was an empty stomach when I rolled up in this spot to handle my business. As I sat and ate my food I contemplated what I should do. Up until about an hour ago I was fully convinced that I was going to show up to this secret card game and put a bullet in Francisco. I didn’t consider myself to be a killer, but at this point I had no other choice but to take that step. But now that I knew that D.J. was going to be there I was torn about what I wanted to do.

  Apart of me wanted to go in there with my guns blazing, killing everyone in my path including Francisco and D.J. I really felt that would be my only chance of making it out of there alive if things did pop off. But I would be stupid to think that I would have enough bullets to take on Francisco’s army of men all by myself. If my boys were with me then we might be able to pull it off, but if I had brought my boys to Miami then there would be no way that I could move as discreetly as I had been.

  The other option was to not show up at the game at all. I knew that Janelle was banking on me being there because I was her only chance at finally getting away from Francisco, but risking my own life at this magnitude in order to save hers was something that I didn’t want to do. Honestly, Janelle may be beautiful, but to me she wasn’t worth that type of sacrifice. Besides, this was never about her anyway. This had been all about me getting Francisco before he got me, and Janelle just so happened to be in a position to help me do that.

  But my third and final option was my wild card. If I went through with the plan that was being formulated in my mind then there was no telling how things would turn out. I figured that I would go to the card game just to show my face and to let D.J. know that I was on to him. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face once I walked up in there. But the key was that I had to get out of there before his friend Armando busted up in there to take the game. I didn’t want my money being stolen, but in addition to that it was guaranteed that things were going to get bloody and I couldn’t afford to be in the middle of that. At the end of the night, I had to be the last man standing.

  I checked my Omega and saw that it was 11:15 PM which meant that it was show time. I turned on the car and drove to the alley in the back of the Chinese restaurant. I was going to leave the car there so that I could creep up unnoticed to the storage facility. I got out of the car, armed with both of my pistols, and went around to the trunk of the car. I used the key remote to pop it open and grabbed the medium sized duffel that was inside of it which held the cash that I needed for the game. I closed the trunk, locked the car and started to make my way on foot to the storage facility.

  I walked through the gate of the facility. The place was dark and seemed to be deserted. I walked by alley after alley until I finally made it to the back of the building. From one end of the building I could see all the way to the other end where there was a street. The only other light at the back of the building was the dim, florescent one that was hanging over a door that was halfway down. I began walking toward the door, a wooden fence on my left side and the back of the building on my right. I didn’t stop until I was standing in front of the door.

  I took a
deep breath, taking in the night air and hoping that it would calm my nerves but it didn’t. There was no turning back now because I was there, and both D.J. and Francisco were about to be in for a rude awakening.

  I knocked on the door four times and waited. After there was no response I knocked four more times. Just as my fist landed on the last knock, the small window in the door was slid open and I saw two eyes peeking out.

  “What’chu want?” a gruff voice said.

  “Foreign bitches love money,” I replied simply. That was the password that Janelle gave me and I thought that it was the wrong one after the dude continued to stare at me through the window like he was waiting on me to say something else. Finally, he closed the window and opened the squeaky, metal door.

  I stepped inside and came face to face with a cement wall. I instantly noticed that I was in a very narrow hallway that extended in both directions. The door was closed behind me and I turned to see the big, burly doorman that was standing there. He was about 6’6”, 300 pounds and had an ugly scar across his eye that stretched down his cheek to the corner of his mouth. It looked like at some point in his life somebody tried to slice half of his face off. The only thing his face was good for now was scaring people into submission.

  “Who you here to see?” he asked.

  “I’m here for the game,” I said raising the duffle bag slightly.

  He glanced at the bag then said, “What game?”

  I knew he was bluffing so I said, “Nigga, you know what game, now show me the way.”

  “I gotta pat you down first,” he said, taking a step toward me.

  “Look, I’ll save you the trouble,” I told him. “I got one at my back waist and one in the front, but I’m not giving them up. I’m not here to start no trouble, I just came to take my chances at this cash.”

  “It’s all good,” he said. “The boss man don’t care who’s carrying because he know ain’t nobody stupid enough to try him.”

  He turned around and began leading me down the hallway. We went all the way to the end of it and then turned a corner. We walked a few more steps before we came to a door. Scarface took out a set of keys, unlocked the door, and then led the way through it. We ended up in another hallway that was almost completely dark. I put my hand on my gun just in case he was leading me into a trap. The hall dead-ended at another door and I could smell cigar smoke and liquor.

  Scarface knocked on the door and then didn’t even hesitate before he opened it and stepped inside. I followed suit and as soon as I came across the threshold I knew I was in the right place. The room had dark green walls and with black, leather furniture. On the other side of the room was the card table and the bar. The only light in the room was the light hanging from the ceiling over the card table, but that was enough to light the whole room.

  There were five guys sitting at the table and two more standing by the door on the other side of the room. I instantly recognized the two guys at the door as two of Francisco’s men. They all had that same haircut and hard facial expression that all of his men had.

  I began to approach the table so discreetly that they didn’t even notice me. Scarface gave me away though.

  “Yo, boss,” he said from behind me causing everyone at the table to look up at us. I assumed that the guy sitting at the head of the table wearing a white button down shirt tucked into black slacks was the boss. He wasn’t Francisco but he had that look about him. He looked like a man in charge although he didn’t look like he was much older than me. He was a white guy with black hair, but his tan made him look Hispanic.

  “Who’s this, Tone?” the Boss asked with a cigar between his teeth as he stood to his full 6’3” height.

  “He says he’s here for the card game,” Tone said, still standing over my shoulder. “He got two on him,” he said and I figured that he was talking about my guns.

  The Boss stared at me skeptically for a while before deciding that I wasn’t a threat.

  “Cool,” he said with a slight smirk. “The more the merrier. Tone, go outside and make sure that nobody followed him.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” Tone said before disappearing through the door that we came in through.

  “Have a seat,” the Boss offered politely before resuming his seat. I dropped my bag beside the empty chair that I was standing behind. In this chair I was sitting directly across the table from D.J. who was glaring at me so hard that his hate was evident in his eyes. This was our first time seeing each other since that night at the warehouse. I knew that he had been itching to get at me, but for some reason he hadn't come for me as hard as I thought he would have. He had been laying low and that didn't make sense to me. Judging by the look on his face I knew that he was having thoughts of killing me right then. That nigga couldn't take his eyes off of me, and it was a good thing that none of the other men noticed because they would have suspected that something was up.

  Other than the Boss and D.J., there were three other guys at the table. Man number one was a white guy with straight hair and a beard. He was dressed in a designer polo shirt and looked non-threatening. He was the only person who hadn’t made eye contact with me since I came in which made him suspicious in my eyes. Man number two was an Asian guy. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt and looked like he could probably kick somebody’s ass. The third man was a black guy with a bald head. He was pretty normal looking, but unlike everyone else at the table he was flaunting his wealth. He was wearing three gold chains, a Rolex, and had huge rings on every other finger. He was doing way too much and looking at him was making my eyes hurt.

  I redirected my attention back to D.J. who still seemed to be unable to look anywhere else but at me. His eyes were like daggers going into my chest, then it dawned on me that he was staring at the platinum chain that his mother had just given me. If it had belonged to our father then I was sure that D.J. recognized it and that was why he was looking like he wanted to kill me right then and there.

  “The name’s Conrad,” the boss said, introducing himself. “Welcome to my game. I don’t know how you found out about it, but as long as you brought some cash…”

  By the time he began to say this I was already pulling my stacks of dough out of the duffle and putting them on the table. They all sat there silently and watched as I did this and once the bag was half empty I stopped and folded my arms across the table while looking back at each of them. It was obvious that none of them expected somebody like me to have this type of money.

  “Well, alright then,” Conrad said. “Donald, deal us in,” he said to the bearded white guy since he was holding the deck of cards. He dealed us all five cards apiece and then set the deck in the middle of the table. We all had stacks of money on the table and they each had liquor glasses near them.

  Once the cards were dealed, I picked up my hand. We played the first game pretty much in silence, only calling out our plays and wagers every so often. By the time everyone was supposed to show their hands, everyone had bowed out except me and the black guy. I had a full house and I was pretty confident that was enough to win this hand. I looked over at the other guy and he didn’t look too sure of his hand. He was probably scared to fold because of all the money that he put in on this one hand.

  “So, what’s it gonna be?” I asked him.

  He glanced up at me for a brief moment before looking back down at his hand pitifully. He sighed and said, “It’s on you.”

  I smirked, knowing that he didn’t have shit in his hand. I laid my cards on the table for all to see.

  “Full house,” I announced. But just as I was reaching for the money, the black guy’s voice halted me.

  “Not so fast, youngen,” he said and then lay his cards on the table. “Royal Flush.” A few of the other guys chuckled at us while I simply leaned back in the chair and watched as he collected his winnings.

  “You played me,” I said emotionlessly.

  “That’s what happens to newbies around here,” he said. “Ain’t that right, Wu?�
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  “That’s right,” the Asian guy replied while he collected all the cards off of the table and prepared to shuffle.

  “I’m glad to see that we’re all having fun,” Conrad said as he stood and went to the bar which was directly behind him. “Did you want a drink?” he asked me.

  “Nah, I’m good for now,” I told him.

  “Well, how about a Cuban,” he said as he came back over to the table with a box of cigars.

  “I will take one of those. Thanks,” I said as I took one of the cigars out of the box. The white guy who was sitting on the other side of the black guy offered me a light and I nodded my thanks. I still felt that something was off about him but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly it was.

  Conrad sat down at the table again after refilling his scotch glass. Wu began dealing the next hand and then I noticed something strange. D.J. tapped his chest and then scratched his ear. I was pretty sure that no one else noticed and I wondered what that was all about. Then he made direct eye contact with me and held my gaze for a long moment. It was almost as if he was trying to warn me, but that was crazy. I didn’t expect that D.J. would do me any favors by trying to warn me from danger.

  “So,” Conrad said as he glanced up at me from his hand. “What exactly do you want with my uncle?”

  “Your uncle?” I said confused. “Who’s your uncle?”

  “Francisco Baptìste,” he said as if I should have known that already. “You obviously came here tonight because you have some kind of connection to him. You damn sure weren’t invited. And besides, you don’t look like you from around these parts.”

  “What does where I’m from have to do with anything?” I asked, keeping a cool and calm demeanor.