by Jacob Spears
The other M-13 brothers went to check on the old man. Everyone knew who Juan Sr. was. However, when they turned him over onto his back, it was not him. It was just some random old Mexican man.
“No es señior Juan Sr.”
When Javier heard what his brother said, he stood up and walked over to see for himself. When he looked down at the dead man who wasn’t Juan Sr., he shrilled loudly. “Fuck!”
Javier was highly upset, and he wanted the blood of Smooth to spill from his mouth after he drank it. Smooth had created a monster, and Javier had every means of making him pay for the loss of his M-13 brother and friend, Tito.
* * *
Mall couldn’t believe how badly they had beaten up Choppa. After leaving the gym, Smooth floored the pedal to Jackson Memorial Hospital and helped carry Choppa through the emergency room doors. The nurses and doctors put Choppa on a gurney and immediately rushed him to the ER.
“We found him like this behind a building. Help him!” Mall begged as he left the hospital with Smooth, Sue Rabbit, and Guru to avoid the authorities.
The entire ride over to the trap was quiet. All that ran through everyone’s mind was retaliation. As Smooth pulled up to the trap house, he called Spencer.
“Hello.”
“How bad is he?” Smooth asked.
“No one can tell what a deer looks like when it’s skinned,” Spencer responded.
“Good, now please finish him and deliver him back to his little Mexican joint. Dump him at the building just in case the crime scene investigators are still out there.”
“When do you want this done?”
“As soon as the sun comes up,” Smooth ordered, and then disconnected the line.
Everyone looked in their own zones in front of them.
“At least we got him back. No matter what his condition is, it’ll never be like what they’re about to see!” Smooth announced.
19
Juan was not a happy camper. He couldn’t believe that Smooth had gruesomely murdered his father and skinned him like he was some type of wild animal. Juan lost it and retaliated the moment breaking news discovered his father’s body behind the building next to his Mexican jukebox club.
The feds were everywhere responding to shootings and pulling up to scenes to find wounded and injured young men and teens. Mothers were afraid to let their kids go outside because the shootings were occurring all over Miami. Juan had definitely sent for Smooth’s head. Juan was at his low-key spot with Mario, who was consoling him for his loss.
“Bro, I have to get that Negro!” Juan said as he snorted a line of coke through a straw on the kitchen table.
Mario was lying back on the sofa with his hands behind his head listening to Juan vent for hours on end.
“Bro, we need to just go at this muthafucka! I know how we can handle it, but you got to be heartless.”
“What the fuck do you mean? I have no soul for shit right now. Don’t you see what’s going on, huh?” Juan exploded.
“Then take the bitch, Tracy, and make her give her little bitch up, bro!” Mario exploded, jumping from the sofa and staring Juan in his eyes, face-to-face.
“That ho wants us to spare her bitch—their bitch!” Mario emphasized.
“Your father means more than what Tracy wishes you to do. She wants Smooth dead, but has everything to kill him,” Mario explained.
“Let’s wait until shit cools down right now. Our every move is being watched,” Juan replied as he then sat back down at the table to snort another line.
* * *
“It’s scary out there, China,” Tracy said to her while she was chopping up chicken for the fryer.
“Yeah it is, and it don’t have shit to do with us,” China replied.
She knew exactly what was going on, and all she could think about was Smooth’s safety. Her worrying about Smooth felt like a ticking time bomb ready to explode with the devastating news that Smooth might be killed. She had the urge to call him and check up on him, but she didn’t want to let him know that she cared about him and was still in mad love with him.
“You’re right, China. I hope someone takes a bullet and puts it right between Smooth’s eyes ’cause he—”
Smack!
Before Tracy could finish her sentence, China slapped the shit out of her, acting off her emotions. The slap was so loud that everyone in the back kitchen froze in their tracks and looked at the perfect couple that was always so happy.
“Don’t you sit here and wish death on him and act like we don’t have nothing. He don’t deserve how you just all day wishing this and that—and now death. You must be out of your mind thinking I can stand that shit! If you want me to get over him, then you’re going about it the wrong way. Because I’ll kill anyone who wants him dead!” China explained to Tracy, who was still in shock that China had put her hands on her.
“Since you still love a man who’s dragged yo’ ass out and don’t even appreciate you, go be with that nigga, China, and leave me alone!” Tracy said as she stormed out of the kitchen and off the job, humiliated.
China didn’t feel bad at all, and that gave her an eerie feeling. It made her realize that what she felt for Tracy was not nearly as strong as how she felt for Smooth. Since she left Smooth, she had been engrossed in contemplative thoughts, wondering if she made a mistake leaving Smooth.
“China, are you okay?” Jane asked, seeing that China had tears running down her face that she didn’t even realize.
China wiped away her tears, looked at Jane, and then broke down crying hysterically into her arms. “I can’t leave him!”
“It’s going to be alright, China. It’s okay. We’re here!” Jane said while hugging her.
Tabby and Roxy rushed to China’s side from the front of the kitchen and embraced her too. Neither needed words to fathom what was going on. Roxy knew her sister, and she knew when she was stressing about Smooth.
* * *
Smooth didn’t have China to drive with him up north to re-up, so he brought Amanda along. She was a good driver and very entertaining. When Smooth wasn’t asleep, he was up listening to her entire life. With all the chaos in the city, Smooth informed Sue Rabbit and Guru that he was leaving town to re-up.
Miranda took a burden off his hands and agreed to watch Zorro after she gave Smooth the keys to his new mansion. Miranda admitted to Smooth that she would miss him as a neighbor, but she understood that he wasn’t safe, especially after seeing the bullet-riddled home.
While Smooth turned his head and looked Amanda up and down, he thought, She’s beautiful. Why can’t I wife her?
Kelly Rowland’s “Motivation” was playing at a low volume, and Smooth could see that Amanda loved the hit.
“Why are you staring at me? You know that’s rude!” Amanda asked as she briefly looked at Smooth and then back at the road.
“Tell me something,” Smooth began as he leaned his seat up while turning down the radio.
“Hey, that’s my shit!”
“I know. So tell me, what motivates you, huh?”
“What do you mean by that, Smooth? By the way, we’re in New York. Where are we going?”
“Find the first hotel, baby,” Smooth directed, “and then back to the question.”
“A lot motivates me, Smooth. Getting up every morning to see a new day stare me in my face motivates me. And knowing that I could be anything I want motivates me,” Amanda said as she turned off an exit.
“Why do you help me out, Amanda, when you could be better off somewhere else and with a more deserving man?” Smooth asked.
“Because the day I was going to give it all up, a handsome teen came to my doorstep and changed my mind. Then he fucked me good one day and fucked my head up, baby boy. Now I’m playing number two until he decides to accept me as number one,” Amanda said as she pulled into the Hilton parking lot.
“So I fucked your head up, huh?” Smooth asked as Amanda parked.
“You did something no man in my past has do
ne to me. I could get on a plane and leave any day, but I would be leaving something precious behind,” Amanda confessed.
“What you’re feeling is deep, huh?”
“No, it’s too deep. I know you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. That’s okay. I’ve been there, and you will make up your mind—one day. Come, let’s get some rest,” Amanda said as she grabbed her Coach purse and got out of the Range Rover.
Inside the room, Smooth didn’t let Amanda take two steps before he grabbed her and kissed her deeply. He closed the door with his foot and backed Amanda up to the bed, where they collapsed into each other’s passion. Smooth tore off her blouse, and she pulled his black T-shirt over his head. Smooth slid out of his jeans and set his Glock .22 on the floor. As he took off his briefs, Amanda slid out of her skirt and spread her legs for Smooth to dive in. Smooth plunged his cock deep inside her phat wet pussy and made love to her slowly.
* * *
China came back to her and Smooth’s apartment and grabbed some extra clothes that were left behind when she had packed her things the day before.
I can’t do it without him, China thought as she looked around at the bullet-destroyed apartment.
It then dawned on her that Zorro was not in the apartment.
Maybe he’s out walking Zorro, China thought.
She had no clue that Smooth had moved out of the apartment and hadn’t had a chance to clear out his clothes yet. China stuffed her clothes into her duffel bag and then walked out of the sad-looking apartment. She got in her Mercedes and traveled north of Florida on her way to Ocala to go see her boo, Jenny. It was Labor Day weekend, so she would be able to visit her from Saturday to Monday, where she would be able to tell her all that was going on.
* * *
“People, we have a war going on outside this room. We can’t continue to just sit and let this drug war take control of our city,” DEA Agent Debra Jones addressed the fifty other agents in the room.
She was a black woman in her mid-forties with a flawless ebony complexion. She was known as the pit bull in a skirt throughout Miami, who had taken down some of the roughest drugs lords throughout her twenty years on the DEA force.
She was the head DEA lieutenant over the sweep that was being planned in a couple of days. She wanted Juan José, Mario Lopez, and Stone Bolt, on whom she had a pile of evidence to throw them away for a lifetime. She hadn’t yet figured out the face of Juan Jose’s enemy, but she was sure she was heading in the right direction by preparing to sweep the streets.
“My fellow agents, we will be moving in on these seventeen blocks like a damn hurricane,” Jones said, gesturing with her hands and pointing toward a blackboard filled with home addresses and names. “We will take down these monsters,” she said, pointing at José’s, Lopez’s, and Bolt’s mug shots.
“Agent Jones, will this be a morning bust all the way to noon?” an agent asked from the back of the room.
“Yes sir, this will be an early morning raid that will carry on until noon. We should be wrapping up our last bust precisely at 1:00 p.m.,” Agent Jones explained.
“Will we interrogate on-site or bring them back for a proper interrogation?” another agent asked.
“We will have warrants for everyone we arrest. So no one will be free to leave or be picked up for the hell of it. We will interrogate to find the enemy that’s not on this board,” Jones added.
“It answers my question, ma’am. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sir,” Agent Jones said, nodding her head.
“People, get some rest and report at headquarters in the morning,” Jones concluded, and then walked from the room.
* * *
“Yellow!”
“Yellow!” Banga said to Smooth when he returned his call.
“What’s good, fam?” Smooth asked.
“Shit! Just trying to see what’s good with you. There’s so much chaos going on down the way. My mama called me and said please don’t come down, not even to see her,” Banga explained.
“Shit crazy, bro. I had to get away and duck off for a couple days.”
“Yeah, out of town?” Banga asked.
“Yeah, out of state, nigga.”
“You and China?”
“Naw, me and China done split!”
“Get the fuck out of here. I’m not going for that, nigga!” Banga exclaimed, not believing Smooth.
Shit, they were like Bonnie and Clyde. Who gonna believe that shit? Banga thought.
“Yeah, bro. It’s for real. She started tripping on me. And peep this shit, fam. She left me for another bitch!” Smooth explained.
“You serious, nigga?”
“Serious as a heartbeat, my nigga!” Smooth replied.
“Man, y’all was too good, Smooth,” Banga said.
“I know, and she left like it wasn’t nothing!”
“Damn! That shit don’t even sound real.”
“It is, bro! But I’m chilling in the Empire State with number two. We been fucking up a storm,” Smooth bragged.
“Yeah, damn, nigga, you don’t waste no time, huh?”
“Shit, since when do I?” Smooth replied.
“China gonna kill you and number two. Don’t expect her to not come back, bro. She’s only gone for a day or two. She’ll be back when she can’t breathe. Because, nigga, y’all two are like H2O. Y’all need each other, bro,” Banga said.
“I hear you, but she really gone about the bitch, Tracy. I had to slap the hoe down.”
“Why?” Banga asked.
“Because she was all in a nigga business. That hoe brainwashed my bitch.”
“No, I think prison did,” Banga suggested.
“Yeah.”
“You ever thought what it would have been like with Rebecca in the picture?” Bang asked.
Hearing Rebecca’s name caused Smooth to feel a little grief.
“Always, bro,” Smooth said.
“Naw, bro. I’m talking about how China would have dealt with you giving her a kid before you could give China one.”
“She wasn’t upset when I told her,” Smooth reflected on when he had told China about Rebecca’s death.
“Don’t mean she wasn’t feeling some type of way, bro,” Banga said. “Bro, listen. If it’s not just you and China, there’s gonna be conflict. She adopted a double life, bro, and it got between y’all. If she comes back, then she’ll realize that that’s where shit went wrong too,” Banga said.
“You’re right, fam. Thank you,” Smooth said, appreciating Banga bringing light to the situation at hand.
He needed someone to talk to about him and China. It was a relief. He had left Amanda in the hotel room while he stepped outside for some fresh air and to return Banga’s call. He loved China and saw it in her eyes that she loved him too and was unsure if she was making the right decision.
She’ll be back, he thought.
“Bro, don’t beat yourself up. I can hear your stress. Just give her time to get her thoughts in order, bro!” Banga said.
“I’ma do that, bro,” Smooth said.
“Okay, now before I let you go—because I got my bitch waiting on me to wrap up this call—when will you be through? Please tell me soon.”
“I’ma be up here until Sunday. So I’ll be there Monday to drop off something.”
“Good, good. Cause I need it.”
“How much?”
“I need twenty,” Banga replied.
“Okay, but listen. How ’bout we do business at Rimes’s so I ain’t gotta come into Booker Park, because I can’t let Meka see me, bro. I can’t afford the hassle,” Smooth explained.
“We could do that. Just call me when you get up there, and I’ll slide through, bro,” Banga said.
“Alright, bro. That’ll be good. I’ll see you when I touch down,” Smooth said before hanging up the phone.
Smooth so badly wanted to call China, but his pride was now in the way.
She’ll be back, Smooth thought as he headed bac
k up to his hotel room.
20
“Jenny Davis, you have a visit!” the CO announced over the PA system.
Jenny was at the card table playing spades, with Carlisha as her partner.
“There goes that visit you’ve been waiting on,” Carlisha said.
“Yeah, who are you picking as a partner?” Jenny asked, not wanting Carlisha to be in any bitch’s face.
“I guess I’ll pick Nay-Nay,” Carlisha said, looking around for the bad-ass Puerto Rican.
“Don’t play with me, Carlisha,” Jenny said, giving her an evil look. “You had to pick the baddest bitch in the dorm, huh?”
“Stop tripping and go get dressed for your visit,” Carlisha said, calling over Nay-Nay to grab Jenny’s hand.
“Nay-Nay! Come get my baby’s hand!”
Jenny stood up from her seat and handed over her hand to Nay-Nay while still giving Carlisha an evil stare.
“Stop it, boo. I’m not worried about nobody but you, okay?” Carlisha said.
“Okay,” Jenny replied before she strutted away to her cell to prepare for her visit.
Damn! I can’t wait to see my baby! Jenny thought as she changed out of her shorts and sports bra, and put on her visitation clothes.
When Jenny walked into the visitation area, she found sitting at the table with an assortment of food and drinks.
“Hey, honey!” Jenny called as she hugged and kissed China, who kissed her back passionately.
“Okay, ladies. Your minute to kiss is over!” an officer said while breaking up their embrace.
China rolled her eyes at the correctional officer and then sat down with Jenny.
“That hoe just hating ’cause she ain’t got no one to kiss her ugly ass,” China said, causing Jenny to erupt into laughter.
“Girl, you is crazy! How are you?”
“Miserable,” China replied.
“Why? What’s going on?” Jenny asked, seeing the stress on China’s face.
“I left Smooth the other day, and I think I made a mistake,” China explained. “Then I ran Tracy off yesterday.”
