La Familia 2

by Paradise Gomez

  I swallowed the feeling called pride and decided to take the first step. I walked her way. We both were fixated on each other. There was still some tension between us. The last time we spoke it was on a sour accord. I took what felt like my umpteenth deep breath and coolly said to Mouse, “How you been?”

  “Look, if you came over to gloat ’cause you got some nigga pushin’ you in a Bentley, then don’t,” she snapped at me.

  “First of all, I didn’t come over for that. That’s ya fuckin’ problem, Mouse, you always jump to conclusions. I just fuckin’ came over to say hi,” I retorted.

  We both scowled. It was already starting off rocky and fucked up. I was ready to walk away and say fuck this shit, but I didn’t. My sandals stayed rooted to the ground in front of her. It felt like some invisible force was keeping me there. I said to myself, let’s try this again. At first, it wasn’t going too good. We both had a lot on our minds and frustration that we yearned to release.

  “You know you a foul bitch, Sammy. I trusted you and you fuck my man behind my back?” she exclaimed.

  I countered with, “I warned you ‘bout that grimy nigga in the first fuckin’ place, Mouse. You don’t ever fuckin’ listen!”

  “So you ain’t had to fuck him! You were my friend, my sister!”

  “And I said I was sorry.”

  “Eso fue asqueroso. Has estado una perra,” Mouse hollered.

  “Mouse, no he venido a discutir,” I shouted back, saying I didn’t come to argue with her.

  Our words were harsh at each other. We yelled and pointed fingers at each other. We started to draw attention to ourselves. We cursed each other out in English and in Spanish. It got to the point where we started drawing a larger crowd near us and then we both felt we were disrespecting Crystal’s family and Crystal at her funeral. We took our conversation a block away to talk privately.

  Alone and away from everybody, we both seemed to cool down. We had allowed our emotions to get the better of us.

  “Mouse, I’m so sorry about everything that happened. If I could change time, you know I would and take away the hurt that I caused you. But I can’t. I miss you. You were my best friend and the one person I could always talk to,” I confessed. “And look at us; we fought over Rico. Are we serious? He’s an asshole.”

  Mouse chuckled slightly. “Yeah, he is an asshole,” she agreed with me with a minor smile.

  With everything that was going on, my emotions started to get the best of me and my eyes started leaking like a faucet.

  “I’m sorry too, Sammy. I just got caught up in everything and I wanted to have true love, but it was all a lie. I missed you too,” Mouse proclaimed genially.

  We had been away from each other for too long. It felt like we were falling apart without each other. I was the glue; she was the stitch. We hugged each other and reconciled right there at Crystal’s funeral. It felt like her death was bringing our friendship back together again. We realized life was too short and we couldn’t take the little things for granted. We needed each other to survive in this ugly and forever changing world.

  Mouse needed my friendship again and I needed someone to deeply confide to.

  It was still a little rocky between us, but we were patching things up and trying to make us solid again. I didn’t want argue anymore and I didn’t want to lose her again. Mouse and I had history; she was as much a part of me as I was of her.

  When I left the funeral home I had all the contact information I needed to reach Mouse. She had moved back into Edenwald, but she was about to move soon and she wasn’t staying too far from me. We promised to link up with each other the following day and catch up on lost time. With our reconciliation, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

  I couldn’t wait to talk to her. I had so many things to tell her about and I was sure she felt the same way.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Tango

  Tango played with Eliza in the living, pretending to be the boogie man, but with a large smile and goofy attitude. The one-year-old laughed and giggled loudly as Tango tickled her and swung her around the room like she was a bird. He was great with her. It was obvious Eliza was very comfortable around him. He didn’t mind babysitting while Mouse went to her friend’s funeral. He made snacks, they watched cartoons, and he was being a father to her. It was his family now, and he didn’t care about Rico. Rico was incarcerated and missing out on a good thing: family.

  It was getting late and Tango put Eliza to bed. He read her a bedtime story and tucked her in, and then he kissed her on her forehead and smiled. She was an angel in his eyes and he wanted to be in her life. Tango slowly shut the door and went into the living room. His mother was in her bedroom sleeping. He was alone for now. He went to the window and gazed outside. It was dark out and Mouse hadn’t come home yet. He wasn’t too worried about her. She was a big girl who could handle herself and he trusted her.

  He didn’t feel remorseful about murdering her friend, Crystal. It was just a job he had to perform. Crystal was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. She had seen his face. He had to protect himself and his family. But it did hurt him to see Mouse cry in his arms for hours. He consoled her. He felt he had no choice. He was responsible, but she would never find out because Tango planned on taking it to his grave. If the truth ever came out, there was no doubt in his mind that she would leave him for good. He could never lose her. Mouse thought he was working an honest job doing construction; she had no idea that he became a killer for hire.

  Tango remained still by the living room window, watching the activity below his apartment. He lit a cigarette and observed the local hustlers hugging the block and the fiends continuously back and forth lurking for their next fix. With the weather becoming warmer it brought out everyone, from the hardworking residents to the despicable who swamped the neighborhood with their bad habits and transgressions.

  Tango puffed and exhaled. Killing Dodo and Crystal didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. He was five grand richer and able to do for his family. That’s the only thing that mattered to him: providing.

  Mike wanted him to do another hit. This time it was brothers: double the pay, five grand for them both. That was $10,000 in his pocket and he could do a lot with ten grand. He knew Tango was able to handle it, pull it off smoothly and be ghost. Mike was content with the Dodo hit. Tango accepted the job; now it was a matter of timing.

  From the window, Tango saw Mouse on her way home. She had walked from the funeral home to the projects. He smiled. He missed her. He doused his cigarette and planned to greet her as she stepped into the apartment.

  Moments later, he heard her fidgeting with the lock and she entered. The minute Mouse walked into the apartment, Tango snatched his woman into his arms and hugged and kissed her passionately. It was an unexpected greeting for Mouse, but she was thrilled to have a man miss her the way he did.

  “I missed you, baby,” said Tango amicably.

  “Where’s Eliza?”

  “She’s ’sleep. I put her to bed an hour ago.”

  “How was she? She wasn’t too much trouble?”

  “She was fine. We had a good time. We played, watched cartoons, ate junk food, and she wore me out,” said Tango.

  Mouse smiled broadly.

  Tango squeezed his woman gently in his arms and said, “Now it’s your turn to wear me out.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yup.”

  The two kissed. Tango didn’t ask her how the funeral was because he didn’t care. Mouse seemed to be okay, being in a good mood. He just wanted some pussy. It seemed like they both were in a good mood. Mouse was happy to see Sammy again and having their much-needed talk. Tango wanted to love his woman down. He guided her toward the couch and pulled her down on top of him, where she straddled him. They kissed again and his hand was up her shirt, squeezing her tit. But before anything got started, Mouse said, “Let me go check on Eliza.”

  She removed herself
from his lap and went into the bedroom. The door was ajar; she peered inside to see her daughter sleeping soundly. It was so angelic. Mouse smiled. She went into the bedroom and kissed her daughter on her soft, rosy cheeks.

  “Things are definitely getting better, Eliza,” Mouse whispered in the room. “Yes, they are. I have a good man in my life and he seems to be a keeper, and tomorrow, you gonna meet my best friend. We came a long way, baby girl, and Mommy is always gonna be around to protect you. I love you.”

  Once again, she kissed her daughter on the cheek and went back into the living to join Tango. He was seated on the couch buck-naked with his cock out, rock hard and ready for her to ride it.

  “Tango!” Mouse shrieked lightly. “Oh my God.”

  “What? I told you that I missed you.”

  “I see you did.” Mouse smiled provocatively.

  Tango definitely knew how to make a bad day good.

  The life he was now leading, it was natural to lie to his significant other. When Tango called Mouse to say he was going to be home late from work, Mouse asked why. “Some of my coworkers wanna take me out for a few drinks tonight, to celebrate my first month on the job,” he lied. It came easily, one lie after another. But Tango felt he was protecting his woman from the truth. He was out stalking the Broughton brothers, Penn and Reason. They were also YGC and heavy in the streets and definitely no stranger to guns, drugs, and some murders.

  Tango got an address for them, learned their habits, and knew about their location, their favorite places to be. He moved around them like their own shadow. He was ready to strike. He was ready to get paid.

  The brothers stayed in a three-story tenement off of Jerome Avenue. Security was weak and the neighborhood was high with crime. Tango easily fit right in. He took the stairway to their third-floor apartment and effortlessly broke into their apartment using a pick and tension wrench. He already knew the Broughton brothers weren’t home. They were at the local bar drinking. It’s what they did: drink and have a reckless lifestyle with women. And he also knew they lived alone. Tango carefully went through the untidy apartment with dirty dishes in the sink, scattered clothes everywhere, remnants of drug use on the table, the trashcan overflowing with rubbish and a few guns being out in the open. It was the typical gangster pad. It was sloppy and Tango winced from the smell.

  He took his position in the place. In one hand was a wooden baseball bat; in the next was a 9 mm. Now all he had to do was sit and wait and let his victims come to him.

  Two hours later the front door opened and there was loud talking. The brothers had arrived home unaware that they had unwanted company. Penn was talking and cursing. Reason followed his older brother with the alcohol making him move sluggishly. They moved their way around the dark apartment and turned on the lights.

  Reason plopped down on the couch and was ready to pass out. Penn removed the pistol from his waistband and placed it on the table along with his other collections of guns. He was ready to roll up some weed and relax with his brother. However, the minute Reason closed his eyes to rest and Penn settled in being unarmed and kicking off his shoes Tango emerged from his hiding place and attacked. He moved like lightning and struck like thunder. The baseball bat smashed against Reason’s head, mashing his skull, and he toppled out of the chair and fell to the ground. He was fucked up. Penn went to reach for his gun but Tango was all over him, pistol whipping him with the butt of the gun and knocking him down to the floor.

  Reason was knocked out cold from the blow, but Penn was conscious, bleeding from his head and scowling at Tango. He gazed up at the pistol aimed at him and cursed, “What the fuck, muthafucka!”

  Tango had no reason to explain himself. He was there to execute a job. With no hesitation, he gripped the bat like Derek Jeter on the baseball field about to hit a homerun and swung at Reason; it almost took his head off. The Louisville Slugger smashed against his face spewing blood and immediately breaking his nose and then his jaw. Tango continually hit him with the bat so many times his body became unrecognizable. His face looked like ground meat. He broke every bone in the man’s face and a pool of blood expanded underneath the body. To add insult to injury, Tango shot him multiple times.

  Reason suffered the same fate. The baseball bat destroyed his slim body, almost breaking him into two pieces. Tango went ham on the little brother, knocking out teeth, crushing skull, breaking his nose, shattering his eye socket; and shot him multiple times in the face too. It was a nasty and appalling message, both bodies mangled with sick brutality.

  Tango left the place coolly. It was back home to his woman. He needed to lie in her arms and take his mind away from work. When he arrived at his apartment, Mouse was sleeping with Eliza cuddled in her arms in his bed. Tango removed his clothing knowing it was contaminated with DNA evidence. The first thing tomorrow morning he planned on burning everything like he did before. He put everything in a trash bag, got comfortable in some basketball shorts and a wife beater, and joined Mouse and Eliza in bed. He nestled behind his woman and held her tight and whispered, “I love you,” in her ear.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Mouse

  It was another beautiful day and I was going to enjoy every minute of it. I was happy. It finally felt like my life was going from shit to sugar. The landlord handed us the keys to our new apartment and we were about to move in, in a few days. I couldn’t wait. It wasn’t the house I shared with Rico last year, but it was something. It was ours, Tango’s and mine. It was going to be our home. Tango put down a $3,000 down payment, which was a security deposit along with first and last months’ rent. We were ready to go. We were ready to move out of Eden War.

  After securing the apartment, he took me shopping. It wasn’t Fifth Avenue in Manhattan or any upscale stores, but the department stores on Jerome Avenue. He bought me and Eliza a few things, even got Eliza her first stroller. I was content. I needed an upgrade. I had my Nikes, some Phat Farm, and some new earrings. Tango didn’t buy anything for himself. When I urged him to, he said next time. The day was all about me. He always put me first and just for that, I was ready to suck his dick for an hour.

  I exited the lobby pushing Eliza in her stroller. I was nervous and excited, ambivalent. I planned on meeting with Sammy today in the park. We were supposed to meet previously, but our plans got postponed because something came up on her end. It was sixty degrees outside. The moment I stepped out of the building, I took a deep breath and inhaled the warm weather into my lungs. Oh my God, I wished it could feel like this every day, just temperate and joyous. Everybody was coming outside to enjoy the day. It couldn’t be wasted spent inside.

  I walked to the playground on Crawford Avenue but Sammy wasn’t there yet. She said by 2:00 p.m., but I was ten minutes early. I took a seat on the bench and let Eliza out of the stroller to play. The park wasn’t crowded. It was a weekday, school was still in session and people were at work, so I had some solitude to myself to think and chill out. I couldn’t wait to see Sammy’s son. He was a few months younger than Eliza and belonged to Rico too. Thinking about that fact, it put a sour taste in my mouth, so I quickly had to think about something else before my mood changed for the worse.

  Eliza didn’t seem to be in the playful mood; in fact, she seemed cranky. I had to put her back in her stroller. I figured she was tired. I had a bottle ready for her and she drank half of it and went to sleep in the park. I lit a cigarette and waited for Sammy to show up, hoping she didn’t stand me up.

  A half hour went by and still no Sammy. I was starting to think she played me. I was getting upset. I felt stupid, naïve. I wanted to vent. I lit another cigarette and gave her another fifteen minutes to show; if not, then our friendship would be definitely over. I sat for another five when I saw Sammy entering the park pushing a stroller. I felt relieved; she wasn’t playing me. She was hurrying my way looking nice in her designer jeans, white Nikes, and fall jacket, with her long, sensuous hair falling down to her back.

  Sammy smiled at me.


  We hugged each other and the first thing we did was take to each other’s babies.

  “Oh my God, is that her?” Sammy said, staring down at my sleeping Eliza with a smile. “She’s so adorable. She looks just like you.”

  “Thank God for that,” I said.

  She laughed. “I know right.”

  I looked at Danny and he was too cute. Sammy had him in Sean John and he already had a head full of dark black hair.

  “He’s so handsome already,” I said, but the sad news to me was he looked like Rico in all areas.

  “I know. He’s gonna be my little heartthrob when he gets older,” said Sammy.

  Danny was awake and moving around in his stroller, looking so energetic. I had to pick him up and hold him in my arms. He took to me already. I held him gently in my arms and grinned. He chuckled at me and made me wish I had a son too; but Eliza was still my baby who I loved to death.

  “He’s getting big already.”

  “Yup, pushed him out at six pounds and eleven ounces,” she said.

  “Eliza was seven pounds and eleven ounces.”

  “Whoa, she was a big girl.”

  “Tell me about it. She stretched my pussy out like a rubber band. She didn’t know Mama still had use for her vagina,” I joked.

  Sammy laughed and commented with, “I know right.”

  We admired and complimented each other’s babies and had causal talk. At first it did feel awkward being around her again, but as we talked, our old selves started to come back out. I sat down on the bench holding Danny. Sammy sat beside me. I couldn’t let this snuggle of joy go from my arms. It felt like I could hold him forever. We talked about our kids, the baby formula we fed them or if we breastfed our babies. The ice was breaking between us and it felt good.

  Danny was falling asleep in my arms. Sammy took him from me and placed him back into his stroller. Now both our kids were sleeping.

  I sighed. Where did we start? “So how’s life?” I asked.