“You look so good, baby, like royalty. No bitch in this place can’t compare to my woman,” Tango complimented me.
I smiled. “You look good too, like a million bucks.”
“You know ya man tries.”
“I know, baby.”
“We comin’ along, ain’t we? I love the way you furnished the place. It looks good.”
“Thank you.”
Eliza was staying with a friend for the night. Tango wanted to have some fun. God knows what else he had planned for us. But I gave it to him, he was spontaneous and outgoing. The club scene didn’t work for him, but he would put all his effort into trying to please me and make me happy.
When the meal came, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish it all. It was just too much. They sure gave you your money’s worth here. But I was going to try. I remembered plenty of days when I went hungry, not knowing when I was going to have my next meal and believe me, everything nourishing to my body, I didn’t take for granted; nothing was about to go to waste. Tango started digging into his dish. He ate like a hungry man and didn’t care who was watching him. He still had somewhat of that prison mentality inside of him at the dinner table. I had to school him most times, remind him that he wasn’t locked up anymore and he could take his time consuming his meal.
While we dined, I asked him, “So how’s work?”
“Work is good, baby. I’m catching on and the bosses’ are happy with my job performance. I really like my job,” he proclaimed.
“Really.” I raised my eyebrow almost shouting out, “Nigga, please.” I had a feeling that he was lying to my face. I started to think and analyzed the situation. He did bring home paystubs, but he never brought home any work tools. And I noticed his hands; especially his fingernails were too clean for him to be doing construction. And then how was he able to afford so much so quickly? So many questions and not any answers. I couldn’t deal with dating another man in the game, and now that I was pregnant with his child, it was even more critical between him and me.
“Tango, have you been honest with me?” I asked.
“Yeah, baby. Why the third degree so suddenly, babe?” he replied calmly.
“How can we afford to eat here, Tango? My dish alone is almost fifty dollars, and then the wine and the rent-a-car ya driving. The furniture. What is all this?”
“I’ve been workin’ hard, baby, trying to provide for my family. And the car, my peoples hooked me up.”
His peoples. His peoples were always hooking him up with something, from money, pussy, to driving a nice-looking Intrepid. What else were they hooking him up with?
I looked at him. I didn’t know what to respond with. My heart felt heavy because my womanly instincts told me that he was somehow back in the streets and doing something crazy out there. I wanted to believe Tango, but it was hard to, especially with the money I found in the closet.
Tango sat there so cool that he looked like a snowman. It was the right time to tell him the news.
“You need to provide all right, and do it the right way,” I replied, sitting up and looking at him intently. “I’m pregnant.”
The look on his face showed he was shocked. “What? You pregnant?”
I nodded.
“Oh shit, baby. You about to have my baby, seriously?” he exclaimed excitedly.
I thought the entire restaurant heard him. He was ecstatic and smiling largely.
“Yes, Tango, I’m about to have your baby, so you need to start being honest wit’ me about everything,” I stated seriously.
“Baby, I am being honest wit’ you.”
“Then explain the fifteen thousand I found in the bedroom closet.”
“The what?”
“Tango don’t play fuckin’ stupid wit’ me,” I cursed abruptly.
“Why you in my shit?”
“It’s my place too,” I spat out.
I found our special dinner turning into a nightmare.
“I worked hard for that.”
“Doin’ what?”
He didn’t answer me. He scowled. He sat back in his seat and looked like the cat caught his tongue. It was clear he was hiding something. A guilty man he was. I saw the future of him, or us, falling apart if he didn’t quit whatever illicit act he was doing.
“You need to stop it,” I sternly said to him. “If we gonna be a family, Tango, then whatever shit you doin’ out there, stop it. I’m pregnant wit’ ya child and my heart can’t take if you get locked up or killed out here. I love you.”
All he could do was look at me. My eyes were hard and my heart was on pins and needles.
“I’m not gonna get locked up, baby, or killed,” he replied.
“How you know? Do you see the future? You Superman out there on these streets, huh? You’re on parole, baby, and any violation, they gonna send ya ass back to jail. I already have one baby father incarcerated, I don’t need another. ’Cause I swear to you, I will abort this child out my damn womb because I refused to raise two babies by myself,” I proclaimed through my clenched teeth. I wasn’t having it. I meant every word of it. I would be a fool to keep this child inside of me when the man I loved was risking his own fuckin’ life or freedom.
Things were becoming heated in the restaurant. It looked like I was getting through to Tango. But he replied, “It’s hard out there, Mouse, and I’m only tryin’ to make it right for us.”
“You think I wanna put up wit’ this, Tango? I’m tired, baby. I don’t need that type of drama in my life. I went through it wit’ one man. I’m not gonna go through the same shit wit’ the next one. I will walk, Tango. I swear to you, I will fuckin’ walk and not look back.”
I didn’t want to walk away from him and the new life we started to build together. I was scared. I couldn’t go back to staying with Erica and working the track. Just the thought of it was making me sick to my stomach. It felt great to have my own place. And if I had to work three fuckin’ jobs to maintain and feed my daughter, then so be it. But I refused to go backward. I refused to go back to the shelter. I was tired of everything, from the streets to the evil I felt surrounding me.
The tears ran down my face and my eyes were saddened by the uncertainty of my future or our future. I wanted Tango to be the one, but he lied to me. And I was scared to ask how he was making that much money. Was it dealing drugs or something much more sinister?
“You don’t need to walk away, baby. I’m done wit’ it. I promise you. I can’t lose you,” he said.
“Don’t tell me shit you think I want to hear, tell me the truth.”
“It’s the truth, baby. What I made, we can make good on. It’s enough to keep our heads above the water,” he said.
“And is the construction job for real?” I asked.
“It’s not.”
“So you lied to me.”
“I know and I’m sorry.”
I took a deep breath. I hated when someone lied to me. I hated when the man I loved lied to me. My look toward him was disappointment and uncertainty. But he made a promise to me and I felt he would uphold his promise. I really didn’t want to walk away. I didn’t want to do this by myself. Tango was a good man to my daughter and he was a great man to me. He rarely talked about his past. From what I knew, he used to be a bad-ass muthafucka back in the days and had the hood on lockdown. But now he was supposed to be a changed man. I would think doing ten years’ hard time would change any man. And he wasn’t getting any younger. He had this good pussy to come home to and a good woman attached to it. Why would any nigga want to fuck it up?
“I won’t lie to you again, baby,” he assured me.
I could only look at him and hope he was for real. I didn’t want our relationship to go sour. I took a chance allowing him into my life and my daughter’s life and the thing I feared the most was it coming back on me, thinking that whoever he harmed out there wouldn’t hesitate to come harm his family in retaliation.
“Just love me and be honest wit’ me, Tango, that’s all
I ask.”
“And I will.”
We continued our talk and our dinner. It would have been a shame to ruin such a lovely evening. We had dessert and our quality time was good. We spent over two hours in the restaurant. When the bill finally came, it was almost $200. Tango pulled out his wad of cash while all the other patrons in the place were paying via credit or debit card. We looked so ghetto fabulous when Tango peeled off several twenties and a fifty to pay with.
We had to do better.
After dinner, Tango and I drove to Times Square and took a walk around there. We held hands, conversed, and enjoyed the peaceful and warm evening. Spring was almost here. It felt good not being bundled up in a winter coat and gloves, but to show off my outfit and walk freely among the crowd of people in the square and take in some decent entertainment. In the city, I felt like someone else. I wasn’t Hector’s daughter. I wasn’t that bad-ass gangster bitch representing EBV or Edenwald. I wasn’t that prostitute sucking dick in the front seat of a car or fucking tricks for money. I was just me, Mouse, a beautiful woman out with her man and enjoying the evening. No one looked at me funny and no one was judging me.
After Times Square, Tango and I went for a walk in Riverside Park, where the Hudson River and the New Jersey shoreline across the bay provided the most beautiful view during the night. Tango held me in his arms and once again proclaimed his love for me.
I was all smiles.
I didn’t want this feeling and this moment to ever end.
Chapter Thirty
Tango
Tango navigated the rented Intrepid through the busy Manhattan streets with Mouse nestled comfortably underneath his arms. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm around her. She was half asleep. He was all smiles. Despite the minor mishap over dinner at the Blue Hill restaurant about his occupation and the money she found in the closet, it was a marvelous evening. He couldn’t believe that he was about to become a father again. Mouse was going to be his seventh baby mama with his next youngest child. He hasn’t seen or spoken to any of his kids in years. But he felt that this one was going to be different. Boy or girl, he was going to be in his child’s life no matter what.
He made a promise to Mouse, to stop his dangerous activity on the streets. That meant no more killing. He had lots of blood on his hands, already committing several murders and he had gotten word on the streets that he was on Young Gangster Crew’s most targeted list. Tango found out through a friend that there was a pricey bounty on his head. A snitch reported to YGC that they noticed Tango lingering around a few victims before their demise. They put two and two together, noticing how the bloodshed started up right after Tango’s release. But now he kept a low profile and killed with subtly, so he thought.
Tango squeezed his woman tight. He couldn’t wait to get back home and spend some more quality time with his woman. He was ready for some intimacy. Mouse always had him aroused, and the fact that she was pregnant and having his baby, he couldn’t wait to get some of that pregnant pussy. He was excited. The only thing that worried Tango was income. With him giving up killing, how would he make his money? He didn’t have any legal work experience or carry any trade. The only thing he knew was the streets. He had been conniving his parole officer. The bitch was too stupid to tell fake paystubs from real ones or his peoples was just that good in forging fake documents. But he knew a good thing never lasted for too long. He had to find new means of employment somehow.
He was cruising on the Bruckner Expressway, in the Bronx and going to check on Eliza. Then after that, head back home and be in good hands for the remainder of the night.
Tango drove through the Bronx streets. It was late. He listened to Hot 97 and made a left on Third Avenue. Once on Third Avenue, Tango glanced into his rearview mirror and had the assumption that he was being followed. It felt like the same headlights had been trailing him since he crossed over the Willis Avenue Bridge.
Mouse was sleeping, so he didn’t want to disturb her, or even worse, scare her. His pistol was underneath the driver’s seat and plus he had a .38 in the glove compartment. He drove carefully and continuously looked through his rearview mirror to see if his belief was right. He knew he was right; there was a car following them. Tango kept his cool and his speed limit moderate. He continued driving north on Third Avenue. It was almost a ghost town at 3:00 a.m. The shops and bodegas were closed, traffic sparse, and not a resident in sight. It was a part of the Bronx that slept and remained quiet during the afterhours.
Tango came to a stop at a red light, and with the car idling at the intersection he slowly reached underneath his seat to remove his pistol without trying to wake up Mouse. He kept cool and breathed easily. His attention was fixated in the rearview mirror, watching the following car approach closer and closer. In his mind he felt danger coming his way. It angered him that muthafuckas had the audacity to try him while he was with his woman. But maybe he was jumping to conclusions. It could be nothing, he wanted to believe. But if it wasn’t, then how did they find him? And how did they know it was him?
The car approached slowly and stopped parallel to his ride at the red light. Inside the blue Charger were two black males, very young and looking like thugs. Their rap music blared and they bobbed their heads to the explicit lyrics. Tango gripped his pistol slyly. It was fully loaded and cocked back, ready to start blasting if needed. He glanced into the car and remained deadpan. The two black males glanced his way then averted their eyes from him.
Once again, it could be nothing, or something; Tango wasn’t about to take that chance. Mouse was with him and he would do anything to protect her. He raised his pistol slightly while his right arm was still wrapped around Mouse. His foot was on the brake and he was ready to react.
The two males glanced his way again and then smirked. It seemed like the red light was taking forever to change back to green. He was out in the open, feeling vulnerable. Things were becoming too on edge.
The light finally changed green and the Charger drove off, not being a threat. But the real threat came out of nowhere. All of a sudden multiple shots were fired at his car. It came from two black male pedestrians emerging from out of nowhere. They rushed his way with their guns blazing. His car was under fire. Mouse woke up to the frightful sound and screamed with the passenger glass shattering around her. Tango slammed Mouse down into the seat, returned fire, and then pressed down on the accelerator. The car sped away at a high speed with the passenger windows shattering as bullets ripped through the car. He could still hear the shots ringing out. Tango drove several blocks away from the gunmen, thankfully escaping the threat. Mouse couldn’t stop screaming and panicking though. One minute she was sleeping and comfortable with her man; next thing she knew, she woke up frightfully startled in a war zone.
“What the fuck, Tango! What is goin’ on?” she screamed.
Tango didn’t answer her. His attention was on the streets. He drove fast and constantly kept looking in his mirrors to see if anyone was following him. They had set him up. He was furious. He thanked God that he survived the hit, because it was amateur hour. But Mouse could have been killed, and if that had happened, then Tango would have rained down some biblical shit on everyone in the Bronx.
Mouse couldn’t stop shaking. She continued shouting. She wanted to know what had happened. Why were they shooting at them? “Answer me, Tango!” she heatedly screamed. She even physically tried to attack Tango while he was driving almost causing him to sideswipe a parked car.
Tango was highly angry. He frowned. His blood was boiling. Muthafuckas had the audacity to try to kill him and his bitch on this perfect evening. The only thing on his mind was revenge, death.
“You better tell me sumthin’, Tango. What the fuck!” Mouse shouted. She continued to punch and smack Tango as he was behind the wheel.
Tango had to pull to the side and park the car. Mouse was going to make them crash. He climbed out of the car to think and to get away from Mouse. But Mouse wasn’t having it
, though. She jumped out too and ran around the car and continued hitting on Tango, punching him in his chest, shoving him, and wanting to know who tried to kill them.
“I fucked up, all right!” Tango screamed back.
“What are you talkin’ about, you fucked up! What did you do?” Mouse was crying. She was still shaky and couldn’t believe what had happened. The rent-a-car was shot up; bullet holes were in the doors and the windows shot out completely. The front seat had shards of glass in it and they didn’t know where the gunmen were at.
“What did you do?” Mouse asked intensely.
Tango gazed at his woman. He raised his arms and locked his fingers behind his head. He exhaled noisily, trying to keep his cool. It didn’t feel safe. He wanted to console her and let her know everything was going to be okay. He was going to take care of everything, and do it his way. But the way Mouse looked at him, it seemed like she didn’t want any more dealings with him. She seemed fed up. He became nervous; he felt his worst nightmare was about to come true, that she would walk away from him and leave him for good.
“Baby, I can fix this.”
“Fix what? They tried to kill us, Tango. They shot at us!” Mouse screamed so loudly, her voiced echoed for blocks.
“We need to get back in the car and go,” he suggested.
Mouse walked around hysterically. She didn’t sign up for this shit. Tango had his fist clenched and holding the pistol in the other hand. It was still outside. The section they stopped at felt like a standstill. As Mouse ranted, Tango repeatedly looked around the area, keeping his guard up and making sure they didn’t come back to finish the job. YGC and Power had to be the ones behind the attempt on his life. He knew it.
“I’ll tell you everything, baby, but we just need to go, get out of sight,” he said.
Mouse looked reluctant. She gazed at Tango with so much discontent that she wanted to walk away and not get back inside the car with him. It had been such a lovely evening, and then it all went to waste. She had so many high hopes and dreams for them; now his past or his stupidity was coming back to haunt them, or most likely, destroy them both.
La Familia 2 Page 22
