by K'wan
His cell going off letting him know he had a text message snapped him out of his lustful fantasy about Kelly. The text was from his lil home girl and though it was only one word it spoke in volumes.
Food.
Chapter 31
Ras’s Lexus looked like a shiny windup toy double parked on the corner of 131st and Seventh. He had just got the sleek black car detailed and applied two extra coats of polish to the rims so that everyone would notice him when he rolled through the hood. He sat on the hood in his gangsta lean looking like new money, dressed in a Gucci jacket and crisp jeans cuffed over his Gucci shoes. His heavy gold chain swung from his neck with the sun bouncing off the clear diamonds in the medallion. He checked the hour on his gold watch for the fifth time in as many minutes, wondering what was taking his shorty so long to come down. As if on cue he spotted her making her way through the projects.
Mimi turned every head when she came strutting down the pathway to the avenue. She was a tiny thing of five-five with porn star curves and pouty pink lips. She was dressed in a black leather miniskirt that strained to hold her shapely thighs and the matching jacket with high red boots. Her long, plum-colored hair blew in the wind when she moved like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. The shirt she wore beneath the leather ensemble was cut so low that you could see the five tiny stars tattooed across her breasts. Ras couldn’t help but to smile at the sight of Mimi and the larcenous stares she was getting from the guys. They could look all they wanted, but they would never be able to touch because she belonged to him.
“Hey, daddy.” Mimi stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Ras’s neck. She kissed Ras passionately while his hands explored her ass, not caring who was watching.
“I missed you, baby,” Ras said tenderly.
“Not as much as I’ve missed you.” Mimi gave him another peck on the lips for good measure. “You be so busy lately that I never get to see you, so I look forward to the little bit of time that you make to spend with me.”
“I know, baby, but I’m working on it. Once I find some trustworthy guys to replace the ones I lost in the last raid I can kick back for a minute,” he said, thinking of the lieutenants he had been meaning to replace for the last few weeks. With Ras overseeing everything and not having to pay lieutenants it meant extra money in his pocket, so he was taking his time about hiring help just yet.
“If you want, I could reach out to some of the guys in my hood. I know them niggaz are always thirsty for a come up,” Mimi offered.
“Nah, boo. I don’t want you fucking around out there in them streets, you ain’t from that and I wanna keep it that way,” Ras said in an attempt to be noble.
“Damn, you’re so protective when it comes to me.” She blushed.
“Of course, you know what you mean to me.”
“Awww.” She batted her eyes. “I’m ya lil mama?” she asked with a devilish grin.
“Haven’t you always been?” Ras smiled. “Now let’s go so we can catch this flick. After we leave the movies we’ve got dinner reservations at this joint downtown.” Ras held the door for Mimi as she oozed into the Lexus.
Feeling someone watching her, Mimi looked up and spotted some dudes she knew from her neighborhood. She could tell that they were up to no good from the way they were sizing Ras and his car up. Mimi waited until she had established eye contact with them and gave them a half grin. It was a look that most people knew too well, and enough to convey her message to them. The boys saluted her and stalked off, mumbling with themselves about having to find another victim. Ras looked like fresh meat, but it would be less of a headache for them to find another victim than to tangle with Mimi over something she had already laid claim to.
Normally they would’ve gone to the movies downtown, but Mimi insisted they drive out to Queens instead. When Ras complained about the distance she told him that it was one of the few that were still showing Avatar in 3D and she didn’t want to be cheated out of the effect as it would be her first time seeing it. The theater Mimi selected was a beat-up-looking movie house in a run-down part of town. Ras didn’t like it and had even considered going back to the car for his gun, but Mimi was already pulling him inside so they could catch the beginning of the movie.
When they walked into the screening room their eyes and noses were assaulted by the heavy stench of weed smoke and alcohol. The crowd was made up of mostly young, rowdy kids and a few working-class-looking people scattered here and there. Navigating the sticky floor Ras and Mimi made their way down to the front/center row where they settled in to watch the coming attractions. Ras gave a cautious look around to make sure nobody was watching before drawing Mimi’s attention to the heart-shaped box he pulled from his jacket.
“What’s this?” Mimi looked at the box curiously.
“Just open it,” he urged her.
Mimi opened the box and inside there was a beautiful white gold necklace with tiny diamond stars between the links. “Oh, my God, this is so beautiful! What did I do to deserve this?”
Ras had been preparing this speech in his head for a week, but when the time came he drew a blank so he just spoke from his heart. “Well, we’ve been seeing each other for a while now, but I want it to be official. I want you to be my girl, Mimi.” He kissed her.
“Of course I will, daddy.” Mimi planted kisses all over his lips and face. “Help me put it on.” She turned her back to him and lifted her hair. The necklace looked beautiful on Mimi, stopping just short of the tattoos across her breasts. “I love it.”
“And I love you,” Ras said with moist eyes. It was a good thing that the lights went out for the movie to start or Mimi might’ve seen the tear slide down Ras’s cheek.
Mimi snuggled close to Ras and kissed him softly on the throat. “You know I kinda feel bad that you’ve blessed me with this nice gift and I don’t have anything for you.”
“You just being here with me is enough, Mimi,” Ras told her.
“Nah, it’s not enough for me. I might not have a nice piece of jewelry to give you, but I’ve got something I was supposed to give you a long time ago.” Mimi popped the buttons on his shirt and started kissing him from his neck down to his stomach. She undid his pants and played with his dick until it was hard. “You want this?” she asked, licking gently around the head of his dick.
“You know I do,” he panted, forcing her head down. Mimi began to work him expertly with her mouth, locking her thumb and index finger around his shaft and jerking it slowly. Her tongue danced under his balls sending a shiver so intense up his back that Ras had to pull her head away. “Damn, hold on.”
“What’s the matter? You don’t like it?” She kissed his neck and continued jerking him.
“I love it.”
“Then let me work,” she told him and pushed him back. Mimi popped the top off her large soda and slurped up some of the ice. “You’re gonna love this,” she said, dipping her head back into his lap. With the ice in her mouth Mimi began to suck him off at various speeds, spitting down the side of his shaft to keep it slick. She was having so much fun getting Ras off that she could feel her own juices soaking through her thong. Mimi stimulated herself with her finger and kept her focus on Ras.
“Damn, this is great!” Ras hissed.
“It’s about to get better,” Mimi said through a mouth full of ice. She worked her head back up Ras’s stomach, leaving a trail of moisture from her mouth. She ran her hands through the fluid and traced lines all over Ras’s face. “Does this feel good, daddy?”
“Umm hmm,” he moaned as she nibbled at the vein in his throat.
“Good.” She flicked her tongue along the roof of her mouth. “Now that you’re all relaxed, it’s time for your real present.”
“And what’s that, baby?” Ras asked with his eyes closed.
The soft brush of her tongue across his neck turned into a searing pain and Ras’s eyes snapped open. In the dim light of the theater he could see his bloodstained shirt and the cold eyes of his lover. Mimi�
��s chin was smeared with blood and a razor was pinched between her lips. Feeling his hurt over her betrayal numbed Ras to the pain and he made a mad lunge for her, but Mimi slipped over the chair and was crouched behind him. She locked her arm around Ras’s neck and used her weight to apply pressure to the wound, causing the blood to flow more rapidly. Ras tried to stand and it was then he realized that during her seduction Mimi had handcuffed his belt to the cup holder in the arm of the chair.
“My homey, Animal, wanted you to have this,” Mimi whispered in his ear and pulled the razor from one side of his throat to the other.
Chapter 32
Animal was surprised when he came in from a studio session at 11:00 A.M. to find Gucci still in the house. Lately she made it a point to spend more and more time away from the apartment. If she wasn’t out with her mother she was up to God knew what with Tionna. It was as if she was purposely avoiding Animal and it bothered him.
For the last few days Animal had noticed a change in Gucci. They weren’t drastic changes, in fact they were quite subtle. A change in the way she kissed him, the way she parted her hair, very small things. The only reason he noticed them at all was because he had spent the majority of their relationship studying her. The way he studied her wasn’t unlike the way he studied his prey before he took them off the streets, minus the malicious intent. Animal paid close attention to Gucci so that he could learn her and understand better how she needed to be loved. With normal people love was something that flowed naturally and didn’t need to be dissected but Animal was anything but normal.
Animal reasoned that the reason Gucci had been acting so different was because of the time he was spending in the studio. The pressure of being back in New York had started to become too much for him and he found himself becoming more of a killer than a predator and it bothered him. Not really trusting himself to be out and about he stayed locked away in the studio recording music with Chip. At the rate they were going the second album would be almost done by the time he left New York, which couldn’t come soon enough. Animal had thought him coming back to New York would’ve been a blessing, but the unfinished business made it a curse. Once Rico was dead he was on the first thing smoking back to Plano.
Gucci came into the living room dressed only in a short robe and head scarf. When she bent over to pick up the dirty socks Animal had left on the floor he got a clear view of her freshly trimmed nest. Most of Animal’s body was tired but his soldier felt wide awake in his jeans. Peeling himself off the couch he eased behind Gucci and pressed himself against her.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” she said over her shoulder.
“I never do.” Animal ran his hands over her shoulders. “Let’s get one right quick.”
“Boy please.” She shrugged him off her and walked toward the bedroom. “I’ve been laying here in thong damn near every night and you don’t give me so much as a second look before you’re passed out.”
Animal followed her into the bedroom and flopped on the bed. “I’m sorry, baby, you know I be tired after those studio sessions.”
“If you would lay off the weed and sip maybe you’d have some energy left for me when you came in,” she said sharply.
“Gucci, you know I don’t fuck around like that no more.” He tugged at the strings of her robe, but she pulled away.
“Nigga, please, you came in here with the damn Sunkist bottle in your pocket the other night! Animal, I ain’t trying to ride you because you’re grown, but that shit ain’t nothing to play with. What do you think it would do to me if you died over a fucking buzz?”
“Gucci, it wasn’t like that. Me and Soda was fucking around with this record the other night and—”
“Animal, don’t tell me about you and somebody else because I’m not sleeping with Soda, I’m talking about what you’re doing.”
“A’ight, you’re right, Gucci,” he said, more to shut her up than anything. Gucci had a very good point, but he didn’t want to hear it at that moment.
“Tell me anything just to shut me up, huh?” Gucci called him on it. She pulled a pair of jeans from a shopping bag she had tucked in the closet and began taking the tags off.
“Where you off to?” he asked, examining the snug sweater she had laid out to go with the jeans.
“I got a hot date,” Gucci said sarcastically and plucked a pair of bebe heels from the box.
“Gucci, don’t play with me. You know I’d paint this city with a nigga’s blood if I thought you was tipping,” he said seriously.
“Yeah, and I’d slap a double coat on it with your blood and the bitch you called yourself laying up with. Never underestimate a woman scorned, my nigga.” When she began to walk past him, Animal pulled her down onto the bed.
“You know that it’s only you my eyes see and only for you does my heart pump blood.” He planted soft kisses on her face. Animal worked his hand between her legs and flicked her clit.
“Stop it, Tayshawn. I can’t be getting all nasty with you and I gotta meet Tionna in a little while.”
Animal sighed. “Oh, Lord, what are you two up to now?”
“We ain’t up to shit. She wants to treat me to lunch. It’s nice that somebody wants the honor.” Gucci looked him up and down.
“Baby, I know I’ve been MIA, but it was a necessary evil,” he said sincerely. “But I do wanna spend time with you, ma. As a matter of fact, why don’t I treat you and Tionna to lunch?”
“You ain’t gotta do it because you feel like you have to, I want you to do it because you want to,” she said.
“I do want to.” He kissed her. “Let me jump in the shower right quick and we can skate.” Animal peeled off his jeans, which he left in the middle of the floor, and went into the bathroom.
Gucci waited until she heard the shower come on before grabbing his jeans and beginning her inspection. In his wallet there were only business cards and a few back receipts, which Gucci took a second to examine. Satisfied that he hadn’t made any unusual withdrawals or deposits she moved to the prize, which was his BlackBerry. She checked the time and amount of times called from the numbers she didn’t recognize to see if anything looked funny. His call log seemed to be clean, but his texts were a different story. There was a text from someone listed as Lil Mama that simply said Food. She wasn’t sure what it was in reference to, but before it was all said and done she would find out.
Animal took them into Brooklyn for a late lunch and some drinks at a spot called Mojitos. It was a nice Cuban restaurant that sat out of the way just off Flushing Avenue. The food was great and they made original Mojitos with the actual sugarcane. When the waitress was taking them to their seats they passed a table full of well-dressed women who were also enjoying a late lunch. One of them did a double take like she knew Animal from somewhere. Animal acted like he didn’t notice, but Gucci did.
“I like this place, Animal. How’d you find out about it?” Tionna asked as she took her seat. The restaurant was dim and had a very romantic feel to it.
“Some friends and I had a meeting here once,” Animal said, purposely avoiding making eye contact with Gucci who was scowling at him.
“I’ll bet,” Gucci said, studying her menu.
A thin waitress wearing too much eyeliner and steel-toed boots approached the table. “Hello, I’m Francine and I’ll be your server. Is this your first time at Mojitos?”
“He’s been here before.” Gucci cut her eyes at Animal.
“Oh, maybe that’s why you look so familiar,” Francine said pleasantly, which got her a dirty look from Gucci. “Well, today’s specials are—”
“Ah, I already know what I want,” Gucci cut her off. “I’ll have the steak, with the red beans and yellow rice. Tionna, you ready?” Gucci looked at her friend who had a puzzled expression on her face.
“Ah, I guess I’ll go with the chicken,” Tionna said awkwardly.
Francine did her best to overlook Gucci’s attitude and kept it professional. When she took Animal’s o
rder she did so with a smile. “And what can I get for you, love?”
“The coconut shrimp please, sis,” Animal said, trying to hide his embarrassment.
“Okay, I’ll be right back with your orders.” Francine took their menus and went off to place the orders.
“What’s good with you and ol’ girl?” Gucci asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t know, I just felt like there was some kind of connection between y’all. Like you knew each other or something.”
“Gucci, I ain’t never met that broad a day in my life,” Animal declared.
“Why don’t y’all cut it out and play nice?” Tionna interjected. “So, Animal, how do you like being a big star?”
Animal shrugged. “It ain’t really about nothing. Like . . . I don’t feel any different. Mad people know me now, but to me I’m still Animal. The only part I’ll probably get used to is people recognizing me wherever I go. I’m used to moving in silence, ya dig?”
“You know I know,” Tionna said, recalling some of his exploits. “But not for nothing, I’m really proud of you, Animal. Not many get that hand up outta the hood and the ones that do more often than not fuck it up.”
“Yeah, Animal still does stuff that he ain’t got no business doing, but for the most part he keeps his head where it’s supposed to be.” Gucci rested her hand over his on the table and it drained away some of the tension.
“I’ve got a strong lady behind me.” Animal placed his other hand over hers. Just when it seemed like all was right with the world the girl who had been staring at Animal walked over to their table. She was short and thick wearing a navy-blue business suit.
“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you but I wanted to catch you before your food came out. I was wondering if you could sign a few autographs for me and my friends? We’re huge fans of your music.” The girl gazed at Animal dreamily.
Tionna cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Hello, don’t you think it’s a little rude of you to come over here asking for an autograph when you see us having a family meal?”
