The Conglomerate: A Luxorious Tale

by Santiago, Danielle

  Joey shook her head in disbelief while listening to her friend talk. She suddenly felt pissed at herself for not listening to Zay all those years ago. Quietly drinking martini after martini and eating oysters for more than hour Joey listened as Evan recounted her secret life with Gage. Although Evan came clean about many things she didn’t tell the complete truth about the final robbery. Evan did admit that it was a robbery gone wrong versus a drug deal gone as she had told Joey and Cee when they came to get her. She also failed to tell Joey that she had actually killed both men that night. Nor did she reveal the amount of money that she received that night.

  At the end of her bold revelations Evan held up the envelope. “This is information on the dealers that I robbed. Not surprised most of them are dead. The others are dope fiends or cracked out. But, there are three that I believe are very capable of stalking me.” Evan looked to Joey for a response. Sitting tightlipped with a poker face Joey gave none. “Alrighty then,” Evan quipped. “I’m flying out in the morning to see them. I’ll be gone for two days. Three days max.” She studied Joey’s face once more to catch a glimpse of emotion to no avail. “Don’t have anything to say?”

  “Oh I have a lot to say,” Joey chuckled. “But I’m going to keep it short and sweet, for now. First do you think your stalker is the shooter?”

  Evan shrugged, “Honestly I don’t know.”

  “Well I do and I also think that you’re the most selfish, self-serving, manipulative bitch that I’ve ever known.” Joey got up pulled some cash out of her bag and tossed it on the table. “Years ago I was warned about you! I defended you over and over and now I feel like a fucking fool.” Joey walked away angrily.

  Evan pulled out what she knew was more than enough to cover the bill and tip. Tossing it on the table she chased behind Joey catching her in the parking lot.

  “Aye Joe wait.”

  “Leave me alone Evan,” Joey said over her shoulder.

  “No wait a minute,” Evan caught up and grabbed Joey by the shoulder.

  Joey turned around and swatted her arm away. “Didn’t I say leave me the fuck alone.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone! You wanted to have this conversation now you running!”

  “Bitch ain’t nobody running I’m trying hard not to punch you in your fucking face. So I’mma keep it moving ‘til I sober up and calm down.”

  “Punch me for what? Admitting that I made some decisions over a decade ago?”

  Completely disgusted, Joey looked Evan square in the eyes. “I’m angry at you for so many reasons that I can’t even think clearly.” She took a deep breath to collect herself. “I’m mad that you called us to a robbery, lied about it, and then kept us in the black about it all these years. I’m mad that you didn’t come to me weeks ago when the stalking started. But you couldn’t without revealing the truth. I’m mad that your so called dumb decisions ten years ago more than likely cost our best friend’s husband and our employee their lives.” Joey got right in Evan’s face. “Most of all I’m mad that you’re not the person that I believed you to be. I’m about to black out so I suggest you talk to me when you get back from doing what you need to do.” Joey got into her car and peeled away leaving a stunned Evan standing in the middle of the parking lot.

  Watching through high powered binoculars from a few blocks away, Evan’s stalker saw the confrontation between the two best friends. He didn’t know what had been said, but he was pretty certain that the chain of events he’d set off was causing the rift amongst them. The discovery of the rift also confirmed his belief that Joey was tied to Evan’s robbery schemes back in the day. Since he now had that confirmation it was time for Joey catch some of the wrath that had been previously reserved for Evan. Although with Joey he had no plans on wasting time with mind games. Everything with Evan was personal because she had played him. Since he felt that Joey had benefited from his money, it was time for her to pay up plus interest. And he knew just how to get it.

  ***

  Cruising down I-77 south Joey was unable to think straight she was having a really hard time putting the things that Evan had confessed to in perspective. Needing to talk she called dialed Zay’s number, even though she knew that she was facing a huge I told you so. Joey called three times before reaching him.

  “Yo,” Zay answered above the loud music in his background. Joey frowned at her phone. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at Jason’s bar.”

  “I thought you were going to wait for me at the house.”

  “You said that you would be home in an hour. That was two hours ago so I bounced. Meet me over here I rode with Jason.”

  “I’m almost home, I’m buzzed, I’m tired, and I don’t feel like driving all the way back across town. I do need to talk to you though. How long do you are going to be?”

  “As soon as Jason closes up I’ll be home.”

  At home Joey made herself a grape martini then she went into Zay’s smoke stash. She retrieved a swisher sweet cigarillo and two small buds of Kush. Joey split the swisher down the middle emptied the contents, grinded up the buds between her fingertips, and sprinkled the fragrant weed over the cigarillo paper then twisted it up. Joey was an occasional smoker. She’d smoked from time to time with Zay, on vacation, or on days like this when she needed to elevate her thinking.

  With a martini in one hand and a blunt in the other Joey got comfortable on the couch in the family room. For the sake of having some noise in the house she powered the television on. Different parts of Evan’s story played out vividly in Joey’s mind as she smoked and sipped. Joey even began to question her own judgment especially since she’d always fancied herself a good judge of character. The liquor, weed, and the non-stop running began to come down on her and she soon dozed off into a sound sleep.

  At about seven-thirty that morning Zay lightly shook his sleeping wife’s body. Stirring out of her deep sleep, Joey rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked at her husband then at her watch and back at her husband. From his appearance Joey knew that he had just gotten in. “I know you didn’t break day,” she said sitting up.

  “I called you to let you know that some important business came up. You didn’t answer so I text you when you didn’t reply I figured that you were knocked out.”

  Joey peeked at her phone and saw the missed calls and text message. “I smoked some of your Kush, it put me on my ass. I was out before I knew it.”

  “You back on your smoking shit now?”

  “You know how I do?” she replied smiling coyly.

  “Since you smoking,” Zay pulled her close and began kissing her on the neck, “smoke one with me.”

  After eleven years his kisses still made her body shake. “Okay,” she purred.

  “Go upstairs and put something sexy on for me. I’m going to twist up a few and make sure Jason is good.”

  “Jason’s here?”

  “He in the guest room lying down until it’s time for his flight to leave.”

  “Where is he going?”

  “Out west. Go ahead and get right I wanna get up in that for the next couple of hours before we pick up the kids.”

  Obliging her husband Joey retreated to their bedroom. After a quick shower, she covered herself in shimmering lotion and generously sprayed Bvlgari, Zay’s favorite, on her body. Joey smiled at her reflection. She looked damn good in a lace sheer deep purple bra and matching V-string lace thong, especially for a woman that had given birth to four kids. She applied a light gloss to her lips and entered the bedroom. Dressed only in over-sized basketball shorts Zay sat on the California King sized bed with his feet up leaning back against the upholstered tufted headboard puffing on a blunt. A carafe of mimosa that was prepared, two champagne flutes, and a plate of tropical fruits were on the stand next to the bed. Joey picked up the carafe, filled both glasses, and handed one to Zay. Simultaneously he passed the blunt to her. Joey hit a few times, passed it back, picked her glass up, and downed the mimosa causing a sensual
euphoric feeling to come down over her. Sexily she stretched out across the center of the bed.

  Zay slid down next to her, using his hands he navigated her body, simply touching some parts, squeezing, and massaging others. Through the sheer material he gently bit, sucked, and licked her stiff nipples. As his hands neared her throbbing middle she spread her thighs wide giving him great access. Intertwining their tongues they kissed passionately. With his fingertips Zay massaged her clit in a circular motion making her completely melt and moan in pleasure. Her inner walls tightened as her juices began to drip down. Just as she was about to cum the conversation with Evan from the prior night flashed into mind. Damn I need to tell Zay, but this feels too good, Joey told herself, there is no way I’m ruining it. Pushing the thoughts out of her mind she exploded all over Zay’s hand.

  Flipping Joey onto her stomach, Zay palmed her round ass, and opened her cheeks. Repeatedly he stroked from her clit to her anus with his tongue. As bad as he wanted to stick his swollen rod in that mouth that he absolutely loved, he couldn’t resist going in the warm, pink, and cream coated hole that was poking up at him. He eased just the head in then pulled it out. Zay dipped it in and out a few more time. This little trick sent shivers down Joey’s spine and as much as she liked it she wanted all of him inside of her.

  “Stop teasing,” she panted over his shoulder. “Put it in.”

  “How bad you want me up in that?”

  “Bad.”

  “How bad,” he toyed.

  “Very bad,” she whimpered as he continued to tease her by tracing her wet folds with the tip of his dick.

  Zay unhooked her bra, cupping her breast he entered her from behind.

  “Yessss baby,” Joey gushed squeezing him tight with her vaginal muscles.

  Reaching down with his hand he played with her clit while stroking her forcefully. With each stroke, Joey’s cream cascaded over his shaft. The hot moist flesh had Zay ready to erupt, but he held it because he wanted to feel her cum while he was inside of her. Knowing what to do, he began nibbling on the crease between her neck and shoulder. Flicking his tongue back and sucking on that spot, he could feel her walls contracting in and out followed by an explosion of creamy liquid.

  “Awwwww,” Joey gasped pleasured by the intense orgasm that she was experiencing. The pulsating walls thumping against his dick sent waves of ecstasy through Zay’s body as he released an overwhelmingly satisfying nut inside of Joey. They spent the following two hours making aggressive, yet passionate, love. When they were finished Zay went off to shower and Joey remained in bed checking and returning numerous emails. She’d decided to tell him about her meeting with Evan once he was done showering. The constant vibrating of Zay’s IPhone on the nightstand was distracting Joey from what she was doing. Joey picked up the phone to turn the vibrate feature off when the text on the screen caught her eye. “Baby I think I caught your cold...”

  Blood boiling she called the number back. There was no answer or no personal message on the voice mail, just the standard automated greeting. Butt naked Joey stormed in the bathroom like a category four hurricane.

  “Who is this bitch you fucking with now!” she angrily demanded to know.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “This,” Joey shoved the phone in his face.

  Zay snatched the phone from her hand, looking over the message he responded. “Man, you flipping over nothing this is a broad I do business with.”

  “Yeah fucking right Zay, I don’t even SEE you right now, ’cause you on some bullshit.

  “Why are you going through my phone after we just had a good morning?”

  “Fuck you! I wasn’t going through your phone I was trying to stop it from vibrating. And if I was going through it so-the-fuck-what?” she said pushing past him to turn the shower water on.

  “I don’t go through your phones.”

  “Yes you do and don’t try to flip this around on me because you got caught.” Joey stepped into the shower shutting the glass shower door so hard a small crack inched across middle of it. After the shower she dressed in simple turquoise halter maxi dress, accessorizing it with huge flat gold hoops, multiple size gold bangles, and gold thong gladiator flat sandals. Grabbing her beige Artsy bag, she headed out for some quality fun time with her kids.

  On Joey’s way to the garage she passed through the kitchen, where Zay and his brother Jason were sitting at the island eating. They were also discussing the trip that Jason was about to depart for.

  “What up Joey?” Jason spoke.

  “Hi J,” she responded dryly as she grabbed a juice from the refrigerator. Joey could feel Zay’s eyes watching her, refusing to acknowledge him as she headed for the garage.

  “Ayo,” Zay hollered.“Where are you going?” One foot out the door she inhaled deeply, turning around full of attitude she replied, “I’m going to check on Cee then I’m going to get my kids, and take them out for an afternoon of fun.

  “I thought that we were going to do that together.”

  Smiling coldly she suggested, “Go do something with that bitch you gave your cold to.” She slammed the door behind her.

  “Oooh sister-in-law is pissed...what was that all about?” Jason asked.

  “Some complete bullshit. Remember that stripper Trini I was fucking with a few years ago.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know if you saw her last night, but she was in the bar. She was all pressed as usual, trying to be nice I blew her off by telling her I wasn’t there to party.” Zay got up to get some more food from the oven. “I’m like I gotta cold. I just came through to see my brother. That’s when I came back and posted up in your office. Then this morning that bitch text me talking about baby I think I caught your cold and Joey saw it.”

  Laughing, Jason shook his head. “That’s not good. I’m surprised she didn’t take your head off.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t either! She cursed me out lightly and let it go.” Zay wondered why his wife didn’t make a much bigger deal about it. He did know that the less a woman said the less she cared and the less she cared the more likely it was that there was someone else. Not my wife, Zay reasoned with himself. “Anyway, back to business. Is the money lined up?”

  “Yeah, Harper has the certified checks and she’s going to meet me at the airport. When we get there I’m going to meet up with Asaad Nyfeed to make sure that shipments go out and we’ll be back in the air.”

  The plans for Zay’s second to last shipment of heroine were coming together perfectly. Following the shipment after the next one he would be out the drug distribution business for good. He knew nothing was perfect until the product touched down, hit the streets, and the profit had been made. Zay tried to have faith that everything was going to go according to plan, but there was eeriness in the air that he couldn’t put his finger on.

  Getting up to rake his plate, Jason asked his brother, “Zay did you give any thought to what we rapped about the other day?”

  “About you taking over the operation?”

  “Yes.”

  Zay smiled at his younger brother, he loved Jason with all his heart. Although they were just a year and a half apart, watching Jason through the years was like watching a son grow and use the skills that he’d engrained into him. Like Zay, Jason had the ambition, intelligence, and hustle to thrive in the treacherous game of drug distribution— although Jason did possess a few flaws that could be detrimental in his line of work. At times he could be hot tempered, cowboy, and obsessed with money.

  Zay wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin.

  “I don’t understand why you can’t be happy with the money that you’ve made. You’re sitting on millions stacked on millions. Why are you pressed to take over this operation when you can get out of this game with your life and your freedom?”

  “I hear you bruh, but you are about to stop the operation when there is still hundreds of millions to be made. Like Asaad said, it’s going to be an open market ou
t here and he’ll have no one to send the work together. And if he does find someone that knows the lay of the land, it will take years for them to build what he has built with you.”

  “No, it will take years for whoever he finds to be able to pay cash for the work like us, instead of getting it on consignment. Asaad is only concerned with the money that he’ll be missing. We are only one of the regions that he sends work to and we’ve made millions, so you know that he’s easily made billions. His greed for more money is going to be his downfall,” Zay took a deep breath then continued, “Our brothers are coming home and mama will have all of us here for the first time in eighteen years.”

  Jason threw his hands in the air, “Come on man, you know I could get on that plane today and die in a crash. Ain’t no guarantees in this life that says if we leave the game behind something else won’t kill us. Besides, if I take over you’ll still get a cut of the profit.”

  “I don’t want a cut,” seeing that he was getting nowhere with his line of reasoning Zay conceded. “If this is what you really want...you have my blessing. I really respect that you didn’t cut my throat and partner up with Asaad on your own.”

  “Never that big bruh,” Jason grinned. “You know I live by the motto; Family is everything...Loyalty is priceless.”

  Chapter Five

  Evan chartered a luxury jet to fly her to three cities in forty-eight hours. Out of the crop of drug dealers that she’d robbed, that were still alive, she chose three of the most likely candidates to go visit. The three former kingpins had been the richest, powerful and vengeful out of the living and free that she had to choose from. For her security she had Rhamel tag along.

  The first stop on Evan’s three city tour was Detroit, MI, the home of Timmy Lloyd. In the nineties Lloyd was one of the biggest cocaine dealers in the state. Back then he was known for his long bob, expensive gators and his fleet of foreign cars. Through the investigator Evan learned that Lloyd now worked at a youth center earning him a meager income and he lived with his sister and elderly mother. The investigator did not consider him a credible threat. From what Evan remembered of him he was vicious and ran his organization with an iron fist. If anyone in his organization stepped out of line or was suspected of being a snitch, their death certificate was guaranteed to be signed.