I forced myself to focus back on her. “So, that’s why you let him cheat?”
Her eyes darted at me like that had offended her. “I don’t let him cheat.”
“He knows that you know he’s cheating and still willing to be with him. That’s letting him cheat.” Yeah, I had feelings for her, but I also didn’t like how, despite how much sense she had, she was letting somebody do her like this. I had seen how priceless she was without even meeting her physically, so why couldn’t she see it?
“It’s not that easy.”
Before I could say anything, her phone started to ring this time. She reached for it, and her eyes bucked when she saw who was calling. She answered immediately, so I thought it was Ross. But she answered, “Hey Vegas… What?!” She jumped out of bed and started to throw her clothes on. “Okay… Okay! I’m on my way.”
When she hung up, I asked, “What happened?”
But she was too busy calling somebody else. After a few seconds, she said into the phone, “Hey, Treasure, you outside yet?.... Okay, good. Vegas just called me. Ross got locked up… I know. I’m on my way out now.”
She hung up and was breathing sporadically as she threw the phone on the bed and started to throw her dress on.
I laid there watching her in total disbelief. When she saw the look on my face, she looked apologetic as she told me, “I have to go.”
I shook my head, wondering why she ran like a puppy every time this motherfucker called for her. “You’re there way more for him than he is for you.”
Her eyes bucked a little, as she stepped into her panties. She was shocked at how I was talking to her. But she needed to hear this real shit instead of the fake shit she had been feeding herself to persuade herself to stay with Ross.
She stood next to my bed looking at the doorway like she was really ready to hit it up outta there. “What you expect me to do? Stay here with you?’
I didn’t get why that was so unrealistic. “Why not?”
Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t some sap that expected her to pack up her shit and leave her husband for his broke ass son. But, gawd damn, I did expect for her to give herself the happiness that she felt when she was with me… even when it was only when she could sneak and get it.
“Because we can’t be together!”
“But you can fuck me?”
She cringed while pouting. “I didn’t come over here for that. I have feelings for you too. I didn’t expect this. I love how you make me feel, I can’t lie, but we can’t do this. You’re his son. It’s wrong on so many levels.”
“Does he consider you when he is laying up with those other bitches?” Fuck this. I had been doing alright. She had played me after I told her how I felt, but I had taken that L and kept it moving. She had brought her ass over to my crib as if she was wanted this. Now, she was back running away again? Nah, fuck that.
Her shoulders shrank as she watched the irritation flow over my face. Then she tore her eyes away from mine and shook her head. “This was a mistake.”
I chuckled sarcastically. “Oh, now, it was a mistake because you ain’t cumming no more?”
Heaven’s eyes bucked and she sneered. “No, it’s a mistake if you expect me to choose you over him. Are you gonna take me and my family in? Are you going to take care of us? He is all that I have. I have nothing else!”
Still laying there calm as fuck, I told her, “You’re confused.”
Heaven inhaled sharply. “Confused?!”
“Yeah. You wanna respect your husband but fuck his son.”
That was it. She’d had it then. “Fuck you!” she snapped. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! You don’t know what I go through at home!”
I shrugged. I didn’t give a fuck about her feelings being hurt. Shit, she didn’t give two fucks about playing with mine. “Obviously, whatever you’re going through is good enough to make you fuck your husband’s son, but not leave him.”
Shaking her head again, she said lowly, “This was a mistake,” as if she was talking to herself.
Now, I was a mistake? “No, shorty, your life is a big-ass mistake. You have been in one fucked situation after the next. You don’t even know what the hell real love is.”
She winced. Tears instantly filled her eyes. I should have felt some type of remorse for what I’d said once I saw a tear slowly roll down her face. But I didn’t. I was sick of going back and forth with her. She was so busy thinking about herself and Ross that she wasn’t considering me at all.
She stepped into her flip flops saying nothing. Then she grabbed her phone off of the bed and walked towards the door. I was good with her leaving. I wasn’t with the drama. As she left out, I didn’t even watch. I wanted this to be the last time that I saw shorty. She was right. This had been a mistake, and it hadn’t even been worth making.
I was done, but I guess she wasn’t. Once you she stepped into the hallway, I heard her say, “You’re more like your father than you realize.”
That shit burned me up, but I let shorty have the last word if that was what she needed to make herself feel better about running away from a good man to an ain’t-shit nigga.
Besides, I’d known ten minutes ago that I had to let her go. I just didn’t want to. But it was for the best. I had my reasons, and Ross was far from one of them.
20
Ross
“Hello? Ross?”
I was relieved when April answered. I hadn’t known that when she told me not to call her for shit that I would have to call her this damn fast. But in order to keep Heaven from being able to leave whenever she got ready, I hadn’t given her access to my stash. April had it.
“I need you to come to court tomorrow to bail me out. Do you still have my money?”
Since we were on the jail phones, I couldn’t come right out and ask her had the police gotten to my safe. My lawyer had already told me that they’d found the stash of weapons.
When April answered, “Yeah,” relief flooded my body.
“Ross,” April called my name with a sigh.
I groaned, thinking she was about to be on that bullshit that we had left off on. I had just caught a case. The last thing I wanted to do was argue with a bitch about me fucking her again.
But instead, she surprised me when she said, “I think Mello did this.”
I looked at the phone, hoping that I had heard her wrong. “Huh?”
“I think Mello did this. He was pissed the other day when he left here. He saw your watch and knew you had been here. I think he knew you had upset me, even though I tried to tell him that you hadn’t. He is the only person who knew where things were. How else would the police know to—”
“Okay,” I snapped, cutting her off. Her dumb ass was saying way too much over the phone. “I’ll holla at him when I get out. Be at court tomorrow.”
Vegas
“You ready?” I asked Treasure.
She didn’t look ready. She was standing in front of the door of the mansion in Lincoln Park. She was nervously fidgeting with her clothes. Her voice was shaky as she said, “Yeah.”
I couldn’t remember the last time that I had seen Treasure look unsure of herself. She was most definitely out of her element, but I was making moves to ensure that this would end up being my baby’s permanent element real soon.
As I heard the locks on the other side of the door turning, I grabbed Treasure’s hand so she could calm down.
The door opened. Sam appeared in the doorway with a slight smile.
“Mr. Rossi,” the butler acknowledged me with a nod.
“What’s up, Sam?” I greeted him as I shook his hand. “This is my girlfriend, Treasure.”
He smiled and extended his hand to shake hers. She shook it, nervousness still in her smile as she told him, “Hi.”
“C’mon in. The other Mr. Rossi is waiting.” Sam chuckled at his own lame joke as he led me and Treasure into the fourteen-thousand-square-foot estate.
Leaning into me as w
e walked through the foyer, Treasure whispered, “Why the butler gotta be black?”
I chuckled and just shook my head.
“I’m just sayin’,” Treasure whispered just as we entered my Uncle Vinny’s office.
“Vegas, my boy!” he greeted me with a cigar in the corner of his mouth. He stood up from his desk and rounded it. We met in the middle of the office and hugged just as Sam closed the door, leaving us inside.
Releasing me from his embrace, Uncle Vinny stood smiling at Treasure. “And this must be Treasure, your beautiful girlfriend.”
Looking at her, I couldn’t help but look at her in admiration too. My baby was beautiful. The sun had been baking her light skin all summer. Now, she had this sexy-ass exotic tan that made her look like she was glowing from the inside out. “She is. This my baby.”
“Hi, love. It’s nice to you meet. She’s gorgeous, Vegas.”
“Thank you,” Treasure blushed as he bent down and hugged her.
He let her go, giving her a final once over and then told us, “Please, sit,” as he motioned towards the leather chairs facing his desk.
Treasure and I sat down and then Unc got right down to business. “I called you here because after hearing about Ross’ arrest, some changes need to be made.”
I smiled inwardly. I knew it. I was right and as Treasure reached over and grabbed my hand, I knew she was happy that I was right too. The plan had worked. A few weeks ago when Treasure first suggested that I kill his pockets instead of him, it hit me. I knew if heat was brought to Ross, my uncle would want to sever his ties with him. That’s why I had set him up.
Ross had never told me where he kept his stash, but any idiot would assume he had it at April’s crib. That’s why she always felt tied to him no matter how much he fucked her and then went home to his wife. She had something on his ass, and that something was his product and his money.
Now, I would be the only major gun supplier in the Midwest. Ross may have stolen from me, but he was about to lose way more than a hundred G’s.
“I told you, bae!” A shit-eating grin was spread across my face as I took long, satisfied strides towards my ride. Treasure was next to me, damn near jogging in order to keep up with me, but she was smiling too.
“Yeah, you did. I feel so much better.” She let out a deep sigh that was laced with her pleased smile.
“I know you feel better with me making this move. I know you didn’t want me to hurt Heaven like that.”
As we approached my ride, she leaned against it and looked up at me. I liked the admiration for her man that she had in her eyes as she stared at me.
“She’s lost so much in her life,” Treasure told me. “I don’t think she would have survived losing Ross if you’d killed him.”
I bent down and kissed her forehead. “You right.”
“You can get your revenge now that you have the gun business all to yourself. You’ve taken away over fifty percent of his income. Your uncle is the only gun connect in the Midwest. Ross would never be able to re-up, especially after word gets around in the game that he got arrested.”
I nodded, agreeing with everything she’d said. “And when I take over his chop shop, it’ll be a wrap for his ass.”
Treasure looked pleasantly surprised. “You’re taking over the shop?”
“Hell yeah. He met most of his major clientele through my family. He don’t know the people with the type of bread to afford putting down thirty or fifty G’s on a ride. But I do. And once I get those buyers on board with me, along with some of the guys who work at the shop, I will start my own setup.”
Treasure slipped her arms around my waist. As she stared at my uncle’s mansion, I told her, “This is what I want for us.”
Her head whipped towards me with wide eyes like Bambi’s.
“I do,” I assured her. “You deserve a mansion like this with real foreign cars in the driveway, not that stolen shit we’re riding in. You deserve legit foreign cars that are sitting on acres of land in front of a mansion like this with ten bedrooms that I fuck you in on a different day of the week.” I pressed my dick against her. It had gotten hard just thinking about this. She felt how stiff my joint was, and she giggled lustfully. “And I’m gonna get it for you. Just hold on and keep rocking with me. Can you do that for me?”
She teared up, and it surprised me. “Yeah, baby. I can do that for you.”
“Come on in, man.”
Mello walked slowly into my crib. He looked curious, and he should have been. I had called him over once Treasure and I got back home. She had left to go check on Heaven, who had been losing her mind since Ross had gotten locked up.
Once we were in the living room, I told him, “Have a seat. Want a drink?”
Mello shook his head as he sat down on the couch. “Nah. I’m good.”
“Okay, well, let’s get right to it.” I sat across from him in my recliner. I rested my elbows on my knees so that we were eye to eye. I needed him to know how serious I was. “I need you, man.”
His eyebrow curled. “For what? What’s up?”
“I need to tell you something that you have to keep between me and you.”
Mello replied cautiously, “Okay…”
I nodded and went on. “Your father doesn’t know it, but I am severing our partnership.”
As expected, Mello looked shocked. “Word?”
I nodded in confirmation. “Word.”
“Why?”
“He’s been stealing from me.”
He was shocked at that too. “Damn. For real?”
“Yeah. I have proof. And with his recent arrest, my uncle wants to sever ties with him too.”
Mello nodded slowly. “Okay. What’s this got to do with me?”
“You’re a smart kid, Mello. Real smart. I know you got out the streets, and I want you to stay on this path that you’re on. But I need you to work with me.” Instantly, I saw rejection on his face, so I started to persuade him. “Look, man, I need somebody I can trust, and you’re like a nephew to me. I plan on taking over the chop shop business too. So, I need you to help convince your guys to come with me. I also need somebody intelligent to move these guns. I know you wanna be legit, but it’s gonna take some time for you to get where you wanna be financially going that route. So, until you get there, let’s make this paper.”
Mello stared at nothing in particular for a few seconds. He was thinking, and I was good with that as long as he wasn’t telling me no off bat.
Since he had been home, I had been watching Mello hustle to be a good man. He was a businessman. College had taught him well. That was obvious. He didn’t look right cutting hair in a barbershop, though. He was smart and deserved to be put on.
Besides, what better revenge could I get on Ross than grooming his son to take his place?
“I’m down,” he finally said.
A slow grin spread across our beards at the same time.
“Word?” I asked.
“Word.”
I sat back, feeling the satisfaction of my plan coming into smooth fruition.
“Look, nephew,” I addressed Mello. “I don’t want you to think I’m some grimy motherfucker for doing this. But your pops played me. And even after I found out he had played me, it still took me a while to do this to him because he’s my brotha. But I gotta do what I gotta do because he’s been doing that shit all his life—”
Mello’s laughter cut me off. The way he chuckled was full of hatred for his pops. “You ain’t lyin’.”
‘That motherfucka is for self and self only. No matter how much anybody fucks with him, he ain’t loyal. I should have known that shit when I saw how he treated Heaven. That girl loves the shit outta him, but all he does is cheat on her and beat the shit out of her.”
Mello’s head whipped towards me so fast that I thought he was going to break his fucking neck. “He be putting his hands on her?”
“Yeah, man. You didn’t know? She didn’t tell you?”
He lo
oked off in space, slowly shaking his head.
“Umph. Maybe she didn’t want you to know. So, don’t say shit. But, yeah, he done whooped her ass a few times, knowing that girl wouldn’t leave him because she ain’t got nowhere else to go. I don’t see how she deals with his ass. That motherfucka ain’t right.”
Mello nodded and cleared something imaginary out of his throat. “Yeah, well… Like I said, I’m down.” Then with a deep breath, he told me. “I’ll take that drink now.”
21
Heaven
“What if he gets some time? What am I gonna do?” I held my head, trying to catch my breath and calm down. I was having a fucking panic attack. I had been spazzing out since Ross got locked up on Friday. All weekend, I had been losing my mind.
God was getting me back for what I had done. He had to be. This was the ultimate punishment. Because if Ross winded up doing time, it was over for me.
God didn’t even need to punish me, though. I had been punished enough at Mello’s house that day. His words had hurt worse than anytime Ross had hit me or cheated. That let me know my feelings for Mello had gotten way too deep. When I walked out of his house, I knew I had walked out of his life for good this time. Mello and I had treaded on very thin ice that had broken and caused our special friendship to drown.
The sex was fascinating. How he made me feel was marvelously overwhelming. How he had come to Chicago and showed me so much in so little time was beyond amazing. But now, we had no friendship, and Mello had been so butthurt that he had set Ross up.
When the summer started, I never knew it would end like this. Those two days that I had spent with Mello were incredible, but I wouldn’t have done it had I known it would end up driving me to this point with no friendship with Mello or no husband.
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