by Roy Glenn
“We oughta just roll around behind him and kill him.”
“You must have a death wish. You kill Freeze and Black will kill us all. Shy too. But I’m startin’ to think that maybe you’re right about them being involved,” Jack said. “He’s damn sure up to something.”
“I been trying to tell y’all. It’s been Black all along.”
“Maybe not all along.” Jack started for his car. “But since he’s been at Shy, Freeze has been at us. But as long as he stays out of my way, I don’t care what he does.”
At that moment, Bobby drove down the street. He noticed Freeze double parked and thought nothing of it. He continued down the street until he saw Jack and E. Bobby made a U-turn and pulled up across the street from Freeze. He got out of his Cadillac and got in the Rodeo with Freeze.
“What are you doing?” he asked Freeze.
“What’s up, Bobby?” Freeze replied. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m protecting our interest.”
“Looks like you’re involving us in that woman’s business. That’s how it looks to me. Probably how it looks to them.” Bobby shook his head. “You don’t see how what you’re doing makes it look like we’re involved in this madness.”
“We are involved, can’t you see that?” Freeze replied angrily. “As soon as Black started fuckin’ around with Shy, her problems became our problems.”
“Mike know what you’re doing?”
“He knows I got his back.” Freeze paused a moment, eyes still focused on Jack and E. “I don’t wanna argue with you Bobby. But these boys are sloppy and careless. You know they got robbed again last night?”
“How do you know that?” Freeze simply looked at Bobby and smiled. “Anyone get killed this time?”
“Not this time. But tell me something. If somebody was trying to kill Black would you let him go out of town to do business by himself?”
“No.”
“Now do you get my drift? The way they handle her security puts Black at risk. She got her shit rolling tight, you know what I’m saying? But these bitch ass gangsters can’t handle it.”
Bobby thought for a minute. Freeze was definitely sizing them up. What was he up to? It was obvious that both Freeze and Mike admired Shy’s operation. But after all they had gone through to get out of the drug business, he didn’t think Mike would drag them back in. Especially without discussing it with him first.
“Black ain’t thinking about getting back in the game, is he?”
“Hell no!” Freeze protested. “At least I don’t think he is. And if he was, I need to know what they got. Makes it easier to take over.”
“What you gonna do with them, when you take over?” Bobby joked, as E and Jack drove away.
“Them low stress gangsters, shit. I’ll bleed them, quick,” Freeze replied.
Bobby started to get out. “You’re a dangerous man, Freeze.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
After a quick cab ride, Mike and Shy found themselves at Pete’s Charter Service.
“Anybody here?” Shy yelled.
Pete came out of the back room. He was a short heavyset guy, dressed in a beat down flight suit and looked like he needed to make friends with a razor. Badly.
“What can I do for you folks?” Pete asked.
“I’m Mike Black. I talked to you a while ago about a charter.”
Pete looked at Mike, his expression spoke volumes. “Okay, we’ll be ready to leave in a little while. Just make yourselves comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
Mike leaned over and said to Shy, “He wasn’t expecting us to be black.”
“So what’s he doing now?” Shy whispered.
“He’s calling to check us out,” Mike replied.
Pete returned to his office. He flipped through his rolodex, picked up the phone, and dialed a number. The phone rang and was answered.
“Yeah.”
“This Jimmy?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, who’s this?” Jimmy asked.
“This is Pete down in Miami. Is Mr. Collette around?”
“Hold on, Pete.”
After a while Angelo came to the phone. “Pete! How’s it hanging?”
“Everything’s great, Mr. Collette. Listen, I got a couple of mulignans here,” Pete said. “The guy says Carmine referred him.”
“No shit, Petey. What’s his name?” Angelo asked.
“Says his name is Mike Black.”
“Pete, I want you to listen to me very carefully,” Angelo said. “You apologize to Mr. Black for keeping him waiting. Then you take him wherever he wants to go.”
“Yes, sir,” Pete said sheepishly.
“Let me talk to Mr. Black. Oh, and one more thing Pete. You don’t charge him shit! You got that!” barked Angelo.
“Yes, Mr. Collette.”
“Good. Now let me talk to Mr. Black,” Angelo said.
Pete went back to the lobby where Mike and Shy were waiting. He motioned to Mike to come into the office. Shy asked, “What’s happening now?”
“Angelo wants to talk to me. Come on.” Mike replied.
“Mr. Colette would like to speak to you, Mr. Black.” Pete said handing the phone to Mike.
“Angee! What’s up?”
“Nothing, Mikey. Listen, you let me know if that scum bag doesn’t treat you right, okay.”
“Done.”
“Where you going?”
“Bahamas,” Mike replied.
“Mind if I ask a personal question, Mikey?” Angelo said.
“Fire away.”
“Shy with you?”
“She’s right here. You wanna talk to her?”
“No. Just tell her I was hoping to see her soon; or should I be talking to you about that?” Angelo said.
“Nope. But I’ll give her the message,” Mike replied.
“Have a good trip.”
“Thanks, Angee. We’ll talk when I get back.” Mike hung up the phone, turning his attention back to Pete.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Black. If you follow me, I’ll show you to the plane. We’ll take off whenever you’re ready,” Pete said with a newfound sense of respect. Pete led the way, and Mike and Shy followed behind him.
“What did Angelo say?” Shy asked.
“That he was hoping to see you,” Mike replied.
“Great. He’s gonna kill me,” Shy said.
“You let me worry about Angee.”
“What am I gonna do?”
Mike stopped and grabbed Shy by the shoulders. “You’re gonna get your fine ass on that plane and then you’re gonna have some fun for the next couple of days. Think you can handle that?”
“I can handle that,” Shy said shaking her head.
“Good. The island of love awaits us,” Mike said, as he and Shy boarded the plane.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Looking out the airplane window, you could see the lights of Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island. The plane flew low over the water, close enough to the catamaran to see the people partying on the deck. When Pete landed at the airport, it was just after midnight. Shy looked around as they got off the plane and took a deep breath.
“Do you smell it?” she asked.
“Smell what?”
“Fresh air,” Shy replied, her wrap around skirt blowing in the wind.
“You want me to come back for you?” Pete asked.
“No,” Shy said walking away. “You don’t ever have to come back for us.”
Mike walked over to Pete and handed him five one hundred-dollar bills. “Be back for us about ten o’clock Saturday morning.”
“Mr. Collette said I shouldn’t charge yous no money,” Pete said, trying to give Mike back the money. “I can’t take that.”
“I know. This is your tip, Pete.”
Pete smiled and took the money. He agreed to return Saturday morning. After passing quickly through customs, they caught a cab to the Lucayan Beach Hotel. Once they arrived at the hotel, Mike started to go inside to check in. Apparently,
Shy had other ideas. She started walking away from the lobby doors.
“Where are you going, Cassandra?”
“Hey, you promise me a beach, didn’t you? Why waste time?”
Shy walked alongside the hotel. She stopped at the edge of the sand, took off her shoes. Mike followed suit and rolled up his pants. They walked toward the edge of the water.
“Isn’t that a beautiful moon?” Shy said, sticking her foot in the water. “And this water is so warm.” She turned around and kissed Mike on the cheek. “This is wonderful.”
“Is this the first time you’ve been to the islands girl?” Mike asked with an accent as they walked through the sand.
“Well, sorta. I’ve been to Aruba, with Ricardo,” Shy replied, rolling her eyes. “But it rained just about the whole time we were there.”
“That sounds fun.”
“Woulda been better if I was rained in with you,” she said, rubbing his inner thigh. “This time, I wanna do something. I wanna do a lot of this, too,” she said, easing her hand higher on his thigh. “I didn’t have any fun that last time.”
Mike leaned slowly towards her lips. “We can’t have that,” he said softly, as their lips met. “Come on!”
Grabbing her hand, he ran down the beach, practically dragging Shy behind him. Mike ran into the water.
“I want to show you everything; not the tourist stuff. I mean the island.”
“You must come down here a lot,” Shy said, struggling to keep up.
“Yeah, I’ve been to a lot of the islands, but this is my favorite. So I’ll be your very personal guide. You tell me what you want to do. Your every desire is my passion to satisfy.”
“Hmm, really.” Shy stopped in her tracks.
Mike stopped, turned, and walked back to her.
“You know what I really wanna do, don’t you?” Shy whispered to him in a very sensuous voice, drawing him closer. “I wanna go dancing!”
“I know just the spot, come on,” Mike said grabbing her by the hand again and running. They ran toward the Rivera Towers and went into the outdoor bar at the Coral Beach Hotel. As Mike headed straight for the bar, Shy stopped and scanned the crowd.
“I hope this isn’t what you ran me down the beach for, is it?” Shy said, looking around the bar with a frown. “This looks like a tourist spot to me.”
“This place? Hell no!” Mike looked around. “We just came here to get a drink and catch a cab.” He turned to the bartender, “Goombay Smash please. And one for the lady.”
“What kind of smash?” Shy asked.
“Trust me.”
After being served their drinks at the bar, they got in a cab. “Freeport Inn,” Mike said to the driver. Before too long they were on the dance floor at the Freeport Inn, dancing to Reggae and Soca music. Only leaving the floor to get more drinks. After a while they stopped dancing to the beat of the music. They danced cheek to cheek, swaying back and forth, talking, laughing, kissing. They remained on the dance floor well into the early hours of the morning.
The crowd started to thin out, and they drifted out with them. They took a cab and got out by the canal. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach,” Shy suggested. “I’m about Goombay Smashed, and the walk will do me good.”
Along the edge of the water by some private homes, they walked and talked. Shy stopped to play in the water; she started splashing at Mike and got his shirt very wet. Mike began to get undressed. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Takin’ off these wet clothes so they’ll dry,” Mike replied, dropping his shirt in the sand.
“Yeah right, any excuse to be naked.”
“Right,” he said and began splashing her and then ran through the sand. Shy gave chase. Mike faked left and then went right. Shy tried to grab him, but slipped and fell on her side. Mike stopped. “Are you all right, Cassandra?”
“Yeah I’m all right, but this skirt is shot.” Mike smiled then began laughing hysterically. Shy started laughing too. “It ain’t funny.”
“You shoulda took it off.”
Shy got up and stripped down to her bra and panties. “Okay, see how you do me. But it’s cool, I’ll get you.” Shy ran straight at him. Mike smiled and stood waiting then took off just as she was about to grab him. Mike dodged back and forth for a while and then, “Got ya!”
“I let you catch me,” Mike said, allowing Shy to push him to the ground. Mike rolled over on his back and pulled Shy on top of him.
“To the victor goes the spoils,” she said, kissing him passionately. “Ouch, your belt buckle is sticking me.”
“Lucky buckle. Wish I was sticking you,” Mike said, unfastening the buckle. “Is that better?” Shy laid back down on his chest and kissed him.
“Much.”
“Rise up a second.”
“No, people live in those houses. Someone will see us,” Shy said, but she did it anyway.
“So, they oughta be asleep anyway,” Mike replied, sliding his pants down a little. He slid her panties to one side. Shy placed her hands on his chest and slid down on him slowly.
On the way back to the hotel, the sky began breaking in anticipation of the sun. When they arrived, Shy allowed Mike to check in before they gave away the room.
“Good morning, sir. Welcome to the Lucayan Beach Hotel.”
“You have a reservation for me, Mike Black.”
“Yes, I do and welcome back, Mr. Black. We have your usual room ready.”
“Your usual room?” Shy commented mockingly as she walked away. “Probably the Presidential suite.”
Mike went through the formalities of checking in. Shy wandered through the hotel lobby, finally ending up back on the beach.
“Thought I’d find you here,” Mike said walking up behind her, putting his arms around her waist.
Shy spun around and kissed him. “This was a great idea. Thank you for bringing me here.”
“I wasn’t just talking when I said it is my passion to satisfy you.”
“I haven’t seen the sun rise in, —I don’t know when,” Shy said turning back toward the sun.
“I never watched it until last week.”
“You’ve never seen the sun rise?” she asked.
“I’ve seen it plenty of times, but the first time I watched it was last week.”
“Get outta here, really?”
“Really, I was thinking about you. I couldn’t sleep. I hadn’t slept all night. So I went outside and sat on the porch. I watched the sun come up and wished I was with you. And now here we are. And I can’t tell which is more beautiful, you or the sunrise.”
“I’m friendlier.”
“Softer too,” Mike said, sliding one hand across her stomach, the other across her breasts.
“I know. So choose wisely.” It wasn’t that hard a choice. They walked hand in hand into the hotel up the elevator to their room. “This is your usual room?” Shy asked; seemingly disappointed that it wasn’t the Presidential suite.
“It’s not the room Cassandra,” Mike said walking out on the balcony. “It’s the view.” From the balcony, there was a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean.
“It is a beautiful view,” Shy said. After a few moments she went back inside and laid down on the bed. Mike came in and laid down next to her. Before too long they found themselves naked and making love.
Caught up in all the magic that is their love-making, they forgot to put the do not disturb sign on the doorknob. The next morning, a knock came to the door as it opened.
“Housekeeping,” the attendant said as she came in the room. Out of reflex Mike rolled over, grabbed his gun from the nightstand, and pointed it at the attendant.
“Oh my, God,” she said staring down the barrel of Mike’s gun. Mike put the gun down and motioned for her to be quiet and wait in the hall for a minute. She closed the door and waited patiently outside. Mike got out of bed and put his pants on. Then he gathered up the towels and Shy’s clothes. He opened the door, apologized for scaring her and got
some fresh towels. Mike handed her a fifty-dollar bill.
“If it’s not too much trouble can you take these to the laundry and have them dry-cleaned and pressed, please.” The attendant agreed. He finished getting dressed, kissed Shy on the forehead, and left the room.
Mike caught a cab to the International Bazaar to shop. He wanted to buy a sun dress and swim wear for Shy and a black short set for himself. He entered the shop being greeted by a tall, older, somewhat chesty woman. “Can I help you find someting?” she asked, with a heavy accent.
“I hope so. I wanna get a sundress for a lady,” Mike replied wondering and looking around the shop.
“Do you know what size she wear?” the woman asked.
“No.”
“Well how you expect to find someting for she you don’t know she size?”
“That’s where you come in. What’s your name?”
“Lulu.”
“Not Bong, Bong Lulu?” Mike asked.
“In me younger days, but Lulu gone away. And don’t you ask me who is gonna bong, bong that Lulu gone away, because me don’t know,” she replied.
“I promise I won’t ask, Lulu,” Mike smiled. “My name is Black.”
“It’s good to meet you, Black. Now, what she look like?”
“She’s about five eight, maybe five nine.”
“’Bout my height?” Lulu asked, thumbing through a rack of dresses.
“Not quite, but close. I like that one, what size is it?”
“This a size tree,” Lulu said checking the label. “She have to be skinny and flat-chested to wear this, ya no.”
“That is definitely not her,” Mike replied.
“So she busty like me then,” Lulu said leaning toward him.
“No, now, she ain’t got it like all that, but she holds her own,” Mike said laughing as they continued to look. “She’s about a hundred forty maybe a hundred fifty pounds. You know, she’s like this.” Placing his hands in front of his chest to show her size. “And like that in the hips.”
“Size seven should do she nicely, ya no.” Lulu pulled a dress from the rack and handed it to Mike. It was a white dress with thin straps and a yellow bird on the front and back. “This should fit she fine, like this and like that,” Lulu said, motioning with her hands.