Checkmate

by Nisa Santiago

  Kola remained silent. She felt Eduardo’s touch between her legs shift upwards, nearing her pussy. They exchanged an intense look. Kola could see Eduardo’s package growing inside his silk pants as he touched her in places that made them both tingle and itch for more. Eduardo wanted to press his lips against hers and shove his tongue down her throat. He craved to journey into her glorious insides. Kola was a forbidden pleasure that had been on his mind since the day they’d met.

  Eduardo placed his lips near Kola’s ear and whispered, “I can give you whatever you want. The world could be yours.”

  He tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away.

  Eduardo didn’t look pleased. “Do you reject me because of him?”

  Kola didn’t answer him immediately. She knew Eduardo had a serious thing for her. She understood that Eduardo always got what he wanted. And if there was something in his way that he wanted greatly, then he had the power and force to have it removed. Kola feared that if she said yes, then somehow, Cross would end up missing.

  “No, it’s not him. I hate him right now,” Kola answered.

  Eduardo looked surprised by her answer. “You do, yes. Why?”

  “He’s an asshole. I thought I knew him, but I don’t.”

  “Talk to me, my queen. I’m here to listen.”

  The two moved into another room that was more comfortable to get situated in. Two giant crystal chandeliers hung high in the room, and the warm walnut and cherry furnishings with a few high-end paintings hanging about complemented the area.

  Kola took another sip from her drink and stared at Eduardo. “That bastard was cheating on me with some side bitch and had a baby by her, so we ain’t together right now. He fucked it up!”

  “His loss,” Eduardo uttered.

  “It is,” Kola spat.

  “But men will be men, Kola, and that alone shouldn’t take away your love.”

  “Well it has. I didn’t deserve disloyalty. Not from him...”

  “You are a beautiful woman. You deserve the best that any man has to offer.”

  “I know. That’s why I can’t be with him. He betrayed me. After everything I did for him, the loving I gave him, this empire that I helped him maintain, and he does this shit to me. I’m more woman than he’ll ever have. He didn’t have to cheat on me. I was faithful and loyal to that man.”

  “What do you desire now, Kola?” Eduardo asked her.

  “Fuck men!” she hissed.

  Her mood had changed as soon as Cross’ name came up. She was crushed by his infidelity. Kola had switched into a bitter and betrayed woman.

  “Including me?” Eduardo asked softly.

  Kola gave off a deadpan gaze at Eduardo. Suddenly, Eduardo had gone from a seductive and beautiful specimen of a man to just a man—someone like Cross.

  “I can’t be with you, Eduardo,” she uttered.

  “And why not?”

  “Because I want to be special. I don’t want to share you. You have two sisters that you’re intimate with at your mansion in Colombia, from your words exactly, and I don’t want to become number three. I’m too much a good woman to be shared like I’m some basic bitch.”

  “I so agree. And you will be my one and only, Kola,” Eduardo said. “Those sisters, they are no longer a priority in my life. Both of them . . . gone like the wind.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they are not you,” he returned.

  Kola blushed a little by his comment. He was saying everything she wanted to hear. Her ego had been bruised by Cross’ infidelity, so Eduardo’s reassurances that she could be his main chick were tempting.

  Eduardo had caught the sisters stealing from his home, and they had betrayed him by bringing men to sleep in his mansion. Eduardo had heard about it and rapidly had the sisters disposed of execution-style—shot in the back of their heads and buried in the jungle.

  “I will do anything for you, Kola. Just ask me.”

  Kola looked at him. The attraction she had for Eduardo clearly showed in her body language.

  Eduardo stood up and took Kola by her hand. He lifted her out of her seat and brought her close to him.

  “The reason why I like you is because I never met a woman quite like you before. You see, the sisters, they were only leeches, sucking the blood out of me. But you, Kola, you have something special. You’re a businesswoman along with being beautiful, and what man can’t respect that? You are the one woman that made me contradict myself,” he stated. “And I never contradict myself.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “You remember when we first met? What did I tell you?”

  Kola chuckled at remembering his words to her. “You never do business with women. You only fuck them, or they fuck you, but never business with a bitch.”

  “And look at us, months later. We built chemistry, something beautiful between us. And any woman that can make me go against what I believe in so strongly is a woman well worth having around.”

  His words melted Kola away. She became open like a good book.

  Eduardo tenderly took Kola’s chin into his hand and gazed into her eyes. “Your eyes still show the soul of a lion.”

  “I know they do,” she replied.

  Eduardo’s hazel eyes penetrated Kola. He leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers. Kola didn’t resist. They began kissing passionately as she became wrapped into his hold. His tongue swam around inside of her mouth; he savored the taste and touch of her like she would be extinct the minute he let her go.

  Kola fell backwards against the wide, cushioned chair with Eduardo on top of her. Her legs parted with Eduardo positioned in between. He reached underneath her dress and grabbed for her moist panties with his touch brushing against her throbbing pussy. Kola moaned into his ear, feeling this moment was inevitable. She could feel Eduardo’s thick, hard dick pressing against her, ready for some activity inside of her.

  “I want you so fuckin’ bad,” Eduardo cried out, slowly removing Kola’s panties.

  He had gotten them mid-thigh, ready to drop them around her ankles, when Kola suddenly stopped him.

  “Eduardo, stop. I can’t,” she said faintly.

  “Yes, yes, you can.”

  “I can’t. Not now. It ain’t right.”

  “I usually don’t ask, Kola. I usually don’t express myself to any woman, you understand me? Are you teasing me, Kola?”

  Kola heard the frustration in his voice. She knew she was in a vulnerable situation, and if Eduardo decided to take it and rape her, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She had to play it cool. She had to re-think her situation.

  “No, I’m not teasing you. In fact, I’m falling in love with you, Eduardo. The things you say to me, and who you are, I know I would be a fortunate woman. I just need some time to myself to think about things. Cross really hurt me. And no man has ever gotten that close to me to hurt me the way he did.”

  “So I’ll hurt him,” he responded harshly.

  “No, I don’t want that,” she snapped back.

  Eduardo rose up and stared at her. “I think about you every day. I’ll do anything to have you, Kola. Anything.”

  “I just wanna continue doing business with you for now, and then when Cross is out of my system, we’ll see what happens.”

  Eduardo wasn’t thrilled about her reply, but he had enough respect for Kola to let her be. If it was any other woman, he would have had his way with her and there wouldn’t have been a thing she could’ve done about it. He stood up and regained his composure.

  Kola did the same, fixing her panties and her dress, and the two continued on with their business. Kola got what she came for and gave Eduardo a long, passionate kiss before leaving with several ki’s of cocaine.

  Kola exited the building and st
rutted back to her car casually like the way she walked in. She was smiling and seemed to be excited. She tossed the bag into her trunk, stared up at the towering building, and thought about Eduardo. She then jumped into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.

  Kola was flabbergasted that Eduardo was ready to kill for her. Having that kind of power at her beck and call excited her. She pulled out of her parking spot and headed for the New Jersey Turnpike, unaware that Cross and Edge had been watching her the entire time.

  Chapter 6

  “Yo, you should have let me body that bitch, Cross. She been in that fuckin’ building for over an hour wit’ that nigga,” Edge exclaimed.

  Cross thought about it, and every inch of his body ached with rage and vengeance. He wanted to run across the street and put a bullet in Kola’s head and just watch her bleed out on the street. He clutched a loaded 9 mm in his hand as he glared at Kola getting into her car with a big smile, looking like she’d just gotten dicked down. Cross’ imagination went wild about the freak-nasty shit that Eduardo was doing to his girl to have her smiling so hard.

  “I’ma get at that bitch later. I thought we were focused on gettin’ this money,” Cross reminded Edge.

  Edge nodded in agreement.

  As they watched Kola pull off, the two noticed a dark Tahoe come to a stop beside them.

  The driver’s window came rolling down and the driver stared at Cross. “What’s good?” the driver spoke.

  “Just park and get out,” Cross said.

  The driver nodded. He was clad in all black and wore dark shades. He was with two men seated in the Tahoe, part of Cross’ deadly Harlem crew, and each one of them had the same deadly mentality—They were ready to kill for the wealth. They had arrived just in time and were heavily armed with submachine guns concealed under camouflage raincoats.

  Cross and Edge stepped out of the Impala. It started to rain and the sky crackled with loud thunder, leaving the Jersey City street free and clear of any pedestrians or witnesses. They cautiously made their way toward the building—a five-man team ready to provoke war with a deadly kingpin.

  The doorman stood behind the giant oak counter near the front entrance. His attention was on a People magazine and sipping on a bottle of water. It was a quiet evening, and with the rain and thunder pouring outside, the residents decided to stay indoors. He turned the pages and then looked up to see a hooded black male abruptly entering into the lobby wearing an army camouflage raincoat. He walked by the doorman without saying a word or giving him any acknowledgment.

  “Excuse me, sir, you just can’t go up there. I need to announce you. Who are you here to see?” the doorman spat quickly.

  “Fuck you!” the boy exclaimed.

  “If you don’t comply with the rules and regulations of this building, I’ll call the cops.”

  Before he could reach and pick up the phone, four more men swiftly burst into the lobby and rapidly attacked him, punching him in the face, knocking him down, and holding him at gunpoint.

  “Don’t fuckin’ move, muthafucka!” one of his attackers exclaimed, masked up, a .50-cal. Desert Eagle trained at the man’s head.

  The doorman lay on the floor, wide-eyed and terrified, surrounded by five masked men.

  “I swear to god, if you fuckin’ move one damn inch and don’t listen, ya fuckin’ brains is gonna decorate this lobby floor. You fuckin’ understand me?”

  He nodded nervously.

  The alpha male of the pack spoke. He crouched down near the man, roughed him up by pulling at his suit jacket and smacking him around violently, and then said, “This is easy for you. I want you to get on that phone, call up the top floor and say to them, Kola’s coming back up. She needs to speak to Eduardo about something.”

  The doorman looked reluctant to comply.

  “You understand?”

  “They’ll kill me.”

  “Nigga, you think we ain’t, if you don’t do what we say? Nigga, get ya ass on that phone and make the call.” Cross clutched the doorman by his collar jacket tightly, pulling him up harshly and pushing him toward the counter. He pressed the gun to his head and cocked back the pistol. “I’ma count to five. One . . . two . . . three—”

  “OK!”

  “Do it now!”

  The doorman slowly picked up the phone and pushed a button that directly connected to the top floor. His call was quickly answered. Cross and his goons listened in closely. The doorman swallowed hard.

  “She’s coming back up, Kola . . . . OK, very well.”

  He hung up. Cross nodded and smiled. “You did good.”

  Cross then looked at his goons and asked, “Y’all ready to do this?”

  “Nigga, we ready! I’m hungry, nigga,” one young boy replied eagerly.

  Cross nodded to one of his young goons and said, “You stay and watch him. He moves wrong, you know what to do.”

  The boy nodded.

  Cross, Edge, and the other two shooters approached the elevator. They knew that they had the element of surprise—especially with no cameras. They stepped into the lift and pushed for the penthouse floor. The men were slightly caught off guard as they were shot up toward the sky. Silencers were placed onto the barrels of the guns, which were cocked back, ready and loaded to cause havoc.

  They approached the top floor instantly, and the bell chimed and the doors began to open. Eduardo’s men weren’t on high alert, thinking that it was Kola coming back to see Eduardo about something. They sat back relaxed, with only one of them moving toward the elevator to greet her.

  Sandro moved closer and caught the shock of his life. Four masked gunmen rushed out onto the floor and began firing, with the silencers suppressing the gunshots.

  Poot! Poot! Poot! Poot! Poot!

  Sandro caught three slugs directly into his chest, and got pushed back, falling dead. The other two scrambled to react.

  Cross didn’t want the sound of gunshots to alert Eduardo and his other men. But before they got to mow down all three guards, one of them was lucky enough to squeeze off a few rounds from the Uzi he carried, alerting whoever was waiting behind the door.

  The hallway erupted with chaotic gunfire, and the last guard caught a bullet to his head, pushing him violently back into the door with a loud thud.

  Cross knew he had lost the element of surprise. “Go! Go! Go!” he shouted.

  Edge and the others quickly rushed for the door and tried to kick it in, and then a shotgun blast took the door completely off the hinges. The four masked men rushed into the room blazing, gunfire erupting between both camps in the posh-looking room.

  Eduardo was startled by the sound of gunfire. His right-hand security, Andrea, rushed into the room screaming, “We’re being hit!”

  Eduardo scrambled to get his gun and some other belongings, while Andrea was posted by the door keeping a watchful eye out with a .50-cal. clutched tightly in his hands. Eduardo hurriedly got dressed. “Who got balls to come at me?” he shouted.

  Andrea pushed his boss into the next room, while the intense gunfire scattered all about. Men were heard screaming and it sounded like a small war in the next room.

  Cross and his goons had killed three of Eduardo’s men who’d tried holding down the fort. Now their bloody, bullet-riddled bodies lay sprawled across the gleaming black-and-white marble floors.

  “Let’s do these niggas and get this fuckin’ money,” one thug shouted.

  The men ran amok across the penthouse floor, shooting their weapons off and destroying priceless artifacts. “Find Eduardo,” Cross shouted.

  Eduardo and Andrea raced to the next room that had a secret doorway leading into an adjacent apartment room and toward an escape route. Eduardo clutched a heavy duffel bag, his bodyguard following right behind him. But as they turned the corner, just a few feet from the room,
they were met with heavy gunfire.

  Tat! Tat! Tat! Tat! Tat! Tat!

  “They right here, son! They over here!” a young thug shouted.

  Cross ran up, and more gunfire was exchanged between Andrea and Cross and his goons. The hallway lit up like a Christmas tree. Cross was relentless.

  Edge returned fire with the submachine gun gripped in his hand. The deadly tool let loose a barrage of bullets like a firehouse hose. The walls were coming apart with bullets.

  “Go, Eduardo, go!” Andrea shouted, pushing Eduardo forcefully into the adjacent room and covering him with gunfire from his .50-cal.

  Eduardo kept his head low and sprinted across the hall and dove into the next room. He looked back for Andrea, but his right-hand guard was pinned down by heavy gunfire.

  Bak! Bak! Bak! Bak! Bak!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Cross and his goons moved in closer, pushing Andrea back. He was outnumbered and outgunned. The rage in the men’s eyes was evident that they came to kill and take.

  Andrea tried to hold them off as long as he could, giving his boss ample time to make his escape. He glanced back and saw Eduardo gone. His only job was to protect Eduardo. He nodded. Andrea rushed from behind the wall that he was taking cover and quickly fired a stream of shots at his assailants. They fell back, giving Andrea a split second to make his escape behind Eduardo. He rushed for the room feeling and hearing the bullets whiz by his ear. They missed him my mere inches. When he ran into the room, he right away shut the door and reloaded his weapon.

  Eduardo had pushed a mechanism that opened into a downward, short tunnel. He tossed the duffel bag back into the tunnel, removed a pistol, and yelled to Andrea, “Let’s go!”

  Andrea nodded. He was locked and loaded again. Eduardo had made his escape through the tunnel. Andrea had one foot in and one foot out.

  The door came crashing open, and the gunfire erupted again. Andrea quickly fired back, but before he could make it all the way inside, he was shot, catching a slug in his lower abdomen. He went berserk, shooting erratically and fell backwards into the escape route, with the door closing tight behind him.