It Is What it Is

by Ivory B.

  There was a toast made to the guest of honor, he lifted his champagne glass and nodded his head in appreciation, everyone dug right in except him. Lucky watched on with intrigue as he cut his food and placed it on a small separate plate. One of the big diesel men standing beside the chair he was seated in ate the food from the plate. The bodyguard waited a few minutes before nodding his head in approval. Then and only then did the Don eat his food. Lucky frowned discreetly What the hell? Where they do that at?

  Lucky silently thanked Matoo for making Ty and herself attend those etiquette classes on Saturdays when they were younger. Both her and Ty hated those classes, hated putting on those frilly girl dresses and itchy tights. They couldn’t find the purpose in the classes when they would rather be home watching Saturday morning cartoons. They were too young to appreciate what Matoo was trying to instill in them. Those classes came in handy after all, now Lucky was able to eat a formal five course meal amongst these upper class people and use the proper utensils, instead of looking like Boonquiesha from the projects that didn’t know the difference between a salad or dessert fork.

  Just when Lucky thought she would be able to get through dinner flying under the radar not having to say much of anything but please and thank you to the hired help her hopes were dashed. The Don looked over at Carlos, “Carlito it’s so good to have you home. I’m glad you were able to make it despite the family emergency,” he said with his eyes fixated on Lucky when he said family emergency. For a moment Lucky thought for sure he knew about the recent drama she and Carlos had been going through. “Louchanna it’s nice to finally meet you. Tell me something about yourself,” he said in a strong Colombian accent making it almost hard for Lucky to understand him. Lucky hesitated while all eyes around the table seemed to have turned on her. She looked over at Los who gave her a slight smirk and nod to go ahead. “Well there isn’t really mu…” Lucky was cut off mid sentence when the Don lifted his hand and signaled no. “I’m sorry, in Spanish please. My English isn’t all that good,” Lucky squirmed slightly in her seat. She was a little insecure about speaking in front of everyone knowing her pronunciation of some words wasn’t a hundred percent. “Well there isn’t much to tell. I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I uhh…been with Carlito for three years. And I’ve just been accepted to Upenn Law,” Lucky said in perfect Spanish. The Don smiled and shook his head in approval. “Are you happy?” he asked with a serious as a heart attack look on his face. “Am I happy?” Lucky repeated not really sure of the meaning of his question. “Yes, are you happy?” Lucky looked over at Los quickly then turned her attention back to the Don staring him dead in the eyes as she answered. “Yes, very.” He held eye contact with her for a few seconds longer before a slight smile spread across his face. The Don was a firm believer that a happy woman resulted in a happy man, who in return was more productive and successful. But an unhappy woman could be a distraction and distractions are something no one needed especially in this line of work. His motto was keep her happy or let her go. He knew all about their arrests it was his job to know, just as he knew everything about Lucky before she even opened her mouth. The Don looked over at Los “Now I see why it’s so hard to get you to come home,” he said looking at Carlos nodding his head in approval. Carlos smirked and looked over at Lucky with pride in his eyes. He knew the Don was going to put Lucky through that whole vetting process but he was happy his baby rose to the occasion and handled herself well.

  The rest of dinner went really well. Right after dinner Los and Lucky were right back on the dance floor in the ballroom enjoying each other when Los was tapped on the shoulder by one of the Don’s Lieutenants’. The man said something to Los in a hushed tone then walked off “Baby girl I gotta step away for a little bit.” He could see the protest in Lucky’s eyes before she even uttered a word. He hadn’t left her side all night but this time he had to. “You’ll be fine. Look over there, go sit down with the rest of the ladies at the table.” Lucky looked towards the table he was pointing at and noticed a table full of women sitting and conversating. “Baby I don’t know them,” Lucky pouted. “Exactly, go get to know them,” Los said pinching her cheek playfully. “C’mon,” he said grabbing her hand gently and walking off towards the table. He pulled out a chair for her, kissed her on the forehead and bounced leaving her there alone.

  To her surprise the chicks turned out to be really cool. Lucky found herself up on the dance floor with two of them trying to teach her to dance Salsa. She laughed, chatted and had probably one too many tasty and fruity Margaritas because she hadn’t even noticed that the table full of women she was partying with started to dwindle. By the time she realized what was going on she was the only one sitting at the table alone. The two chicks she was partying up and dancing with had just been picked up by the men they came to the party with and left.

  Unbeknownst to Lucky the Cartel was having a meeting right up under everyone’s noses and the men were being dismissed by their rank. Therefore, Lucky found herself left alone at the table with no one except the cleaning crew clearing tables. Oh hell no, where the hell is Carlos? I know this man ain’t forget about me. Lucky got up from the table in search of Carlos a little upset that he had forgotten all about her. She had no idea where to start looking this place was enormous.

  Carlos sat in the far end of the room nursing his favorite drink a glass of Henny. He glared at one of the Don’s Lieutenant’s who seemed to be having a serious eye problem. “Carlito it’s really good to have you home. I see business is going great. How’s everything else in the states besides the little issue you had recently?” The Don asked oblivious to the stare down Los and his Lieutenant was having. “Everything’s, everything I can’t complain.” “That’s what I like to hear. What’s going on with Nice and Jah?” He asked clearly very interested. “They’re good, Nice is back in the states holdin everything down while I’m here.” “Umm hmm, well make sure you tell Nice he needs to check in at home sometime soon,” the Don said before taking a swig of his imported Italian wine.

  The Don’s lieutenant rolled his eyes. He couldn’t understand for the life of him why the Don favored Carlos so much. Most importantly why he put someone like Carlos in control of so much territory? Or how he was even accepted on this level to the Cartel? There was no secret that niggas never really prospered to this level. The Don’s reasoning was simple. First and foremost Carlos was an earner; that much was true. He made a killing for the Cartel and he was damn good at what he did. Two, to the Don Carlos was the best of both worlds, appearance wise he was a black man. He could blend in and was accepted by blacks in America. He slipped under the radar when it came to law enforcement. No one would ever suspect that he was as deep in the game as he was. On the other hand his Colombian ethnicity made him acceptable to Colombian’s, Well acceptable to most that is. Many people failed to realize that it was the same in South America as it was in America race played an intricate part of society no matter where you went. Some people still carried the same ignorant and prejudiced beliefs that a nigga was a nigga and skin tone made a difference no matter what. It was clear the Don’s lieutenant with the eye problem shared the same ignorant sentiment.

  Suddenly everyone’s attention went to the door as Lucky walked in. “Oh I’m sorry,” Lucky said startled placing her hand to her chest. Not until Lucky walked completely in did she realize she had walked in on something she shouldn’t have. There seemed to be some type of private meeting taking place. There were about 8 men in the large room and one older woman that looked like she could be someone’s nice grandmother; you know the type that you baked cookies with. Little did Lucky know she was looking at one of the most dangerous and notorious woman in the drug game.

  Lucky shifted uncomfortably as all eyes seemed to have landed on her. She scanned the room quickly in slight panic trying to locate Carlos when her eyes finally landed on him leaning back looking sexy as hell with a drink in his hand. Los lifted his free hand and motioned for Lucky to come here with h
is finger. She hiked up the front of her evening gown to prevent herself from tripping as she made her way over to Carlos nervously. Her nerves were at an all time high as she felt several of the men in the room staring at her. As she got closer to Carlos she noticed there was a beautiful video vixen looking chick sitting in a chair next to him. For a moment Lucky was feeling a little territorial about Los sitting so close to this woman. That was until Lucky caught the chick giving her the same look the rest of the men in the room were giving her, she knew then that this chick was down with 1-800 get ya lips wet on some lips. Carlos was the last thing on her mind.

  Carlos looked up at Lucky as she stood in front of him. He paused and gazed up at her before he patted his leg for her to take a seat. Lucky eased down on his lap and sat stiffly still feeling eyes on them. Carlos leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Ma what’s wrong?” “I was getting worried Carlos it’s late and everyone left,” Lucky whispered back. Carlos looked down at the iced out bezel on his Presidential Rolex. “Oh shit, I didn’t realize how late it was. Give me a few minutes Lucky Charms I’ll be right out.” Lucky flashed Los a doubtful look. “I promise ma, just let me wrap this up,” Los whispered in her ear smoothly. Lucky shook her head in agreement and went to get up but before she could Los placed his hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer to place a tender kiss on her forehead. That one simple act of affection stopped Lucky from pouting about waiting a minute longer immediately. Lucky made an exit with a smile on her face all awhile feeling eyes on her ass. Back to the ballroom she went to wait for Carlos to finish up with whatever he was doing.

  As soon as Lucky left the room Zelia started up. “So Carlito a good Colombian woman wasn’t good enough for you? You had to go next door to Brazil to get you some arm candy I see. She’s beautiful though, I bet the view is even better when she’s naked,” Zelia teased. Los took the last swig of his Henny and shook his head. “Nah she not Brazilian, she a nigga like me,” Los said causing the Don’s Lieutenant with the eye problem to look at him. Carlos gave him a deadly glare. The same dude that seemed to have a problem with black people was just drooling all over Lucky. How ironic Los thought.

  Zelia raised an eyebrow “Really? Wow. I thought with the complexion and ass she was one of those brown beauties from Brazil. You met her back in Philly?” “Yeah I did. And you would’ve known that if you wasn’t fashionably late to the party.” Zelia flashed Los a look of warning about calling her out on her tardiness. “Shit. I didn’t know they made em like that over there. Well it looks like I’ll be making a trip to Philly to visit my big brother pretty soon. I want me one of those too,” Zelia said with a smile. Carlos shook his head at Zelia and laughed she was crazy. Drop dead gorgeous and ain’t want shit to do with dick. Her beauty eluded her danger. She was a ten in the face and had a body that made a nigga wander how she taste but she was deadlier than some of the hardest niggaz he knew.

  Zelia and Los were close, as in kin close and always had been. They did a lot of things together coming up in the game. Got paper together, fucked bitches together. She was just like one of the boys so he never looked at her in a sexual way. The only dude he knew that was lucky enough to smash was the same dude that took her virginity and that was Nice. Which Los still couldn’t figure out how that all went down. Neither Zelia or Nice ever talked about it, it was one of those open secrets between everyone.

  “Humph, so is she the reason we have bad relations with our old Dominican friend in New York?” Lupe the Don’s Lieutenant with the eye problem asked the Don referring to Lucky. Los got immediately tight; Lupe was crossing the line, discussing wives and children is something they didn’t do. “Nah we got bad relations cause they sloppy wit business,” Los responded in a clipped tone, his eyes flashed anger indicating things were on the verge of getting ugly. “Lupe!” the Don boomed staring at the younger brother of his late wife as if he’d lost his mind.

  The Don felt his brother in-law was more of a headache than anything else. He dealt with him primarily out of guilt and obligation. His wife was gunned down nearly 20 years ago, there was no question about it those bullets were meant for him. But someone felt it was more fitting to kill his wife and make him live with the guilt and hurt of losing his soul-mate for the rest of his life. The Don took on the responsibility of raising his late wife’s younger brother after she was killed but it wasn’t easy. Lupe and himself never really saw eye to eye or got along. The Don could see from early on that Lupe wasn’t cut out for the tasks at hand. And it was obvious Lupe felt threatened by Los’ position and rise in power just as he had with Los Sr. Maybe Lupe saw the truth, that Los was everything the Don wished he was but wasn’t. Secretly The Don had always wondered whether or not Lupe had anything to do with Los Sr.’s death? He had never uttered his thoughts to a soul not even his most trusted lieutenant Macho for fear of retaliation and the dismantlement of his organization from internal conflict. All he wanted was peace and prosperity amongst his organization but Lupe made that very hard sometimes.

  “Watch it,” the Don demanded pointing a hand at Lupe that held a lit imported Cuban cigar. He drew his hand back and took a tote from the premium cigar while shaking his head at his brother in-law’s tasteless comment. “In life all a man has is his word when everything else is gone” The Don said making a wide motion with his hand at the magnificent room they were in to put emphasis on his words. “All we have is our word. I asked Carlito to help me keep mine by honoring a favor for an old acquaintance, he did that, anything above and beyond he doesn’t have to do if he doesn’t want to. Besides, I think it’s best for everyone that ties were severed, my old Dominican friend just isn’t himself anymore, especially when he’s making questionable decisions like placing his Niece to head his operation,” The Don shook his head with disapproval. “The only place that girl belongs in this business is on her back underneath a man. She didn’t know what she was doing and she was exasperating their already dire situation. This is for the best,” The Don said with finality.

  “Yeah Lupe, you should know better than anyone that this game is survival of the fittest. You either sink or swim but nobodies obligated to throw you a life jacket,” Los said staring the older man in the eyes letting him know he was dead serious. Los washed his hands with Lissette and her people the moment that bitch ran and told on Lucky. He wasn’t one to fuck with the police in any way shape or form. Although Lissette refused to cooperate with the police after her initial statement and didn’t want to press charges the damage was already done. In Los’ eyes when the heat was on Lissette couldn’t be trusted. If she couldn’t take a little ass whoopin she definitely couldn’t take the threat of doing life if the FEDS ever came down on them. Since Lupe felt so strongly about Lissette and her people not having a connect he could serve them personally but Los wouldn’t. The tension in the room had risen to a suffocating silence until Macho chuckled. He looked over at Los and had to smile, he was his father’s son no doubt about it. Los wouldn’t bite his tongue or back down no matter who it was and Macho respected that and so did the Don.

  Meanwhile, Lucky sat at the table watching the cleaning crew continue their massive job of getting the place back to normalcy. Looking at the antique grandfather clock in the ballroom Lucky noted that damn near 20 minutes had gone by and Carlos was still a no show, she was officially pissed. Carlos wrapped up his conversation going over last minute details about upcoming business then headed out to get Lucky. He already knew she was going to be hot with him but hell sometimes business meetings ran over.

  Los found Lucky sitting at a table in the dining hall all by herself looking sad and lonely. This definitely wasn’t the way he planned on ending their night. He stood over Lucky who looked up at him with attitude before folding her arms across her chest, rolling her eyes and looking away. Los knew from her body language alone she was pissed. Carlos stood there looking down at her with apologetic eyes. When she looked up at him a second time he flashed the biggest, cheesiest smile ever which caught he
r off guard causing her to burst out into laughter. “Let’s go beautiful,” Los said reaching out for her hand. She took his hand and his apology as he whispered sweet nothings in her ear. Carlos wrapped his arms around her waist from behind pressing himself into her backside as he walked towards their car whispering in her ear and kissing on her neck.

  Once they were in the car it was as if they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Los didn’t want to come off disrespectful but for some reason keeping his hands off Lucky until they made it back to his apartment was impossible at the moment. Not to mention Lucky was just as hot as he was. He pulled Lucky over the divider between them where she ended up straddling his lap. Los reclined his seat way back in almost a laying position while Lucky placed soft kisses along his jaw bone and neck. He hiked up her gown running his hands up her soft thighs before stroking her wet pussy through her thong. “Ummm Pa,” Lucky moaned against his lips kissing him hungrily. Although the backseat of the Maybach was luxurious in all its grandeur, with flat screen televisions mounted in front of each seat, and reclining butter soft leather bucket seats, it wasn’t exactly ideal for getting it poppin in but that wasn’t stopping anything. They found themselves struggling to make things happen in his seat. Carlos palmed Lucky’s ass with one hand while he used his other to fondle Lucky’s womanhood making her wetter. “Uhhh I love you,” Lucky moaned as she rode his dick through his tux pants while sucking on his neck causing him to moan in ecstasy.

  Suddenly Carlos heard a car horn blare; his eyes shot open and he looked at the rearview mirror where he locked eyes with the driver. It seemed as if the driver was paying more attention to what was going on in the backseat than the road in front of him. Los reached over to what was considered the command center in the backseat and pressed the button to pull up the partition between the front and back. Lucky didn’t seem to notice anything as she went from sucking on Los’ neck to cupping his face and kissing him passionately. He kissed her back with the same aggressiveness staring Lucky in her eyes as they kissed. Lucky moaned against his lips when she felt Los slip his fingers in and out of her wetness. She gasped and threw her head back as his fingers stroked her love button over and over again causing her to drip like a leaky faucet. “Umm don’t tease me Daddy put em back in” Lucky begged in an urgent whisper. Los slipped his fingers deep inside Lucky’s wetness again causing her to buck on his fingers and roll her hips to a slow and sensual tempo. “Paaa,” Lucky uttered in a sexy moan as she felt Carlos bury his hand into her up-do then pull her head back exposing her delicate neck. Lucky inhaled deeply as Los kissed and sucked on her neck placing butterfly kisses that trailed all the way to the exposed portion of her breasts. The need to feel Los’ mouth wrapped around her nipples had her reaching up and pulling the top of her dress down sending her breasts toppling out the top of her strapless gown. Carlos looked at her pretty titties and didn’t waste any time servicing each of them. He bit down on her nipples taking turns going from left to right until both of them were hardened and long. “Ummm Carlos!” Lucky moaned while running her hands over Los’ deep waves as he continued sucking and nibbling on her breasts. Carlos pulled his hand out of her up-do sending her long hair cascading down her back and shoulders. Lucky bit down on her bottom lip trying desperately to hold off the orgasm that was building from him fingering her. She reached down between his legs and gripped onto what was her salvation right now, her need for him was causing her to feel as if she were on the brink of dying and what lie between his legs was salvation. He gazed into her eyes and knew she was on the brink of ecstasy, he could feel Lucky squeezing her inner walls down on his fingers as he pushed a third one inside her wet folds. She was picture perfect, her eyes glistening with a mixture of love and lust in them and the tiara still sitting on her head perfectly. Lucky threw her head back making a fuck face grinding harder and faster before she came all over his fingers. “Oh my gaawwd!” Lucky shrieked as she fell into his chest clinging to him while trying to catch her breath. Los kissed Lucky’s forehead and wrapped his arms around her tight while listening to her breathing calm. Right as Lucky was coming down from that orgasmic high the car slowed to a stop in front of their building. It took them a little over five minutes to collect themselves before exiting the vehicle.