“We can’t be seen by anybody we know, bro! They get asked what we were riding in and we’re assed out!”
Nothing was said for a while. Everyone was processing the reality of it before I finally broke the silence.
“Are we ready to do this?”
“I’m ready, Jaden. I was built for this. I’m with you to the bitter end.” Eric answered.
“Relax, J,” he said reaching in the ashtray and handed me a fat spliff. “Hit this. Don’t look it funny ’cause it ain’t in a Dutch. It’s the paper killlin’ ya’ lungs.”
I leaned away from it. “I gotta stay sharp.”
“You gotta relax. Being uptight you might accidentally bust a cap and blow our cover.” He nudged me with the spliff and said, “Come on, hit it. You damn sure don’t have to worry about drug tests anymore.”
“Very funny,” I replied, then I snatched his lighter and fired it up.
I got antsy when traffic made our trip to Jersey City twice as long.
“We were supposed to be there twenty minutes ago, J.”
“Don’t sweat it, fam. I got my partner keeping an eye on him. I’m a call him up to make sure.” I dialed and he answered after the first ring. I put him on speaker.
“Jaden, my main man these ladies in here look good enough to eat. I’m spending these ones you gave me like they water. I even got a lap dance from a sexy, big butt chick. I think I’m in love!”
“I’m glad you’re having a good time but let’s get back to business. Is the bird still there?”
“In his nest…”
Nick jammed on the brakes when we pulled up to the parking of the place. Cars were pouring in from both sides of the street. Nick nearly bumped another car staring at Benzes and Ferraris that were pulling in.
We left our weapons in the ride and stepped to the front of the place. A swarm of well-dressed customers were flowing in. The bouncers frisked us. We paid our admission and walked in. I pulled my Yankee cap low and did a little two-step in front of a healthy girl on a pole while my comrades headed for the other side.
I threw a couple of dollars and scanned the place for Sid. It didn’t take long because he had a couple of sexy chocolate girls on his lap, touching him and licking his ear. I nonchalantly sat on the stool next to him and ordered a drink. I gave Nick and Eric the nod to confirm that the gray-haired, well-dressed, lanky Italian was our mark.
“Yo, you Sid the Great, my man…?”
A slight nod from him was enough to make him shoo the girls away. Just as I heard, he never let his ladies listen to a single word when it came to business. He straightened out his pants.
“That’s right, young man. And you are?”
“They call me J-Dub. I’m a fan of yours. My brother Chris is big out there in Vegas but he hasn’t reached your level yet. Shit, he should be so lucky.”
He leaned toward me for emphasis. The high-priced strip joint was sweaty and smoky but his cologne stung my nose.
“It ain’t all about luck, kid. You gotta have gamble in your blood to make it in this biz. You gotta have heart. You ain’t gonna make it through if you don’t have cohones the size of fucking bowling balls.” We shared a good laugh.
Even while palming strippers’ butts and sipping drinks, we didn’t stop exchanging information. I got on his good side, just like I planned it.
“You know what kid? I like you. You’ve got potential.”
“True, you know I got some money and wanted to know if you knew what I should put it on for a fat return. But you probably don’t have time. We’ll get up another time, chief.”
I gave my cohorts the nod and we slipped out the door like we didn’t care. I slowed down when I heard Sid’s gators kissing the wet pavement behind me.
“Wait a minute, young man. So you said you’ve got money on you?”
“Thirty grand. It ain’t a fortune but it’s a start.”
“I started my empire on half that. I can triple it in two days. Just let me have a quarter of your profit. That’s a pretty low fee, if you ask me. Trust me, you’ll barely notice it.”
I smiled and said, “Where can we go to talk this through?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHANGE OF PLANS
Nick drove behind Sid’s luxury Benz when we left the strip bar. There were concerns all the way around.
“I know you don’t trust this dude, J.”
“I got a good feeling about this, Eric. We could kill him and never see another dollar or we could wait a while to see how things go. Maybe we could make some money for the long-term. If worse comes to worse, we got plenty of arms. How you feel about it, Nick?”
“I agree with E but your instinct never failed us yet. I just hope you’re right.”
Nick sped up behind Sid’s vehicle and pulled up alongside. Sid let down the back window and lagged before his blond arm-piece poked her head out and flashed them her big fake tits. She flipped her tongue and mouthed that she wanted to screw us all. Sid laughed hard.
“I hope you’ve got a full tank, boys!”
They stepped on the gas and I dozed off a little, feeling the drinks I’d chugged in the club. When I awoke, Eric told me we were in Brewster, Connecticut. Sid’s mansion was very nice. There was a huge Greek statue in the middle of a water fountain that was behind a large, metal front gate. Guard dogs roamed the gigantic property. There wasn’t another house in any direction as far as my eyes could see. We rolled through an acre of lawn and cobblestone before we got to the front door. Sid’s fine ass blonde chick showed us where to park. Watching her bubble butt got me so hot I almost forgot why we were there. The sounds of clips being loaded snapped me out of the trance I was in. I armed mine too. Nick turned the music down and prayed hard, rocking his head toward the steering wheel. Nobody bothered him. I tucked four clips each in my pockets and stepped out of the ride.
“You got a ceiling like the Sistine Chapel!” I said walking into the well kept mansion.
“Oh, that cost me less than fifty large. I think it was worth it.”
“That’s it?” Eric asked.
“Yup, I’m a good friend of the painter. I got this mansion for relatively nothing-well, a couple years worth of hot picks, actually. It’s called getting a house under market value. Saving money is as important as making it. You’ll learn that soon enough. Follow me, gentlemen.”
Marble shone everywhere. With the exception of some old paintings, his chandelier looked like it cost a pretty penny. This dude was definitely stacking cheddar. We walked into a dining room with carpet so thick, my soles disappeared. We sat down at a very long table.
“Gentlemen, let’s talk business. I’ve got good numbers on a few college games coming up this weekend. LSU over UCLA by twelve or higher. UCLA’s an underdog means heavy money is to be made picking LSU. Now, normally I would have everyone lay money where my money is then flip at the last second. You’ll triple your money if LSU brings it home.”
“Is the money guaranteed?”
“Nothing’s guaranteed, young man. Your team still has to win. It’s a hell of a good bet, though.”
“Give us a minute, Sid.”
We put our heads together and talked about it.
“Dog, we need to just get him for what we got! Ain’t no way I’m giving him half of our stash for two days. If he disappears, we never gonna find him!” Eric whispered.
“Relax. He’s sitting five feet away from us. I think we can trust him. He can’t exactly hook this house this a trailer,” I replied.
In the end, we agreed with his terms. He raised his arms and said, “Beautiful! Let’s celebrate!”
Sid whispered something to the blonde chick. She left and returned with four of the prettiest chicks I’ve ever seen. They were wearing skimpy tops and thongs.
“Of course, one of you lucky guys gets two girls. You’re free to settle it any which way.”
The blond broke out a gold plate with coke. He nodded at me. I shook my head. They scraped some up and sn
orted a few lines and proceeded to tongue each other down like horny teenagers. They were so sloppy with it they damn-near made me hurl.
“This Hawaiian chick is mine!” I said pulling her to me and grinded on her ass. She bent over in front of me like I paid her.
“Don’t be shy with that chick, J! Oh, you in love, right!” Everybody laughed. “Sorry hon, J-Dub is in love, sweetie!” Nick said.
He was doing his thing with this Amazon white chick. She had tits like watermelons. In a flash, Nick was sucking on her chest like a newborn. I screamed, “I love this party!”
The Hawaiian chick shoved me into a chair and rode me until I thought my manhood would bust through the seams. “Yeah, girl! I like that rough stuff! I’m the boss, though!”
I made her squeal when I gripped her waist and jumped to my feet. She let out a loud shriek when I put her on her back and dry-humped her. The woman loved that shit, rubbing her tits.
“This is just too good to be true.” I laughed.
Sid tossed rubbers at us and I had a feeling that I had to hurry up and get some, so I hurried stripping both of us from the waist down, strapped up and drove my pipe in her like the end was near, watching her swing her hips and make her bottom wobble, stack flush on my lap. It felt so so soft, I bit it before spanking it real-soft like. She was just starting to work up a sweat when I heard the guard dogs barking. Sid wiped his nose and stood up. The hair raised on my back made me worried. I tensed up and had the chick raise up off me.
“Who the hell is it?” Sid asked looking up at some security monitors. All the monitors suddenly went fuzzy white.
“Sump’n is up. Get ready.” I ordered.
Sid hit a button under the table and a drawer rose up out of the wood revealing a shotgun. He cocked it, sent the girls upstairs then we all walked outside and stayed about 30 feet from the door. We posted up behind a solid wall and pulled out our straps, pointing them at the door. We held our collective breaths when the door shook.
BOOM!
The door blew open so hard the explosion put us all on our asses. Fat chunks of wood coulda blinded us all
“What the fu-”
There was a humming in my eardrums after the explosions. Faintly, I could hear whisperings. Then I saw six dudes dressed like storm troopers flooding Sid’s lobby. Sid fired a couple times. I squeezed the trigger letting off shots. Bullets sprayed breaking mirrors and blowing chunks of holes in his marble walls. Chips bounced off gashing my arm. It bled slow and steady. Damn! It took less than a hot minute for Sid’s mansion to turn from party central into fucking Bosnia. The dust burned my eyes. I rubbed them nonstop.
“I’m a kill you niggas!”
I poked my head out to the side of the sofa. Popping my head over the top, I fired six shots. I caught one of those bastards in the shoulder.
Eric was curled up behind an antique couch, pinned down by shots from multiple angles. Wood splinters shot off the chair he was using for cover. It was like the bullets were eating it down to the frame. He was running out of time.
I had to scream at this nigga for him to hear me. Nick stayed posted behind the corner that led to another room. Choosing his shots wisely, he let off three times and took two of them out. I was waiting for the perfect time to shoot.
“J what the fuck you waiting for?! Bust at these niggas! Take this!”
Nick snatched a .380 from the small of his back and slid it across the floor. Having two guns boosted my confidence. I took two deep breaths, leaned to the side and squeezed the triggers nonstop.
“Keep firing in the middle E!”
“Come get some, you bastards!” I yelled squeezing the trigger.
In the midst of all this I kept asking myself why I came out here. Two of the masked robbers booked up the stairs before Sid gave a sick laugh. A rocket fizzed away from the barrel and twirled like a screwball toward his target and blew the wall behind three enemies into a big empty whole. The three of us shouted it each other to haul ass and jumped away behind anything solid. The force of the explosion made my spine vibrate. I couldn’t hear myself scream.
After the dust and smoke cleared, I saw their faces turned to red molasses. Three of them backed out and hopped back in the getaway van. Nick fired at them and the bullets flew off the van. I came outside to back him up but it was too late. All I heard was tires screeching.
One dude twitched with half of his body hanging outside the new 15-foot hole created by Sid the great. His leg was barely attached to his knee. His guts were spilling onto his thighs.
“Kill me, please. I can’t live like this.”
He was a mess. I gritted my teeth and aimed for his head. He nodded. I think I heard him say “thank you” before I covered my face and pulled the trigger.
Everything got a little too quiet. We knew two dudes were upstairs waiting for us on the same floor the girls were on. Kicking doors open and scanning every room really careful, girls came out of two rooms. All but one of the girls were accounted for. We took deep breaths to get ready for the worst as we approached the final door.
“OK, fellas. Open the door. Open the door!”
The voice was muffled from his mask. I did as he asked. He had the Hawaiian honey in a chokehold with a gun pointed to her head. Another man was behind him with his shotgun on his shoulder. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. I sighed and tightened my grip on my guns.
“Just let her go, fam. She ain’t a part of this.”
“She is now! Back off! My partner is about to take whatever he can then we’re out this joint. There’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
We took little steps backward as they moved up to the door. I stared at him through the notch sight on my piece. He walked boldly eyeing me. There was a lump in the floor and when he stepped on it, he tripped.
“Duck!” I shouted.
He tripped squeezing a shot off. The bullet pierced the Hawaiian honey’s shoulder and made her scream like a banshee. Nick dropped to a knee and fired hitting the man’s leg and neck. Sid’s carpet was ruined with giant spots of crimson.
The other man fired shots. We dove out of the way and the bullets barely missed us. I slid to my stomach and fired. Rounds tore through his forearm. I pulled the trigger but my clip was empty. Sweat burned my eyes. He fell but was able to keep firing at me. I rolled away with the quickness.
We saw Sid approaching with what look like a grenade. Hugging the corner, Sid tossed that it in the room and the man came out coughing, unarmed in no time. I dragged the chick out away from dude.
“Who sent you?” Sid screamed.
Sid pulled out his snub nose .45 and poked the barrel into the man’s wound. He screamed in pain. Sid slapped him with his piece. Three more slaps did the trick.
“I can’t tell you! He’ll kill me!”
“I’ll kill you, you piece of shit! You’re gonna tell me who put you up to this or I’m gonna dissect your scum ass! Die now, or die later! Which would you prefer?”
Sirens started screaming outside from far away. We all tightened up. Sid spoke before our panic set in.
“Just calm down guys. I have friends in high places. Everything’s under control.”
“Sid, look out!” I shouted.
The masked man snatched a blade off his ankle and slashed Sid across his calf. I took aim and squeezed but had forgotten to reload.
He put Sid in a choke hold and pressed a knife to his throat, threatening, “I’m gonna take one of Sid’s pretty little cars and nobody’s gonna move. Get me the keys now! And it better have gas in it!”
“Get him the keys to the Land Rover,” Sid said to his blonde.
We hesitated and the man slowly sliced Sid’s throat. He did it just deep enough to draw blood. Nick and Eric aimed their guns at his head, but they let him through. One of the girls brought the keys to the Land Rover arrived. He snatched them from her and dragged him to the ride with him.
He took off with Sid sitting in the passenger seat. I squinted and saw the making of a
struggle from the distance. The SUV traveled about twenty yards before a shot rang out. We held our breaths thinking Sid was toast. The thought was mortifying, dead and we were there, three young black males from Harlem in his house with blood all over us. There were bullet shells belonging to us all over the marble floor.
Then we saw a door open and somebody tumble out to the road. We all breathed easy again when Sid popped to his feet and waved to us. We watched him dust himself off before hopping back in and pulled up to his back entrance.
“Aw shit. This place is practically destroyed and I don’t even have a name. Bastards!”
Nick frisked the dead man and said, “Jackpot! Let’s see. Yup, he’s got his driver’s license.”
I smiled. “Perfect. Victor owes me a favor. He could pull his records in a snap.”
We stashed our weapons just in time. Nine police cars were outside. Three officers crept in slow with guns drawn and checked every hidden spot before walking up to us.
“We meet again, Sid. I see you had quite a party tonight,” the lead officer said sweeping wood chips to the side.
“These guys that blew this place up… they weren’t invited.”
Chief Daly checked out the place sniffing and squinting everywhere.
“Do you know anybody who’d go this far to rob you?”
“I’ve made a lot of enemies over the years. There’s no way I can tell.” Sid answered.
The cop glanced at me. He recognized me right away. The chief was either a football fan or a betting man.
“Hey! You’re that running back from Lincoln High School, aren’t you?”
“Guilty as charged,” I waved at him.
“Shouldn’t you, uh… be training or home resting up for a game?”
“I just came to check my friend Sid here.”
“Keep your head on and I’ll be watching you on Sundays. That’s for sure. You mind signing this for my kid?” He handed me a pen and his ticket pad. He turned to Sid and his smile melted. “Your insurance doesn’t cover shootouts, does it, Sid?”
“What are you suggesting I do, Officer Daly?”
Hustle Hard Page 12