Love & War

by Ashley Antoinette

  Indie’s name lit up her phone and just like that YaYa’s heart paced. Everything in her wanted to ignore him, but out of habit she slid the bar across the bottom of the screen to accept the call.

  “Hello?” was her greeting.

  “Where are you?”

  YaYa’s mouth fell open in complete surprise. It wasn’t Indie’s voice that she heard but an unexpected baritone filled her ear.

  “I’m at the Trump Towers near Central Park,” she whispered.

  Click.

  She knew that it meant he was on his way and she couldn’t wait to see his face again. Ethic was everything right about a man and as much as she wanted to fight the attraction that she felt for him, right now, he was just what she needed.

  The faithfulness that had been established to Indie over the years caused a pit of guilt to form in her stomach, but his betrayal reminded her that she had nothing to feel guilty about. She had every right to do whatever the hell she wanted to do. Right?

  Ethic hung up the phone and then deleted the most recent call. Indie reentered the room and Ethic passed him the phone. “I’m out of here,” he said. “I’ll be in touch when that shipment arrives.”

  “You’re leaving already? Kick back, let’s celebrate this first run. Have a drink,” Indie stated.

  Ethic shook his head as thoughts of YaYa filled his mind. “I’m good. There’s nothing to celebrate yet. When this thing is moving like a well-oiled machine, then I’ll pop a bottle,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.”

  He left Indie’s office and hopped into his G-Class Mercedes truck, pulling out into full traffic at top speed.

  He wasn’t sure what it was about YaYa that made him want to get involved. Yes, she was beautiful, but he wasn’t a stranger to bad bitches. Her body was amazing, but he had indulged with the supermodel type before. It was something else . . . something interior that intrigued him about YaYa; he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t care if she was Indie’s girl. The nigga don’t know how to handle that, Ethic thought. Had he and Indie been friends, Ethic would never approach YaYa, but they weren’t. They were brought together on a money plot. Their relationship was straight business so he had no qualms about going after what he wanted. Men like Indie failed to realize that what he had neglected to appreciate was the exact thing that the next man would. While Indie was running off with Parker, Ethic was running toward YaYa.

  Ethic arrived at the hotel and left his truck with the valet as he made his way up to YaYa’s floor. It was as if an unknown force was pulling him her way because as much as his mind told him to turn around and leave, he kept going forward. He was the metal to her magnet. The moth to her flame. Nothing had felt this familiar since . . . let’s just say it had been years since something had felt so innately right. He knocked on her door and she answered it with a smile so bright that it lit up his entire world. He could see her pain, smell it, feel it as it radiated off of her. Her red eyes let him know that she had cried herself to sleep consecutively. Her hair was disheveled and she was wrapped in a silk robe. There was nothing glamorous about her appearance, but he found her imperfectly perfect. He had never seen her so beautiful. Her vulnerability was the most alluring.

  “I thought you went back home,” she whispered.

  “I did. I had to come back, meet with Indie about business,” Ethic said.

  The sound of his name caused her eyes to water. Here she was, her world was on freeze. She was suffering from heartbreak and Indie had gone on without missing a beat. It was business as usual for him.

  “He knows you called me?” she asked.

  “He doesn’t. I deleted the call,” Ethic said.

  “Why did you call?” she asked.

  “Can I be honest?” he countered.

  “Please do,” she replied. “I can’t handle any more lies from men.”

  “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the day I met you,” Ethic said. He pushed her through the door and stepped over the threshold into her suite. His lips touched hers and she closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. The gloriousness behind their kiss made it feel as if she had taken a breath of fresh air after being emotionally drowned for days. She felt so many things as she felt him untie her silk robe with ease. Guilt, uncertainty, pain all pulsed through her because the hands that were massaging her firm nipples were not Indie’s. However, pleasure, infatuation, lust, and the faint trace of love swirled in her heart as Ethic handled her in the way that only a real nigga could. He was everything that Indie was not. While he shared all of the boss-like qualities that Indie possessed, he also had the qualities that Indie lacked. Right now he was rescuing her from a dying love and for that she was so grateful.

  She felt Ethic pull back in hesitation.

  “Please don’t stop,” she whispered as she caressed the side of his face and stared him directly in his eyes.

  He rested his forehead on hers. “You know once you give me that, I’m going to want to keep it,” he said.

  She gasped as she felt his thumb massage her clitoris, slowly. “I want you, ma,” Ethic whispered. “All of you . . . even your heart.”

  YaYa pull his face nearer as she initiated his kiss. “That’s all I want is to be wanted,” she answered. “You can have me.”

  She felt his need pressing into her stomach as he slid the silk kimono robe off of her shoulders. Her flower was already dripping with her own nectar and like a bee to honey Ethic’s attraction grew stronger. He laid her on the bear rug that covered the hardwood floors and spread her legs east and west.

  “Wait, wait,” she moaned. “You need a condom,” she whispered.

  Ethic would be the first man that she had slept with in years. She wanted to do this, more than he knew, but they barely knew one another and the foreign nature of their relationship scared her. She trusted him, but she knew that there was still so much to learn. YaYa wasn’t young and naïve anymore. She had given herself to a lot of niggas back in the day, without thinking twice. Now she was wiser, older, and had a child to live for.

  She had no idea that Ethic found the request incredibly sexy and as a man he always came prepared. He opened his wallet and removed a Magnum, staring her in the eyes as he rolled it snugly over his length. He wasted no time in parting her. She gasped in amazement at his girth as he worked his hips, grinding slowly as she matched his stroke. She rolled over on all fours as she dipped her back low. YaYa wanted him to beat it up. She was in need of a punishment and as he gripped her hips as he entered from behind her mouth fell open. The line between pleasure and pain was so thin that she had to bite her lip to stop herself from calling out his name. He reached around and fondled her clit as she threw it back. She came, within minutes and then collapsed onto her stomach as he lay on top of her, sweeping the baby hairs off the nape of her neck while kissing her gently.

  “I’ve thought about you too,” she whispered. She rolled around so that she faced him. “Indie and I are done.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She nodded. “He let another woman come between us,” she said. “There is no coming back from that.”

  “I don’t like to play the sucker, ma. If this is just a rebound thing, something on the side to make you feel better, then lay that out for me now,” Ethic said.

  “I wish it was that simple,” YaYa said. She couldn’t stop herself from kissing him. “But I feel something for you. I’m too emotional to fully understand what it is, but I do know that I don’t want this feeling or you to go away.”

  He stood and began to dress. “Where are you going?” she asked, almost panicked. She didn’t want her good thing to leave just yet. He was a beautiful distraction from the disaster that had become her life. She silently wondered if her entire relationship with Indie had only occurred so that fate could align her path with Ethic’s. YaYa wasn’t a fall in love type of girl. She had only done it once, but with Ethic she could see herself going through the inconvenience again. She would have to be careful
to always remain the one who loved the least. She had given Indie too much of herself. She would always maintain the upper hand with Ethic, to avoid being hurt again.

  “I’ve got to go. My girls are here with me. They’re back at my hotel suite with the nanny,” Ethic said.

  She was saddened by his sudden departure, but she understood. “When do you leave town?” she asked.

  “I don’t know just yet,” Ethic said as he buttoned his final button on his Prada shirt. “You just gave me a reason to stick around for a while.”

  She smiled and he bent over to kiss her. “Good,” she responded with a smile.

  “Good night, beautiful. I’ll be in touch.”

  YaYa stood, unashamed in her nakedness as she walked him to the door. She hated to see him go, but she knew that he would be back. Getting a man had never been an issue for her. Indie must have forgotten how intoxicating her love could truly be. She closed the door behind him and finally exhaled. Ethic’s presence tended to make her hold her breath. Her head was spinning and as she headed to her shower she couldn’t help but smile at just how quickly the tables had turned. When she passed the mirror she couldn’t help but stop and admire her smile. It was the first real sign of happiness that she had expressed in days and it felt good to know that it was possible to feel content without Indie in her life. Ethic didn’t know it but his presence gave her hope. It was only because of him that YaYa was sure that she could move on after heartbreak. A split from Indie was not the end of her world, despite the way that it felt at the moment. She was strong. She had endured much more and survived worse; little did she know the worst was yet to come.

  Chapter 19

  “So now that this thing is officially in your lap, when do you get plugged with the connect?” Trina asked as she sat, breaking down a brick of cocaine. Miesha sat across from her; both wore masks and gloves to protect themselves from the residue and scent of the potent narcotic. They were the only two that Chase would trust with his product. He knew that they would eventually have to expand their circle, but until he could find worthy additions, they all were putting in overtime to make their thing run smoothly. Chase was a jack of all trades. He had access to the finest “fish scale” that money could buy. He was getting bricks in by the boatload and there was no limit. As long as he could flip it then Indie would supply it and Chase wasn’t going to miss a single dollar. In addition to moving weight to heavy hitters in other boroughs, he also broke the bricks down and distributed it through Harlem and Brooklyn. With the lack of leadership in the underworlds of those boroughs, Chase couldn’t see himself turning a blind eye to the open market. He was even expanding and stepping out of Indie’s shoes by moving into DC and Baltimore. The streets were on lock, there was just one problem . . . the Dominicans.

  “I don’t need to meet the connect. I fucks with Indie. That’s enough of a plug for me,” Chase stated as he loaded a stack of money in the counting machine. The bills flipped through making music to Chase’s ears.

  “Getting it from Indie is like having a middle man. You know he putting a tax on it. Why not just ask him to plug you straight with the source?” Trina pushed.

  “Because that’s greedy, T. You’ve got to learn about business etiquette. Indie could have easily kept his position in the streets and kept me as a worker. Instead, when he grew he allowed me to grow, so he deserves to eat off the top. Cutting him out ain’t loyal. He didn’t have to put me on, but he did. You’ve got to step outside of yourself, Trina. It’s not always about cutting people off. You’ve got to remain true to the niggas that have kept it one hundred with you. Indie and Ya are family. What’s up with you lately? All I’ve been hearing is you talking reckless about this situation lately. What’s the beef? You’re eating right?”

  Miesha was silent as she watched Chase and Trina banter. She had never been the one to intervene in family business, but she too had noticed Trina’s disposition when it came to their team.

  “Yeah, I’m eating but at what cost?” she asked. “Like I told Miesha, Indie and especially YaYa are all about them . . . so I’m going to be all about me. It was love in the beginning, but I feel like at the end of the day, we are simply pawns. I’m telling you. All three of us are expendable.”

  “Kill all that noise you talking, Trina. We’re good,” Chase said as he held up a thick wad of bills, all hundreds. “Are we not good?”

  Trina sighed and shook her head as she continued to cut the coke. “Yeah, we good.”

  Chase knew his sister like the back of his hand but he couldn’t understand where this new doubt was coming from. He needed her to get out of her feelings and stay focused. She had been a trooper when Indie was in charge and now that this was Chase’s show he needed her now more than ever. Her head wasn’t on straight. She was sensing snake in people that he trusted with his life and it made him uncomfortable. She was blood. He needed her on board.

  “Let’s call it a night. We can wrap this shit up in the morning,” Chase declared.

  “You don’t like what I’ve got to say about your people so you kicking me out?” Trina asked, seeing through Chase.

  “Without ‘my people’ we would still be back in Houston eating instant noodles and stomping on roaches, T!” Chase reminded her harshly. “Mama didn’t give a fuck. The schools didn’t. The social workers didn’t. Guess who did? Indie. He pulled us out of hell! Or did your red bottoms and thousand-dollar weaves make you forget?”

  Trina pulled the mask off her face and removed her gloves as she stood to her feet. “I ain’t forget shit,” Trina spat. “But I don’t owe anybody a lifetime debt. I’m out! Fuck you and this bullshit-ass team,” she said. She stormed out of the apartment, leaving Miesha and Chase stunned to silence.

  “Fuck is wrong with her? You know what that was all about?” Chase asked as he swiped his neat waves with his hands in frustration. Just when he had come into his own, his own family was adding conflict to the equation. “I don’t need that shit right now.”

  “I don’t know. I know that when I did the bid for YaYa, Trina felt a kind of way about it. She didn’t think I should do it. I do know that when I got out she was different. I don’t think she likes how close YaYa and I have gotten. I think she just feels lost in all of this. Like we are all a family, but she doesn’t know her role,” Miesha informed.

  “Well she better work this shit out real quick,” Chase said.

  “I can stay and finish up here if you want to go after her,” Miesha offered.

  Chase shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. Let her clear her head. I’d rather be in good company. She killing my vibe with all that negative shit. Besides I can’t leave you in the trap by yourself. I’d have to blow a nigga head off for running up in here on you, ma,” he said.

  “Aww,” she teased jokingly. “I didn’t know you cared.”

  “I care,” was his simple reply.

  His statement caught her off-guard and she cleared her throat. She didn’t know if she was taking his words out of context, but it felt like he was coming at her. Is he flirting with me? she asked herself. Chase had known her since she was a young girl and not once had he come at her.

  “Since when?” she asked.

  Chase looked at her. His eyes shone nothing but truth as he replied, “Since always.”

  A flutter in her stomach caused her to smile as she realized what this was. He was seeing her for the young woman she had become and not the teenage girl he had met years ago.

  “Chase, I . . .”

  He stood to his feet and replied, “We ain’t got to talk about it. Right now I’m building. I’m in grind mode. When I’m ready for you, you’ll know.”

  She smiled, completely flattered because she knew that he meant every word.

  Before she could respond the sound of bullets shattering glass rat-tat-tatted throughout the house.

  Chase immediately dove for her, putting his body over hers as he pushed her to the ground. “Stay down,” he said. The way the bullets were c
oming he knew that if he didn’t bust back the assailants were going to move in on them. Fuck it, he thought as he came up off his waist and began sending hollow points back their way. The gunshots were like tiny bolts of thunder as light emanated from his gun. With every resounding blast Miesha jumped out of her skin. It was clear the way that the living room was getting chopped up that the goons had come to kill. She couldn’t die on her knees under a table, not after Chase had revealed he had feelings for her. She hadn’t even lived yet, fuck dying. She crawled low across the floor until her back was against the door that the goons were threatening to come through. They were so busy shooting at Chase that they had no clue that she was even inside. She held out her hand to Chase to signal for him to stop shooting.