On the Run with Love

by J. M. Benjamin

  Freddie threw a quick left hook that caught Slug behind his right ear. He dazed him but didn’t drop him, and Slug threw up his southpaw. He shot Freddie a furious flurry that used all of his boxing skills, dipping and dodging, and throwing a straight right that busted Freddie’s lip. A crowd had gathered around the two cousins going blow for blow, toe to toe, until Slug got up under Freddie, scooped him, and slammed him onto the hood of Shak’s Benz 500 series.

  “Ay, yo, hold the fuck up!” Shak protested as he and A.B. rushed to break up the fight because they were on his car.

  They struggled to pull them apart, A.B. grabbing Slug, and Shak restraining Freddie. “Y’all niggas chill! Y’all family!” A.B. barked.

  They finally got the two men apart; they had been locked tighter than two red-nosed pit bulls. They huffed and puffed, glaring at each other, Freddie with a busted lip and Slug with a bleeding nose.

  “Nigga, we can do this all night,” Slug said, winded, with his hands on his knees. “That still won’t change the fact that you slippin’, cuz. If you gonna play, play. Just don’t let these tricks play you.” Slug stood up, dropped his shorts back in his sag, got in his car, and drove off.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  “Freddie. Freddie, you ’sleep?” Simone asked, shaking him.

  If I wasn’t, would you have to ask? “Not now,” he said gruffly. “What time is it?”

  “Two o’clock,” Simone answered, sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling at him. Her glow was back and she seemed to be getting bigger by the minute. Things between them had been rocky at first, but she had come around and returned to her old loving self. The only thing different was that all she seemed to say lately was, “Freddie, I need some money.”

  Freddie sighed. “For what now, Simone?”

  “To get some baby stuff,” she replied.

  “What happened to all that dough I gave you two days ago?”

  “I went shopping,” she lied. She was getting good at it, almost as good as Freddie.

  “And bought what?” Freddie probed.

  “Come on, boo.” She smiled and wrinkled up her nose in the cute way that she did. “Don’t be like that. Kiki is waiting for me.”

  Freddie just studied his smiling fiancée. Something wasn’t quite right. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but Freddie didn’t see that. “Take what I got in my pants, a’ight? Just let me get some sleep, yo,” he said and rolled over on his side. He hadn’t gotten in until close to four.

  Simone kissed him on the cheek and grabbed his pants. She emptied both pockets like a professional pickpocket, then said, “That’s all?”

  “Simone!” Freddie barked.

  “Okay, okay.” She stuck her tongue in his ear. “I love you, daddy. Sweet dreams.” She said it like she was rocking him to sleep and he nodded off.

  Since his fight with Slug, things hadn’t quite gotten back to normal. To the undiscriminating eye, it was all good; they still hustled together and could still laugh and joke. But deep down, something had been lost that couldn’t be retrieved.

  While Simone was hitting up his pockets, he was hitting up everybody else’s. He tightened down on the chicks he was dealing with. He didn’t really need the money but neither did they, in his book. He also didn’t need to do what he did to Slug.

  “Ay, yo, I hollered at my peeps. They said shit is hot up top so they gotta go up to eighteen five,” Freddie informed Slug as they drove back from Raleigh. “So, yo, instead of fifty-fifty, I gotta see sixty-forty, yo. Feel me?”

  Slug smiled knowingly. “Yeah, cuz, I feel you. I feel you.”

  It seemed as if everything in Freddie’s life was changing for the worse, everything and everyone except for one person: Gina. Freddie had begun to rely on her more and more, to get away from all the bullshit and stress he himself had created. They spent every other weekend together. One weekend was for business; the next was always just because.

  This weekend was just because. Gina flew into Douglas International Airport in Charlotte where Freddie was waiting for her. They checked into the Hyatt and spent the day at Carowinds, an amusement park on the outskirts of Charlotte. It was a blazing Southern day, so the water rides and breathtakingly exhilarating roller coasters were greatly appreciated. Gina felt like a young girl again, eating cotton candy, getting it stuck on her nose, and letting Freddie lick it off. Freddie even won her a large, stuffed toucan with a rainbow beak. It was so big, she had to hold it in both arms.

  Being with Gina was like being free for Freddie. There weren’t any games, there weren’t any lies, so he could just be himself. It was like a breath of fresh air. They went back to the hotel to shower off the perspiration of the day, and then relaxed in the well-air-conditioned room, skin to skin while sipping on cognac: Grand Cru for him and Rémy Red for Gina.

  “I gotta give it to you, Freddie. You surprised me this time. I didn’t expect that,” Gina admitted, rubbing his nose with hers. “I haven’t been to an amusement park in years. I had a lot of fun.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Freddie agreed. “And I ain’t had fun in a long time.”

  “You okay?”

  Freddie shrugged. “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.” He sipped his drink.

  “So I guess the life of a drug dealer ain’t as easy as you thought it would be, huh?” Gina asked, but it was more like a statement.

  “Naw, G, it ain’t that. Shit couldn’t be sweeter.”

  “Then it must be Simone,” she surmised.

  “Something like that.”

  “Well,” she began, kissing him softly on the forehead, “I hope you don’t think I’ma lay here with you naked”—she kissed both eyelids—“and listen to you talk about Simone”—she kissed him on the nose—“when I’m trying to make you forget about her.” She finished with her tongue massaging the inside of his mouth.

  “And if you succeed?” he asked.

  “Then you’ll be all mine like you’re supposed to be. Haven’t you figured it out by now, Freddie? I’m the only woman who can handle you because I’m the only woman who truly knows you.”

  Freddie smiled. “Then if you know me, you know that ‘only woman’ ain’t even in my vocab.”

  “Well, that’s Simone’s problem. As long as you wit’ her, I’m her problem. But once you’re mine, any other woman is my problem. So if you cheat on me, I’ll kill you.” She chuckled, but her eyes narrowed like a panther’s. Freddie caressed her cheek and Gina kissed his palm.

  “Be careful what you ask for, yo.”

  Gina was becoming Freddie’s refuge and he felt attracted to her in ways he never had before. He leaned over and kissed her. “But tonight, it’s just me and you, and I want to treat you like a queen.”

  “Like a queen,” she teased with one eyebrow raised. “I am a queen.”

  Freddie started with her right foot, massaging it along the arch, rolling his thumb down and across the ball of her heel. She had been on her feet all day, so his gentle touch relaxed her. He ran his tongue along the bottom of her foot, tickling her and making her squirm with sensual delight. He worked his way up, gently brushing the tips of her toes with his tongue, ever so slowly finding his way to her ankle and inner calf. Gina gripped the covers and let a soft moan escape from her throat. Freddie parted her thighs, slid a pillow under the small of her back, and began nibbling his way closer and closer to her sex. Freddie had never eaten her out before, so when she felt his tongue licking and sucking on her extremely swollen clit, her eyes widened and all her breath was taken away.

  “Fr . . . Freddie, what . . .” was all she got out before she found herself trying to squirm away from his wickedly delicious tongue. She scooted back until she was pinned against the headboard, and then she clawed the walls. Freddie’s tongue explored her inner sweetness so deeply that it made her knees weak, and then he brought her down on his face. Gina was in another world.

  “Oh, Freddie. Okay, okay, I give. Oh, baby, I give.”

  Freddie didn’t know what she had
given, but Gina knew. Deeper and deeper his tongue went until he felt her leg lock and spasm. She screamed his name as her stomach jumped and she heaved and hollered from the intensity of her orgasm.

  Freddie rolled her over onto her back, spread her legs, and rubbed his hardness against her softness before penetrating her. Gina screamed like a virgin, “Oh, Freddie, I love you. Oh, I love you.”

  His slow grind and nipple tongue tease had Gina under his control; he took her rhythm and made it his own. She wrapped her legs around his back and cried into his chest. He licked her tears away only making her cry more. “I’m yours, Freddie. I’m all yours. Whatever you ask, I’ll do. Whatever you want, I’ll be,” she whispered, sucking on his earlobe. “I’m all yours.”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “Welcome to McDonald’s. May I take your order?” the crackling voice asked through the loud speaker.

  Simone leaned out of her car window a little and said, “Yes, give me two number ones with a Sprite, no ice, and a strawberry milkshake, and one number three with a Diet Coke.”

  The cashier repeated the order, informed her of the price, and told her to drive around. Simone turned to Kiki in the passenger seat and asked, “Girl, do me a favor and pay for our orders. I ain’t bring no money out with me.”

  Simone and Kiki had gotten to be good friends. Marriage had mellowed Kiki out somewhat. She was still ghetto and she still loved to fight, especially Slug, but her demeanor was more serene. She was coaching Simone on the do’s and don’ts of being pregnant.

  “Sure, boo,” Kiki said, going into her purse and handing Simone a twenty before adding jokingly, “Girl, you don’t never have no money. Let me find out Freddie got you on a budget.” Simone pulled up to the window and paid.

  “Naw, I just went and paid the bills. I guess I just forgot,” Simone lied smoothly as the man at the window handed her the food. She handed the bags to Kiki and drove off.

  “How is Freddie anyway? I hardly ever see him since we moved out to the country,” Kiki said, nibbling on a bouquet of fries.

  “You never see him? I ain’t seen him since Friday morning,” Simone confessed sourly. It was Sunday afternoon.

  “Friday?” Kiki asked, looking away on purpose and focusing her attention out of the window. “Is everything okay wit’ y’all?”

  Simone glanced at her with a reassuring smile. “Yeah, girl. Why’d you ask?”

  “I was just, you know, checking. ’Cause, shit, if I hadn’t seen Slug since Friday, Roy Jones wouldn’t have nothing on me.” The girls laughed.

  “Naw, Ki, it’s all good. Me and Freddie, we got an understanding.”

  Kiki let it go but she knew there was more to it. Not every smiling face is a happy face, and something was different about Simone. What Kiki didn’t know was what was different. She didn’t know that her friend was only a shell of her former self, but she had learned a valuable lesson from Freddie: how to be a player.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Gina walked through the terminal of Newark International and all she could think of was Freddie. Everything she saw seemed to remind her of him. It was like the song by Luther Vandross, “Think About You.”

  She had just arrived back in Newark, and she could hardly wait to return to North Carolina in fourteen days. Gina glided with a confident stride and a satisfied air, heading to the reserved parking area where she’d left her black Benz G wagon over the weekend. The traffic on I-9 was terrible, but she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to mind. She thought about the long drive out to Wayne but decided to go see her Uncle Lou on Clinton Avenue.

  She pulled up in front of Lou’s deli and spotted her uncle’s Lincoln LS parked down the block. She went inside to find Stephanie, Lou’s lady friend of the last thirty years, behind the counter.

  “Hey, Step,” Gina greeted her and kissed her on the cheek. “Lou in the back?”

  “Ain’t he always,” Stephanie retorted sarcastically. “Him, Woody, and the damn checkers. Can’t you hear ’em?”

  Now that she had mentioned it, Gina could make out the gruff voices of grumpy older men and giggled as she went into the back.

  “Woody, don’t start that bullshit! Now we been playin’ checkers for damn near fifty years, and we ain’t never played jumpin’ backward!” Lou huffed, sitting on an upended milk crate.

  “Bullshit! I ain’t jump backward, you blind motherfucka! Put yo’ glasses on! I double jumped, and you can jump backward when you double!” Woody exclaimed, rocking on his crate.

  The two sixty-year-olds were lifelong friends and constant companions. Although Woody wasn’t in Lou’s profession, he benefited from it greatly because he owned a construction company. Lou made sure he stayed flooded with contracts. The two men sitting in the back of the small deli were a case study in microeconomics. They represented the fueling force behind the national GNP: crime and construction.

  Gina walked in and kissed Lou on the cheek.

  “Hey, baby girl! How are you doing?” Lou asked sweetly. Gina was his dead brother’s child, but he had raised her as his own.

  Gina looked down at the heavyset man. He was extremely short and extremely wide, with the frame and temper of a bulldog. Despite the weight he held in the streets, he was usually dressed as he was now, in a pair of Dickies work pants, a shirt, and a pair of black work boots. The only telltale sign of his wealth was his huge diamond pinkie ring, gold Rolex watch, and diamond-encrusted gold tooth.

  “I’m good, Uncle Lou. And what are you two arguing over checkers for?” she asked, totally amused.

  “It ain’t the checkers, sweet thang, it’s your blind-ass uncle,” Woody informed her. “If he knew how to play, we wouldn’t be arguing.”

  “And hello to you too, Mr. Woody. How are you?” she asked, giving him a kiss too.

  “Better now.” He grinned like a sly old fox, eyeing Gina’s wide hips filling out her Apple Bottom jeans. “All that brown sugar! Lord, I love you, woman! You can have all my money, just let me smell it!” He cackled.

  “Watch yo’ mouth, dirty-ass nigga,” Lou warned playfully. “That’s my niece you talkin’ to. Besides, old as you is, just the smell’ll give you a heart attack.” Lou and Gina laughed.

  “Then I’ll die happy,” Woody said, folding his arms across his chest like he was in a coffin, a satisfied grin covering his face.

  “You too much, Mr. Woody.” Gina blushed.

  Lou was studying the checkerboard. “I guess you got my message.”

  “No. I just got back in town,” Gina replied.

  Lou looked up at her. “So you don’t know?”

  “Don’t know what?”

  Lou slowly eased himself off the crate. “I’ll be right back, Woody. Lemme talk to Gina a minute. And don’t cheat.”

  Sshhit! Woody thought as uncle and niece walked out the back door.

  The door led out on to a large vacant lot that was filled with the usual ghetto debris. Lou looked around casually, but Gina knew her uncle, and his observations were never just casual.

  He glanced at her. “You look good, baby girl. I take it that nigga takin’ care of you, huh?”

  At the thought of Freddie, she couldn’t help but blush. “He’s doin’ all right.”

  “Hmmmmm,” Lou hummed skeptically. “I bet he is.”

  Gina knew what he meant but she let it go. She knew he didn’t want to be giving Freddie weight. It had taken a lot to convince him so she knew to leave it alone. “You said you sent me a message?”

  Lou put his hands in his pockets and spit onto the ground. “The feds.”

  “The feds?” Gina repeated, looking around at the cars and visible windows. “Here?”

  “Naw, not here, yet.” He turned to face her. “Some people out in Elizabeth I deal wit’ been dealin’ wit’ some people down in Willingboro, and a couple of them jokers caught a case. They don’t know me and I don’t know them, but you know the feds play domino rules: one fall and lean, the next fall and lean.”

&nbs
p; “They say anything yet?” Gina inquired.

  “No, but they will. It’s one in every bunch. Everybody wanna join the help yourself program. So, listen, I’ma be shuttin’ down for a while. I ain’t takin’ no calls and I ain’t makin’ none. So I can’t do nothin’ for ol’ boy anymore.”

  Gina had figured as much when he began explaining the situation. She knew there wouldn’t be any more deliveries. Her heart sank when she thought about Freddie, what he was going to do, and how he would take the news.

  Lou saw the concern on her face. “Baby girl, I know you wasn’t expecting this, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

  “I understand, unc. It’s just that Freddie’s depending on me, so . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Lou studied her for a while, then asked, “You really love this joker, don’t you?”

  Gina looked him in the eyes and answered, “I do, unc.”

  He sighed hard. “Well, what about the girl he down there wit’? Didn’t you tell me he got a girl wit’ him? What about her?”

  Gina lowered her eyes. “I can’t make him choose.”

  “It seems to me he already chose,” Lou surmised, but Gina didn’t respond, so he continued. “Baby girl, I raised you, so I know that when you got your heart set on something you’re determined to get it. And you know I don’t approve of this joker. He ain’t got nothin’ but larceny in his heart, but you gonna have to learn for yourself. But, listen, if this nigga really worth your heart, then he gonna have to choose. And if he choose right . . .” Lou looked out over the lot again like he was planning his next move. “If he choose right, I know some good peoples in Jamaica. I got some interest in a sugar company down there. Let me see what I can do about getting y’all down there.”

  Gina’s spirits jumped into her eyes and she hugged her uncle. “Thank you, Uncle Lou! Thank you!”

  “Hold on before you thank me. I said let me see what I can do. Besides,” Lou said, holding her gently by the sides of her face, “the trip is for two. You and him, baby girl. You may not be able to make him choose, but I can. Let me know okay?”