by Noire
G had given Gino a list of three places he wanted him to go to. The first place was a first-floor room in a small hotel off the main strip, and the second place was an Italian seafood restaurant that was so crowded I just knew the whole damn Mafia was up in there.
Jimmy wasn’t at either place, but people at both spots claimed they’d seen him a few days earlier when he came to make his pickup. I just couldn’t believe that my brother would sky up with G’s cheddar, but according to everybody we talked to, he damn sure had G’s dollars on him when he disappeared.
The snow was really coming down now, much harder in New Jersey than it had been in New York. Gino had the windshield wipers going at the max, and we could only drive about twenty-five miles an hour because the roads were so bad. Traffic was backed way up and it took us a whole hour to get to the third stop, even though it was less than twenty miles from the Italian restaurant. G had told Gino to check at this lady’s house who was the last person Jimmy was supposed to see before heading back home. She lived in an apartment complex that was small, and since the snow plows hadn’t even cleared the main roads I was scared we’d drive into the complex, get stuck, and not be able to drive back out.
It was late and I was gonna stay in the car while Gino got out to knock, but then I got scared of being left alone and jumped out and ran through the icy snow and up the stairs behind him.
“No, baby,” the little old woman said when she answered the door and Gino asked if Jimmy was there. I was surprised to hear the door unlock just seconds after we hit the porch, and thought maybe she should try looking out her peephole before she opened the door for strange people standing on her porch. “He was by here a couple of days ago, but I ain’t seen him since.”
She reminded me so much of my grandmother. Not because she looked like her—Grandmother had been real light and thick with big hips and a slamming shape for an older woman, and this woman was tall and skinny and almost bald—but it was something in her voice that was sweet and comfortable. I felt like I could go into her house and lay my head in her lap forever.
“Did he seem all right when he was here?” I asked her, stepping from behind Gino. “Jimmy is my brother and I’m worried about him because he should have been home two days ago and nobody’s seen him.”
She shook her head. “No, he seemed fine, with his sweet little self. That boy sure is mannerable! He been raised right. You kin tell!”
She stood out on the porch in the cold, waving as me and Gino pulled away through the snow. “She sure was nice,” I said waving back until I couldn’t see her no more. “She oughta be careful about opening up her door at night like that, but at least she was nice though.”
Gino gave me a crazy look. “Juicy, you can’t be that damn blind. That old lady is the connect! One of the biggest rollers in New Jersey. You must didn’t see that Glock sticking out under her housecoat, huh?”
“Boy, quit it!” I said, laughing and punching his arm. “Grandma wasn’t strapped!”
Gino nodded. “Oh yes she was. And so was all them niggahs hiding behind curtains and checking us from the windows.”
All I could do was shake my head. She seemed so sweet and grandmotherly I figured one of her kids was working for G. I woulda never guessed that Grandma was the drug queen, but then again, if Jimmy had come down here to do a pickup from her, what else could she have been?
Gino didn’t know what to do next and neither did I.
“I’ma call G,” he said, pulling over on the side of the road. The embankment was piled high with snow that passing cars had managed to clear as they cut a trail through the road. “Maybe Jimmy made it back by now.”
My stomach sank as I listened to Gino’s conversation with his father. The way he was talking I could tell that Jimmy wasn’t back, and G was mad as hell.
“It’s snowing pretty bad down here, G. The roads are so bad and cars are moving so slow it’ll take us five or six hours to get back to Harlem. By the time we roll up it’ll be daylight.”
Gino paused, listening. “Where? You sure? Aaight. Yeah. Nah, I’m cool with it. Aaight, later.”
“What?” I said as he turned toward me.
“Check this out. Jimmy’s not there. G thinks he dipped on his money and then cut out. Somebody said they heard he was hiding in Brooklyn. G is sending Moonie down there to look for him, but he said we should stay at the Taj Mahal for the night and then try to make it back to Harlem in the morning.”
I have to admit it. As scared as I was for my brother, the thought of staying all night in a phat hotel with Gino helped me feel a little better.
“You know we gotta get two rooms,” I said, grinning.
Gino grinned back. “Yeah, but we only have to sleep in one.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Taj Mahal was one of G’s favorite hotels. I’d come with him once or twice when he got the urge to do some big-time gambling with the high rollers of New Jersey. G would hit the casinos and stay at the tables for hours, leaving me on my own to get into whatever I wanted. He’d tear me off a huge chunk of cash and I would shop my ass off. For me and for Jimmy, and every now and then I’d even pick out something nice for G, too.
Walking into the lobby with Gino felt funny though. Good, but funny. G had connects at the Taj and he’d told Gino to charge our rooms to his account, and as much as his operation had infiltrated New Jersey, the management knew he was good for the money.
We decided not to go all out and get suites. Two regular rooms with king-sized beds would do. But even a regular room at the Taj Mahal was the shit, and I looked forward to loving my man down in a nice soft bed that came with the most expensive sheets and blankets.
Gino was given room 202 and I had room 204. Both were lanai suites.
“We don’t need suites,” Gino explained. “Double rooms will be cool.”
The young white guy at the desk shook his head. “These are the rooms set aside for Granite McKay. The computer won’t let me change them, and even if it did, with the weather being so horrible we’re booked solid.”
We took the elevator up to the second floor. The halls had mirrors and cherry wood everywhere. “Yours or mine?” I said as we stood outside our rooms.
Gino laughed. “Always yours,” he said, sliding the card key into room 204. “Always yours.”
The suite was sweet. There was a fluffy white 100 percent down comforter on the bed, and the thread count on the sheets had to be somewhere near a thousand. The bathroom was marble and onyx, and the view was like a postcard.
I plopped down on the thick mattress and laid back staring at the ceiling. Gino sat down next to me and squeezed my thigh, then slid his hand between my legs and rubbed on my stuff.
“You wanna take a shower before I get me some, or you want me to hit it just like it is?”
I pushed his hand away, squealing. “Quit, nasty! Why you so damn nasty, huh? Why you so damn nas—”
Gino covered my mouth with his lips, his tongue swirling around so gently inside my mouth that it made me dizzy. He climbed on top of me and started moving his hips, the thickness of his dick pressing into my stomach. I grabbed his ass with both hands and matched his pace, my pussy on fire as I aimed his dick where I needed it to be. We lay there grinding into each other for a long time. By the time Gino stood up and pulled me to my feet my panties were soaked and my lips felt swollen from his kisses.
“C’mon,” he said, leading me toward the bathroom.
We couldn’t even get into the shower good we were kissing and touching so much. This was the first time we were able to really be together without sneaking, and it felt so damn hot. Gino rubbed soap all over me from my neck down to my feet, and even washed between my legs and seemed to like doing it.
My hands were all over him the entire time. The sight of suds dripping from his dark skin turned me on, and I squeezed his hard arms and played with the hair on his chest as he slid two fingers into me and made me come standing up.
There were tw
o plush white bathrobes hanging behind the door with the initials TM over the breast pockets. Gino dried me off like I was a baby, then rubbed some expensive hotel lotion on my arms, ass, and legs before helping me into the robe.
We came out of the bathroom together, laughing and looking forward to what we were gonna do once we got between those sheets. As soon as Gino sat down I dropped to my knees and opened his robe and held his thick dick in both hands, then went to work licking and sucking it like it was made from sugar.
Gino was moaning out loud and I was moaning right along with him, slurping that thang to death, my head bobbing up and down faster and faster as he fucked up at me and held me by my hair.
A moment later Gino pushed me away and stood up. “Take that shit off,” he told me, nodding at the robe and panting as he closed his fist around his wet dick and held it tight.
What I felt next was indescribable. Gino took his time working on me. He sucked my toes and put hickeys on both cheeks of my ass. His tongue moved down and licked behind both of my knees. My titties were past swollen as he turned me over and licked at them, nibbling on my nipples as they stood straight up in the air. For the first time in my life I was being done totally right. Sexed and loved at the same time. Hickeys on my arms, my ass, and my stomach. Gino licked my pussy for an hour straight, stabbing it with his tongue and gently sucking on my clit. I must have come about five times before he finally let his go, and when he fell on top of me I squeezed my pussy muscles trying to milk every single drop of cum from his nuts.
We slept together all tangled up in the sheets. During the night I felt Gino pull the comforter over me and kiss my cheek, but I was too dick-whipped to respond.
The next morning I woke up first, and as soon as I stretched my body I felt a pleasing ache from the delicious sex Gino had put on me. I turned over toward him smiling, but suddenly thoughts of Jimmy came rushing back to me and my smile became a frown. Yeah, I’d been getting my stuff stroked all night, but what had been happening to my brother?
Gino rolled over and ran his big hand roughly over my hair.
“You alive?”
Despite myself, I smiled. “Just barely. You wasn’t even trying to beat this stuff up, was you? No, you tried to kill it!”
He laughed. “Hurt me. . . . Hurt me. . . .”
I sat up and my full breasts jiggled. Gino reached over and cupped one in his hand, his fingers lazily trailing over my erect nipples. My stuff thumped and became slippery, and I quickly slid back down in the bed letting Gino pull me into his arms. We spent the next hour trying to stock up on the loving we had missed living under G’s roof.
After ordering breakfast we showered and put back on our clothes from the day before. Housekeeping brought us some toothbrushes and we joked each other about who needed to use them the most.
When it was time to leave my stomach started humming again. Stress was kicking me in the ass, and for a minute I wanted to do something crazy. I didn’t wanna go back to Harlem, back to G and all of his damned drama. Especially if G found out I’d been in his safe. I was ready to fix my mouth to tell Gino to drive west instead of north when we got back out on the road. He was all the time talking about California and how he was going back there to start his architectural firm. At this point I was game to go with him. He could start his business while I finished college, and maybe then we could raise us some cute curly-haired babies with smooth chocolate skin.
All of this yang was floating through my head, but none of it came out of my mouth. How could it? Gino mighta been down to jet and leave his father, but there was no way in hell I was leaving my brother. No. Fuck the dumb shit. I was going back to Harlem to wait for Jimmy, and I promised myself that if my baby brother hadn’t shown up within twenty-four hours after we arrived, I’d be calling the feds on G.
The weather was still nasty on the drive back home but at least the snow plows had been out clearing the roads overnight. Gino drove slow on the Garden State Parkway anyway, taking his time as we listened to a few CDs by Beyoncé, 50 Cent, and Outkast.
All too soon we were going through the Lincoln Tunnel, up toward Port Authority, and the end of our trip was only minutes away. What me and Gino had shared was way past special, but now it was time for us to get back to reality.
It was just after two when we pulled up in front of the G-Spot, and almost as soon as Gino stepped out the Benz, Moonie bust out the door with Pluto and Ace right behind him. They bum rushed through the snow toward us with killer looks on their faces.
I saw a bat gripped in Ace’s hand. “W-w-what the fuck?”
Pluto and Ace tried to grab hold of Gino, who broke loose and started throwing blows. It was two against one, but Gino was holding shit down like a superstar, fucking both of them fat niggahs up.
But then Pluto caught him with a good punch. Gino was spinning around from drilling Ace when Pluto put all his ass behind the blow and connected with Gino’s temple. Gino went down and I screamed. Moonie was trying to hold me back, but I was a Harlem girl who’d eaten beans out the can, and if my man was thumping in the street then I was damn sure gonna jump in and help him.
I swung my Timbs and kicked Moonie in the balls and then jumped on Ace’s back. He was swinging his bat at Gino’s head when I bit down into that fucker’s back like it was a piece of lobster dipped in butter. That grimy nigger tasted just like salt pork.
“Get this bitch!” Ace yelled, and Moonie grabbed me from behind putting me in a sleep-hold.
“Get the fuck offa me!” I tried to scream, but he was choking me so hard all that came out was a wheeze.
“Chill, Juicy,” I heard Moonie whispering in my ear as Pluto and Ace beat the shit out of Gino. “Quit fighting it, girl. G set y’all motherfuckers up. Jimmy’s safe on the Lower East Side with Cooter, but G knows all about you and Gino, girl, and one of y’all is gonna have to die.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
They dragged us both down to the Dungeon, kicking and fighting the whole way.
Moonie tossed me onto a nasty mattress, while Pluto, Ace, and two other big niggas pinned Gino down on the ground. The Dungeon looked just like it sounded. Dingy and dark. We were in a small, bare room and the mattress I was laying against was the only furniture in sight.
G came down the stairs and I started shaking like a mother. As usual he looked pressed out in expensive everything, and even his cologne smelled like money.
Jimmy is safe, I reassured myself. Moonie said Jimmy was safe, and that was all that mattered.
G stood there staring at his son. He didn’t even bother to look at me, which was cool because I was scared of what I’d see in his eyes.
“Gino, Gino, Gino. You always were your mother’s son.”
Gino cursed at Pluto and tried to ram his shoulder in his gut.
“Know why I didn’t give you my name? You ever wonder about that? How you came to be Gino instead of Granite II?”
“Do I look like I give a fuck?”
G laughed. “I knew you wasn’t shit the minute you jumped out of that bitch’s ass! I knew you wasn’t gonna be man enough, hard enough to handle my name. Damn.” G shook his head. “You almost inherited an empire. A ready-made cash cow that I built with my own two hands, and you let a stink piece of pussy get you bent.”
G moved closer to Gino, who was straining to break free of all the rough hands that held him back. I saw his muscles jumping through his shirt and all I could do was hold my breath and pray.
“Salida the slut,” G continued. “You just like that dirty bitch. I should have been a better magician though. Instead of wasting my paper on that white-boy college I shoulda made your punk ass disappear right along with hers.”
Wasn’t no holding Gino back. He broke free of all them niggas and jumped on G, knocking him backward and down to the ground. For a moment, they were scrapping, the young against the old, the father against the son. And then Gino was muscled down again, niggas five deep dove on top of him and pinned him once more, then pull
ed out their guns and started denting his head.
G got up, wiping his lip. Both of them were strong and built, but Gino had drawn first blood, and I was proud of my man for that.
“Take him back to the apartment and guard him for the next two days,” G said. “Don’t give this niggah a bite of my food or a drop of my water neither. If he gotta piss, let him do it in his pants. Let him shit in them, too. I want four of y’all on him. Twenty-four/seven. Fuck him up good if he gives you any flack. Forty-eight hours from now I want you to take this motherfucker down to Kennedy and put his ass on the first thing smoking out west.”
Ace looked up from the fighting heap and asked, “What if he don’t wanna go? What if this nigga won’t get on the plane?”
G didn’t even hesitate as they dragged his only son fighting and bleeding up the basement steps.
“Then kill him.”
G was gonna kill me, too. I could see it in his eyes.
He told everybody to get the fuck upstairs and they jetted with a quickness. As soon as they were gone G went crazy, slapping me, punching me, and bending my arms back until my shoulder bones popped. That motherfucker kicked my ass. Plain and simple, that’s what he did.
All the time he was beating me G was also cursing me out. My whole body was in pain, but I could still feel G’s pain, too. I had humiliated him. Violated him in the worst kind of way. Everybody knew how particular he was over his pussy, and my fucking Gino had just put the word out on the wire that the great Granite McKay couldn’t hold it down in the sheets.
At first I screamed and begged him not to hit me, but I soon realized that G didn’t even hear me and I would do better trying to duck and roll and use my energy to run from one side of the small room to the other.
Sweat was coming off both of us in that hot-assed basement, but G looked like he was enjoying his workout. After a while I started screaming again. How much longer did he think I could take this? My stomach, my back, my ribs . . . I just knew he had ruptured something in me and I would die from internal bleeding.