“What? Why, Cartier? I’m comfortable here.”
“Ma, it’s only temporary.”
“Well, how does his place feel to you? Is it safe?”
“Safe? Of course, it feels safe. It’s definitely on the low, and he hasn’t ever invited anyone over. Do you think I would bring the children here if it wasn’t safe?”
Trina was still reluctant. “No one knows about this place either, except Jason. And you said yourself he’d never do anything to hurt his kids. With the alarm system, surveillance cameras, and iron French doors, I’m not saying it’s Fort Knox, but it’s the closest thing to it.”
“Well, as I said, it’s only temporary, and honestly, Ma, he’s promised that he will outshine the house Jason bought us. But I really don’t care about all of that. I mean, it did make me smile, but I can buy our own house. It made me happy inside because he wants to do it. You feel me? And I want him to want to do it. I’m not saying I need a man. I don’t. But I want one. I want Head. It feels good waking up to him each morning. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to grow old alone.”
Trina knew what Cartier was trying to say. Cartier had always been independent. When Trina wasn’t stepping up to the plate as a mother, she went out there and made her own moves.
“Why are you doing all of this cloak-and-dagger stuff?”
“Ma, there isn’t any way I’m going to tell Head that I’m meeting with Jason tonight, nor is there any way I’m calling off this meeting. Jason might have valuable information.”
“But I thought you said Head is going to handle this?”
“He is.” Cartier exhaled, frustrated by her mother’s intense line of questioning. “But I’m not going to put all my eggs in one basket. Head got a locale on where Ryan gambles once a week. What if he doesn’t show up tonight? Then that means we gotta wait another week? Nah, not when bullets are flying through my window. We need as many people active on this as possible. So, for the meantime, I have to keep Head and Jason as far apart as possible. I have a feeling if Head finds out that I’m still communicating with Jason about Ryan, or if I came out to meet up with Jason tonight, then I feel Head will certainly pull away.”
“Why don’t you tell him that he ain’t got anything to worry about? That you and Jason are done?”
“That’s all I’ve been telling him, but he doesn’t believe me. He knows that, not only am I Jason’s wife, but I have his kids. I know Head says he ain’t the jealous type, but he had someone he loved leave him, and if I were him, I’d be just a little cautious about dating a married chick. I just want to keep his worries at a minimum until we have more time under our belts and I get those divorce papers.”
****
“OK, so I’ma give you my truck to run home and pack up your family, and also this spare key.” Head tossed Cartier both sets. “I’ll meet you back here around seven to meet your little ones and get everyone settled, and then I’ll head back out to handle dude.”
It was already after four o’clock when Cartier headed back out toward Long Island. Trina had the kids all packed and ready, and Janet was there to drive Trina back to Brooklyn.
“So, remember, make sure y’all drill the fuck out of Jason.”
“What makes you think he has any info to drill?” Trina asked.
“That slimy bastard better have some information, if he knows what’s good for him,” Janet said. “And he better hope I don’t put my foot in his trifling ass.”
Janet was still pissed off that Jason was sleeping with Jalissa. Everyone was. No one trusted him as far as they could see him. He’d betrayed everyone’s trust.
“Well, I know we’re all furious with Jason, and I’m not going to try to say that I feel the most betrayed because he’s my husband. Janet, I know you’re just as hurt because this was, and always has been, about Shanine and Monya. But we need a remedy. And if Jason could finally step up to the plate and give us something—anything—that could help move us forward, then we gotta allow him that. So don’t go in there slinging accusations or trying to make him feel guilty about his actions. He won’t. Had he had any feelings for anyone beside himself, he would have never hooked up with her to begin with. And also keep in mind how immature he is. If you go down that road, I know him; he’ll act like a little child and walk out with his lips poked out without giving up any information.”
“And we’ll beat the shit out of him. Ain’t that right, Janet?” Trina exclaimed.
“Let him try that stupid shit and he won’t make it out that front door. I swear ’fore God, I’ll stab him!”
“And I’ll hold him down.”
The two feisty older women thought together they were invincible. Cartier felt nostalgic. That was supposed to be her and Monya in twenty year’s time.
“Well, don’t agitate him to act reckless. Everyone needs to keep their feelings in check, for the sake of Shanine and Monya, and for my future. These niggas are on my ass, and it’s only a matter of time before they get the drop on me, if we don’t get the drop on them first.”
****
Cartier met Head back at his apartment as she’d promised, kids in tow. This would be the first time he’d meet her two little sisters, Fendi and Prada, and her children, Christian and Jason Jr.
She was in the kitchen making dinner when he walked in. There was something über sexy about Head to her. His masculinity mixed with his maturity was endearing.
“I see we got a full house,” Head said, walking through the door, his warm smile directed toward the four children playing happily in the living room.
They all stopped what they were doing and looked up at the strange man.
“Who are you?” Fendi stood protectively in front of her baby sister, niece, and nephew.
“My name’s Henry. A friend of your sister’s.”
That was the first time Cartier had heard Head’s government name. She walked closer and stood within a few feet of Head. “Hey, Christian, Jason, come over here and meet my friend. This is who Mommy has been telling you about.”
The kids could care less about the stranger. They wanted to go home. They inched closer to Head with suspicious eyes, drinking him in.
The talkative Christian spoke up first. “Are you my mommy’s new boyfriend?”
Head chuckled and looked to Cartier.
“He’s a friend of mine, Christian. Now say hello, and go finish playing.”
“Are we gonna live here with you?”
“We’re going to hang out here for a few days.”
“But we don’t like it here.”
“OK, that’s enough. Go back and play until I fix dinner. Head, you wanna come in here with me?”
“Nah, I think I’ll stay out here and get to know my guests a little better.” He sat down on the sofa. “What are y’all playing?”
Prada said, “We wanna play with your game, but Cartier said no.”
Head looked at Cartier like she was the wicked witch. “Of course you can play with my game. Here, let me turn it on for you.”
Cartier walked back into the kitchen and continued to fix dinner. Shortly thereafter, Head walked in and began to help her by dicing up the vegetables.
“What you got going on in here?”
“Well, you had steak and more steak in your freezer, so I thought I’d cook steak.” Cartier laughed.
“Not a bad choice.” Head leaned over and gave her a kiss. “Listen, after I eat I’m going to bounce out of here and go handle that. Don’t expect me back home until early tomorrow morning.”
Cartier inhaled her fears. She hoped that by this time tomorrow evening Ryan and Marisol would have gone to meet their Maker. That Head would be safe.
As if reading her mind, Head said, “And don’t spend all evening worrying about me. I’ll be fine. On that I’ll make a promise.”
Cartier wanted to think only positively, but her gut kept telling her that she couldn’t rest easy until Head walked back through the door.
“Oh, I forgot
to ask. Where’s Trina?”
Cartier fumbled and wiped her hands on the dishrag. “She decided to stay the night at Janet’s. Honestly, she wasn’t too keen about moving in here with us, but I’m sure she’ll be here tomorrow.”
“I can feel that. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t want to bounce either. Jason had y’all set up nicely over there. Did you tell her I’m going to top what he did for y’all?”
Cartier shook her head. “It’s not that. I mean, my mom knows that at the end of the day she doesn’t ever have to worry about who’s going to put food on the table. Man or no man, I’ll always grind to provide for my family. Her main concern is safety. She wants to know that her family is safe.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her what I felt in my heart.”
“Which is?”
“That I could trust you. That I do trust you. And that with you we’re safe.”
****
Trina called, and called, but Cartier refused to answer while Head was still home. As soon as he left, her fingers couldn’t dial her mother fast enough. She needed to hear what information Jason had to offer.
“So did he have any good details about Ryan and Marisol?”
“You know, that slimy bastard never showed up.”
“What?” Cartier’s heart sank. Inwardly she was hoping Jason would redeem himself. Somehow she felt he knew more about Ryan and Marisol than he was letting on, and that if he gave them up, then it would be like she’d won—that he did love her more than he’d loved Jalissa.
“How he gonna not show up?”
“How should I know?”
“Well, did he at least call?”
“Hell no! He had all of us waiting here for hours, stuck on stupid.”
“That nigga continually disappoints me,” Cartier said. “Well, thank goodness, I still got Head. He’s out there now trying to take care of my problem.”
“OK, well, I’ve decided to stay here in Brooklyn at my apartment. With Jason out there going rogue, I’ll feel much safer here. Come through in the morning.”
“Will do.”
****
The knife being plunged into Jason’s thigh wasn’t enough for him to give them what they wanted. And even when the knife was twisted, causing him to scream out in mind-numbing pain, his heart still couldn’t give in.
“Look, Jason, me and you don’t got no beef. This could all end tonight if you tell me where I can find Cartier and that new nigga she fucking.”
“Man, fuck that! Just do you and get this over with!”
At first Jason thought Cartier had set him up. He’d left the rehabilitation center as he said he would and headed over to Trina’s. He hadn’t even put his car fully in park when the gun was jammed into his back and he was tossed into the backseat. Twenty-four hours later he was delirious, dehydrated, and certain of two things—Cartier didn’t set him up, and he wasn’t walking out of there alive.
“It don’t got to be this way,” Ryan said, circling Jason, who was duct-taped to a wooden chair. “I know you only stepped in to get at me to impress your wife. I know how women are.” He looked toward Marisol. “They can be really persuasive when they need to be. I know if it were up to you, you’d be out fucking a brand-new chick every night and concentrating on getting that paper. Look, I’m ready to wave the white flag if you give me what I need. You can get a pass, and go and raise your kids in peace, but your wife—whether you help us or not—is dead. She sealed her fate when she killed Jalissa.”
Marisol hauled off and punched Jason in his right jaw with such force, his neck almost snapped. She pushed the knife that was already lodged into his thigh farther down. Jason screamed a guttural moan, but they were confident no one would hear him. They were in the basement of a local bodega that Ryan owned in Sunset Park, Brooklyn as a front to launder his drug money.
“Shut up!” Marisol yelled. She dug her sharp nails deep into his face and pulled.
Jason, feeling like his face was split open, launched a mouthful of phlegm into her porcelain skin. The gooey liquid startled Marisol, who stepped back out of his space and blinked her eyes rapidly in horror.
Ryan shook his head. “That was a bad move, bro.”
“Man, fuck y’all muthafuckas! I ain’t giving y’all shit on my wife, so however you gotta get your hands dirty, just get it over with! All this Colombo bullshit is wack.”
After sitting in a cold, damp basement overnight without any food or water, Jason knew he was at the end of his rope. No pleading or bitching up was going to save him. He’d never thought he’d be on the receiving end of an ambush. Not on the block that he’d grown up on and trusted in broad daylight. He realized, too late, how much heart Ryan truly had. At any second, Wonderful, Blake, Cartier, or The Cartel could have pulled up, and the mere sight of Ryan would have initiated a bloodbath.
Jason knew Cartier always doubted whether or not he truly loved her, but facing death, there wasn’t any doubt in his heart that he loved her more than his actions could have ever shown, or words could have ever conveyed. Jalissa was just one of many phases he’d gone through. No different than Monya or Mari. He would have tired of her eventually, but he never got the chance. He would have accepted her as one of his baby mommas and moved on.
Cartier was where his heart lay. She was his one true love. He knew he wasn’t capable of being faithful and could do some downright grimy things. Foolishly he thought his good actions, holding Cartier down and marrying her while she was locked up, buying her a house, whip, things like that, proved his loved and would outweigh the dumb shit he did. He had that archaic way of thinking, which was that all men cheated, married or not. And he was just fucking those side chicks but would ultimately get right back to making Cartier happy after he got his cheating ways out of his system.
Being tortured couldn’t break his loyalty to Cartier, not even after she’d tried to kill him, because he understood her actions. She loved him so much, she couldn’t bear sharing him with anybody else. He realized that when Wonderful told him about Cartier and Head. A part of him broke inside, and he was filled with a blind rage, where it was his mission to kill Head.
Jason truly believed Cartier was a good wife, that she loved him. He knew he would never get to tell her how he really felt and could only hope she would keep his memory alive for their kids. And at this moment, he even hoped that she and Head truly had something because, although Cartier got busy, anyone could get caught slipping. And Cartier would need all the soldiers she could get on her team because, as it stood now, Ryan and Marisol were definitely not going to rest until she was dead.
Marisol walked over to the flimsy foldaway table that was littered with torture tools—a wrench, knives, pliers, an extension cord, flex cuffs, and a taser gun. The five thousand volts being blasted into his body felt like bolts of lightning. Jason’s body began to convulse, and then it stiffened. Then his head lolled to one side, and he whimpered softly.
With spit drooling from his mouth, and hot urine dripping down his left leg, Jason could feel his body shutting down.
“Damn, man!” Ryan jeered. “I should make your ass clean this shit up!”
“R-R-Ryan, promise me that you won’t hurt Cartier. She’s been through enough. You ain’t gotta take it that far. We street, nigga.” Jason paused to gather strength. “Once I’m gone, she’ll fold. I promise you that.”
Ryan was hoping that all this torture would get the need to seek blood out of Marisol’s system. He needed her to feel he was doing everything he could in his power to get at Cartier. One part of him knew Jason was a street dude and there wasn’t any way he’d give up Cartier. If niggas got you tied up in a room, they ain’t letting you go. So Ryan was confident that Jason wouldn’t fall for his proposition. But even if Jason did give up the location on Cartier, Ryan new that Head had pulled her out of that crib, so either way, he had covered all the bases. If Jason gave up an address before they killed him, he’d take Marisol there in his fi
nal attempt to pretend to be looking to catch Cartier.
Jason pleading for Ryan to spare Cartier set Marisol off. Who the fuck was this bitch that these niggas kept protecting? Deep down inside she felt that Ryan could have deaded Cartier. Why did he keep hesitating? Did he still love her? Was there something special about her that had these men pledging their allegiance?
“Ryan don’t give a fuck about your whore, bitch-wife! And Jalissa never gave a fuck about you! She was using your gullible ass, and look where it got you!”
Jason’s voice was barely a whisper. “No, look where it got her.” He was perspiring heavily, and the room was now drenched with urine, sweat, and fear.
Marisol decided that there wasn’t any way she’d be kind and put a bullet in his dome. That would be too nice. She picked up the Anderson all-metal baseball bat and held it snugly in between her manicured fingertips.
“Ryan, before I end this, you want to tell him who set him up and let us know about the meeting tonight?” Marisol asked.
“Nah, let him go out wondering.”
“W-W-Wait,” Jason began. This news had piqued his interest. The words set up caught him off guard. “T-T-Tell me what you know.”
****
Cartier awoke the next morning without Head in bed lying next to her. Immediately, she began to worry. Her heart was fluttering as she dialed his cell phone, which just rang out.
He’s OK, she thought to herself. Nothing’s happened.
All morning she continually hit redial. She couldn’t count the number of messages she’d left. Not one to be too emotional, Cartier found herself crying her eyes out, which she thought silly, because she hadn’t heard any news, good or bad.
“Trina, Head didn’t come home last night,” she said, her voice laced with concern.
“Oh, dear God! Do you think they got the drop on him?”
“I don’t know what to think. I’m so confused.”
“And you’ve tried his cell phone?”
“Of course. I keep leaving messages, but he’s not returning any of my calls.”
“OK. I want you to get out of there now and come over here until he calls you. You don’t know what’s up.”
Return of the Cartier Cartel (Part 2) Page 18