Born Sinners

by Marlon McCaulsky

  She went downstairs and out the back to the guesthouse. She went to the basement door and down the stairs to the mahogany wall shelf. She pushed it open and saw the money on the table. She took the empty suitcase and filled it with the bundles of hundreds on the back table. She was careful to take from the back. Then she took some bundles of fifties. When she filled the rolling suitcase, she had close to two hundred thousand in cash stuffed inside. She looked at the wall of guns and grabbed a small 9mm handgun just in case she had to use it, and placed it in her purse. She then picked up the rolling suitcase and zipped it up. She closed the mahogany wall shelf door, left the basement, and locked the door. She walked back to the main house and saw Jay waiting for her.

  “Here, take this to the car.” She handed him the rolling suitcase. “Did you make the arrangements with the pilot?”

  “Yes. He said you’d need to be there by 5 p.m. Where are you going now?” Jay asked as they walked to the garage and he put her bags in the trunk of her baby blue Mercedes-Benz.

  “You don’t need to know that Jay. Just tell Bishop I insisted on going out alone to the city to shop today. Here’s your compensation.” Vanessa handed him another envelope that was much thicker then the last one she gave him. “I suggest you put that somewhere safe.” Vanessa advised and got in the Mercedes-Benz. Jay opened the garage door and Vanessa pulled out to put phase two of her plan in motion.

  “I love it when you do that.” Vanessa yelled as Dwayne licked her clit deep between her legs. They met each other at the Plaza Athenee Hotel uptown, and soon as Dwayne entered the room Vanessa was on him. Rough sex was something they both took pleasure in giving and receiving. Dwayne stood up and held Vanessa upside down by her waist with her legs spread. He was swirling his tongue around her walls while Vanessa had a mouthful of his dick. Dwayne tossed her on the bed and rammed his dick into her creamy pussy, pounding all his frustrations into her.

  “Oh shit! Don’t you dare fucking stop! Beat this pussy up!” Vanessa exclaimed as Dwayne thrust his dick into her. He was working the middle and hitting the bottom of her hot vagina. He bent her like a pretzel and gave her the gratification she’d never got from Bishop. Dwayne knew exactly how to work a voluptuous woman like Vanessa. By lifting her hips off the bed and pushing her legs to her head, he was able to tap her G-spot, banging his dick harder and deeper into her canal.

  “Oh you huge mutha’fucka you….You gonna make me cum!”

  He grunted, “Say my mutha’fuckin’ name!”

  “Dwayne!”

  “Say my name!” he demanded as he gave her a hard deep thrust.

  “King! Oh shit!” Vanessa cried out as her orgasm came hard, and so did Dwayne’s.

  Dwayne and Vanessa lie in bed together exhausted from sex, and enjoying the pleasure they both gave each other. Vanessa did notice that he was even more aggressive sexually then normally. Not that she minded the roughness, but she was concerned about him.

  “Maybe you should argue more with Bishop in the future. It seems to bring out the barbarian in you when you’re with me.” Vanessa noted.

  Dwayne frowned, “Hmph, that nigga don’t know how close I was to busting a cap in his head. He thinks just because he’s Bishop that he runs things. Shit, I’ve been running these streets and the club better than him.”

  “And you’ve been fuckin’ me better than him too. All you need is an edge and you can have it all.” Vanessa said, deciding now was the time to act.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean even Bishop has some secrets he wouldn’t want to get out.” Dwayne stared at her intensely.

  “You know something I should know.”

  “A little secret he’s been keeping for a while. A few days ago I went in his office to pick up my purse that I left on his desk. I saw a box with some old pictures of him and some girl back in the day. So I took a look at them and there was also some pictures with him and this baby boy.”

  “He’s got a son?”

  “Yeah, and you know him too.” Vanessa revealed with a devilish smile.

  “Who?”

  Vanessa got up, grabbed her bag, and pulled out the old photo of Bishop and Damien as a baby. Dwayne looked at the picture, and then read on the back, “Damien 11 months 1976”. Dwayne sat up in the bed shocked.

  “What the hell!” Dwayne froze as he put all the dots together in his head. “It makes sense now. That whole thing about sending flowers to his mother’s funeral makes sense. Damien doesn’t even know that Bishop’s his pops.”

  “I don’t think he does.” Vanessa confirmed.

  Dwayne laughed, “I knew that old nigga had some shit he was keeping buried.”

  “I don’t see why he wouldn’t just tell Damien the truth.” Vanessa retorted.

  “I know why. A nigga like Bishop don’t wanna show anybody any signs of vulnerability. He doesn’t want anybody to exploit anything, not even Damien. What are the chances of this shit happening? Well, you certainly gave me my edge ma.” Dwayne grinned.

  “Good. Now use it well ‘cause I think he might wanna replace you with Damien. You might have to take Damien out too.”

  He shook his head, “Naw, Dame’s my nigga.”

  “But he’s his son. Who do you think he would choose if he knew the truth?”

  He frowned, “So what you saying? I should kill my nigga?”

  “Either you do that or kill Bishop before he decides to kill you. This is your chance to have it all. You’re already the King. All you have to do now is take your throne.”

  “It’s not that easy. I can’t just pop him, and expect to walk out of there alive. I need a plan.” He explained.

  Vanessa was disappointed with his reaction, but knew he was right. She decided to go with plan B. “Dwayne, I can’t go back to him.”

  “I know it’s hard for you to be with him but you have to.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I can’t go back to the house or Bishop will kill me.” Vanessa disclosed and he looked at her seriously.

  “Why would he do that? Does he know about us? What did you do?”

  “For the past few days he’s been saying funny things to me about me not betraying him so I think he might know something. When I found those pictures I also found some money and, I took it.”

  “You did what! How much!” Dwayne yelled upset.

  “I’m not sure … enough to get me out of New York. But there’s much more still there.” “I can’t believe you did some crazy shit like that!” Dwayne yelled and Vanessa stared at his naked body.

  Even upset Dwayne was still sexy as hell. Vanessa stared at his dick still half hard as it bounced up and down as he paced back and forth.

  “I had to do something. I’ve already made arrangements to leave the country today. That’s why I came to you. I wanted to let you know what I found out. Leave with me Dwayne.”

  “And go where?”

  “England. I have family over there that Bishop doesn’t know about. Come with me and we can start over together.” Vanessa said to him.

  Dwayne considered her words, and it was tempting, but he knew Bishop would eventually track them down and kill them.

  “No. Bishop will find us no matter where we go. You have to leave though. I’ll deal with Bishop and catch up with you. I just need to make a few calls first and I’ll be ready for Bishop.

  “Dwayne, what if it doesn’t work.”

  “Vanessa this is what we have to do. Trust me.”

  “I do trust you, but I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You won’t,” Dwayne confirmed as he stood in front of her. Vanessa caressed his dick and it became hard again. “Damn girl.” Dwayne uttered.

  Vanessa took him in her mouth and sucked him dry. Her plan had worked. They made love one last time before Vanessa left the hotel for a private airport in upstate New York.

  Later on that night, Dwayne was still at the hotel in bed when his Motorola Micro Tac cell phone rang. Dwayne looked at his clock and it was 2:15 a.m.
He sat up in the bed and answered the phone. He thought maybe it was Vanessa calling to let him know that she arrived in England safely.

  “Hello?” Dwayne answered.

  “Hope I ain’t catch you at a bad time, Future King, but we have a situation here. I need you at the club now.” “A’ight, what’s going on?”

  “Some of them Haitian niggas hit the club. They got us good.”

  “How much?”

  “Everything. I’m tired of playing with these niggas. Get here now.” Bishop grunted and hung up the phone.

  How did Bishop find out about the club being robbed before me? Vanessa’s not home so does he think she’s with me? He must’ve already gone to my place and saw that I wasn’t home either. I can’t let him think I’m running from him. Shit! Dwayne got up and threw on his slacks, a button down shirt, and a black jacket. He made sure his 44 was loaded and then he was out the door.

  Dwayne pulled up in the back of The Blue Angel and saw Bishop’s bodyguards Black and Gutta. He got out of his ride and walked to the entrance. Gutta led the way, and Black followed behind him. Bishop was standing by the bar drinking some Cognac, waiting for him. Dwayne scanned the club and saw nothing out of place.

  “So what did they get?” Dwayne asked.

  “All of our shit.” Bishop said as Black moved behind him.

  Dwayne spotted him but remained calm. Something was wrong. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he stared at Bishop. He had seen Bishop set niggas up like this all time, and he knew what this was. He knew Bishop too well to be tricked into a false sense of security.

  “Just say the word and I’ll take the boys over to where them niggas is at. I’ll merk them all.”

  “You know Dwayne, I’ve always underestimated you and that’s my mistake. I won’t make that mistake again. I told you once that there’s very little I don’t know that goes on in my club, including your office,” Bishop revealed.

  “You don’t say,” Dwayne retorted.

  He caught the eye signal Bishop gave Black. Dwayne reacted before Black could, and he swung and, punched Black in the face. Then he grabbed by his shirt and threw him into Gutta and Bishop. He pulled out his 44 and aimed for Bishop and shot. He missed and hit Gutta in the chest and he exploded with blood as he fell back against Bishop. Bishop pulled out his 45 Magnum and used Gutta as a human shield. He shot back at Dwayne as he running to the exit. He let out three shots.

  “Aarragh!” Dwayne got hit in the shoulder, and that sent him crushing into a table. “Shit!” Dwayne busted back as he staggered to his feet and out the door to his car.

  Bishop dropped Gutta’s body and dove over the bar. Dwayne was able to make it outside to his car. He started it and ducked down as Bishop and Black shot out his back window. Glass scattered as Dwayne switched the gear into drive and stepped on the gas. He smashed into a garbage can, and then turned the corner onto the main street.

  “Agh…Arrahh…Shit!” Dwayne grimaced in pain as he grabbed his shoulder.

  He continued to bleed profusely as he sped down the road. The world started to turn black as he lost consciousness and crashed into a parked car two miles away from the club.

  22

  Life’s A Bitch

  June 1995

  Florescent light bulbs blurred his vision, and the beeps of hospital equipment let Dwayne know that he had not arrived at heaven’s pearly gates. As his eyes adjusted to the lights, he focused on the bandages on his left shoulder. His head was throbbing with pain. He tried to touch his head, but his wrist were handcuffed to the bedrail. He looked around and spotted an officer standing at the door. He laid his head back down on the pillow as he realized his situation had gone from bad to worse. A few minutes later, his hospital door opened and Detective Anderson and Detective Lawrence walked in.

  “Well, looka what we got here John? The infamous Dwayne Smith.” Detective Anderson said to his partner as they stood in front of Dwayne lying in bed.

  “How you feeling sunshine?” Detective Lawrence asked him.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Dwayne spat.

  “Oh, we got what we want already. We got you blacked out from a gunshot wound with an unregistered 44 Magnum in your front seat of your car that crashed into a parked car.” Detective Anderson said to him.

  “Now the only thing we want to know is who put that hole in your shoulder. We know ya boss Bishop probably had something to do with this. You work with us and we can probably work something out for you.” Detective Lawrence adds.

  Despite the fact that Bishop had just tried to kill him, Dwayne had no intention of snitching on him. He knew that if he did, he would basically be committing suicide. Dwayne knew firsthand what happens to niggas that snitch. If these two cops think that he’ll just roll over like that, then they were stupider then he thought.

  “I wanna call my lawyer.” Dwayne said, and laid his head back down on the pillow.

  “Oh, you’ll get your phone call as soon as these doctors say we can take you downtown. Do yourself a favor, Dwayne. Either you play ball with us or someone will be playing with your asshole in Rikers.” Detective Lawrence taunted and laughed as they walked out of his room.

  Damien was in the barbershop, tightening up his bald fade with his regular barber Travis. Travis was the shit with the clippers, and the only dude Damien would trust with his head. He was still in the dark about what happened with Dwayne last night at The Blue Angel. Damien loved coming to the shop, and finding out what the streets were talking about. Damien knew how shit flows in New York.

  “Yo, I heard shit got funky up at da Blue Angel last night son.” Damien overheard a nigga say, talking to the barber next to him.

  “Word?”

  “Yeah, my nigga. My nigga Lou, he was handling some business out there, and he said he saw a black Bentley Coupe wit’ the back window shot out hauling ass out of the alley.” Damien knew right away that was Dwayne’s black coupe he had to be talking about. Travis had just got done cleaning him up, and Damien handed him a twenty.

  “A’ight my nigga, I’ll catch you later.” Damien said as he got up from the chair, walked outside, took out his cell phone, and called Dwayne’s number. Nobody answered.

  Damien knew in his gut something was wrong, and walked to his black Range Rover. His cell phone started to ring.

  “Yeah, who this?” Damien answered his phone.

  “Young gun, I need to see you now.” Bishop said to him.

  Bishop had never called Damien directly like this before. Damien knew something was up.

  “Bishop, Yeah I’ll meet you at the Angel.”

  “Good. Be here in thirty minutes.” Bishop instructed him.

  “A’ight…I’ve been trying to reach Dwayne.”

  “Don’t worry about him. We got some things we need to discuss.” Bishop said and then he hung up the phone.

  Damien hung up his phone, got in his truck, started the ignition and shifted it into drive.

  What the fuck is going on? First, I hear some shit in da barbershop about Dwayne’s coupe being shot up at the club last night. Then, when I try to call his ass I get nothing. Now, out the blue I get a call from Bishop. Is this nigga trying to set me up? Where the fuck is Dwayne? Damien couldn’t help but think of several questions about what’s going on as he drove to the club. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with any answers until he saw Bishop.

  Damien arrived at The Blue Angel twenty-five minutes later. He still couldn’t shake the uncertainty about what was going on. He went in and saw Black, Bishop’s bodyguard, standing at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t see Gutta who was normally always with him. He looked him over carefully and saw how tense he was. Damien still wasn’t sure if this was a set up or not. If it was, he had his Glock loaded and ready for whatever.

  “What up? Bishop wanted to see me.” Damien said to Black.

  “Go ahead.” Black said and stepped aside. Damien went up to the office.

  Damien opened the door and sa
w Bishop sitting behind Dwayne’s desk.

  “Come on in Damien.” Bishop said with a Cuban cigar in his mouth.

  Damien came in and sat in the chair in front of the desk.

  “What’s up Bishop?” he asked. “I’ve been trying to call Dwayne all morning, but he ain’t picking up.”

  He blew out a cloud of smoke. “Don’t worry about Dwayne anymore. He’s no longer with us.”

  “What happened?”

  “Dwayne got it in his head that he ran this business, and he crossed a line he shouldn’t have. I had to let him know his services were no longer required.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “No, but he will be.” Bishop said frankly.

  Even though Dwayne was his nigga, Damien knew if Bishop said he was done with him then it was a wrap.

  “So why did you call me here?”

  “Because I’ve seen how you’ve handled yourself, and I see a lot of potential in you. You’re the type of young gun I can see running shit with the proper guidance. I’m gonna be more hands on with the operation of the club, and I want you to be near me from now on. You think you can step up and handle that?” Bishop said to him as he removed the cigar from his mouth and rolled it between his thumb and index finger.

  Damien smiled and spoke up. “I was born ready. I’m glad you recognized my skills.”

  Bishop smiled at his son’s confidence which reminded him so much of himself at that age. Bishop knew that with the right mentorship, in a few years Damien would be running the business. Then maybe he could tell him the truth, and be the father to his son that he wasn’t for all these years.

  “What about the corner?”

  “You can have that other nigga Nard manage that spot from now on.” Damien knew Nard probably wasn’t the best choice to run shit, but this is the position he always wanted to be in.

  It had been thirteen hours since Dwayne had been admitted into Harlem Hospital Center. He received surgery to remove the bullet Bishop put in his left shoulder. He was being moved to another room in the hospital, and still handcuffed to the bedrail. As a nurse and a police officer were pushing him down the hall in the ICU, Dwayne was looking at the other patients. Soon afterwards he was shipped off to central booking so he could be arraigned in front of a judge in the morning.