A Gangster's Dream

by Charmanie Saquea

  Everyone that was supposed to be working was too busy sitting around on their asses playing video games. To say that Carmelo was pissed would be an understatement. He pulled his gun from his waistband and took the safety off. He cocked it before pointing it at the TV and pulling the trigger.

  Everybody jumped and some ducked. “I bet y'all muthafuckas won't be using that no more,” he said.

  “Yo, Melo I told these niggas—“ Carlton, a lil nigga tried to speak, but Carmelo cut him off.

  “Shut the fuck up! All five of y'all muthafuckas sitting up in here like this ya mama house where you can just bullshit and chill. It’s work sitting out in the open like don't nobody give a fuck who run up in here and see it. I could have been the police or even a stick up boy, and y'all asses would either be on y'all way to doing Fed time or you would've been left stinking,” his voice boomed.

  “Shaq told us we could take a break, so we did what he told us,” Carlton said.

  “If Shaq told yo stupid ass to go play in traffic would you do it?” Carmelo asked and it got snickers from everybody. “I didn't think so, now get ya simple asses in there and do what the fuck y'all get paid to do.”

  Everyone knew Carmelo wasn't playing with them, so they wasted no time jumping up. He wasn't the type of nigga you wanted to piss off, his temper wasn't anything cute.

  Shaq walked in and looked around at everybody. “Why y'all looking crazy? What's the problem?”

  “You are the muthafucking problem Shaquille,” Carmelo said. “You just caused me to tear they asses a new asshole each because you thought it was okay for them to take a break. If they wanna take breaks, they better get a regular 9 to 5, you included, because we don't do breaks around here,” Carmelo voiced, daring Shaq to get out of line. Their relationship had been strained since Carmelo found out about him pushing up on Dream.

  Shaq looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't. He just nodded his head before walking back out the way he came in. “You got that Carmelo,” he said before leaving.

  Carmelo went upstairs to pick up the money. He pulled the money counter off the shelf and sat on the couch that was in the room. He put the machine on the table and pulled the money out. He didn't trust other people counting his stuff, so he always did it himself.

  He was on his third stack when his phone started ringing. He took it out of his pocket to see My Dream on the caller ID. He usually wouldn’t answer the phone while he was taking care of business, but he always went against his own rules for her.

  “Talk to me, baby.”

  “Melo, somebody trashed the house! I came home and it, everything…oh my gosh,” Dream cried into the phone.

  “Wait hold up, calm down. Now, what’s wrong?”

  Dream sighed before speaking, “Somebody broke into the house. Everything is trashed.”

  Carmelo put the money and money counter into a duffle bag. “Where are you? Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine, I just got to the house,” she said, trying not to break down again.

  “Get out of the house and go to your house. I’ll be there—“ Carmelo was cut off by the sound of a gut wrenching scream that Dream let out. “Dream…Dream!” he yelled into the phone. He got no response, but he heard when the phone dropped, then there was lots of shuffling going on in the background before he heard a gunshot go off.

  Carmelo froze with fear as his heart dropped down into his stomach. “Dream!” he yelled into the phone once again as he ran down the stairs and out of the house. He didn’t get a response but he heard when the phone hung up.

  He threw his bag in the backseat and sped off. He was silently praying to God that Dream wasn’t on the receiving end of that bullet. He had only shown her how to shoot a gun once, but she was so scared to shoot it that she couldn’t even hold it the right way. His mind was all over the place as he headed to his house in Queens.

  He turned on his street and noticed the police and an ambulance in front of his house. He didn’t feel like dealing with that right now so he hit a U-turn and headed to Dream’s house, praying that she was there. He tried her number, but it was going straight to voicemail. “

  Shit Dream!” he yelled.

  Once he reached Dream’s house, he noticed her car in the driveway. He jumped out of his car and ran to the front door, using the spare key she gave him to let himself in.

  “Dream!” he yelled as he ran to her bedroom and saw bloody clothes on the floor. The sound of running water coming from the bathroom let him know that’s where she was. He busted through the door. “Dream.”

  Dream jumped and screamed at the sound of his voice. “Calm down baby, it’s me,” he said as he pulled the shower curtain back.

  “I…I…I killed him Melo, I didn’t mean to but he…he.” She couldn’t even form a sentence because she was so shaken up over the situation. Carmelo turned the shower off and grabbed a towel that he used to wrap her up in. He picked her up and carried her back into her bedroom while she buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

  “Shhh...stop crying. It's going to be okay. What did you do with the gun?” he asked as he laid her in the bed.

  “It's under my clothes,” she answered just as his phone started ringing.

  “Talk to me Cai,” he said to his brother.

  “I don't know what the hell is going on, but I told the police you were out of town and I was house watching. Apparently, the tapes from the security cameras are gone,” Caiden said.

  Carmelo looked over at Dream. Maybe she wasn't as green to the streets as he thought she was. “Thanks, man. I gotta go, but I'll hit you up later,” Carmelo said as he ended the conversation. He wanted to ask her about what happened, but she was too shaken up at the moment. He knew he had to give it a day or two for her to calm down and get over the shock.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ever since the incident at Carmelo's house, Dream hadn't been herself. She would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares, she thought the police would kick her door in at any minute to take her to jail for murder, and she always wanted to be up under Carmelo.

  He didn't mind being there for her because he knew dealing with your first kill wasn't easy, especially for somebody who wasn't built for that type of life. That’s the only thing that bothered Carmelo about their relationship, the things that he was dragging Dream into.

  He was sitting downstairs in his Staten Island home watching the tapes from his security cameras. He had watched them all about five times each. He was looking for something that would give him a sign. He already knew they were Shondrell’s boys. He expected that, but the one thing that was getting to him was how they knew where he lived.

  He was a very discrete person and the only people that knew where he lived, besides his mom and Dream, were his brother and Shaq. He didn't like or allow outsiders to know where he laid his head for these exact reasons.

  He knew Dream wouldn’t orchestrate having his place robbed and killing one of the niggas who was in on it, so he wasn't worried about her. His brother didn't have a motive to have this happen and he knew without a doubt that he wasn't working with Shondrell, so that only left one person - Shaq.

  It was no secret that the two had been at odds lately, but Carmelo didn't want to think that the nigga he had considered to be family would do some grimy stuff like this to him. He had just seen Shaq not even a half hour before this happened, and not one of the robbers were built like him.

  Shaq also knew he didn't keep anything in his house so sending them there would have been pointless, but that didn't mean he wasn't working as an inside man. Carmelo wasn't the type to put shit past anybody so he would have to watch Shaq real good from here on out.

  “Melo, you coming to bed?” Dream asked from behind him.

  He paused the video and turned around. “Yea I'll be up in a minute. I thought you were sleep,” he said.

  “Me, sleep? That was funny.”

  “Come here,” he instructed. Dream did as she was told
and walked over to him. He pulled her down on his lap and kissed her neck. “I been thinking, maybe we should just chill out for a minute,” he said.

  Dream rolled her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. “I don't think so, Carmelo Love. You are not going to get rid of me that fast. If you think I'm smothering you, then just say so.”

  “See, it ain't nothing like that. I just hate the shit you’re going through all because you're messing with a nigga like me. I've never had to look out for any female besides my mom and Summer, so this shit is all new for me. You can't even sleep without having nightmares and shit don't get no better from here,” he explained.

  “You remember the first date we ever went on? I asked you what you did and you told me. If I didn't want to deal with ‘a nigga like you,’ as you say, I wouldn't be here now. I'm a big girl Carmelo, and I can take care of myself. I will be fine. I mean it's not every day that I kill somebody. It’s going to take time, but I'll be good. I promise,” she said before kissing his lips.

  Carmelo couldn't say anything after that. Most females that had never been exposed to this type of life would have left him and been out on the first thing smoking. He knew Dream was rare and special, and this just proved it.

  “My Dream.” He smiled.

  “Yea, your Dream,” she said as she got comfortable on his lap.

  Carmelo just wrapped his arms around her and laid down on the couch. He never knew what he was missing out on until he met her. Now he couldn't imagine life without her. He was going to do whatever was in his power to protect her just like the other two women in his life.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After days of being cooped up in the house with Dream, Melo knew it was time for him to touch back down in the street. Dream was at the point where she wanted to get back to work too. Carmelo wasn’t ready for her to be back out yet, but he had to respect that just as he had a business to run, she did too. The first couple of days back working and only seeing each other for bed time wasn’t easy for either of them. Melo found it hard to focus in the daytime because he was busy worried about a nigga running up on Dream while she was at work. He knew she felt the same way because she voiced her opinion to him. Every morning before she walked out the door to go to work, she told Melo how she feared she wouldn’t see him that night. It was because of that and Summer that Melo knew he had to make it. He didn’t worry about Summer much because since school was out, she had be confined to a little spot they had out in Jersey, spending time with her cousins. She called home every day saying that she wanted to come back, but Melo wasn’t hearing it. Jersey was the safest place for her, at least for the time being.

  Carmelo was forced to stop thinking about his two favorite women when he noticed the all-black Impala still on his tail. The car had been following him for two blocks. He knew it could only be two people; an undercover cop or an adversary. He was going to bet on the latter because the police would have been pulled him over by now. He unconsciously reached under his seat to grab his .45 just in case he had to use it.

  Normally he would call Shaq in a situation like this, but unfortunately, he wasn't on his list of people to be trusted right now. He kept glancing in his rear view mirror thinking he was just tripping or being paranoid but whoever they were, they were still following him. He couldn't see who they were due to them being too far back, but it didn't matter. He had no problems shooting first and taking names later.

  He turned the corner on Pennsylvania Ave and pulled over. He had his gun in his hand, ready for whatever. The car just drove past him slowly and he tried to see who was behind the wheel but it was to no avail due to the dark tints on the windows. The chill he felt as the car went past didn't go unnoticed. Whoever it was driving didn't have the balls to come at him now but he knew next time he might not be so lucky.

  Instantly his mind traveled to Dream. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number as he put his car in drive and took off.

  “Hey handsome, you miss me?” Dream answered her phone.

  “Maybe, maybe not. I was just calling to check on you and see if you were straight. As a matter of fact, I'll be there when you get off so I can follow you home,” he said as he checked his surroundings. Fifteen years in the game and his hood ways had never steered him wrong. He didn't care where he was at, he always checked his surroundings and expected the unexpected.

  “Really Melo? I told you I would be fine. You don't have to—“

  “Not trynna hear that shit today Dream. I got this feeling and I would rather be safe than sorry, so just let it go and let me do this, please?”

  Dream sighed into the phone. “Alright Carmelo, I hear you. Instead of worrying about my safety, you should be concerned about yours.”

  “I'm good baby, never doubt that.”

  “Yea whatever you say, I’m heading to the house in Staten Island when I get off. No need to meet me here Melo, just make it to the house in one piece,” Dream halfway threatened.

  “Always, ma, always,” he said before hanging up.

  Just as he reached down to put his gun back, his back window shattered and he heard gunshots. He took the safety off his gun and cocked it as he lifted his arm and started shooting back. He didn't know who or where he was shooting at, but it didn't matter as long as he came out the last man standing.

  “Ahh!” he heard as he mashed down on the gas pedal. He was pretty sure that the police had been called by now and he didn't need anyone identifying him or giving his plate number saying he was at the scene. He tried to look back and see who he had popped but they were laying in the middle of the street face down.

  He was tired of this shit. Shondrell kept sending people for him instead of being a real nigga and coming himself. The shit had gotten out of hand a long time ago. It was time to put an end to this shit once and for all.

  <><><><>

  After stopping by his boy Mark’s auto shop to get his back window fixed and making rounds checking with his niggas and putting them on the shit that went down, Carmelo didn’t find himself walking into his house till around two o'clock in the morning. He walked in quietly so he wouldn't wake Dream. He didn't bother turning on the light since he knew his house so well. When he got close to his stairs he noticed a shadow, which automatically made him draw his gun.

  “Melo, it's me,” Dream announced in her sweet voice.

  “Shit, my bad, baby. Why are you up and walking around in the dark?” he asked as he turned the light on.

  “Because I rolled over to wrap my arms around you and I couldn't sleep because you weren't there. I heard you pull up so I wanted to come down and warm up your plate,” answered Dream as they walked towards the kitchen.

  “You didn't have to do that. I could have did it myself,” He smiled as he kissed her neck.

  “I was already up so I didn't see the problem.”

  Carmelo just sat at the island at the kitchen and watched Dream as she worked her way around the kitchen. Since they had been kicking it tough, she had been staying there for a couple of days at a time. Whenever she was there, Carmelo’s house felt like a home. His bachelor pad had damn near turned into a honeymoon suite.

  Whenever she wasn't there, he would feel lonely and like he was missing something. No matter what time of the day or night he came home, Dream made sure he had a meal on the table. Whenever he gave her money to go shopping, she would refuse to take it, so he would slip it in her purse when she wasn't looking. Being the type of woman she was, she would spend most of the money on him.

  She was the type of woman that he could picture himself settling down with and marrying if they ever made it that far. As Dream put his plate in front of him, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him.

  “What's wrong?” she asked.

  “I was thinking, maybe you should just all the way move in,” he said, shocking himself as well as Dream.

  “Quit playing Carmelo and eat.” Dream shook her head as she tried to walk away.

  “Who said I was playing?
” he asked as he pulled her back to him. “You know me, so you know I wouldn't come at you with some bullshit. I know you have to think about it because it's a big step, so just sleep on it for me.” He kissed her soft lips. Another thing he had grown to love since being with Dream; her kisses.

  “I mean, I don’t know Carmelo. I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you into moving me in which is why I told you I wouldn’t mind staying at my house for a few days, so you can have your space.”

  “Come on ma, cut all that shit out. You know damn well I'm not going to do some shit I don't wanna do. If I'm asking you to move in, it’s because I want you here every night when I get home and every morning when I wake up. Not just two or three days out of the week.”

  Carmelo had to stop himself before his mouth went too far. He was just two seconds short do revealing what was really in his heart. He had never told a female besides Summer and his mom that he loved them, but he was close to telling Dream. Just sitting there and looking into her exotic eyes was making his heartbeat speed up.

  Dream did some things to him that no other female had ever done before. She actually had him thinking about long term shit and being married, and that scared him a little but he realized that was part of being a man that was in love. Dream took a forkful of food and put it up to his mouth.

  “Is this your way of shutting me up?” he asked.

  “No, I just don't want your food to get cold.” Dream smiled.

  After taking a bite of the food, Carmelo just came right out and said it. “What would you say if I told you I love you?” he asked.

  “Hmmm…I would say I love you back and don't talk with food in your mouth.” She laughed with a snort.

  “You are so goofy.” He shook his head.

  “So I've been told.” She smiled. “But you just finish eating while I go start the shower for you.”

  “Aye, you getting in with me or nah?” he asked.