R.I.C.O.

by C. J. Hudson

  The waiter thought about it for all of five seconds before reaching for the money. Just before his hand touched the crisp bills, Kim grabbed it.

  “Oh, and we’ll be needing your phone number,” she said, smiling at him. Butter shook her head. She couldn’t believe how thirsty Kim was.

  “Kim, let that man’s hand go!” Sunny ordered. Reluctantly and sadly, she released the waiter’s hand.

  “Nah, it’s cool,” he said. “You can have my number,” he told Kim.

  A broad smile popped onto Kim’s face. In her mind, she was already picturing bending over for him and letting him have his way with her. Dani rolled her eyes. The waiter was an attractive dude, so she couldn’t help but wonder what the hell he saw in Kim. He quickly scribbled his number on his order pad and slid it to her.

  “Well, when you two are done flirting, we would like to have our champagne, please,” Jazmine said.

  “Coming right up,” he said, strolling away. From the second he turned to walk away until he disappeared into the back, Kim’s eyes were glued to his ass.

  “You are one thirsty-ass bitch,” Butter said.

  “Don’t hate, bitch,” Kim responded.

  “A’ight, enough of that bullshit y’all talking. Let’s get down to business.”

  Sunny looked around carefully before lowering her voice and getting to the nuts and bolts of why she’d called them all there.

  “Wait. What?” Jazmine said when Sunny revealed more of her plan. She’d only told Jazmine a small portion of what she had in store for the city.

  “You heard me. I don’t only want to control the dope game. I want to start a loan business and an escort service.”

  “In other words, you want to be a loan shark and a pimp,” Butter said.

  “Tomato, tomahto,” Sunny said, smiling.

  “Hold up. How are we even gonna get started in this shit? Ain’t no telling how much money it’s gonna cost us even to get plugged into the dope game, let alone become loan sharks,” Butter said. Sunny looked at Jazmine and Kim. As far as she knew, they were the only ones sitting there who knew about her father.

  “Jazmine, tell them who our fathers are,” she told her second in command.

  As Jazmine revealed to them how she and Sunny were already connected to the game, Dani sat there listening like she didn’t already know what time it was. Roughly thirty minutes later, Sunny gave each of them the option to get down with her plan. Although Kim felt slighted by Sunny because she thought that she should’ve been second in command based on her longtime friendship with Sunny, she wasn’t pissed enough to let the opportunity to make a ton of money and have elite social status pass her by. Sunny also revealed to them what had happened at her father’s house.

  “How did it feel?” Butter asked Sunny.

  “How did what feel?”

  “Killing someone,” Butter said, a little louder than she needed to.

  “Bitch, lower your damn voice,” Jazmine said.

  “My bad,” Butter said, her eyes and attention still focused on Sunny.

  It fascinated her to know someone who’d committed murder. Sunny rolled her eyes and stared up at the ceiling while contemplating her answer. Despite what she’d told Jazmine when she’d saved her from Jamaal, she really didn’t feel anything about killing the officer. It was the first time since it happened that she’d thought about it. It scared her that she wasn’t feeling any remorse about taking another human being’s life. But it was a trait that would serve her well going forward.

  Chapter 23

  Carol Walker had worked as a police dispatcher for the last ten years. She was a single mother but gave up her parental rights at the age of 24 because she wanted to run the streets and have fun instead of raising a child and being a good mother. The father, a high school janitor at the time, was thrilled to get custody of his son and get him away from such an irresponsible mother. Although she and her son’s father couldn’t stand each other now, the two of them had some good times earlier on in their relationship. They partied like rock stars and played even harder, having sex two to three times a day. It was foolish of them to think that she wouldn’t eventually get pregnant, considering that neither one of them used any form of birth control at the time.

  Once Carol finally did get pregnant, the issues between her and Malik started. He was happy as hell to be a father and wanted to tell the world. Carol, on the other hand, wanted no part of motherhood. She was too busy having fun to even think about raising a child. Being pregnant meant no more smoking weed, and more importantly to her, no more occasionally indulging in cocaine. Malik saw it much differently. As soon as he found out that Carol was pregnant, he did away with his cocaine vice, although he still smoked weed now and then. When Malik found out that Carol was planning on getting an abortion, he was crushed. For weeks, he begged Carol to let his child live. It wasn’t until he agreed to take custody of the child that Carol relented. Because she didn’t trust his word, she made him put it in writing. Carol had seen a few men who were proud fathers before the child was born only to get in the wind once the baby appeared. She wasn’t falling for that trap.

  The one thing Carol hadn’t counted on, however, was Malik losing his job. Since he was unemployed, and she wasn’t, Carol had to pay Malik child support. She made enough money to have a decent living, but once child support began to cut into her pockets, her finances were crippled. So, when Joy volunteered to pay her to keep Joy informed of what calls were coming in and whatever else she could keep her eyes on in the department, she jumped at the chance. Carol didn’t see any harm in it. She was making a few extra bucks on the side, and as long as no one got hurt, it was all good. But after hearing about what happened to the witness, Carol knew that she had gotten in over her head this time. She knew that it was just a matter of time before everything led back to her telling Joy about the witness, and then she would be in deep shit. Not only would her job be on the line, but also her freedom would, which was why she called Joy and asked her to come over. She needed to be assured that her flapping tongue wasn’t going to come back to bite her in the ass.

  Carol had just finished her third cigarette and was about to fire up her fourth when a knock on her front door nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. She was a nervous wreck. She just knew that at any moment, Detective Little was going to kick in her door and haul her ass off to jail. Carol cautiously walked over to the door. She looked through the peephole, but all she saw was darkness. Her heart began racing.

  “Who is it?” she asked nervously.

  “Bitch, it’s me. Open the damn door,” Joy said.

  Carol breathed a sigh of relief as she let her coworker in. Joy strolled in with all the confidence in the world. She didn’t seem to be bothered or worried about anything. Carol couldn’t understand that. She couldn’t tell her what she wanted over the phone, but her frantic voice should have alerted Joy that something was wrong. Joy walked over to Carol’s couch and sat down.

  “Now, what the fuck did you call me over here for?” she asked angrily.

  She had planned on spending the night at Darnell’s, but now she had to be bothered with this bitch. Joy had a feeling she knew what Carol wanted but didn’t want to say anything in case she was wrong. Carol opened her mouth to speak but looked around first as if someone could be listening.

  “The fuck are you looking around for? Look, I’m busy. Say what the fuck you have to say.”

  “Joy, I think someone knows I gave you the witness’s address.”

  “And just how do you know that?” Joy asked.

  “It’s just a feeling I have,” Carol said, shrugging.

  “A feeling? Bitch, you’re in law enforcement. When the fuck do we go by feelings? If you don’t have any proof, stop wasting my fuckin’ time.”

  “Look, first of all, stop fucking talking to me like that. Second of all, I am not going to jail over some bullshit that you’re involved in.”

  Joy took a deep breath. She figured that Ca
rol would be on edge, so she came prepared to reel her back in. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bag with a white substance in it.

  “Here,” she said, tossing the bag to Carol. “Maybe this will calm your shaky ass down a little bit.”

  Carol looked at the bag, and her mouth started to water. It was just what she needed to take the edge off. She quickly sat down and sprinkled some of the powder on a mirror that was sitting there. After separating the powder into three separate lines, she pulled a dollar bill out of her front pocket. Putting the dollar bill to her nose, she quickly snorted it into one nostril, then the other. She sat back and closed her eyes, allowing the cocaine to affect her system and brain. After a few minutes, Joy started smiling. She had successfully brought Carol back into the fold.

  “You okay now?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” Carol said in an even tone.

  “Still, Joy, although I appreciate you giving me this shit for free, I hope we have everything in order because I meant what I said a few minutes ago. I am not going to jail over some bullshit that I know nothing about.”

  “I understand, Carol. Trust me; I have everything under control.”

  Although she hadn’t brought it up to Joy, Carol was beginning to wonder what was really going on. She knew that she shouldn’t have asked, but curiosity got the better of her. “Joy, what—”

  “Carol, don’t even ask me that question. The less you know, the better. You know that.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Carol said, staring at her.

  It only took Joy a few seconds to detect the snitch in her. She made small talk for the next few minutes before getting up to leave. When she got to her car, she pulled out her cell phone and called Darnell.

  “Yeah, we may have a problem. I’ll be there in ten minutes to explain.” Eight minutes later, Joy was walking through Darnell’s front door.

  “Babe? Where are you?” she called out.

  “Down here,” Darnell shouted from the basement.

  When Joy walked down the stairs, she instantly got moist. It had been about a week since she’d felt his sweet stick in one of her holes, and she was getting horny for it. But first things first. She needed to inform him of the little “situation” involving Carol. Darnell listened as she told him about the conversation. Even though his hands were clean of the matter, he didn’t want Joy to get popped on some bullshit. He had to take care of it, and he would.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he told her.

  “That’s good to hear. Now, how about taking care of me?” she asked, crawling on his lap.

  Slowly, she began grinding her soft ass on his dick, causing it to harden. Feeling his manhood grow, Joy moaned softly. She climbed off his lap and pulled her pants down. After discarding them, she got down on her hands and knees and tugged at his gym shorts. Her mouth watered when his dick revealed itself. Joy wrapped her hands around it and stroked it slowly before lowering her mouth onto it. Instead of going fast, she took her time and savored the taste and feel of her lover’s sweet stick in her throat. With his long dick damn near on her tonsils, Joy slid her tongue back and forth across his balls. Darnell could barely stand it. He was seconds from busting his load when Joy abruptly stopped sucking him.

  “Oh shit,” Darnell said, panting. He didn’t know what had gotten into Joy, but she was putting it on his ass. With a seductive look in her eye, she climbed back on top of his lap and inserted his rock-hard pole into her wetness.

  “Ooooh, yeeesss,” Joy purred. She was so turned on that it only took a few humps for her to come. But Darnell was far from done. Grabbing her hips, he picked her up and slammed her down on his cock repeatedly. Figuring that Darnell’s daughter wasn’t home, Joy figured she could let her hair down sexually. The harder Darnell fucked her, the louder and dirtier she talked.

  “Oh yes, baby, fuck me. Fuck the shit outta this pussy,” she screamed. Her nails dug deep into his chest as she exploded for a second time. This time, however, she wasn’t alone. With an animalistic grunt, Darnell released his love deep inside of her.

  “Whew, oh my God, baby, that was fantastic,” she said, placing kisses on his face and chest. Darnell wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. The two of them had been embracing for less than a minute when Darnell heard Sunny’s car pull up.

  “Oh shit, my daughter’s here,” he said.

  Joy hurriedly got up and put her undergarments and pants back on. Darnell pulled his shorts up just in time as Sunny entered the house through the garage and walked into the basement. Darnell and Joy sat there like they had been watching television, which Sunny could tell wasn’t what went down.

  “Hey, y’all. What’s going on?”

  “Not much. Just chillin’. Where you been all day?”

  “Well, after we got back from the gun range, I had a meeting with Jazmine.”

  “A meeting about what?” Darnell asked.

  Sunny thought about lying. She didn’t know if her father wanted her to say anything about his proposition to Jazmine. She ultimately decided that since Jazmine would be her second in command, she might as well tell her father and get it over with. Because no matter what he said, that wasn’t going to change.

  “Well, I was talking to her about being my right hand when I take over.”

  “Is that right?” Darnell asked, rubbing his chin. “I guess you two have finally become friends, huh? Me and Turiq knew that if y’all spent enough time with each other, the ice between y’all would eventually start to thaw.”

  Sunny shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t dare tell her father about what happened to bring them together. If she had, Jamaal would quickly be erased from the planet.

  “Yeah, we came to an understanding,” she said.

  “Good, baby girl, good.” Darnell then got up and walked over to his daughter. Placing both hands on her shoulders, he looked her square in the eyes.

  “So, how are you doing?”

  “Uh . . . I’m doing fine, Daddy,” Sunny answered. She was slightly confused as to why he’d asked her that. He smiled at her.

  “You sure? I mean, you did take a life just a few short weeks ago.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m okay, Daddy. You were right. If we had let him live, that dirty cop would have put you behind bars as fast as he could. It was either him or us. I understand that now.”

  Darnell looked back at Joy, and the two of them shared a wicked smile. Sunny looked from her father to his lover and frowned. Obviously, something was cooking in their minds, but she didn’t know what.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” she asked.

  “So, let me ask you something, Vanessa,” he said, ignoring her question, “are you really that comfortable with killing another human being, or are you just saying what you think I want to hear?”

  Sunny opened her mouth to speak, but Darnell silenced her by holding up his hand.

  “Now, before you answer that question, I want you to think long and hard about the answer.”

  Sunny cut her eyes toward Joy, who was now intently staring at her. She looked back at her father and saw the seriousness in his expression. Sunny thought about what her father had just asked her. She thought about how Detective Warren’s life drained from his body before her very eyes. She searched her emotions for pity or remorse, and much to her surprise, she found none. Taking a deep breath, she looked at her father and told him that she was extremely comfortable with what she’d done to the dirty cop.

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he said, grinning wickedly. “Because I have another job for you.”

  Chapter 24

  The meeting Sunny had with the other four ladies of her crew was conducted at Gordon Park off Seventy-Second and St. Clair. As soon as she told them what had to be done and what she expected their involvement in it to be, they all stared at her in disbelief.

  “You want us to do what?” Kim asked.

  “You heard me. My father gave me a job to do, and I need my crew to help me carry
it out.” Sunny didn’t need any of them to carry out the hit. However, she did want them to be a part of it to solidify their status within the crew. If they were going to be a part of the organization, all of their hands would have to get dirty. She looked around at her crew’s faces and tried to check for any signs of fear or uncertainty.

  “What? Did you bitches actually think that y’all were going to rise to the top without getting your hands dirty?” Sunny asked.

  “Well, I can’t speak for the rest of these broads, but I’m ready to put that work in,” Butter boasted.

  Sunny gave Butter a strange look. There was something about the young lady that Sunny perceived as sinister. There seemed to be a level of crazy that Butter possessed that the other girls didn’t have, not even Jazmine. Sunny had first seen it in her eyes when Butter had asked her how it felt to kill a man. Now, the bloodthirsty look in her eyes had Sunny convinced that she would definitely be ride or die for her team.

  “We all know that your crazy ass can’t wait to get to blasting, so ain’t nobody talking about you,” Jazmine said.

  “Kim? Dani? You two hoes down for this one eighty-seven?”

  Kim and Dani looked at each other. One of them was waiting for the other one to speak first. But instead, it was Butter who broke the silence.

  “I think these bitches scared,” she spat.

  “Bitch, ain’t nobody scared,” Kim lied.

  She couldn’t speak for Dani, but she was scared shitless. This is the part of the game that she hadn’t thought about. The only thing on her mind was getting rich and getting laid by some fine-ass men. It never once occurred to her that she would have to do any of the dirty work.

  Dani, on the other hand, was doing some fast thinking. In her mind, this was her chance to get in good with Sunny. If she could somehow get Sunny to trust her completely, then she would be that much closer to infiltrating the crew and helping Damon destroy Sunny and her father.