Desired Too

by Lessly, S. K.

  “And?”

  “And…” He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing… She came back clean.”

  “Who’s Stinky?”

  “You know Stinky, He’s Harry’s kid, the son of Mr. Leonetti’s cousin from New York. He’s been trying to work his way up through the family. Angel decided to give him a little more responsibility.”

  “Okay, so since Angel wanted to give him more responsibility, Darrell decided to let this kid run a background check on someone this important?”

  Hugo shrugged again. “Well, yeah, Stinky is good with computers. He would be able to get the information quick without having the boss find out. Angel would probably go out of his fucking mind if he knew Darrell looked into his precious black-”

  “Watch your fucking mouth.”

  Hugo put up his hands. “I was going to say black goddess.”

  I watched him carefully. I knew some of the shit he was saying was true. When I left the family, I took my connections with me, so they did have to figure out other ways to do shit. Still, I didn’t trust this Stinky kid. I did remember him coming to the house about a year ago looking for work. Cousin Harry called in advance, hoping Angel would take him in. I didn’t think it was a good idea to give him any responsibility until he had proven himself. I was sure he didn’t do shit to warrant the job Darrell gave him, so this job was his ticket into the family. Darrell was using this as a test and the kid failed.

  Hugo frowned, taking my silence to mean something else and asked, “Are you saying he wasn’t right?”

  I didn’t reply.

  “Fuck!” Hugo ran his hands through his hair.

  Hugo and Darrell had been with Angel for years. They were boys way before I came into the mix. I knew Darrell and Hugo had some resentment towards me. Here I was an outsider. Yet, Angel had placed more trust in me than the two of them put together. I’m not saying Thing 1 and 2 weren’t capable, because they were. They have had Angel’s back long before I came to the family and he was still alive, so I would probably pick them to have my back before I would a lot of people. They were competent when it came to the safety of Angel. They just weren’t better than I was at it. I just take the safety of my family seriously. I also didn’t like giving up control. If I didn’t have a hand in shit, I had a problem with it.

  Angel and I were alike in so many ways. I was the brother he never had and, shit, it was the same for me. My uncle became the father I never had. He understood me. They both did.

  Yet, we were now estranged because they should have expected the outcome in Miami. They knew how I felt about Eddie and they for damn sure knew how I felt about Georgia. She was pregnant with my seed and Eddie put her in harm’s way for something as simple as jealousy. Because of that, Eddie deserved to die. There was no way around it. Yet, they didn’t see it that way. That was what was so frustrating.

  Yeah, okay, if you reverse the shit I just said, I should have expected the same from my uncle and Angel. I should have understood their positions, my uncle’s on killing his son and Angel’s on having his hands tied behind his back. I knew he was just following orders given to him by his father.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to deal with that shit right now though.

  I said to Hugo, “You need to put a body on her, and I mean now.”

  “How will we do that without letting Angel know why?”

  That was a good question. Darrell or Hugo couldn’t be the ones to do it and, to be honest, I didn’t trust anyone else to do the job.

  “All right, here’s what I want you to do. Send Stinky my way. Give him my number and tell him to call me the moment the sun comes up. Make that shit happen, Hugo.”

  He nodded hesitantly, and I sucked my teeth. “I’m not going to fucking kill him, even though I should. He dropped the ball big time, but I’m going to give him another chance to redeem himself. If he fails me or doesn’t call or meet me, that family shit is over.”

  “Okay, I’ll let him know the importance of calling you.”

  “And tell him not to tell anyone he’s meeting me. You can let Darrell know, but you will not tell anyone else, and that means Angel. You tell him you got into a bar fight or some shit, but do not tell him or anyone else about what we talked about, understand?”

  “Okay, but what about the threat? What do we need to look out for?”

  I moved to his apartment door. “Don’t you worry about that. I got it covered. You guys figure out what Eddie’s planning. If something happens to my cousin, I will personally hold you and Darrell responsible. Hell, I will hold everyone that works for Angel responsible. It’s your job to protect him, and if you can’t do the shit, you need to say something now.”

  I could see the anger rise in Hugo as he stood before me, face still bloody. I nodded to him, hearing my answer loud and clear.

  I left his apartment, and I had kept my vigil on Raquel ever since.

  Hugo

  Hugo had waited a few minutes before he took in a breath of relief. That was the trickiest part of the plan they had put together, and he wasn’t sure if he’d survive, but he had. He wiped his face and went to retrieve his phone from the table by his couch. He dialed quickly and, as the gruff and aggravated voice came on the line, he took in another deep breath.

  “He just left.”

  There was a long pause before the caller answered, “And he took the bait?”

  “What do you think?” Hugo replied, feeling the anger coming back.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  Hugo re-lived everything, play-by-play, not leaving anything out. He put emphasis on Lincoln’s frame of mind and actions to further show their plan had worked.

  When he told the caller about the hits he took to the face, Hugo heard a grunt in his ear.

  “Well, at least he didn’t kill you.”

  “Yeah, there is that,” Hugo replied sardonically.

  “Look, it had to be done this way. It’s all part of the plan. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know, I know.”

  “Did you tell him about Stinky?”

  Hugo sighed again. “Yeah, I told him. Needless to say, that added to his anger. Fuck, how do you know he won’t kill that kid? You know Lincoln hates incompetents, especially when it comes to Angel.”

  “Come on, the kid will be fine. Besides, Lincoln hasn’t been in the game for close to a year. He probably forgot how to kill someone.” Hugo grunted and the caller added, “He left you alive, didn’t he?”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing. You act as if you don’t know the man, what he’s capable of. You think this won’t turn sour, but Lincoln is very unpredictable.”

  “Yes, I know he is. What the fuck, Hugo? Are you bitching out on me? What’s done is done. This shit with Lincoln needs to be dealt with. He needs to be dealt with, and this is the only way to do it. Kill two birds with one stone, right?”

  Hugo didn’t reply. He just shook his head and hoped he’d be able to live through this shit.

  The caller released a long sigh in Hugo’s ear before he retorted, “Look, from what you just said, it looks like our plan worked. Lincoln is going to react just the way we need him to, and all we have to do is sit back and watch this shit unravel.”

  Hugo moved toward his back room. “Yeah, you better be right, because if you’re not, we are fucked.”

  DRAKE

  Hugo had come through for me and had Stinky, which, by the way, I remembered calling kid or boy or something to that effect instead, call me the next morning about ten minutes to seven, just as the sun was coming up. I told him to meet me by the hanger we owned on Delaware Street in the city on the pier in an hour. I didn’t care where he was, if he was late, there would be a problem. He remembered me and understood what would happen if he kept me waiting, so he was on time. I watched him hop out of a black Chevy Silverado just as calm as he wanted to be. I got out of my car, walked up to him, and re-introduced myself by introducing him to the pavement.
r />   I dragged his incoherent and limp body into one of the hangers we used for some of our shipments and smacked his face a little to wake him up. He sprawled away from me quickly and looked up at me.

  “Where’s your fucking piece?” I barked.

  The boy just looked at me. I shook my head and saw whoever was watching this boy was doing him a huge disservice.

  “Kid, if you don’t answer me, we’re going to have a problem.”

  “It’s in the truck,” he finally told me.

  “Yeah, and how in the hell do you think that’s going to protect you?” I moved closer to him. “Never ever leave your gun in the fucking car. You always keep it with you no matter what.”

  “I normally do, but I thought-”

  I shook my head, asked, “You thought what? That you wouldn’t need it because you were meeting me? What if you pulled up and I had some heat on me? What if someone was attacking this warehouse right this very minute? I would expect you to have my back and how in the hell would you do that with your fucking gun in the truck?”

  Again, no answer.

  “Get up,” I ordered.

  The kid finally got up and got his bearings under control.

  “Who’s watching over you? Who’s teaching you the ropes?” I asked.

  “Tiko.”

  “Why isn’t Darrell or Hugo working with you?”

  “Since you left, Angel needs all the bodies he can get to have his back. Darrell and Hugo are close to him at all times along with Tiko, Stretch, and Adriano close by. I usually get my instructions from Tiko,” the boy voiced.

  “Yeah, so when Darrell asked you specifically to gather the information for Ms. Waters, what did you do?”

  The slight hesitation and sudden fear in his eyes told me that I wasn’t going to like anything he said.

  “Well, I did what he asked. I looked heavily into Ms. Waters, as well as researched everyone she knew in San Francisco,” Stinky answered.

  “Uh-huh, and what did you come up with?”

  “She was clean. She had excellent credit. Her criminal background was clean. She had a few parking tickets, but that’s about it. I have the proof. I could show it to you.”

  “Uh-huh, and what about her ex-boyfriend?” I asked.

  “Her ex, sir?”

  I could see small amounts of moisture forming right above his top lip.

  Finally, Stinky shifted from one foot to the next before he told me, “He was clean too.” My frown deepened and Stinky added quickly, “I mean, he had some infractions earlier in life, but other than that, he was cool.”

  “I see. And that’s it?”

  He nodded.

  I added, “So, you’re sticking to what you’ve told me then?”

  He didn’t reply.

  I sighed deeply. “You fucked up, you know that, right? Let me tell you how bad you fucked up. You see, I know for a fact that neither Raquel nor that stupid fucker she dated is clean. Do you have any idea what I did for the family?” He nodded, and I continued, “Yeah, so you know I can find out a lot of information that your tiny little brain couldn’t possibly fathom. With that being said, are you still going to stick with your story that Ms. Waters is clean?”

  He didn’t reply.

  I moved to him. “She has some heat on her. Did you know that?”

  He shook his head. Finally, he was finally telling the truth.

  “Yeah, you would have found out that tidbit information if you had actually did what you were supposed to. You failed my cousin. Do you realize what is going to happen to you if something was to happen to Ms. Waters and my cousin found out that the shit you told him was a lie?” I let that thought hang there for him to think about as I walked towards him again. This time, he walked backward hesitantly.

  “You have fucked up so royally that I really should put a bullet in your brain. Better yet…”

  I pulled out my gun, cocked it, and removed the safety. Stinky’s eyes grew big with fear as I pointed it at him and pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullet was deafening in the space. I watched as the little shit laid in front of me, still. I waited quietly. After the silence had settled, I kicked at the boy’s leg.

  “Get up!” I barked.

  Stinky rose slowly then met my eyes. “Do you realize you should be dead right now?”

  “Ye-yes, sir,” he stammered.

  “What’s your real name? I hate fucking Stinky.”

  “Harry, a-after my father.”

  “Well, Junior, the fact that you thought it wise to leave your gun in the truck tells me you still have a lot to learn. So, what you’re going to do next is convince me that I shouldn’t kill you. You will answer all of my questions to my satisfaction. You will not leave anything out. You have one shot to prove to me that you belong here. Do you understand that?”

  He nodded again, vigorously this time. “Yes, sir.”

  “Let’s go. But first what are you going to do?”

  “Get my piece.”

  “Yes, you will.”

  For the next hour, I drilled Junior and didn’t like the answers he gave. In fact, the shit was more fucked up than I thought. Unfortunately, I had to deal with one thing at a time, though.

  Which was why I was sitting at a table right across from Raquel. I wanted to speak to her alone. I needed to make sure that she stayed safe so that I could take care of the other craziness that was happening. I thought about just telling the fucker across from her to get lost, but I didn’t. Instead, I called Junior and told him to do whatever it took to distract him. He’d been with me all day as I followed Raquel around the city.

  He told me he would handle it and about five minutes later, I heard the crash.

  Everyone in the restaurant turned to the window, however only one reacted.

  “Son of a bitch!” he yelled and stood up.

  Raquel stood too, but he said to her, “Stay right here. I’ll handle it, damn.”

  Raquel frowned, but she sat back down.

  I waited for a beat, then rose from my table, threw some bills down and walked over to Raquel’s table. When she looked up at me, I had to take a few seconds to admire her beauty. She was a fucking knockout.

  Then I slid into the seat across from her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Raquel

  I can’t do this anymore.

  Things had been rough the past two weeks. It felt like I was living a double life. I spent most of my days and nights with Angel. However, I started to feel guilty. I couldn’t tell him what was going on. It was important that I handled this on my own. It wasn’t fair for me to bring him into my past. By the same token, I couldn’t put his life in jeopardy either.

  Instead, I did my best to figure out how to solve this my way. I tried to keep my distance during the day or keep Angel inside his apartment. Most times, I just appealed to his need to ravish my body.

  Appealing to his need wasn’t hard at all because I couldn’t seem to get enough of that man. Goodness gracious, it seemed I’d jump his bones every chance I could. I attacked him the moment he got out of the shower or, hell, even when he was in the shower. I grabbed ahold of him when he was cooking us dinner or sitting next to me watching baseball. My favorite time to take him was when he was doing nothing but lounging on the couch, drink in hand, cigar in the other as Jazz or instrumental music wafted his ears, which was a hell of a turn on.

  If I wasn’t attacking him, he was attacking me.

  When he left the apartment to be a badass mob boss every day, I took that time to meet up with Ira. He was helping me try and figure out who was coming for me. He agreed with me and gave compelling argument on why I shouldn’t tell Angel.

  “He will only make things worse.”

  At the time, I thought he was right. I knew what Angel was potentially capable of, and Ira knew first hand. There was no telling what Angel would do if he knew what was going on, so I had gone along with Ira by keeping this from Angel.

  Now, however, I realized that w
as a mistake. I needed to tell Angel. For one thing, I knew he would do whatever it took to make me safe. He would also do whatever it took to make me feel safe too. I was afraid half out of my mind and wanted the man that I was in love with to protect me.

  I wanted to feel his protective arms around me keeping me safe. I wanted to feel his strength cover me. I needed it. I needed and desired to have him tell me that everything would be fine. Deep down, even though I wouldn’t admit it then, I wanted him to make it all go away. Whatever it took for him to make that happen I was all for it. I was just tired of being scared. I was tired of looking over my shoulders, wondering if this was going to be the moment…

  Yeah, that’s what scared me the most; the unknown. It was the not knowing if I would live through the next second, the not knowing if I would see my family again, that was plaguing me. But most of all, the not knowing if I would ever see Angel again had me sick to my stomach.

  I looked across at Ira. He ate the food on his plate as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He drove us to the Denny’s on Baltimore Pike, west of the city. It was getting harder and harder for me to meet him. He promised to make this go away, and I needed to let him do that ASAP. However, my patience and life was ticking away. He just wasn’t doing the job, and as each passing day went by, I became more and more afraid. It was time I did what I should’ve done a long time ago.

  I waited a beat before I said to him, “I have to tell him.”

  “Tell who, babe?” he replied without lifting his eyes from his plate.

  I rolled my eyes. “Ira, stop calling me by those pet names.”

  He looked up at me, mouth full of pancakes and smiled. “I can’t help it. No matter what you’ll always be mine.”

  “Uh, no, I won’t and no, I am not. Look, I appreciate all that you’re trying to do, but I’m done with all of this. I’m going to tell him what’s going on.”

  Ira swallowed quickly. “Babe, I know you’re scared.”

  I laughed that nervous laugh you do when your life starts crumbling around you. “Scared? Shit, Ira, I’m beyond scared. I’m petrified.” I brought my hands up from underneath the table. The quiver in them, in me, was getting worse. “I can’t stop shaking.”