“So we gonna meet wit’ ’em at the bah an’ then what?”
“And then you’s follow my lead. He shows us the dope, we show ’em the cash, but we ain’ givin’ that Guido fuck nothin’. We gonna take his shit an’ dead his bitch ass.”
“What if he don’t let it go that easy or he put up a fight?”
“What da ya mean, what if he don’t let it go? We make him let it the fuck go. We take this shit tonight and we, you an’ me, run this shit. This tan, Botox, and tits city will be ours by morning. Bosses don’t get made; bosses make themselves. You mark me on that shit.”
I stayed my ass as still as possible in that damn steam room. I felt like I was gonna pass out an’ hoped they ain’ keep talkin’ too much longer, but I’d rather die from the steam than from the hands of whoever those two mu’fuckas was. I waited until it got completely quiet before I felt like it was okay to leave. My head was spinnin’ from the heat an’ I ain’ know if I was even gonna make it back to my room, but damn that shit was crazy. I shook my head. Who the fuck was them two fools tryin’ to set up? That sounded like some straight up VA-dope-boy bullshit. I tell you what—ain’t no sunshine in the damn dope game. The game stay on some shady shit no matta where you think you at or what side you on.
I made it to my room, thankful they had cookies an’ shit in the lobby; it gave me just enough energy to stop at a boutique I’d noticed earlier to grab a few outfits so I’d have something to wear for dinner. I changed and went downstairs to one of the hotel restaurants to get a steak or something before my ass passed out and to look an’ see what kind of strip clubs they had in the area. Damn, I ain’t wanna go back to strippin’, but I’d have to start somewhere. I was halfway done with my carne asada fries and jumbo mango margarita when I recognized the voices I’d heard earlier. They were sitting directly behind me, talkin’ business at the bar. Turning slightly in my seat I glanced over my shoulder. I couldn’t see their faces. I could only see the clean-cut dark-haired white boy they was talkin’ to. My heart went out to him—poor dude, he ain’t have no idea what he was in for.
“So you meet us an’ you ain’ bring shit, mudafucka?”
“Maybe. Right now, you ain’t showin’ me enough to make a ten dolla’ hooka’ give you a second glance, figli di puttana. I got it, just not here.”
I remembered hearin’ those words a few times from the Italian chicks up in prison. This dude jus’ sat there an’ not only insulted ’em, but he called these dudes “motherfuckers” to their faces. I listened for a few seconds; he was a cocky li’l somebody, reminded me of my baby. Damn, that could have been Rah—doin’ some shit tryin’ to make money wit’ me at home waitin’ on his ass an’ these bitch-ass mu’fuckas was tryin’ to take him for everything he was worth. Dead his ass and walk away with everything he’d worked for.
I had to do something. I pulled out the little radio and put the earpiece in so I could call Brighton. Damn why didn’t this shit come with fuckin’ instructions? It took me a second to figure it out, but I finally got that shit.
“How may I help you, Ms. Lacroix?”
“Brighton, enough wit’ that Ms. Lacroix shit. Jus’ call me Honey—I need a favor.” I held the earpiece in my ear, tryin’ to keep my voice as low as possible.
“I’m in the Lapidus Lounge. Come get the guy at the bar. He’s wearin’ the green an’ black striped shirt. The one talkin’ to the two guys. Tell him he has a phone call in the main lobby.”
“Okay, Ms. Honey. You talking about the cute li’l thang who came in with them grey eyes. I’m on it. I’ll be right there.”
I laid some money on the table an’ went up to the front desk an’ waited. When he walked out I grabbed his arm an’ pulled him over into one of the side hallways.
“Them guys you talkin’ to, they gon’ take whatever it is you sellin’ an’ they gonna kill yo’ ass. So if I was you—I’d leave now.”
The mu’fucka actually laughed dead in my face. “I’m sorry. Excuse me for bein’ so rude, beautiful, and who are you again?”
He was still chucklin’, and all I could think was that this fool had to be dumb or straight-up crazy before answerin’ him. “I’m nobody. Don’t you worry ’bout all that. Did you hear what I jus’ said?”
“Yes, gorgeous, I heard you.” He looked around before leanin’ down close to my ear like he had a secret. “That’s actually the plan. They’s been fuckin’ wit’ my operation since day one, ground zero. My boys is outside and when they make they move—we gonna’ make ours. Bada boom bada bing! It’s finished.”
Well, damn, I thought, so much for tryin’ to help; men always thinkin’ they got they shit together.
“So once again I’m askin’ who’s this li’l guardian angel who woulda saved my life, if it’d needed savin’?”
I looked up into the clearest grey eyes that I’d ever seen in my life an’ all I could think was, Damn, his eyes is sexy as fuck. “Once upon a time, my name was Honey.”
And that’s how I met King Angelo Testa, the boss of Miami.
Bitter Honey
59
It didn’t take me long to confide in Angelo. Eventually I broke down and told him every last detail ’bout my situation. In a way he felt as though he owed me a favor because if he was really in some shit an’ hadn’t known those guys were gonna set him up, I woulda gotten him out of it. When I finally told him everything that I wanted to do as far as gettin’ my daughter back, he offered to let me stay wit’ his cousin Tink out in Miami until I could get my money up an’ get to Rasheed. He even came up wit’ a way for me to get Rah outta prison. I worked wit’ his sister Lania escortin’, and did li’l odds an’ ends bullshit here an’ there until I was finally ready. It took me almost two years before I had enough money stacked up.
I flew to Virginia and put in a call to a couple of the COs out there just to test the waters and see who would play for money and who wouldn’t. Most of ’em was scary as hell so it took a lot of fishing before I found any who were willin’ to bite. When a couple of the K-9 trainin’ officers were out in a bar one night drinkin’, I decided to start buyin’ rounds an’ askin’ questions. Recent freezes in pay raises and overtime cuts had ’em all a little salty and hard up for extra cash. It was nothing to throw ’em a couple thousand just to give me a few details on how the dogs are escorted in an’ out, sick not sick, et cetera.
Findin’ a CO to help Rah get out was actually easier than I thought it was gonna be, an’ I shoulda known somethin’ was up wit’ that shit from the start. I had done the same thing as before. Hung out in a bar that the female COs went to and asked ’bout his ass. One CO, big ugly-ass heffa, was all like, “Oooh, if I could get his fine ass,” et cetera. So, end of the night I catch her outside an’ offer her $50,000—half up front, the other half after he’s out. She accepts and I tell her the plan and where to meet me. I pick a spot all the way out in Emporia, damn near in the country, away from the city, where I have a car hidden and everything. I let her know to leave him there, emphasis on the word leave.
I didn’t trust no damn body after the shit Larissa an’ Michelle pulled so I watched from one of the towers with another guard I’d paid. I saw when that big-ass Andre the Giant–lookin’ bitch put Rasheed in that damn dog crate. I was parked nearby when she got outside the prison walls an’ she let him out the crate. My heart hit the floor when he laughed, pulled her close, and they kissed. Yeah, I saw it all. Rah grabbed this ugly bitch ass an’ was huggin’ all up on her an’ shit before he got in the passenger’s side of the car.
They were joy ridin’ down the fuckin’ road, stoppin’ to get coffee an’ junk food. I was followin’ ’em the whole time. It took everything in me to just be still when they was stoppin’ at hotels to fuck. Rah was probably tellin’ her he loved her and whatever else she need to hear ’cause he thinkin’ all this shit was on her, not knowin’ someone else financed his freedom. They finally got to Emporia, to an address I gave her off a red clay-dirt road with a gravel
driveway. It was actually an old abandoned house that I’d had decorated just so I could meet my man for the first time in two years. I’d handpicked out li’l shit like sheets and pillowcases, makin’ sure there were steaks to cook for breakfast along wit’ his steak sauce. I parked an’ walked up, ’cause you can’t drive on a gravel driveway without makin’ noise. The way they was goin’ at it the entire time I wasn’t surprised when I walked in while they were fuckin’. Her big ass was sweatin’ and ridin’ him hard as hell. I closed the door behind me and stood there for a few minutes until Rasheed saw me. The look on his face was like he mentally shit a brick. Of course the CO’s big ass didn’t bother gettin’ up.
I stood right there and I asked him, while his dick was still in her and e’rething, “So who you love, Rasheed? The bitch who done died an’ paid to get you outta prison or the bitch who can put yo’ ass right back?”
He looked at me and back at her. “What the fuck? I . . . They t . . . told me. Oh my God.” He was lookin’ exactly like he’d seen a damn ghost. Hell, everybody’d been lookin’ at me like that; I was gettin’ used to that damn look.
“No, nigga it ain’t God. It’s Honey.” I watched the man I thought I loved so much debate between a life in prison—because he knew if he said he loved me that CO was gonna act like her ass had found him and take him right back to that prison so damn fast—and me . . . Well, he already knew if he ain’t say it was me . . .
“Honey, I thought you was dead. They had a funeral an’ everything. It’s been damn near two years. What the fuck you think a nigga was gonna do?”
“Okay, baby. Is that yo’ answer then?”
He was starin’ at me, wide-eyed, brain whirrin’, tryin’ to spin me one of his famous “save a nigga” stories, but too much time behind bars had slowed down that fast-ass mouth of his. Back in da day the nigga woulda told me some shit that woulda had me thinkin’ I was wrong for havin’ the nerve to even walk in the damn room while he was fuckin’ somebody else. I shook my head at him.
His lack of an answer was all the answer I needed.
“I went to prison, Rasheed. I had our daughter. I died, came back, sold my body, some of my soul, gave up things I can never get back. And you can’t even look this bitch-ass correctional officer in the face an’ say you love me over her ass outta fear that you gon’ be locked back up!” I was done wit’ both they asses.
“I could have her dead before she could even take you back, Rasheed, but fuck both y’all. You ain’t even worth it to me anymore.” I didn’t know where the tears came from, but they were there. Tiny streams runnin’ down my face, blurrin’ my vision. It was one thing to dream and see us together, but it was another thing to have all this shit shattered by the one mu’fucka who put the hope there to begin with. I’d opened the door to leave and almost screamed at the figure in front of me. I wasn’t expectin’ him to be standing there and it scared the fuck out of me. When I realized what his being there meant, I almost screamed for him to just leave.
“Angelo, Wha’chu doin’ here?”
“Came to make sure you was good, princess.” Head tilted to the side, muscles tensed, him and Rasheed was in a stare down.
“Really, Honey, you come up in here wit’ the new nigga, worried ’bout what the fuck I’m doin’?”
“Rasheed, you don’t know who you’re talkin’ to. Jus’ shut up.” I didn’t even look in Rah’s direction as I spoke. I was starin’ in Angelo’s grey eyes. They were cloudy like a storm was comin’. The muscle in Angelo’s jaw was clenchin’ and I put myself between him an’ Rasheed, my hands up on Angelo’s chest, trying to calm him down, but it was too late. Angelo’s pistol was already drawn; they were both dead behind me before I could turn back around. I could smell gunpowder and the metallic coppery odor from all of the blood.
“I knew you would show that figlio di una cagna—son of a bitch—too much mercy, sweetheart.” He lifted my chin, staring me in the eyes. “You won’t make the mistake again will you?”
All I could do was shake my head no, stunned, dazed, speechless. I couldn’t turn around. I didn’t want to see Rasheed and that bitch laid out. Didn’t want to be stuck with the visions of the brain splatter, blood, none of that shit. Revenge I wanted, yes, but the silent rage and cold mindset that someone needed to make that kind of shit happen was where I just didn’t have the stomach.
“Good, baby doll.” He wrinkled his nose. “I got the boys outside; let’s get them to put the bodies in the container, and get the fuck outta this Podunk country-ass town. My woman’s been hell bent on revenge an’ neglecting her man.” He leaned down and kissed me softly, my eyes closing by themselves at the touch of his lips.
Cat And Mouse
60
Now that Rasheed was no longer an option or an idea or a dream, my next step was figuring out what to do with these damn thorns in my side, aka Larissa and Michelle. The flight back to Florida was quick and painless. I was standing in the doorway of what would be Paris’s bedroom. We’d gotten a crib and a bed and I’d picked out a sheep-skin fur rug that sat in the middle of the room. In the corner was her toy box, already full of brand new toys and baby dolls. I had no idea what size she was wearin’ now so I was gonna wait and get all of her clothes after we picked her up.
“Tink say you spend more time standin’ here starin’ off into space than you do lookin’ at the ocean.”
I didn’t even hear him come up behind me. I leaned myself back into his chest and tried to relax for once. “You think she gonna like the Gucci bedspread? It isn’t pink, but I’d heard you can do yellow for little girls, too.” I couldn’t make up my mind on the colors to pick out for her room. Since the house was so open to the ocean and the beach, pink and all that girly shit just didn’t feel like it went well. I’d decided to go with soft yellows and oranges to complement the views of the ocean.
“Il mio amore, our little angel is goin’ to adore any- and everything that you give her. I promise. Now stop. You worry too much.”
He was right. I was worryin’ ’bout all the wrong shit. I needed to start plannin’ out exactly how I was gonna get to her and then get the ball rollin’ on gettin’ Paris back home.
“By the way, good news. Lania says her brother set up that meetin’ with this Michelle woman. They’ll be meeting him to look at a house and get things goin’ next week. The mark is set; you ready this time?”
I thought about it for a split second. Was I ready to see the joy of my life again after two years? Yes. Was I ready to face the two bitches who’d taken her ass from me and deliver justice as Angelo had done with Rah? I wasn’t too sure about that shit. I sucked it all up and straightened my shoulders. “I’m ready, baby.”
The plan was simple. Lania was there to bait Larissa and Keyshawn’s job was to bait Michelle. It was Angelo’s idea to approach them on some divide and conquer–type shit instead of just goin in guns blazin’ and wrecking shop.
“We gonna cat an’ mouse these bitches, and just when they think shit’s at its worst, when they finally sayin’, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this anymore,’ we gonna fall da fuck back. We’ll wait until they sittin’ there in they comfy li’l worlds, thinkin’ they just dodged a bullet—then we gonna smack they asses like we the hand of God Himself.”
Since neither one of they asses had any idea that I was still alive, it was gonna to be easy to bait and reel them in once they found out Rah was dead. Angelo kissed the side of my neck.
Reaching down he cupped my ass in his hands. I ain’t feel like fuckin’ this nigga, not right now. It was like I’d traded the stripper pole for a long, skinny Italian one. Yeah, this one came with perks like money and power. When we went out people respected me simply ’cause they knew I was with King, but what I had for Rasheed was true, genuine love. This shit was just another job in my mind, and I couldn’t wait until the day came when I could get promoted or better yet be my own damn boss.
Turning around I looked up into his eyes; they was the most attractive
thing about him aside from his money. This fool had definitely fallen in love with me, it was written all over his face. Anything I wanted was mine; all I had to do was think about it and he’d make it happen. He’d do anything to make me happy.
“You wanna go upstairs, baby?” I already knew what his answer was gonna be. I could feel his long pencil dick already gettin’ hard up against my stomach. Why couldn’t that shit be thicker? Then it would be perfect. Hell, I’d take short an’ fat as fuck over long and skinny any damn day. Sex wit’ Angelo was like bein’ poked over and over with a long skinny finger. Then this fool wanna be doin’ acrobatic shit, liftin’ my legs and all kinds of foolishness; sometimes it would feel like he was stabbin’ me in my fuckin’ kidneys.
“I can’t, bella, I’ve gotta go handle some business. But when I get back home best believe papa will be handling business.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and thankfully he mistook it for disappointment. At least while he was gone, I could go and get things rolling with Michelle and Larissa—maybe I’d get to see my baby.
Baby Momma Saga Page 33