by Carl Weber
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“Nobody is who they seem, but everybody is exactly who they are,” she replied.
“Then who are you? The real you.” His mouth asked the question, but the look in his eyes said so much more. It said he wanted to know the deepest parts of her. Not just the beautiful surface. No man had ever looked at her the way he did. It was so mesmerizing that it momentarily took her breath away.
“I’m just regular ol’ me,” she said softly.
East stepped closer to her. The smell of his cologne invaded her nostrils again. She inhaled deeply. She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to be still and enjoy his energy. It was refreshing.
“Believe me, ma, there is nothing regular about you. Any man who thinks that is a fool.” His boldness shocked her, but it spoke to her soul.
“Stop, East. You can’t be looking at me like that. We shouldn’t be—”
Before she could finish, East kissed her. Something in his kiss shot through her body. It was electric. She wanted to pull away, but she didn’t. She just couldn’t. Instead, she leaned in toward him and kept kissing him, more passionately.
Suddenly, she pulled back, breathless. “This is wrong,” she said. When he tried to reply, she quickly cut him off. “No, East, this is wrong. This is so wrong. We can’t do this. We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said, getting into her car in a feverish haste. “You need to forget this ever happened.” She slammed the door and pulled off.
East stood frozen for a moment, unsure of what had just happened. He had gotten caught up in the moment and crossed the line. “Fuck,” he scolded himself. He had just made a move on Ricardo’s wife. He hadn’t thought about the consequences of his actions until it was too late. That wasn’t like him. A mistake like that could cost him his life, and rightfully so, he thought to himself. He knew better. He might have just signed his death certificate. He only hoped Lauryn stayed true to her word and forgot it ever happened.
* * *
Lauryn rushed into the house. Closing the door, she leaned her back against it. “Woo,” she exhaled, trying to calm her raging heart. Kissing East had given her a feeling that wasn’t easily forgotten. After taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts, she headed straight upstairs to shower. A little while later, she descended the stairs into the kitchen and searched the cabinets for the big--gest wineglass she could find. When she located it, she poured herself a glass of wine and took a few sips. She set the glass on the marble countertop and enjoyed her view. The floor-to-ceiling glass patio doors in the kitchen made the room feel like it extended outdoors to where the ocean was her backyard. From her position, she had a perfect view across the water to South Beach. At night, the strip would come alive with people. The buildings would light up with vibrant colors. The lights reflecting off the water created an amazing optic she enjoyed. Suddenly, a noise disturbed her from the calm and peacefulness she had found within her thoughts. Before she could turn to see what it was, someone grabbed her from behind and placed their hand over her mouth. She was easily overpowered and felt paralyzed with fear.
“Do what I say and you won’t get hurt,” the intruder barked out instructions. “You understand?” Lauryn nodded her head. “Good girl,” he said, caressing her hair and the side of her face.
Lauryn gasped as the man’s hands began exploring her body. She could feel him becoming aroused as he pressed his body against hers. She felt like her heart would leap from her chest at any moment as his hand made its way down to her waist. He easily untied her silk robe, exposing her naked breasts and lace panties. When the air hit the beads of water that remained from her shower, her Hershey Kiss nipples became erect. The intruder rubbed her breasts, then squeezed them aggressively. Lauryn fought back tears as he had his way with her. Her next breath got stuck in her throat, feeling his hand over her crotch area. He began rubbing her clit through her panties. It was all happening so fast. She wanted to scream, but no one would hear her. She was alone with the intruder and at his mercy. He yanked at her panties, forcefully ripping them away, giving himself a clear path to her shaved pussy. Lauryn grunted in pain as he plunged his two fingers into her. To both of their surprise, Lauryn was wet, something she couldn’t help. It seemed to turn him on more, make his breathing become heavier in her ear.
“You like that shit, don’t you, bitch?” he taunted as he roughly worked his fingers in and out of her. “You up in this big house by yourself. No one to guard you or help you.”
Lauryn began to grunt and groan from the pain. She tried to speak, but his hand was still covering her mouth, muffling her speech.
“What, bitch?” he asked harshly in her ear while continuing to stroke her with his fingers. Finally, he removed his hand from her mouth.
Lauryn felt like she had just emerged from the deepest waters. She took in a deep breath of air, then in a loud whisper, she cried out, “Oh my God, that feels so good.”
She spun around, and when her lips met Dos’s lips, they melted into each other. Their tongues danced with each other. Dos stuck his fingers in her mouth, allowing her to taste her own juices. Lauryn licked his fingers clean. They began tearing at each other’s clothes, stripping down until they were both naked in the middle of the kitchen.
“Did you remember to turn off the cameras?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Dos pressed her back against the kitchen’s island, then dropped to his knees. Lauryn lifted her leg and rested it on his shoulder, grabbing the back of his head and guiding his face into her pulsating lotus flower. Dos worked his tongue like a helicopter propeller inside her pussy. Lauryn held on to anything she could grab, first the counter, then his head, and eventually his ears as he sucked and slurped on her swollen clit. Lauryn’s moans grew louder. She had given all her security detail the day off for this reason. Her legs became weak and began to shake, and her muscles tensed up as Dos took her body to its own personal nirvana.
“Oh, baby, right there. Yessss,” she cried out as her mouth fell open from the orgasm surging through her body.
Dos stroked himself as he rose to his feet. Lauryn turned around and bent over the counter. Using both her hands to spread her ass cheeks, she gave him easy access to her pink wetness. He eased his rock-hard dick into her moist pussy and quickly found his rhythm. Lauryn moved her hips, taking all of him inside of her. Their bodies made loud noises as their flesh slapped together. Lauryn call his name while she climaxed again. Dos gripped her ass and thrust harder, digging deeper inside of her with every powerful stroke. He began to moan, feeling his climax building. She could feel him throbbing inside of her walls. She began to throw her ass back at him in short, circular movements until she heard him let out a primal scream. Dos pulled out of her pussy, stroking himself until he spilled his seed on her round ass.
He lay on top of her back as she rested her body on the counter, their chests heaving up and down, trying to catch their breaths. A few minutes passed before Lauryn moved, walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the bedroom. Dos followed behind her, and they picked up right where they left off.
Chapter Eleven
Early the next morning, a knock on the door woke Rio from his sleep on the couch. He had been too tired to make it to his bedroom the night before and crashed on his sofa. He stretched his arms toward the ceiling and rubbed his nose while yawning. He got up as the knocking continued and walked over to the door. Looking through peephole, he saw an old head junkie named Freddy, wearing a worn-out “Made in Dade” T-shirt. He always came around to wash Rio’s car for money or drugs.
“It’s too early for this shit,” Rio sighed and mumbled to himself. He was still half-asleep. “Freddy, I should beat ya muthafuckin’ ass, coming to my crib this early in the morning,” he ranted as he snatched the door open. Rio stuttered his next words, caught by surprise. A dark-skinned gunman with huge jail muscles had Freddy by the back of his shirt with a big gun to the back of his head. The gunman forced his way inside the apartment,
followed by another gunman that quickly stuck his gun in Rio’s face.
“What the fuck is going on?” Rio uttered, no longer asleep. He had been caught slipping. His gun was still sitting on the coffee table next to a duffle bag.
“Get the fuck on the floor, fuck nigga,” the dark-skinned gunman told Rio as he slammed Freddy to the floor and put his foot on his back. The other gunman did the same to Rio. “Watch them niggas,” the dark-skinned one told his partner. “If they move, pop they muthafuckin’ ass, you hear me?” Then he began searching the apartment. He didn’t have to search long. Rio had left money and two bricks of coke in the open duffle bag on the table. With all the goods already neatly stuffed inside the bag, the gunman walked back over to Rio and began brutally pistol-whipping him, over and over. Rio’s face became a bloody mess; so did his shirt. “I should kill you right now,” he threatened with his gun to Rio’s head. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dropped it on the floor next to Rio. “Call him,” he barked.
“Call who?” Rio groaned.
“Don’t play with me, nigga. You know who,” the gunman shouted. “Pick it up and call Dos, right now.”
“I can’t see,” Rio whimpered. There was blood pouring into his eyes, and his face continued to leak.
The gunman looked over to his partner that was standing over Freddy. He nodded and without hesitating, the man fired two shots into Freddy’s head. The dark-skinned gunman calmly squatted down next to Rio with his gun aimed at him and said, “Dial the fuckin’ number.” Struggling with his vision, Rio did his best to do just that.
* * *
Dos sat at the foot of the bed that Lauryn shared with his father, getting dressed. She lay there studying his every move. To her, Dos was everything Ricardo wasn’t: young and aggressive. He just wasn’t the boss yet. That was something they were both hoping to change in the very near future. Dos felt like a god. He saw the world as his and everything in it he should have, including his father’s beautiful wife.
“What happened, Dos? Why is he still alive?” Lauryn complained. “You promised to take care of it. Take care of it. Instead of burying him, I’m having to visit him in the hospital and fake tears for them nosy-ass nurses.” Lauryn folded her arms across her chest frustrated and disappointed. “I don’t know why you just didn’t do it yourself.”
Since Dos lacked the patience it took to wait his turn, he had tried to speed up the process. Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned, and Ricardo wasn’t dead. His excessive amount of ambition made him believe that any rule could be broken except for one.
“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not about to shoot my own father.” He quickly grew angry at the suggestion. “I’m not doing that,” he insisted. Dos wanted Ricardo out dead, but he didn’t have the guts to do it himself.
Lauryn crawled up behind him like a temptress and wrapped her arms around him. “If you did it, you’d know it would be done right,” she said softly in his ear.
“What did I just say?” he barked, breaking free from her embrace and standing up. “I’ll figure out another way. Don’t worry about it. You keep doing your part, and I’ll do mine,” he reassured her, shaking his head as he admired her naked body. The phone rang, grabbing his attention away from Lauryn. He walked over to the nightstand and picked it up. “Yeah,” he huffed.
“Dos—”
The gunman snatched the phone away before Rio could finish. He placed it to his ear.
“Rio?” Dos called out into the phone.
“This Dos?” a voice asked aggressively from the other end of the phone.
“Who this?”
“This Zo, nigga.”
Dos’s eyes widened, and his face looked like he saw a ghost.
“What’s wrong?” Lauryn whispered with concern, seeing the worried look on his face.
Dos knew the name Zo well. He was Kev’s older brother. He was a straight menace on the streets; a jack boy and a killer. Up until recently, he had been locked up, but he was home now and out for vengeance. “What’s up?” Dos challenged. “The fuck we got to talk about?”
“You killed my brother!”
“I don’t know what the fuck you talking about. And from the sound of it, neither do you.”
“Before he died, my brother told me about a job he was supposed to do for you,” Zo said. Dos thought his heart stopped when he heard that. “Don’t worry, though. When I catch you, I’m putting you, your faggot-ass father, and anybody else you love in a body bag. For free . . . starting with ya man right here,” Zo declared.
Dos heard Rio scream through the phone, followed by gunshots. There was a brief moment of silence before the phone went dead. Dos was so angry he tossed his phone across the room.
“What just happened, Dos?” Lauryn asked in a panic after seeing his reaction. She had heard the conversation and the gunshots.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, then gave her a menacing look. “Nothing! I got it under control.”
“Under control? Really?” she shouted before hushing her tone. “Your father’s not dead, and somebody besides us knows we’re behind it. Seems to me, all you did was make the shit worse. What if someone else finds out?” She knew the consequences if anyone was to find out about her and Dos’s betrayal. They would both be dead. The thought alone gave her the bubble guts. Ricardo was not a man of mercy. Whoever he deemed responsible would pay with their lives.
Lauryn stood up from the bed and grabbed her silk Versace robe to cover her naked body. She headed over toward the balcony door in her bedroom and pulled the drapes back slightly, giving her a view of the pool and allowing the sunlight to beam into the bedroom.
Dos marched over and spun her around forcefully. He gripped her face firmly, squeezing it with his hand. “Let me tell you something. Ain’t nobody gonna find out shit, unless you open your fuckin’ mouth,” he said. His eyes were threatening. He let her face go. “I said I’ll take care of it, and I will.” His overflowing confidence was on full display. “Get dressed and take your ass to see my pops. What kind of wife ain’t by her husband’s side around the clock after he’s been shot anyway? Focus on that,” he seethed, then walked out of the room.
Lauryn sighed deeply, fear surging all through her body. She had no other choice but to trust in Dos. They weren’t soul mates by any stretch of the imagination. They weren’t even in love, although the sex between them was otherworldly. Dos took her body to unimaginable places and hit spots Ricardo couldn’t reach. They were just two souls with an ax to grind against a common enemy. Lauryn wanted to be free from Ricardo’s control, and Dos wanted to be king. As the saying goes, The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Chapter Twelve
The next night, Dos’s phone rang as he drove around the city looking for Zo. He sighed deeply seeing Jasmine’s name flashing across his screen. It was at least the twentieth time she had called. He had too much going on to deal with her bullshit, but he knew if he didn’t answer she wouldn’t stop calling anytime soon. He decided to answer it, in case it had something to do with his son. “What! Damn,” he shouted into the phone.
“You can’t just ignore my calls, Dos. We have a son—in case you forgot,” Jasmine said.
“Yeah. I can’t forget that,” he said sarcastically.
“Why would you ever want to?” she questioned.
“Never want to forget my son, just wish I could forget his momma,” he shot back. “What do you want? I got lots of shit going on right now.”
“Yeah, I heard. The streets been talking,” she replied.
“That’s your fuckin’ problem now,” he snapped. “You always got an open ear for someone to say some shit about me. Told you before you need to stop listening to them hoes at your job.”
“Whatever, you just need to be safe. You got people out here that love and care about you,” Jasmine confessed her feelings. The phone went silent for a moment, Dos refusing to respond to her last statement. After a long pause, she continued. “Anyway, I need mone
y for Tre’s day care.”
“I’ll bring it to you in a couple of days. Shit is crazy right now.”
“It can’t wait ’til then,” she whined. “I’ve been calling you, and you haven’t been answering. It has to be paid in the morning or they’re gonna put him out of school,” she complained. “If they put him out, I have to reapply just to get him on the list again. And then, ain’t no telling how long it will be before he could go back. You remember how long it took him to get him in there the first time—”
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.” Dos sighed into the phone, then cut her off. “Where you at now?”
“I’m at work,” she said with an attitude, stating the obvious. Jasmine knew Dos could hear the loud music bumping in the background.
“A’ight, I’m on my way.”
A short while later, Dos pulled up and parked a block away from the club. If Zo knew he was responsible for killing Kev, there was no telling who else knew. He had to be on point, not just from Zo, but the police too. He got out and tucked his gun into his waist. Then he headed inside the club. Once inside, he bumped into a dude that bought bricks from him. He looked at Dos like he had seen a ghost.
“What the fuck you doing in here, my nigga?” the dude yelled over the music, dapping Dos.
“I’m lookin’ for somebody,” Dos said, unwilling to give any more information than that. He didn’t need everyone knowing that Jasmine was his baby mother and that she worked in there.
“I heard about you. I heard niggas looking for you, for killing Kev. That shit fucked up,” the dude said, shaking his head.