by Dutch
“Where’s Charlie?” Willie asked.
“Back bedroom,” one answered as they left.
Willie and Guy walked toward the back where they heard the sound of a hammer banging. When they entered, Guy saw the back of a wiry old man. The heaviest thing on him looked to be his tool belt, but he could tell he was in good shape by the way his muscles flexed as he swung the hammer.
“Be right wit’ you,” Charlie said, taking a nail out his mouth and sinking it flush in three bangs. He turned around, shook Willie’s hand then shook Guy’s as well. He had a firm grip and eyed Guy up and down. “So, I finally get to meet you, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you,” Charlie commented.
Guy wasn’t sure what to say. He had come three hours in the wee hours of the morning to meet a handyman? He shook his hand like, “Good to meet you, too.”
Willie smiled to himself seeing the confusion on his son’s face. “Guy, this is Charlie… Po’ Charlie.”
Willie had to admit, Guy definitely had a good poker face, but he saw the sleep instantly disappear from his eyes. Guy knew exactly who Po’ Charlie was. He had heard his name several times. Po’ Charlie was an old head that had a heroin connection straight from the Golden Triangle.
They called him Po’ Charlie because even though he had crazy paper, you would never know it from looking at him. Guy had never seen Charlie and was beginning to think he was nothing but a myth of the game. But standing in front of him now, he knew he was real. From that day forth, Guy got up at five in the morning, because that was the time of day he met the man that totally changed his life.
Po’ Charlie smiled. “I hear New York did you pretty well.”
“Lotta opportunity in New York, man can’t get it to-gether there, he ain’t worth the shoes he stand in,” Guy replied nonchalantly, even though his calculating mind was working a thousand miles a second trying to figure out how to play this opportunity. He knew if his father went through the trouble of bringing them together then big things were in the making. He just didn’t know how big.
“Yeah, New York’s okay, but it ain’t nothin’ but a second South to me,” Charlie said.
“A second South?”
“Yeah, because everybody up there is really from down South!” Charlie chuckled, and so did Guy because he had a point. “But you ain’t come all this way for a history lesson. Help me put up this drywall then we can go and talk.” Willie had left the two men in the backyard of the house so they could talk one-on-one.
As they worked, Charlie and Guy got to know each other better. They had a common background in that they had both been in Vietnam. Charlie had retired a Sergeant Major three years prior. Charlie was sixty-eight, and looked good for his age. He told Guy how he bought houses to remodel and rent out. He had over seventy houses in Winston-Salem alone, but half of them he allowed his family to live in.
“That’s the most important thing in life, Guy, your family. Everything else is second. They can take anything away but when it’s all said and done, family’s all we got,” Charlie told him.
Guy nodded to show his understanding.
“That’s why I got so much respect for yo’ daddy. He knows how to take care of family. Ain’t a Simmons in Wayne County that’s wanting for nothin’. Now that’s a man,” Charlie schooled him. “Why do you hustle, Guy?”
Guy paused for a minute to think about the question, the early birds chirping were the only sound until he answered. “Truthfully… I never wanted to be a hustler. My daddy used to try and shove it down my throat, but I didn’t want it. I wanted to go to college. Be the first man in my family to do that… but that was a long time ago. I done seen enough, heard enough and done enough to know that the only thing I’m scared of is being black and broke in this white man’s world.”
Charlie nodded then cleared his throat and recited:
Man has been hustlin’ for 50,000 years
Every since the beginning of time,
Since Satan tricked Eve and she believed,
If she ate the apple, she’d be divine
She traded pleasure for pain
And there’s no robbery in fair exchange
But just the same I figure
If Satan’s a fact though he may not be black
He’s still one hustlin’ ass nigguh.
Then he turned to Guy and winked. “Po’ Charlie, 1963”.
Guy chuckled. “Yeah, the Devil is one helluva hustler.”
“What you said, I can dig ‘cause the best hustlers are usually the ones that ain’t tryin’ to be one. The ones that end up hustlin’ ‘cause they strugglin’, not ‘cause they seen Super Fly or just dig the feel of a pretty bitch’s ass,” Charlie told him.
“Yeah, ‘cause when a sucka get lucky, a hustler don’t stand a chance,” Guy replied, making Charlie laugh.
“Nigguh, you ain’t never lied!”
The two men enjoyed the laugh then Charlie spoke. “But it is a Devil’s game, Guy. Ain’t no honor among thieves, and the only code is the unwritten one amongst real men. Motherfuckas’ll cut yo’ throat for chicken change, so you cut theirs first. This ain’t a game for nice guys… you a nice guy, Guy?” Charlie smirked.
“Only when I’m meeting a bitch’s mama,” Guy told him truthfully and Charlie chuckled.
“I know you know what I do, and believe me, I know what you do too. I’ve been keepin’ tabs on you every since you got your spot in Brooklyn.”
Guy smiled knowing the old man was on top of his game.
“But I got a proposition for you, but you gonna hafta give up something to get it.”
“Sorta like wit’ the Devil, huh?” Guy smirked, knowing his soul was for sale for the right price.
“Nicky is through. Ever since he beat that first beef, the Justice Department’s had a hard on for him. As of last week, Nikki’s had a warrant for his arrest, along with several members of the Council,” Charlie informed him.
Guy allowed the information to sink in. “Was Eddie Bell one of the dudes?”
Charlie shook his head. “Not yet… probably not ever, unless one of ‘em turns rat. Eddie deals with Nikki, but never directly. He was one of the smart ones… which is why I want him dead.”
Guy quickly looked at Charlie. “What??” he barked, not believing his ears and suddenly feeling like at any moment they’d be coming at him, too.
Charlie was un-phased by Guy’s outburst and continued to talk. “The Council is my biggest competitor. For years, Nicky and I have been engaged in a war to control the East Coast. He’s backed by the Guineas so he’s had a little advantage but I’ve done damn well because I’m my own boss. Ain’t no Guinea—”
“What’s that got to do wit’ Eddie?” Guy wanted to know. Eddie was his main man and he felt a way about even talking to a man that said he wanted him dead.
Charlie looked at Guy. “With Nicky out of the way that leaves a major void, because the Italians only dealt with Nicky. Now the majority of the Council are cats the Italians wouldn’t even think about giving such power. But there are a few… four exactly, that even have a chance of becoming the next Nicky Barnes. With them out the way, the Council will totally crumble into non-descript little crews,” he explained then added, “I’m offering you the chance to be the next Nicky Barnes… of the South. I’ll put you in charge of distribution in North and South Carolina, if you—”
“Kill Eddie,” Guy spat with more disgust than he really felt.
“Along with the other three as well,” Charlie replied, then sat back to let Guy think.
Guy’s thoughts were filled with Eddie’s face. It was Eddie that had given him the opportunity to eat when he was living in a hovel sharing his one room flat with roaches the size of his thumb. It was Eddie that had showed him the ropes and guided his steps up the ladder. He hadn’t kept him as a lackey; he had groomed him, took him to the Council and made him equal status.
“Let me ask you something. As heavy as you are, why me? Why not do it yourself? You can afford a
top notch team of sho’ nuff killers. So why me?” Guy wanted to know.
Charlie leaned back into the conversation. “True, I could. Then this move would have my fingerprint all over it. I don’t want that. Then the Guineas and I would be in an all-out war, and in war no one makes money. Besides,” Charlie smirked, “I’m not a gangsta… I’m a business man and this is a business.”
“Yeah, but Eddie was the one who put me on in the game,” Guy retorted.
Charlie knew Guy wanted to do it or he wouldn’t even discuss it at such great length. “I’m aware of that, but now, let me ask you something? What do you think Eddie would do if he was in your shoes?”
What would Eddie do? Po’ Charlie was offering him a multi million dollar deal. His own pie as opposed to a small slice of a slice of someone else’s. It was a dirty game but didn’t friendship count for anything? Not to Eddie. Guy had personally killed two men for Eddie that Eddie said he had grown up with. Men he had considered a friend at one time but because these men owed him money, Eddie had them killed.
Would Eddie do it? No question. But Guy wouldn’t do it because he felt like Eddie would do it to him. Guy’s decision had been made once Charlie offered him the Carolina’s. Everything else was just justification.
“Who’s the other three?” Guy inquired.
Charlie smiled inwardly. “Mo Jenkins, Chico Jones and J. Smitty. Now understand its all four or no deal. I’ll pay you a kilo of heroin for each body in that case. But for the grand prize, it has to be all four,” Charlie explained.
“Grand prize? What’s this, some kind of test of loyalty?” Guy probed.
Charlie smiled. “Loyalty? I’m too old to be naïve. The dollar keeps a man loyal to opportunity, and that’s what this is, no more no less. So… do we have a deal?”
Guy looked him in the eye and studied him for a moment then slowly extended his hand.
Chapter 10
Ty let the hot water run over his head, massaging the tenseness from his body. The whole bathroom was steamed up just the way he liked to shower. He lathered his body mechanically as his agile mind continued to work overtime.
It had been a week since the Wolf Pack had made an attempt on his life. His quick retaliation had gone un-answered and his people told him all three spots had slowed considerably. That was news to his ears because the next best thing to hitting Vee was hitting his pockets. His plan was to remove his army and force Vee into the open or to bounce. Deep down, he knew Vee would never choose the latter. Vee was too much of a thoroughbred to relocate. He would fight until he was the last man standing or the last man to go down.
The thought of going down made Ty think of his father. Guy was still in a coma. His condition hadn’t gotten any better. Ty had sat with Guy all day the day before, and it sickened Ty to see his father so weak and helpless. Guy could be a motherfucka sometimes, but he was a stand up guy and he had raised Ty to be the same way. He had to know who had done this to his father.
When he had spoken to his mother, she was dumb-founded as well.
“Maybe they wanted to rob him,” she had surmised, but Ty knew that wasn’t the case. Cats of Guy’s caliber don’t just get robbed. And even if it could’ve happened, the fact that his bodyguards were gunned down instantly proved it was definitely a hit.
“Ma… who’s Brah Hardy?” Ty had asked.
His mother had looked at him quizzically. “What about him?”
Ty didn’t feel like it was his place to accuse his mother of being a whore, so he replied, “You know he came home about a month ago?”
“And?”
“And didn’t Pop have beef wit’ him back in the day before he went to prison? He even shot a kid, right?”
Debra waved him off like, “Boy, that’s ancient history. Yo’ daddy ain’t thinkin’ about Brah.”
“That don’t mean Brah ain’t thinkin’ about Pop… or you,” Ty quipped.
Debra smirked. “I see Gloria been runnin’ her mouth. What else she tell you?”
Ty shrugged. “Just that you used to be wit’ Brah.”
“Like I said… ancient history. I ain’t thinkin’ about no Brah Hardy.”
But somebody was thinking about Guy.
Ty remembered the whole conversation. He had to find Brah Hardy and talk to him, but not even Hawk Bill could find him. That too sent up red flags. A man does twenty years, where else he got to go but home? Unless he met some pen pal and was shacked up with her or him thousands of miles away. Ty hoped that was the case. For Brah’s sake.
Then another thought hit him like a ton of bricks. What about the Bells? Maybe Tito had found out that Guy had killed his father and tried to return the favor. It would fit their M.O. They had the type of killers on the payroll to pull off a hit like this. He hadn’t even looked at that angle.
Ty quickly dried off and headed for the bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He picked up his cell phone and speed dialed Tito.
“Ty, what up family? How you?” Tito greeted, with a lot of noise in the background.
“I’m good. Yo, you busy?”
“Never too busy for family, even though I am at the Garden. You know Tina Devoe?”
“Who??”
“Tina Devoe!” Tito yelled.
“Oh yeah, yeah. Sing that shit be on the radio all the time,” Ty remembered.
“Yeah, she on my people’s label.”
“That’s what’s up. But, yo… remember the offer you made about the army?”
“Who?”
“The offer! You re—”
“’ey yo, Ty, let me hit you from the after party. It’s crazy in here!”
Click.
“Yeah, you do that,” Ty mumbled to himself.
Ty planned on taking Tito up on his earlier offer of sending a team down. Ty knew how gangstas thought, because he was one. If Tito had Guy hit then he more than likely would send his best shooters to carry it out. Now that Ty was asking, Tito would again send his best to avenge a hit they themselves had carried out. Gangstas loved irony. Ty planned on running their aliases by every hotel in the area, airport, bus and train stations. If he found out they had been in town during the time Guy was hit, Tito was a dead man. If not, at least he’d have another team to send against the Wolf Pack.
Ty’s thoughts were broken when he heard his front door creak open. Without hesitation, he grabbed his nine millimeter infrared and kicked off the safety. The entire apartment was dark except the light in the bathroom. He got behind the bedroom door and held his breath, listening for footsteps. He could tell it was only one person, but he didn’t know how many were still by the door. His heart was beating a mile a minute as he waited for the beef to kick off.
These nigguhs think it’s that sweet?? He thought angrily to himself. Well they better have an army, ‘cause they fuckin’ wit’ a vet.
The footsteps neared the bedroom and paused. They entered the bedroom cautiously. As they entered, Ty slid up slowly then quickly put the gun to the back of their head and began to pull…
“Ty!” Karrin gasped.
“What the fuck?! Karrin?!”
He slapped the wall switch and light flooded the room. Karrin stood there trembling.
“Yo, is you crazy?! Do you know what the fuck almost happened???” he yelled. His whole body shuddered think-ing what he had almost done. He was within a hair of blowing her head off.
“I’m sorry, Ty. I’m sorry! Please don’t be mad at me.” She sniffed.
“How you get in?” Ty asked, the adrenaline beginning to subside.
“The-the key.”
Seeing her old key in her hand, he remembered that he had never changed the locks. He sighed hard. “Give it here.”
“Ty, I—”
“Karrin, give me my key,” he demanded through clenched teeth.
She reluctantly removed it from her key ring and placed it in his palm. As he curled his fingers around it, she impulsively grabbed his hand.
“Ty, don’t do
this, don’t cut me off,” she begged.
“You have to go, Karrin,” he replied, grabbing her forcefully by the arm and leading her back into the hallway.
“No, Ty, we still need to talk!” she said.
“Ain’t nothin’ left to say.”
“No!” She jerked away, confronting him. “I love you, Ty, and… and I know you love me! You told me no one could ever come between us!”
No one except my father, Ty thought. “That was then, this is now.”
Karrin pushed up on him. “Don’t tell me that kiss didn’t mean anything to you because I felt it, I felt you,” Karrin surmised, pressing her body against his.
Ty pushed her away. “You’re leavin’, Karrin.”
He grabbed her arm but she pushed Ty back with the weight of her body and kissed him like she did in the restaurant. Ty grabbed a fist full of her hair to get out of the lip lock she had him in. When she looked at him again, he could see the lust in her eyes.
“Fuck me, Ty,” she whispered, biting her bottom lip then leaning into his kiss. Her hand had snatched the towel from his waist and was squeezing his dick, instantly bringing it to full attention. “I missed you, I missed you,” she purred, covering his face with kisses.
“You gonna get us both killed,” Ty mumbled, pulling up her Donna Karen mini skirt and finding out she didn’t have on any panties.
“No one has to know, baby. I’ll be his wife, but I’ll be your whore,” Karrin moaned as Ty lifted her off her feet and slid his nine-inch dick inside her dripping wet pussy, balls deep. Karrin hissed and clawed his back while she arched her pelvis meeting his thrust. Ty gripped her by her ass cheeks and spread her pussy lips with his fingers then began bouncing her on his dick harder and harder.
“Awww yesss, daddy, fuck me hard. Beat this pussy like I been a bad girl!” Karrin squealed in ecstasy and Ty complied.
He lowered himself to his knees then laid Karrin on the floor. He cocked her knees back to her titties and began sucking her toes while he banged the pussy mercilessly.
“I love you, Ty! I love… I love… I’m cummin’ again!” Karrin moaned as her pussy creamed Ty’s dick for the second time. Ty was the only man that could make her cum multiple times.