“You sleep, Menage?” Felix asked glancing at him.
“Hmmm ...” Menage murmured.
“I like your crazy ass, ’cause I can be myself with you. It’s like with everyone else I gotta be big-time mafioso—never smile—business twenty four/seven ... hey, are you listening to me? You can’t be still sleep!” Felix snapped.
“Nah, I’m just looking at my eyelids,” Menage said hoping Felix would let him relax, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. All morning and even at breakfast, Felix was acting kind of strange.
“Smart ass. But anyway, let’s talk about this country ... good ol’ U.S. of A. Hey, do you know that the Star Spangled Banner was—”
“Written by Francis Scott Key when black folks were slaves. He might have had some slaves himself, talkin’ ’bout the land of the free. And he was a lawyer; that should speak for itself—fakeass bullshit,” Menage said.
Felix was surprised. He took off his shades and smiled. “So you know a little history, huh?”
“Yeah, if you say so.” Menage turned toward Felix and told him about the tape under his sink.
“Do you think it’ll show anything?”
“All I think it’ll show is what y’all said DJ did to that guy in the driveway,” Menage said. Little did he know that the tape would reveal something more important than that. It had recorded every word between DJ and the hit man.
“I guess so. Anyway, I’ll have my nephew stop by and check it out. He’ll let us know if he finds anything.”
Menage yelled suddenly as his raft was flipped over, sending him under the water. He quickly came back up, treading water to find Chandra gripping his mat. She smiled and dove back under the water. Menage took a deep breath and felt a slight pain in his chest. He went after her anyway. Felix laughed, but not for too long as Rosita gave him the same treatment. Menage finally caught up with Chandra and pinned her back to the edge of the pool. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck as her legs encircled his waist. Her hair flowed over her shoulders like a silk waterfall, and since she put on some baby oil before she got into the pool, the water ran off her glistening, smooth skin. At that moment, according to Menage, she was the complete definition of beauty.
“I love you, Chandra,” he whispered, his lips only inches from hers. She leaned sideways, looking past Menage and laughed.
“Girl, what’s wrong with you?” he said. He turned his head to see Felix butt-ass naked, bending over to pick up a towel. Rosita was still in the pool with his trunks in her hand. Felix put on the towel and looked back at Menage and smiled. Menage shook his head and chuckled. He turned back to Chandra. God she’s so beautiful, he thought. He knew she was the one and only woman for him and even if she weren’t having his baby, he would still want her in his life. She closed her eyes and kissed him. He moaned deeply as her tongue ran across his upper teeth. He knew she felt his erection through his trunks, but she didn’t stop him when he cupped her ass and brought her closer to his body. And he knew not to get carried away since she didn’t want to have sex again until they were married, but by her body movements he knew it was hard for her to say no also. He could never get enough of her, and that night they shared a month earlier brought back a special warmth between them. They’d always used protection when they had sex, but that night things changed.
She was down for the weekend from school. His bedroom was lit in a deep blue setting as B2K played through the system. He wore silk Gucci boxers and she wore the same with a matching halter-top, but at the last minute before getting into bed, she wanted to change into a teddy. He was sitting on the edge of his bed putting lotion on his knees. He looked up to see her standing naked by his dresser. He got up and made his way over to her. She turned to face him with the teddy clutched in her hand. Taking one more step closer, he pinned her to the dresser. He ran his fingers over her hips and smiled when she dropped the teddy to the floor. He gripped her small waist and lifted her up on top of the dresser. It was the perfect height. She moaned his name as he started to suck her right nipple. Looking between her open legs, he could see that she was sopping wet. His boxers were still on, but she easily pulled out what he had in store for her. It was hot to the touch as she ran her hand down his shaft, causing pre-cum to drip on her fingers. They both looked at the table by his bed where the condoms lay, but both were silent. A tune by R. Kelly now filled the room. He kissed her neck as she arched her back, pressing her hard nipples into his chest. He could feel the heat coming from between her legs, the tip of his penis against her outer lips. They both froze for a moment ... and then he slid into her, her legs wrapped around his waist. The feeling of being inside of her with nothing between them shocked him. As she drew a deep breath and tossed her head back he closed his eyes and buried his face in her neck, giving himself to her totally. Sex was like that between them ever since that day, and without words their relationship went to another level.
They almost broke their promise in the pool but they stopped before it got out of hand, and they were back in the room now, having both showered. Still Menage was happy when she took the time to clean him with her slender hands, and he nearly fell when he shot off in the shower. Chandra always managed to take care of her man.
“Baby,” he said with his head in her lap as they sat in the middle of the bed, “I promise I’ll never leave you and our child. I know it won’t be easy, but that’s my word and I’ll love you all along the way,” he added meaning every word.
“Honey, listen to me,” she said rubbing his ears. “I love you and I’ll never get tired of telling you or showing you how much I do ... you’ll never have to doubt my love. From the first time I told you up until right now, you are all the man I need. I’m not trying to make it hard for you. I just want to love you the way you need to be loved and you’ll always have me. I’m going to be your wife. You are my present and my future.” Tears rolled down her face. “I know in my heart we can do this if we really try. I want you in my life and I love you so much. I never told you a lie and I’m not about to start now. You know I had to nearly beg you to let me love you, and I don’t want to be without you.” They embraced and Menage found himself crying tears of joy. He finally knew what it felt like to be in love.
Later on Menage and Chandra rode down the beach on a pair of ATVs. It was a clear and sunny day and Vapor was with them. He ran down the beach to fetch a stick that Chandra had thrown. Menage thought about how close he’d come to throwing it all away as he watched Chandra and Vapor. Fuck the fame and playin’ the field, he thought. Maybe they’d move to someplace quiet and raise their child—white picket fence and all. Menage smiled. This was the real world—not TV or some novel. He looked up just as Felix’s helicopter roared overhead and circled before landing. Chandra blocked the sun from her face with her hand and looked back toward the mansion. She could see Felix waving his arms in the distance. Menage waved back.
“Baby, I think Felix is trying to call you,” Chandra said as Vapor came back with the stick.
“What’s up with him? All he gotta do is call me on the walkie-talkie.”
“You mean the one you got turned off?” she said pointing at the device near his feet.
Menage looked down and saw that Chandra was right. “Damn, my bad. I thought it was on ... shit.”
“The hell’s wrong with you!” Felix’s voice boomed when Menage turned on the walkie-talkie. “I been calling you for the last ten minutes.”
“Chill out, man. What’s up?”
“Come up to the pad.”
“For what?”
“We’re going to my yacht.”
“Good, ’bout time we get off this island,” Menage said.
* * *
Detective Covington walked into MD Beauty Salon. He hoped to find Dwight’s girl and he needed a shape-up anyway. He looked at the pictures once more before getting out of his Mitsubishi Montero.
Covington sat in the waiting area looking at the latest Source magazine. So what if Dwight’s g
irl is cheating on him; that’s not a crime, he thought. But he knew there had to be more to it.
At first he didn’t think he’d find her because he didn’t see the PT cruiser in the parking lot and he didn’t know that Tina had a new car. He was about to put the Source down when a stunning, dark-skinned woman walked into the waiting area to speak with one of the barbers. Damn, she’s fine. He he knew he was looking at the woman he saw at DJ’s crib. But now he had to find out if she was Dwight’s girl. After finally taking his eyes off her body, he noticed a key chain hanging from her waist with a small picture of herself and some man. He couldn’t make out the face of the man, but the two names written in black, bold print solved the mystery: TINA LOVES DWIGHT. Covington smiled and put down the Source. He was up next for a haircut. His eyes couldn’t help but follow Tina’s rear end as she walked away.
“Just a shape-up, round in the back,” he said to the barber as he snapped a plastic cape around his neck. He couldn’t believe that he couldn’t recall Tina’s face from the day Menage had been shot. Leaving the salon, he called his uncle and was told that he had left the island. He thought about faxing the pictures, but it still wouldn’t prove who had tried to kill Menage. That’s all his uncle wanted—not something about a freaky girlfriend ... with a fat ass.
* * *
Music filled the spacious chop shop as men took cars apart and switched VINs. Two men working on a Porsche Cayenne took a break after removing the front windshield.
“Hey man, I swear. DJ told me to go ahead and tag the DB-7,” Xerox said. He looked at AJ with a puzzled look on his face.
“Yo, Xerox, I know we ain’t supposed to do out-of-state rides, but DJ’s the boss. I’ll help you after I do the four out back,” AJ said.
“DJ got this place wide the fuck open, right?” asked Xerox.
“Yeah, but I hope he don’t blow the spot up,” replied AJ.
“Word!”
The men pulled down their visors and started to grind the paint off the Porsche. What they used to do in a month working for Menage, they now did in a week.
* * *
“I think it’s time we stop having our little late night meetings, DJ, and no I don’t wish to talk about our last night together. We could both lose a lot if we get caught, so I hope you understand,” Tina said speaking to DJ on her cell phone as she headed down Biscayne Boulevard in her brand new, pearl white Infiniti G35 Coupe.
“Of course, Tina,” DJ said. This chick must really think it’s all about her, he thought, but he couldn’t lie to himself about missing her good sex.
“Okay, I wish you luck and I’ll see you around ... and have Lisa call me sometime.”
She hung up before he could say anything. Tina smiled. It was over and done with. She had fun using DJ, but he was history. He’d be okay. She was sure of it. Menage was still in a coma and she hoped someone would just pull the damn plug, but no, he was still suffering and so was Chandra. Tina pitied her—just a little. But for Menage she felt nothing. Now she and Dwight could get married. Yes, she loved him, killed for him, and slept with another man for him. Tina truly believed in the saying, what he don’t know won’t hurt him. She pulled her Infiniti into the underground parking lot at the Omni Mall. Her phone chimed as she got out of the car.
“Hey, girl,” Dwight said.
“Dwight, you sound tired. Are you okay?” Tina asked as she headed for the elevator.
“Yeah, it’s kinda busy here at the main shop. But remember that lady I told you about that sold us the hair color stuff?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, she wants me to meet one of her partners and have a business dinner tonight, so I might have to take off early and be in late. I think it’s in Fort Lauderdale.”
“Call me when you get the details. Do you want me to join you?” she said hoping he would say no.
“Nah, it’s no big deal. But you can wait up for me tonight.”
“Mmmm ... I most surely will,” she said hoping he wouldn’t start talking about Menage. He granted her wish.
By the end of the call, Tina had reached her floor in the hotel above the Omni Mall. She walked down the hall and stopped at room 203. Just moments later, while Dwight was cutting hair and thinking about what size ring to buy her, Tina was in the room with two white men, acting out their sexual fantasy with her. She got a natural high when she went behind Dwight’s back. It just felt so good. She faked an orgasm as one of the men grunted on top of her. He didn’t even last three minutes. The next guy was just as sorry, but he made up for it when he put his face between her legs. She smiled to herself when she came, thinking about how easy it was to make six thousand for an hour’s work. The money would go into a secret account that was now close to eighty thousand. Tina was steadily stacking dough. After the men left, she reached in her bag and pulled out a black dildo. Now she was going to please herself. Then maybe she’d go and buy Dwight something from the mall.
* * *
“You mean to tell me we got on this boat just to go to Miami! Shit, we could’ve gotten here a long time ago. But at least I’m off the island,” Menage said as the yacht slowly cruised into the port of Miami.
“I have some ends to tie up,” said Felix ignoring Menage’s statements. I hope you can keep a low profile here. I know it’s something you don’t know how to do, so please be careful,” he added. Menage smiled and patted the two Glock 9s under his arms.
Felix’s yacht had been watched for the past three days as it sat in front of his island. Once it moved, a phone call was made and things went into action. Felix didn’t take the yacht to the pier. Instead he told the crew to launch a small motorboat to transport them.
“How do I look, baby?” Chandra said turning in a circle for Menage when he walked into the stateroom. She wore a purple, satin blouse and matching skirt.
“You got that from Rosita, didn’t you?” he said wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Yeah, but do you like it?” she asked after giving him a peck on his nose.
“A little.”
“Stop playing, boy,” she said turning back to the mirror to put on her lip gloss.
“Is Rosita feeling any better?” he asked looking at her nice shape from behind. Rosita had been feeling a bit under the weather.
“A little, but she’s gonna stay on the boat ... and I wish you would do the same, Menage.”
“Come on, baby. All I’m gonna do is go get that tape and come straight back. Now go and tell Felix I’ll be up soon. And gimme a kiss first.” Chandra poked out her lips and he kissed her. Leaving him in the stateroom, she went up on the bridge to see Felix.
Seven hundred yards away, Myrmidon, the head mercenary, peered through a window from the seventh floor of a vacant building. His left eye was glued to the leupold tactical 3.5x10 variable scope that sat on top of an MK-11 7.62 millimeter semiautomatic sniper rifle fitted with a sound suppressor. Only two inches of the twenty-inch barrel protruded out of the window. The crosshairs centered on Felix’s face as he stood with Chandra on the bridge of the 108-foot Leight Notika luxury yacht. Felix gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek.
“Second target confirmed,” Myrmidon said. He lined up the crosshairs on the woman in the purple blouse.
Chandra pleaded with Felix. “Do you think it’s a good idea to have Menage back in Miami? Whoever tried to kill him is still out there ... I don’t like it, Felix,” she said as the breeze blew her hair in her face.
“I know, Chandra, but you and I both know he won’t stay in hiding forever. Menage wasn’t built that way and it’s time we stop playing games.”
“Games! This is his life you’re talking about, Felix, and it was your plan from the start. I just don’t understand!”
Felix rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes, Chandra, it was my plan and maybe it was a mistake. But if it was, then it wasn’t my first. I just want him to be safe.”
She knew he meant well, and she saw the pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Felix
. Really, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Felix said and went down to check on Rosita before leaving the yacht.
The man behind the MK-11 sniper rifle smiled at his luck. The call had come in an hour before, notifying him that Felix was coming to Miami. He was glad because it meant his team of mercenaries didn’t have to hit Felix on his fort of an island to take his girl; the fool had brought her along.
“Scorpion, this is Myrmidon. The sun is starting to rise.” Scorpion now knew that Felix was on his way with his girl.
“Myrmidon, hold tight till I give the order for plan B.”
“Yes, sir,” Myrmidon said. He watched Felix and his girl head toward the pier, now accompanied by a black guy he didn’t know—maybe a do-boy or something. He shifted the rifle back on the woman in the purple blouse.
“So beautiful and full of life,” Myrmidon said just before pulling the trigger. The bolt slammed home empty. He would have been pleased to send one of the twenty 7.62 bullets into his target. All that would have been heard was an audible spit from the sound suppressor as the round exited the twenty-inch barrel. It would have taken her head off, tearing through her skull, crushing her frontal skull plate, spraying her cerebral cortex in a fine red and pink mist. He closed his eyes and smiled. The former U.S. Army sniper was fascinated with his rifle and the things it could do.
Scorpion sat in the passenger’s seat of a tinted green Ford Excursion with two of the five men he’d hired. Two of the other three were across the street in a black Ford Explorer Sport Trac with chrome crash bars. Myrmidon was the only one absent from the group, but Scorpion knew he could pull it off with the four men he had. And he had more control over the mercenaries when their leader wasn’t around. They all wore black military issued pants and jackets and bulletproof vests. The two with Scorpion carried silenced Uzis. Scorpion carried a Mac-10 and a Desert Eagle .45. He called the driver of the Sport Trac.
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