“He’s so gentle and patient with me. Just looking at him, you’d think he was hard and rough, and he can be at times. But the majority of what I see, he’s a tamed tiger,” I told her.
She sat there in silence, and then I went on. “Our first time was beautiful. It felt like my first time ever in more ways than one.” We both giggled. “He didn’t think we could do it at first, but we had to rearrange, and then things were perfect. I don’t know we just fit; I can’t explain it, and I don’t want to get too deep into this. Pun not intended,” I said laughing, and she joined me. “Seriously it’s just like our bodies know each other; they know each other better than our minds do,” I explained.
“Kindred spirits” she whispered. She looked over at me in the driver seat, and then she laid her hand on top of mine. “I like you now,” she said with a smile.
“I’m glad.” I checked my phone three times, and I had absolutely no messages from Jyme.
Mrs. JJ wanted to know everything current about me, and I appreciated her for not trying to pry into my past. She wanted to know how Jyme’s relationship and mine was and what we do together. After her tenth time of asking, “Is that all you guys do?” I had to tell her we were still in the honeymoon stage. She said she understood, and she backed away from that subject.
We made it to the reservation at 9:45. Mrs. JJ walked into Jyme’s house with me and turned on all the lights. She told me if I was too scared to stay there by myself that she would stay the night, and I assured her I was fine. She put her number on a piece of paper by the house phone.
I showered and dressed for bed. The house phone rang, and I answered it.
“I miss you,” he growled in my ear.
“Jyme,” I breathed. I just sat with the phone for a minute; I think he was listening to my breathing because I know I was listening to his.
“I love your mom.”
“I’m glad, Babe.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“When are you coming back?” I asked.
“The crack of dawn. I’ll be there before you wake up in the morning.”
“Well, you make sure you wake me as soon as you get here.”
“Oh, I will.”
“I can’t wait to taste your tongue on mine.”
“Cricket,” he breathed into a growl.
“I miss us, and I miss our safe house.”
“Me too.”
“I love you, Mr. Jamerson.”
“And I love you, Ms. Hooper.” I slid into his soft comfortable bed and drifted off.
When I woke that morning, I could hear Jyme in the kitchen. I jumped out the bed and went into the kitchen. “Why didn’t you wake me when you got here?” I scolded.
But I was scolding the wrong person. Jyme’s sister Patty sat at the kitchen table, and Mrs. JJ was cooking something on the stove. I turned around and looked in the front room. Jyme’s grandmother was sitting in her wheelchair staring out the window.
“Where’s Jyme?” I asked.
No one said anything. I went to the house phone and dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail.
“He said he was going to be here when I woke up,” I told them.
No one looked at me; they just acted like they couldn’t hear me. I sat at the table and put my hands on top of Patty’s. “What’s wrong? He called last night and said he’d be here by eight o’clock, but he’s not.” I looked over at the kitchen clock, and it was nine thirty.
Patty and I sat there holding hands in silence and Mrs. JJ set food in front of Patty and me.
“The flight?” I yelled out.
Patty shook her head. “They missed it. I called this morning, and none of them were on it.”
“Who all went with him?”
“Loon, Kanoke, and Sheen.”
I jumped up at once and ran to get my phone. Patty followed slowly behind me. I dialed Ayashe’s number on the house phone; it rang twice.
“Sheen?” she said frantically; my heart fell then. I knew she was waiting to hear from him if she saw this number thinking I was him calling her.
“Ayashe.”
“Cricket, have you—”
“No.”
“I told him not to go down there. I told him.”
“Ayashe, what are they doing?”
“They are so obsessed with this fucking casino; they think this is going to be the ultimate pay off for all of them. They are going to get killed trying to make this happen. No one wants them in the casino business. Jyme has paid every fucking body off from the deserts of Nevada and now the palm trees of California. Loon is their only voice of reason, and they wouldn’t even listen to him. Jyme is so determined not to have a paper trail that he delivers the cash himself. He doesn’t send anyone else to do it; he does it himself. You cannot go around paying off all these Natives like this. It pisses them off that he has so much money. I don’t know where they are, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Call Chelle, and I’ll be at your house in three hours. Get baby sitters, and look up flights,” I told her. I walked from the hallway and went to get dressed.
“Momma,” Patty called frantically from the hallway. She watched me, and then Mrs. JJ joined her.
“Cricket, what are doing?” Mrs. JJ asked.
“I’m going to find him.”
“No, the hell, you’re not,” she shouted at me.
“Mrs. JJ, I can find him, and I promise I’ll get him home.” I walked to the front door, and Jyme’s grandmother wheeled over to me. She reached for me, and I kneeled down to her. She touched both sides of my face, and then her face went slack. She let her arms drop, and she started weeping and reached her hand out for me again. I walked out the front door. Patty and Mrs. JJ ran after me. I jumped in the Lac and sped down the hill.
I made it to Ayashe’s in two hours; I drove ninety the whole way there. I walked in and both of them were packed and ready to go. Ayashe had tears in her eyes, and I knew Chelle had filled Ayashe in on my past. Ayashe watched every move I made. She was starting to piss me off.
“Listen, don’t fucking look at me like that. If you can’t handle this, you need to go.” I snapped.
“I can handle this, and I can do this. I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“So what are the flights looking like?”
“We have two hours, but they’re expensive,” Ayashe said. Then she closed her eyes in disgust with herself. I handed Chelle my credit card and walked towards the door.
“I need to run a quick errand, and then I’ll meet you guys at Sea Tac.” I left Ayashe’s, heading for the safe house. On my way, I stopped at the bank right before they were closing and withdrew six thousand dollars.
I pulled in, and I sat in the garage for a minute. I looked over at Jyme’s brand new Charger, and then I slid down out of the Lac, leaving the keys in the ignition. I thought about it, and then I realized I’d never felt safe enough to leave keys in an ignition. But Jyme did it all the time at the reservation and here. He knew what it truly was to feel safe, and now I did. I went into our beautiful home and sat at the kitchen table with a pen and pad. I wrote down the thoughts that were in my head. I finished the letter and headed upstairs. I packed my essentials in three bags. The only piece of jewelry I took was my Cricket ring.
I was heading back downstairs when I remembered something. I ran back into the bedroom and went to the back of the closet. There was my red birthday dress. I folded it in a piece of plastic and shoved it into one of the bags. I heard a horn outside and ran down the stairs. I opened the door and turned to take one last look at our house. It was absolutely perfect for us. I fought back tears, locked all three locks, and got into the cab.
When we landed, Chelle had everything under control, as I knew she would. She had a rental and a hotel room already booked and paid for. We loaded up in a Chevrolet Suburban, and Chelle apologized immediately for the obvious distraction, which I didn’t need right now.
“This was the biggest vehicle they had, and I was not sur
e how much room we’d need,” she said. I nodded at her and kept driving.
Ayashe had a few numbers she had collected from across a few reservations, and we now had names of the Natives Jyme was meeting with, but we didn’t have a clue how to find them. That is where my expertise came in handy. I knew the hottest streets to check, and I knew where to avoid. I changed clothes in the truck, and Chelle helped me by handing me this and that. I piled the makeup on and then jumped out of the truck.
“Stay as far back as possible, I whispered to Chelle. She nodded, and I shut the door.
I walked a half a block before I stopped, and then the games began.
“Baby girl, you look new and fresh,” the man in the Infiniti SUV said.
“I am, I just got off of a plane,” I said in a slow twang voice. Country Bumpkin was on for the evening. I walked over to the Suburban, and then all hell broke loose. That is exactly what I was looking for.
“Wait a minute BITCH. Who the fuck is you’? A high-pitched voice asked.
“I’m Cricket; it’s nice to meet ya.”
“I don’t know a fucking Cricket, but you better get yo ass out of here before C.J. finds you.”
She was a skinny, tiny thing, but I could tell she could hold her own. She wore a black spaghetti strap fitted dress with black boots tall as the sky and a long jet-black wig; it reminded me of the old wig Cher used to wear when she was with Sunny.
“I thought Ralphie ran this side,” I lied.
“Hell, no girl. Where the fuck you been?”
“On the Southside.”
“Shit, no wonder why you’re confused. Come with me.”
“Hey, baby girl,” the Infiniti called out.
“Jeff, ain’t nobody touching that little pencil dick of yours.”
“Fuck you, Cinnamon,” he said as he drove off.
“That’s the problem. You can’t,” she yelled back at him, laughing. We walked into a pizza joint, and Cinnamon ordered us two slices and two sodas. I ate as if I was starving, and Cinnamon watched me.
“Shit girl, when was the last time you ate? You don’t look like you have missed any meals, and girl, the white men are going to love your fat ass. They all come over looking for a video vixen. Girl, they see one Lil Wayne video, and they lose their God damn minds.”
“I’m trying to make some money, so I can get me a place.”
“Oh, you need a place to stay. Girl, C.J. will handle all that.”
“How much does it cost?”
“Well, C.J. will protect you from the police and jerks. We have to bring him five, and we can keep one.”
“So, where does the really rich men drive thru at?” I asked her.
“Well, alright then, somebody got they big girl draws on. I’m gone call C.J., and then I’m gone’ take you to Rachel. She won’t like you, but she knows money when she sees it.”
We walked four blocks, and then we were on a busy street. Cinnamon hung up the phone and said, “Okay, he said to take you to Rachel and if Rachel says no, you got to go.”
I shook my head with wide eyes.
“Don’t worry. She just thinks she’s the queen bitch.”
We walked up to a bar, and there were a few tables outside. A couple of women were sitting out there talking. Cinnamon walked up and cleared her throat. Both of the women looked up at us.
“C.J. wants you to check her out,” Cinnamon told her.
The woman sitting across from the tall blonde got up and went into the bar. The blonde pulled a seat out and gestured for me to sit down.
I did, and Cinnamon sat next to me.
“Let me see your arms,” the blonde demanded. I slid out of my jacket, and she looked at both of my arms thoroughly. “Let me see your teeth.” I opened my mouth wide, and she looked in. “Do you have any scars?”
“No,” I told her.
“Go make three and come back,” she told me. I opened my purse and gave her the seven hundred dollars I had stashed in my zipper.
“I made this tonight already,” I told her.
“Shit girl, I bought a slice of pizza. You was holding out on me,” Cinnamon said.
“Where you from?” the blonde asked.
I am originally from Tennessee, but I just moved here from Vegas,” I lied.
“Why you leave Vegas?”
“Well, see my sister got in a little trouble and got me in some too, and she ended up getting herself killed, and I got out of there.” I told her the truth.
“What’s your name?”
“Cricket.”
“What’s your poison?”
“Rich men, clubs, casinos.”
Since our four block walk, I would have to say we were now six blocks from The Three Strike Casino. I was not sure where Jyme and them were held up, but I was almost positive someone in that casino would know.
“Okay, Cinnamon take her over to the Three Strikes and see how she does,” the blonde said. Cinnamon grinned wide, and she jumped up and yanked me up with her.
“What’s a three strike?” I whispered loud enough for the blonde to hear me. I heard her chuckling, and Cinnamon laughed and told me to come on. We walked for about a block, and then I pulled out my phone. There were no messages.
I cringed and called Chelle.
“I need a ride,” I spoke into the phone. I told Chelle where we were, and she came around the corner. I told Cinnamon those were my friends, and she got in with me. Once we got into the back of the truck, I turned to Cinnamon.
“Shit, you’re a cop,” she yelled and turned, trying to get out of the truck, but the child safety was on.
“I’m not a cop. I’m looking for someone. I will pay you a thousand dollars to help me out.”
She thought about it for a minute and agreed. I gave her five hundred cash and told her I would give her the rest after we got out at the casino. I gave Cinnamon a brief and much edited version of what was going on and who we needed to find. So Jyme turned into Ayashe’s boyfriend. and I was her best friend who was trying to help. Chelle was a friend and driver plus she spoke Spanish. I just threw that in there for a twist.
Cinnamon’s eyes were wide. She thought this was so exciting. I thought for a moment and realized that I lucked out with her.
“You need to talk to Joey,” she told me.
“Who is Joey?”
“He’s a bodyguard over at Three Strikes, but he’s cool.”
“Do you know how to get in touch with him?”
“Yeah, he’s a regular.”
“Okay, can you call him and see if he has any friends that would like some company tonight because we’re trying to make some serious money? Make sure you tell him you got a brand-new girl that can suck the chrome off a bumper.”
I saw Ayashe’s head whip over towards Chelle, but neither one of them said a word. Cinnamon called Joey. I used two makeup remover wipes and reapplied my makeup but with a little more class this time. I reached over Chelle and pulled my purse from under the seat and dug in for the little box. I pulled it out and slipped the cricket on my ring finger. I knew I needed something to distract me for what I was about to do, and this was it.
“Okay, he down. They’re having a party, and he said the more the better,” Cinnamon said looking at Chelle and Ayashe.
“No, just me,” I told her.
“Cricket,” Chelle said.
I rolled down my window and opened the door, and Cinnamon slid right out behind me.
“Hey listen, they gone want to really play once we get up here.”
“Just remember what I told you, and if this works, there may even be a bonus in it for you.”
After clearance with security, we made it to the penthouse. Cinnamon walked in, and I followed. There was a serious coke fest going on. This could be a very good thing or a very bad one. You never can tell with cokeheads. I saw six bodyguards, and they were all sober. The room was massive; there were at least five bedrooms as far as I could tell. One of the bodyguards looked at me and started over. Some
one stopped him, and I went in the other direction.
Cinnamon came back and told me the man in charge was not there yet, but he was coming. She then pulled in a little closer to me.
“He’s at his house dealing with some out of town issues.”
“Do you know where he lives?”
“Slow down GI JOE. Let’s get in the house first.”
There were already some girls here, but the pickings were slim. This was better for me because the less skinny made the fat beauty look ten times better. I pulled out my phone and texted Chelle that everything was ok.
The elevator dinged, and three men got off. I knew the man who ran things was in this bunch somewhere. They all just had this aura about them; one was native, one was some kind of mixed race, and the other was black; and fucking shit of all fucking shit—I knew him. Our eyes met instantly, and I turned from him.
Cinnamon watched me and followed.
“What ya doin?” I kept moving
“Is that them?” she whispered.
“We gotta go,” I rushed out.
Cinnamon turned and started going back up the steps towards the elevator and I followed. We almost made it to the top when an arm gripped mine.
“Where you going, Cricket?” the voice asked.
Then the bodyguard who was approaching earlier was now standing beside me. I now knew why he was coming towards me; he knew me too, and this was not good.
Troy and Trey knew me and my sister very well. We all used to strip together in Fresno. Troy and Trey were twins from Palo Alto; they were alright guys until they started drinking. And with the looks of this crowd, they’ve come a long way up from Fresno. They took us to one of the empty bedrooms, and Cinnamon looked like she was about to bolt.
“What ya doing here, Cricket?” Troy asked.
“I’m working.”
“Nawh, you look too good to be working. You looking damn good, girl,” Troy said.
“She still got that baby fat, but it’s working for her,” Trey said looking at my butt.
“Where’s your sister?” Troy asked.
“Dead.”
Heels of Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series) Page 20