by Roy Glenn
“Sup, Money?” RJ said when he got in Marvin’s Traverse.
“What up?”
RJ got comfortable. “Trying to keep it light today.”
“Yeah, well, I hate to get in the way of that, but we need to think seriously about going after Evander before he comes after us,” Marvin suggested.
RJ looked at Marvin and took a deep breath. “You’re right. Get him while he’s weak. Cut off the head, and his crew will scatter.”
“But this beast is a Hydra, it has two heads. We gotta do his boy, Big Frank too.”
“You know where to find them?”
“I know where to find Frank.”
“Is that why we’re sitting here?” RJ asked.
“Frank likes to hang out in there,” Marvin said and pointed toward Classics.
“What’s your plan?” RJ needed to know.
“We go in there, kidnap Big Frank and make him call Evander to come meet him.”
“And what if Big Frank, Evander and Mobley, and whoever else he got left, are in there waiting for us?”
“What you trying to say?” Marvin asked.
“That this time we should wait for Judah and Pills. This way we don’t have to call them if it goes sideways on us like it did the last time.”
“That’s a good point,” Marvin had to agree, and he took out his phone to call Judah when Big Frank came out of Classics with two men. “He’s on the move.” Marvin pressed the ignition and RJ put on his seat belt.
They watched as the three men walked down the street, stopped at the corner and talked for a while and then they separated. When Big Frank got in his car and drove away, Marvin followed him.
“So, what’s your plan now?” RJ asked.
“Plan ain’t changed.” Marvin glanced at RJ as he followed. “Except now, we don’t have to walk him out of Classics at gunpoint. Now we just gotta follow him and wait for an opportunity.”
That opportunity came when Big Frank parked in front of his building and got out of the car. Marvin parked the Traverse and he and RJ went after him. Big Frank was on his phone, so he didn’t pay attention to them coming up behind him, nor did he notice when they pulled down their ski masks and were able to catch Big Frank just as he reached the elevator. They both put their guns in his back.
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” RJ said and took Big Frank’s gun from him. When the doors opened, Marvin pushed him in the elevator and took him to his apartment. Once they had him tied to a chair using sheets from the bed, RJ put his gun to Big Frank’s head.
“We ain’t got no beef with you, Frank. We just need you to call Evander and tell him whatever you need to tell him to get him over here now. After that, we out,” Marvin said and held the phone out. When Frank nodded his head, Marvin dialed Evander’s number and waited for him to answer.
“What up, Frank?” Evander said when he answered.
“I got a problem I need your help with,” Frank said calmly, and Marvin quickly moved the phone to hear Evander’s responses.
“What’s going on?” Evander asked, and Marvin told him what to say.
“Not over the phone.”
“You need me to come through?” Evander asked, and Marvin nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll be through there,” Evander said, and Marvin ended the call.
“Thank you,” Marvin said, took out his gun and shot Big Frank twice in the head.
“Damn,” RJ said.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting you to blow him like that, that’s all.” RJ said and took out his phone to make some calls.
By the time Evander got to the building to see what Frank wanted, Pills and Judah had arrived and were in place and ready for him.
“He’s coming on in,” Judah reported from his position outside the building.
“How many he got with him?” RJ asked.
“Two,” Judah said as he followed them in, but keeping his distance so not to be seen. He stayed with them until they got on the elevator. “They’re on the way up,” he said and ran for the stairs.
When the elevator door opened, Evander and his men got out and headed for the door. Pills cracked the door to the stairwell and watched them walked down the hall.
“They should be knocking on the door in ten seconds,” Pills said, as an out of breath Judah made it to the floor.
“We’re ready for them,” RJ said.
He and Marvin were in position on either side of the door. Pills and Judah readied their weapons and came out of the stairwell.
When Evander knocked on the door, Marvin opened it and they came on in. RJ shot Evander in the side of his head the second he stepped inside the apartment. As Evander’s blood splatter hit him and the wall next to him, Marvin shot the next man through the door twice in the chest.
When the third man turned to run, Judah raised his weapon and fired twice. The change in momentum lifted the man off his feet and he went down hard. Then Judah and Pills dragged his body in the apartment to join his dead friends.
“We need to call Billy,” RJ said to Marvin as he closed the apartment door once Pills and Judah were inside.
“Who’s Billy,” Pills asked.
“The Cleaner,” Judah informed.
In addition to running the funeral parlor, Billy Young had been The Family cleaner for years. His job was to dispose of corpses, destroy or eliminate fingerprints, blood and any other incriminating evidence from a crime scene. He was a reliable and trusted member of The Family, so when there was a knock at the door twenty minutes later, RJ assumed it was Billy and went to let him in.
“Hey, RJ,” Edwina said when she walked in the apartment with a duffel bag over each shoulder.
“Edwina?” Judah questioned.
She put down her bag, hugged RJ and then Judah. “Hey, Judah, I haven’t seen you in years. How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been good, just a little surprised to see you.”
“What are you doing here?” RJ asked.
Edwina smiled. “My father retired, so I’m taking over the business,” she said and walked over to look at the bodies before turning back to the kings.
“I heard that Billy was retiring,” Judah said. “I just didn’t know that you were taking over the family business.”
“I am.” Edwina knelt down and went in one of the duffle bags and pulled out four jump suits. “And I’m gonna need those clothes.” She looked at Marvin, Evander’s blood was all over his shirt. “Especially you,” she said and passed out the jumpsuits. “Now, you all need to go on and get changed and get out if here, so I can get to work.”
All four kings stood there with a somewhat confused but also fascinated look on their faces as they stared at Edwina like she had four heads. And it wasn’t just because she was the new cleaner. Edwina Young was fine, five feet ten inches tall, long shapely legs, golden brown skin, big brown eyes with soft curves in all the places that made her a woman.
In a word, Edwina was a looker. She used her intelligence and her skills to take over the business.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” Edwina asked.
When they got back to The Four Kings, the house was packed as usual, and Ayisha reported to Marvin that everything was running smoothly in the gambling room.
“It’s early and we’re about a hundred over my projections for the night,” Ayisha said and poured them both a drink.
“And since we both know that your projections are always on point, this is a good thing.”
Ayisha looked at Marvin and then picked up a bar napkin and then she wiped Marvin’s cheek.
“What?”
“Blood,” Ayisha said and put the napkin in an ashtray, got a lighter and set it on fire. “And I’m guessing it’s not yours.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marvin said as Ayisha got another bar napkin, dabbed it in some water and wiped Marvin’s cheek again. “But, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.
”
“Money Marv!”
When Marvin turned around, he saw Serek Pearson, a former drug dealer turned legitimate businessman. He used to buy weed from Marvin while he was dealing. While they were talking, Serek told Marvin that he was in the construction business now.
“That’s cool. How’s that going for you?” Marvin asked.
“It’s going great, but I got this big job coming up and I need fifty thousand dollars to buy supplies to start the job and all my money is tied up in the other two jobs I’ve got going.”
“That ain’t good.”
“No, Money, it ain’t. If I don’t get this money, I may have to back out and I ain’t trying to do that. I tried borrowing the money from the bank, but you know they turned a nigga down.” Serek laughed. “Money!”
“What?”
“Pull fifty grand out your pocket so I ain’t gotta default on this job,” Serek said and laughed, but Marvin didn’t; he saw the opportunity.
“Let me see what I can do for you,” Marvin said.
“You serious?”
“Yeah. You gonna be here for a minute?”
“Yeah,” Serek said excitedly.
“Stick around, I’ll get back with you,” Marvin said and went in the office.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” Marvin said to Judah.
“What’s up?”
“Lend me fifty grand.”
“You serious?” Judah asked.
“Yeah, I’m serious. I got something going and I need fifty to make it happen,” Marvin said.
“No problem. I ain’t got it on me but come by the house tonight after we close, and I got you.” Judah laughed “At no interest ’cause you my nigga and shit.”
“Thanks,” Marvin said, quickly left the office, and returned to the bar where Serek was waiting.
“I’ll be by your office in the morning with the money,” Marvin said, and he shook Serek’s hand knowing that he had taken his first step toward earning on his own.
Chapter Fifteen
Since Demi had opened the club earlier that day for happy hour, Mileena didn’t have to be there until midnight. After showering and putting on just a touch of makeup, Mileena selected a black ribbed bodycon dress with a halter neck by L’AGENCE. It hugged her curves while also providing a nice view of her sexy calves.
Once she was ready to leave, Mileena grabbed her bag and headed for the door and that was when Carter got home. He had gotten out of bed and left early that morning to take care of some business and then he met Rain at J.R.’s and had been with her the rest of the day.
“Hey,” Carter said and looked at Mileena before he kissed her and for a few brief seconds she forgot everything that she’d been thinking about.
And then their lips parted, and it all came rushing back to her and Mileena’s facial expression changed from caught up in the rapture back to, “I never see you,” Mileena said and her jaw tightened. “You coming to the club?”
“I’ll see you up there later,” he said and Mileena kissed him and hoped that those thoughts would go away again, if only for those few seconds.
They didn’t.
And Mileena rushed out the door thinking, Yeah, like you saw me last night. But oh yeah, that was Fantasy whose face you were all up in … the bitch, she thought as she closed the door.
Carter shrugged his shoulders. “What is she talking about?” he asked aloud. “I just saw her this morning,” he said and continued on his way to take a shower. He wanted to change clothes and get back in the street. Carla had given him some information on El Decreto de Guerra that he wanted to check out.
Mileena drove to J.R.’s slowly and in silence, but her mind was racing a hundred miles an hour and the conversation was intense. She was beginning to think she made a huge mistake.
“Allowing Carter back in my life was a mistake,” Mileena finally said the words out loud that she’d been thinking for a while now.
Sure, he looked at her with the same intensity as before, and sure he made love to her just as passionately, if not more, since he’d been home. But he was gone a lot more than she’d anticipated, a lot more than what they discussed. Mileena had quickly discovered that her thinking that his role would allow him to sit back and delegate, leaving him free to spend more time with her was total fiction.
For the past couple of weeks, he’d been in the streets and only had enough time to come home to sleep, fuck her, and maybe grab a bite to eat before rolling back out. And it only got worse when Rain got shot.
Now he spends all his time with her.
And that was another thing. The fact that she woke up alone again this morning, because he was probably somewhere with Rain, grated on her nerves.
He could have at least woken me up to say he was leaving.
Then there was the exchange the night before with Fantasy, and what she didn’t want to admit was jealousy over the two of them being so close together. But it was jealousy. It made her wonder what was going on between the two of them. And that made her wonder if anything was going on with any other women, and that made her wonder what was really going on with him and Rain. And that meant she couldn’t really trust him.
Not a good look.
“So, yeah, I’m thinking I made a big mistake, but what to do about it?”
Mileena parked in her space at J.R.’s, turned off her car and knew that her options were few. She could just shut up and deal with it, because she loved Carter with everything she had. Or she could leave him and let Fantasy, or whoever else was sniffing around him, have him. The latter seemed impossible, but at the same time, seemed like it was the best thing for her. But could she really just walk away and watch him move on with someone else?
Especially that bitch, Mileena thought as she watched Fantasy get out of a white limo, loop her arm in Leo’s and he escorted her past the line and, “Into my club!” she shouted and got out.
As the water beat down on Carter, he thought about what he and Rain talked about the day before. Consigliere of The Family. That was a huge honor and an even bigger responsibility. He wanted to tell Mileena, but she was asleep when he woke up and didn’t want to disturb her, and then he had to go.
Carter turned off the shower and dried himself thinking about what Mileena would have said had he had a chance to tell her that morning. He laid out his suit and laughed.
“She would have given you the look.”
Because he knew that Mileena would not be at all happy about him getting more responsibility. As Carter got dressed to leave, his mind drifted to the brief conversation that he had with Mileena before she left.
I never see you.
“That’s what she was talking about,” Carter said and straightened his tie.
Knowing that Mileena wouldn’t be happy about Rain making him consigliere of The Family made him stop and consider that this was everything that Mileena said that she didn’t want. Everything she left you for the first time.
The Family over Mileena. That’s what it came down to. That’s what it came down to then and it was looking like it was going to go the same way. The Family over Mileena.
She’s gonna leave you again, Carter thought as he drove.
But what to do?
Tell Rain that he is not the man that she thought he was?
“Not happening.”
He would make it work. He had no idea how, but Carter was determined to make it work. Be the man Mileena wants and be the best consigliere to Rain.
“And that’s all there is to it,” Carter said, parked outside of J.R.’s and went inside looking for Mileena.
But when Carter got inside, it was Fantasy that he saw. She was posted up at the bar closest to the entrance waiting for him, surrounded by several men and wearing the shit out of a Monique Lhuillier crepe cap-sleeve sheath dress with a wrap waist and floral print that seemed to have been designed specifically for her frame. Carter shook his head and continued his search for Mileena.
After thirty minutes, he still
hadn’t found her. Carter had gone from bar to bar looking and was told that he just missed her. Some of those same people told him that she was in the gambling room, but when he got there, he was told that she just left. Demi told him that she was in her office, but when he got there, Rose told Carter that she hadn’t seen Mileena since she got there.
“Maybe Demi was talking about the office with Yarissa,” she said, and tried to call her on the radio, but got no response. Carter went back out into the club and checked all the places she might be again, before finally heading for Rain’s office.
Yarissa smiled when she saw Carter coming. “Hey, Yarissa, you seen Mileena?”
“She stopped by when she first got here, but I haven’t seen her since. Is there anything I can do for you, Carter?” Yarissa asked.
Please say yes, she thought because she wanted him too.
The only thing that was stopping her from setting it out for him each time she saw him was Mileena and her respect for what they shared.
Maybe I can convince her to make him available to me another way.
After years of them hanging out, shopping, going to movies, sharing meals and the intimate details of their lives, Yarissa announced that she was bi-sexual and had been digging Mileena since they met. On that day, Yarissa and Mileena became girlfriends with benefits.
The night Yarissa seduced Mileena and she felt their lips touch, the feeling was indescribable. When Yarissa began to nibble softly on her lips, it got her river flowing and she thought she would lose her mind.
It wasn’t long after that Yarissa was on her knees, and the sweatpants that Mileena was wearing were around her ankles. Yarissa slid her body in between Mileena’s legs and began to suck her dry. All she could do was lay there overwhelmed watching Yarissa, with her face buried between her thighs and holding her clit between her lips.
Mileena held her head in place, as Yarissa sent an almost electric sensation through her swollen clit. She reached under her sweatshirt, pulled up her bra, squeezed her nipples and she exploded.
“Oh shit,” Mileena screamed.