Return of the Cartier Cartel (8 page)

****

“What time is it?” a groggy Big Mike asked.

“It’s a little after five in the morning, and I wanted to give you your after-Christmas present.”

“Bam Bam, I’m tired, ma. Can’t this wait until tomorrow? I got a special day planned for you.”

A lump formed in Bam’s throat. Choking back tears, she said, “I hope you don’t got a bitch there.”

Big Mike chuckled. He loved his feisty Bam Bam, as he called her.

Twenty minutes after Mike told Bam she could come over, he heard the faint knock at the door. Eagerly he envisioned opening the door to see Bam wearing a long, sweeping mink coat with nothing but naughty lingerie on. Instead, he got the remix.

“You already know what it is, nigga. Don’t say a word!” Jason’s eyes were menacing, his voice hoarse.

Big Mike’s eyes darted toward Bam. He didn’t know if Jason had followed her there and had ambushed them both.

“Bam Bam, you ain’t down with this, right? This ain’t you, right?”

“Nigga, shut the fuck up!”

The butt of Jason’s gun pounded on the back of Big Mike’s head. He took the pain like a man and allowed himself to be duct-taped to a chair, arms and hands. Had he known there wasn’t a cavalry waiting outside for Jason, that the real intention wasn’t to rob him but to kill him, Big Mike would have fought for his life.

“Jay, you ain’t got to do me like this, man. Not over no paper. Whatever you need, I got you, kid. I’m not a tough guy. I’m just a businessman.”

Hmm, Jason thought. Why not? Ain’t this what Cartier said Brooklyn niggas do? “Where ya stash at?”

Big Mike was disgusted. If he made it out of there alive, he would personally put a bullet in Bam’s head. What else could he do? Forgive her? His heart was broken.

“Bam Bam knows where the stash at. Ain’t that right, Bam?” Big Mike stated.

Jason couldn’t believe his ears. Big Mike was one stupid muthafucka. You don’t let no chick, unless she wifey, know where you keep your stash. He must really be feeling Bam.

“Is that so?” Jason said with a slight twang to his tone that annoyed Bam. She knew he was being facetious at her expense. “Well, Bam Bam”—Jason broke out into laughter—“could you do the honors?”

Reluctantly, Bam walked over to a huge chest and pushed it back from the wall, exposing a handmade hideaway. As she dropped to her knees to retrieve the money, Big Mike couldn’t help but taunt her.

“Damn, Bam Bam, you set a nigga up over some paper? I thought I gave you all you needed. I guess you wanted it all,” Big Mike said dryly. “And to think I was gonna wife you for real. Not no hood-title shit either, but the real deal. Make that shit official. But I guess a thug bitch like yourself couldn’t see the bigger picture.”

Now it was Bam’s time to bark orders. “Didn’t he tell you to shut the fuck up?” Her conscience was killing her. She didn’t want to hear about their future together, especially when she knew he only had moments left to live. She just wished Jason would hurry up and do what he came to do.

Bam reached in and grabbed out a large black duffle bag filled with cash and cocaine. She felt dirty. I mean, what was this about—Shanine and Monya, or doing a straight jux?

“OK, so y’all got what you came for . . .” Big Mike’s voice trailed off. At that moment he realized he might not see another day. Were they really just gonna take his shit and bounce? Sure, he’d heard of home invasions, but normally you didn’t know who set you up. These two were brazen. No masks. No remorse. No worries.

“Jay, I know you ain’t gonna do me ugly over no bread, man. It’s only money. I can make that shit right back. It ain’t that serious.”

“Nah, man. This ain’t over no bread. This is for Monya and Shanine.”

Before Big Mike could plead for his life, Jason raised the barrel of his gun and put one shot in his temple, stopping his heart instantly.

The take from Big Mike was more than Cartier expected. When Bam and Jason came downstairs with two huge duffle bags and climbed in the backseat, she already knew what it was. Immediately she put the car in motion as Jason rummaged through the bags.

“Yo, we got at least four hundred large and nine keys,” Jason said.

“Say word?” Cartier replied.

“Word,” Bam said. “So how’re we gonna break this down?”

As Jason and Cartier remained silent, Bam tried her hardest not to concentrate on the events that just happened. The hurt she heard in Big Mike’s voice. The sad expression in his eyes. The sound the gun made as the bullet squeezed through the chamber. The smell of gunpowder permeating the room. The body slumped over in the chair as his head lolled to one side. The last time they made love.

Yeah, as Cartier and Jason tried to wrap their minds around Bam wanting a cut from their new retirement plan, Bam was desperately trying to clear her conscience.

Finally Cartier spoke up, “Jay, toss Bam a stack, and once we get off all the bricks, there’ll be more for you. Is that cool, Bam?”

No, bitch, that ain’t cool. “A’ight. Whatever.”

Chapter 10

Old Habits Die Hard

“Don’t you look sexy?” Jason took in the beauty that stood before him in all-black silk La Perla lace panties and bra set.

“All for you, papi,” she replied in a thick Hispanic accent. “You like?”

Nodding his head vigorously, Jason inched toward his mistress and grabbed her tiny waist. His hands slowly glided down her wide, shapely hips. Everything about her was perfect in his eyes. She had white-girl dainty features and complexion, with a black girl’s voluptuous body, all wrapped up in a Puerto Rican package. He couldn’t ask for more.

He cupped both his hands around her juicy ass and pulled her in close, making her giggle. “Dance for me.” He sat back on her bed and began to loosen his pants.

Jalissa stood back and began to gyrate her hips in a slow, seductive manner, just the way he liked it. She could see him growing hard beneath his jeans as she dipped her ass low and then came back up.

Neither one of them said a word, their eyes doing the talking. When Jalissa knew Jason was ready for her, she climbed over and sat on his lap and began to grind her hips into his rock-hard dick.

Jason’s tongue slid into Jalissa’s mouth as his hands groped her firm, perky breasts. Then he began to suckle on her breast like a newborn. As Jalissa moaned with pleasure, he laid her back on her bed and slid off her panties to expose a manicured landing strip. A soft bush of hair was in front of his face as he bent down to eat her ripe pussy.

He slid his index finger in, and warm juices seeped out. He then began to flick his tongue rapidly against her clit and then slowed down to suck it, sending her over the top.

“Ahhh! Papi, you so good. Don’t stop! Ahhh!”

As Jalissa sang her praises for Jason’s tongue game, he was getting more and more aroused. He stood up quickly and ripped off his clothes. “Sit on my face.”

Jalissa then straddled Jason and opened her pussy wide. His long tongue slid from her sweet box to her anus. She then leaned over and engulfed his bulging dick and began to suck him off until he came in her mouth. Slinking around, she crawled on top of him, because they both still wanted more, and mounted him.

Jason eased his slim penis into Jalissa’s moist pussy, and they began to fuck in sync. Jason loved the way she moved her hips and dug her fingernails into his skin.

“Papi, you make me feel sooo good,” she crooned.

“You love this dick, don’t you?” Jason pushed deeper and deeper into her love box.

“Umm-hmm.”

They both reached their climax, sweat pouring from their glistening bodies. Jalissa collapsed on top of Jason’s broad, masculine chest. As she lay nestled in his strong arms, he ran his fingers through her soft hair.

“You didn’t find out where Ryan live at yet from your sister?”

“She not tell. She say she not know, but I keep try, no?”

“Hell, yeah, keep trying. You see what the fuck went down last week at the club. That nigga was gunning for my head.”

“I cry the whole night. No sleep. I not know if you hurt. You not call me, papi,” Jalissa whined in a baby-like voice.

“Yo, I’m sorry about that shit, but something gots to give. I can’t be out here hustling and looking over my shoulder for that nigga. You feel me?”

“I keep questions. You my man, but if he know, he will kill me. Bang! Bang!”

Jason’s pressure rose at the thought of Ryan doing something to hurt Jalissa. Especially over his beef. He knew he was asking her a lot and putting her life in danger, but the circumstances were extreme.

“I will kill his whole family, including your sister, if he puts one finger on you, and that’s word to my mother!”

Jalissa shook her head. “My sister not like me. She like you and Ryan. She don’t play.”

Jason understood what Jalissa was trying to say. Jalissa was a good girl. All she cared about was catering to her man. She wasn’t a gangsta chick like Cartier, and from what she was describing, or like her sister either.

He pressed again. “That’s why you gotta find out where Ryan live, so I can take care of it all.”

“I will try hard, but what if something . . . uh . . . uh . . . how you say, oh, happens and I got to go bye. Run, run. I have no money. I have nothing.”

With her limited English, Jason understood where she was coming from. He did give her money to buy clothes, get her hair and nails done, and pay her bills, but that was punk money. If something happened to him, if he got jammed up, and if Ryan knew she set him up, she was right; she wouldn’t have any money to flee.

“A’ight, I got you. I’m gonna make sure you straight. I’ve been stashing bread for a while, so I could get out of the game.”

“Cuànto? Uh, how much you save?”

“You don’t need to know all of that. Just know that I’ma hit you off and you’ll be straight.”

Jalissa pouted. “You no trust?”

Jason tried to caress her face, but she pulled away.

“You no trust me? I trust.”

Jason paused.

“OK, you’re right. If I want you to trust me that I won’t let anything happen to you by helping me get at Ryan, then I need to trust you as well. I got over two million saved—”

“Two million dollars?” Jalissa said, her voice elevated.

“Be easy, ma. I got, not we. You feel me?”

Jalissa nodded, poking her bottom lip out.

“But I just came off with about two hundred large. I’m going to break you off a piece of that to put in a safe place. You hear me? I don’t want you to keep it here. What about your mom’s house? Where she live at?”

“No, no. I not keep it there. I put it in box in bank.”

Jason smiled. Maybe she wasn’t as green as he thought. “Oh, you got a safety deposit box?”

Jalissa started to stroke his chest. “No, I no have no money. But I get, like the movies, no?”

“Exactly. Exactly like the movies. You go and get one tomorrow.”

Before Jason left, Jalissa waited on him hand and foot. She was at his beck and call. She ran his bath and washed his whole body. She had a plush robe and fluffy slippers waiting for him. She massaged his body with warm baby oil. She made his dinner and served him his plate in bed, hopping up each time he wanted a refill of Henny or another Corona.

When morning came, he didn’t have to ask her to cook breakfast, because she woke him up to breakfast. There wasn’t ever any backtalk. If he told her he didn’t like a specific color lip gloss on her, she immediately wiped it off and chucked the tube in the trash. Jalissa was like no other woman he’d ever fucked with, and he found himself in love way before he even knew what hit him.

“Why you treat me so good, huh?” he asked her as he ate his breakfast.

“Your wife, she not treat you this way?”

The very word wife and the thought of Cartier soured his stomach. He knew he was going to hear her mouth about spending the night out, but right now he wanted to enjoy his time with Jalissa.

“I don’t want to talk about her right how. Just know that I like how you treat me, and that if you want to keep me around, keep doing what you’re doing.”

Jalissa smiled sweetly and gave him a succulent kiss on his lips. “You my rey, means king in Español. I do, umm, treat you good.”

****

Cartier wasn’t sure exactly when Jason had moved all their money from their safe. Not only was their life savings gone, but also the money they’d scored from Big Mike. She decided to wake him up and ask him.

“Jay. Jay, get up,” Cartier said as she gave Jason a strong nudge.

When he opened his eyes, she sat down on the bed beside him. “I just went to get some pocket money from the safe and also give Bam another grip, because she keep beefin’, but it ain’t there. The drugs are still there, but all our money is gone.”

“What the fuck Bam beefin’ ’bout?”

“You know, she feels like she could get a bigger cut because, if it wasn’t for her, she feels we wouldn’t have the money, nor would we have gotten rid of one of our enemies.”

“Yo, that bitch is buggin’! She act like she put in the work. That was all me, and now she want a bigger handout? Get the fuck outta here! When I see Bam, I swear I’ma put my foot in her ass! I swear, that’s a dumb-ass bitch!”

“Why you yellin’ and actin’ all stupid? There’s more than enough to go around. We could toss her another ten.” Cartier shook her head at her own greed. “In fact, Jay, this just occurred to me. We have to divide the take three ways. Bam deserves more than the ten grand I just mentioned. She had feelings for him, and what we made her do isn’t really sitting well with me these days. You know I can be hotheaded. I react first, and then think later. I keep thinking, what if Big Mike really didn’t have anything to do with it? And what about Bam’s feelings? I haven’t heard from her these past few weeks, other than to ask for more bread, and I want—I need to mend our friendship.”

Jason couldn’t believe Cartier’s hypocrisy. Now she feels bad after duke is dead and buried? What about that night when she was barking orders? He’d told her that he’d do it all by himself, but no, she made Bam participate. Now she wants to wake him up out of his peaceful sleep with this epic saga about Bam, that’s supposed to tug at his heartstrings.