Still thicker than water (21 page)

She knew she could do one of two things. She could stand up, and walk out with the little dignity she had, or she could keep trying. She looked at him as he focused on pouring his drink and she knew she couldn’t give up on him.

She began to unbutton her crisp white blouse as she stood up and made her way over to him, while undressing.

“
Sean…please…”

He looked up and saw her walking over to him in her small black skirt and black bra, her shirt now in her hand. She was sexy, she was beautiful, and he knew that he was hurting her. As she reached him, he felt a little submissive, especially by his guilt. She wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss on his neck as Ree contemplated hitting it one last time. As she made a bee-line for his lips, a thought of Tatum popped in his mind.

He backed up from her.

“
Nah, Trinity…”

She grabbed his dick and squeezed it lightly, feeling it come to life faintly.

“
Ssh, Sean. Let me help you forget about her,” she whispered.

Ree snapped back into reality and pushed her away, forcefully.

“
You gotta get the fuck out.”

He grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her to his door as she fought him, once again trying to grab for him.

“
No! I’m not leaving!”

He snatched her shirt out of her hand and wrapped it around her, trying to get her to put it on, but she pushed it away.

“
Put your shirt on!” He demanded.

“
No! How could you do this? I loved you!” Before she knew what she was doing she slapped him hard across the face.

There was a brief pause as he put his hand to his cheek and felt the sting, and she looked on in apprehension. And then Ree’s natural instinct caused him to grab her roughly by the shoulders and push her hard against the wall, gripping her frail neck with one hand. His adrenaline was pumping while he tried to tide his rising temper.

Trinity looked at him, eyes wide with fear and her mascara running, making her appear crazed. He stared at her long and hard, with an intensity that frightened her.

“
Get. Out.”

He opened his door and strongly shoved her out and tossed her shirt into her hands as Elsa and another desk clerk looked on.

“
It’s over Trinity.”

And then he slammed the door on her loud, causing her body to jump, and her heart to break.

Chapter 14 - Greed

Chauncey and E were riding along the Highway 78 when a drop top SLR pulled along the left side of them. The driver of the car, a young looking dude, motioned with his right finger calmly for them to pull over. Chauncey, who was in the passenger seat, cocked his nine, but told E to oblige. Chauncey had read the vanity plates through the rear-view and had an idea of who the person was.

“
Fuck this nigga want?” E questioned, cocking his also, always prepared for whatever.

They turned off of the highway, and pulled over, as the Benz pulled up behind them and the driver got out. He approached E and Chauncey in a nonthreatening fashion, his hands were empty, his walk was easy, so Chauncey and E stepped out of the vehicle.

The young nigga smiled casually and extended his hand out to Chauncey.

“
What up yo… Bleek,” he introduced himself. Chauncey nodded and returned the handshake.

“
C,” he stated, but Bleek already knew who Chauncey was. His name rang all types of bells.

Bleek turned to shake E’s hand and Chauncey caught the tattoo on his neck.
J-crew.

He had been waiting to run into one of them, and was even considering going to look for them. But it seemed like they had found him instead.

“
So what up? Why the urgency?” Chauncey asked, leaning against the car. His dark Versace shades, button up, and Mauri sneakers masked the ruthless hustler that Bleek had heard of. Bleek was dressed more for the part in his hoodie, baggy jeans, and boots get-up. His smooth youthful face was filled with confidence and experience, yet with a sense of eagerness and hunger. He was like Chauncey five years ago.

Bleek nodded, knowing that they were curious as to why he had pulled them over.

“
I got somebody that wants to uh, get better acquainted wit’ you,” Bleek informed Chauncey.

“
Yeah well, pardon my lack of concern, but if it aint bout no money, then…”

Bleek interjected.

“
Oh, it’s always about money, shawty. And lots of it…I don’t play around when it comes to money.”

Chauncey nodded and E smirked, he definitely was a reincarnation of a young and cocky Chauncey.

“
Well, lead the way,” Chauncey said, and the men all retreated to their vehicles and re-entered the highway.

When they arrived at the location, which seemed to be a nightclub of some kind, Bleek led them to the back door.

Even in the daylight with no flashy lights and crowds of people, Chauncey could see that it was still a pretty upscale establishment.

Bleek knocked three times, quickly and hard.

“
Judas!” He yelled, and Chauncey wondered if that was what the J stood for in J-crew.

The door opened slowly and Bleek, followed by Chauncey and E entered the dark and empty club. When the door closed behind them, a large man approached.

“
I need to pat ya’ll down.”

Chauncey took off his shades and looked at him aggressively.

“
Nah, that’s not an option.”

The big man became agitated.

“
Well, it’s a requirement…especially if you going to see the boss.”

The two men stared each other down although the other man had height and mass over Chauncey. He was even bigger than E, who also held an irate gaze.

“
It’s alright,” a voice based from up the stairs. “Let them up.”

Chauncey and E made their way past the Biggie impersonator and followed Bleek up the stairs, as the man looked at them with distaste.

“
Big man 'bout to get his shit pushed back,” E barked.

“
Fuck all that,” Bleek said, walking ahead of them and dismissing the petty altercation. “Boss right in here…Big J, J-Murder some say.”

Chauncey had definitely heard the name. Bleek knocked twice and then opened the door, and instantly Chauncey and E took in the richness of the room.

Gold draping, gold floors, gold couches, everything was lavished in gold, giving off a rich and wealthy vibe.

A tall, dark man stood at the other end of the room with a beautiful woman on his arm. Chauncey and E tried not to look too hard at her, but she was bad as hell. The couple walked towards E and Chauncey, and faced them, while Bleek stood on the side.

Chauncey extended his hand to the mysterious man, ready to meet the infamous J-Murder, the well respected hustler and gangster, face to face. But it was the woman who returned the handshake, completely throwing Chauncey off guard.

“
Pleased to finally meet you Chauncey, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Chauncey furrowed his eyebrows at her and Bleek wore a smirk.

“
I’m sorry, do I know…”

“
Big J…or maybe you know me as J-Murder,” the sexy, green-eyed beauty announced.

Bleek looked from the sidelines at Chauncey and E’s shock, and he thought of the episode at her condo they had shared. They’d be surprised by a lot of things about Jayde.

She turned to the man at her side.

“
Can you excuse us for a minute baby?”

He nodded and then made his way out of her office, closing the door behind him.

Jayde turned ferociously on her heels and strutted back to her desk, her cream Chanel suit hugging her curves.

“
Please! Have a seat,” she boomed loudly. “Make yourself as comfortable in my office, as you are in my streets!”

Chauncey chuckled at her wit and at the sheer fact that he was thrown for a loop. It took him a minute before he and E walked over and sat down at the chairs facing her desk. Her back was still to them as she searched her bookshelf for something. Finally she turned around and threw the book onto the desk with a sharp look in her eyes.

“
Open it,” she demanded.

Chauncey looked at her and then grabbed the book and opened it to the first page.

It was a photo album, and the first picture was of a little girl and a man. A man, that Chauncey had seen before…

‘
Mickel…Mickel DuPree?”

Mickel DuPree was a street legend from the Islands. Chauncey saw that the little girl in the picture had striking emerald eyes. It started to make somewhat of sense to him.

“
Mickel DuPree was your father.”

She finally took her seat.

“
Let me tell you a story,” she said, taking a sip of her Nuvo drink. Bleek sat on the side wanting to hear the story as well, Jayde was the J-crew’s leader, and he still didn’t know too much more than that.

“
My father…Mickel…as you probably know… ran arguably one of the tightest, longest, and best drug empires for almost three decades straight. His reign started in ’79, that’s when he hooked up with the Columbians and supplied almost every single city, in some way, shape, or form, in much of the bottom East Coast. He supplied them all with the most quality, delicious, fucking coke, ever. Shit, when I was a little girl, I spent so much time around Columbians, I thought I was one of them... We were family with them, close, so they treated us well.” Jayde paused and took another sip before continuing.

“
When my father was murdered five years ago, his um, business partner… who really was like his fucking flunky… Ernie Hobbs, called himself taking over things. He was so incompetent, so disgusting…” Jayde’s face twisted in repulsion as she spoke. “He was so fat and greedy! And the Columbians did not want to do business with him, they preferred to work, with me…yours truly. So, Ernie’s thinking, I deal with the connect, for him, he runs things. You see, he wanted me from the beginning, even when Daddy was still here. But with Daddy gone, he figured we could run the city together. But more like, he run the city you know? I sit on my ass, look pretty and deal with the connect… He wanted to be Mickel. He wanted the love and respect Mickel had and he wanted me to be devoted to him, like I was for my Daddy. He even wanted me to call him a nickname, Father. When I refused, that fat mothafucka changed his name to Father so that everyone would call him that, and I wouldn’t have a choice… But he didn’t know me. He didn’t know little J, had grown up. I started mingling, mixing, meeting so many people, big people, and found that people…clients…preferred me. They liked me. So I took myself, and my sweet connect, and I parted ways with…
him.”

She looked at Chauncey and E and leaned back in her chair.

“
Me and Father keep a mutual understanding, and so far we seemed to magically coexist in this town. He has people that respect him, and he’s got goons so people fear him, but he’s garbage. I could never afford to war with him physically, by myself, and since this fucked up recession shit, I can’t even compete with product.” She looked at Chauncey with much sass. “But now, I guess that doesn’t matter… 'cause you, my friend Chauncey, seem to be the man to see….You've got the goods, the price, and you will eventually leave me and Father squabbling for crumbs.”

Chauncey tilted his head to the side, somewhat seeing her point of view.

“
Well, not exactly. No matter what… you’re J-Murder. You have your clientele, this is your hood…. I’m just a freelancer. You’re the store.”

She smiled, glad that he had walked into her vision.

“
Exactly. But… what if I could combine… in a perfect world… my army, my soldiers, my government officials, my judges, my lawyers, my police, everyone that looks out for me, looking out for you… combined with your product, your prices, my clientele…and Father’s clientele.”

“
How would we get Father’s clientele?” Chauncey questioned, but was already well aware of the answer.

With Father out of the picture, Jayde and Chauncey could take over the city, shit the state and maybe even the lower east side. Her connections and his connect, would be a beautiful marriage. Sure Father’s goons may want justice, but with Jayde’s home team squad and Chauncey’s out of state pull, they’d be no match.

Chauncey rubbed his chin at her cleverness, she was smart and deadly. He thought of all of the ruthless tales he had heard of J-Murder and couldn’t believe that they were committed by this feminine woman. She smirked as she let him take it all in.