The Family Business (25 page)

Read The Family Business Online

Authors: Eric Pete,Carl Weber

BOOK: The Family Business
10.61Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“The two Mexicans. In the suits.”
“Oh... what about them?”
Shit.
I’d thought I was heading at least toward a blow job in the bathroom with Martino, but now their presence was cramping my style.
“They must be following me.”
“You?” I asked, stunned. “Why?”
“Things. Stuff with their boss. They must be onto me ... somehow,” he said, panic showing for the first time. “Look, I gotta get outta here before they find me. Now.”
His sense of urgency swept over me. It made my hands tremble ever so slightly, and I almost dropped my glass.
“Let me help you,” I said, my mind racing. What the hell had I stumbled into? I needed to know more. I had a feeling that my life depended on it.
Orlando
 
41
 
It had been seventy-two hours since Miguel’s death, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was just a matter of time before all hell broke loose. From what I could see when my newly assigned driver and bodyguard turned into the garage at Uncle Lou’s auto repair shop, that time was now. To make matters worse, I’d just received a blocked call from Ruby, during which she proceeded to drop a bomb on my head.
“Orlando, did you hear me?” Ruby asked, her accent heavier than ever.
“Yeah, I heard you,” I said, though her words went in one ear and out the other. I was too preoccupied with the scene of carnage before me as I got out of the car.
“What happened?” I yelled.
“Motherfuckers sprayed us, O!” Junior yelled, his T-shirt smeared in crimson as he and Sihad carried the still body from his bullet-riddled and smoking Trans Am.
“Orlando... I’m pregnant,” Ruby repeated again. This time I heard her. The noise and commotion continued around me, but I tuned it out. Ruby’s words hit me like a left hook.
I turned away from my brother. “Are you sure?”
“Orlando! What are you doing?” Junior yelled, bringing my attention back to the situation at hand.
“Of course I’m sure,” Ruby answered at almost the same time as Junior’s grunt. “I know my body. I’m two weeks late, and I’m never late. This isn’t my first time being pregnant, Orlando.”
“I have to call you back. We’ve got sort of an emergency here, but we’ll deal with it, baby. Trust me.” I was supremely shocked but unable to process the news at the moment. There was far too much chaos for even me to handle.
“Orlando!” Junior yelled.
“Deal with it?” Ruby snapped, her disgust far from concealed. “Fuck you. I knew I shouldn’t have called you. You’re just like the rest. Don’t worry. I’ll deal with the baby on my own.”
I wanted to apologize, tell her that it had just come out wrong, but Uncle Lou, LC’s brother, lay dead on the ground at my feet. His eyes were still open and they were accusing me. Junior knelt down and closed them with his bloodstained fingers.
Without a good-bye, I hit the button to end my call. I was undoubtedly doing damage to my budding relationship, but I couldn’t concern myself with that now.
“What happened?” I asked Junior.
“We were hittin’ the streets. Like you said to do,” Junior replied, still out of breath. “We were out there searching for our stolen shit. One of Lou’s boys had a tip, so he went with me to check it out. Lou felt he needed to be out there again, you know, trying to help as best he could. He knew how bad things were. The tip turned out to be a dead end, so we came back to the shop—and this happened. They were laying for us, O. No doubt this was a setup.”
“Who did it?” I asked.
“Dunno, bro. Old car pulled alongside us when we were parked. They just unloaded on us. We had no time to react. Couldn’t even see their faces or nothin’. I was too busy tending to Lou, otherwise I woulda chased ’em.”
“What the fuck are we doin’?” Sihad yelled, taking shit hard. Boy probably thought he was immune from such violence since coming up from the ranks. “My boys talkin’ about defectin’, and now our own people settin’ us up and sellin’ us out. Who the fuck is in charge around here, anyway?”
“Certainly not you. Now, shut your fuckin’ mouth!” I yelled, still trying to process the fact that I was going to be a father while everything else was in jeopardy. The last thing I needed was Sihad’s played-out act.
Sihad came at me, all common sense gone. Junior went to make a move, but the look I gave him held him in place. Two more steps closer and I coldcocked Sihad with the nine millimeter I had begun carrying everywhere for protection. Sometimes a direct statement was needed with insubordinate employees. Sihad added to the blood on the floor of the warehouse with his own, the fresh gash on his forehead spewing a fine mist.
“You’s a weak-ass bitch, yo!” Sihad cried out from the floor, where he held his bleeding face. As I raised the gun to strike him again, Junior kicked him, eliciting a yelp from Sihad, like a wounded dog being punished by his owner.
“You lucky my pop likes you, or I’d put a bullet in your head!” I yelled.
“We lost Pablo, now Lou. Control yourself before you join them,” my brother warned, towering over our mouthy lieutenant.
Then things got even worse as three new visitors entered the garage. It was unsafe for him to be here, but LC walked in anyway, with two bodyguards shielding him. The bodyguards refused to put their guns away until absolutely certain there were no threats around.
“What the hell is going on here?” LC asked, noticing that Junior was pulling Sihad up off the floor.
The shop fell silent. We were all too embarrassed that things had devolved to this point, that we had let down our leader. We solemnly moved aside as Pop took slow, deliberate steps toward his brother’s body.
He knelt down and placed his hand on Lou’s heart. The little brother who had come up in the game beside Pop was now lying motionless in front of him. In a low voice, Pop spoke somber words of parting. It was a sentimental side of our father rarely witnessed by any of us.
“Who did this?” Pop finally asked, still on a knee. He kept his head down, depriving anyone of the opportunity to see the pain that had to be etched on his face.
“We don’t know,” I said, embarrassed to have been saying that way too often these days.
“Oh, I think I do. Dash was right,” Pop said, his voice cracking under the strain. The sound of it had me fearful of what was to come. “No more. No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he chanted, his words sounding like drumbeats to a war slowly building.
As Junior tried to console Pop and convince him to go back home, I stepped away to place a call.
“Yo.”
“Where are you?” I asked Paris.
“On the ground. Palm trees, sunshine, and movie stars. Oh, Crips and Bloods too. La-di-da.”
“You got him yet?” I followed up, cutting through the fluff.
“No, but I’m on his trail as we speak,” she answered. I heard car noise in the background.
“Hurry. Uncle Lou’s dead and Pop’s about to go scorched earth. If you don’t get him soon, Rio’s gonna be collateral damage.”
Harris
 
42
 
“I want you to reach out to the Italians again,” LC said after summoning me to his office at the dealership.
“Me?” I asked, incredulous. “I’m just—”
“Part of this family,” LC said swiftly. It took a moment for his words to sink in and for me to understand that he was saying I was part of
this
family, not theirs. With everything that had been happening, it was normal for a little paranoia to be creeping in, wasn’t it?
LC continued, “And they think they have some kind of connection with you, so let’s use it. Thank them for reaching out.”
“Okay,” I said, trying not to sound hesitant. The last thing I wanted to do was spend more time in the company of Sal Dash and his Mob associates.
“There’s more,” my father-in-law said, motioning for me to make sure his office door was closed firmly and that no one was eavesdropping. I should have known that wasn’t all he wanted of me. There was always more when it came to LC and his orders. “We’re about to move on Alejandro’s organization through our California affiliates.”
“Really? I mean... at a time like this? A war on both coasts? If this spills out onto the streets and the general public gets wind of this, it will be disastrous. We’re talking about everything you’ve worked so hard to build going up in flames,” I argued, doing my best to make him see the downside of this course of action without pissing the man off.
“You think it’s still about my shipment, Harris? It’s not. Lou’s dead. They killed my brother. Took him out in a drive-by. And they almost got Junior. Now they’re going to kill Rio—if they haven’t already. We’re already beyond disaster, boy.”
“Are you sure it’s the Mexicans? Alejandro and them?” I asked, needing to hear it.
“Yes. What Dash was saying makes sense, as much as I hate to admit it. If I’d had that info earlier, I would’ve never sent Rio to L.A.”
I had never seen LC second-guess a decision before, but I had a sense that was what was going on as he dropped his head and went silent for a second.
When he looked up again, he said, “The Mexicans have been playing us for fools all along, while slowly working the edges of our organization. Pablo probably had some deal with them that ended when he got cold feet or outlived his usefulness.”
If they were killing lieutenants, and if Pablo’s killing was tied in, then LC’s dream of getting away to Florida with my mother-in-law was now a pipe dream. This was going to take his life in years, if not through bullets.
“Do you trust Dash?” he asked me.
I hesitated, unsure what he was implying. How much could you trust a Mafia boss, especially considering the history of competition between his camp and ours? Especially when you had the history of him and me.
LC must have read my puzzled expression. He said, “You’re a lawyer. You saw the man up close. Do you think he’s a liar?”
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation this time. “But that doesn’t mean he was lying about what he said.”
“Hmm. I agree,” LC said, then went briefly silent again, deep thoughts consuming him. “I want you to assure Dash that any aggression that might spill over near their interests or within their boundaries is purely unintentional. Tell him we are looking to do business with the Italians and welcome him and his people as allies.”
“Got it,” I said as I prepared to leave. More contact was not something I wanted when it came to Dash, especially after I’d been promised absolution from my father’s debt back in Maryland. Out of sight, out of mind was how I wanted to be with Dash, but this whole mess wasn’t going to allow me that comfort.
“And another thing,” LC added as he tapped a pencil like a drumstick on his desk calendar.
“Yes?” I asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Whatever’s wrong with you and my daughter, I want you to fix it. It’s not good for my granddaughter. Nor my trust factor.”
I considered some methodical response. Maybe some laid-out, scholarly argument. Instead, after a long pause, I surrendered a simple, “Yes, sir.”
London
 
43
 
“I’m sorry about canceling the other day,” Tony said, holding me tightly. “And glad I got to make it up to you.”
“I’m risking a lot by coming here,” I remarked as I placed several kisses across his muscular chest.
He lifted my face so he could look in my eyes. “Why? Your husband suspects?”
“No. He’s too busy with his head up my father’s ass to notice. That and the bitch he’s fucking keep his mind totally off me.” I felt pitiful admitting that to him, but as usual, Tony did what he could to lift my spirits.
He joked, “Lucky for me, I guess.”
Unfortunately, I was too preoccupied to relax. When I didn’t respond to his gentle kiss, he asked, “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Family. Things are a little crazy at home—besides my marriage. Security concerns. I’m pissing a lot of folks off by ditching my detail to meet with you.”
“Whoa. Security detail?” He leaned on one elbow and looked down at me. “A rich girl, eh? I figured that with that expensive Mercedes of yours and the nice clothes you wear, but rich, like security-detail rich, I had no idea.”
“Don’t judge me.” I sighed and turned my head away from his inquiring eyes. “I would trade it all in for a nice, quiet life away from it all. Once upon a time, I thought I’d get that.”
“Maybe you still can. With me,” he said, and I felt him beginning to harden again under the sheets as he rubbed his legs against mine.
“Look,” I said, “that’s sweet of you to say, but I have no illusions about what this is between us.”
“I understand. Me neither.” He began to stroke my hair. “The last thing I want to do is cause more problems for you and your family. So, if this ever becomes too much for you to handle, just let me know. I’ll back off. I promise.”
I turned to give him a kiss. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on asking you to go anywhere. You’re the only real break I get these days.”
Mercifully, he changed the subject. “Speaking of family, how’s that sweet girl of yours?”
“Mariah’s doing fine. She’s at school right now. She still talks about you since that day, you know.”
“I was just glad I was able to render assistance, m’lady,” Tony commented in jest.
“What time is it, anyway?” I asked. “I don’t want to be late picking her up.”
“It’s early still,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder to send a subtle signal that he wanted me to stay put in the bed with him. “I’ll make sure you get there on time. What school is she at?”
“Ralston Academy.”
“Yeah,” he said, “I’ve heard of it. I think my sister was looking into that place for her kids.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Ralston was a historically black institution.
“Yeah. What’s so funny about that?” Tony asked, looking genuinely confused.
Shit. I had no intention of getting into another discussion of race, like the one we’d had about hair on our first date. And I had the perfect way to change the subject.
“Oh, nothing,” I said as I took Tony’s penis in my hand and stroked him.
“Mmmm,” he moaned with a grin, sinking into the mattress as he relaxed.
I slid beneath the sheets and took him in my mouth. Cradling his sac in my hands, I was slurping mightily, and from the sounds of appreciation above, I knew I was doing my job right.
I heard Tony’s phone vibrate and felt his body twist and shift on the mattress as he reached out to retrieve it. I kept sliding my wet mouth up and down his shaft, daring him to try to hold a conversation while I sucked him.
“Hello?” He tried to move to exit the bed, but I purposely let him feel the slight grazing of my teeth on the tip of his dick—my way of telling him to stay put. I gripped the sides of his hips and went at it with no hands. I bobbed my head as I sucked his dick even harder, playfully trying to fuck with his concentration.
“Thanks. We appreciate that. Um ... when? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. No ... I’m fine. I’ll check with my boss and let you know about his availability.”
“What’s her name?” I asked, poking my head out of the sheets as he ended the conversation.
“No, it’s not another woman. Just business. One of the prospective stores we’ve been courting for expansion wants to meet with my boss again. I think we’ve come to an understanding.”
“So it’s good news?”
“Yeah. No
... fuck
yeah,” he said, correcting himself with a big grin similar to some of the joy I’d brought to his face before. “Our plans are really coming together.”
“Then why did you sound like you wanted to get off the phone?”
“Uh, because you were sucking my dick. Some things are a little more pressing—and a lot more satisfying,” Tony said just prior to flipping me over and penetrating me again with that wonderful dick of his.
And for an hour longer, I was free of the violent specter of death hovering over our family.
A part of me wanted to check Tony’s phone later, to view the number and see if he was lying to me, as Harris had done repeatedly. But then I realized it didn’t matter. Like I said, I had no illusions about this particular relationship. Worrying about the fidelity of one man was enough for me. I would keep this fling simple: no questions asked and no worries. Just what I needed.

Other books

Beerspit Night and Cursing by Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli
Pure by Baggott, Julianna
John Fitzgerald GB 05 Great Bra by Great Brain Reforms
A Dragon's Egg by Sue Morgan