Thugs And The Women Who Love Them (17 page)

“Faheem, baby, that feels so good,” she moaned, “but not here.” He started flicking his fingers over her clit faster and faster, until she started shaking and trembling and came all over his hand. He grabbed the box of tissue and wiped off his hand. He kissed her, then pulled out his dick.

“Faheem, not here. This is disrespectful.”

“This ain't no church, baby. The door is locked. Ten more minutes, Jaz. Look how hard my dick is. What am I supposed to do?”

“If you would have stopped when I told you to, it wouldn't be hard.”

“Ten minutes, baby.” He didn't wait for an answer. He put one of her legs around his waist and the other in the crook of his arm then slid his dick inside her. She let out a loud moan.

“Damn, baby. Your pussy is hot and juicy.”

“See what you've been missing,” she whispered. “Now apologize and promise me you'll never leave me again,” she said as she gripped his dick with her muscles.

“I'm so sorry, baby. I love you, baby. I'll never leave you.” He quickened up his pace. “Go ahead, baby,” he told her. “Get your shit off. I can't hold out much longer.”

Jaz held on tighter, positioned herself to get just the right amount of friction on her clit, and after about a few more strokes she was having an orgasm that came in bigger and bigger waves. Faheem emptied himself inside her.

“That felt so good, baby.” He ran his tongue over her neck. “Now we can go home.”

When they got to the house, Faheem made sweet, sweet love to Jaz all night. He kept kissing and rubbing her stomach, telling her not to worry about anything. He would always take care of his.

F
aheem's pager kept going off. Jaz looked at the digital clock. It was 5:49. The pager vibrated again, making noise on the nightstand.

“Faheem, answer that pager or turn it off, baby.” It buzzed again. “Faheem!” She shook him. “Get your pager.”

Faheem felt on the nightstand, knocking over a glass and a picture frame. He picked it up, hit the light and checked the number. He threw the pager back on the nightstand. It buzzed again.

“Faheem, who is that blowing up your pager this early in the morning? Why didn't you turn it off?”

“Don't know, baby. Call 'em for me.” He pulled the sheet over his head.

Jaz climbed over him and snatched the pager up. She went through the numbers and saw that same number was in there about ten times. She picked up the phone and dialed the number.

“Hello,” the female voice said.

“Who is paging Faheem?”

“This is Trina. Who is this?”

“This is his woman. Why the fuck you blowin' up my man's pager at six in the morning?”

“Let me speak to Faheem.”

“Like I said, ho, Faheem got a woman, so find somebody else to page. Faheem! Tell this ho to stop paging you,” she yelled and threw the phone at him.

“Baby, what's the matter with you?” He pulled the sheet off his head.

“Tell that bitch that you got a woman and to stop blowin' up your fuckin' pager!”

“Why you wake me up for this shit?” Faheem snatched the phone up. “Who the fuck is this? Trina. How the fuck you get my pager number? Naw, baby, it ain't that kind of party no more and don't tell me you ain't know that shit either.” He threw the phone back at Jaz. “Why you wake me up for that bullshit?”

Jaz hung up the phone. “Don't start no shit, Faheem.” She turned her back to him.

“Oh, so you jealous now?” He smirked, wrapping his arms and legs around her, and then biting her cheek.

“Stop playing, Faheem.”

“Baby, you know it's all about you and my baby, so don't even trip.” He kissed her on the neck and they went back to sleep.

Later on that morning the phone started ringing.

“Jaz, get the phone,” Faheem said, half asleep.

“What?”

“Answer the phone, baby.”

Jaz checked the clock. 8:12. “Hello?”

It was Micki, and she was crying. Jaz turned over on her back and stared up at the ceiling.

“Jaz, I can't take it here with Grandma. She's driving me crazy. I gotta get my own place. Can you help me out?”

“I can help you out, but Micki, you only working part-time. What's gonna happen when the first month's rent is due? What about Brian? Didn't he want you to move in with him?”

“I'm grown, Jaz. I can handle paying rent. I gotta get the fuck outta here. Fuck Brian! I'm not feeling him.”

“Put Grandma on the phone, Micki. Let me speak to her.”

Their grandmother got on the phone, yelling. “Is this Jasmine?”

“Yes, ma'am, it's me.”

“Micki is back using that shit again. She's gonna get me put out, and she gonna end up back behind bars. I keep try'na tell her, but she won't listen. She needs to go, but them children need to stay here.”

“Grandma, she ain't using drugs. I wish y'all would stop fightin'. I'm gonna help her get her own place. Can you get along for a week or two more?”

“She can't handle her own place if she using them drugs. Don't waste your money.” Jaz heard Micki arguing at her Grandma in the background.

“All right, Grandma. I'll come and see y'all later on.”

“Bye, baby.”

“Shit!” Jaz slammed down the phone.

Faheem rolled over, lifted her negligee and began kissing her stomach. He raised his head up and looked at her. “What's the matter?”

“I gotta help Micki get a place. She and my grandma is about to kill each other.”

“I don't want you stressing about shit. I'll get somebody to find her a place.” Jaz didn't say anything. “Did you hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“I'm here for you, baby.” He wrapped her in his arms and held her until she fell back to sleep.

J
az had another appointment with her lawyer. He told her that there were seventeen other people arrested in connection with the case. They were distributing the meth that she and Brett had been cooking up. Luckily for her, none of those people knew about her. But Brett knew, and he was ready to make a deal with the government. They were planning on pinning kingpin charges on Jaz. Brett's testimony, along with $12,000.00 cash and the supplies that were found at the house, were the evidence that they had against her. Jaz would be fighting a fifty-year-to-life sentence. She didn't hold out much hope for her freedom by the time she was through at the lawyer's office. At least until she found out about Brett's fate.

A week after Jaz met with the lawyer, Brett Dumont was found dead at the steering wheel of his car. They removed twenty-seven bullets from his body before his family could bury him.

With the government's star witness gone, Jaz's charges were downgraded to “conspiracy to manufacture with intent to distribute a controlled substance.” They offered her a plea bargain of eleven years. She declined. Leaving the government no choice but to go to trial.

“Faheem, did you smoke Brett?” Jaz asked when they were alone one day.

“What?”

“Did you smoke Brett?”

“What kind of question is that?” He twisted the cap off the bottled water and took a long gulp. “You know them white boys be into all types of shit.”

“Faheem, baby,” Jaz asked with tears rolling down her face. “I won't be able to handle it if we're both sitting in prison.”

“Jaz.” He massaged her shoulders. “I told you I don't want you stressing, baby. Why can't you do like I'm telling you? Stop sweating the little shit.” He hugged her. “Let me do all the sweatin'. Worry about your finals. You got two more exams and the semester will be over, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, worry about acing those, okay?” He kissed her on the lips, grabbed his keys and left.

Jaz couldn't help but stress these days. Not only was she worried about her case, but her grandmother and Micki were still arguing all the time. Grandma Rachel kept accusing Micki of selling crack out of her house. Jaz knew that Micki wasn't using again and she was glad of that. Micki was taking good care of the children and was able to get a job full time at the DMV. The only drugs she was taking were prescription pills for her depression. Still, she had to get out of Grandma's house, so Faheem found her and the kids a place in his building. It wouldn't be vacant for another couple of weeks, so Jaz was dealing with the arguments from both sides until then.

A few days later, Jaz was still stressed. She hadn't seen Faheem since he'd grabbed his keys and left the other day, though he did manage to stop by her lawyer's office and give him another thirty grand. That got the lawyer up off his fat ass, and he got the plea bargain down to five years. They said all she had to do was plead guilty to “conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in order to possess with intent to distribute, a Schedule II controlled substance.” Jaz considered the offer, but told the lawyer she didn't want to do no time since she had a baby on the way. He told her that he was working on it.

Jaz was thinking about the possibility of prison as she removed two bags of groceries from the back of her Escalade. She trucked them up the stairs to Faheem's apartment. Even though he spent most of his nights at the house, he spent his days here when he wasn't at one of his liquor stores. Since she hadn't seen him for a few days, Jaz had decided to come by and fix a dinner at his place, hoping he'd come home soon.

She got ready to put her key in the door when it opened up. Three dudes came out, each one carrying two suitcases. One of them she recognized as Buju, from the club. None of them spoke to Jaz. They went briskly past her. As Jaz went inside and carried the grocery bags to the kitchen, they came back in to get the last of the suitcases. Buju stayed behind to talk to Faheem, who also hadn't said anything to Jaz yet. She could tell it was all business up in here. She kept herself busy in the kitchen, putting away the food and loading the dishwasher until she heard Faheem walk Buju to the door and tell him good-bye. Jaz went into the living room.

“Hey, baby,” he said as he picked up two briefcases and headed to the spare bedroom where the safe was.

“Faheem,” she called after him. “Is that why I haven't seen you in three days? You been hustling?”

“Wait a minute, baby. I'll be right there.”

She didn't wait. She went right back to the bedroom where he was hunched over the safe.

“Faheem, you have four liquor stores and four check cashing places, you got a stash and I have a stash. Why are you still hustling?”

“That was it,” he told her as he stood to face her. “I'm finished Jaz, I told you I want to be retired when I turn thirty-five. I got a baby on the way. I got to pay them slimy-ass lawyers. We need a cushion. I just had that one run. You know you don't want no broke-ass nigga.” He stopped himself and came close to her. “You don't need to know any of this. Baby, I told you to let me do all the worrying.”

“Faheem, you're taking too many chances. I know you had something to do with Brett, and now you're making runs. With both of us in prison, having a cushion ain't gonna do us no good. We won't be able to spend it. They giving out fuckin' life sentences like they going out of style. We go to jail, we lose everything. Even the baby.” She burst out crying.

“Trust me, baby.” He grabbed her. “I'm through. I'm not in jail. You're not in jail. What's wrong with you?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I'm scared. I'm mad at you. I'm mad at myself. I'm stressed. Since I've been pregnant I've been on an emotional roller coaster. I miss you. Do you want me to continue?”

“I love you, Jaz, and I'll always have your back. You should know that by now.” He kissed her.

“I know that, Faheem. I'm just saying it would be fucked up if we both went to prison. And, I can't be mad with nobody but myself.”

“You got me worried. You're gonna have a nervous breakdown if you don't stop. If something happens to my baby, Jaz, I'm gonna lose it. Then, you'll have something to worry about. And you're gonna be kicking yourself in the butt. You need to relax. Let me run you some bath water.”

He filled the tub with steaming water and jasmine-scented bubbles. He took off her clothes for her and put her in the tub. He sat beside the tub and sponged her down as he tried to get her to relax a little. When she got out the tub, he dried her off and oiled down her entire body. Then he gave her a full body massage until she was finally relaxed and began smiling.

“You want to go away this weekend?” he asked her.

“That would be nice.”

“You feel any better?” he asked as he stroked the hair between her legs.

“One hundred percent better. Thank you, Faheem. You are so good to me. You know you the shit, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” He inserted one finger into her pussy and started gently probing her. “I can't believe that three days have passed since I got me some of this.”

“You slippin', Faheem.”

“I'm getting ready to make up for it. Look how hard my dick is.” He lay on his back. “Get on top, baby. I want to see how much you miss me.”

“This is how I got pregnant in the first place. Missing you and gettin' on top.” She eased down on his dick and started grinding nice and slow. Jaz let out a soft moan and they moved together, slow and sweet.

“I love you, Faheem.”

“Are you ready to be my wife?” he asked her, then started caressing her nipples with his tongue.

“Oooh, Faheem, don't make me come yet,” she moaned. It was too late. Jaz's breathing started getting heavier. She held him tight and pressed her hips into him. She kept repeating his name like it was music.

“Let it go, baby,” he told her as her clit pressed against him faster. Finally she let it go, screaming his name one more time. She held him tight, still trembling after she was done.

“Baby, answer my question. You ready to be my wife?”

“Yeah, baby, I am.”

Faheem held her close and caressed her growing stomach. His dick was getting hard, but just as he got ready to slide up in there again, the phone rang.

“Damn!” he groaned. He had been expecting a business call.

“Don't answer it, baby.” She ran her tongue over his nipples.

“I have to. I'm expecting a call at 10:00.” He picked up the phone and rolled away from Jaz. “What up?” He picked his half a blunt out of the ashtray and lit it. “For when?…What time…Naw. No can do, man!”

Jaz rolled over and started kissing him on his stomach. He ran his fingers through her hair.

Kiss me!
he mouthed while listening on the phone. She gave him a sloppy kiss, pulling on his bottom lip. Then she grabbed his dick.

“I'm not sure, man. How long?…Uh-huh.” She put his dick in her mouth. “Dayum, baby!” he said to Jaz. “Yeah, I'm still here,” he said into the phone. “Anything else? Okay, man. I'm out. Peace!”

He put down the receiver. “Shit, Jaz. This fuckin' feels good!” He grabbed her head and held on tight. He closed his eyes and tried to push his dick in as far as he could.

“Oh, shit, Jaz.” He came hard. “God damn, baby. That was some good head. Who you been practicing on?”

“Fuck you, Faheem!” She got up.

“You know I'm playin'. Come here. Don't get up!”

“I wanna take a shower.”

“Give me a kiss first.” She crawled in between his legs and he put his tongue deep into her mouth. The phone rang again.

“Damn! Can't get no privacy.” He stuck two fingers inside her.

“Answer the phone, Faheem.”

“You the one who said let it ring.” He pulled his fingers out of her pussy and ran his tongue all around them. Jaz sat up and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

Faheem spread her thighs, then leaned over and put his tongue in as deep as it would go. He brought it out and circled her clit while she talked.

“I'm fine, Tommy.” Her voice was trembling a little as she arched her back. “I'll get him. Hold on.” She placed the phone down on the bed. “Hurry baby, it's for you.” She grabbed his head. “That feels good, baby. Faster, baby. That's it. Oh, Fahe…” She came again. Faheem kissed her, then picked up the phone.

“Who dis?…Why you had to call now, man? This shit could have waited.” He watched Jaz get up and go toward the shower. “Hold on, man. I got another call.” He clicked over. “What up? Oh, hey, Angel. She in the shower…You can't wait? What's so important? A'ight, hold on.” He clicked back over to Tommy.

“I gotta go, man.” Then he clicked back to Angel.

“Angel. What happened?…Damn! Do Brian know?…God damn!…Hell, no. I can't tell her this shit. Was she that fuckin' depressed?…This is going to fuck her up. I can't tell her this shit…I'm out. Peace.” He lay back on his pillow and worried about how Angel's news was gonna hurt Jaz.

Jaz finally came out the bathroom. “Dry me off, Faheem.” She threw him the towel. “You are the shit. I can't be mad at them hos for sweatin' you.”

He grabbed her and hugged her real hard.

“I can't breathe, Faheem. What's the matter with you?”

“Baby, I got some bad news.” He kissed her forehead.

“What? What, Faheem? What happened?”

She started shaking. “Is it my mother?”

“No, baby. It's your sister. Micki.”

“Oh, God. What she do, Faheem? Tell me what she did!” she screamed.

“She took the three girls up to the fourteenth floor of your grandmother's building and made them all jump. All four of them are dead. I'm sorry, baby.”

Jaz fainted. When she woke up, she was in the maternity ward at the hospital. She had a monitor on her stomach, checking the baby's heartbeat, and an IV stuck in her arm. She remained in there for almost two weeks. They wanted to keep an eye on her and the baby, since everyone was so worried about her mental state after the death of her sister and the kids.

Faheem was able to get them to postpone her trial for six more weeks. Jaz wasn't holding up well. The doctors didn't even allow her to go to the funeral. They said it would have been too much for her. Faheem hired her a couple of nurses to stay with her during the day.

When the trial finally started, Jaz was five months pregnant. Kyra was nine months, ready to have her baby any time. The trial lasted for two weeks. The so-called jury of her peers found Jasmine Denise Taylor guilty on all counts. She was sentenced to seventeen years in Federal custody.