A Gangsters Melody (14 page)

When we reached the apartment I was pleased to see that there were already 5 cars full of soldiers parked out in front. Ready to hang on my every word, and put their lives on the line as soon as I raised my hand. The truth of the matter is, the gorilla mentality was not my way of thinking. I was more of a businessman. See even though hustlers ran through my bloodline, I inherited this business.
I was away at college getting my degree in law while my dad and three older brothers ruled the streets of New York with an iron fist. Drugs, murder, prostitution, number running, you name the hustle and they had it on smash. That was until they got caught in the biggest sting in NYC history and all sentenced to life with no parole. Up until then I was always shielded from the lifestyle that they lead, and because I had a different mother than the others no one really knew I existed. My pops said it was for my own protection. And while he pushed for me to stay in school because “somebody in the family had to be legit” as he put it, I was still shown the ropes during visits.

It was shortly after the sentences were handed down that my dad requested for me to visit him. It was then that he asked me to take over the family business. He said that even though I was doing my thing in school, I had been groomed over the years for just such an emergency. He reminded me that I had been financially set since birth and that I never needed or wanted for anything. He said he needed me to step up and take over before we lost all of our business to competitors. As much as it pained me to do so, I declined my father’s wishes. I was only one semester away from receiving my Masters degree in law. Even though I declined, my pops said he understood and urged me to continue with my schooling.

A few weeks later my dad and two of my brothers were killed in a prison riot between my dad’s crew and a rival crew that he and my brothers had put out of business. At the funeral my mom’s approached me and whispered into my ear as she hugged me. “It’s your time baby; don’t let your father down.”

Once we got into the apartment I quieted everybody down. They sounded like an angry mob ready to torch the village.

“Okay, everybody quiet down. Let’s bring this meeting to order.” I stated as they immediately came to a dead silence.

“Now trust me, nobody is more heated about this latest situation than I am. And as bad as I want to just mash on these motherfuckers, we gotta do it strategically. Now remember, we are in stealth mode. Nobody really knows who we are. It’s hard to fight an enemy that you can’t see and I want to keep it that way for a minute.” I explained, pacing back and forth to the crowd of 20 men.

“I’m saying though” Phil blurted out, before being cut off by D-Boy.
“Nigga the floor ain’t recognize you. You know the motherfuckin drill.” D-Boy said, shooting Phil a cold stare.
“Permission to speak?” Phil stated, now raising his hand.
“Go ahead nigga.” D-Boy replied.
“I’m sayin though. How much longer we gotta tap dance around these niggas? I came out here to lay my murder game down for the family and ya’ll got my guns on safety. What’s up with that?” Phil asked, as the rest of the soldiers looked on in amazement. D-Boy looked as if he was about to jump all in Phil’s shit until I beat him to it by slapping him viciously across the face splattering blood from his nose.
“Now because you new to the crew I’m gonna give you a pass just this once and let you live. But as long as you live don’t you ever question my authority or my tactics. Understand motherfucker?” I spoke calmly, yet firmly as Kevin raised his hand.
“The floor recognizes Kevin” D-Boy stated.
“What’s the next move boss? I’ve been down long enough to know that you are a mastermind at this shit.” Kevin said, taking a cheap shot at Phil.
“The plan is simple; as I was explaining to your captains. We play chess with them. Take out Horse’s pawns one at a time and then when the king shows his head, we cut the motherfucker off.” I re-iterated, to those that weren’t in the original conversation with me and my captains.
“But boss, with all due respect, we don’t know what this cat looks like either.” Kevin responded.
“Like I said, don’t worry. Once we interrupt the natural order of things around here, he will slip up and show his face. And when he does, we will be there to shoot it off. Now what I want each of you to do is shake that NY swagger off. I want you to be able to blend in with your environment. So take off the Yankee fitteds, timbs, anything that says you are from up top. I want ya’ll to start dressing, looking and sounding like these corny ass niggas. This is where the game gets interesting. Now ya’ll go on back to ya hotel rooms and wait on further instructions from your captains.”
As my army started to disperse they all came by and gave me dap and re-assured me that they were willing to die for both me and the cause. I instructed DBoy and L.V. to stick around so I could pretty much reiterate the game plan.
“Okay, so ya’ll understand the instructions right?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah fam’. No doubt. You know we got this shit covered.” D-Boy responded.
“A’ight then, ya’ll go and make sure everyone fully understands not to make a move unless they get the green light from you, and you won’t move until you get it from me. Hit me later.” I said, dapping them up as I walked them to the door.
“Yo Tray.” D-Boy said, as he stopped suddenly and turned to me.
“What’s good?”
“We gonna win this!”
“Oh nigga, I already know.” I said, hugging him and closing the door. It was time to become the chess master.

When I got home I noticed that Travon was still out with the guys. I wish I knew what was going on with him and what his reasons were for cutting the trip short. I would definitely find out later. But right now I just wanted to soak in a nice hot bath and gather my thoughts. I took my bag upstairs to my bedroom. I then entered my walk in closet and pulled out my pink and white terry cloth Versace pajama set with matching slippers. After that was laid out on my bed, I walked over to the wet bar that we had in the bedroom and poured myself a glass of wine, then entered the master bathroom and began to run the Jacuzzi. I set the digital control to my desired temperature, slipped off my clothes, wrapped my hair up in a towel and eased down into the steaming hot water.

As I sipped on my glass of wine I tried to make sense out of everything that was going on around me, from meeting Travon and the girls to the sequence of events that lead up to me being sprawled out ass naked in this 15 thousand dollar Italian marble Jacuzzi. I continued to sip my wine and figured I could either look at my situation as being extremely lucky or I was getting in way over my head. I mean I was happy and blessed to be living the lifestyle I was living. The money, clothes, and cars were great, and my salons were doing extremely well. But on the flip side, Travon was always away on business and Monica and the girls were proving to a bit more than I anticipated. I wished that my parents were here to guide me through this. I even wished that Mama Belle and I were able to get along. It was times like this that I really needed family to talk to. And although we had emotionally written each other off, I still sent her a check for $1,000.00 every month, because my father would have wanted it that way. And even though she cashed them faithfully without even saying thank you I still continued to send the money because I know she needed it.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Travon’s Porsche truck pulling up to the electronic gate on the video monitor. I was glad he was home because I wanted to fill him in on Terry’s condition and to find out what was going on with him and the boys. So I quickly got out of the Jacuzzi, dried myself off, put on my outfit and headed downstairs. I got downstairs just in time to see Travon walk through the door. I immediately panicked when I noticed his white Sean John button up splattered with blood.

“Oh my God baby what happened? Are you okay?” I asked, running towards him and thoroughly expecting him for wounds.

“Calm down baby girl, I’m good.” He said, just as smooth and calm as ever, while kissing me on my forehead.

“Then what happened Travon?” I asked still searching his body subconsciously.
“It ain’t nothing baby. I just had a scuffle with this guy who was supposed to press up the mix tapes for us that’s all.” He replied, as if it were no big deal.
“A scuffle? Travon what the hell happened?” I asked, now agitated at the fact that he would involve himself in something so stupid.
“Look Tiffany, I gave these niggas 20 thousand dollars to press up these CD’s and DVD’s. They wanted to play with my money, so I had to fly back early and show them that it wasn’t going down like that.” He said, firmly.
“Travon you are too old and way too successful to be out there fighting like one of these stupid ass gang banging drug dealers.” I snapped, scolding him for behaving in such a ridiculous manner.
“Excuse me? Yo Tiffany, you have no idea what you are talking about. Didn’t you hear me say I gave this motherfucker 20 G’s? I keep telling you that you ain’t in the backwoods of Ohio no more. Shit is real out here and you fucking with a real nigga. So please get used to it. Damn. We been together for how long now? We shouldn’t even be having this talk.” He snapped, back in a tone that I never heard before.
I decided not to be combative. Instead I removed his shirt, threw it in the trash and stormed off into the den to do some reading. I had just bought a copy of Sean Wright’s new book. His shit always relaxed me.
After about an hour or so of reading, I decided to go shopping to take my mind off of all of the bullshit that was going on. I went upstairs and put on my black BCBG sweat suit and my black Gucci sneakers. I put my hair in a ponytail and called it a day. In the midst of getting myself together, I noticed that Travon was gone again. Oh well I had too much on my mind to be stressed out over small things. I grabbed the keys to the Mercedes S-600 off the key ring and headed to the garage. Once I pulled out of the garage I was suddenly overcome with the urge to call Monica to check on her. I hit the button on the steering wheel that allowed me to voice dial any phone number in my address book. “Call Monica’s cell.” I instructed as the state of the art vehicle followed my command.
“Hey Tiff what’s up?” Monica said, answering the phone.
“Nothing much. How’s our girl doing?” I asked.
“Still no change, but I guess it could be worse.” She answered, solemnly.
“Yeah you’re right about that. Well look, I need to clear my head so I’m headed to Nieman’s. You wanna come?” I offered.
“Yeah, why not? I have been at the hospital for hours. And Lashawn left a little while ago.”
“Okay. Meet me at the back entrance in about fifteen minutes.” I instructed.
“Give me twenty minutes I just want to say a few words to Terry before I leave.”
“Not a problem. Give her a kiss for me and tell her I love her.”
“Will do. See you in a few.”
When Monica hung up, I hit the highway headed toward Nieman’s. Suddenly out of nowhere I was overcome with grief and depression. I couldn’t hold back the tears as thoughts of Terry laid up in the hospital fighting for her life ran through my mind. I prayed out loud for God to keep her safe and allow her to pull through it. But after what happened to my parents I knew that God had a plan for all of us. And if it was his will to see Terry through this then he would. Flashing lights behind me interrupted my thoughts.
“Pull the vehicle over now.” The cop yelled through the loud speaker.
Before I could wonder what I did wrong, I looked at the speedometer and noticed that I was accidentally going 95mph in a 55mph zone. I pulled the car over to the shoulder and awaited further instruction from the police.
“Driver. Turn off your vehicle and drop the keys out of the window nice and slow.” He continued to yell.
Now this was a bit ridiculous. All of this for speeding? But in any event I did what I was told. Once I dropped the keys out of the window, the two officers exited the car with their guns drawn. The driver approached my window with caution as his partner covered the passenger side of my Benz.
“Well what do we have here?” He said with a perverted look on his face.
“Let me see your license and registration.” Officer hard ass instructed me. I handed him the documents he asked for and awaited further instructions.
“You know you were doing 95 in a 55 right?” He asked.
“Yes officer, but I didn’t realize it until you were signaling for me to pull over. I apologize sir. I have a lot on my mind and wasn’t really paying attention.” I replied, trying to talk my way out of a ticket.
“Mmm Hmm. Step out of the car please ma’am.” He instructed.
I knew that this wasn’t protocol, but I did what I was told to avoid pissing this racist redneck motherfucker off. I stepped out of the car and he immediately turned me around placing my hands on top of the car.
“This car runs about $150,000.00. How does someone as young as you afford such a vehicle?” He asked sarcastically.
“I own my own business and my boyfriend is in the entertainment industry.” I answered, honestly.
“Yeah that seems to be everybody’s story now days. I’m gonna let you go with a warning but first I need to pat you down and make sure you don’t have any weapons on you.” He said, with a perverted sound in his voice.
“Excuse me officer, but in case you haven’t noticed I am wearing a sweat suit. Where would I hide a weapon?” I asked, now getting agitated.
“There’s no telling now a days.” He said as he started the pat down, running his dirty ass hands all over my ass and tits. As he proceeded to head towards my pussy area I turned around.
“Okay. Officer McCarty. That’s enough.” I stated firmly. Letting him know that I had read his name off of his badge.
“Okay Ms. Davis, you run along now and be mindful of the laws we have here in the city of Baltimore.” He said, as he walked back towards his squad car.
Now I was really pissed. With everything else I had to deal with, this racist motherfucker just put the topping on a very fucked up morning. I got back in my car and continued on towards Macy’s. Travon warned me that the city police would be on my ass every now and again because of the fancy cars that we drove. But all of our shit was legal so I had nothing to worry about. The shit was just a big inconvenience. I couldn’t wait to tell Tray what happened.
I got to the mall just in time to see Monica pulling up driving somebody’s silver Cadillac Escalade. I just smiled and shook my head. I parked not far from where she did as we both exited our vehicles simultaneously.
“Hey girl.” I said, giving Monica a hug and a kiss noticing that she looked a whole lot better than she did earlier. I wasn’t surprised though. We were going out in public, so I knew despite the circumstances that she was going to turn her swag on.
“Girl I’m just trying to hold myself together. This shit with Terry has really got me tripping. Who in their right mind would dare disrespect one of us, let alone do some shit like that? She asked, rhetorically “Well Monica, there are a whole lot of haters out there. I mean let’s be real. It’s not like we walk on egg shells with anything that we do. But I tell you what. My money is on that nigga Gerard’s wife. Ya’ll did put it on her something terrible.” I reminded her. “Yeah well the bitch had it coming. And I thought about her too. But I checked around. She is way too square to pull some shit like this. Anyway, I don’t even want to think about that shit right now. Let’s go spend a gang of money and try to enjoy the day.” She responded. Grabbing my hand and walking me towards the mall like she was my mother afraid of me getting hit by a car.
As we walked through the mall we were buying things as if money were going out of style. And in a strange turn of events, this time it was me who was doing the treating. Thanks to Travon I was in possession of three platinum American Express cards and four other gold cards that I could use at my leisure. This sure was the life. Just to think that a little over a year ago I didn’t have two nickels to rub together, and now look at me. My life was almost care and worry free. The only thing I was missing was my parents, but I get the feeling that they are my guardian angels smiling down on me and most likely the reason for my good fortune.
“Ooh girl look at this watch.” Monica said, directing my attention to the diamond encrusted Gucci watch that was in the showcase of the Gucci store.
The watch was beautiful; it had a platinum bezel and 3 karats of crushed diamonds throughout the face. As we were admiring the watch, a saleswoman walked over.
“Good afternoon ladies, I see that you are taking notice at the newest women’s timepiece designed by Gucci. Well ladies that watch retails at $8,500.00 maybe I can direct you a few stores down. There is a Guess store where I’m sure you will find timepieces a lot more in your price range.”
Monica wasted no time retaliating to the insult.
“What did you just say to us bitch?” Monica screamed, ready to jump over the counter before I interjected.