Deception's Playground (11 page)

She looked down at her
feet. “I just think this shit is gettin’ out of hand.”

“It’s all good,” I told
her. “We never had this conversation.” I looked at her, waiting for her to
reply.

She finally did.
“Right, right. We never had this conversation.”

I saw fear in her eyes.
“A’ight,” I said, then got up to leave. But she tried to stop me, tears welling
in her eyes.

“Spade, tell me you’re
not going to hurt Sonya.”

“Nah, I ain’t gon’ do
nothin’ to that bitch.”

“Please don’t. She
don’t know no better,” Nicole pled.

“I know.”

“Thank you, Spade.” She
hugged me.

“It ain’t shit.”

She kissed my neck and
my dick got hard. I think it was her kisses and her good-smelling hair. She
felt my erection and dropped to her knees, as I stood against the door. She
tugged my sweatpants down and took me in her mouth.
The nerve of this bitch.

I grabbed the back of
her head, loving the warmth of her mouth. She sucked my dick like her life
depended on it. She looked up at me and winked.
Silly bitch, I’m not
flattered.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the level of deception they tried
to play on me.

I pulled my dick out of
her mouth … and I smacked the shit out of her.

She held her sore jaw
as I left.

“Spade, what’s wrong?!”
I heard her yell.

It was Sunday morning. Last night I
found out my nigga was an insect, a parasite. He had to be crushed. Nicole and
Sonya would also be victims.

I sat at my kitchen
table eating Frosted Flakes. Pissed. My phone rang.

“Yeah?” I answered.

“What’s up, baby?”
Casey said.

For some reason I felt
relieved every time I talked to her. “Chillin’. What’s good?”

“Nothin’. You’re truck
will be ready tomorrow.”

“That’s what’s up. Tell
him I’ll call tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay. I’ma be goin’ to
Miami today, too,” she slid in.

“Vacation?”

“Somethin’ like that.”

Her shortness bothered
me. “Somethin’ like that?” I echoed.

“My cousin Sparkle had
been askin’ me to come down there. So I’ma go chill wit’ her for a couple
weeks.”

“That’s what’s up.
Enjoy yo’self, and call me when you land.”

“Will do. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Ace walked in shortly
after I hung up. He came to the kitchen table and sat down.

“What’s goo, big bro?”
he asked.

“Talked to Nicole last
night,” I said seriously.

His demeanor changed
with mine. “What she on?”

I gave him the rundown.
Told him everything, damn near verbatim. He was beyond pissed, ready to kill
something. I wanted to kill Duece but Ace insisted he do it. It was personal
for the both of us.

My phone rang again. It
was OG Casa.

“What’s goin’ on, OG?”

“I gotta holla at you,”
he said.

“Come through. I’m at
the house.”

“I’m pulling up. Open
the door.”

Ace opened the door for
him. I took a seat in my living room, as OG Casa walked in. His full beard
nearly masked his dark-skinned face, bringing attention to his sleek bald head.
He wore a two-button Salvatore Ferragamo suit and his boots were Ferragamo too.
Sharp as always. He sat down, looking like he had something on his mind. Ace
sat next to him.

“Now don’t overreact.”
He looked at me. “But I know for a fact Kutz put a hit on you.”

“Get the fuck outta
here. Kutz?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah. He said he
didn’t want you bringin’ his organization down.”

“What the fuck he mean
‘bring his organization down’?”

“I don’t know. But I’m
on it. Got a couple of my people ready,” he said.

“I been fuckin’ wit’
Kutz for years. Never crossed him. And he tryna rock like that?” I was boiling
with anger. Too much was going on.

“We gotta be smart
about this,” said OG Casa. “Dude ain’t a joke. But he bleeds like we bleed.”

Ace was quiet, very
attentive.

We talked about
different ways to eliminate Kutz. I included Duece, Sonya, and Nicole in that
process of elimination. Shit needed to get handled. I’d been out of prison for
five years, had a nice amount of money, ready to legitimize my hustle. And here
I was conspiring to kill.

But it was necessary.
No question.

***

I called Jamie. I told her I had someone
trying to get a couple of bricks. She was a simple woman. I told her that me and
Duece were not talking but I still had love for him and wanted to see him
eating. I told her she couldn’t tell Duece that I had the move for him. His ego
would get in the way.

“Okay, okay,” an
excited Jamie said. “I promise I won’t tell him.”

I guess she assumed
more money for Duece meant more money for her. I gave her a number to a burnout
phone Ace had. Duece didn’t know the number. I told her to call that number at
eight.

***

Ace and OG Casa had been gone for a
while. I was still at the house and had made plans to meet Lisa at her house at
seven. It was five-thirty. I was chilling, sipping Remy.

I was startled by a
loud knock at my door.

Looking out the
peephole, I saw two detectives. One of them looked familiar. I opened the door.

“Spade, long time no
see,” the pale-faced officer said. He had a devilish grin on his face. One that
was too familiar.

It was Detective
Kremensky. The other one I’d never seen before. He looked younger than
Kremensky, the asshole cop who used to harass me every chance he got back in
the day. And he was the one who apprehended me when I went to the slammer.

“What the fuck you
want?” I asked.

“You know this woman?”
Kremensky held up a picture of Tamika.

“Do
you
?” I
retorted.

“Same funny Spade.” He
smiled.

I returned his smile.
“It’s Mr. Wright.”

“I see you’re doin’
well for yo’self, Spade.”

He kept saying my
street name, trying to fuck with me. It was working.

“Good day, gentlemen.”
I tried to shut the door. He stopped it with his hand.

“This woman is Tamika
Daniels.” Kremensky shoved the picture in my face; I shoved it back. “She was
found dead behind the wheel of her car last night. Brakes went out. She hit a
light pole head-on. Going sixty miles an hour.”

“And?” I said.

“Her roommate brought your
name up. Said you might have had something to do with it. Said Tamika was
pregnant with your child. You weren’t happy about that.”

“You chargin’ me wit’
somethin’?” I asked.

“Just want to ask a few
questions,” the other detective finally spoke up.

“Contact my attorney.”
I slammed the door.

I looked through the
peephole again and saw them leaving.

I didn’t know what to
feel. I was happy and sad at the same time. Tamika was a cool chick at first.
Until she falsely claimed I got her pregnant. Then that bitch was a pain in the
ass. But she met her maker behind the wheel of the car I met her in. One thing
I did know was that I didn’t have shit to do with it. I called my attorney,
Antonio Puzzo.

The secretary picked
up. “Puzzo, Ortiz, and Brown.”

“Yes, may I speak with
Mr. Antonio Puzzo please?”

“He’s in a meeting. May
I ask who’s calling?” she asked.

“Have him call Mr.
Samuel Wright, please.”

“Sure thing, Mr.
Wright.”

Antonio Puzzo called an
hour later at six-thirty. I was relieved.

“Sam. What’s up?”

“Kremensky and his
sidekick popped up at my house,” I said, “talkin’ ‘bout I had somethin’ to do
with a car accident last night. The bitch died.”

“Details?” Puzzo asked.

“Her name is Tamika
Daniels. Brakes went out on her car and she hit a light pole.”

“Your whereabouts?”

“Red Roof Inn on
Noland. I got there at about ten. I left at about eleven or so. Went straight
home.”

“Okay. Let me look into
this. I’ll see what time the accident occurred. See if I can get the footage
from the hotel also. I’m assuming they don’t have enough evidence to charge
you. So don’t worry, and don’t say shit to the cops.”

“A’ight man, get this
shit taken care of,” I stated.

I felt a little better
after talking to Puzzo. I knew he would handle his business. There was another
knock at my door. It was OG Casa again. I let him in and we sat at my kitchen
table.

“I talked to my people,
Spade. They said Kutz definitely has a couple of hitmen on you.”

“So how do we eliminate
Kutz?” I couldn’t believe what was happening. “We still haven’t come to a
conclusion.”

“I know, I know. It has
to be well thought out.” He rubbed his beard. “Kutz is a very careful man. But
I’m workin’ on somethin’.”

“So what’s up wit’
these so-called hitmen?” I asked.

“Not ‘so-called.’ Real deal.
Two Mexicans from Arizona.”

“Arizona?” I said out
loud.

“Yeah. So keep yo eyes
open.” He gave me a serious look.

“I seen a couple
Mexicans sittin’ two houses down the other day. Arizona plates.”

“What were they
drivin’?” OG Casa asked.

“Gray ‘Lac,” I told
him.

“Okay. Let me run that
by my people, get the four-one-one.”

The “people” OG Casa
spoke of were Russians he did business with, a relationship he’d had for over
twenty years. He had a lot of connections.

“Just get back wit’ me
and let me know,” I said. “I’ll tell Ace the latest when I see him.”

“Okay, nephew. I’ma go.
Be careful.”

Then he got up and
left. I felt nervous, prepared, and under-prepared at the same time. OG Casa’s
lady friend was meeting Ace while he was over. She dropped off some hardware to
him. A gift from the Russians. I called Casey and told her I needed to use her
spot while she was out of town. I had to lay low until this shit blew over.

I told Ace to meet me
there. Casey didn’t stay that far from me. I was there in a hot one. Ace pulled
up shortly after. He put the hardware up, grabbed what he needed and was right
back out the door.

***

“So where you wanna go
eat, baby?” Lisa asked. We were in her front room.

“It don’t matter. Let’s
go where you wanna go,” I said, admiring her body.

“Okay, come on. I’m
driving.”

We headed out of her
front door and jumped in her black BMW. It was a nice two-door. Sexy, like her.
She decided to go to Applebee’s on 63
^rd
Street. It didn’t matter to
me.

At about
eight-forty-five we arrived there. I knew Ace would be meeting Duece at nine. I
had to be somewhere that had cameras. Lisa probably thought it was just a nice
night out. It was far from it.

A chubby-cheeked
hostess with a warm smile led us to a table, where we ordered our food and had
small talk. Lisa joked about me buying Sonya some rims for her car. She said
Sonya came in the shop bragging about her man buying her some rims. I had to
let Lisa know I wasn’t the man Sonya was talking about.

An hour and a half
passed, and I found out something new about Lisa tonight. She loved to talk. I
didn’t even have to keep the conversation alive—as I had planned to do, to
stall and waste time—because she did most of the talking. When I looked at my
phone, it was after ten.

I helped her out of her
chair and we finally left, heading back to Lisa’s place.

It felt like we were
both walking fast to get into the house. We went right at it as soon as we walked
in her door, didn’t even make it to her bedroom. Somehow we ended up on her
couch, ass naked. She was on top of me, riding me like a true professional, her
sweaty breast slapping my face.

“Damn this pussy wet.”
I looked her in her eyes and saw confusion, pleasure and pain.

“I’m cum … cumin’ again
…
shiiit!”
she cried.

Sunrays whispered through her bedroom
window and woke me up. I looked over and Lisa was still fast asleep, still just
as naked as I was. My phone rang loud as hell.

“Yeah?” I answered.
Lisa moved in her sleep.