Deception's Playground (5 page)

“Don’t start this
shit.”

“So you too busy for
me, Spade?”

“Girl, fuck Spade!”
Nicole’s voice again.

“Man, tell that bitch
to shut the fuck up,” I said.

“I know you fuckin’
around on me, Spade.”

I regretted calling her
ass. “I’ll be over there in a few hours.”

“What, you wit’ yo lil’
Mexican bitch?”

I hung up on her.
How
in the fuck she know about Maria?

***

I walked in Kelly’s shortly after. The
place was packed. A few drunk women were giving me the eye. I spotted Kutz
accompanied by two Latin women at a table in a corner, and they were beautiful.
I grabbed a seat across from him and gave both girls a look and they left our
presence.

Kutz was about
fifty-two years old, but he looked a lot younger. He always wore Armani suits
and fancy shoes. I never seen him wear jewelry, though. “It’s a waste of
money,” he’d always say. He was real low-key, kept his private life concealed,
never discussed anything personal. I’ve only hear him mention his only daughter
once about eight months prior. He didn’t even mention her name. This Mexican
nigga was a mystery.

“Spade, how’s it going,
my friend?” He smiled.

“Everything’s good.
I’ma do seventeen Monday.”

“Okay. I see business
is good.”

“I can’t complain.”

“How’s Duece?”

“He straight,” I said
flatly. Kutz
never
asked about Duece.

“Duece brings a lot of
unwanted attention, Spade. He’ll bring you down.”

I looked at him like he
lost his fucking mind. But I listened, didn’t act off emotions because I’m a
thinker.

“A couple of my people
said they seen him in a club last night, downtown,” he went on. “Throwing money
everywhere, highly intoxicated. Said he got into it with a few gentlemen over a
white young lady with red hair …”

Jamie,
I thought.

“He’s hot, Spade. And
this isn’t the first time I’ve heard his name in some foolishness.”

Why in the fuck Duece
didn’t tell me?
I knew sometimes Duece could be a lil’
outrageous; he’s been like that since we were kids. I just didn’t expect him to
jump out the window for a jump-off. And I definitely didn’t expect him to be
drunk, slipping in a fucking club.

“I’ll talk to him,” was
all I could say.

“Good, good.”

We went our separate
ways shortly after that. It kind of bothered me that Kutz knew about the
altercation and I didn’t. I had to talk to Duece.

***

It was late when I walked in Sonya’s
house. Her and Nicole were watching TV and drinking.

“Don’t you ever go
home?” I asked Nicole’s drunk ass. She just rolled her eyes at me as I walked straight
to the kitchen to get my issue. I knew it was about to be a long night. Sonya
came stomping in the kitchen right on time.

“So who the fuck is
this Mexican bitch I’m hearing about?” Sonya was standing on the opposite side
of the kitchen counter.

I played stupid. “What
the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“So you gon’ stand in
my fuckin’ kitchen and lie to me?” She started walking toward me. She was so
sexy when she got mad.

I smiled. “Man, calm yo
ass down.”

“It ain’t funny, Spade.
Somebody texted my phone and said they seen you wit’ her.” She showed me the
text at the same time the volume in the living room went down. Nicole was a
nosy bitch. I looked at the number; it was the same number Casey called me
from.

“And whose number is
this?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” She
looked embarrassed. I laughed and told her somebody was fucking with her head.
I told her they wanted what she had and not to worry about it. She finally
agreed with my reasoning.

I knew I had to do
something about Casey’s ass. And fast.

I took Sonya up to the
bedroom. I had to give her some necessary loving. After I fucked her I
apologized for not being available like I should. I went and jumped in the
shower. When I got out, Sonya was sleeping like a baby. I threw on some boxers
and some sweatpants to wear around the house.

In the other bedroom, I
called Maria and told her about the move for the bricks tomorrow. When I hung
up with her I called Duece and let him know the money for the move would be in
the trash can in his garage for the re-up Monday. I wanted to discuss what Kutz
told me, but I would wait till I saw him.

Afterwards, I went
downstairs to put something on my stomach. When I made it down, Nicole was
laying on the couch ass naked, playing with her pussy.

“I heard yall
upstairs.” She moaned. “It just turned me on,
ahhh
…” I couldn’t take my
eyes away. “I see you like what you see,” she said, staring at my dick as it
hardened through the sweats.

Damn, it’s been a long
day,
I thought.

I left her there and walked
in the kitchen. That little bitch was too much. Sonya was right upstairs. As I
was searching the fridge, I heard her walk into the kitchen.

“What time you tryna drop yo car off at
the paint shop?” I asked Sonya, who was in the bathroom mirror combing her long
silky hair.

“Eight o’clock, and I
need you to drop me off at the salon,” she said.

“Well, hurry yo big
head ass up,” I joked. “I got shit to do.”

“I’ll be ready in a
minute, baby.”

For some reason she
wanted to get her car painted exactly like mine. She’d been talking about it
for the last two months. I was footing the bill. My Yukon had a simple navy
blue paint job on it, not too flashy. She wanted her Monte the same color.

Half an hour later, I
followed her to the paint shop to drop it off. After that, we pulled up at her
job and she told me Nicole was going to pick her up. She gave me a kiss and
went in the salon.

I headed to Maria’s
house. I had dropped off the other three bricks the previous day. Everything
went smooth with the transaction so I was going over to spend a little time
with her. Show her I appreciated everything she did for a nigga.

***

“I know you fuck other
bitches, Spade. As long as you keep it real with me, papi, I’ll always be here
for you.”

We’d been in her living
room talking since I walked in the door.

“I’ma always keep it a
hunid wit’ you, baby,” I said.

“I just want you to
know I love you. I don’t have to do any of this, Spade. My father will give me
anything I want. I do these things because I love you.” She was in her
feelings. “He’d kill me if he knew I was doin’ these things. He hasn’t seen
this tattoo on my back. He—”

“Damn, slow down, baby.
I feel you but it sounds like pops got some control issues.”

“He’s just protective,
that’s all. I’m his only daughter.”

“So why haven’t I met
him?” I asked. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was afraid to.
“Speak on it, baby.”

She avoided eye
contact. “He thinks I should date inside my race.”

“So he’s racist?” I
lifted her chin up and turned her face so we were eye to eye.

“He just …” She paused,
looking for the right thing to say. “He just has his ways. But he can’t control
what I do.”

We talked for a little
while longer. She told me she had been inquiring about some college courses. We
also went over our game plan for future underworld business. After she made
that last move, I had $140,000 in her safe. I took $100,000 out, secured it in
her Benz, and I followed close behind her as we went to my spot.

***

Maria was in the shower cleaning off the
magic we just performed. During the performance, my phone had rang like crazy.
I had missed calls from Casey, Ace, and Tamika.

When I called Ace back,
he said he was just seeing what was good. I didn’t call Casey back, but I did
call Tamika. I walked downstairs to my living room because I didn’t want Maria
hearing my conversation. All that “keep it real” shit would of went out the
window if she heard me talking to another bitch right after I fucked her.

“Hi, Spade,” Tamika
answered.

“What’s good?”

“Boy, you know what’s
good.”

“I didn’t know you had
kids, lil’ mama,” I said.

“I don’t,” she
countered.

“Well, act like it. I
ain’t cha boy,” I quipped.

“Okay, whatever. Can I
see you soon?”

I tested her. “I’m wit’
my chick right now. I’ma call you later.”

“Oh, so you have a
chick?”

“Is that a problem?”

After a long pause, she
said, “Uh-uh, just call me later.”

We hung up. It was
about six-thirty in the evening. Duece and Ace had to meet Kutz’s people at
eight. I knew Nicole was going to pick up Sonya so that end was covered. Maria
eventually came downstairs to join me in the living room. I told her to go to
her house and wait for my call. I was taking five of the ten bricks over there.

My shit was running
smooth. I had $230,000 put up in cash. After Duece made that move, I’d have and
additional $180,000 liquid. The five bricks I was taking to Maria’s were going
to be gone Wednesday. The other five would be gone by Friday morning.

My plan was to re-up
two more times for ten bricks each. I’d have a little over a half a ticket. I
would let Duece and Ace run the drug shit and I was going to focus on my
legitimate business.

***

When I walked in Duece’s spot, him and
Ace were separating the bricks. As I made my way to the couch, I noticed Jamie
going from the bathroom to his bedroom down the hallway.
This nigga got this
bitch here while we gettin’ this shit together?

I tried to hide my
frustration. “What’s good, fellas?”

“You already know,”
Duece said, unusually excited.

“Yo ten in the duffle
bag,” Ace told me.

“Right on, lil’ bro.
You ‘bout to bust a move?” I asked. It was more of a hint than a question. He
knew I wanted to holla at Duece.

“Yeah, bro. I’m up.” He
left the house.

My nigga Duece was a
grown ass man but he was slipping. I couldn’t let his foolish decisions
interfere with my op.

“So what’s the deal,
cuzz?” I asked.

“Tryna keep this money
rotating,” he said.

“That’s what’s up. So
what happened at the club Friday?”

He looked surprised.
And his tone bothered me. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, nigga.”

“That ain’t what I
asked, bro.”

“And who the fuck is
you? My pops or somethin’!”

“Calm down, cuzz. I’m
tryna make sure you on yo toes.”

“I stay on my toes,
nigga!”

I got irritated, and
just as loud. “I can’t tell, nigga! We don’t fonk over hoes, nigga.”

Jamie walked in to see
what was going on. The bitch was out of pocket. She looked my way, smiled, and
sat next to Duece.

“Give us a minute, lil’
mama,” I said.

She started to rise to
her feet.

“Nah.” Duece grabbed
her leg. “We done talkin’.”

Something else was on
that nigga’s mind. I just didn’t know what. We grew up together, I broke bread
with him—I was winning, he was winning. He was on some other shit right now.

I left the house
without another word.

After I secured the
bricks in my truck, I dropped five off at Maria’s. The other five would go to
Sonya’s.

***

I pulled up to Sonya’s pissed. That shit
Duece was on had me hot. I know he wasn’t stunting for Jamie.

I’d deal with that shit
at a later time. Nicole’s car was parked behind Sonya’s car. That bitch was
stopping by a lot.

Grabbing the backpack,
I headed in. As usual, they were in their night attire watching TV with cups in
their hands. They were some vodka-drinking bitches, I swear. Straight up.

I nodded my head to
acknowledge both of them, then headed upstairs. I put the bricks in the safe
and headed back downstairs. I went to the kitchen to fetch my Remy. My bottle
was kind of light in the ass. I went back in the living room and sat on the
opposite couch from Sonya and Nicole.

Nicole smiled and spoke
before me. “Who drunk all my shit?” she teased.

“You know I don’t drink
that shit,” Sonya said to me.

“I’ll buy you some
more, damn.” Nicole rolled her eyes.