Honor Thy Thug (22 page)

“Dang, them dogs ate that bitch up.”

“What was she doing around here, anyway?”

“Probably delivering somebody’s lo mein.”

“Hell, nah, that Chinese ho had a real Gucci bag. She wasn’t no delivery woman. “

“That’s a shame that ol’ hag wouldn’t open the car door for her.”

I had heard the bits and pieces of conversation but didn’t put it all together until I saw Charli’s car. I stopped dead in my tracks and peeked inside the candy-apple-red Beamer. It was empty. I rushed back over to the ambulance as it was pulling off. I went over to the first police officer I saw and asked what happened.

“Who are you?” the officer, whose name was Gilliard, asked.

“I was here to meet a young lady, Ms. Li, but she never showed up.”

“Hey, Paulson! Paulson! This guy says he was here to meet the lady,” Gilliard yelled to one of the other officers. “Who is she to you?” He turned back to me.

“My attorney. She’s an attorney.”

“Well, she was attacked by pit bulls. We are not done putting the report together yet.” He handed me a card.

Whoa. “
Attacked by pit bulls? Is she all right?”

“You’ll have to call the hospital for that, sir,” Gilliard told me.

I headed for my truck, wondering how fast I could get word to Charlie Li.

•   •   •

“Mr. Macklin, good of you to call,” Mr. Li said. “I’ve been away on travel, but Kon told me of your progress and how confident you’ve been in handling yourself on all of your assignments. You’ll be hearing from Kon again. If you have any problems, he’s your point of contact.”

“No questions, Mr. Li. I’m calling because of your daughter. Were you aware that she set up a meeting with me for today? Per your instructions and our agreement I would not have to communicate with her. However, she called and said you had an assignment for me, and since you were out of the country, you gave it to her. I tried to confirm her story with you and could only leave several messages. She was supposed to meet me at one o’clock. By one thirty, when she hadn’t showed, I left. That’s when I found out that she was bitten by a dog and was taken away by ambulance. I was calling to see if you were aware of that and if the hospital had reached out to you.”

“This is the first that I’ve heard of this. Are you sure it was my daughter who was bitten by a dog?”

“I am. The police officer gave me a card with his contact info as well as an incident report number. I have it right here.”

“Give it to me.”

I did.

“Mr. Macklin, my orders to you were that under no circumstances were you to have contact with my daughter outside of my presence. But I will deal with our problem at another time. For now, I must check on my daughter.”

Before I could part my lips, the big man hung up. Didn’t he hear what I just said?
I tried to reach out to his ass.

Faheem’s cousin Rock was easy to work with. He even had a role for me to play being that he wasn’t going to allow me to do Oni myself.

“Rock, at least let me meet with him,” I said full of excitement.

“Jaz, I gotta make the initial contact. All you are doing is paying him off with a package, and trust me, that will be the last time you see him, because the package is a bad package.” Rock was killing two birds with one stone.

“Rock, I can handle this. Just set up the meeting. That’s what I’m paying you for.”

“Naw, babygirl. He ain’t gonna meet with you. The plan is, I set it up. He handles the chick. Then all you do is pay him by giving him the package. That’s all I will allow you to do. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“That’s some bullshit!” I was still obsessed with doing Oni, but Faheem deaded that issue. I even danced with the thought about finding someone else other than Rock, scrapping his plan,
and coming up with another one. But Rock said he didn’t want anything to be able to be traced back to him or me. He told me to take his offer or leave it. So I took it.

Thanks to Jaz getting her thug on, my gut instinct was telling me to move. And it never led me wrong. For real, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Georgia. Georgia rekindled memories. I was thinking Miami, Nevada, even Charlotte. But since Jaz wanted to stay in school, I’d let her decide. I would give her that.

However, I had to admit, but not to her, that it was a boss move for Jaz to make sure that Steele got handled, and it turned me on. I looked down at my dick, and it was standing straight up. I knew how to remedy that.

“Jaz, Jaz! You ain’t asleep, because I can hear your breathing. I want you to come and say hello to my big friend.” I reached over and patted her ass. She slid my hand off of her. “Jaz.”

“Nope.”

“Jaz.”

“You’re mad at me, remember?”

“I am. But thinking about what you did turned me the fuck on. See? Look at him.”

She turned over on her other side and looked. “So you are lying over here at four in the morning thinking about how I, little ol’ helpless me, took out your enemy, and now you want to fuck me?”

I liked the way she said that. My dick jumped. “No, I want you to put him down your throat, and then I want to fuck you.”

“Hell, no. Not until you apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“Yes, apologize,” she said.

I began stroking myself. “Jaz, look at him. I can beat him into submission my own damn self, but if you sit on him, I think we both would like that a hell of a lot more.”

That got her. She tossed the sheet aside, crawled over to him, and began to tease the head with her tongue. I placed my hand behind my head and closed my eyes. She moaned and then stopped. “I want my apology first.” She rose up, straddled me, grabbed a hold of him, and put him to her opening. Sliding down onto my pole, she said, “I ain’t sucking shit until I get my apology.”

“Stop talking and handle your business. It’s four in the morning.”

“I don’t care what time it is. Apologize.”

I was all the way up in her, and the shit was feeling magnificent. She began rocking back and forth at a medium pace. “You need to be apologizing to me.” She wound her hips while gazing into my eyes. The pussy was wet and hot. My dick was soaking it all up.

“Apologize, baby. Tell me that you honor my thug,” she seductively said.

“Nope.” I reached down grabbed an ass cheek and pulled her further onto my dick.

“Ummmmm,” she moaned.

“Now, you apologize to
me
. Tell me what I want to hear.” I told her.

She rode my dick a little faster. “Wh-wh-why?”

I tried to match her rhythm. “You know why.”

“But . . . oh, this is good. I’m not . . . Faheem, there, baby.” She
leaned up, placing her petite hands on my chest. She was taking the dick all in, riding it like a true jock. “Ssss . . . sorry.”

“You should be,” I told her.
Damn, the pussy was feeling good.

“Fah. . .” She was rockin’ and ridin’ hard and fast. I felt that G-spot and could tell that her clit was getting the stimulation it needed. My baby was going all in.

“Apologize, Jaz. Again.”

“I . . . sorr . . . oh, shit . . . oh . . . shit!” When she started coming, I kept going as I held onto her ass so she couldn’t get away.

She must have woken up the neighbors, because somebody was banging on the door and ringing the bell.

Oh, you talking about a good fuck? Faheem had some good dick! Over the years, I’ve learned to master that monsta and subjugate him to my command. In certain positions, I could get my clit and my G-spot freaked at the same time. And Faheem let me go in. It didn’t get any better than that. I came so long and hard I thought I was going to go into shock. I knew I was dragging my juices up his stomach as I seductively slid up to kiss my baby’s sweet lips.

“I love you,” I told him.

“You woke up the neighbors. You didn’t hear the knocking?”

“Umh. Umh.”

“You hear it now?”

There was banging. And whoever was there was also ringing the doorbell.

“Shit.” I climbed off of Faheem and snatched my robe off the
bed. I peeked out the bedroom window and saw the squad cars. I caught a lump in my throat.

“Fuck! It’s the police!” I yelled out.

“See? I told you to let me handle shit. Put some clothes on, and I will call Steve.”

“Wait, maybe they just want to ask some questions.”

“Not at five in the morning. You know how they roll. Put some clothes on, Jaz.”

I did and headed downstairs to see what they wanted. They were there to take Faheem in for questioning. His baby mama was found dead.

Trae came back from his so-called meeting with Charli wearing his poker face—and it was driving me insane. I hadn’t heard from Jameer, so I didn’t know if I should panic or not.

Trae was standing on the front porch, waiting for his ride. I was standing inside the doorway, watching him. I didn’t know where he was going, and according to his body language, I shouldn’t even think about asking.

“Do you mind me inquiring as to how long you are going to be away?”

“Not sure, but you know I’ma call you. So no need to even trip, Tasha.” His back was still turned away from me.

“I’m not tripping. I’m just wondering how long you plan on being away.” I opened the screen door. “For real, it’s no sense in going, because your side bitch is done. So I’m trying to understand why you have to go.”
Fuck
. That slipped out, and I hoped like hell
that Trae didn’t catch it. But when he turned around and cocked his head to the side, I knew it was on.

“Tasha, what do you mean, she’s done? Who is—fuck, Tasha! Do not tell me you did what I think you did!” He gritted, turning slowly in my direction.

His mood and his face turned dark. When I saw that, I eased the screen door shut and locked it. He lunged at it and tried to snatch it open.

“Tasha! Open the fucking door.” He threatened.

“No. Go be by the bitch’s bedside. You think I didn’t know where you were going?” I yelled.

“Open the goddamned door!” He looked as if he was trying to yank it off its hinges.

I walked away. Then I heard a crash and turned around, and Trae’s arm was inside, unlocking the door. My vase that I had made all by myself in pottery class was now broken up in big chunks.

Trae caught up to me, snatched me by the shoulder, and turned me to him. “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.” He shook me. “Tell me!”

When I didn’t say anything, he looked as if he wanted to cry, and that’s when I lost it. I hauled back and slapped the shit out of him. “Fuck that bitch!”

He grabbed the front of my shirt, lifted me up, and slammed me into the wall, pressing me and holding me there.

“How many times have I told you it ain’t about her? This was business, Tasha. Money, security, knowledge, business, not pussy! You fucked with the wrong bitch, Tasha. And why? ’Cause you’re scared that she’s gettin’ your dick?”

Marva came bursting through the door. “There’s a limo parked
in the driveway. And put that girl down. What’s the matter with y’all? Trae, you better get your hands off of that girl. Now!” Marva warned him.

Trae let me go, and I almost tumbled to the floor.

“If I don’t come back, make sure you tell my sons why. I can’t believe how stupid you allow some bitch to make you act. Now I don’t know what the fuck I’m walking into. You told me you trusted me, Tasha.”

“I do. It’s her that I didn’t trust!” I screamed as he walked out the front door. “She sends someone to blow up our home, and it’s fine. I sick some dogs on her, and I’m a dumb, jealous, insecure bitch. Fuck you and her, Trae! Y’all deserve each other.” He didn’t even bother to look back.

I thought about what he’d said, the reality of his words sunk to the pit of my stomach. And what if he didn’t come back? I had promised myself that I wasn’t doing any more bids with another nigga. Trae promised me that he was never going back to jail, that he was going to stay clean. The game was over for him. That’s what he said. Now this.

Walking to the limo felt more like treading through quicksand. I had my doubts about it being known that someone in my camp was responsible for Charli’s mishap, so at least I had a little time. I put my game face on as I got into the back of the limo and was thankful that I was back there alone. I didn’t know what I was walking into. My instincts were telling me that this trip wasn’t business . . . it was personal.

After about an hour, I knew it was personal when we
pulled up in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. My door came open, and a gentleman I never saw before greeted me.

They know.

“Mr. Macklin, I am Pu Chang. Mr. Li asked me to assist you this evening.”

“Assist me with what?”

“I will be taking you up to visit Miss Charli Li. Come, follow me.”

We went inside, bypassing security, and stepped onto the elevator. As we took the short ride up, I imagined Mr. Li at his daughter’s bedside and also trying to figure out his reasoning for wanting me to see her.

We walked past the nurses’ station, down to the room where one of Li’s henchmen stood. I recognized him from riding with us on the private jet. He nodded at me as I followed Pu Chang into the room.

Flowers were everywhere, on the floor, against the wall, in the window. Hell, I saw the flowers before I saw her. I walked closer to the bed. She had tubes coming out of her mouth and going through her nose, an IV in her left arm, and her right arm, foot and head were bandaged up.

“Is she unconscious?” I asked in a low tone.

“Yes, she is,” Pu Chang answered. “Luckily, they found four inches of Miss Li’s scalp on the ground and gave it to one of the EMS workers. We are hopeful that her scalp can be reattached. She has severe bites on her right hand and arm and on her left leg. There were two dogs, and we are not sure if they had been vaccinated or tested for rabies.” He stood looking down at Charli and then back at me.

I immediately turned and walked out, thinking the worst. Mr. Li was blaming me for what happened to his daughter.