In My Hood (17 page)

***************

Ishmael collapsed on top of her after their second time making love. He was a thoroughbred that day. He never was able to go that long with Zola unless he had been smoking weed and drinking.

He lay on his back, and Desiree curled up in his arms. He realized why he’d never lasted as along with Zola. It was because he fucked Zola, but he made love to Desiree, and that was the difference.

His cell phone had rang several times when they first got to the hotel but he let it ring and then finally turned it off. He wanted to spend quality time with Desiree, and that he did.

T
he mayor drove his classic mint-green convertible Mercedes SLK32 with the butterscotch soft leather interior into the parking garage. He pulled into the space marked reserved—mayor only. He sat behind the wheel staring at the cement wall. He didn’t get a wink of sleep the night before, thinking about all the fiascos that could possibly happen. He tossed and turned until his wife asked him to go sleep on the couch. She had an early morning court appearance scheduled, and he was causing her to lose sleep.

Just two stories up in a conference room located in the rear of the building, Arnold Bowen and a man were sitting at a table.

“So do you understand what predicament this puts the mayor in?” Bowen asked.

“Yes, I do,” the unidentified Hispanic man said.

He was a hit man Bowen had used in the past.

“Will it be a problem for you to take care of this issue?”

“If the price is right, no, it wouldn’t be a problem,” the Hispanic man said.

“Good.” Bowen stood to his feet. “Is the price still the same?”

“No.” The gentleman laughed. “No way, not for this one.”

Bowen looked at the man with strange eyes. “What the hell is so special about this punk? Why does everyone seem to walk on their toes when it comes to this ass wipe? What the hell kind of a kid is he?” Bowen shouted.

The visitor continued to laugh. “He’s your worst nightmare in disguise. He’s like a thief in the night. You will never see him coming until it’s too late. Besides, I owe him one.”

“You owe him one? Do you know this punk?”

“Let’s just say we loved the same woman,” the hit man stated.

“So your revenge is over a woman?” Bowen asked, confused.

“Not just any woman. She was my sister.” The man stared off into space.

“Was your sister?”

“Yeah, he killed her. Her name was Sasha.”

***************

The elevator doors opened, and the mayor stepped off. He seemed to be staring off into space as he walked through the corridors of City Hall.

“Good morning, Mr. Mayor,” a woman said.

He gave her a slight smile and gracious nod.

“Morning, Mr. Mayor,” a gentleman said, passing by.

“George,” he responded.

He walked by his secretary, not acknowledging her. He sat behind his huge desk. He grabbed the pen that sat there and began to tap it on the desk like a drum before snatching up his phone and dialing a number.

“Hello.”

“Leroy, are you in your office?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“You’re slumming today?”

“Just be there when I get there.” He disconnected the call.

Twenty minutes later the mayor was sitting in Leroy’s office in the rear of the pool hall.

“Leroy, I’ve known you for many years,” he said, loosening his tie. “I was the snot-nose kid you use to hand twenty-dollar bills to when you came into my father’s car dealership. I used to think you were the cleanest cat I’d ever seen. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me in the past. Now that I’m in office, you and I have been doing business for quite some time. You’ve scratched my back, and I’ve scratched yours.”

“Where you going with all this, Tony?” Leroy interrupted.

“Come on, Leroy. My nuts are in a grinder right now. The governor is riding me like a bull at a rodeo. Talk to the kid. Let him know what can happen,” he pleaded.

“Tony,” Leroy sang, “he knows what can happen, and frankly, I think he’ll come out on top when this all blows over.”

“What? Are you insinuating that you urged him to do this?”

“No. I didn’t ass-inuate anything. Let me tell you something.” Leroy leaned forward on his elbows. “This kid as you call him is very much a man—a very, very dangerous man. Hell, I took a chance at what I did to him.”

“What do you mean what you did to him?”

“That don’t matter right now, but what does matter is the street credibility this young man has. He’s got a lot of respect, and respect will back him any day.”

“Listen to me, Leroy.” The mayor took off his tie and jacket. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “No more shitting around with you. Let me talk your language.” He was getting pissed. The lines in his forehead deepened. His face became flush.

“Bring it. I knew you still had some nigger in you. I ain’t believe you was a tight ass all the time,” Leroy said, laughing.

The mayor ignored his arrogance. “You were here when Sojo tried to pull that same bullshit. You saw what happened? Now I happen to know a whole hell of a lot more than you think I know.”

“Oh yeah.” Leroy chuckled, unconvinced that the mayor had anything on him. If anything, Leroy thought, he had a whole pile of shit on
him
.

“Yeah.” He smirked. “I know that kid is your son. He wasn’t Willie Jenkins’ boy; he’s yours.”

Willie Jenkins was known to all to be Ishmael’s father.

The mayor sat back and watched Leroy’s smile turn into dumbfoundedness. “Did I hit a spot, homeboy? You were fucking that boy’s mother while she tricked for Willie. When she found out she was pregnant, you told her to tell Willie it was his baby because you knew what Willie would have done to your backstabbing ass if he found out. You were supposed to have been his boy and you were fucking his bottom whore. You were always jealous of him. He had more status than you did. Even though he pimped and you was a pusher he still outshined you any day.”

“That’s bullshit,” Leroy said, not believing it was.

“Yeah, it’s bullshit alright. You two figured since you and Willie resembled that it wouldn’t make any difference what the boy looked like because Willie would believe it was his.”

“Where did you get that bullshit from?”

“That don’t matter, but what matters is that boy is your own flesh and blood. How could you be so coldhearted? You mean to tell me you would let him pay for his own suicide ticket? Leroy, you always been a greedy fuck. What would you get out of the deal if this kid dies?”

Leroy didn’t say a word he stared at the mayor like he was crazy.

“I know you care about him. I know how you nurtured him and took care of him. I also know you had something to do with Willie’s murder because he turned that boy’s mother into a junkie. You tried like hell to clean her up, but when she OD’d, you lost it. I can’t prove it, but there’s a lot of information about it. You had Willie murdered.” He pointed at him.

Leroy lit a cigar and began to perspire. The mayor knew a little too much about his secrets. He wondered what else he knew. Leroy knew one thing, he needed to maintain his cool.

“I don’t want to put any idle threats on you, Leroy.”

“Then don’t,” Leroy said.

“But—” he put his hand up to stop him—“hear me out. I just want you to know what I’m working with. That’s your son, Leroy. Don’t let him do this. Talk to him again. That’s all I’m asking,” he said, standing to his feet.

The mayor picked up his tie and suit jacket and threw them over his arm.

“Just talk to him, Leroy. Let him know this is the better way.”

With that said and done, the mayor walked out of the office.

Leroy wiped his forehead with the palm of his hand. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. The mayor was telling the truth. Ishmael was his son. Leroy was in love with Ishmael’s mother, Regina. He had had a crush on her for years. He and Willie were tight growing up. Willie wasn’t much of a hustler. He was always a ladies’ man. He was a black knight in shining armor to any woman. He was smooth and sexy. He had good looks, and he knew that he could talk a woman out of her panties any day. Willie was a well-known pimp with a lot of street credibility.

Willie knew Leroy always liked Regina. Leroy was pissed when he found out Willie had abducted her into his stable of whores. Regina was a dime piece. Every man wanted to wife her, but Willie saw her potential to make his pockets fat, so he stepped to her before Leroy had the chance.

For a long time, Leroy tried to get with her, but Willie had a tight hold on her. Willie had a lot of pull in the city, and Leroy knew it. He was jealous and envious of Willie. Leroy felt he was the baller getting major paper so he should’ve had more pull than Willie, but he didn’t. Instead of fighting against his long-time friend, he chose to creep around with his bottom bitch.

When Regina came up pregnant, they both knew it was his baby. She didn’t sleep with any man—including Willie—without protection.

Leroy remembered a time when Willie had this cat beaten to a bloody pulp because he tried to have a relationship with Regina. The dude took her away for the weekend one time, showering her with gifts, trying to turn a whore into a housewife. Once Willie found out where they were, he sent his squad out after them. Leroy was there the day they brought them back to the house. The man was near death, and Leroy almost lost his lunch looking at the condition the man was in. He definitely didn’t want that to happen to him if Willie found out that Regina was carrying his baby.

Regina couldn’t get an abortion because that would mean she would have to deal with Willie and all the questions he would ask about her pregnancy, so she devised a plan to sabotage the condom the next time they had sex. When they finally had sex, the condom broke. Several weeks later she informed him of her pregnancy, and the rest is history.

D
esiree walked into the house that afternoon only to meet Beverly sitting at the kitchen table.

“Un-huh, bitch. I see you got your cherry popped today.”

“What are you talking about, Bev?” She smiled.

“I’m talking about that big-ass grin you got on your face telling all your business,” she said, laughing.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I gotta get me some sleep before I go to work,” Desiree said, walking out of the kitchen.

Beverly hopped up and followed right on her heels. “So how was it?”

“How was what, Bev?”

“Oh, don’t play stupid. Is Ish holding or what?” she blurted out.

“Beverly!” Desiree was shock at what she just said. “Okay, you are a trip.”

“What? Ain’t no shame in my game. You should know that by now. Stop tryna change the subject because I know you was with Ish all night. And ain’t no female gonna spend the night with a nigga and not get her salad tossed.” Beverly stood with her hands on her hips.

“Oh my God, Beverly.” Desiree put her hand over her mouth. “How the hell do you know who I was with?”

“You forgot? I’m the four-one-one of the hood.”

Both women burst into laughter as they plopped down on the bed. Desiree told Beverly everything—that she had the best sex she had ever had in her entire life.

“See, I told you he was a good man. He ain’t like them other busters out there, Rae-Rae. Look at you, glowing and shit.”

Desiree smiled from ear to ear.

“So when are you gonna run his pockets and get some of that cheddar?” Beverly inquired.

“Okay, see now you know you wrong for that. That’s not why I like him, Bev.” She rolled her eyes.

The horn of Beverly’s boyfriend’s truck blew, interrupting their sister-girl conversation. Beverly dashed to the window.

“I’m coming,” she yelled out.

“Okay, Rae-Rae, I’ll see you later, and trust we will finish this conversation.” She pointed at her in a motherly way.

“Bye, Beverly.” Desiree waved. “Oh, Bev!”

“What now?” Beverly turned around.

“Leave the door unlocked. Ishmael is coming over.”

“You ain’t get enough last night?” Beverly smiled and walked out.

Desiree lay across her bed and gazed up at the ceiling with a smile on her face. She was indeed happy. She loved Ishmael, and he told her he loved her. He was right. You can show a person your love without using words. She began to relax and sleep took over.

“D
rop your weapons,” security yelled.

“No, you drop your fucking weapons,” Bilal yelled back.

Desiree began to get nervous. She knew then that they were not going to come out of the situation alive. If she would have just stuck to the plan, they would have been long gone. She had messed up, and she knew it.

Harry’s laughter roared from the office.

“Oh yeah! Now what you gonna do?” he shouted.

Desiree’s hand began to shake, losing the firm grip she once had. Her mind began to race thinking of a way out of the situation.

Both the security guards were cock diesel and clearly weren’t backing down. Someone had to make a move first.

It seemed like it all happened in slow motion. Bilal capped off into the head of the security guard who stood in front of him. The large man fell to the floor hard. The other guard looked down at his dead friend when Desiree snapped out of her stupor and kicked the big man square in the nuts.

He growled a body-shivering yell and grabbed his crotch. Bilal grabbed Desiree by the arm, and they bolted for the steps. They could hear Harry’s assistant and Harry screaming as they ran.

They ran through the bowling alley as onlookers watched. Making it out the rear entrance, they escaped through the alley and onto the side street.

They removed their masks and ran for their lives. A cab drove past them, and Bilal flagged it to stop. They jumped in, ducking down.

Breathing heavily, they both slowly looked out the rear window of the cab, seeing if anyone was coming. No one was in sight, and they both lay back onto the seat. Desiree’s mouth began to water. She rolled down the window and leaned out to throw up.

Bilal instructed the cabbie to take them to a local motel. They checked in and headed for their room. Once inside Desiree raced to the bathroom and threw up again. Her stomach was nervous. She had never done anything like that in her life. She would have never thought of robbing anyone in all the years of her life, let alone actually committing the crime. The day Roc and Tracey were killed in their apartment reappeared in her mind.