The Union (6 page)

Charles pulled a manila folder from his briefcase and tapped Mox on his arm with it. “Somebody was there Mox.”

He spun his neck around quickly. “I don’t know what the fuck you talking about. Nobody was nowhere.”

Charles opened the folder and handed Mox a photo of a young white kid with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and a few freckles on his nose. “Billy Worsham; works the overnight shift at Stop & Shop on the weekends. Apparently, the night of said murder, Mr. Billy here went to take his break and had his little girlfriend meet him in the back lot. He was giving it to her from the back when he says he heard shots and looked up.” Charles and Mox locked eyes. “Billy says he can identify the shooter.”

“Fuck!” Mox almost knocked the folder out of Charles’ hand.

Charles took a step closer to Mox. “Mr. Daniels, we both know what needs to happen here, if you want to continue to operate on these streets. The gun charge is the least of your worries. Ballistics came back and it wasn’t the gun that Deandre got killed with.” Charles put his hand on Mox’s shoulder. “Most you’ll do on that is five. I’ll see to that, but it’s on you to handle this other thing.” He grabbed Mox’s arm, shook his hand and turned to leave. “Oh, there’s a car at the end of the lot waiting to take you to see Priscilla.”

Mox stood in the middle of the parking lot looking into the sky at a school of birds dancing through the desiccated, wintry air. He wished he could be a bird and fly away from all the trouble that was bringing him down. He wanted to know where those birds had come from and where they were heading.

SIX

The night Mox was bailed out of the county jail, he went directly to Priscilla’s apartment. It would be one of the last nights they would get to spend together for a long time. When he walked into the apartment, all the lights were dimmed or completely turned off, but the soft, angelic voice of Whitney Houston could be heard from a distance. She was singing about good love.

He entered the bedroom where Priscilla was stretched out across her queen sized bed wearing a pink, sheer, camisole top with matching crotchless panties. She was mouthing the words to the song with Whitney.

Now you're here like you've been before

And you know just what I need…

It took some time for me to see…
 

Mox stripped to his boxer shorts and got in the bed beside her. The sweet, inviting, redolent of her Estee Lauder White Linen perfume, inflamed his appetite for sex. The few days he spent away had felt like a lifetime and he desired the gentle, sensuous touch of a female.

“Did you know this was my favorite song?” Priscilla spoke softly and caressed his chest. She ran her hand down his chiseled six-pack and into his boxers.

Mox closed his eyes and let Whitney’s harmonic vocals tranquilize him. He was in a calm paradise enjoying how Priscilla slowly stroked his rod until it stiffened in her hand.

Mox lifted his head and looked at Priscilla. “My mother told me that the music you fall in love with is sometimes a reflection of your inner most feelings.”

Priscilla mounted Mox and kissed his lips lightly. “Well your mother was right.” she continued to cover his face with kisses, making her way to sucking on his earlobe.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her warm body closer to his so he could feel her vagina pulsating on his hardened muscle. Priscilla kissed down his neck and onto his stomach leaving small rivers of saliva running down his abdomen. When she went to slide his boxers off, she said. “I wanna taste you.” Mox sat up, moved down to the foot end of the bed and Priscilla got on her knees between his legs. She tugged at his dick with both hands and then she licked around the head. Mox grabbed the back of her neck and shoved himself deep inside her warm mouth.

“Ohhh…” he moaned as he watched her pretty lips slide up and down his tool. She coated his ten inch pole with loads of wetness and made a loud slurping sound while doing so.

Mox plucked at her beautiful, protruding, brown nipples with one hand and kept the other on her neck guiding her mouth while he passionately fucked her face. They stood and he lifted her 140 pound frame and buried his face in her nectarous, drippy, vagina.

“Oh, my GOD!! Baby I’m cummin!!!” She tightened her thigh muscles around his neck and choked his face as she convulsed from multiple orgasms.

Mox laid her on her back and positioned himself on top of her. He flicked her nipples with his tongue and slipped his little man inside her steamy wonderland. The fit was perfect. Priscilla reached up and grabbed Mox around his neck and pulled him in close. “I want you to do it slow…” she put her tongue in his mouth so she could taste herself. “Make love to me, Mox.” her voice was heavenly and appealing.

He carefully nudged his long, dark, third leg deeper and deeper into her swollen kitten while Priscilla clawed at his back and tensed up. It felt like he was in her stomach. Mox grabbed her face with both his hands and sucked her soft, sweet lips as he continued his slow, long stroke.

Priscilla felt his cadence increase and he dug further into her canal. “Don’t pull it out.” she whispered in his ear.

On cue, Mox’s body shivered. He sucked her lip harder and gripped the back of her head. “Priscilla… I’m ‘bout to cum.” He mumbled.

“Cum inside me baby.” She climaxed at the same time he did, and they both let out a sigh of ecstasy. They fell asleep engulfed in each other’s arms and he was still inside of her.

__________

Three weeks later, 17 year old Billy Worsham’s body was found on the Northbound side of the Sprain Brook Parkway between Scarsdale and Hastings. He died from multiple gunshots to the chest from a high caliber weapon.

He was the only witness in the Deandre Foster case and now he was gone.

The Westchester County D.A knew they could no longer charge Mox with murder, so he pled out to a firearm possession and was promised 6 years at sentencing, which would be in April.

Mox felt the pressure of being caged as his sentencing day grew closer. He definitely wasn’t looking forward to being locked away and he had even thought about running.

Priscilla’s hands were shaking as she held the steering wheel and pulled into the county courthouse parking lot. She wanted to stop the car and wail like a two year old baby, but she had to be strong for Mox. She had to prove to him that she could keep the foundation secure and step up as his woman. It was already embedded in her mind that she would continue to stand by his side during the entire sentence; whether it was six days or six years.

“What are you thinkin’ about?” She asked, taking the key out of the ignition.

Mox sat up in his seat and put his hand on Priscilla’s thigh. “You,” he answered.

“What about me?” She placed her hand on top of his.

Mox leaned over and kissed her delicate lips. “I love you,” he whispered.

A single droplet fell from the well of her eye and Mox wiped it. He touched her forehead with his lips and told her, “I’ll be right back. I gotta take a piss.”

“Mox… in the parking lot? What if the police see you?”

“What they gon’ do, take me to jail??”

Priscilla couldn’t do anything but smile; Mox’s sense of humor was one of the main reasons she loved him so much.

She sat in the car and waited for him to come back.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Priscilla sat in the car for seven hours staring at the corner, hoping Mox would step out of the shadows at any given moment, but he never did. That day would be the last time she saw Mox Daniels for a long time.

He managed to evade the law for a whole year without incident. They finally caught up to him in Randolph County West Virginia, living in a trailer, tucked off deep in the woods. He was extradited to New York and sentenced in Westchester County court to six years; all to be served in a state correctional facility.

Upstate Correctional Facility – Franklin, NY (THE SHU)

After serving 3½ years in Clinton Correctional Facility, Mox was moved to Upstate Box because of a tier three disciplinary ticket he received for contraband. His cell had been the target of a shakedown and the C.O.s found a homemade shank taped to the bottom of his toilet. Usually, he would have been charged with a third degree felony, but the hearing- judge was lenient and all he did was take away Mox’s good time and give him a year and a half in the box.

The day Mox was transferred from the county jail to the state prison, was one he would remember for the rest of his life. He knew from the time he stepped foot off the bus that he was in a different world.

2010…

The SHU (Special Housing Unit) Aka “The Box” is where the state housed it’s most vile inmates. Inmates were sentenced to time in the box, because of a fight or possessing some sort of contraband.

Mox had been in “The Box” for over 500 days, confined to a 9 ½ by 12 ft. double-bunk cell for 23 hours a day. The beds were two steel ledges bolted into the wall and behind them, a steel door which leads to the recreational yard that was about the same size as the cell. It also had a small writing table, some storage space and a shower on the left side. Everything was controlled by the staff from the outside.

During his whole time in Upstate, Mox never had a cellmate that he got along with. They were too loud, too dirty or too tough and not one of one of them lasted more than two weeks. It didn’t matter how big or how small they were, none of them could fuck with Mox.

With nothing but time, he sharpened his hand skills along with his mind by shadow boxing and practicing meditation. His whole day was scheduled to a tee. He slept for 6 hours, read for 12, meditated for 5 and went to recreation for 1.

It wasn’t until his last ninety days, that Mox was finally placed in a cell with someone decent.

It was 49 year old Priest from Yonkers, New York. He was serving a 13 year sentence for a jewel heist he pulled in 1998 and he only had a year left. The papers say he got away with 3 million in diamonds. The police only recovered diamonds totaling 1.5 million.

Priest was 6’3, 290 pounds, dark skinned and in superior physical shape for a man his age.

Mox took a liking to Priest as soon as he stepped through the gate. It was the aura. His cell was clean. Everything was in order, nothing was out of place and it didn’t reek of dirty socks and underarms.

They built a connection, and for the first time, Mox could honestly say he found a friend in Priest. All day they would talk. It got to a point where Mox was no longer afraid to share the repressed thoughts of his past. He got a chance to express himself and he wasn’t worried about being judged.

One ironic thing they had in common was both of their fathers were taken from them at an early age. It was something they could talk about for hours at a time.

The days passed with ease, and the time came for Mox to make his return back into the world. It was a bittersweet feeling leaving someone that you had just gotten to know, someone you admired, but Mox had a whole life ahead of him and he still had unfinished business to take care of.

He thought about all that was going on in the world and the blessing of a second chance he had been given. He reminisced on the promise he made Casey in a letter he scribed two years ago.

I promise I’ll be there when you get drafted to the NBA.
He wrote.

And he was going to be able to keep that promise.

“Daniels on the discharge!” The C.O yelled.

Mox shook Priest’s hand and gave him a brotherly hug. “I’ma see you when you touch the streets. Be safe in here.”

Priest held his hand firm. “Mox, can I ask you a question before you go?”

“Of course, old man.” Mox shot a playful left jab at Priest’s abs.

“Seriously,” he looked directly at him. “If you find him, what you gon’ do to him?”

Mox stared, and for the first time, he noticed the color of Priest’s eyes. He was drawn to them because they were almost identical to his, maybe a shade or two lighter. He grinned, knowing what Priest was talking about, but he wasn’t expecting a question like that. He thought about it for a second.

“First, I’ma ask him why? And then…” the fire in Mox’s eyes flickered. “I’ma kill him.”

__________

While Mox was locked away, Cleo was playing football and was considered one of the best defensive linemen in the country his senior year. Colleges across the US were scouting the Daniels boy and success looked like a foreseeable destination. A few months before his senior year at high school came to an end, Cleo was awarded a full ride scholarship to play football at Syracuse University. He committed and went on to gain national exposure.

His sophomore year was outstanding. He led the ACC in tackles and sacks which caught the eye of an NFL scout for the New York Jets. Cleo was destined to become a professional superstar, but his uncompassionate outlook on life hindered his decision making and he chose to indulge within the wrong circle of associates.

Ninety days before the 2006 NFL draft, Cleo got shot in the back of his head at a birthday party he attended on the lower East Side of Manhattan. He was seconds away from a flat white line and a pair of pearly gates. He was knocking on the door, but it wasn’t his time to arrive.

Cleo was admitted into the Westchester County Medical Center where he slept in a coma for five and a half months. His lifelong dream of becoming an NFL superstar had faded like smoke clouds in a gusty wind.

After a full year of recovery, Cleo's speech, sight, and limbs were almost back to normal. Although he had to learn how to talk and walk all over again, his determination fueled his work ethic and he redeemed himself, getting back to his feet as if nothing ever happened.

Cleo had come to the realization that his football career was no longer a possibility. It took a minute, but he finally accepted it.

He trained his body daily, going to the gym four days a week. At the time of the shooting, he was an agile 275 pounds and then after surgery he lost 60 pounds, but gained that back plus more during his rehab. He was naturally a big kid, not to mention, he was light on his feet.

Once he gained his confidence back, Cleo started bouncing at nightclubs, mainly in the Bronx and Manhattan area. He built his rep throughout the club scene as the nigga you did not want to bump heads with.

To be so big, Cleo's knuckle game is sharp as a thorn’s needle. His temperament is reckless and his attitude is reluctant. Additionally, he’s disrespectful when it comes to women. In his warped mind, he believes that they enjoy it and the foul part is he treats his mother no differently.

Cleo’s notoriety grew quickly and he built connections with some big names in the drug game as well as the entertainment industry. He was still unsettled about not being able to play professional ball, but the underground way of life seemed to satisfy his cravings.

__________

It was May 2010 and Mox had only been home a month, yet he was already living a lucrative lifestyle. He aligned his old crew from the car wash and went back in business. Quickly, he realized things weren’t the same as they had been 5 years ago. He no longer had the connection he once cherished, and a piece of his heart was still missing.

Mox had grown up in prison. He became bold and completely certain of himself. The air he exuded was of a boss and those qualities were the ones Cleo recognized while they were growing up. He was afraid of them.

 
Mox was back in control of his own situation, in command of his own destiny and governing the fate of others. He was beginning to take full advantage of the distinctive qualities God had given him and those countless hours he spent alone gave him the time to reflect on how everyone around him had an impact on his life.

He sometimes pondered the hostility of his own cousin. The resentment was clear cut in Cleo’s actions, speech, and disposition, but as they grew older he had learned to disguise it and shadow a lot of his true feelings. Mox hadn’t considered Cleo to be at threat, and so he brushed it off as a small thing and remained loyal to his family.

One of the reconnections Cleo made was with his old high school teammate, Mikey T at a night club he was working. After they talked for most of the night, Cleo found out about Mikey's family, the Telesco's. He knew who they were and what they did. He had recently done some work for Mikey's younger brother, Vito, but at the time he didn't make the connection.

The Telesco's ecstasy ring brought in millions a year. Their only problem was that the labs they had set up were in low income housing areas because they didn't want them in their own communities. It’s called product placement, but in doing this, it left them open to stick-ups, murders and problems with the local dealers in those areas.

Mikey T asked Cleo if he could align a protection crew for a new lab they were setting up in the Bronx and that's how the business venture was born.

After seeing that Cleo's crew was official, Mikey brought him to meet his father, Vinny Telesco—aka—The Old Man.

Vinny took a liking to Cleo immediately. He'd been hearing nothing but great stories of his truth and loyalty. So much so, that he negotiated a percentage of the gross amount from every lab to Cleo, as long as he could assemble a protection crew and put an end to all the robberies and violence around the locations.

That's exactly what Cleo did, but in order for it to be done right he needed his cousin Mox to run the business. Although he was opposed to once again riding in his shadows, there was clearly no other choice in the matter if he wanted to be successful in this venture. He sucked it up and dealt with the circumstances the best way he could.

And together they formed
“The Union”
.

Structured identically to the American Labor Union, Mox arranged an organization of four Union Rep members, not including him and Cleo. The common goal is to band together and create better working conditions for employees.

Negotiations such as wages, rules, complaint procedures, hiring, firing, benefits and workplace safety are discussed through labor contracts. If a worker has a problem or a concern, he/she is to inform the elected Union Rep of that borough.

From there, a meeting would be set up and the Union rep would present the information to Cleo and Mox, and they would come to a mutual agreement.

Each lab employs eight workers; five in and three out. Two chemists to mix and administer the drugs to create the ecstasy, one engineer controlling the compressor machine which produces up to 500 pills every three minutes and two assembly line workers, usually females, to bag up the bundles which consist of 1000 pills per bag. The other three employees are armed guards patrolling the outside areas of the lab.

The rules are strict and enforced in the common area around lab sites. The Union rep's job was to make sure everything ran according to plan. If not, they would have to face Cleo and Mox, and the outcome of that was never a good one.