Honor Thy Thug

13




TRAE

You talkin’ about Mr. Li opening my eyes to a whole new level of being in the game? I’d have to call that an understatement. In five days, I’d traveled on private jets to Mexico and Texas, and in two weeks, I’d be going to Singapore. I made a mental note to cross Texas off my relocation list.

Why? Because you don’t shit where you eat, and the Li organization had the state of Texas on lock. My job was to handle any business with the organization’s black clientele. I was now the black poster child for the Li organization. Wherever there was black clientele, they had to deal with me. My job was simply to collect money. And since it appeared to be all business people, and no block niggas, everything was cut clear and dry. I was told how much I was picking up, they would turn it over, no questions asked, no excuses. And I was picking up money by the shitload.

Throughout Mexico and Houston, the Li’s owned a string of banks called the People’s Bank. What they were running through them wasn’t shared with me. I was overly anxious to find out what was happening in Singapore. They had me open.

I was assigned to a mentor named Kon Li, who I found out later was Charli’s cousin. After a few short hours, I saw how the whole situation was going to be to my advantage. One, I had Charli in my pocket. The bitch would do anything I asked. Two, Kon Li had loose lips. Three, he was fascinated with black people. The black that was portrayed in the rap industry, hood movies, and the media. Hell, he was the blackest Chinese dude I knew next to TV Johnny the Jeweler. But best believe he didn’t act or speak that way when he was around Mr. Li.

But from what I could gather, Kon was f*cking up with the black people. At first, I didn’t know why. But when I saw how he thought he was Nino Brown from New Jack City, I knew that was where the trouble was. He was dealing with these black professionals as if they were niggas on the block. I saw exactly why they were replacing him.

“Dude,” Kon said through slurred speech. “I’m not stupid, you know. I can teach you a lot. I know they want you to replace me. But it’s okay. You know why? Because I will be getting a promotion. The Big boss is about to be even bigger. He’s about to f*ck up the whole banking system. And I’m going to help him. We about to get paid, dawg!”

Banking system? I poured him another drink. “So, I can come to you and get a loan or get some side work or what?”

“No doubt, bro!”

“School me. What I got to do?”

“Hold up. Let me holla at that chick over there. I’ll be right back.”

We were at one Li’s private clubs in Houston. There were only two other black brothers there besides myself and they were security. Needless to say, I didn’t see Kon for the rest of the night.

The last thing that blew my mind was that the Li organization had a ritual that consisted of having your finger cut and mixing your blood with that of your assigned mentor. That ritual was performed in front of two witnesses. My witnesses were Charli and an old head named Wong. They made a small slit at the tip of my finger and one on Kon Li’s. We pressed our fingers together, and the drops of blood dripped onto the document. The same document that I had to sign.

Right before that, Wong, who was not generous with words pulled me aside and said, “Sun Tzu’s The Art of War says, you never let your enemy know your strengths or your weaknesses.” And he walked away.


TASHA

This was my sixth night in a row sitting up in the dark, in the family room, waiting for Trae to come home. For the last three days, our conversation was the same, him saying to me, “I’ll be home tonight.” But he would never show up. I didn’t know what the f*ck he was doing or with whom, but I had a strong feeling it was that eggroll bitch. Hell, I didn’t even know where he was. But I did know that it was stressing the shit out of me.

My mind began to drift as I thought about everybody. Kyron was too quiet, which meant that he was up to something. Trina had been laying low. I still hadn’t reached my brother. I didn’t know if he was dead or alive. Angel was doing her thing running her husband’s record label. Kyra had lost her damned mind chasing after Rick. It was as if in her mind, Marvin had never existed, which was scary. Jaz’s sneaky ass was up to something, even though I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I was getting sleepy, so I turned on the television. The house alarm chirped, and I hit the mute button. My heart began to race. My husband was home. Finally. I got up and headed for the front of the house. When I reached the living room, I stood still and focused to make sure it was him.

“Baby, why is it so dark in here? Come here!” He walked over to me and gave me a big hug and a fat kiss. “I missed you, girl.”

I missed you, too. Of course, I didn’t tell him that, because I wanted him to know that I had an attitude. I looked him over for any signs or clues of infidelity. He was clean, smelling good, and dressed to the nines. He was suited and booted as if he had just stepped off a photo shoot for Armani.

“You waited up for Daddy?” He took off his suit jacket and placed it neatly over the back of the couch.

“I’ve been waiting up for six days. Do you even realize how long you’ve been gone?”

“Of course I do. I’ve been counting, too. And now Daddy is home. But I don’t feel the love. Where’s it at?”

He eased his hands down and palmed my ass cheeks. I tried to pry his fingers free.

“Tasha, you better stop acting crazy and act like you know. Where the love at?” He leaned in and sank his teeth into my jaw.

“Trae, no!”

“Aiight, then you better act like you know. Where the love at? A nigga been away for days from his p-ssy, and you’re trying to act crazy. You’re supposed to be all over me. Give me a kiss.” His hands were all over me.

I gave him a peck on the lips, and he went back for my jaw. “Okay, Trae. Damn.” I kissed him for real this time.

“That’s what I’m talking about. Now give me another one.”

I did. But this time, I melted in his arms.

“I love you, girl.”

I didn’t say anything as he backed me onto the couch. I held on to him as we fell backward.

“I missed you,” he kept saying as he passionately kissed my cheeks, lips, and neck. His fingers slid between my thighs, where two fingers entered me, came out, and went up to my *. He tickled it lightly, slowly heightening the good feeling and taking me to . . . “Oh, baby, wait.” Trae stopped pleasuring me in mid-action and began to rise up off me.

“What?” I asked with slight panic in my voice as I grabbed at his shirt.

“Hold up now! Hold up! I got you.”

He went to two, big, shiny red shopping bags. He turned on the lamp. When he opened the first one, he reached in and pulled out a fly ass coal black, Crocodile Birkin handbag. That had to run him at least 50gs. I tried to act as if I wasn’t impressed but inside I was jumping up and down for joy. But when he opened the second bag and pulled out a heart-shaped box, I couldn’t help but blush. He set it on the coffee table and opened it. He took out what I knew was my favorite, a box of chocolate-covered strawberries. Awwwww. So he was thinking about me.

“That’s right. I was thinking about my baby the whole time,” he said as if he’d read my mind. He came over to the couch and sat next to me.

“They’re probably melting.” I finally spoke, whispering.

“Perfect.” He placed a strawberry on my lips, smearing the chocolate on them, then on my cheeks and neck. He put the strawberry in my mouth, and I nibbled it slowly. “Dayuum, baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.”

He pulled my nightshirt off and got another strawberry out of the box, and this time, he spread chocolate on the insides of my thighs and all over my breasts and nipples. He then placed the strawberry in my mouth, and as I ate it, he seductively licked and sucked the chocolate off. The sucking noise he made was making my p-ssy dripping wet. The next thing I knew, Trae was coming out of his pants as I lay there, legs spread wide open. His dick was so hard it was rising up and down, damn near jumping. As his body began to cover mine, I lifted one leg and put it on his shoulder. That’s right. I was ready to feel my husband’s big dick as far up in me as he could get it.

“Why are you so quiet?” he asked with concern in his voice.

I was quiet because I was confused. I was skeptical. He had been away from me for days, and all of sudden, he showed up showing a side of himself I hadn’t seen in a while. I didn’t know what the f*ck he was out there doing, and I was scared to death. It reminded me too much of his hustling days. The days when I would sit up waiting and praying that he would come home to me at least one more time.

He entered me slowly, and I moaned. “That’s right, talk to me. Talk to Daddy,” he said as he stroked in and out. All I could do was hold him tight, pant, and moan. “You missed Daddy, didn’t you?” He f*cked me harder and like the champ that he was. It always felt so right when my husband was up in me. He was stroking me faster, and then he immediately pulled out. “F*ck! I was about to come.” He jumped up. “Get on top.” He pulled me up and lay down on his back.

I climbed on top of him, slid down on the dick, and rode and rode and rode until I started coming while screaming and hollering. I didn’t care if I woke up the dead or the living. I came so hard I didn’t even know if Trae came or not. I only knew that when I collapsed on top of him, his dick slid out. I lay on his chest, wrapped in his arms, as he planted soft kisses on my face.

I started to have him eat my p-ssy, but instead, I waited for my breathing to get back to normal and was then ready to get some shit out in the open. I had a million and one questions.

“So where were you?”

“A little bit of everywhere.”

“What does that mean?”

My husband took his time, and I could tell he was going to answer the questions very carefully. “That means a little bit of everywhere and chill on the questions.” He kissed my forehead again.

I sat up and grabbed my nightshirt off the coffee table and put it on. “Trae, you know what this feels like?”

“What?” He looked at me.

“It feels like when we first got together. It feels like you are back in the game. Why, Trae? Why does it feel like that?”

“Tasha, I told you I was taking care of business. That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“The bitch is back to calling our house, Trae. What kind of business is that?”

“Tasha, don’t start the insecure bullshit.” He sat up.

“Insecure? You said it’s business with her father. She works for him. So you’re telling me that you don’t have any dealings with this ho?”

“Ma, lower your voice.”

“Then answer me, Trae. You’ve been gone for six whole days, and you are going to sit here and tell me you didn’t see her, not once?”

He jumped up off the sofa, dick swinging, and went behind the easy chair. He came back with two briefcases and slammed them onto the coffee table. He popped one open and then the other. They both were full to the brim with evenly stacked bills.

“This is what I’ve been doing, Tasha, gettin’ money! Are you meaning to tell me you got a problem with that?”

“How you gonna get money with the enemy, Trae?”

“Enemy? I’m getting money with the muthaf*cka that made my murder charges go away, and you got a problem with that too? The man f*ckin’ called the governor of California, while I was sitting right there and told him to expunge my record Tasha.”

“That’s all well and good. So he has political clout. Big f*ckin’ deal! But I still have a problem with how you’re gettin’ it and who you are gettin’ it with, yes.”

“It’s only a problem if you make it a problem.” He gritted his teeth while slamming the briefcases shut. And then he snatched up his clothes and headed for the stairs.

“I only have a problem with that bitch. I should have taken care of her when I had the chance.”

“Taken care of her? What the f*ck? So, you killin’ hos now? Get the f*ck out her with all this dramatized bullshit.”

“You’re going to wish I was bullshittin’.”

“Tasha!” He turned around and came back to where I was and stood in front of me. “I am not going to tell you a—”

“Trae, this shit don’t feel right. F*ck that money! I’d rather be broke than not have you.”

“Tasha!” The walls felt as if they shook. “I don’t want to hear shit else about Charli. What I’m doing out there is for us. This conversation is over. And I mean that shit.”

“Fine, you won’t hear shit else about Charli.” But you just signed the bitch’s death certificate. Soon you gonna be at her funeral.


JAZ

Almost ten days had gone by since I came back from seeing Snell. I was getting impatient and anxious at the same time. I had to put the money together to pay him while at the same time covering my tracks in case Faheem went to sniffing around. But Steele was still alive. Snell said that when he called me and said he was home, that would mean that the deed was done. I was walking around like a nervous fool. To make matters worse, I couldn’t focus on my plan to handle Oni until Steele was done. I couldn’t wait to get that bitch.

“Jaz! Where you at?” Faheem interrupted my chain of thought. I was busted. He was sitting in a chair, and I was straddling his lap. He was dicking me down, and I was zoning out.

“I’m right here, big daddy,” I cooed.

“The hell you are. Your p-ssy is drying up.” He stopped. “Here we ain’t f*cked in months, and you drying up. Now, tell me, where the f*ck are you?”

“Baby, don’t make me do that.”

“What the f*ck you mean, don’t make you do that? Get off of me, Jaz.”

“Baby—”

“Get off me,” he barked.

I slowly got up, careful not to bump his leg. Then, as fate would have it, my cell rang. I knew who it was as I rushed to answer it. I took the call, which lasted about thirty seconds. “We good babygirl,” the voice on the other end said.

“Are we?” I wanted to jump up and down. I wanted to hear every little detail. “So what was the look—” He hung up on me which was the smart thing to do. But I still couldn’t help myself. I was geeked. The first half of my plan was done.

“Jaz, you got five seconds to start talking.”

I stood there naked, thinking long and hard. I had so much to say, but nothing would come out. All I could say was, “Steele,” as I tried to contain my smile.

“Steele. Steele? What the f*ck he got to do with your p-ssy drying up, Jaz?”

Faheem instantly transformed from a loving husband to a roaring lion. And I knew right then and there that if I didn’t start talking fast, my naked ass was going to be grass.

“Steele. He’s dead. The deed is done, Faheem. That was the call. You can thank me later.”

Faheem just sat there staring at me coldly. I swear, I now know firsthand what it meant when they said, “If looks could kill.” I snatched up my robe from the bottom of the bed, threw it on, sat down, and braced myself for the worst. But at this juncture, the deed was already done, and there was no turning back.

“What the f*ck is wrong with you, Jaz? Didn’t I tell you I wanted to handle that situation myself?” His voice shook the walls.

“Yes, you did,” I mumbled.

“Then why the f*ck are you sitting here telling me that you handled it? What? Just because I’m banged the f*ck up, you think I’m p-ssy, Jaz?” He got up and came hopping on one leg at me. Before I could dodge out of the way, he had the front of my robe balled up in his hand.

I grabbed his wrist. “Faheem, get your hands off me.” I didn’t know what he was getting ready to do to me.

“Why, Jaz?” His eyes were dark, and his pupils were dilated.

“Get your hands off me.” I was petrified. “Baby, please. At least, hear me out.”

He turned me loose. “Why would you go behind my back and put yourself and our family in harm’s way like that? And after I told you not to? That was f*ckin’ stupid!”

“How could you say it was stupid? It got done, didn’t it?”

“Who did you get to do it, Jaz?”

“That’s not important, Faheem. I can’t tell you that. It’s done.”

“Ain’t this some shit.” Faheem laughed.

It was a ha ha she told a joke laugh, coupled with an ain’t this some bullshit smirk, which pissed me off. “You can laugh all you want, because the deed is done, and I took care of it. You always want me to honor your thug, but you need to recognize and honor mines.”

He released that same annoying laugh again. “Jaz, I already told you, you ain’t no thug. You got someone else to do it. You know why? ’Cause you ain’t no killer.”

“Whatever. But like I already told you, the deed is done.” Yes, it was. And I felt liberated. I set my sight on a desired result and got it. It was exhilarating, and I was ready to do it again.

I got up and stormed out of our bedroom with my head held high. Hell, I was calling the shots, and I was feelin’ myself. He thinks he’s shittin’ bricks because of Steele; wait until I do Oni.