A Kingpin's Obsession: Ajoni's Story (15 page)

I cut my eyes to the area he has his back to, and see a camera mounted to the ceiling in the corner of the walls, then look back at Shad as a sheen of sweat pops out on my forehead.

“Not much, Shad. It’s just the same old shit on a different day that needs to be kept on the low.”

Shad shakes his head. “Is there any other kind of shit? You don’t see people rushing to get in here to do business with me, do ya? The economy is bad as hell and I’m damn sure you two are still on paper. I have a surveillance system for insurance purposes, but it isn’t good for under-the-table business, so how about I meet you two at the warehouse in the about an hour? Bring enough goods for a two-man job?”

I shake my head, then lean in close.

“I need three top grade nines with silencers, extra clips with bullets, vests, and some black fits for a size medium female, me, and Raw.”

“No prob, King. It’s good doing business with you again. You’re one of the few motherfuckers that don’t give me a hassle about prices, and I’ll have everything you need when I hit the county. I’ll hit Chiness up when you two leave and let her know you miss her. Take off. We’ve been standing here too long talking quietly. These days, the pigs can tap into anything digital, and catch your ass up in shit you didn’t even know you were a part of.”

He stands up and extends his hand to me.

“Good to see y’all again,” he responds in a normal tone. “When I get out of here, we’ll chop it up. I need to get this paperwork finished so the government can pay my bills instead of the other way around for a change.”

I take his hand. He tugs on mine. I lean in for a pound on the back, knowing he has something else to say that he does not want the camera to catch.

“King, I won’t even insult you and ask can you produce seven grand in cash. The shit you’re asking for is expensive.” Of course it is, once he adds his finder’s fee to it.

I step back and grin. “We’ll certainly chop it up in a little bit, Shad, and drink one for the Kings still MIA.”

He smiles. “Damn straight and I’ll bring the usual… brown liquor and wings. I know y’all motherfuckers are lightweights now after all the time y’all been away. Well, maybe not you, King. You look like you gained a whole house in the chest alone. You’re about a 2x now. Raw’s ass is still an extra small,” he jokes and raises his fist in the air for Raw to touch with his.

Raw laughs out loud, and does not leave Shad hanging.

“I’m gon’ let that slide, Shad, since you still good people and cool as a ceiling fan.”

“No doubt, Raw. I wish loyalty came as easily to other people as it does to you.”

A rush of cool air from the door behind us opening suddenly hits me in the back. I look back just as two officers in blue uniforms for Mecca Police Department enter the store; one black and clean-shaven, the other white with a dark crew cut and five o’clock shadow. Most women would consider them tall, dark, and handsome, but they, and any other law official, are fucking problems to me.

Raw looks back. Shad looks past me. The air gets thick in the store and hard to breathe; we had stood here too damn long.

Tension builds in my shoulders. Anjuwan’s and Ajoni’s faces appear in my mind, and I will do anything to get back to them. I just hope that I do not have to go through these cops to do it. I will, but I do not want to give Ajoni another reason to keep me out of her and my daughter’s life either.

For the first time in my life, I am confused about which is the best course of action to take, and should have known Ajoni’s ass would be the reason. Why did I have to fall in love with her of all the damn women in Mecca?

“Fellas, what took you so long?” Shad inquires nonchalantly, then reaches up and grips my shoulder tightly before letting go; giving me the signal to ghost his establishment as soon as possible. I did not need the warning, but rushing out the door will look suspicious to the white officer lagging behind and browsing the glass cases. Wanting to get out of his presence in a hurry will definitely make him take notice of us, and maybe follow us out the door or stop us altogether. I stand my ground and grow uneasy with each step the black cop takes toward us.

When he clears half the distance between us and the door, he gives me and Raw the once over. “You done with these two yet, Shad?”

“Yeah, we just chopping it up and reminiscing about the old days when Mecca was a hell of a lot safer.”

The white cop looks up and begins to approach us slowly with his eyes narrowed, making me even more uneasy. “What you saying, Shad? That we don’t do our jobs?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. If you did, you wouldn’t be in here where there are no criminals.”

The black officer stands only feet away from me now, taking the opportunity to get an even closer look.

His partner stops beside him, stands in front of me and Raw, and crosses his arms. “Oh we both know there are plenty of criminals in here, don’t we, Shad? You’re a mid-level gunrunner. This big motherfucker here is Calen Kingsley, the former resident kingpin of Mecca. And the one beside him is his right hand man, LaJavious Rawlings. Both are fresh out prison and on parole, and not supposed to be anywhere near firearms. Isn’t that right?”

I wonder how the hell he knows who we are, but both men are old enough to have been fresh out of the police academy and gotten their shiny new badges by the time the Blue Kings went down. I am certain Larkin broadcasted that all over the city while campaigning for a second term as DA.

Raw turns sideways to face both officers with his fists balled at his side-his stance for when he is about to pick a fight. “What we are is—”

“Y’all bounce so I can see what Officer Black and White want,” Shad cuts him off before Raw can get on the officers’ bad side. They are already on his though, and that does not mean anything nice for us. If Raw loses his shit now, we are both going back to prison for capital murder for sho’, or on the run. I do not want a part of either.

Before I can grip Raw’s shoulder tightly, giving him the same message that Shad had just relayed to me, Shad tosses another question, “Another motherfucker has been pawning shit that doesn’t belong to him again?”

I step between the two cops, and drag Raw’s ass past them.

Officer White grins, and bows his head to watch us walk away. “Of course, why else would we be in here?”

“I have no idea,” Shad says flippantly. “Let’s find out so you can get the hell out of here. You two make my place hot just being in the area.”

“Is that because you selling to used-to-be drug dealers looking for some heat to get back in the game?” Officer Black asks.

The muscles in my shoulders compress around my neck until I feel like I do not have one. I am certain Raw and I are about to go right back to where our first trip to prison began; Mecca County Jail, but I am not going in handcuffs easy this time like I did at the drop house.

I was there by myself, unarmed, had just jumped Ajoni into the crew, and dropped her off at home. I should have been on my guard, but when I heard the custom rhythmic one-three knock that only the new crew uses at the back door, I got up and went to it. Normally, only new crew members knock at that door. I only had one new member that night, Ajoni, and I was still thinking about the feel of her silky hair wrapped around my hands, and how tight her body was around my rod after I pushed past her virginity.

I opened the door, expecting her and hoping she wanted to be in my presence as badly as I wanted to be in hers. Cops dressed in all black and ski masks, and carrying AK-47’s shoved their way inside instead. I knew I could not take them all on or get away, so I raised my hands above my head slowly, and dropped to my knees, thinking I was going to beat whatever bullshit charges Larkin had come up with for my arrest this time
—
that wasn’t the first time the cops had barged in one of my drop houses to take me to the precinct for questioning of whatever crime they thought I had orchestrated.

There were no drugs, money, or guns in plain sight for the pigs to seize and use against me in court, but MPD did not need it to bury me and my lieutenants who were on their way back from getting something to eat in X’s tricked-out Expedition. I would find out as soon as I was booked into lock-up that Ajoni is what they had and were using against me. It would have been easier if I had gone out in a hail of bullets than what I had to do next; serve time and miss out on my baby girl’s birth.

In other words, Ajoni is a damn distraction and too unpredictable; two things that I do not need while I am rolling up on people and vice versa, or when I am trying to forgive her for what happened after I jumped her into the crew.

“Do you see them walking out of here with heat in their hands?” Shad asks belligerently, dragging me out of my thoughts while I haul my ass and Raw’s to the door.

“How stupid do you think I am?” Before either officer can answer any of Shad’s questions, I push the door open. Raw damn near walks up the back of my legs, trying to get from behind me to stroll beside me. We step off the sidewalk onto the parking lot.

CHAPTER Thirteen

King

As soon as the door closes behind us, Raw blows air out of his mouth hard enough to cause a tornado. “Man, I thought our asses were racially profiled and gone for good then, but I was not about to let that happen. Why the hell did that knucklehead have to open a gun store? What’s wrong with selling heat out the trunk of his damn car? After we do Lea and her driver’s ass, what then? I can’t take too many close calls like that.”

I cannot either. “We go straight. I want to raise my little girl.” At least for what is left of her childhood anyway. I would have rather been a part of her life from the very beginning, but Ajoni prevented that by snitching.

“So you’re moving to D.C. with Ajoni? Because I can go to D.C. and still open a shipping business for the executives that need somewhere private to take a client or a side chick and won’t mind paying a ridiculous amount of money for the ride to nowhere without complaining about the price.”

He turns off the car alarm. We both get inside as fast as possible.

“For now, Raw, let’s just dead Lea and her boy; then we’ll figure out what to do for a legit business.”

We cannot make plans for D.C. until we are
allowed
to go to D.C., and I am not sure if Ajoni wants me anywhere near her full time. Waiting for permission to do anything tests my manhood and makes my temper rise when I am not used to that, even after the time I just served—I followed the rules in prison and did not have to ask anyone, including my mother, for permission to do anything. Of course, she did not give a fuck what I did, but if I have to deal with a parole officer for two years to be near my girls, I will—asking permission will not become a habit though.

“Are you going to tell Ajoni when we get back?” he asks while cranking the car then driving off.

“Nope.” I am not going to give her a chance to move away before I can get to D.C.

“King—”

“Raw,” I warn then turn my head to him.

He shakes his head and merges with traffic. “You can call my name like that all day, but I’m not going to sit back and let you lose the best thing to ever happen to you because you’re being an ass. That woman loves you.”

I wish that was true, and respond nastily, “If anything, she
loves
Calen.”

He laughs out loud. “Damn, bruh. I think you’re jealous of your damn self, but Ajoni just fucked
King
and
surprised the hell out of me, and not one time did she mention Calen while you two were christening that damn bathroom. She has your ass twisted.”

Enough to make me think there is two different men living inside of me, and I have good reason to be jealous of myself.

“She told me to talk to her when Calen is the front man for all of my personalities,” I utter under my breath.

“Everybody has a side to them that nobody likes. King is it for her, but that’s because King does shit without asking how anybody else feels about it. You do remember that this is how all this shit started, no matter how much blame you want to pile on her shoulders for what happened to all of us. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want you and can’t deal with that side of you, or she would’ve never slept with you both times and agreed to stay here until you meet your daughter in the morning. She’s trying, King. You have to try too, or nothing between you two will work out…
ever
.”

“How can you forget that she dimed us out to MPD, and then had my child without fucking tell me?” I ask angrily, suddenly seething with rage and despising Ajoni for what she has done.

“So this is not about how she feels about you. It’s the other way around. You’re so fucking angry, you can’t see the forest for the damn trees and that’s going to cost you what you want the most… your family.”

Hell, I am angry about that too, and do not want Raw helping me untwist my mind about Ajoni anymore.

“Whatever, now go get her ass so we can be at the warehouse whenever Shad decides to show up.”

“I don’t understand why she keeps forgiving
your
ass for setting her up every chance you get when you won’t forgive her for doing what she has to do after shit goes left every time you set her up. King, every time you do that, you threaten to take her away from everything she knows. I don’t blame her for choosing her mother, the woman that has been in her life from day one and is her blood, over a man she does not really know. I get you really don’t know what having relatives requires of you. But did it ever occur to you that Ajoni would’ve had Anjuwan in jail and lost her to the state, and probably never got her back? Shit happens for a reason, and maybe you should let her go so she will stop waiting for you.”

It sounds like he feels sorrier for me than he does Ajoni. I guess that would be because she manages to twist my ass every time I have her brought to me.

“She hasn’t been waiting for me,” I mumble, then look out the window as his words hit home. I would not have wanted my child anywhere near a jail or the state’s care, but one of those would have happened to my daughter if Ajoni had not snitched.

“So she has an old man back in D.C.?”

“No,” I admit to my reflection in the window pane. “She hasn’t been with anyone else.”

“And you so far up in your feelings that you can’t see she doesn’t want anyone else. Aight, I’m going to leave that alone and focus on keeping our asses free and clear so you can help raise your kid and I can become a legit businessman. I’ll make the connections. You finance the business and put your two cents and nose in whatever it takes to get the business off the ground whenever you feel like it.”

Making something happen is right up Raw’s alley; that is what makes him such a good partner in anything. He will only ask a question when something truly worries him. I just wish he would worry less about me and Ajoni so I can worry about what to do next about her in peace.

“First, we have to get out of Georgia, Raw.”

“No problem. I’ll start looking for cribs near Ajoni online after I pick up Leek in the morning and drop you off at the parole office. You may have to ask Ajoni to put in a good word for you so they’ll at least consider letting you transfer your parole to D.C., and then we can probably move there by the end of the month.”

He continues to gab about D.C. and what he knows about it,
which is next to nothing
, then switches to the Kings reuniting and what color our first yacht should be. I let my mind wander to the family I created and had no idea existed, but it does not take long for my thoughts to stray to the feel of Ajoni’s boots wrapped around my back.

I am surprised we did not break the damn sink; I tried to knock her spine out of place and make her beg for mercy. She tried to swallow every inch of my pole with her body while squeezing and releasing around my wood buried inside her until
I
wanted to beg for mercy. She certainly wanted me then. I shudder just thinking about her soaking wet, almost too tight, and warm cockpit while the leathery feel of her boots stroked my spine. It was like having a power line attached to my waist while I sunk into a hot, snug ocean—completely fucking electrifying.

I still want to wring her damn neck though, and cannot imagine waking up beside her every day without wanting to. Since baby girl needs her moms, I need to keep my distance until I am no longer pissed about missing out on Ajoni growing big with my child, Anjuwan’s first words, first steps, and first day of school.

I wanted to share all of that with Ajoni—
that
is her fault that I did not, and I cannot find it in me to forgive her for it, no matter how much Raw talks for her. Do I want her to hurt as much as I do right now? Damn straight, and I know just the way to do it; deprive her of what she wants the most until I can forgive her—Calen. I just do not know how long I am going to feel this way about her, and that shit hurts me too. I liked it better when I did not have a heart.

Raw’s hand disappears into his coat pocket and pulls out his phone, drawing my attention. He dials a number, then waits for an answer.

“You out the tub yet?”

Instantly, I know who he is talking to.

“We’ll be there in a minute, Ajoni. We’re caught in traffic about two blocks up. I’ll call you back when we’re outside the back entrance.” Then he laughs, making my stomach churn.

How the hell can she talk so easily to him when I have to con her just to get her in the same city as me?

“Aight, I’ll holler at you when I get there.” He hangs up and stuffs the phone in his pocket as we crawl at a snail’s pace down Peachtree Street. “I swear if I was not gay, I’d take that woman from you, King. It’s hard to find someone that isn’t petty, trifling, holds a grudge—”

“Raw!” I yell, assuming he is saying without saying that I have at least that last quality. “You can quit trying to make her look good, and you’re getting on my damn nerves!”

He lifts both his hands in the air. “Okay, damn! It’s dropped, but you know she ain’t gon’ wait forever.”

“I should’ve killed your too loyal ass back at the damn house. It ain’t like you being loyal to me right now anyway.”

“This isn’t about my loyalty, and I’m not going to tell you the shit you want to hear just to make you feel better, King.”

Finally, he shuts the hell up, and what is left of the ride is quiet. It takes ten minutes to travel the two blocks to the hotel, but the trip is still too damn short, and we’re driving into the back parking lot of the hotel before I am ready to see Ajoni.

Raw parks and sends a text from his phone. She walks out the back entrance immediately afterwards as if she was waiting by the elevator. He shoves his phone back in his coat pocket and opens his door, preparing to let her in on his side before I can think to do it myself—cannot seem to take my damn eyes off of her, and opening the car door for her would have required that.

A strong breeze gusts between the car and her, whipping her hair around her face and blowing the bottom ends of her coat out behind her, making her boots visible. Instantly, I am back in the bathroom, pushing through her wetness to get to the center of her. Suddenly, I am rock hard and my loose-fit jeans are uncomfortable as hell in a matter of seconds.

“
Damn
,” I hiss under my breath, then reach down to readjust my pole threatening to come out the top of my waistband. One part of me is certainly not mad with her.

Ajoni veers to her left and disappears behind the car without looking at me once. I track her movement in the side mirror, and get pissed off because she is ignoring me. What damn right does she have to ignore me? Then I lose sight of her altogether and hate it, even if it is only for a moment. Yeah, I know she is about to get in the car, but that does not seem to make a bit of difference to my damn emotions. Aggression builds and burns through my chest until I can barely see straight and barely able convince my body to stay in the passenger seat.

When she appears on the driver’s side in my peripheral and deposits one long tan leg complete with stiletto boot in the backseat, I do not look back at her. Every time I do, something goes wrong, and it would be so easy to crawl back there with her, unsnap her shirt fastened between her thighs, and fill up the space between them with the same hard-on that does not like being trapped in my pants, but loves her tight canal. I would not give a damn if I gave Raw two eyefuls of my ass drilling into Ajoni’s again either.

I start to pray that this night ends quickly, so I can take her back to the hotel and walk away. If she is not pregnant, she will be. That is the last thing either of us needs right now although I would handle my business, but I am not interested in being rock hard every time I look at her and her boots. Fake or not, those damn things affect me just as much as she does.

When she settles in the backseat, and Raw slides under the wheel, I wait for Ajoni to say something to me—
anything
—while Raw drives off, heading to the warehouse. She does not.

“Turn your phone off, Ajoni, and take the battery out. If someone decides to track your movements by your phone, they will think you’ve being here all night,” I demand in a lot gruffer and harsher tone than I meant to, but she will have to get over it. “I’ve already left mine at the house.”

I hear the ends of her phone sliding apart as she follows my directions before her hand glides over the driver’s seat to tap Raw on the shoulder.

He looks up in the rearview mirror. “What’s up, A?”

A? Since when the fuck does he call her A?

“I need to go to the pharmacy, Raw. It won’t take long to get what I need,” she murmurs.

“That time?” he jokes with a smile.

“No, but I’m making sure ‘that time’ comes when it’s supposed to.”

Immediately, I get a bad feeling but say nothing. Somehow, I know that I do not want to know what she is talking about.

Raw’s eyes switch from her image in the mirror to the road a few times before his mouth drops open—he knows exactly what she is about to do—then he nods. “I completely understand, and no, I wouldn’t want to be the one in your shoes now or later.”