Love and War (9 page)

“Keisha told me to meet her here. Open the door, girl.”

“Where is Aries?”

“Probably with his baby mama,” Diesel replied. “Are you
goin
’ to open the door or make me wait in my car?”

Hesitantly, Caprice unlocked the door and stood in the doorway with her hand behind her back.

“Why did Keisha tell you to meet her here? She hasn’t called and asked to come over.”

“Her momma is home. Apparently, she don’t want no gangstas in her shitty ass house.
Keesh
is your girl, right? You ain’t
gon
cockblock
her, are you? Not when you got a spare room, right?”

Caprice laughed as Diesel winked at her. “Boy, if I’m not
gettin
’ none in my own crib, do you really think I’m going to let my friends fuck in here?”

Diesel eased past her. Caprice moved to the side and let her gun fall down the side of the couch between the cushions. She was fairly confident that Diesel wasn’t there to hurt her, especially when he sat down at her dining room table and pulled a bag of weed out of his pocket.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“Nope,” she answered and shut the door.

She crossed the living room and sat down across from him to resume studying. Five minutes later, the small dining room was saturated with the smell of Diesel’s good smoke. Although Caprice wasn’t smoking, she was starting to get a slight contact buzz.

“What you studying?”

“Everything,” Caprice chuckled. “Got finals coming up, and if I want to graduate, I have to ace every single one of them.”

“NYU, huh? Heard that school is hard as hell.”

“College is hard, period. Doesn’t matter which one you go to.”

“What’s your major?”

“Business.”

“You gonna get your MBA?” Diesel asked through the haze of smoke.

Again, Caprice chuckled. What could this thug know about MBAs and everything graduate school entailed? He probably hadn’t even graduated from high school, like his best friend.

“My parents want me to go to graduate school, but I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “Four years of this shit might be my limit.”

“That’s dumb,” Diesel replied. “I wish I would have gone to graduate school. A bachelor’s degree don’t mean shit in this fucked up job market. You need a Master’s if you want to make any real money.”

“You went to college?”

“Why you
lookin
’ at me like that? A nigga can’t be educated and still be in these streets?”

Caprice shrugged. “How am I supposed to answer that without
pissin
’ you off? Let’s just say, I don’t know any dudes who went to college to sell drugs.”

Diesel laughed. “Stringer Bell.”

Caprice burst out laughing. “Are you serious? That’s a television show!”

Diesel smiled at her. “Seriously though, I went to Brooklyn College. Graduated last year. No one knows that shit except my mother.”

“Why keep it a secret? There’s nothing wrong with having an education.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Diesel answered.

The sexy grin he gave Caprice made her tingle a little. She was completely surprised that the man sitting across from her was a college graduate. He was a living breathing example of why you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Caprice started at Diesel, wanting to know more about the brown skinned man sitting across from her. She wanted to slide her chair next to him and talk about all the things she couldn’t talk to Nico or Rocco about. She wanted to talk about the economy, the Obama Administration, and see what the last book he read was. From the way he talked, Caprice knew that Diesel was a lot smarter than she gave him credit for. The only thing that stopped her from sliding next to him and running her hands along his deep waves and starting an intellectually stimulating conversation was the fact that Keisha was into him. Now wasn’t the time to burn any bridges. Aries was tough to crack and Caprice needed his cousin to soften him up. She couldn’t piss her off now.

“When is Keisha supposed to get here?” Caprice asked.

“She’s supposed to be on her way. Don’t worry about us,” Diesel grinned. “I’ll take her to a hotel or
somethin
’ since it appears you’re going to spend your Friday night buried in your books.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Caprice threw a sly smile Diesel’s way. “You said Aries was
kickin
’ it with his baby mama.”

“That pisses you off?”

Caprice shook her head. “Nope. Why would it?”

“Because I said he was with his baby mama, not with his kids.”

“If he would rather chase pussy than spend time with his children, why is that my problem?”

“You know how bitches are,” Diesel replied. “Y’all be
goin
’ nuts when a nigga be
checkin
’ for other hoes.”

“Did you just use bitches and hoes in the same sentence while talking to me?” Caprice raised her eyebrows. “I am neither one of those things so I can’t relate. Let’s just say, I don’t give a damn who Aries spends his time with. He has hoes all over this city. He’s gotta get some ass from somewhere since…” Caprice paused and burst out laughing. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Diesel tried to erase the surprised expression from his face and failed. “You
sayin
’ Aries ain’t tapped that yet? You
sayin
’ that nigga lied? Are you fuckin’ serious, Caprice?” Diesel howled.

“He said he slept with me?” Caprice had to laugh also. A man as powerful as Aries bragging about some pussy he hadn’t even tasted was a damn shame.

“Yeah,” Diesel nodded. “Said you were just like the rest of them. Said you act different, but you gave it up just like they all do.”

“Well, that’s a lie.”
 
Caprice leaned back in her chair and grinned. “It takes a lot more than a fat bankroll and a pretty smile to get in my pants.”

Diesel, still laughing, nodded. “Apparently. I can’t believe that nigga lied. You got any music?”

“My iPod’s over there.”
 
Caprice pointed towards the entertainment system that Rocco installed when she moved in.

Diesel hit play and classic
Def
Leppard
filled the comfortable silence. Caprice grinned sheepishly when Diesel raised his eyebrows at her.

“What?” she giggled. “I was working out, and I like working out to
Def
Leppard
. Nothing makes me sweat like
Pour Some Sugar on Me
.”

Diesel switched her Workout playlist to the one named 90s R&B and sat on the sofa. “You’re an interesting chick.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should,” Diesel said with his eyes closed. “Most chicks are boring.”

Caprice stared at Diesel who was mouthing the words to Keith Sweat’s
Twisted
with his head on one of the sofa pillows and his eyes closed. She wanted to return the compliment. She wanted to join him on the couch, but she did neither. Instead, she went back to her Finance study guide. An hour later, she looked at her watch. It was almost ten o’clock and Keisha still hadn’t shown up. Caprice sent her a text and a few minutes later, Keisha replied.

Girl! My mother is
trippin
!
 
She got into it with her man & he kicked her ass. I’m @ the ER w/ her now. Did Diesel show up there?

Caprice glanced over at her sofa. Diesel still had his eyes closed. She couldn’t tell if he was really into the music or if he was sleeping. All she knew was that she didn’t want Keisha coming to her house.

No
, she texted back.
Why would Diesel be over here?

I told him to meet me there

He hasn’t showed up here

It’s cool. I’ll hook up with him some other time. Gotta take care of my momma anyway. Call you tomorrow

Okay. Bye.

Caprice turned off her phone and walked into the living room. She sat down next to Diesel and rested her hand on his knee.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Are you asleep?”

“No.”

“I texted Keisha. She’s at the ER with her mom. She said she’ll hook up with you another time.”

“Whatever.”

“Damn, Grumpy,” Caprice laughed. “I’m sure you have plenty of girls that want to spend a Friday night with you. I mean, you are cuter than Aries and nicer too. I’m sure you have a stable of bitches, just like him.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” was Diesel’s sleepy reply. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t, but I know how guys like you operate.”

Diesel turned his head and stared intensely at Caprice. His eyes were light brown, almost hazel. His lips were full and glistened when he licked them. Every second that he looked at her felt like a minute. Caprice wanted to look away but she couldn’t. Thoughts of Rocco and even Aries were fleeing every second that his eyes met hers. Then Diesel smiled and Caprice’s heart began to flutter.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“True,” Caprice nodded. “So tell me something I don’t know.”

“How about we go get something to eat and talk. I’m hungry as hell.”

“How about we stay here and I’ll cook?” Caprice suggested.

She didn’t want to be seen in public with Diesel. She wasn’t sure how Aries would react. Not that she cared if his feelings were hurt, but she hadn’t finished the job that her father expected her to do. She couldn’t risk Aries getting upset and cutting her off. She hadn’t learned who his new connect was, which was the only way to get the Black Diamond Mafia back in line.

“You’d cook for me?”
 
Diesel looked genuinely surprised. “Why?”

“Because we’re both hungry.”

Caprice played it cool while she unthawed a container of Maria’s famous spaghetti sauce and boiled some noodles. She knew exactly what Diesel meant. The way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Cooking for a man wasn’t just some run of the mill act. It wasn’t about the food. It was the act that made it special. She wanted to cook for Rocco, but he never seemed to want her to.

When Caprice and Diesel sat down at the table with bowls of spaghetti and homemade garlic bread in front of them, they both knew that something had changed between them.

“This is good,” Diesel said. “You don’t look like the type of girl who can throw down in the kitchen.”

“I can’t. Not yet, anyway,” Caprice admitted. “But I’m learning. What kind of Italian woman would I be if I couldn’t cook?”

“Italian, huh? I knew you were mixed with something.”
 
Diesel frowned, but kept eating. Caprice knew why he was frowning. BDM hadn’t had the best of luck with Italians. She ignored the look of contempt on his face.

“So, tell me something I don’t know about you.”

“Not much to tell. Oldest kid out of four. I was born in Philly and moved to Queens when I was ten. Moms worked too hard. Dad split after the last kid was born. I hooked up with Aries in junior high and been doing this ever since. What about you?”

“I was born and raised in Miami. I never knew my dad until I graduated from high school. My mother was a supermodel. Now she’s a designer and has a couple of other business ventures going on.”

“What’s her name?”

“Mahogany Burke. You’ve probably seen her in magazines before.”

“Your father’s Italian?”

Caprice nodded. “Yeah. He’s a decent guy.”

“Where’s he at? In Miami too?”

“No,” Caprice said cautiously. She had to be careful not to raise any suspicions. “He’s out west. He’s a big time developer in Vegas or something like that. Like I said, I just met him a few years ago.”

“Italians here run the city. There are a bunch of them around New York. The
Capellas
, the
Fantones
, and the Bonatelli family. We can’t stand none of them.”

“Italians in Queens? I thought the Black Diamond Mafia ran this borough.”

“We did, until dudes started making deals with the Italians. Now Aries wants to change all that. If he can pull off what he has planned, we’ll be back on top in no time. But you don’t need to know about that. That’s BDM business. Unless you’re interested in joining us, we should talk about something else.”

“Do I look like a gangster?” Caprice laughed.

“That’s what I mean. You look like the next CEO of Bank of America or some shit like that. So my question is, why do you
wanna
be down with Aries?”

“It’s hard to explain, but I just like him,” Caprice lied. “I really don’t care what he does for a living.”

“You should,” Diesel frowned. “Liking someone isn’t enough, not when liking a person could get you killed. It’s dangerous for us out here.”

Caprice sat her fork down and looked at Diesel. He had a strange look on his face, like he regretted ever getting involved with the Black Diamond Mafia.

“Why do you do it? Why put yourself in danger every day if you’re advising me not to?”