Luxe (17 page)

“Please don't do this,” she pleaded. She raised her head. She could see the bonfire blazing in the distance and the people dancing around it. She was so far away that they looked like dots on the beach. She wanted to scream, but she knew that her voice wouldn't carry that far, and it was a good chance he would keep his promise and kill her before anyone came to help. Besides, who was going to stop him? He was a boss among pawns. She was at his mercy, and because of that she was doomed. Cinco wrapped one arm under her as he slid inside her depths. There was no condom, no protection, between them as she felt his bare skin invading her most personal space. He hit it, doggy-style, and with every thrust of his hips she died a little more inside.

“You're on E, bitch; just enjoy it. Stop fighting me and take this dick,” he groaned, completely gone off on the euphoric feeling he got as her tightness pulled on him as he slammed into her. With every pump she cringed. She hated this. She hated that she had walked herself right into harm's way. Her sixth sense had been telling her to stay away from him as soon as she laid eyes on him, and still she had found herself in this predicament. She cried silent tears as he degraded her, pushing her face into the coarse beach. Facedown, ass up. It was the ultimate disrespect, and all she could do was wait until he chose to let her up. He finished on her backside and stood up, adjusting his clothes as he looked down on her in amusement.

“I never met a bitch who didn't like it, shorty. Save them tears,” he spat arrogantly with a grin of amusement. She lay on her side, sobbing hysterically. He scoffed and shook his head as he made his way back up the beach.

She didn't move until she was sure he was gone. The smell of him lingered all over her body, making her nauseous. She took off her dress and then crawled across the sand until she touched the water. She just wanted him off of her. The semen he had left behind, the smell, the touch … she wanted to erase it all from her memory. She walked until the dark water covered her bottom half and then dipped her entire body underneath. The cold shock slapped her with sobriety as she emerged, gasping for air. She let the ocean wash away her sins as she walked back up to the beach. With shaky hands she slipped back into her dress, leaving her soiled panties on the ground. A mixture of embarrassment and fear caused her legs to shake uncontrollably. This had not been the plan. Everything was all fucked up. How could she move work for a ruthless dictator? He was a narcissistic asshole. She just wanted to go back home … to cross the border and be back in her dorm room, but she was too deep in to change her mind now. If she didn't go through with it, her sudden departure would arouse suspicion and Cinco would come for her head. He wasn't some Hollywood playboy. There was nothing pretend about Cinco. He was cartel. He was dangerous, and if she made the wrong move it could very well be her last. She knew too much not to go through with this run and he had taken too much from her already. She might as well finish what she had started; otherwise she would return to L.A. with a wet ass and empty-handed.

 

13

Arms extended, legs spread, Bleu shook as Cinco's goons taped bricks of cocaine to her body.

“Why do we have to carry it on us? I thought it would be in the trunk or something,” she whispered to Aysha, who stood next to her, going through the exact same routine.

The goon stopped and smirked menacingly as he turned to Cinco, who was standing above their heads, overseeing everything from the second-story loft in the massive warehouse.

“
Bonita
here wants to know why we're taping the product to her,” he said.

Cinco smirked as he began to saunter down the steps slowly as he stared at Bleu. She could see the hint of laughter in his eyes. He liked the fact that he intimidated her. He made her skin crawl, and as he approached, she silently regretted ever asking the question. He rubbed his hands together and then stood directly in front of her, causing her to shift her gaze. She didn't want to look him in his condescending eyes. He made her feel dirty as images of him inside of her flashed through her head. Her breathing became shallow and nausea plagued her. Cinco made her nervous, and not in a good way. She didn't trust him … in fact, she felt a twinge of fear. Narcissism and power rarely mixed. She didn't want to see Cinco's bad side again. She could tell he had a fetish for inflicting punishment when things went awry. She just had to play his game and get his coke across the border. One time … and then she would never have to see him again.

“I want you to value my cocaine like you value your life. You can ditch a car, a bag, a suitcase. You're going to make sure you make it back. My kilos will make it back with you,” he said.

“And if we're searched?” she asked boldly.

“You do your job right and you won't be,” Cinco replied.

“What if we're caught?” she asked.

“You rot in a jail cell, because if you talk I'll cut out that talented little tongue of yours,” he said. He looked her up and down menacingly, causing her to shake. “This is the risk you take. You take the money if it goes right, so you have to take the consequence if it goes wrong.” Cinco stopped speaking as he stared Bleu directly in the eyes, inspecting her, watching her shake slightly as she held her breath. “You act real jittery, ma,” he observed.

“She's good; she understands,” Aysha said, speaking up on Bleu's behalf. “It's her first run. It's just the nerves.”

Bleu wanted to back out, but she couldn't find her voice to speak up. Instead she stood there, tears accumulating in her eyes as the goon finished taping her down. She had never been this afraid in her life. She had always believed in following your first mind, and her gut was telling her that this idea was the worst.

“Yeah, okay,” he said sarcastically as he casually walked away. “Have Bree holler at me once y'all cross the border,” he said.

Bleu didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled in relief when Cinco and his goons exited the door.

“I can't do this,” she whispered.

China shrugged her jean jacket over her shoulders, covering the bulkiness of the kilos that were taped to her body. “Put your big-girl panties on, bitch. You're spooking everybody with this goody-two-shoes shit. Let's make this money. Don't make me look bad for putting you on. Get it together.”

China stormed out and Aysha gave her a sympathetic look. “Stop worrying. We have done this before. We'll be fine. Just don't think so much,” Aysha offered.

Aysha walked out as well, leaving Bleu standing unsurely as her thoughts ran rampant. Being caught was her greatest fear, and the butterflies in her stomach were setting off an internal alarm.
It'll be fine. Everything will be okay. Just get through this one time,
she kept coaching herself, trying to will up the courage to be an outlaw. She wasn't the girl who broke the rules. She didn't live on the edge. She had done everything right up until this moment, and she was quickly realizing that she wasn't about this life. As the sun beamed in through the open door, illuminating the darkened warehouse, Aysha peeked her head back in. “You coming or what?”

Bleu nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I'm coming,” she replied as she pushed her reservations to the back of her mind and followed her friends, headed for disaster.

*   *   *

The six-lane highway leading to the border was crowded with weekend traffic, headed back into San Diego.

“Once we cross over, it's only a few hours to L.A. This is the hard part,” Aysha said.

“More like the boring part,” China mumbled as she rested her foot on the side-door panel as she painted her toes.

The smell of exhaust thickened the air from the hundreds of cars that were lined up. Cinco had twenty mules crossing simultaneously. The girls didn't know that they were the ones Cinco had decided to throw to the wolves. A sacrifice was made each time Cinco moved weight from Mexico into the States. On every run there was always one load that never made it back. The smallest shipment was always caught, and while a big fuss was being caused over the arrest of the small fish, the big fish eased into the States without notice.

Tension settled into her shoulders as she tried to swallow the lump of uncertainty that had formed in her throat. She was sweaty. The plastic-wrapped kilos of cocaine were making her hot and a sweaty sheen formed on her forehead. Her gut was screaming at her to turn around. As her eyes scanned the long line of cars she felt cornered. She had always had a knack for listening to her intuition, and this setup just didn't feel right.

Border patrols had the canines out and walked them between the standstill traffic, on leashes, in attempts to sniff out drugs.

“Are those police dogs?” Aysha asked, sitting up in her seat.

“Shit just got real,” China said. “What do we do?”

“I thought y'all said this would be a cakewalk. Nobody said shit about dogs,” Bleu protested. “There's no way this car is going to make it across that border.”

“It's never been like this before,” Aysha said nervously as she turned to look behind them, instinctively searching for an escape route.

China gripped the steering wheel. “They're on alert. We've done this a dozen times, and not once was there dogs. Somebody tipped them off. They know that there will be drugs trying to come across the border today. What do we do?”

“Oh my God, oh my God,” Aysha panicked. “We're going to get caught.”

“We're not going to get caught,” Bleu said, practically shouting. She couldn't afford to be caught. Aysha and China, on the one hand, had rich parents and powerful families who could probably get them out of a jam if this thing went bad. Bleu, on the other hand, had no one. If she was caught her life would be over. Her mind started spinning as she leaned over anxiously between the two front seats.

“I need you to ease off of this highway. Pull over right there to that rest stop,” she directed.

It was the only exit between the dogs and them. If they didn't stop they would be caught.

“We're getting off? Getting off and then what?” China asked snidely.

“I don't know; just get off!” Bleu said, barking the order as if she were the boss. “Unless you got a better idea.”

“Just do it,” Aysha said, voice shaking.

China maneuvered the car across four lanes, complaining the entire way. “Do you bitches know what happens if we don't get this shit across the border? Cinco isn't a play gangster. It's all or nothing with him. He will kill us if we ditch these kilos.”

Bleu felt all eyes on her. China was staring at her intently in the rearview mirror while Aysha had turned around in her seat. They both wanted answers. How Bleu had suddenly become the ringleader she didn't know, but she would rather take her fate into her own hands than depend on either of them. They didn't understand her struggle. They didn't know where she came from and why she never wanted to go back. The silver spoons in their mouths kept them well fed. They were making runs for fun, whereas Bleu was doing it for survival. No matter how many times they had done this before, they would never be as streetwise as Bleu. She was groomed for it because she had lived it. It was innate for her. F-city had taught her well, and now it was time to show and prove.

China parked and the girls got out, looking over their shoulders as they made their way inside of the women's restroom. China went through pushing open the stalls to make sure they were all empty as Bleu flipped the lock on the bathroom door.

Bleu paced back and forth as she ran her fingers through her hair. She blew out a forceful breath of air, exasperated.
What the fuck were you thinking?
she wondered, but it was too late to beat herself up. She was in the thick of it and she needed to keep her cool so that she could think clearly.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The girls jumped out of their skin when someone knocked at the bathroom door.

“Is anybody in there? I've got a busload of people who need to piss! What the hell?”

Bleu sighed in relief as an idea sparked in her head.

“Grab the bags out of the trunk and hurry,” Bleu instructed.

She went to the door and unlocked it. A white man wearing a blue driver's uniform stood, disgruntled, on the other side.

“You done in there, lady?” he asked.

She nodded and then stepped to the side as a few of his passengers began to file in. She held up the handicap bathroom until Aysha and China returned.

The three of them went inside.

Bleu didn't speak. The restroom was full of tourists. No one could overhear her, Aysha, and China's plans. They were taking risks that could put them away for life. Anonymity was of the utmost importance. Instead, she lifted her dress and began to remove the kilos from her body. She neatly stacked them into the duffel bags as her friends did the same. Thirty bricks. It wasn't major weight, but when Cinco had two hundred mules moving across the border daily its worth summed in the millions.

“Just follow my lead,” Bleu whispered as she grabbed one of the bags and exited the stall. She walked right up to the side of the bus and lifted one of the doors, exposing where the luggage was stored. She tossed the bag underneath.

“Are you crazy?” China asked.

“You wanna stand out here and argue about it or nah?” Bleu asked.

Bleu was coming up with the plan as she went along, but they didn't have time for second-guessing. China stuffed her bag underneath and Aysha did the same. They discreetly lowered the door. The crowd of passengers was too thick for anyone to really take notice. The women didn't act hot, so they didn't get caught.

Bleu turned to one of the passengers. “Hey, where is this bus headed?” she asked.

The woman was distracted, holding a fussy baby on her hip. As the woman replied, “San Diego,” she didn't even look Bleu in the eyes.