Out of Control (18 page)

“No. First of all, I would never have let Cee come with us. But if she was there, Cee would have left the room.” Black liked the fact that CeCe had no role in his business. And that was the way he wanted to keep it. By being involved in his world, Jada was at risk. The fact that Harry’s gunman took a shot at her brought that fact home to him. He didn’t want to be the cause of another woman in his life dying for something he had done.

“That is the lady on your arm that I know you like. Shit, I’ve never met anybody as lady like as her. And you both love making money.”

Black looked at Bobby and even though he didn’t want to admit it, Bobby had raised a number of good points that he couldn’t argue with. He and Jada were good together.
But Cee is the future,
he told himself.

He too thought about their afternoon together. He closed his eyes and could clearly see Jada crawling around on the bed. She had such a perfect ass. Black crawled over behind her and ran his hands along her back, around her perfect ass, then squeezed her firm thighs. Her skin was soft and smooth. Jada spread her legs and he fingered her clit and played with her lips before he entered her. Her pussy was so soft, so wet and fit him so well. He felt her ass pounding against him. He felt her muscles tighten around him.

And when they kissed he tasted the champagne on her tongue as it glided slowly and smoothly over his. His hands reached out and caressed her thighs then her stomach and her beautiful breasts. Jada began to run her hand across Black’s leg then she took his face into her hands and kissed him. While she kissed him, Jada began to stroke him. Black looked down at Jada as she ran her tongue along the sides of his shaft.

“Let’s go outta here, Bobby,” Black said and turned around. Bobby laughed and followed him in. Jada turned and looked around. It was almost like she could no longer feel his eyes on her. “Come on, Alex,” she said quickly and started for the building. Knowing that he had a habit of leaving without telling her, she picked up her pace. She got to the front door in time to watch them drive away. Jada started to call him and make up some excuse for him to come back, but then she caught herself. She went upstairs to her office and tried to push all thoughts of sex with Mike Black out of her mind.

“Where we goin’?” Bobby asked as Black drive away from Paraíso.

“Home. I promised that I would take the girls out on the boat this afternoon,” Black said as his cell phone rang.

“You got a cell phone?” Bobby asked.

“Cee insisted. With her being pregnant she needs to be able to get in touch with me if she needs me,” Black answered as the phone rang again.

“Drivin’ your own car, got your own cell phone. What other surprises you got for me?”

Black gave him the finger. “Hello.”

“Hello, Mike. It’s Deidra.”

“I was beginning to think that you weren’t gonna call.”

“I needed some time to think,” Deidra said. She spent the night thinking about whether she wanted to come back to the island.

“I understand.”

“Anyway, I’m staying at the Hilton.”

“Good. Relax and enjoy your evening. Tomorrow morning you catch a flight back here and we’ll talk then,” Black said.

“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know when my flight arrives,” Deidra said. She started to ask about Harry, but she knew if she was coming back that it was over and Harry was dead. “Mike.”

“What?”

“Thank you,” she said and ended the call. Deidra was sincerely thankful to be alive. She knew that she could have suffered whatever fate Harry had. Still, Black’s words echoed in her mind.
You work for me now.
Deidra wondered what she was going to be doing. She hadn’t had to do anything other than tell Harry what to do these last few years. But she had no prospects in Miami other than to hit the streets. Whatever Black had in mind for her was surely better than that.

“What you gonna do with her?” Bobby asked.

“Put her to work doin’ what she’s best at,” Black asked.

Later that afternoon, Black sat alone on deck in the shade, while Bobby, CeCe and Michelle fished off the side of the boat. He looked at his family; his brother, his daughter, his woman and thought that this was what life was all about. What made all the things he had done over the years worth doing; family. Being able to provide for and take care of his family.

Just then, Michelle put down her fishing rod and came to sit in her daddy’s lap. “What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Bobby is catching all the fish and me and Cee haven’t caught anything,” Michelle said and buried her head in his chest.

“Uncle Bobby’s been fishing a long time. He’s good at it. When you get older you’ll be good at it too, if you want to. You can do anything you want, all you gotta do is want to,” Black told his daughter.

After a while, Michelle drifted off to sleep and Black took her below. When he got back CeCe was sitting there. “What’s the matter? Bobby run you off too?”

“That what Michelle said?”

“She said that Uncle Bobby was catching all the fish and you two haven’t caught anything,” Black said and sat down.

“Well he is and then he talks shit about it. But that not why I came over here,” CeCe said.

“You feel all right?”

“Yeah, I feel pretty good today.”

“I’m not makin’ you sick to your stomach?”

“Not today, but I have been staying away from you. You know how I get being around you for too long,” CeCe smiled.

“You better say what you came to say and get outta here.”

CeCe leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For putting up with me. I know that I have been cranky and irritable, we don’t have sex and I complain all the time ’cause it’s hot and I’m fat and a lot of that gets directed at you. And you just let it roll off like its no big deal.”

“It’s not. I understand what you’re goin’ through and I know it will all be over soon and I can have my woman back.”

“But what if I don’t lose all this weight?”

“Then we’ll just call you Big Cee.”

CeCe hit him lightly on the arm. “Don’t play with me, I’m serious.”

“So am I. You’ll still be my woman and you’ll still be our children’s mother. You are my future, Cee,” he said and once again pushed Jada West out of his mind. “So start gettin’ used to it.”

CeCe kissed him again.

“Y’all take that shit below,” Bobby shouted and both Black and CeCe gave him the finger.

She kissed him again. “That’s good to hear. Good to know that you’ll always come home to me like you do every night. — Except last night,” CeCe said and smiled.

“You wanna know where I was last night?”

“Only if you want to tell me.”

Black leaned forward and looked at CeCe. “Last night me, Bobby and Jamaica beat a man until the sun came up. Then we took him out on this boat and fed him to the sharks,” Black said calmly.

“I did ask.”

“You did, and I told you don’t ask questions that you don’t want to know the answer to.”

“Next time I ask you where you been, remind me of what you just said, okay?”

“Okay.”

Then she started to laugh a little. “Y’all really feed him to the sharks?” she asked softly.

“Bobby, what we do last night?”

“Beat the shit outta a mutha fucka and feed him to the sharks,” Bobby said and continued fishing.

CeCe held up her hand. “Definitely remind me that I don’t want to hear about it,” she said and rested her head on his shoulder. Black put his arm around her and thought that CeCe had just proved Bobby’s point. She didn’t want to hear about it much less be able to sit through it.

When Deidra arrived at the airport, two of Jamaica’s men were there to meet her. She went with them even though she was afraid that they were going to kill her. They escorted her to a limo and drove her out to Lyford Key. Once they arrived at the house, Deidra was escorted around the back of the house, through the gate to the pool. She felt a little better when he saw Black sitting there. But she still wondered if Black was going to kill her.

“Deidra Walker, my brother Bobby Ray,” Black introduced them. “Talkin’ to Bobby is like talkin’ to me.”

“I understand.”

“Sit down.”

“Thank you.”

“How was your flight back?”

“It was good.”

“Good,” Black paused. “There’s something I need you to do for me, Deidra.”

“What’s that?” she asked and braced herself for the answer.

“I need you to organize Harry’s people and get them up and running in new stops. Can you handle that?”

“Yes,” Deidra said quickly.

“I’m offering you the same deal I offered Harry. You run your own show. Anything you need, you talk to Jamaica.” Black saw the smile on Deidra’s face. “I hear you were the brains in that operation. So we don’t need Harry, do we?”

“No. I guess we don’t,” Deidra smiled. She was so happy for herself. Not only was she not going to die, Deidra was boss now.

If there was one thing Rain was sure about, it was that she missed Nick. She was pinned down behind a car, taking fire from at least four men; she didn’t stop to count and she was running out of bullets. Since she assassinated Grant and burned his club to the ground, his men have gone hard at her. So far, Rain had been up to the task. Each time they came at her, Rain would bust back. The next day, one of her people got killed outside the warehouse that housed her other gambling spot. When Rain heard that the men that were responsible were in a store on Bronxwood Avenue that Grant ran numbers out of, she used the Suburban like a tank and drove it through the front window. Her and her men jumped out and killed everybody.

This was retaliation.

They had been holed up at Donavan’s house for days when Rain ran out of cigarettes. Chris Toney insisted that he would go get them for her, but Rain told him no. “The store ain’t but a couple of blocks away, I’ll be all right.” Rain grabbed her gun and the keys to the Suburban. “Come ride with me, Brandon.” He armed himself and followed Rain out the door. As soon as they got out the store and were on their way back to the Suburban, they were fired upon. Brandon took three shots to the chest and abdomen, but he managed to make it behind a car with Rain.

She raised up and tried to get a shot off, but she was seriously outgunned and quickly dropped back behind the car. She looked over at Brandon, he was dead. Rain took his gun and crawled to the front of the car. She opened fire with both guns and quickly dropped back behind, thinking that if she could make it to the Suburban that she might be able to get out of this. There was more guns and ammo in there. But the Suburban was parked down the street.

Rain took a minute to think of what Nick would do if he were there. She was sure he’d have a grenade or some shit like that to get them out of this mess. If nothing else, Nick would just stand up and kill each of these mutha fuckas with one shot each to the head. No, she thought.
Nick wouldn’t be in this situation ’cause he woulda sent somebody to get the fuckin’ cigarettes.

“Shit! Where are the fuckin’ cops when you need them?” Rain said aloud, thinking that may be the only way she was getting outta this one.

Suddenly the shooting stopped, Rain peeked around the car and saw one man circling around. She looked the other way and saw a man coming from the other side. Rain fired on him until one of her guns was empty and he went down. The shooting began again and she took cover. Rain checked Brandon’s pockets to see if he had any more clips. She loaded the clip she found on him and checked the other gun as the shots bounced off the wall in front of her. It had two shells left in the magazine and one in the chamber. She pushed it back in and looked up. Rain saw a man coming around the car. She raised her weapon and fired three times. Each shot hit him in the head and he fell back on the car.

Rain knew it wouldn’t be long before the other two rushed her and tried again to make it to the Suburban. They opened fired again and kept her pinned behind the car. Just then she heard a car come speeding toward them and then screech to a stop. The shooting continued, but it wasn’t coming in her direction. She peeked over the hood and saw the Ford 500 that Chance had reinforced and Chris Toney, Memphis and Donavan firing on her attackers with AR15’s. Rain stood up and fired at them and before too much longer the firefight was over and Grant’s men were dead. Memphis grabbed Rain by the hand and walked her to the Suburban. Chris Toney and Donavan took Brandon’s body to the car and drove off as the sound of sirens filled the air. “Now, them mutha fuckas come,” Rain said as she drove away from the scene.