Cartier Cartel (28 page)

"Janet, I didn't bring Christian here to see you. If you wanted to see her
you could have walked down to my mother's-"

"Cartier, don't get sassy," Janet snapped. "I don't have shit to do with
what's going on with you and Monya."

Ignoring her comment, Cartier completed what she came to do. "Would
you make sure she gets this? She'll know what this is about." Cartier handed
Janet a small paper bag with nine thousand dollars and Donnie's Rolex and
ring. After handing over the package, she left.

Next, she went to Shanine, who was equally surprised to see her former
friend.

"What are you doing here?" Shanine asked.

"I won't be long. Here." Cartier shoved the bag containing nine thousand
dollars in her hand.

"What's this?"

"Your half of our drug empire," Cartier answered.

"What?"

Cartier didn't stay long enough to explain. She still had two more stops,
and Christian was beginning to get cranky. Cartier decided against walking
up the steps to Lil Momma's. Instead, she rang the bell and told her to come
downstairs.

Lil Momma wasn't sure what the unexpected visit was about. From
the icy greeting she'd gotten from Cartier only days ago, she decided to be
prepared for the worst. She went to her top drawer and pulled out her razor
and tucked it in her back pocket. She also tied up her sneakers tightly and put
on a hoodie sweatshirt. She couldn't lie to herself and not admit that she was
scared shitless. She was. Out of the whole Cartel, Cartier was the nicest with
her hands, and Lil Momma knew she wasn't no match for her adversary. But
Lil Momma was hardly a punk. Cartier bled just like she did, and no matter
what, she could hold her own in a fight.

With her heart beating with trepidation as she jogged down the stairs,
she was relieved to see Cartier holding Christian in her arms. Lil Momma's
face softened.

"Hey," Lil Momma said as she stepped out onto the stoop.

"This is for you," Cartier handed her the bag. "It's your share of the Cartel
money."

Lil Momma opened up the bag and peered down at the contents.

"We always thought that you'd spent this money," Lil Momma replied.

"Well, you thought wrong

Cartier turned and jogged down the steps and Lil Momma called to her,
"Why now?"

Cartier tuned her out. Methodically, she was washing her hands of her
former crew and felt she certainly didn't owe anyone any answers. She'd
made mistakes in the past; now she was rectifying them. No need to dissect
who, what, and why.

Last, Cartier went to see Barn. She'd been the only one out of the crew
who remained loyal after all was said and done. Bam's eyes lit up as she peered
down at the money.

"Cartier, you don't know how much this will help me. I'm swimming in
credit card bills and college tuition. This money will be put to good use."

"I know it will," Cartier replied. "I'm so proud of you."

"And I admire you," Bam said. "Always have and always will"

The two embraced and then Cartier jetted home. If Jason's promise was
solid, he'd be back home in less than an hour. Then they could finally begin
making preparations for moving forward.

he still summer morning was deceptive in the Payne household. Cartier
got out of bed first and opened the blinds in their modest bedroom.
The sun came beaming inside and blinded Jason.

"Ma, close those curtains," Jason moaned as he turned over and put the
covers on his head.

"Nope. It's time to getup. You know Christian will be in here any moment
asking about Dorney Park."

Jason laughed because he knew Cartier was right. Although Christian
wasn't Jason's only child, she was the couple's only child; therefore, she was
spoiled rotten.

"That little girl looks just like me," Jason said and grinned. Christian had
his heart wrapped around her small fingers.

"So you say," Cartier replied and playfully threw a sock at him.

As Cartier went downstairs to prepare breakfast, Jason took that
opportunity to turn on his cell phone. Immediately, it began alerting him
that he had fourteen messages. He punched in his security code and began
to listen. When he heard Monya's voice, he hit the delete button. He wasn't
in the mood for her bullshit and didn't want any stress. Today was family day,
and he wasn't about to allow Monya to ruin it with her antics.

Monya was the quintessential baby momma who brought drama by the
boatload. It was her goal in life to make his life miserable. The only time she
was somewhat happy was when Jason was sticking dick to her. When he was
with her she was sweet as candy, but the moment he got up to leave to come
home to Cartier, the bullshit started. She was never going to accept that he
wasn't leaving Cartier.

Message after message, he hit the delete button. Every message was from
his psycho chick-Monya. He knew he should have let her go a long time
ago as he promised himself and Cartier he would. But she was a stone cold
freak. Easily, the biggest freak he had ever been with. Monya could maneuver
her legs in ways that no other woman could. She was extremely flexible and
it turned him on. The only thing he didn't like about sexing her was she tried
too hard to please him. She moaned too loud, sucked his dick too hard, and
practically would do anything without provocation. If she wanted to eat his
asshole, then she did it in a heartbeat-all without any prompting on his part.
But her coochie had a lot of mileage on it. Her name rang bells throughout
New York, and up and down 1-95. And that wasn't a good look. Not a good
look at all.

Jason finally jumped up and hopped in the shower. As he lathered his
body he thought about how his life was evolving. He opened a hand car
wash and was turning a profit. It was in a prime location, Kings Highway
in Brooklyn, and the most elite cars came through. He made the mortgage
payments on time and was happy his honest work was affording him and his
family a privileged lifestyle.

When he went downstairs to breakfast, Christian was already sitting in
her high chair. Her round face was covered in bacon grease and scrambled
eggs. His face always lit up at the sight of her.

"Give Daddy a kiss."

Immediately, Christian puckered up her small lips and said, "Mummm."

"Muah," he kissed her back.

"You two need to stop," Cartier joked. "Y'all love each other more than
y'all love me."

Jason slapped her on her ass. "You my baby too. Give Daddy a kiss."

When the two kissed each other, Christian thought it was funny. She
began laughing and clapped her hands. "Do it again," she cheered.

The young couple indulged their toddler and kissed again.

After breakfast, Cartier and Christian got dressed as Jason ducked phone
calls from Monya. His stress level was nearing its limit.

"This is a stupid bitch," he said as he hit the ignore button on his cell. "She
know a nigga is at home chilling."

Jason was talking out loud he was so frustrated with her antics. Finally,
after ignoring thirty or more consecutive calls, he went inside the garage and
answered.

"What the fuck you want?" he said heatedly.

"Why haven't you returned any of my calls?" Monya asked, equally
heated.

"Yo, I'm not gonna keep going through this bullshit. You know I'm
fucking home with my wif-"

Jason couldn't even get the word out before Monya went berserk. She
always loathed it when he said the word wife. It was a pet peeve for her and
the feeling was unsettling. She began a succession of inaudible words and
Jason hung up. He couldn't take the foolishness. He turned his phone back
off and took his family to Dorney Park.

On the ride home, he and Cartier began making plans about expanding
their bedroom into a master suite.

"I think we could hire a contractor and get it done for around ten grand,"
Jason encouraged.

"I hope so, because I would really like a larger bedroom with a bathroom
in it."

"And don't forget your walk-in closet. I know all ladies want a walk-in closet." Jason cut his eyes to the right and he could see Cartier grinning.
"What you smiling about?"

"The house," she replied. "Our house and the upgrades we're going to do.
After we do our bedroom, then we should do the kitchen and get all stainless
steel appliances and granite countertops."

"Slow your role, spanky," Jason joked. "Put the brakes on. We gotta take
this one step at a time."

"I know"

"Besides, the market ain't that great to be upgrading too much."

"But, Jason, it will be a good investment in the long run," she said
convincingly. "And I want to stay here in our house forever. We live in a great
community. We got our house at a steal and we have so much space in our
backyard to continue to expand. I think upgrading could never be a bad idea.
We just gotta make sure that the contractors are reputable."

"I will kill a motherfucker if they ever tried to take my money and fuck
me-

"I know that ain't Monya?" Cartier said in a pissed off tone, as she spotted
a familiar looking car in their driveway-Monya's car.

"What the fuck that bitch doing here?" Jason said, not particularly
speaking to Cartier.

"You tell me!" Cartier raised her voice. "How the fuck she know where
we live?"

"I don't fucking know. I swear to God I didn't tell her," Jason tried
explaining.

They both observed Monya perched outside of their house sitting on
their stoop with her son, Jason Jr.

Cartier was so angry she couldn't see straight. She hopped out of the
passenger's seat and did a beeline toward Monya, who was unfazed by the
glare in her former friend's eyes.

"Yo, what the fuck you doing here in front of my house?" Cartier screamed.

Monya ignored the irate and screaming Cartier and directed her attention
to Jason.

"Your son is missing his father," she said. "Spend time with him." Those
were her last words as she left Jason Jr. sitting perched on the front steps with
his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth.

When he saw his mother leaving without him, he burst into tears. His
fat cheeks were stained with tears as his small hands reached out to a mother
who wasn't affected by his outburst.

"Monya! Monya! Where the fuck you going?"Jason called out to Monya
as he picked up his son. "This is some bullshit you on."

"Let that silly bitch keep walking," Cartier spat. She was glad Monya
didn't utter one disrespectful word her way. She knew she would be locked
up for whipping her ass. For years, Cartier wanted to kick Monya's ass, but
she knew Monya didn't play fair. The moment the fight was over, Cartier was
certain Monya would have her arrested.

"What's wrong with her? I'm telling you she's crazy," Jason shook his head.
He didn't know what Monya was trying to pull but he didn't like it one bit.

Cartier went to the car and picked up Christian, who thankfully had slept
through the drama. She couldn't wait to put the kids down to sleep, because
she had some issues with Jason. Her gut was hardly ever wrong when it came
to him, and this situation didn't sit well with her.