New York's Finest (19 page)

New York’s Finest Kiki Swinson

Chapter 22 – One Plus One Equals Bullshit

After what I experienced last night with the threatening phone call and Damian and I hooking up, all I wanted to do was lie in the bed since I didn’t have to go to work. But unfortunately that idea came to a halt when Reggie started ringing my phone off the hook.

“
Hello,” I said, sounding all groggy.

“
You still sleep?” he asked.

“
Yeah.”

“
Where is Damian? Put him on the phone,” he instructed me.

“
Alright,” I said and then I pretended to act as if I was moving around. Then I put my phone on mute so he wouldn’t hear me waking Damian up. It took two shoves and a pat on his back to get him to open his eyes.

“
What’s up?” he asked, his voice barely audible.

“
Reggie wants to talk to you,” I told him and before I handed it to him, I took it back off mute.

“
Hello,” Damian said and then he waited for Reggie to respond. I sat up in the bed and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but I couldn’t hear exactly what Reggie was saying. I heard his voice, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

About ten seconds later, Damian said, “A’ight. Well, give me about an hour and we’ll be over there.”

Once he ended the call, he handed the phone back to me and then he laid his head back against the pillow. He closed his eyes and acted like he was about to go back to sleep. So I nudged him and asked him what did Reggie say?

“
He told me he wanted us to have a meeting and to meet him at the hideout spot.”

“
Was that it?”

“
Yeah, basically.”

“
So when you plan to leave?”

“
I’ma lay right here for another thirty minutes, but you can go ahead and get dressed if you want to.”

I let out a long sigh because in all honesty, I did not feel like leaving out of the damn house this early. I was trying to sleep in for a little while, but Reggie’s cock blocking ass had to call and fuck that one up.

I slid out of the bed and took a quick shower since I had bathed the night before. When I got out the shower, I slipped on pair of all-white capris and an all-white Marc Jacob V-neck t-shirt with the MC initials in the center. By the time I had gotten completely dressed, Damian was up and had gotten dressed, so we left soon there- after.

En route to our hideaway apartment across town, I got a call from Sabrina wanting to know if I was okay. I really wasn’t comfortable with her in my business for fear that she’d draw her own conclusions, so I downplayed the entire event.

“
Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again.

“
Yes, I’m fine,” I lied.

“
Are you sure because what happened last night was really scary. I worried about you all last night long.”

“
I’m fine really. I just overreacted. But I’m better.”

“
Having some guy call and threaten that he’s going to kill you, Naomi, isn’t overreacting. I think you should call the police, at least, so you can have it on file,” she pressed the issue.

“
Are you working today?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“
Yeah, I’m here now, sitting in the lounge area,” she told me.

“
Who’s in there with you?”

“
Nobody but me and Tracy. Evelyn just left out a few minutes ago. They got her flying on another flight. Oh yeah, she just asked about you too. Wanted to know what you were doing on your time off? And I told her after what happened to you last night, you’ll probably be better off at work around a whole bunch of security.”

I swear my fucking blood pressure shot sky high listening to this dumb ass chick on the other end of the line. She was my best girl friend and I knew she meant well, but at times she could stick her nose where it wasn’t wanted at times. And the fact that she was at work talking about me really made me livid. I could hear her now, giving that bitch, Evelyn, every single detail about what transpired last night, throwing up red flags that I might be into some shit that I didn’t need to be in. I knew if I was standing in front of Sabrina at this very moment, I would’ve smacked the fuck out of her and dared the bitch to hit me back.

“
Sabrina, I can’t believe you opened up your mouth and told Evelyn my motherfucking business like that. That bitch ain’t my friend for real. She pretends to be, but she ain’t. So why did you feed into her larceny? She’s a fraud and you fell right into her trap.”

“
I’m sorry, Naomi, I didn’t see it like that,” she began to explain.

“
Come on now, Sabrina, you know better than that.”

“
I know. I know. But she just sounded so sincere.”

“
That’s what phony ass people do,” I spat. I was angry that Sabina would just spill her fucking guts just like that. That bitch had never hung out with us before, but she tried to carry it like she’s down with us. She just started working at the airline with us a couple of months ago, so she hadn’t been around long. “So what exactly did you tell her?”

“
I just told her about the phone call you got from that guy and that you had gotten pretty shaken up about it.”

“
That grimy ass bitch! I swear I wanna call her nosy ass so bad right now and give her a piece of my mind,” I barked.

While I was fuming at the mouth and going off on the phone, I noticed the way Damian was looking at me. He didn’t interrupt my conversation, but he looked as if he was concerned about me.

“
Naomi, I am so sorry. She acted like she was all concerned, that’s why I told her,” Sabrina continued to explain and I was getting a really bad taste in my mouth the longer I stayed on the phone with her ass. Instead of cursing her silly ass out, I advised her to keep her mouth closed from this day forward. I didn’t care who asked about me at work, because at the end of the day, they didn’t mean shit to me.

“
Naomi, I promise that will never happen again,” she assured me.

“
Yeah, alright,” I said and then I hung up without saying goodbye.

I threw my Blackberry inside of my handbag and laid my head back against the passenger headrest of my truck. I tried to calm myself down, but I was finding that very hard to do. Damian reached over and placed his right hand on my thigh and told me to breathe slowly. But I couldn’t do it. I wanted to vent. No, I need to vent. Then I would be able to calm down and breathe slowly.

“
Do you know that dumb ass girl went to our co-worker and told her about that phone call I got last night?”

“
I heard you.”

“
Wasn’t that the dumbest thing she could’ve done? I mean, what possessed her to do that? She’s from the streets just like we are. So she knows when and when not to open her fucking mouth.”

“
Maybe she did it because she felt like she was helping you,” Damian replied.

“
Well, if she thought she was helping me out by doing that crazy shit, then I’ll hate to see what she’ll do to fuck me over,” I replied sarcastically and then I turned my attention to the people we passed by in the streets. Maybe I was overreacting. Sabrina didn’t know what I was doing on the side and she was my friend, maybe she did think she was actually helping me.

Damian continued to massage my thigh. I had to admit, his strong hand felt good on my skin. He wasn’t trying to be there, he was here . . . and just that thought should have put me on C square—cool and calm. But I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, allow myself to chill.

“
It’s gonna be alright,” Damian said.

“
Oh, I know it is because I’m putting her ass on ice. The only time she’s gonna see and talk to me is when I’m at work,” I replied and then drifted off and imagined what went through Evelyn’s mind when Sabrina told her what really happened. I could picture her now, trying to figure out what I had going on in my life. I was sure she would give away her entire paycheck to get the goods about my lifestyle. All of them were nosy bitches and if they kept it up, I was going to give them something to really talk about.

Just as I was about to relax and spend the rest of the ride in complete silence, my phone rang again. I looked at the number and didn’t recognize it. And this point, I wasn’t answering another call whereas I didn’t recognize the number. I wasn’t going through what I went through at the restaurant.

Damian sensed my hesitation and took the phone from me. He looked at the number, and then answered, “What?” He listened for all of ten seconds before handing the phone back to me. “It’s Candie, she says she needs to talk to you . . . sounds important.”

“
Candie, I’m glad you are out the hospital,” I said immediately after I took the phone from his hand and pressing the speaker button.

“
Thank you, Naomi for coming by the hospital to see me.” The sound of her voice put a smile on my face and made me feel kind of good. “My family was happy I had one friend who cared about me. You were the only one who came to see me and I really appreciate that.”

“
It wasn’t a problem, it was my pleasure,” I replied. “So, what’s up?”

“
Well,” she said, and then she fell silent. I noticed the tone in Candie’s voice changed. “What’s going on Candie? Are you alright?”

“
I was talking to Angel—”

“
Are you talking about the chick with the one arm that used to work for my brother?” I interrupted Candie.

“
Yes. Angel and I kinda grew up together. We went to the same middle and high school, and have always been cool with each other.” Candie pause for several seconds. But actually it seemed as if it was several minutes than seconds. She had piqued my interest and I wanted to know what was going on. I liked Candie but I wasn’t interested in hearing anything about Angel.

“
Well, Angel was afraid to tell you the day she saw you getting on the elevator that she knew you were about to be set up. She said she overheard Ben and Dre talking about it the night before the whole shit went down.”

“
What?” I said. I was on edge. My heart started racing. “You mean to tell me that those motherfuckers set me up to get robbed?” I snapped.

“
Yep. And she said she also heard Dre telling Ben that he couldn’t wait before they took over y’all whole operation. And with the young assassins on their team it wouldn’t be long before it happens.”

“
What? That’s bullshit, Candie. Don’t buy into that shit. I don’t know what kind of stunt that bitch Angel, is trying to pull, but I ain’t going to feed into it. She’s trying to start an unnecessary war within our camp because of what happened to her and her brother. Dre and Ben would never betray Reggie. Reggie has been too good to those niggas for them to act like that.”

At that statement, Damian swirled through traffic and pulled to the side of the road. He took my phone.

“
Candie, when did Angel tell you this?” Damian asked.

“
She told me the night I was beat up and got sent to the hospital. As a matter of fact, they beat her up too. But I don’t know what they did with her. A lot of people are saying she’s missing. That’s why I can’t go back home. I’m afraid they might try to get rid of me too.”

“
Fuck,” Damian said. I looked at his face and I could tell he believed every word Candie said. I was stunned. Not Dre and Ben. They were good soldiers. They wouldn’t do this to Reggie. This was too fucking unbelievable.

“
Thanks, Candie. Now lay low and I’m gonna make sure you are taken care of.”

I was still stunned and couldn’t believe my ears. What the fuck was going on?

“
Thanks, Damian, but it wasn’t about that. You, Reggie and especially Naomi, have been good to me and always treated me right. I just wanted to return the gesture.”

“
Still, we are going to take care of you,” Damian replied.

“
Damian, that’s not all. About an hour or so before Angel and I were attacked, I saw Reggie’s wife, Vanessa, leaving out of my building.”

“
Are you sure it was Vanessa?” Damian shouted loudly.

“
I know exactly how she looks. It was Vanessa because when she left, I watched her get into Reggie’s black Suburban.”

“
Oh shit! She ain’t lying. Vanessa was driving Reggie’s truck because that was around the time he was in the hospital.” I pointed out to Damian.

“
Yep, you’re right.” Damian agreed.

“
Was there anyone with her?” I yelled out loud, hoping she could answer me.

“
Yeah,” Candie stated. As much as I liked Candie and was happy she was telling us this, especially if this was true, I really didn’t want to hear anything else. “She went out the side door that no one uses. I saw Dre at the door and he hit her on the ass as she walked out the door. She turned around and acted like she didn’t like it, but when she turned back around, she had a smile on her face.”

“
Are you fucking kidding me? This bitch is playing my fucking brother behind some block hustling ass nigga! How dare that bitch!”

“
Yo’ Candie, please tell us you’re playing a joke on us.” Damian said.

“
No, I’m not joking at all. I almost died at the hands of those niggas. And now that I’m still alive, and know what I know about them, it’s time to give them what they got coming to them.”

“
Oh my God! Reggie isn’t going to take this shit very well. He is going to go on a rampage.” I commented.