TYCE 6 (7 page)

Angelique and I were driving down a residential street in Long Beach. We were headed to a last known address for Lamont Jackson…aka
Jax. I chose to drive my Benz for our scouting errand. I had Khari’s mother in my passenger seat. I had promised her that I wasn’t going to involve her in any wild shit, and I planned on honoring that promise. She looked good enough to eat as she snacked on caramel popcorn with the bag on her lap.

“I don’t want any crumbs in my ride. Khari already got gold fish crackers in my back seat the
last time she was in here, and now you droppin’ popcorn all over your legs. Look, there’s a piece right there.” I pointed at her bare thigh.

“Get it then.” Angelique moved the bag.

I put the brakes on and paused at a stop sign taking my eyes off the road and putting them directly on her empty lap. Damn her legs were long. I’d forgotten how sexy they were. They looked firm and tender to touch, but I kept my hands on the wheel.

“Stop playin’ woman.”
I said casually.

“Who’s playin’? I ain
’t playin’.” She rubbed her knee. “You know you wanna touch me Tyce.” She smiled sexily. “You remember the last time we fucked? You were doin’ more than jus’ touching my legs. I had ‘em spread eagle while you punished me for callin’ you a pretty boy. You remember that? Oh, and what about the time I sucked your dick while you were driving. I think I liked that shit more than you did. So come on now, reach out and get the kernels Mr. Adkins, cuz it’s poppin’ over here.”

I squeezed the leather steering wheel tighter. Who was this woman? She was trying to make my dick hard. She was teasing me. She was trying to seduc
e me while I was on the job. I liked it…but I would never let her know that.

“
You got a way with words baby girl and I remember all those times. I also remember the time you almost knocked me down, cuz I was headed to the bathroom right after you blew it up. You ate some Indian food that gave you the bubble guts. That was the first time you ever dropped a load at my house…remember that?” I chuckled lightly changing the subject to one less sexual.

Angelique sucked her teeth. “That wasn’t funny. I didn’t want you to smell my funk
yet. You have four bathrooms in that house, but you had to use that one. You did that shit on purpose.” She pointed her finger at me.

“That shit was funny as hell to me. You shoulda
seen the look on your face when you ran up and tried to stop me. You were grabbin’ the back of my shirt like I was hanging over a cliff.”

Angelique pushed my shoulder lightly. “Well, I wasn’t comfortable around you yet. When I first moved in I didn’t want you to smell my shit. That’s embarrassing. But once I got comfortable with you it was cool.”

“Yeah, I see, cuz after that you would fart, take a shit, and rock your granny period panties like it was nothin’.” I grinned at her.

“Right
, cuz I was comfortable around you. Plus I got tired of holdin’ in my gas. That shit makes your stomach hurt and you’re afraid to laugh cuz you might let one slip out on accident.” She smiled and laughed a little.

I shook my head. “That has to be a woman thing
, cuz niggas don’t give a fuck. If you wanna stroll into my bathroom after I dropped the kids off at the pool and risk the chance of gettin’ knocked out by nerve gas…then that’s on you.” I nodded my head toward her.

I navigated my Benz down the streets of
a residential neighborhood that was close to the address we were looking for. However, before we arrived there I wanted to clear up some things while we had a little time.

She was still on the previous topic. “I know huh, niggas don’t give a fuck. They have absolutely no shame in their game
. And can you tell me why men take so long to take a dump? Ya’ll be in there forever. What the hell do ya’ll be doin’ for an hour? Women aren’t like that. We be in we out. What the hell takes ya’ll so long?” Her arched eyebrows furrowed a bit.

“Shit, that’s our time to get away from you.” I stated honestly. “Listen
, I wanna ask you somethin’.” I made a left onto the street where Jax’s house was supposed to be.

“Ask away.” Angelique f
olded the bag of popcorn and then put it away in her oversized purse.

I sighed before I opened up. “I jus’ wanna know why you changed your mind. I mean you were adamant when you turned my offer down. I didn’t e
xpect you to pop up like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you did…I’m jus’ curious about why you did it.”

She paused a second to gather her thoughts. “Well, you kinda caught me off guard when you asked me the first time. But, when I started thinkin’ about it
, I changed my mind. Look, I know I’ve made some huge mistakes recently and I hurt you in the process. I wanted to try and make up for that in some small way. I know it doesn’t change what I did to you, but if I can help you out then I will. I also want the money, but most of all, I want to make sure nothin’ bad happens to you. I almost died when you got shot and I don’t wanna feel that horrible feeling ever again. Nobody watches your back like me…nobody.” Her face was the picture of seriousness.

She had a point there. She was the one who had given me the bullet proof vests the first time I got shot. If it wasn’t for her looking out for me then I wouldn’t be
alive today. I could honestly say I felt more secure with Angelique being on the squad again. It reminded me of the good ole days before all the bullshit cheating and lying moved into our relationship.

“You’re right about that. W
hen it comes to business nobody holds me down like you do. I appreciate you doin’ this. It means a lot to me.”

“Awww
, look at you gettin’ all Hallmarky on me.” She teased.

I huffed lightly at her
jovial comment as we pulled up and parked across the street from the modest two story house.

“This is it.”
I pointed at the green home. “This may be Jax’s last known address, but I doubt he’s here. I don’t even know what the nigga looks like.”

We both looked at the front
porch as the wrought iron screen door opened. We saw an attractive white woman walk out.  We watched as she locked the door behind her.

“Wait a sec.”

Angelique quickly dipped her hand into her purse and whipped out a piece of paper and studied it closely.

“That’s her!”

“Her who?” I parked my car.

“Rachael! She works with Jax. My contact at the
DMV gave me a copy of her driver’s license. Red hair, five eight, a hundred and forty pounds…that’s her.” She folded the paper and stuck it back in her purse. I use my girl down at motor vehicle to check up on single men that wanna become members at my clubs. She’s great and she only charges me two hundred a pop. And then I call my friend Dwayne to run a criminal back ground check, credit check and the whole nine. I can’t have shady niggas runnin’ all through my establishment. So what do you wanna do?” Angelique shot me a look.

A
s Rachael strutted down the narrow sidewalk toward her baby blue Bentley, I studied her. Her long golden tan legs moved surprisingly fast underneath her tight lamb skin mini skirt. From head to toe she was put together extremely well.

“Let’
s sit tight and follow her. Hopefully she can lead us to Jax and the rest of his crew.” I watched her hop in the driver’s seat. “Is that how you found out so much about Jax and his crew? Your connect at the motor vehicle office?”

I put the car in gear and lit a cigarette for the ride.

Angelique helped herself to one of my clove flavored smokes. “Naw, I knew about Jax for a while. My cousin used to fuck with him years ago. Oh, and before Biz recruited you, he hired his crew to jack a boat load of heroin from some Mexicans. That’s how I know about Jax, but I needed my personal contacts to find out more.”

I nodded my head. “And who’s Dwayne?”

I pulled off smoothly from the curb a few seconds after Rachael. I didn’t want to follow too close and alert her to the fact that she was being tailed.

“Why do
you ask? Don’t tell me you got an ounce of jealousy Tyce.” Angelique tilted her head a tad.

I blew smoke out of
the cracked window nonchalantly. “Come on now Angie. You know me. I wouldn’t be jealous if you had a romantic picnic in the park with Obama butt naked in broad daylight. I jus’ wanna know who you gettin’ your info from that’s all. So who is he?”

Angelique flicked her ashes out of the window as we continued to follow the Bentley. I could tell she was a little disappointed with my picnic comment.

“Dwayne is a computer wizard who does illegal freelance work. He’s very good at what he does, but he had a hard time finding shit out about Jax and his crew. I’ll tell you one thing though. They keep a low profile and do big things.”

I sucked my teeth. “Well they’re ‘bout to get turnt down fuckin’ with us.
”

We continued to trail Rachael as she
quickly weaved through the streets of L.A. until she finally swooped into the valet section of the Omni. We kept our distance and watched as she got out of the cockpit of her luxury car and walked through the crystal clear glass doors of the hotel.

“You think she
’s stayin’ here?” Angelique looked at me.

“Yep. Lemme see them driver’s license pictures again.”

              Angelique pulled the paper out of her purse and passed it to me. I unfolded it and studied the three faces in black and white. I knew Jax’s government name was Lamont Jackson, but his license read James Fuller. I stared at his dark face and small eyes committing his profile to memory. Next, I scanned over Bishop’s face taking in his busy eyebrows and strong jaw line. His given name was Clinton Sawyer. I didn’t need to focus on Rachael’s picture after seeing her in person. There was no mistaking her slender physique, or her lustrous red hair.

             
I decided I would go inside and give the lobby a look. I’d been here many times before in my single days however, I’d never really waited downstairs. When I checked in back in the day, I usually stayed in my room and sweated up the sheets with a woman…or two. But today was about business…not pleasure.

“I’ll be right back.”
I put my Benz in park.

“Where you goin’?” Angelique touched my arm lightly.

I sensed a hint of worry in her voice.

“I’ma go inside for a minute.”

“I’m comin’ with you then.”

She grabbed her purse
, and gripped the door handle.

“No you’re not.”

“Why not?” Angelique’s face twisted up in protest.

“Come on now babe, you said you didn’t wanna
get involved in any wild shit, and I don’t know who is in there. It could be Jax, Bishop, and Rachael. I can’t risk them seeing your face alongside mine. Niggas like Jax try and go for a man’s weaknesses. I ain’t tryna have you and Khari in another fucked up situation like you were with Khalil. I told you, I need you backing me up on this one.”

Angelique let out a deep sigh. “How am I supposed to back you up if I’m sitting in the car?”

I held her hand tenderly. “I got this babe. I’ll be right back.”

             
Angelique reluctantly agreed to fall back and let me handle the Omni solo. Not that she had a choice in the matter because I wasn’t having it. As I crossed the street and walked between the huge palm trees towering above my head, I thought back to the car conversation I just had with Angelique.

Did I just call her babe…twice?

What the hell was going on? That shit just slipped out, but it seemed so natural when I said it. Being around Angelique minus all the tension and bullshit felt good.

I walked up to
the front desk and put my palms on the high shiny counter.

“Welcome to the Omni sir
, may I help you?” The young woman gave me a warm smile.

“How
’re you doin’ today? Look here, my friend Ben has a few questions to ask you if you don’t mind.” I lifted up my right hand revealing a folded up hundred dollar bill.

The dark haired neat looking woman looked down at the
money and smiled. I kept my gaze on her freckled face.

“And what might those questions be sir?”

I smiled back and leaned my chest toward her as I covered the bill. I watched her eyes focus on my pecks through my fitted red T-shirt, and then her light brown eyes flashed left to right peeking at the large diamonds sparkling in my ears. She licked her red lips and shifted her weight to her left leg.

“
I was wondering if the red head woman that jus’ walked in here a few minutes ago is a guest here?”

The desk clerk paused briefly. “No
, she’s not staying here. She’s visiting one of our frequent customers on the upper floor.”

I slid the bill toward her. “Is the person she’s visiting named Lamont Jackson by chance?”

The helpful woman turned her attention to a computer screen, tapped a few keys on a key board, and then looked up at me.

“Yes
, it is. He’s staying in room 724. He’s not scheduled to check out until two days from now.”