Maneater (21 page)

 

Blow slept through the flight, and it landed without a hitch. Tee nudged him when they pulled up to the terminal, and right away Blow could tell something was wrong.

“What's the matter?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

“We're late,” she moaned. Her skin was a funny color and her eyes were watering. “We had to circle around and wait for clearance to land.”

“Cool, but what's the matter with you?” Tee looked sick as hell, and when Blow touched her face her skin was cool and clammy.

“I don't know…” she whispered. “My stomach…”

Blow didn't like the way she looked, and he didn't know what to do about it. “Damn, baby. Should I call the flight attendant or something?”

Tee shook her head and motioned toward the crowd of people who were standing up in the aisles and getting their luggage from the overhead bins. “We'll be off in a second.”

Blow stood up and pushed his way into the aisle. He pulled Tee in front of him and waited impatiently as the line of people trickled off the plane. It felt like forever before they were able to get off the aircraft, and by then Tee was so weak she could hardly stand up.

“I'ma have to get you to a doctor, baby,” Blow said, his voice shaking. He was scared for her. He'd never seen her sick, and he'd never taken care of anybody who was sick, either. He didn't know what the hell to do.

Tee shook her head vigorously. “No…I have to go to the bathroom and we don't have time for all that.” She pushed their baggage claim stubs into his hand. “Take these. The realtor won't wait for us. Go to baggage claim and get our suitcases. They're both in your name. Get the bags, then meet the Realtor right outside the terminal.”

“Nah, baby. Let that mahfuckah wait! I'll stay with you until you feel better and then we'll go together.”

Tee leaned against the wall outside of the women's restroom. She waved her hand and shooed him off. “Baby don't be silly. This is Mexico. Anybody could walk off with our suitcases and this deal is too important for that. The sooner I get in the bathroom, the sooner I'll be fine. Just do this for me, okay? We can't miss out on a deal like this just because I have to take a crap. Go. The Realtor will be right outside of baggage claim, holding up a sign with your name on it. Get down there real quick and I'll be right behind you. I'm straight. I promise.”

Tee gave him a quick wave, and before he could protest she fled into the restroom, leaving Blow standing there looking a worried mess and clutching the baggage-claim stubs in his hand.

 

Tee had never laughed so hard in her entire life. She stood inside a handicap stall and wiped the gray-toned eye shadow from her face and the smeared mascara from around her eyes, then took a piece of gum from her purse and chewed the last taste of Blow's tiny dick from her mouth.

That greedy bastard was about to get everything he had coming to him, and Tee's only regret was that she wouldn't be there to see it. He'd given her his combination, and she'd packed the four hundred thousand she'd found in his wall safe in the suitcases, just like he'd told her to. Then she'd called to make their flight arrangements and she'd made a few other phone calls, too.

Tee had been real busy over the past few weeks. Not everything she had told Blow was a lie. She did know somebody important down in Mexico. He was her uncle on her father's side and the chief of police in a town that was busting at the seams with illegal drug activity.

Her uncle was real sorry about what had happened to Charlie, and together, they'd devised a scheme to kill two birds with one stone. As soon as Blow retrieved their baggage containing almost half a million dollars in cool cash, the wheels would be set in motion to slay his grimy ass!

Tee giggled into her hand as she visualized the takedown. Her uncle had a crooked officer on his staff who was providing protection to a drug cartel. He'd told him about an American football player who was looking to score big and set up some action in New York City, and promised the officer a big cut if he'd send his connect to the airport to meet the
negrito
and make the transaction.

Tee had also done her part from her end. She'd gotten on the telephone with the alphabet boys from the Mexican authorities and explained in perfect Spanish how a major drug dealer from the United States was coming into Mexico to make a large buy. She'd given them Blow's description and their flight information, and they'd promised to have a team of Federales waiting to meet them.

The guy who'd be holding up the sign for Blow was none other than Tee's uncle, and he'd been instructed to let Blow put his bags in the trunk, then have him sit in the car and wait for the connect to arrive and try to complete the transaction. Blow's football days were over! He was set to get caught up in a major international drug bust, and if Tee hadn't hated him so much she would have felt sorry for his wicked ass.

She thought about her baby brother Charlie, and any remorse she might have felt for Blow went straight out the window. Fuck Blow. Charlie was a good man, and he didn't deserve what Blow and his friends had done to him. All three of them were about to go down hard, and they deserved it, too. Now they'd feel what it was like to have your dreams stolen in a heartbeat, and everything you'd worked hard for snatched away. Tears came to Tee's eyes as she remembered getting that call from Charlie. The pain in his voice had cut into her heart, and Tee and her sisters, Sugar and Honey, had sworn on their mother's grave that they'd make all three of those motherfuckers pay for what they'd taken from him.

Tee brightened up. She had another flight to catch in a couple of hours. This one to Puerto Rico, where her sisters were waiting at a luxury resort with a suitcase full of fly new clothes and jewelry just for her, courtesy of the soon-to-be convict and ex-NFL star Byron “Blow” Ford.

She giggled as she pictured Blow spread eagle on the cold dirty floor of a Mexican prison. Shit moved real slow down here. It could take months before he got to see a lawyer, and years before he was actually brought to trial. Tee didn't give a damn how long it took. That grimy bastard was out of money and out of a job, and as far as she was concerned the Mexican authorities could keep his ass locked down eating shit-flavored tortillas for the rest of his life.

 

Leaving Tee all alone was the last thing Blow had wanted to do, but this deal had way too much doe riding on it to miss out on. His girl had looked bad as hell. Black circles around her eyes, her pretty skin all clammy and gray. She'd scared the shit outta him when he opened his eyes on that plane and saw her sitting there looking like a shook-up zombie.

“Go ahead, baby,” Tee had begged. “We're already late. Hook up with the Realtor, or he'll think we changed our minds!”

Blow strode through the airport like he was covering a football field. He rushed past old people and almost knocked a young mother on her ass. Hustling into the baggage-claim area, he searched for and found the carousel for their flight. A couple of pieces of luggage had already come out the chute, and Blow pushed his way closer and tapped his foot as he waited to spot his bags.

He had worked up a little sweat, but that didn't matter. The only thing he was worried about was getting that doe and getting outside to make the deal. He looked out the glass window and scanned the busy street outside. Cars were steadily pulling up and pulling off. He thought he spotted a green sedan parked a little ways down from the doorway, and sighed with relief when he saw a small man leaning on the car and holding a large white sign up in the air.

Blow couldn't read the sign, but he was almost sure it had his name on it. Minutes later both of his bags appeared at the top of the slide. He snatched them up as soon as they touched the conveyor belt, then made his way over to the exit where an airport official was matching claim tags to their computer-generated luggage tags.

Blow shoved his paperwork toward the official, then breezed through the exit without a hitch. Outside, the man leaning against the green car was indeed holding up a sign with his name on it. Blow practically ran toward him, suitcases in hand.

“I'm Byron Ford,” he said in a rush, stepping to the back of the car and throwing his suitcases into the man's open trunk. “I'm the money-man. You're waiting for me.”

The olive-skinned little man looked Blow over quickly, and when he recognized him from the photo his niece had attached to an e-mail, he greeted Blow with a big, wide grin.

“Oh yes, senor,” the portly man said cheerfully, and held the car door open so Blow could get in. He glanced at the drug connect, who was sitting in a parked car behind him, then signaled the alphabet boys, who were waiting across the street. “You are the one. I've been waiting for you.”

W
alking down the street watching chicas, go by watching Tee!

Slave had that shit right, and I couldn't get the tune out of my head as I lounged by the poolside sipping a piña colada spiked with Puerto Rican rum. San Juan was crunk this time of year, and there were tons of hot
mamacitas
strutting past with flat stomachs and sexy hips.

I reached over and rubbed my baby's firm brown thigh. She was stretched out on her back with her head in my lap, letting the sun bake her soft skin an even deeper shade of brown. A cute sister with braided hair smiled as she strutted past in a thong and a t-shirt, and I grinned back. She was a tourist, I could tell. She had the style of a New Yorker and she was killing that thong. It seemed like the dopest girls in the world were hanging around our hotel pool, but none of these chicks had shit on my baby, though. Tee was so fine, her body so bad and bodacious, that even the prettiest girls took a sip of haterade as they glanced at her beauty, made a mental comparison, and came up short.

Tee and I had something real going on. She was helping me see all the good in myself. All that shit she'd had with Blow had been a front. An act. I'd flown to meet her in Puerto Rico this morning, and we'd already done the wild thing three times. Ya boy put it down on her too! My shit was tight now, and I wasn't ashamed of my body anymore, but there were still some embarrassing things about me that I wasn't sure Tee would understand.

“I got a problem,” I had told her that morning, panting hard and rubbing my fingers across her firm breasts. If I'da known I was gonna get me a shot of pussy in the airport restroom I woulda gotten there early and taken care of Old Oscar with some lotion in my hand!

I was leaning against the stall door and Tee had my shirt up and was licking my hard stomach. My abs clenched and bulged, and I struggled to concentrate on team stats as I tried not to bust a big one right there in my pants.

“I wanna give you all a this,” I said, sucking air between my teeth as she slipped her fingers down the front of my pants and skimmed right over Oscar's fat head, “but I don't have a lot of control right now, baby.”

Tee nodded. Her kisses trailed wetly up my chest until her lips were on my neck.

“I know all about that,” she said, cupping my dick and stroking Oscar the snake through my pants. “Blow told me. But that ain't no problem, baby. I don't mind if you take care of yourself first, sweetie. That just means you'll last longer when it's my turn.”

I'll be damned,
I thought. All the barriers I'd been hiding behind fell away at that moment and Tee's eyes got big as hell as I unzipped my pants and let Oscar loose. I almost passed out as Tee gave me a big smile and took Oscar in both of her pretty hands, squeezing him tight. Then me and Oscar both almost hollered out loud as Ice Tee stood up and kissed my lips, then bent down again and opened her mouth. With a sexy sigh of anticipation, my baby placed Oscar's swollen head on the tip of her tongue, then opened her throat and sucked real deep as she listened to my black snake moan.

 

My BlackBerry lit up and I snatched it off the poolside table as Tee opened her eyes.

“Hello?” I said, tapping Tee and whispering, “Your friend,” with a big grin.

“Yo, Ribs!” Blow hollered. My boy sounded pressed as fuck, and I almost felt bad as I put him on loudspeaker so my baby could hear the conversation too.

“Whattup, homey?” I said cheerfully. “How's it hanging, my nig?”

“Shut the fuck up and listen,” Blow barked on me. “I got a big problem and I ain't got a whole lotta time to explain it all, neither. I need a lawyer, man. Somebody good who can get down to Mexico and get me the fuck outta jail.”

“
What?
” I acted like I was shocked.

“I got arrested, mahfuckah! Knocked! It was a set-up. I just got a note saying Nap and Tomere got took down, too.”

“What!?!” I repeated again, but this time there was laughter in my voice as Tee dug her fingers in my armpit and tickled the hell outta me.

I knew all about the take-downs. Right about now, slumlord and sweatshop owner Nap was sitting on Rikers Island, booked on charges of intentional arson for personal gain, and 2Mere100, aka Tomere Williams, had woken up to a nightmare this morning after getting caught in an Internet predator sex sting in Montclair the night before. By tomorrow both of their NFL contracts would be cancelled and even more of their grimy capers would be revealed as the authorities got deeper into their investigation. But I could dig the panic and surprise I was hearing in Blow's voice because cats like those three never,
ever
banked on getting caught.

“It was those
bitches!
” Blow hollered. “Those three bitches! Teesa and Sugar and Honey. They're sisters, man.
Sisters!
Watch your back 'cause they dicked all of us down real good. They prolly gone try to fuck you too, Ribs, so keep your eyes open.”

“Oh, they're open,” I chuckled, tracing the outline of Tee's erect nipple with one finger. Pellets of cold water suddenly splashed over us and I ducked and flinched like a little bitch.

“Hey, now!” I yelled at Sugar and Honey, who'd been playing around with some teenagers in the swimming pool and were now over near the edge fuckin' with me and Tee. “If I wanted to get wet I'da jumped my ass on in!”

“Who you talking to, man?” Blow practically screamed. “Man did you hear what I just said? I'm in
jail
. In greasy fuckin
Mexico!
Where the
fuck
are you?”

“Oh, I'm on a weekend vacation, dude. In sunny Puerto Rico,” I said, then lifted Tee's head and gave her a quick kiss.

“Yo, you gotta get me a fuckin' lawyer, Ribs!” Blow screamed. “Them girls is fuckin' with us! They tryna take us all down. After everything we did for them bitches, they fucked us up like this.”

Tee sat straight up and busted him out.

“Yeah, you dumb motherfucker!” she screamed into the phone. “You got fucked by Charlie Baker's sisters, you little-dicked bitch!” Then she snatched the phone from my hand and turned to her sisters.

“Say hello to Senor Blow! I hear Mexican men like their salads tossed with salsa and red hot chili peppers, motherfucker!”

“Hey,
Byron
,” Sugar yelled sweetly and Honey laughed and gave him a big shout-out too.

Tee laughed along with her sisters, and when she handed the phone back my boy was straight up whimpering through the line.

“I trusted you, Ribs,” Blow sobbed. “You was my niggah, man. All these years. My niggah from way back in the day, and I trusted you….”

I sighed and broke it down for him.

“You ain't got no niggahs, Blow. You got flunkies, man. Cats that you misuse, shit on, and disrespect. You real comfortable dicking everybody else down, right? Well now it's your turn to bend over and take a fat one, homey.”

“You was my
boy
,” Blow sniffled. “And you turned on me like our friendship wasn't nothing. That's some shit, Ribs. That's some real cold shit.”

“Nah, bro,” I laughed as I got ready to hang up. “That ain't no
shit
, my nig. But it
is
some Sugar-Honey-Ice-Tee!”