Obsession 3 (15 page)

She finished drying her hands off and then made her way back into her bedroom. Lucky was lying in her bed sound asleep. Secret shook her head and watched him sleep for a moment. Then finally she went and climbed in bed and lay down next to him. She watched his chest rise up and down thinking,
we really could have had something had you never shown me who you really were. Had you never thrown me away just like everybody else.
Secret lay down on her back with her arms folded looking up at the ceiling. Lucky snoring turned her attention back to him.

He'd started off as her prey and now here he was her prey again.

He'd been fed, he'd bust a nut, he'd gotten a back wash, dessert, a blow job, and now he was lying there snoring on her bed.

Secret turned her body to face Lucky and then cuddled up under his arm. She felt him tuck her even closer by putting his arm around her and then pulling her in. She had him right where she wanted him. The real games were about to begin.

“Aww, baby, please don't leave,” Secret purred in a whiney voice as Lucky got dressed. She lay in her bed naked with nothing covering her but a sheet.

“Girl, I've been up under you all week,” Lucky said, buttoning up his shirt, and that was no lie. Ever since their dinner date Lucky and Secret had been inseparable, just like before when they'd first gotten together. Lucky used to turn his cell phone off and everything when he was up under Secret. Today she'd called off work, but still took Dina to Miss Good's anyway just so she and Lucky could be alone.

“Don't you like being up under me?” Secret asked.

“Yeah, girl, you know I do. But I got business to handle.”

Secret climbed up out of the bed and stood behind Lucky. She wrapped her arms around him. “Then let me go with you.”

Lucky shook his head and wagged a finger. “Oh, no, especially not after the last time you was with me when I had to put in a little work.”

“Yeah, but I get everything now. I know what's going on.”

Lucky turned around to face her. “Oh, you do? And just what is going on?”

“You are one of the biggest hustlers in the state of Michigan, that's what,” Secret said in a know-it-all tone.

“You telling me or are you asking me?” Lucky said.

Secret shrugged. “I don't know. Kind of both.” Secret got serious and went and flopped back down on the bed. “Before, I can honestly say I didn't ask too many questions about what you did for a living because I didn't care. I loved you and I didn't want anything changing how I felt about you. I also didn't want to know because I didn't want to be a part of anything that wasn't on the up and up. But as we both know, I learned things the hard way. Things might have been different if I had been clued in on some things, you know.”

Lucky sat on the bed next to Secret. “I didn't want to drag you into my situation.”

“You didn't have to. The police did a fine job of that.”

Lucky put his hand on top of Secret's.

“I just think I would have respected you more if everything had come from you and not the police.”

“So the police talked to you about me?” Lucky asked.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“What did they say?”

Secret looked into Lucky's eyes. “Does it matter what they said? Do you trust everything the police say?”

“Hell no.”

“Exactly. They just wanted to make an arrest and I was scared to death. Those bastards were probably just telling me anything, which is why I half believed the half I did hear. I didn't want them telling me things about you. I felt anything about you I deserved to hear it from you. Don't you agree?” Secret asked. “Don't you think that I at least deserved that? Deserve that now? The last thing I want to do is get caught up in some bullshit. I have Dina here in my house—”

“You can stop right there.” Lucky put his hand up. “I ain't never and ain't gon' ever bring that shit to your place.”

“Just my car?” Secret said, shooting Lucky in the heart.

He sucked his teeth and went to get up.

Secret pulled him back down. “No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. But things did go down the way they did. I did time and have a record. I work for you as far as they are concerned anyway, so I was thinking . . .” Secret's words trailed off.

“You were thinking what?”

“If they already thinking it anyway, why make liars out of them?”

Lucky shook his head and held up his hand like he didn't even want to hear it.

“Seriously,” Secret continued. “You know, if we're going to be together, then we're going to be together. I don't want to be in the dark again when it comes to you.” Secret began rubbing Lucky's neck. “You know I have your back. I've proved that. But if a bitch is going to be going down for some shit, don't you think I should get a little bit more out of it than just a nice handbag here and there?”

Lucky looked at Secret and stared at her for a moment. “So what are you trying to say?”

“I want in. Just like Shawndiece.”

Lucky burst out laughing. After a moment he realized that he was the only one laughing. Secret sat with a straight face.

Lucky's face got serious as well. “You dead shit serious, ain't you?”

“Why not? I'm living here in this shithole apartment on government assistance working at a grocery store. I have another mouth to feed now. Back then it was just me so I didn't care as much, but I have a baby girl to look after now. I didn't make it out of this town, but, Lucky, I have to make sure she does.” Secret's eyes began to water.

“I hear you, ma, and I feel you. But you're talking out of emotions now. You have no idea how life is on these streets.”

Secret got up on her knees anxiously. “Then teach me.”

Lucky read her face. “You're serious, aren't you?” Secret's eyes watered. “Baby girl, come here.” Lucky pulled Secret onto his lap. “I got you. I'm going to take care of you. As quiet as it's kept, I'm indebted to you. You kept my black ass out of jail. You took one for the team, so as soft as you are”—he touched her cheek—“I know you'll go hard. And I trust you more than any other broad I've ever fucked with.”

“That all sounds good, so why do I hear a ‘but' coming?” Secret asked. “You said it yourself: I took one for the team. Is it fair that I took one for a team I'm not even officially a part of?”

Secret was making hella sense. “You're right in everything you are saying,” Lucky said.

“Here comes that ‘but.'” Secret sighed.

“All I've ever wanted to do was protect you from the streets, not put you in the streets.”

“You're not putting me in the streets. This is my choice.” Secret climbed off of Lucky's lap and sat on the bed with her knees against her chest. “I've been thinking about all this for a minute now. And to keep it real with you, it was something I was going to do with or without you. But I'd much rather do it with you.”

“Trust me, ma, you wasn't gon' do it without me.” Lucky chuckled. “Ya boy got the city on lock. So whoever you thought you were gonna get put on by, trust me, nine times out of ten, they work for me anyhow.”

“Maybe so. It's some dude Kat was telling me could put me on. Some dude named Pain, or something like that.” Secret pretended as though she was trying to recall the name of Lucky's best friend. But she knew exactly what his name was. She just had to play her hand right.

“Major Pain?” Lucky shot up off the bed. “Kat trying to hook you up with him, huh?” His nostrils began to flare.

“Yeah, she said he could hook me up. Help me earn a little extra money on the side.” Secret was lying through her pretty pouty lips, but it was okay. Lucky and Kat would never talk so he would never know Kat hadn't said two words about hooking her up with Major Pain.

From the outside looking in, it was truly difficult to tell who was playing who, or if the game was over and this was now real life.

 

“Why do I feel like you're Denzel and this is
Training Day?
” Secret said as she sat next to Lucky in his Escalade. She'd finally convinced him that she could handle being in the game with him. She even ran down the guilt trip of him letting her best friend make some paper but not her. Eventually Lucky's hand was forced to give Secret a try at the game to keep her from thinking he had something going on with Shawndiece. He told her before he started giving her a little work, which meant transporting dope and making re-up runs, he would let her spend the week watching how he operated. Today was her first ride-along situation. They had just left the shooting range where for the last two hours he'd given Secret her first lesson on how to handle a gun. Now he told her they were on their way to what he would only refer to as The Spot.

“
Training Day.
” Lucky laughed. “You crazy.”

“Yeah, I must be.” Secret looked out the window as Lucky drove through some very suspect neighborhoods. Every other house looked to be boarded up or burnt down. There were various characters just hanging out. A porch full of young, black men wearing the same color shirts and/or bandannas. Women with half their butt hanging out of the bottom of their shorts and everything but their nipples hanging out of their tops. An old man or woman pushing a shopping cart that looked to have their entire life possessions in that basket roamed aimlessly on the streets. There were paper thin folks walking around scratching an itch or looking for a scratch for their itch.

The apartment Secret had grown up in with her mother hadn't been in the best neighborhood, but clearly it hadn't been in the worst.

“Never made it over to this neck of the woods before, huh?” Lucky asked Secret after watching her stare at her surroundings as if they were foreign.

She shook her head.

“This is why I never brought you around this shit. It ain't you. Yeah, you might have been born and raised in Flint, but you don't know nothing about the real nitty gritty, this hood life.” Lucky looked around. “This right here is my home field.”

Once upon a time, when her and Lucky first got serious, Secret wondered if Lucky had been ashamed of her, if maybe that was why he'd never taken her to his home, taken her out to meet his friends or anything. If this was his home field, she now realized how blessed she had been that he hadn't. She would have thought him to be anything but a baller. Secret never did understand why dudes were in the dope game claiming and appearing to have all this money, but still lived in the hood. It just didn't make sense to her.

“The hood is where the money at,” Shawndiece had once told her. “That's where they make that paper.”

That answer had never made much sense to Secret either. But she was confident she was about to understand sooner rather than later.

“You scared?” Lucky asked her. “Change your mind yet about wanting a piece of the action?”

“Nope,” Secret said with confidence.

“Damn, who knew?” Lucky shook his head.

“Knew what?” Secret asked.

“That underneath all that book smart, innocent girly girl stuff you were a soldier.”

Secret turned and looked back out the window. “Yeah, who knew?”

“Yo, Lucky, my main man, what's up?” said one of Lucky's workers after he and Secret entered a warehouse.

The outside signage had read L
UCKY'S
G
ARAGE.
The way Lucky had kept referring to the place as The Spot as if it was top secret confused Secret as they'd walked straight up into the place. The door wasn't locked and there were no big dudes with guns wanting a password for them to enter or questioning who had sent them.

Secret shrugged her expectations off. Perhaps she'd watched one too many gangster movies. Secret looked around the makeshift auto repair shop. There were old beat-up cars outside in the lot as well as a couple in the shop with hoods opened, but nobody really seemed to be working on any cars.

While Lucky greeted his comrade, Secret spotted a tool shelf. All the tools looked to be new and shiny as if they'd never been touched. There was a large, shiny red toolbox that glistened. Everything looked to be kept up to par.

“And who do we have here?” the worker asked. He rubbed his hands together looking back and forth from Secret to Lucky. His eyes questioned Lucky as to why this new face was around and if it was okay to talk in front of her, or if he needed to filter the conversation.

“Oh, this here is my girl,” Lucky said. He put his arm around Secret and pulled her in. He nodded to the guy. “This is Fonda. He works the front door. You know, makes sure we're open for business from nine to five, just like our business hours are listed.” Lucky winked.

“Yep, and if anybody tries to get in outside of business hours, I got that tool for them.” Fonda tapped the shiny red toolbox.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that nine times out of ten he kept a gun hidden in the toolbox.

“So this is your girl, huh?” Fonda snickered and shot Lucky a “yeah, right,” look.

“Yeah, my girl,” Lucky confirmed with a stone face and stern voice. It wiped the snicker and smile right off of Fonda's face. “Her name is Secret.”

“Hello,” Secret said with a nod.

The worker nodded back. He looked Secret up and down. “And just how long have you been keeping this Secret? And more importantly, does Secret know how to keep secrets?”

Lucky shot dude a look and then said, “Come here for a minute.”

Fonda gave Secret the side eye and then followed Lucky into an office that had a huge glass window. Lucky closed the door behind them then Secret immediately saw Lucky snatch dude up by the neck and slam him against the glass.

“Motherfucker,” Secret could hear Lucky shout through the glass. It was muffled considering they were in the office, but she could still make out the words he was saying. “You questioning me in front of my bitch, because, nigga, I will—”

Fonda put his hands up in defense. “No, no, man, it ain't nothing like that. I just wanted to make sure—”

“Nigga, you ain't gotta make sure shit. All you have to do is make me my muthafuckin' money and get paid in the process. Ya heard?”

“Yeah, man. It's all good. My bad.”

Lucky released him and then straightened up dude's shirt for him. “You trust me, Fonda?” Lucky asked.

“Yeah, man, you already know.”

“Then you trust the people I roll with, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I've made a couple of bad judgment calls in my day, but haven't you known me to handle muthafuckas?”

Fonda nodded.

“Right,” Lucky said. “And ain't shit changed about me.”

“All right, I hear you, man.”

“Good. Then we won't ever have to have this conversation again, right?” Lucky said.

“Right.”

“My nigga.” Lucky put his hand on Fonda's shoulder and gave him a pat. He then walked him over to the door and opened it. “After you.”

Fonda walked ahead of Lucky. The next thing Secret knew, Fonda was hitting the floor and she could see Lucky's foot landing back on the ground from kicking Fonda to the ground.

Secret threw her hand over her mouth. She felt so bad for the guy who had been caught off guard and had hit the ground face first. When he lifted his head up blood was seeping from his mouth. He spit out a tooth and used his hand to wipe the blood away as he sat up on the ground trying to catch his bearings.

Secret had never seen this side of Lucky before. He'd just cold-bloodedly kicked this guy to the ground and then had practically stepped over him like a piece of trash on the sidewalk.

“Now don't make me have to put my foot in your ass again, literally,” Lucky said to Fonda as he approached Secret and offered her his elbow.

Secret, still a little shocked, hesitated and then looped her arm through Lucky's. He then escorted Secret by the arm down a hallway. Before walking away Secret had looked over her shoulder at the guy on the ground. He looked up at her, still wiping his mouth. The two locked eyes.

Secret's eyes were filled with pity for the guy. His eyes were filled with warning. This gave Secret pause.

“You all right?” Lucky asked Secret.

She turned her attention to the path ahead of them. Shaking off the scene that had just played out in front of her she replied, “Yes, I'm good.” Her voice was uneven.

Sensing she was feeling a certain kind of way about what had just gone down, Lucky stopped in front of a door and took Secret's hands into his. She flinched when he first raised his hands to touch hers.

“Baby, come on,” Lucky said, confused and offended Secret would act as if he was going to put his hands on her in a harmful way. “Why you all jumpy?”

Secret looked down.

“That back there.” Lucky nodded toward the room they'd just left. “That wasn't nothing. Just always have to let these cats know who the boss is. Otherwise they might try to try a nigga. I'm a nice dude, you know that. But niggas try to take my kindness for weakness. I can't have that. You know what I'm saying?”

Secret knew she had to quickly man up in order to be believable. Lucky had to think she really wanted to be a part of this life, his life. She'd have to recall and apply all the street smarts her best friend had showed and told her over the years. She knew eventually they'd all come in handy.

“Oh, I get it one hundred percent,” Secret said. “I just thought he deserved worse for questioning you like that.” Secret leaned into Lucky and looked up at him. “In front of your girl and all.” She gave him the sexiest look she could muster up over the fear she was suppressing.

He grinned, licked his lips, then looked up smiling. “How you gon' get a nigga all hard before we go in here?” This time he nodded to the door in front of them.

Secret smiled and followed suit by licking her lips. “Ummmm, we can go out to the car and take care of this.” She cupped his manhood. “Or certainly there's some dirty little closet with cleaning supplies that we can go into and get our quickie on, like they do in movies.”

“Where did this girl come from?” he said to Secret, closing his eyes and taking in the good feeling of the intimate massage Secret was giving his private parts through his pants.

“She's been in here, locked up inside trying to get out,” Secret replied.

“I see when they let you out of jail, they freed your alter ego as well.”

“You can say that,” Secret agreed. “So what do you say?” She squeezed his nuts playfully.

Lucky shooed her hand away and laughed. “Girl, stop playing. We can't mix business with pleasure.”

“Oh, yeah, tell Jay-Z and Beyoncé that.” Secret crossed her arms like a pouty child.

“Girl, come on in here.” Lucky untucked his shirt out of his pants to cover up his hard on.

“I can't believe you're going to let that hard, stiff one go to waste.” Secret sucked her teeth and shook her head. “Oh, well. You're the boss.” She extended her hand to the door. “After you, boss.”

Lucky walked past Secret and in front of the door. She smacked him on the behind.

“I'm 'bout to fire your ass before you even get started,” he said playfully.

Secret raised her hands in defense. “All right already. I'm going to be a good girl now. I promise.” She pouted her lips then crossed her heart.

“Damn, you so cute. I love you.” He looked up to the heavens. “God, how did I fall in love with an angel like her?” He shook his head and turned to open the door.

Floored and stunned by his words, Secret just stood frozen. He'd never expressed his being in love with her ever in their entire relationship. His actions had shown that he definitely had loved her, but in love with her? Secret didn't even really know how to feel about the words that had just been shot by Cupid. Now the question was would the arrow hit its intended mark and change the game?