The World in Reverse (4 page)

He bit into the food and lowered his voice. “Food is good, but I’m sure that you taste better.” He cut his brown eyes at her and winked.

Ivy rolled her eyes in return. “Whatever,” she said, unable to hide her blush. “Goodnight, Nicky. I’m tired. I’m going to bed and getting some rest before I have to be up for church in the morning.”

She turned to walk away but Nicola grabbed her arm again. This time he lifted her and put her on the table right beside his plate.

“Boy, what are you doing?” she asked, laughing. “Let me go!” She felt his cold hand slip down her leg and into her jogging pants. Closing her eyes, she tried to curse him. “I said no making love,” she whispered, wanting him to take her right then.

“Who says we have to make love?” He leaned into her and sucked on her neck with a nimble hot tongue. “We can do other things…” He adjusted his fingers down into the warmness of her panties and let out a groan.

She found his mouth and kissed him slowly. “Like what?” she whispered, tugging on his bottom lip as she held the sides of his face in her hands.

Nicola grabbed the waist band of her pants and pulled them down to her ankles. “Fuck, screw, pump, smash, twirk…”

“You have such a dirty mouth.” Ivy laughed as she watched him pull off his shirt. His impatience with his own clothes let her know that this was going to be quick. He kicked one boot under the kitchen table and the other across the room into the stove. When he got to his jeans, he yanked them down along with his underwear.

“We can do whatever you like,” he sang part of the rapper T.I.’s song, returning to her naked.

She giggled and looked down at her name tattooed on his chest across his heart. How could she stay mad at him while looking at something like that? He was her teddy bear, her biggest baby. “You should have told me, Nicky,” she admonished one last time in a much quieter voice.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry. Forgive me, okay?” He lifted her chin and kissed her lips softly. His tongue slowly licked at her mouth. “Don’t be mad at me. I can’t take it. You’re all I’ve got in this world besides the four
heathens
upstairs.”

“You’ll say anything to get what you want,” she said in a whisper as she felt his hand ru
nning over her skin.

“Let’s make up, right here, right now,” he begged.

“Right here? Right now? Having sex on the table isn’t sanitary,” she reminded him as he pushed his body up against hers and melted into her. “The kids have to eat here in the morning for goodness sake.”

Nicola grunted, turned on by her body and desire to reconcile. “Okay, I’ll bleach the damn thing after,” he said, pulling her legs to the end of the table.

“After what?” she asked, closing her eyes. She could feel the warmness of his throbbing penis pushing between her steaming thighs and suddenly she couldn’t think of anything else. Swallowing hard, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Nicola bit his lip and watched her face. “A
fter this,” he said, pushing inside of her.

4

At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning with the crickets still chirping and glistening dew on the ground, Nicola crept out of the front door of his house before the alarm could go off and wake Ivy for church. Quickly loading into his truck with a cup of premium roast coffee and a microwave egg and sausage sandwich, he pulled off into the quiet streets of Midtown listening to talk radio and getting his mind right for the long day ahead.

He truly hated to leave his family again this morning considering he had been gone all day the day before, but the medical examiner had come across a very important piece of information last night - too important to ignore or push off until Monday.

To follow up, Nicola and Johnson were g
oing to visit one of The Five Families today. The Five Families were the top crime syndicates headquartered directly out of Memphis and moving illegal products nationally and/or internationally.

Even though Memphis was a smaller metro, it had two very distinct characteristics that made it a prime spot for smuggling: the river and the largest international cargo airport in the world. On any given day, to get things in or out of the country, all it took was a dirty customs agent, a starving delivery man with a contracted truck, a cargo hold and an 18-wheeler and any major dealer could be in business.

There were many crime syndicates in Memphis that kept the Organized Crime Task Force very busy, but most of the major crime was streamlined through five distinct organizations. These organizations knew about any of the real money in gambling, guns trafficking, prostitution, auto and identity theft, illicit and prescription drugs, burglary and murder-for-hire.

The Fly Boys were the most notorious of all five organizations, known for selling prescri
ption drugs, illicit drugs and even over-the-counter drugs that would be flagged if purchased in bulk at stores. Started by one drop-out med student and one reject Air Force Pilot, the two men had grown the business considerably in the last five years, but oddly enough they had chosen to stay in Memphis.

Through his investigations, Nicola had been able to find out the truth behind the reason that the duo wouldn’t jump ship. Twist, the former pilot had a child with his ex-wife in Memphis. He worried that if he left, he might alter the relationship that he had with his son or even worst, risk putting he and his mother in danger without his protection.

Cane, the other half of the dynamic duo, was happy in his long-time home on the farm that he and Twist stayed on right outside of town. Cane was a good old boy who started out wanting to run his father’s pharmacy but ended up running a multi-million dollar drug business instead.

Nicola had busted the Fly Boys on a few o
ccasions, but never had enough evidence to keep them. Usually, he did just enough damage to make them change their operations mildly. He never kidded himself with thoughts of grandeur when it came to the five families. They had too much money behind them individually and collectively. But he did hope that one day, someone would mess up on a grand enough scale that they would bury themselves.

Today, however, he wasn’t going to shake up The Fly Boys or spend time interrogating them. He was going to ask them, practically beg them for a favor. Normally, even thinking about such a thing would be above Nicola, but co
nsidering there were children involved, he would use all resources available to him.

But first, he had to make a stop downtown off of Main Street to pick up Johnson from his condo. Evidently, the guy wasn’t a morning person, so Nicola offered to pick him up instead of waiting for him to show at Republic Coffee shop, his favorite meet-up place on the West side of the city.

Johnson claimed he was a night owl from years of being on delta shift before transferring to homicide. Prior to serving on the police department, he had been a 0311 infantryman at the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. And before that…well, Johnson’s story is a mystery. He never speaks of family, friends or life before the Corps. And being the type of guy that Nicola was, he didn’t ask.

Nicola didn’t like to rock the boat.

While the Memphis Police Department was over 2,500 men and women strong, almost everyone knew each other directly or indirectly. If a cop had a reputation, good or bad, everyone knew about it. Stories circulated among the watering holes about the amazing and most often bizarre situations that a cop could find themselves in on any given day. Johnson was one cop who had a serious reputation on the force. Dubbed a ladies’ man, charged with being excessive with force at times, tough in the interrogation room, fast on his feet and feared by the OG’s, Johnson had worked hard for his badge. While on uniform patrol, he had managed to turn in more arrest tickets then anyone on his shift at the West Precinct. His continual harassment of drug dealers and gang members made him prime for the Organized Crime Unit, but he had already bidded for a spot in homicide, which is where he had landed. Since then, he had solved more cases than he had left unsolved and helped put a few major criminals in jail through forensic evidence and pushing witnesses to actually testify.

Nicola liked Johnson from what he could tell of the man. He reminded him a great deal of himself prior to marrying Ivy. When Johnson wasn’t on the job, he was always chasing girls, for instance, something that Nicola had r
eceived a citywide reputation for over the years. And even after he was married, he had to often worry about running into one of his old flames out in public with his family. They would often try to slip him their numbers or offer to meet up later, but he would always decline.

That part of his life was over now. Thank God.

He had become a new man, found a new reason to live and changed his old ways, but he didn’t fault the guys who lived his old life. That was just part of growing into a man. In fact, he lived vicariously through their stories without the side effects of crazy women showing up at his house unannounced or endless paternity tests and close calls. In the six years of marriage to Ivy, he had never had one affair. True there had been close calls. Women still found a man with a badge and gun attractive no matter how many children he had or how married he was, but he had managed to stay on the straight and narrow. At times, he had found it trying, but the one thing he knew was that he loved his wife and he would do anything to keep her.

Plus Ivy was a good woman. She was a hard worker. She had a great job that she loved. She was a great mother to his children and an even better wife to him. He couldn’t ask for more, except longer vacation time and more hours to sleep on any given night. But his life was his own and he took immense pride in it. People always complimented him on how beautiful his family was and how lucky he was, and unlike some who only looked that way from the ou
tside, his family and his life really was good.

***

Pulling up to the Riverbend Condos off Riverside Drive not far from his old place before marrying Ivy, he parked his truck and meandered up to Johnson’s place with his coffee still in hand. He had never been to Johnson’s place before, but he liked the look of it. It screamed bachelor pad with bricked, zero lot, three-story condos overlooking the river. Smart sports cars and SUV’s lined the quiet street as early morning runners and dog walkers went about their daily routines. Birds chirped up in the strategically placed trees near the street lights and the sound of cars in the distance on the nearby freeway made for urban tranquility.

Hitting the doorbell, Nicola took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and waited patiently at the front door. He squinted at the sunrise coming up over the horizon, slipped on his shades and ran a hand through his black curls. Leaning against the black rail of the staircase, he looked at his watch. Impatiently, he rang the doorbell again.

Minutes later, Johnson came to the door and opened it slightly. He peered out with red eyes at Nicola, who tapped his watch.

“What the fuck, man,” Nicola said, pushing his way in.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize the time,” Johnson growled as he stepped back. He was in a pair of black briefs and bare-chested with only his dog tags hanging from his neck. Tattoos colored his deep olive-tanned skin over the thick, concrete muscle.

“Well, get dressed so that we can head out to Eads,” Nicola said, looking around.

Johnson had a thing for Scarface. Everywhere he looked there were large, black and white photos hung up of the movie and other random memorabilia on the coffee table. The guy was a real movie enthusiast.

“Where’s your kitchen?” Nicola asked, walking through the living room.

“Back there,” Johnson said, scratching his chest. He looked over at the stairwell as a woman in a man’s dress shirt came walking down. Cracking a smile at the young brunette, he pointed at Nicola.

“Agosto this is….” he waited for her to a
nswer.

“Sam,” she answered with a frown.

“Samantha,” Johnson said, raising a brow. “She’s a friend.”

“Nice to meet you, friend,” Nicola said, walking toward the kitchen. “We’ve got ten minutes,” he called out to Johnson.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Johnson said, saluting Nicola sarcastically. He turned on his heels. “Baby, let’s go up and get dressed. I gotta get out of here in a minute. You heard the man.”

“Why don’t I just stay here and wait on you?” she asked as he walked up to her and kissed her lips. Holding on to the banister, he planted himself in front of her to prevent her from coming down stairs and getting comfort
able.

“Hmm,” he growled as he ran a hand down her exposed thigh. “Not a good idea, baby. I don’t know what time I’ll get back and my mom is supposed to stop by later and clean-up. Trust me, you don’t want to be here when she gets here.”

“I’d love to meet your mother,” she said with a smile.

Johnson sucked his teeth as he prepared to exhale a lie. With a faux-distant look in his eyes, he fibbed. “She’s overbearing, overpr
otective and she runs all my girlfriends away. I’d rather introduce you myself later,” he said, turning her around by her voluptuous hips. “Now up the stairs with you.”

“Girlfriend?” Sam repeated. “But you just called me your friend.”

“Yeah, my
girlfriend
. Do you think I just bring random girls home?” Johnson asked, trying to keep a straight face. “Now come on. You heard the man. I’ve got ten minutes. Don’t make me look bad in front of my boss.”

Nicola shook his head at the conversation.
Textbook player
. The next thing he would be doing is telling the girl that he’d only been with a few girls and had never felt this way before. Wow, he didn’t realize guys were still using the old green as grass routine. He went into the kitchen and popped his coffee into another cup to warm it.

Just as the microwave sounded, Nicola’s phone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. It was Ivy.

What are you doing?
She asked.

Sorry to leave so early, baby. I’ve got a lead. Once I’m done, I’ll be home
, he typed.

It’s Sunday, Nicky.
He could actually hear her tone in his head.

I know. I’ll be home soon. I promise.

We’re going to church without you.
More tone.

Say a prayer for me. I love you guys.

There was a pause before Ivy responded.

I love you, too
. She responded back with a smiley face.
But you have dinner duty tonight at seven. So unless hell freezes over you had better be here.

Nothing will stop me
, Nicola typed back.
Have a good day.

He smiled and put his cell phone back in his pocket. Just one more example of why he loved his life more. There were no names to reme
mber, no quick escapes. She’ll be there when he got home, waiting for him just like every night for the last six years.

Exactly ten minutes later, Johnson had seen Sam off in her red Mini-Cooper and had loaded into Nicola’s truck. Sliding into his seat and slipping on his shades, he groaned. “Shit, I’ve got a fucking hangover.”

Nicola started the truck and smirked. “So, you’re a lightweight, huh?”

“No, I’m a fucking alcoholic,” Johnson said, reaching into his pocket of his hoodie to pull out a flask. “Want some?”

Nicola nodded no.

“Fine.” Johnson took a sip of the strong drink and slipped it back inside. Letting out a growl, he blew out a breath making his lips flap. “Okay, so we’re headed to Eads to see the Fly Boys, right?”

Nicola turned onto the expressway and adjusted his rearview mirror. “Yep. The medical examiner said that each of the children had one thing in common. They all had the Molotov cocktail in their system.” He looked over at Johnson. “And you know who produces that pill.”

“The fucking Fly Boys,” Johnson said, rai
sing a brow. “Yeah, I get that part. I got that last night. What I don’t get is why we are just going to knock on the front door and ask Twist and Cane, of all people, to help us out. Call me crazy, but I’ve never known drug dealers to be helpful in a police investigation.”

“Well, I’m not so sure that Cane will be helpful. He doesn’t have any children and by all accounts of the word is a fucking redneck, but Twist might just help us out.”