Suddenly, Cruze reached over and kissed Skye on the cheek. Surprisingly, she didn’t stop him.
I’m breaking her down, he thought.
When the waiter came over with their drinks, Cruze pulled away. “Thanks, but we need a few more minutes before we order,” Cruze informed him. As soon as the waiter walked away, Cruze grabbed her hand. “So, baby can you please forgive me and allow us to move forward? I know you miss me.”
While Skye sat there in silence, Cruze’s phone began to ring. Thinking whoever it was would definitely have to wait, he ignored the call. Not even three seconds passed before it started ringing again.
“Don’t you think you should get that?” Skye questioned. “It might be Kareem.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Cruze replied. But once he grabbed his phone and realized that he recognized the number, he put the phone away.
“Guess it wasn’t Kareem, huh?” Skye questioned.
“Nah…nah it wasn’t.”
“So, who was it…your drug connect?” she replied with a smirk.
“Funny,” was all Cruze said.
As Cruze phone rung yet a third time, suddenly disappointment washed over Skye’s face. It was as if the thought of him lying to her all over again resurfaced.
“I can’t do this,” she said, pulling her hand back.
“So, you can put up with all that Sandino bullshit, but you won’t give me another chance?”
Skye stood up from the table and grabbed Payton out of the booster seat. “I’m sick of giving chances!” she replied just before walking out.
CHAPTER 22
“He didn’t answer!”
“Well, dial the muthafuckin’ number again!” Dre yelled at Kareem while pushing the gun deeper into the back of his head. “If you try that dumb shit again, the next shot will be in your head instead of the ceilin’.”
“Alright,” Kareem said while wiping the tears from his eyes. He constantly put on an act trying to be hard, but in reality he wasn’t anything but a spoiled little rich boy.
He waited several minutes as the phone rang for the second time, then looked at Dre. He favored Justice so much it was scary. He turned his attention back to the phone when Cruze finally picked up.
“Who’s this?”
“What up, Cruze? It’s me…Kareem.”
“Damn, Kareem what’s going on? Your mother told me you asked for my number.”
“Umm…yeah I really needed to holla at you. How is everything going?” Kareem tried his best not to sound alarmed.
“I’m trying to maintain. I miss your mom so bad though. I’m glad you called me. I want to apologize to you. You know the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you guys.”
“Yeah, we all make mistakes. But you need to try and make this right things right with my mom because we miss you.”
Cruze paused before speaking. Kareem’s remark had sent up a red flag.
Kareem never wanted me around and now suddenly misses me? Something doesn’t sound right, he thought.
“Cruze, I need to see you. I have something to talk to you about.”
“What’s wrong? Is it something that can be talked about over the phone?”
“No, I need to talk to you in person. It’s really important though. I hear you’re back in Miami.”
“Yeah, I’ve been out here for a while now, trying to win your mom over.”
Kareem looked at Dre to make sure he was listening. “So, you’re back in Miami?”
Cruze hesitated for a second. “Kareem, what’s up man? Is everything okay? I just answered that question.”
“Everything’s cool. So, where are you staying?”
Feeling like something wasn’t right, Cruze decided not to tell Kareem his whereabouts just yet. “I’m floating around. Just call me when you wanna hook up.”
“Okay, so you want me to call you?” Kareem mimicked.
“Why are you repeating everything I say? Is something wrong, Kareem?” Cruze asked once again.
“Yes, I’ll call you back once I’m ready. Good talking to you,” Kareem replied before the phone went dead.
Dre pushed Kareem out of the bathroom into the living room were Felicia was pacing the floor. She was pissed off that Dre had shot his gun into her expensive Solistone ceramic ceiling tile.
“Dre, I’m not so sure about all this now. I think we should just let him go,” she complained.
“Let him go? Go look in the mirror at your damn face, Felicia. If I hadn’t rushed over here when I did that nigga woulda killed you! You crazy if you think I’m doin’ all this shit for nothin’.”
Kareem looked at Felicia hard and long. He really had no intention on hurting her like that. He was so hurt that she’d betrayed him, he ultimately lost it. At that moment, Kareem realized that he did have a lot of his father’s ways instilled in him. The thought of being anything like Sandino made him feel terrible. When Felicia noticed the way Kareem was staring at her, she looked away. Dre also noticed.
“Is something wrong, nigga? You upset that she turned you out, huh? Did you fall in love? Well, it was all part of the plan to use your dumb ass so we could find out information. But if you ever put your hands on her again I swear I’ll kill your ass.” Dre punched Kareem in the face to let him know he meant business. “Felicia, go pack a bag we about to drive to Miami.”
“Drive? Are you serious? Do you know how long that’s going to take? Can’t we fly?”
“We can’t fly, this nigga might try to snitch or run. Plus, I can’t carry my guns on the plane. We gotta drive and hopefully this shit will go smooth, if not we might be driving back with a dead body in the trunk.”
Dre backed his brothers BMW into the garage and hit the remote waiting for the door to go down. He then got out of the car and entered the house through the garage. He walked into the room where Kareem was tied up to a chair.
“I’m about to untie your legs. If you try to run I swear to God I’ll go shoot your mother right in the fuckin’ head! Do you understand?”
Kareem looked at Dre wishing he could kill him. “Yeah.”
“If you cooperate I’ll let your family live again,” Dre told him.
Kareem wondered what he meant by he would let them live again. Dre must have read his mind because he began to answer his question.
“You see young blood, your father sent me here to Georgia to find y’all and take your mother out. At that time I wasn’t up to killing nobody, but that was then. I got much more money on the line now. So I need to know where my brother’s body is so I can collect on it,” Dre explained.
Dre was so wrapped up with talking about money, he didn’t hear Felicia when she walked into the room wearing a pair of Prada sunglasses, jeans, a cute top, six inch Giuseppe heals and rolling her designer luggage. Dre shook his head. It looked like she was going on vacation with her girls instead of on a mission looking for her husband’s body. Felicia was the true definition of a Diva even with all the bruises she’d sustained from Kareem fists, she still looked like a runway model.
Kareem stood up when Dre released his legs even though his hands were still bound.
“Remember what I told you. Don’t do anything stupid,” Dre said, pushing Kareem through the house and towards the garage door. When Dre saw Felicia getting comfortable in the front passenger’s seat of the car he stopped her. “What you doing Felicia? You have to drive so I can keep my eye on him.”
Felicia looked at Dre like he was crazy. “Oh no no no. I know you don’t expect me to drive. This shit was your idea, remember?”
“Well, would you rather sit and hold the gun on your lover boy?”
Felicia shook her head no once again. She wasn’t touching that gun in fact this whole trip wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan. She huffed and puffed before finally walking around to the driver’s seat. Even though she felt Kareem staring at her when she passed him, she got into the car without looking at his face. Dre pushed Kareem into the passenger’s seat and pulled down the visor so he could watch him through the mirror. He then climbed in the back. Felicia started the ignition and hit the garage remote.