Chapter 29

Salima had me fucked up.

Break up?

Take a break?

What the fuck was that? She wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was I, so she’d better get that thought out of her thick ass head. I left the house and headed meet with the mayor of the city. This muthafucka needed to get a handle on his flunkies before I got a handle on him. I didn’t want to get my hands that dirty again anytime soon.

With the number of bodies we left the clean up crew with, it took a few days to fully complete the job. I had very specific instructions for Mirron and Pearson’s body to make their story believable. It took Jaeda a few days to plant the evidence in their digital footprints, but my sister was on it.

The story of a corrupt politician and FBI agent would break any day now. It was going to look like they fled the country, never to be found. Of course they wouldn’t be found. None of them would be. Their bodies were chopped and burned in the incinerator in the morgue that my cleanup guy owned. Their bones were ground into ashes and disposed of as well.

The warehouse, which had a tax lean on it, had been cleaned, purchased, and scheduled for demolition, erasing any lingering evidence. We were in the clear.

I pulled up to city hall around ten. According to Jaeda, the mayor had a meeting at nine and was free until eleven. After parking my car, I headed inside and up to the floor where Mayor Tyler’s office was.

His secretary greeted me with a smile.

“Good morning. How can I help you?”

“I’m here to see the mayor.”

“I’m sorry, but he’s a little busy right now. Can I take a message and have him reach out at his earliest convenience?”

“This is his earliest convenience.”

I walked past her and headed for the door of his office.

“You can’t go in there!”

“Watch me.”

I reached to door and turned the knob. When I pushed it open. There stood the mayor with his pants around his ankles, and a woman bent over his desk that wasn’t his wife. They both moved the shield themselves.

“What are you doing here!” he yelled.

“I told him you were busy, Mr. Tyler,” his secretary informed him.

“Get the hell out!” Mayor Tyler snapped.

“Take some of that muthafuckin base outta your voice when you speak to me. Wrap this shit up and dismiss her.” I went to close the door, but turned back. “And spray some damn air freshener. It stinks in here.” I closed the door and took a seat outside. The secretary glared at me. “Can I help you with something, ma?”

She huffed as she spun on her heels and stormed back to her seat. Not even five minutes later, the door opened and out walked the woman that was bent over the desk. She tossed me a look as she strutted away. The mayor stepped out, adjusting his pants.

“Come on in.”

I stood and went into the office, closing the door behind me. The stench of Bengay and stale pussy filled the air and not even the air freshener he sprayed could combat that. Mayor Tyler took a seat behind his desk with a flushed face.

“Have a seat.”

“Fuck no. Not after that.”

He chuckled. “What is so important that you just had to bombard your way into my office, Mr. Dillinger?”

“You need to keep your niggas in check and tell them not to fuck with me.”

He chuckled. “I can’t keep an eye on everything, now can I?”

“I’m a simple citizen and I have eyes all over the city. You’re the fucking mayor. I’m sure you can do better. Do you see me laughing or smiling?”

The smile dropped from his face. He cleared his throat as he leaned forward on his elbows.

“Well, I can’t tell that to Judge Willis since he’s dead. Councilman Hayes is mysteriously missing, so I can only assume it’s him.”

“Yeah, about that. You’re gonna need to find a new councilman.”

“Fuck, Stanley! What did you do!”

“Lower yo’ muthafuckin voice.”

He huffed. “What did you do?”

“Nothing that wasn’t warranted.”

“You are making it difficult to have a work relationship with you.”

I laughed. “You need me, I don’t need you. You need me and my family to do the job your police officers can’t do. My family pours alot of money into this city to have to power and convenience to do what we do. We fund several campaigns to have the people you want in office. You may be the mayor, but we own this shit. That’s how we work, my nigga.”

“All right, all right. I’ll reiterate again that you all work for me?—”

“No. You’ll reiterate to leave us the fuck alone, or you and I are gonna be having a very different conversation, Mr. Mayor. You don’t want that.”

“No, no. I don’t. I’ll get it taken care of.”

“You do that.” I stood to leave.

“Say, uh… how’s that beautiful mother of yours? She still single.”

“If you or your old, dirty ass dick come anywhere near my mama, you will be the next nigga to come up missing.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “I was just playing.”

“I don’t like you enough to ever play with you. Know that shit.”

I opened the door and slammed it on my way out.

I pulled up to the Navarro residence with bags of groceries in my trunk. This domesticated shit wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’d be chilling here for a week and a half now. It would have been easy to just slid Mrs. Navarro some ends for her hospitality, but that didn’t seem like enough. I mean, I did break her off with some bands, but I pulled my weight.

I cleaned up after myself, I cooked, and I got to know her. That was my future mother in-law, after all. My thoughts drifted back to Salima. I couldn’t believe she tried to break up with me. Actually, I could. My baby was stubborn and in her emotional state, it was worse. It was pure torture not being able to see her pretty face or hold her while we slept. Me having to fold my big ass up on that little ass couch wasn’t the business either.

Still, at least I could be there with her.

I got out of the car and popped the trunk to grab the groceries when I noticed her car wasn’t there but her mom’s was. I frowned as I headed up to the front door and knocked. A few seconds later, Mrs. Navarro opened the door with a smile.

“Hey, baby. Let me help you with that.”

“I got it, Ms. Karen.” She stepped aside to allow me entry. “Where is Salima?”

“Well, I know she had to pick up schoolbooks and do a little shopping for supplies. She didn’t say whether she would be back.”

“She’s supposed to come back. I told her I was cooking for y’all tonight.”

I pulled out my phone to call her but it when straight to voicemail.

“Can I see your phone?” I asked her mother.

“Sure.”

She pulled it from her pocket and handed it to me. I dialed the number and Salima answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Mommy.”

I frowned. “This isn’t Mommy. Where are you? I told you I was gonna cook?—”

“Stanley, I told you I needed space. You wouldn’t leave, so I did.”

“Bet.” I hung up and handed the phone back to Mrs. Navarro. “Your daughter is too stubborn for her own good.”

She giggled as she led me into the kitchen. “She’s got it honest. Her father was a stubborn thing, too. Sometimes they think they know what’s best, but they could be wrong.”

“She tried to break up with me.”

Mrs. Navarro shook her head. “Give her some time. She’s still traumatized. Alot happened. She was missing for three days. Who knows what else happened in the warehouse that she isn’t talking about?”

I sighed heavily as I began unloading the groceries. “How am I supposed to be there for her if she won’t let me, Ms. Karen? I love her. I’m not trying to hear that break up shit— excuse me, stuff.”

“Just continue to show up for her like you’ve been doing. Keep loving her. She’ll come around.”

I nodded. I needed her to come around and come around quick. I wasn’t the most patient man and being in love only made it worse. Maybe the attachment I had to her wasn’t healthy but fuck that.

I ended up staying with Mrs. Navarro and cooking her dinner. We ate and cleaned the kitchen before I packed up my bag to leave. I’d put Salima a plate to the side with every intention of taking it to her to make sure she ate. After checking her location from her mother’s phone, I headed to her apartment. My cousin, Jaleel, the family doctor, gave her some medicine to help her relax, and that shit put her out.

Figuring that she was asleep, I checked the camera feed in the apartment. Sure enough, she was laid out in bed, knocked the fuck out. It only took me fifteen minutes to get to the building. Grabbing the food, I headed up to her floor. Using my key, I quietly entered. After kicking off my shoes and placing the food in the fridge, I strolled down the hallway to her bedroom.

The door was slightly cracked, so I pushed it open and stepped in. For the longest time, I stood there watching her sleep. She kept groaning and twitching like she was having a bad dream. That shit fucked with me. Did something else happen that she wasn’t speaking on? Did Mirron do more than exposed his nasty ass to her? If that was true, I’d wait until that muthafucka was reincarnated or meet him in another life and kill his ass again.

Damn, I might be a more than a little crazy, I thought to myself.

Fuck it if I was. I held Salima in the same regards as my family. Fucking with them was a death sentence.

“No… no…” She groaned as her head thrashing about on the pillow.

I wanted to comfort her, but I’d probably give her a heart attack. Instead, I watched until she settled back into a peaceful slumber before making my way out of the room. I headed for the guest room, where I took a shower and crawled under the covers to lay my ass down. It was barely nine.

Any other time, I’d be at one of the lounges, on a job, fucking with some female, or getting into some shit with my siblings. Tonight, I was right where I needed to be in case she needed me. What if she had another nightmare or a panic attack? She didn’t need to be alone.

I was sure she’d call Shar, but the fact was, Shar wasn’t her nigga. She couldn’t do for her all the things I could and would. If Salima wanted space, the only space she was getting was from one room to the next.