Thanks for the reviews everyone!
Che Black Diamond: Mr. Mute was dirty for that, lol. She can't really do much because Huey is Huey. He doesn't really trust anyone, especially a prisoner. Omg, really?! I know, I hate how Tom is in the show so I purposely made him a gangsta in this to make him seem like he had some balls. Seems like I've failed :( lmao.
.xox: Yup! Poor Jazzy walking in on them like that. She was too embarrassed. I had to have an awkward moment in here between them. It just seemed to make it more interesting, lol.
bunnybabe247: Mhm! Tom is a no bullshit type of dude in here. I hate how he is in the show, he's so annoying. He seems too much like a punk so I made him cool in this.
Kendrickthemorningstar & HueyFreemanForPresident: Cairo is such a bitch when it comes to Don Dubois. Pause. lol.
StanMarchxKyleBrowflowskiLuv : Cairo is gonna have to do some serious looking. haha.
Jazavelli: Guess he forgot to take that class. lmao. Every one thinks Caesar is a predator :0 Yes, Mr. Mute did enjoy that :) Pheonix.. Well, you'll see. There's a slight progression in this chapter. I mean miniscule. I'm not trying to rush them, you know? This is going to be a longgggggggg story. So maybe in the next couple of chapters they'll *Ahem* have something happen. Hint hint.
ShellieB: Cairo is a mess, lol. He got what he deserved from Don Dubois, though. Yea, I wanted yall to see that Tom isn't a total mean ass. He really cares about his family. That was awkward to the max, but it was fun writing it. lmao :)
LovinHueyFreeman: Hell yea, you're funny! Cairo has fallen and got a rude awakening. He learned today! :D I like her too. I'm trying to make her seem cool so it's not like she's just a random hoe, you know? Then it'd be extremely easy to hate her. I don't want it to be that easy. Poor Caesar getting dissed again. lol. I didn't mean to make him seem predator-ish, just a little freaky. Awkward moment, indeed :0 Mr. Mute isn't so mute anymore. He really should've told her that was off limits, but he was having a little fun. Lol. I'll make sure Hiro will have his own scene in the next chapter. He's my favorite :D Oh, and he is named Tom. Don is a term in the mafia used for the boss. It's like a formality in the mafia. 'Don Dubois' is just what everyone in the business call him.
BananaMilkshake97: Don Dubois aint the one to mess with! :D lol
mimi: Oh, hell yeah! They will be together no doubt about it. I hate HueyxOC. The only reason why Pheonix is in here is to make it more interesting. This will without a doubt be HueyxJazmine. I'm not rushing them, though because this will be a long story but in a couple of chapters they'll progress :)
Here's the next chapter. Enjoy :)
Chapter 8: Keep the Cover-Up
"In the circle in which I travel, a dumb man is more dangerous than a hundred rats" -Joseph Valachi
A chill midnight breeze came through the slightly cracked window allowing the brisk cool air to form goose bumps on my bare skin. I looked down and saw Phoenix sleeping peacefully with her head lying on my chest. So as not to wake her, I leisurely eased my body from the bed without the interruption of her serene slumber. The only thing I received from her was quiet shuffling underneath the thick comforter. Not an eye opened or sleepy murmur heard. I let out a sigh of relief before rising from the bed. I went to my drawer and dressed myself in some grey sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt. Then opened the door and closed it, devoid of the slightest sound.
That was the hard part. Now for the easy one.
Once I entered the living room, I was satisfied knowing that the group was already there and I wouldn't have to make rounds to gather them from where ever they happened to be. Hiro and Caesar were ranting and playing a video game. Riley and Cindy were watching them, enjoying watching the two fighting senselessly. Well, Cindy more enthusiastic about it than Riley.
"Caesar how the hell you gonna let Hiro beat you in basketball?! That nigga don't even like basketball!" Cindy taunted and snickered loudly.
"Shut up, bitch!" Caesar said through gritted teeth as he focused all his attention on the game.
When I entered, they all quickly glanced to look at me.
"Where the hell have you been all day?" Cindy questioned.
"I had some business to attend to." I replied simply.
"What the hell, man!" Caesar exclaimed as he harshly threw the controller across the floor. Hiro smirked victoriously and looked at Caesar's sore loser fit in amusement.
"Turn that off. We need to have a short meeting now." I said in my usual monotone voice.
Caesar and Hiro put up their controllers and Caesar turned off the gaming system. I spun around and headed to the meeting room with them following closely behind.
When we reached the meeting room door, I put in the code to enter and a small circular device came out that flashed a laser that slowly moved from right to left across my eye. The red light turned yellow. Then I put my hand in a square part of the wall and waited for it to scan my fingerprints. The yellow light turned green and the silver door opened like as smoothly as an elevator would. Once we reached inside the room, we took a spot in our respectable seats and everyone waited for me to start. I cleared my throat.
"Plans have changed with the girl." I announced.
Everyone immediately became interested and waited for me to continue.
"Phoenix is staying for a while and I don't want her to know about anything we're doing. Apparently when the guard trailing her allowed her to come into my office which Phoenix happened to be therefore compromising the mission." I said then pausing to take in their stunned expressions. "We can't allow Phoenix to leave the premises when so much is on the line. I want no loose ends. Whatsoever."
"However I was able to come up with a story to cover up the Dubois girl's true identity…" I lagged off.
"Which is?" Caesar urged.
"She will temporarily be playing the role Riley's fling. She will not have a guard with her again until I can come up with a solution to this Phoenix situation. From now on she will follow you around Riley so not make Phoenix suspicious...That also means she will have to stay in your bedroom-"
"What the fuck?!" Cindy exclaimed and interrupted me.
I immediately glared at her for her rudeness. Everyone turned to look at her as she persisted. "Why exactly is this bitch getting all these damn privileges? She is not our guest. She is our hostage… And why the hell was Phoenix here in the first place? That's not a good sign if you have to create some lie for the bitch just to keep your booty call here!" She snapped, fiercely.
Everyone was silent.
My glare deepened with each word she spat at me. In the coldest voice I could muster up, I responded. "Well, I wouldn't find following around my brother a privilege. If you do, then maybe you are the one that shouldn't be here. We can't have someone with feelings around here to become a burden about how we handle business. As for Phoenix, she's none of your concern. I'm the one who runs everything and I don't care if you don't like what I do or how I do it. You can get with it or you can get the fuck out."
The silence continued.
Thick tension lingered through the atmosphere and everyone felt it. Cindy backed down from her position on the matter and stared at the table in defeat. Hiro and Caesar remained stoic and Riley was unreadable.
I cleared my throat and continued. "Now before I was rudely interrupted," I quickly glared at Cindy. "I've already come up with her cover. Her name is now Cassandra Ladson. She's from San Diego, California... and Riley" I gave him a stern frown and he gave me an equally harsh glare. "Control yourself. Remember, we need to keep her the way she came here: a virgin."
He folded his harms and mumbled a barely audible "Whatever nigga" under his breath.
I rolled my eyes and continued, "Don Dubois knows that she's gone now. I need to figure out what he's going to do next… So Caesar get in touch with that friend of yours who works for him to find out future plans and report it to me tomorrow."
"One step ahead of you, Huey. I was talking with him today. He said everyone is going crazy over there. Apparently, Don Dubois is rounding up all of his security and focusing it on finding her. I'm not sure if they did yet but they're going to file her as a missing person so you know the media is gonna be all over that. If you want Pheonix to stay in the dark about all of this, then you need to make sure she doesn't watch any TV."
A hand rested on my chin and I rubbed it in thought. "Pheonix isn't one to watch TV. She finds it...unnecessary. I'm not worried about that. If any of you watch anything, make sure it's in your rooms. The living room TV is off limits from now. Get rid of it. As for Don Dubois...That's good. It'll be only a matter of time before Cairo is defenseless and we can strike."
Riley spoke up in a very cold voice. "That time should've been a long time ago."
A hand went to my head in annoyance. "We're not going to have this talk again."
Riley shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying. If it was my way, Cairo would have been dead and we'd be running shit. Don Dubois would've realized what a gay punk ass nigga Cairo was and want us to work with him."
"No, if it was your way we'd all be six feet under and Cairo's psycho ass would still be running around under Don Dubois."
Riley squinted his eyes at me. "First of all, Pause. Second, the last part is still true. He's still working with Don Dubois and acting all bad and shit. So tell me, Huey, how is your plan any better than mine?"
I scoffed and looked at him incredulously. "Did you not just listen to anything we said? Cairo isn't on good terms with Don Dubois. His daughter is missing because of Cairo. He's not worried about Cairo being the future of anything right now. All he wants is his daughter back and until then Cairo will be on the edge."
"On the edge isn't the same as dead! That nigga aint dead. That's the whole point. Damn, Huey you really didn't care about grandad. All those times you didn't approve of grandad and the stuff he did. Always had to put your two cents in and shit. Now he's dead cause of Cairo and you aint doing shit about it. I bet you didn't even give a shit about Grandad when he was-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Don't you dare say what you were about to say. Ever." I exclaimed at the top of my lungs. My breathing was deep and furious. My eyes were wide and vicious. Everyone looked at the two of us as we stared at each other in an extreme show down. It was at the highest level of tension. Three different sets of eyes were glued to my brother and I as we were having a silent argument. Riley scoffed and averted his eyes away from me.
It was a while before I started again. But when I did, I did it calmly and proceeded with the meeting as if I didn't just lose my composure and snap at my sibling only moments before.
"Hiro, I'm not going to let Cairo keep his sanity- or what slim traces he has left of it. I want you to get your special unit team to make sure that he keeps having...accidents and slip ups." I smirked. "Make sure they're one step ahead of him on everything. Tell me what they do or if they're as good as you were before, record it."
He smirked sadistically and nodded then spoke "It's much more interesting seeing his moronic face upset."
"Yea, I'm still laughing from how that nigga was with them sticky notes!" Caesar said with a wide grin across his face. "Nigga went all psycho killer up in there."
Hiro and Caesar started laughing while everyone else was quiet. Obviously they were in their own little world and thought the meeting was over. I harshly glared at them and they came back to reality. Guess they didn't want a repeat of what happened in our last meeting. Now is no time to play around. They coughed awkwardly and went back to being serious.
I gave them one last glare then focused my attention on my imprudent younger brother. "Riley, you're now responsible for the girl. Remember, she's with you now so act like you do with those girls you bring around here. When we're done here, go to her room and pick her up. I already informed the guard so he knows what to expect."
I got no response from him and I really didn't care if I did or not.
"Cindy...We're running low on groceries. Get some more." I said.
Cindy's face turned sour and I could feel another argument brewing. There's been extremely too much unnecessary side talk and stiffness in this so-called short meeting. I'm not allowing her to extend this even longer.
Before she could protest, I firmly said "This meeting is over." Without another word, I left them in the meeting room and walked to my next destination.
On my way over there, I thought about the state of the group. It wasn't running as smoothly as it usually does and I could feel it. Ever since…Ever since that night, it's as if everyone has lost their senses. As if all complete rationality abandoned and thrown out of the window. Hiro and Caesar seem to be fine. Maybe more quiet and on the edge than usual but they aren't really the problem. Cindy and Riley are a completely different story.
I have no idea why the hell Cindy has been acting so defensive and sensitive lately. The reason why I allowed a female in the group was because of her normal lack of emotions and superb skills essential to our cause. The second female I respect after Phoenix. But her Grandad wasn't the one brutally murdered by a deranged mob boss. Whatever she's going through, it needs to be fixed and fast. It's starting to get annoying and I've just about had it with her.
Riley is...Well, he's being Riley. We're in the same boat but he's trying to swim to shore while I patiently wait for what I know will come to pass. He's rash, he's too much about action. Kill him now is his motto, and get himself killed will also happen in the process. What he needs to see is that waiting it out and allowing things to slowly crumble apart then killing Cairo is more acceptable. Now, that's the way to do it. It's smart. Detailed. It will yield the same result without any of us becoming a casualty. Will it take time to do what I have planned? Of course. But when we come out of it, we'll have Cairo dead and still able to walk freely without being hunted down by Don Dubois.
Everyone's lost their senses? Well, they need to regain them and fast because we can't take down Grandad's killer with the way we aren't getting along.
The guard was standing outside the door when he greeted me cautiously. I ignored him, still aggravated about him allowing the girl to walk in on Phoenix and I.
She was lying on the bed and turned her head to see who was at the door. Her face turned red when she noticed it was me and she looked baffled. Anything but my gaze was what she focused on. I came over to her with my hands in my pockets and observed her without any emotion.
"Your name is now Cassandra Ladson. You're from San Diego, California. If that woman from earlier questions you, this is what you tell her. You understand me?" I pressed firmly.
When I mentioned Phoenix, her face became redder. Something I wouldn't think would be possible. She didn't reply, only seemed to be highly uncomfortable and embarrassed. It annoyed me how quiet and hesitant she was. How she gave me no response. Did she not know what power I possess over her now? The things I could do to her to make her stay here a living nightmare? How dare she not answer me when I address her?
"I said do you understand?" My voice spoke a little bit brasher and colder.
She nodded weakly and still kept her gaze away from mine. I stayed longer in the room looking at her. She was lightly shaking. She seemed intimidated-which she should be. Her green eyes were terrified and avoided my gaze.
"You're now my brother's girl as long as she stays here. He'll be coming in a little bit to pick you up to stay in his room."
That got her attention. She pushed away her feelings about the incident from earlier and looked me in the eyes with newly found fear. "W-what?" Her unstable voice whispered.
"He won't do anything to you if that's what you think but we need to make this look believable...If you don't keep up your new identity, I will make sure you pay a gruesome price that's painful and slow. So it's in your best interest to follow along." I said.
She nodded her head, still frightened as ever, but knowing not to ignore me when I speak to her. "Yes"
I turned around to leave but was stopped by a meek voice.
"I-I miss them." She paused then continued, "I miss them so much. I miss my family. It hurts so much. Please, please let me go."
I turned back around faced her and stoically answered. "I don't care whether or not if you miss them, girl. As far as you're concerned you're mine now. Whatever I say, you will do. Your family can rot for all I care." My ears perked up once they heard… Cold Laughter?
Moistened eyes let tears trickle down her face. She tightened them and yelled out. "Fuck you! They'll have more power than you'll ever have. Cairo will come and save me. When he does, I will laugh as you're thrown into jail along with your hoodlum friends. Cairo will save me! He's more of a man than you'll ever be!"
Like lightening, I was in front the girl and pinned her down to the bed. My hand was on her neck and she was gasping for air. My teeth were grinding against each other in anger. I put more pressure of my hold on her and she squealed in pain. As if I was lost into a world full of fury and anger, I snapped back to reality and realized what I was doing. Immediately I let go of her and she grabbed her neck in shock and rubbed it to lessen the pain. I looked away from her and muttered and low "Sorry" before I rushed out of the room, past the guard, past Riley who was on his way to the room, and into my bedroom.
When I got there, I saw that Phoenix was still sound asleep. I took off my shirt and crawled back into bed with Phoenix, laying away from her and staring at the dark-painted wall. What happened moments ago with that girl-what I did to her kept replaying in my head. Those fearful green eyes. How she was so desperate for air when I was blocking her access to it. It reminded me of someone with no soul, someone with no remorse or care in the world. It reminded me of...Cairo... It sickened me. I sickened myself. My emotions experienced something they've never felt before in my entire life.
Shame.
Everyone was getting up to leave and I just stayed slumped in my seat, staring intently at the wooden table. I could feel the presence of someone who lingered behind and I knew who it was. I sighed frustratingly and looked up to meet her deep blue eyes.
"What do you want?" I demanded coolly.
"You need to get your shit together, Riley. I know what happened to your grandfather was bad but you don't need to be talking to your brother like that. He knows what he's doing...Shit. Think before blurting shit out like that."
I still kept my intense gaze on her but furrowed my eyebrows angrily when she finished. "Mind your own business, Cindy. This has nothing to do with you."
She scoffed. "Oh, it has nothing to do with me? Is that how you really feel? If it has nothing to do with me then why am I helping you and your brother take down Cairo? If it has nothing to do with me, why am I doing boring ass assignments so everyone else can actually do shit? You think I want to get groceries?" She shook her head annoyed. "Damn groceries? Hell no! B-"
I interrupted her. "Well, if you don't like it so much then go the fuck away."
She looked taken aback but sighed and continued. "If you would've let me finished...I hate that I have to get groceries. But, I'll suck it up and do it because if that's how I'll contribute then I'm in. All of us was cool with your Grandad...It was hard on all of us when he was killed-"
"Whatever. None of you give a shit either cause if yall did then yall would've sided with me." I said through gritted teeth.
"I'm serious, Riley! We do care...We just know that your brother's right on this one. You can't go in guns blazing and expect to get out alive. But you need to chill out with that rebelling and shit. It's not cute. It's fucking stupid actually." She responded curtly.
Unfeelingly, I chuckled before I started speaking. "Maybe you should take your own advice. I'm not the only one who told Huey off. Well, in your case you only attempted." I smirked.
For a brief second, her eyes expressed how she didn't expect that to come out of my mouth. She was caught off guard. Then her eyes turned into slits as she glared at me but uttered no comeback. My smirk widened.
"Why you so upset that I gotta stay with that bitch? You mad?" I questioned cruelly.
Her eyes shifted and she stared at the floor then looked back at me with her mouth boxed up. "Why would I be jealous? Hell, I feel bad for the bitch. She has to stay with an asshole like you!"
My brow creased in amusement. "I'm an asshole, Cindy? That's not what you were saying a couple of weeks ago."
Her face turned red and I enjoyed making her upset.
I put a finger to my chin. "If I remember correctly, you were saying something along the lines of …'No Esco, don't sto-"
"Shut up!" She yelled at me with her fists balled up and her eyes shut tight.
I chuckled distantly as I got up from the chair and circled around her with my hands behind my back. I stopped in front of her and looked at her hardened eyes. "What's wrong, Cindy? Isn't that what you said?"
"Fuck you." She uttered slowly and low, but enough for me to hear.
"Right now? Damn, bitch...Well, OK, I guess." I smirked and started to pretend to unbuckle the belt to my pants.
All of a sudden, Cindy's hand reached out and slapped me across the face. My jaw clenched as I touched the throbbing pain coming from my left cheek and my eyes were livid as I looked at her. I extended my hand and grabbed her wrists and stared at her furious eyes. For a while, I got stood there holding her wrist and showing her who's really in charge.
She snapped out of it and flicked me off of her and said, "Stay away from!" She stomped out of the meeting room.
I yelled loudly, "Yea, whatever bitch! I don't need you! I'm Reezy!" It was pointless though seeing as she couldn't hear me.
I shook off the whole ordeal and went to the bitch's room to retrieve her. Guess that's the only good thing right about now. I get to have a fine ass bitch follow me around. I smirked to myself, loving the idea of being followed around by that fine piece of ass. On my way there, I saw Huey coming in my direction and he brushed past me roughly. "Ay! Watch where the fuck you going!" I yelled gruffly to him.
He didn't say anything, which angered me even more.
"I know you hear me talking to you!" I yelled at him as he continued to ignore me and disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
"Gay nigga," I mumbled underneath my breath.
Finally, I arrived to the room and nodded to the guard when he greeted me. I went inside and saw the bitch on the bed with wide eyes and staring at the ceiling. She didn't even seem to notice when I walked through the door. She just kept looking at the ceiling in fear.
What the fuck this bitch looking so scared for?
"Get up and get your shit together." I commanded roughly.
She jumped a little bit when she heard the sound of my voice and her eyes locked on mine as if she'd just seen a ghost, quivering slightly and gawking at me in horror. She shook her head then went into the bathroom. About a minute later she emerged with a bag in her hand and her head cast down refusing to look at me.
"Come on." I stated roughly again and she followed me out of the room to my bedroom. She kept her distance from me, standing far behind me when we were walking. A couple of times I had to look back just to make sure she didn't wander off.
When I reached the door to my room I looked to my left and saw the bitch still trailing as slowly as a snail as if I was going to bite her or something. "Hurry up!" I exclaimed impatiently.
She sped up her pace and stood right behind me as I opened the door, entered my room, and turned on the light switch.
It was perfect. Dark and contained my two favorite colors. Red and black. The walls were painted a dark beige color and half of the walls were dark brown-almost black- Asian wall paneling. There were two night stands on the side of the bed with rectangular lamps on them. Above the bed was a rectangular red light that hung like a chandelier. In the background, there was a window that showed the green terrain outside and when the lights were turned off it was the only light that shown through the room. There was a bathroom door on the other side of the room.
I lie down on the left side of the bed and watched as she timidly came into the room.
"You sleep on the floor."
Her eyes widened when she looked at the floor and furrowed her eyebrows distastefully.
I snickered at her facial expression. "Bitch, you gullible. This is my side of the bed. And don't be hitting me in your sleep. Then you really gonna be sleeping on the floor."
She exhaled a breath of relief as she sat on the right side of the bed. Placing her bag next to her.
I took off my shirt and could feel her gaze on me. I sneered and looked over to her. "Like what you see?"
She didn't reply. All she did was hastily grab some clothes and head to the bathroom. My smirk widened.
Once I heard the water running, I went into my drawer and took out a small plastic bag with white pills in them. I crushed them up and took out a bottle of whiskey. Before I finished crushing the pills, I took a couple of shots of the whiskey, enjoying the burning sensation I felt as it went down my throat.
I was almost done crushing the pills when I saw the bitch coming out the bathroom door, hair dripping wet, cheeks slightly flushed and looking at me in shock. I gave her a mean mug and she quickly looked away, allowing me to get back to my business. I took the bag full of powder and put it into the liquor bottle. I could feel the bed shift slightly, signaling the bitch getting on her side of the bed. I shook up the bottle and took a gulp then put it back into the drawer.
The sensation I felt was amazing. It made me feel nothing, numb to everything in the world. Just how I wanted it to be. Just like it should be. My daze was interrupted by a small voice.
"You shouldn't do that."
Immediately, I looked over to see the bitch facing me and looking up me, lying on her side. She stared at me for a while then shifted to her other side and faced the wall. "It's bad to damage your body like that."
"What did you say bitch?" I said, with annoyance clear in my voice.
A short yawn came before she sleepily replied. "You shouldn't kill yourself. I'm sure your criminal friends would miss you."
"Bitch, who said I would kill myself? This aint killing myself!" I exclaimed, and then continued. "You don't know shit, goody two shoes bitch."
All I heard was silence, no words or movements came from her. Not her fearful gasps or the slightest shaking.
I gritted my teeth. "Don't you hear me talking to you, bitch?"
I peered over her shoulder and saw her eyes closed and could hear faint steady breathing. My hardened gaze softened.
Sucking my teeth, I folded my arms and lay down on my pillow looking up at the lit up ceiling. Thinking about the words the bitch just said. Her words kept replaying in my mind and I couldn't seem to get them out. Messing up my high and shit…
I wasn't killing myself. The spoiled bitch probably doesn't even know the difference between a cigarette and a joint. What does she mean my friends would miss me? They don't give a shit about me because they always think I'm stupid or some shit. Always dick riding Huey's gay ass. I turned on my side towards the wall and my eyelids became heavy. I grabbed the remote and pointed it towards the light, making it turn off. The moonlight shone through the large window at the head of the bed. My eyes finally closed.
No one would give a shit. It's me against the world.
I'm in the process of making a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfiction. There will be Oc's, previews, and pictures of things in the story. For example, the compound, and how the rooms look in Vengeance. I'm not sure when it'll be up but I'll try to finalize it and put a link to it in the next chapter and on my profile. So probably about 1 week and a half to 2 weeks. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)
