The Cartel Deluxe Edition Read online

  A single tear trailed her cheek. “My mother abandoned us for a boyfriend who liked to molest little girls. One night he came into my room to touch me, and my sister told him to take her instead. I remember the first time it happened. I heard her screaming for him to stop, and I laid in my bed the entire night listening to him violate her. He threatened to kill us if we ever told our mother.” Miamor had tears streaming out of her face as she stared out into the ocean, the dark arms of the night enveloping her and Carter on the deserted beach. “Anisa got pregnant. She was only twelve and was walking around with a baby in her stomach because of him. We were afraid to tell our mother, so she came up with a plan to lose the baby. She purposefully started a fight with these girls in our neighborhood and told me not to jump in, no matter what. They beat her until her body miscarried the baby. There was so much blood, and she was in so much pain, but we got through it . . . together. I remember being so scared. I thought my sister was dying. That same night, our mother’s boyfriend was back in our room. He pulled Anisa into his bed. She was crying and screaming, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew that she was in pain. I grabbed a gun that my mother used to keep hidden in the coat closet and I killed him. I shot him in the head. I saved her then, but I wasn’t around to save her this time. I was supposed to be, but I wasn’t, and now she’s gone. The one time that she needed me most, I let her down.”

  Carter didn’t know what to say. He knew that no words would heal the old wounds that she’d just reopened. He pulled her close, and she wrapped her arms around him as she wept in his arms. No words were spoken, but a bond was established between the two of them.

  “I’m scared, Carter. I didn’t use to fear shit, because I had Anisa behind me. Now it’s just me, you know?” Miamor exhaled.

  “You don’t have to be afraid of nothing, ma, not with me. I got you. Understand? All I ask is that you keep it real with me.”

  Now that he knew her history, he had a much better understanding of the woman she was today. He knew what made her tick. He felt the walls that she had built around her heart, but he was willing to be patient as he knocked them down one by one. She had let him in. That was the first step.

  Carter and Miamor stood on the beach for what seemed like hours just engrossed in each other’s embrace. It wasn’t until the tropical rain began to fall that they retreated to their five-star resort room.

  When they showered together, Miamor ran her hand all over Carter’s soapy physique as her honey pot heated up.

  “Uh-uh.” He removed her hands before she caused him to get an erection.

  After learning of Miamor’s past, he was even more intrigued by her. She wasn’t just another chick that he wanted to fuck. He knew that she played tough on the outside, but was really a fragile soul on the inside. Carter told himself that he would be careful with her heart. He didn’t want to be the one responsible for breaking it.

  “I already know your body, Miamor. On this trip I want to get to know your mind and your heart.” He kissed the nape of her neck, rinsed his body, and stepped out of the shower while she followed close behind.

  His words touched her, and she realized that she had never been treated with as much respect as Carter had just given her. The way he was spending money, wining and dining her on this trip, she planned on paying him back as soon as they hit the sheets.

  Carter read her thoughts and said, “You don’t owe me shit. I’m feeling you, ma, but if you gon’ be my bitch, you got to be my nigga too. I have to trust you with everything I am. There are some things that you don’t know about me.”

  Miamor’s eyebrows rose in disapproval.

  “It ain’t about no other chick or nothing. But there are some things that I just can’t trust with everybody, nah mean? I’m trying to build a friendship with you so that if we decide to take this to a serious level, the relationship will have legs to stand on.”

  Carter didn’t know it, but his logic and the way that he spoke it made Miamor trust him more than anyone she had ever known. He was literally blowing her mind. Miamor kissed his neck and nibbled on his ear as she whispered. “I hear you, Carter, but I already trust you.” She took his fingers and placed them between her slit. “And I don’t want you for a friend. I have enough friends. I want you as my man.” She kissed a trail down to his rising manhood and took him into her mouth.

  “Ooh, shit,” he moaned as he grabbed the back of her head.

  Miamor looked Carter directly in his eyes as she gave him the best head he’d ever received in his life.

  * * *

  The club was jammed packed as Rick Ross blared out of the speakers, and the entire Cartel was in attendance at Club Moon, a club that Polo was a silent partner in. It had been months since they went out and partied because of the war with the Haitians, but Polo thought it would be a good tool to get everybody’s mind off the current turmoil.

  Mecca, Money, Breeze, and Leena were in the middle VIP section popping bottles of Rosé, celebrating Breeze’s birthday, while other members of The Cartel were scattered over the room, their hands close to their bangers, ready for whatever if something popped off.

  Mecca had two bottles of champagne in his hand. He said to Breeze, “It’s jumping in this mu’fucka!”

  Money held a single wineglass in his hand and had been sipping on the same glass all night. He wanted to be on point at all times, and by the way Mecca was downing the drinks, he knew that he had to be extra cautious. “Yeah, it’s popping tonight, bro.” Money took a small sip. He looked over at Breeze who was dancing with Leena and waving her hands in the air and yelled, while holding his glass in the air, “Happy birthday, B!”

  “Thanks, baby!” she yelled as she began to dance on two guys that approached her.

  One of the guys turned around and began to dance with Leena as the DJ switched to a slow R. Kelly song. Money smiled as he saw that everyone was having a good time and laughing. It had been so long since he had seen Breeze smile and she looked like her old self again.

  Mecca walked over to Money, almost tripping over himself. It was obvious that he was drunk. “Bro, I need another bottle of”—he paused mid-sentence as he noticed the man dancing on his woman. His anger began to set in when he saw the man rubbing all over Leena’s ass while she danced seductively on him. Mecca’s eyes were glued on them as the liquor made the innocent dancing rendezvous seem more sexual than it actually was.

  Money knew his brother too well and saw that he was getting ready to flip. “Yo, Mecca, fall back. They’re just dancing, nigga. Goddamn!” Money laughed lightly and nodded his head to the song.

  Mecca took another gulp of the champagne, menacingly staring at the guy who was feeling up his woman. “Do he know who the fuck I am?” Mecca asked himself as he continued to down the drink.

  Money brought his ear closer to Mecca. “What?”

  Before Money could stop him, Mecca jumped up and walked over to Leena and the guy. Without warning, he broke the champagne bottle over the guy’s head, causing him to drop instantly.

  The guy’s friend, who was dancing with Breeze, ran up on Mecca, but before he could touch Mecca, he was staring down the barrel of a pearl-handled 9 mm handgun.

  “What, nigga? What!” Mecca screamed as the DJ stopped the music.

  “Mecca! Stop!” Leena yelled as she grabbed his arm. “We were just dancing, baby!” She looked at the man holding the back of his bloody head.

  Mecca wasn’t trying to hear that. “Bitch, you my woman! This nigga was grabbing yo’ ass like y’all was fuckin’ or something!” he yelled.

  The vision of another man groping his woman was too much to bear, and jealousy took over. Mecca pointed the gun to the man’s leg and let off a round, causing a loud thud to echo throughout the spacious VIP room.

  “Aghhh!” the man yelled in agony as he gripped his bloody leg. The entire room was in complete pandemonium as people ran for cover, afraid of getting hit by a stray bullet.

  Money got up and grabbed his drunken
brother. “Yo, Mecca, that’s enough!” He signaled for one of his henchmen to come over to them. Money leaned in the henchman’s ear and told him to call their family doctor to fix the man up and instructed him to give the man twenty-five thousand dollars as hush money.

  Money was noticeably frustrated with his Mecca’s recklessness, since it wasn’t the first time he had to clean up his mess. He forcefully grabbed him and took him out the back exit, where their cars were parked.

  Leena and Breeze followed them out, not believing what had just happened.

  “Mecca, you always fuckin’ shit up. Damn!” Breeze shook her head from side to side.

  As Money, Mecca, Breeze, and Leena exited the club through the back, all you could hear was Breeze arguing with Mecca. “You always go and do some crazy shit. Damn, Mecca! We can’t even have a good time without you popping off! You’re nothing like Poppa. You need to learn how to control your emotions!”

  “Breeze, I’m sorry, sis, but the nigga was tryin’ to disrespect me. You know I ain’t having that shit. This city is mine,” he said in a drunken slur as he stumbled to his car.

  “Whatever!” Breeze said before she got into Money’s Escalade.

  Money was giving Mecca a look of disappointment and shaking his head from side to side. He knew his brother was getting out of hand and that his rashness could eventually lead to his own demise. “Bro, you can’t move like that. That shit was straight-up stupid. Shooting a nigga don’t make you no gangster. That ain’t what we about, family. Now, if the nigga went against the grain, I would’ve been right there with you, but what you did was wrong and simple-minded. You have to think first and then react,” Money said, quoting his deceased father. Carter Sr. had always told hotheaded Mecca, “Think first and then react.”

  Guilt began to set in with Mecca, so naturally he began to put it off on someone else. He didn’t respond to Money and looked over to Leena, who was leaning on his car and crying in her palms.

  He stormed over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders forcefully. “It’s all yo’ mu’fuckin’ fault! If yo’ ass wasn’t flirtin’ with the nigga, this wouldn’t have happened. You were inviting that nigga to touch all on you.”

  Leena yelled, “Mecca, stop! You’re drunk, and you’re hurting me!” She tried to break loose from his grasp.

  Mecca’s mixture of intoxication and anger caused him to backhand Leena, and she fell to the ground. Mecca quickly grew remorseful as he saw his woman hit the concrete.

  Money rushed over and pulled Mecca away. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled. “Hitting a female?” He helped Leena up and examined her face and bloody lip. “Are you okay?” Money whispered, as he wiped the blood away from her lip.

  Leena looked in the eyes of the man she was desperately in love with. “Yeah, I’m okay.” She wanted to be with Money rather than Mecca so badly. Even though Mecca and Money were twins, they were the exact opposite, and Leena felt like she was with the wrong sibling.

  “Get in the car, okay. I’ll take you home.” Money focused back on his drunken brother. “What the fuck is yo problem, Mecca? You are getting out of hand.” He gripped Mecca up by his collar, pulling him close to him so that he could be the only one about to hear what he had to say. “If you ever hit a woman again, I’ll”—Money was so enraged by his brother’s actions, he couldn’t finish his sentence. He just pushed Mecca toward his car and pointed his finger at him and shook his head in disappointment.

  Mecca remained silent, knowing he was dead wrong.

  Money looked at Breeze, who was in the passenger side of his car, and yelled to her, “Take this drunken fool home! I’ll take Leena home and meet you at the house.” He walked over to Mecca’s car and opened the passenger door for Leena.

  Mecca was overwhelmed with guilt as he tried repeatedly to apologize to Leena, but the pleas fell on deaf ears.

  “Come on, Mecca.” Breeze grabbed his hand and helped him into the car.

  Mecca dropped his head in shame as he realized that he had overreacted, and the guilt began to sink in.

  Carter drove Mecca’s Lamborghini down the highway toward Leena’s home.

  Money hated driving Mecca’s cars. In his eyes, they were way too flashy and drew too much attention. He glanced over at Leena, who was crying quietly, wishing she had never come out that night.

  Money wanted so badly to be with Leena, but he couldn’t betray his brother in that way. He gently ran his hand over her cheek and wiped away her teary eyes, trying to comfort her. “Mecca doesn’t mean any harm. He does love you. He just has a fucked-up temper, nah mean?”

  “He sure has a fucked-up way of showing me he loves me,” Leena said, tears streaming down her face. She kissed Money’s hand as he rubbed her cheek.

  Money thought Leena was crying because of what Mecca had just done to her, but that was the farthest thing from her mind at that point. The tears were coming from the thought of her knowing that she and Money could never be.

  Leena placed her hand on her stomach as she melted in Money’s hand. She had found out that morning that she was three weeks pregnant with his child. She knew it was Money’s, because she hadn’t been intimate with Mecca in months. He had been too busy to satisfy her lately. She decided to have an abortion and take her secret to her grave, but the pressure was too much to handle by herself. She had to tell Money.

  “Money, I’m pregnant,” Leena said almost in a whisper.

  “What?” Money asked as he swerved in traffic, not believing what he had just heard.

  “I said I’m pregnant, Money. It’s your baby.”

  “What are you talking about? How do you know it’s mine? It ain’t mine. I strapped up every time.”

  “I know it’s yours because you are the only person I have been with. Mecca and I haven’t done anything in months. I know it’s yours. Remember that night, after them niggas tried to rob Mecca?” Leena asked, referring to the last time they’d made love without using protection.

  Money kicked himself inside, knowing the time she was talking about. He was so caught up in the moment, he’d slid up in her raw. “Fuck!” He hit the steering wheel out of frustration. The guilt began to set in as Money thought about how he had betrayed his best friend and twin brother.

  “I love you, Leena,” Mecca whispered just before he lowered his face to his table to inhale the line of cocaine.

  As soon as Breeze had dropped him off, his conscience began eating at him. He felt bad for putting his hands on the only woman he’d ever truly loved. His long hair was wild and unbraided, which made him look like a mad man as he used his nose as a suction vacuum for his preferred drug. Mecca threw his head back and held it up to prevent his nose from running. Mecca was high out of his mind. He had snorted five grams of coke within twenty minutes, and the effects of the drugs were kicking in.

  He grabbed the bottle of Rémy Martin and took a large swallow of it. He distantly heard a Tupac song pump out of his home stereo and recognized the tunes. He stood up almost stumbling and went over to turn the music up.

  All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend.

  Down to ride to the very end, just me and my girlfriend.

  Mecca held the bottle of Rémy in his grasp and drunkenly rapped along, thinking about his love, Leena. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to go over to her and make things right. Although he treated her bad at times, he really was in love with her, and she was the only woman he had truly ever loved.

  Mecca staggered over to the keys to his Benz and snatched them off the counter. He was about to confess his love for Leena. “Leena, I love you, baby. I’m sorry,” he said as he stumbled out the door and into his Benz to go see his woman.

  * * *

  “I don’t know what to do, Money. I’m in love with a man I can’t have,” Leena said as tears streamed from her eyes. She sat on her sofa across from Money expressing how she felt about him.

  Money was speechless as he looked into Leena’s eyes and realized th
e feeling was mutual. He began to slowly shake his head, knowing that what they had done was wrong. His father had taught him that family always came first and that loyalty was the single most important thing a man can have for his family. Money’s father’s teachings were embedded in his brain as his heart and mind played tug of war. On one hand, he knew that betraying his brother was wrong, but on the flip side, not taking responsibility for what he had created would eat at him. His father had also told him that abortion was wrong and that a real man takes care of his family by any means necessary. Money was lost.

  “Leena, this ain’t right. This ain’t right,” Money mumbled as he buried his face in his palms. All he could think about was his twin brother.

  Money had no other choice but to force an abortion upon Leena. He wasn’t willing to let a woman come between him and his sibling. That’s my flesh and blood, my brother. Blood in, blood out, I can’t let her have that baby, Money thought as he looked at Leena crying her eyes out.

  He sat next to her so that he could console her. He ran his fingers through her hair and gently put his finger under her chin and made her look at him in the eyes. “Leena, we are going to get through this . . . together.” He returned the deep stare at Leena. “We can’t have this baby, though. It’s wrong.”

  “I never wanted it to be like this,” Leena told him, heartbroken.

  “Everything is going to be okay. But this between us has to stop.” Money gently kissed Leena on the lips. Money’s lips were magic to Leena. Just by his touch, he drove Leena wild. She felt her friend in between her legs begin to thump, and before she knew it, her hands were in his pants looking for his rod. She gently began to stroke it, to make it grow.

  Money promised himself this would be the last time he would have sex with his forbidden love.

  “All I need in this world of sin . . .” Mecca sung drunkenly as he approached Leena’s house. He was going to apologize to his woman and make things right.