A South Central Love Affair

Chapter One-2

He was my knight in shining armor then…not exactly how I’d pictured him in my head, but there he was. He introduced us to a lifestyle that was a rich woman’s reality and a poor woman’s dream. Our lives seemed to change drastically overnight, and I loved him for it. In a way he saved me, saved us. So when he asked me to marry him when I was only fifteen…seeing all that he had done for me, I said yes. It was the least I could do. I guess it was my way of saying thanks.” She blew smoke from her nose and mouth and mashed what was left of the joint out into the ashtray.

“You say you love him, is it the same type of love you have for me?” Zonyai asked seriously.

“No. I never gave Franklin that love…the love I have for you…my soul mate.” She smiled, leaning closer and sharing a passionate, emotional kiss

****

Meanwhile

The Lincoln Town Car ripped down Century Blvd en route to LAX airport. Jackie Needles was driving while Joey-T sat in the front passenger seat. Franklin played the backseat, clipping the end of his cigar and firing it up, polluting the interior of the vehicle with smoke. He stuffed his Zippo lighter inside of his pocket and fanned the wafting smoke out of his face, narrowing his eyelids into slits. He took casual puffs as he watched the streets from where he was perched, listening to Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Stay Together and thinking about his wife at home. He and the fellas were headed out to China to talk business with a very important man out there that could get him an even cheaper price on the birds than he was getting now from the Mexican plug he’d been f*****g with for years. He knew that this move would probably put him in bad light with the South American, but he didn’t give a s**t. If this Asian cat was talking a better price for the work he was getting at an even better quality, then he’d be a mothafucking fool not to take him up on his offer.

The ringing of his cell phone brought the mobster out of his thoughts. He switched hands with the cigar and pulled out his cellular, looking at the screen. He frowned noticing it was a blocked number, but remembering that the Chinese man he was heading out of town to go see said he would contact him to see if he was still coming could be calling him, he went ahead and pressed answer. Taking the cigar from his lips, he blew smoke up into the air and spoke calmly.

“Who is this?”

“Is this Franklin Trombone?”

“Maybe…who’s asking?” He took another puff of his cigar.

“Mr. Trombone, what would be your reaction if I told you at this moment that your wife was f*****g a n****r?”

Franklin bit down on his cigar and sat up, adjusting his overcoat. His eyebrows arched and his lips peeled back in a sneer.

“I’d tell ya to quit playin’ on my phone before ya piss me off,” he spoke unapologetically. “’Cause believe you and me, you don’t wanna beef with a guy like me, my friend. I will track you down with a cork screw and pull your fuckin’ eyeballs out of your fuckin’ head!” His nostrils pulsated and his chest inflated and deflated aggressively.

“I see, well, what if I told you that it wasn’t a joke?”

“Then I’d be havin’ my guy turn this car back around and we’d be headed back to my home so I could kill that son of a b***h!”

The stranger disconnected the call and the made man looked at it like it was covered in slime. He stashed the device back where he’d gotten it and mashed out the cigar. He brought a hand down his face and took a deep breath, thinking hard.

“You okay back there, Skip?” Jackie Needles asked, looking at him through the rearview mirror.

“Hell no, turn this mothafucka back around, go to my house!” he hollered out.

“Alright, Skip.” Jackie Needles busted a U-turn in the middle of the intersection, bringing oncoming cars to a screeching halt nearly hitting them. The Lincoln sped through the next light going in the opposite direction.

****

Thirty minutes later

“Runaway with me,” Zonyai told Marbella, staring deep into her eyes as he gently caressed her cheek with his hand.

“Where would we go?” her brows furrowed, she was willing to go any and everywhere as long as he was with her.

“I don’t know. Somewhere…anywhere…I don’t care…as long as we’re together.” He stared into her eyes while kissing her wedding band hand. He saw that she was thinking about it and he hoped that she’d say yes, kissing her fingers gently. She opened her mouth to give him an answer and that’s when they heard the door slam downstairs.

“Bella!” Franklin called out from downstairs.

“Oh, f**k!” Marbella cursed. She and Zonyai hopped out of bed in a race to put their clothes back on.

“I thought you said he’d be gone a couple of days?” Zonyai asked, zipping up his Levi’s and trying to force in his foot into an already laced sneaker.

“That’s what he told me,” she replied in a hushed tone.

“Bella, where the f**k are you?”

“I’m in our bedroom, sweetie,” she yelled back to her husband, shoving Zonyai’s shirt into his arms and pushing him into the closet. She quietly closed the door and sprayed perfume to mask the smell of s*x lingering in the air. Panic invaded her emotions and fear gripped her heart like a strong pair of hands, hearing Franklin’s heavy footfalls as he climbed the stairs while she made up the bed. Marbella grabbed a book called The Beast of the Cartel from off the dresser and dove on the bed. She was pretending to read it when she saw Zonyai’s .357 Magnum lying on the dresser. Damn, she thought, rolling out of bed. Hurriedly, she snatched the pistol and dropped it out the window into the bushes in the backyard.

“Where is he?” Franklin’s voice boomed from the doorway, startling her. She turned around looking like a child who’d gotten caught with their hand in a cookie jar.

“Where’s who?” she asked, playing dumb.

He pushed her aside and stuck his head out of the window, scanning the backyard with suspicious eyes. Once he didn’t find any evidence of someone being there, he pulled his head back inside and pulled the window shut. His nose scrunched up immediately afterwards. He tilted his head back and sniffed the air. “What the hell is that smell?” his face balled tight, wrinkling his forehead. “Smells like…like… p***y…” he sniffed the air again, “and weed.” The Mafioso casted his accusing eyes on his wife, narrowing his lids.

“Oh, it’s me, I’m a little funky. I was about to hop into the shower, but then I heard you calling me,” she told him, looking guilty as all hell. She may as well have the word spelled out on forehead in big bold letters with a black Sharpie marker.

Franklin shoved her aside en route to the bathroom. When she righted herself, she watched him perform his search, hoping and praying he didn’t find her secret lover. He pulled back the shower curtain and checked behind the door. Finding nothing, he left the bathroom and headed straight for the closet. Marbella’s heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Through her almond brown eyes, it looked like her husband was moving in slow motion. His arms and legs moved as if they were being held back by something very heavy. She zeroed in on his meaty hand as it reached for the doorknob of the closet. Slowly, he turned the knob and it clicked open.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Sweat ran down her forehead and trickled from off the tip of her nose, she wringed her fingers. Pleading with God Almighty to somehow make the man of her dreams vanish from the space she’d hidden him in.

Please, God, oh please, help Yai, if he’s still in there.

Thump! Thump! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Her heart beat got louder and harder the further he pulled the door open. Her eyes stretched wide open and her jaw dropped when he was standing face to face with…the vacant closet.

“Haa,” she sighed with relief and dropped her shoulders. She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Her chest rose and fell easily having experienced all of that stress. She closed her eyes and when she peeled them back open, Franklin was pulling the drawstring to the light bulb dangling from the ceiling inside of the closet. The florescent light exploded from the spacious area. He pushed apart the racks on top of racks of clothes and kicked over shoe boxes looking for the man that was banging his wife. Finding nothing, he whipped around looking like the Jack Ass that he truly was, scratching his temple and glancing around the enormous bedroom.

“I told you I was here alone,” she said, closing the closet door and placing her hands on her hips. “What’s the meaning of all of this?”

“What’s the meaning you ask me? I gotta fuckin’ call on my way to da airport that says you’re up here bangin’ some fuckin’ eggplant!”

“Well, I’m the only one here, sweetheart, I promise you that.” She cupped his face and kissed him tenderly on the lips. The form of affection seemed to calm his anger a bit.

Placing one hand on her curvaceous hip and wagging a plump finger in her face with the other, he looked her dead in her eyes. “You know should I eva catch ya fuckin’ around wit anyone and I do mean anyone… that would be the end of ya, the both of ya’z.”

“Mmmmm,” she grinned, holding his gaze and his face. “You don’t ever have to worry about that handsome, ‘cause you’re the only hunk I need and want in my life.”

“Boss, are ya alright up there?” Jackie Needles called out.

“I’m good, stay down there; I’ll be out in a minute,” he hollered over his shoulder, gripping that bodacious ass of hers with his massive palms.

“You sure?” he called out again.

“I’m sure of two things right now, Jackie Boy. One, I’m gonna f**k my wife and two, if you come up here I’m gonna fuckin’ kill ya.”

“Alright, Skipper.”

“Baybeee, that wasn’t nice.” She slid her hands down his chest as he pulled her closer to him, feeling his hardened d**k pressed up against her stomach.

“I’m sorry, doll, but ya know I’m crazy about my pudding,” he pulled her into him. “Besides, you know Jackie Boy is a perv. Just the thought of another man seeing what belongs to me drives me fuckin’ nuts. You forgive me?” He gave her a pair of puppy dog eyes and a pouty lip.

“Awww, my baby,” she faked feeling sorry for him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Looking over her shoulder, she located Zonyai’s sneaker on the floor beside Franklin’s foot. Holy, s**t!Thinking fast, she shoved him onto the bed and he plopped down. Stepping toward him, she kicked the lone sneaker underneath the bed and straddled her man. She unbuttoned his shirt and revealed his hairy chest, sliding her hands down around his belly. She planted gentle kisses on his neck and collarbone.

“Let me see if I can get cho mind off of your little friend down stairs,” she said between kisses, licking and sucking on his n*****s, drawing hisses from him.

“Sssssssssss,” he mimicked a rattle snack rising and ready to attack. Eyes closed, teeth biting down on his thin bottom lip. “What chu…what chu…what chu gonna do, sweetheart?”

“I’m gonna make you c*m so hard that your toes are gonna curl,” she replied, gently pulling on his n****e with her pearly white teeth.

“Oooooooh, God, yes,” he shuttered as she came up, nibbling on his ear then sucking on his lobe. A cell phone went off and she ignored it, but Franklin’s eyes snapped open. He’d heard it loud and clear.

“You hear that?” he asked, listening closer, head snapping from left to right, trying to decipher where the tune was coming from.

“Yeah, babe, it’s my cell. Don’t worry about it; my voice mail will pick it up.”

“Bullshit, that’s not your ringtone,” he frowned and squared his jaws, shoving her over onto the bed. The ringing had stopped by the time he got upon his feet, but he knew where it was coming from now. He reached under the bed and dragged Zonyai out by the ankle. “I f*****g knew it.” He went to grab him by the collar of his shirt and he kicked him in the face. Wamp! The force of the blow sent him slamming into the wall and caused the bedroom to slightly quake. He stood to his feet and Franklin stood to his, angrier than before. Through his eyes, he saw red and his nostrils were pulsating. The two men squared up, with Marbella standing on the bed begging them to stop. Her head was whipping from left to right, worry etched across her face. She didn’t know what the hell to do.

“Stop! Stop it! The both of you stop!” she bellowed, with glassy eyes and veins rolling up her neck.

“We’re coming, Skipper!” Jackie Needles called out.

“Hold on!” Joey-T said after him, climbing the steps hastily on his heels.

Franklin threw his sledgehammer like fists like the ex-amateur boxer he was. For a three hundred and fifty pound man he was quick, but his opponent was just that much quicker. He bobbed and weaved the bigger man’s advances, and let loose with a fierce combination of punches.

Bwop! Wop! Bwap! Crack!

All of the punches connected, but they did little to faze the giant. Franklin kept his game face, licking the blood from his trickling lip and waited for the flaw in his opponent’s technique. The hustler threw a right hook and he ducked it, stepping back, fists up ready to get it in. Franklin threw two solid punches into his mid-section and stole the victory with an uppercut.

Bwappp!

The blow sent the young man up into the air and crashing down on his back with his legs up, unconscious.