DOM: The Miami King

15. Dominic Royal

B y the time I got back to the penthouse, shit was quiet in that eerie kind of way like how it got when everybody who mattered was either dead, sleep, or plottin’ on some shit. I stepped out the elevator, feelin’ the weight of the night sittin’ heavy on my shoulders per usual but it was small to a giant. My Glock was secured on my waist and all I needed was for my people to hit me up and let me know the first strike on El Blanca was done. Although I’d showered earlier, I could still smell the strong stench of gunpowder in my nostrils. Tone was by the window when I walked in. When he saw me, he nodded his head and dapped me up.

“You good?” he asked.

“Shit, as long as I’m still breathin’, I’m still good.” I replied removin’ my boots sittin’ them on the custom shoe rack by the front entryway while keepin’ my guns on me. Tone gave a small nod, but I knew he was tired ‘cause I saw it all in his face and he’d been puttin’ in work nonstop. Plus, I knew he was ready to get home to his girl.

“You can slide if you ready,” I told him. “Stretch ya legs, go home. Rico’s outside the door so he ain’t lettin’ shit happen.”

Tone hesitated for half a second. He hated leavin’ my side without knowin’ I was truly gon’ be good. That’s why I’d lay everything on the line and die for Tone, ‘cause he would do the same for me and those kinds of people were hard to come by. “You sure?”

I nodded my head and showed a half grin. “I ain’t gotta repeat myself, you wanna go home or not?” I asked slightly cockin’ my head to the side. I knew Tone though, and somethin’ was on his mind. I felt myself becoming perplexed again ‘cause I didn’t want to hear no bad news. I raised a brow. “Yo, Tone, I know you, if you got somethin’ you wanna say, spit it out, we brothers.”

“Yo,” he said. “If you got a second, I do need to holla at you.”

I raised a brow ‘cause although I asked, I didn’t expect him to really want to talk. Tone never asked for time because he always just handled shit and everyone who knew Tone knew this. He was one of the ones who handled shit quietly and efficiently even in his personal life. He did shit with no questions and no explanations. We stepped out onto the balcony allowing the skyline to shimmer above us while the streets buzzed below us. The city lights were flickering like stars but no matter the beauty of Miami, we knew the truth.

Tone lit a weed tweaked Black he had to be with this shit. I blinked a few times as I hit my own joint. “Say what?”

“You heard me… be the godfather. I trust you and ain’t nobody else I’d even think about askin’.”

His words were echoing through my mind. That shit hit different, and I wasn’t the sentimental type at all; far from it. I ain’t think about family outside of the ones already in the trenches with me. But that… that was real. “You sure?” I asked, in a tone that may have been little rougher than I meant it to be.

Tone nodded once. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be six feet under or in a cell. I told you a million times, man you a mastermind. Yeah, I saved yo’ ass but you saved me too. We been through war together and I trust you with my life... now I’m trustin’ you with somethin’ even bigger. My fuckin’ seed.”

I looked out at the city again, breathin’ real slow as I thought about it. “Alright,” I agreed. “I got you and I’ma take my role serious too… you know that.”

The new expression on his face was one of relief. It was fucked up that he even had to think that far ahead of possibly not seein’ his child grow ‘cause of the underworld, but I felt him. He dapped me up hard and shook my hand with a grip that had power in it, just grateful. Then I asked what I’d been wonderin’ since he said it. “You want out? If you do, I’ll respect it. I’ll cover you… I’ll let you out.”

Tone’s laugh was short but deep. “Nah. I ain’t built for no nine-to-five. You my brother, Dom. If I leave now, who got your back when the snakes come?”

I nodded, with my jaws tight. “You already know I’d do the same.”

We stood in silence, with our thoughts lingerin’ around us. We were two men who’d been through too much to be talkin’ all soft, but who also knew the bond was bigger than words at the same time.

He then dapped me up. “Keep ya head on a swivel,” he said.

“Always.” I replied followin’ him back inside.

Soon as he left, it was quiet again, but since Victoria was around, it wasn’t empty. I walked towards the kitchen and saw her. She was leaned against the counter, half-turned, holdin’ a glass filled with Remy like she wasn’t in the middle of somebody else’s kitchen. Like the penthouse, the hits, the surveillance, and none of that other shit touched her ass.

She was barefoot, wearin’ a soft gray two-piece lounge set with thin long-sleeves, and a ribbed material that hugged her arms and sat just right on her waist. Her shorts were high cut, but they wasn’t disrespectful, they showed enough thigh to remind you she was grown. It wasn’t flashy or doin’ too much. She was just effortlessly feminine, and her scent was the shit. She had the kitchen smellin’ like warm vanilla and maybe a lil honey too. It lingered in the air, and it was sweet, not too loud like that cheap perfume some females drowned themselves in. Her shit was like a skin scent that I probably ignored before. It was the kind of scent that made a man want to lean in closer without realizin’ it.

She ain’t say nothin’ at first, she just stood there, with her brows slightly furrowed like she was lost in thought. One of her legs crossed in front of the other and she shifted her weight which cocked one hip to the side, but her posture was still solid. One look at her ass and she looked peaceful, like she was secretly bad and quiet. Things around us had been movin’ too fast but I was readin’ her ass like a book right now. El Blanca had her spoiled and put up, but I knew that didn’t come without teachin’ her shit. I hated how she caused a twitch in my dick and not because she was givin’ me a look, not even because she was flirtin’ or pushin’ up whenever she could, it wasn’t because she wasn’t even when she wanted to. Right now, she was just… there with an energy that was and foreign, yet familiar all at once and that’s what made her desirable.

“Couldn’t sleep?” I asked takin’ a swig straight from the bottle.

She shrugged. “Didn’t wanna. You ever feel like you were born into the wrong life?” she finally asked.

I didn’t answer right away, because yeah, I knew that feelin’ well but I ain’t say it. If she felt that way, we felt that way for two totally different reasons. She was spoon-fed, and I got everything out the mud. A person who grew up on love couldn’t never relate to somebody who grew up on survival so she couldn’t even compare the two. No matter how she felt, she still grew up on love.

She turned to face me now, with her eyes softer than usual, and the glass still gripped in both hands. “I used to think I was special,” she admitted. “Like all the guards, all the restrictions… meant I was important. I really thought that I mattered at one point.” Her voice cracked just a little, but she caught it fast. “But lately… I don’t know. I think I figured it out.”

I raised a brow. “Figured what out?”

She set the glass down and deeply exhaled. “I’m not a princess right now, Dom. I’m a pawn in El Blanca’s game and he’s using me even though he loves me. I can feel it… you think I don’t notice the way things move when I show up somewhere? The way people look at me. You think I don’t know I was dropped at your door like a problem for you to manage for his own good and his own insecurities?”

I stayed quiet ‘cause I wasn’t here to confirm or deny and I damn sho’ wasn’t lettin’ the right hand know what the left was thinkin’ because the truth was, she wasn’t wrong. Her expression changed a little and not from anger, but because of hurt and I could tell it wasn’t about her uncle, It was about me too and she needed me to be her savior.

She stepped closer, just a few feet away now. “Who is she to you?” she asked.

I didn’t have to ask who she was talkin’ about to know she was speakin’ of Carmen. I saw the curiosity in her eyes whenever Carmen was around. I saw that fireball burnin’ in her eyeballs when she saw Carmen come out of the bedroom with me. I just didn’t address it because I didn’t owe nobody shit. “She’s important,” I simply replied.

“But what does that mean?” She tried to press not realizin’ she couldn’t press a man like me. “She acts like she’s nothing, but she moves like she’s everything. Like she knows you inside out.”

I looked her dead in her pretty eyes. “Because she does.”

She stared at me, waiting for more, more that she never got and would probably never get. Not because I was hidin’ anything, but because Carmen ain’t owed no explanations from nobody but me and I wasn’t about to put her name out there for Victoria to chew on just because her emotions were runnin’ high.

“She’s off limits,” I said flatly instead.

Victoria nodded; eyes were tight like she was still tryin’ to fight tears. “I get it.” She whispered leaning back against the counter, as if she was thinkin’ about what she wanted to say next. “I think I wanna stay in Miami… when this is all over. I want to start over and become someone else, someone who is free and doesn’t have to live like I’m cursed.”

I let her words linger for a second and then I shut it down. “You’re goin’ back.”

Her head jerked a little. “What?”

“When this is done? You go goin’ back. I don’t care how it ends.”

She blinked back more tears as she used her pointer finger to point towards her chest. “You don’t think I deserve a chance to choose?”

“No,” I said. “Not here… this city already got enough war in it. You ain’t addin’ to it.”

The kitchen was filled with silence once again and I could see the storm brewing’ behind her eyes from pain and betrayal and havin’ a deep craving for somethin’ real. Then she said it, “I think I’m fallin’ for you, Dom.”

I shook my head slowly. “You don’t even know me; you like the idea of what you see. I’m not the man you wanna fall for.”

“Why not?” she asked boldly.

“Because I’ll choose the game over you every single time. This world don’t let love breathe… and because… I feel sorry for you, Victoria, but that’s as far as it go.” I poured a glass of the Remy next instead of just takin’ another swig while I leaned against the counter and looked at her. The harder I looked, there was somethin’ about the way she was posted up that rubbed me wrong and not in a bad way, but it was just too familiar and expectant.

“You was waitin’ on me?” I finally asked, straight up.

She didn’t blink. “Maybe.” She shrugged

I felt my jaw tightened. “We ain’t doin’ that.”

“Ain’t doin’ what?”

“Don’t play dumb Victoria, I’m not that guy or one of them taco eatin’ muhfuckas.”

“You ever get tired, Dom?” she asked instead walkin’ closer with more questions. “Like just tired of carrying the world on your back and of always being the one with the answers or the one everybody calls when it’s time to die for something?” She stepped close enough for her scent to fill my nostrils. I just glared at her and chose not to answer her. She continued, “You ever want something just for yourself?”

No matter what she was sayin’ right now, my answer was still the same. “This ain’t what you want.”

She tilted her head with her lips slightly parted. “And how would you know what I want Dom?”

“Because I see it in yo’ eyes,” I growled. “You want somethin’ that feels good enough to distract you from the fact your whole life’s been a fuckin’ cage.” My words cut deep, and she swallowed hard. I stepped back. “Go to sleep, Victoria. This ain't that.” And I meant it. But I also knew if I stood there too long, my own discipline would crack like the dice in a game because truthfully, she was fine as hell and the kind of fine that made logic feel like weakness.

I was already too deep as it was. Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t cry. She just simply nodded her head and then she walked past me still holdin’ the glass in her hand. Her posture was still like she was tryin’ not to shatter in front of me. I watched her go and I didn’t feel regret, I felt pity because some people… they weren’t ever gon’ know freedom no matter where they ran.

I finally walked off and headed toward my room. I pulled off my shirt and dropped my chain on the dresser before sittin’ down on the edge of the bed allowing the tension to roll out my shoulders. I left the door cracked, but I didn’t think twice about it, and maybe that was my mistake because ten minutes later, I felt a presence. I turned around quick, already reachin’ for my Glock, only to realize it wasn’t a real threat, it was Victoria standin’ in the doorway like a question I ain’t want to fuckin’ answer.

“Dom…” she said in a hushed tone. She slowly stepped closer, with her eyes locked on mine.

“I told you to sleep.” I said.

This time, she didn’t listen. She walked directly to me and stood between my knees, as she placed her hand on my bare chest. Her touch was soft, and warm, and for a split second I ain’t stop her. For just a split second, I saidfuck it . El Blanca had already made me a target. The war was on anyway. Maybe I deserved one selfish ass moment of my own. Females didn’t listen; I told her this wasn’t what she wanted. But right before that thought could settle… she was on her knees with my limp dick in her mouth bringin’ all of my inches to life.

I halfway tucked my bottom lip, with my eyes narrow watchin’ her head bop up and down. I didn’t touch her, I just watched and listened to her moan, but I couldn’t ignore the feeling. Victoria was puttin’ in some real work. The way she gagged on my dick had me brick. Did I enjoy it, hell yeah, but at the same time, I felt a small twitch of anger and wanted to strangle the fuck out her ass. “Mhmmm,” she slurped with her eyes closed focusin’ solely on the tip of the head now while she wrapped her soft hand perfectly around my thickness and began strokin’ at a good pace.

“Fuck,” I groaned through clenched jaws feelin’ the muscles in my chest flex.

My eyes never left her, and one thing I couldn’t deny, was she knew exactly what she was doin’. She used her free hand and shoved it inside of her bottoms findin’ her way to her pussy where her own fingers began to make magic.

“Mmmm, it’s… sooo… juicyyyy,” she hissed admirin’ my shit. The faster her own fingers worked, the faster her mouth did too. I couldn’t even front.

My phone caught my eyes when it lit up with Carmen’s name and I went to silence it faster than it could finish, or so I thought as I focused back on Victoria gettin’ mad all over again that she just had to sample this dick, while my new strong dislike for El Blanca also made me want to pay his ass back, yeah, she was a pawn alright. I felt that familiar warmth from the tips of my toes shoot to the tip of my dick and roughly grabbed the back of her neck shootin’ all my seeds into her mouth not givin’ her room to breathe. Victoria began to moan even louder as she choked. Freaky bitch, I thought.

I leaned back with my eye’s closed feelin’ Victoria still there like she was still waitin’ for somethin’ but whatever she thought was about to happen was over now. The phone screen flickered again and that’s when I realized the call connected. Damn! I said to myself. Victoria leaned in, whispering somethin’ I didn’t hear even hear ‘cause my mind was on that damn I reached for it too late and then the call ended. I waited to see of it would ring again but it didn’t not even with a text message. It was like she’d heardeverything and saidnothin’.

I stood up, shoved my dick back in my pants, slid past her, and grabbed my phone again. I was focused, but inside it felt like a fuckin’ storm was brewing. I called Carmen back and she answered on the second ring.

“Everything okay?” she asked in a smooth, calm tone.

“Yeah,” I said, slightly clearin’ my throat. “You called?”

“Probably by accident. I must’ve butt-dialed you by mistake. It’s late Dom, and I have a lot of work to do so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Carmen didn’t say shit else; she ended that call and for the first time in my life when it came to a female, I felt a tad bit of guilt and that’s why I ain’t never wanted to fall in love with one. It was too fuckin’ complicated. I walked back to the bed and laid on my back with one hand propped behind my head starin’ up at the ceiling.

Without lookin’ at Victoria, I told her, “Get out,”in a cold voice. It was then that I looked at her when I realized that she was silent now.

She froze with her hand still on her waistband while blankly starin’ at me hoping that it was gon’ be more but I ain’t have shit else for her. “Dom…” she whispered.

“Nah,” I snapped. I sat up slowly and placed my elbows on my knees. “Don’t say a word, not to nobody, not even yo’ muhfuckin’ self. You hear me?”

She swallowed hard while lookin’ defeated. Once again, this was all about how she was used to havin’ her way when it came to certain shit, even if freedom wasn’t one. She didn’t respond so I continued. “This ain’t love, and this ain’t lust. This ain’t shit but a mistake I let happen for two minutes. Don’t make it more than what it is, don’t ever get it twisted.”

She blinked like she was holding back heat behind her eyes, but she slowly nodded and then turned to walk out of my room without another word. Yeah, I watched her go and not because I cared, but to make sure that she understood. There were lines in this world, and we had just crossed one, but that didn’t mean I wanted to make the shit a habit. The door clicked behind her when she left, and the silence invaded again.

It was peaceful to the naked eye, but it was a whole lot of guilt in the air and the shit was thick like smoke. I walked into the master bathroom and turned the sink water on splashin’ cold water on my face and then took a quick shower. I had just grabbed a fresh tee out the drawer when one of the burner phones lit it. it was the wee hours of the mornin’, so I knew it had to be important. It was the only one my silent hittas had access to. I swiped it open and read one encrypted message: The eagles have landed, bodies down, and target secured. I knew exactly what that meant, the first strike on El Blanca was successful.

El Blanca’s post in San Pedro, one of his quietest cashflow docks had just been burned down to ash by our ash crew and it was swift and clean with no survivors which sent a direct message that another war had officially begun. I leaned back against the wall and let that register for a second and then my other phone lit up. It was the only one that I kept strictly for El Blanca. I stared at it ringin’ and let it buzz a few times before I picked it up. He was so mad his voice came through like thunder.

“What the fuck is going on Dom?!” he barked. It wasn’t none of that other shit he usually did. It wasn’t no ‘hello’ or ‘I see you’re still breathing’ type shit coming out of his mouth. It was straight up heat, and I didn’t flinch.

“Sounds like somebody touched one of yo docks,” I said.

“Somebody?! That was a direct hit motherfucker! They cleaned out my whole operation there and that isn’t some petty warning! That was precision!” This was the first time I ever heard him yell but he was right. It was precise because it wasn’t her enemies who hit him, it was me but I ain’t say shit, I just listened.

“I want blood!” he growled. “You hear me? The fucking Morenos got a Miami front, and I want you to burn it down to the ground with no mercy! Make them regret that they’re fucking breathing!”

I slightly balled my lips because this was the move I needed him to make. El Blanca didn’t know that the Morenos hadn’t touched his operation. I planted that rumor myself enough to reach his ears and he fell for it. The Morenos was a rival anyway and if this shit went how I planned, we no longer had to be under the grip of El Blanca. I’d officially own all of Miami and most of Florida to be exact. They had no more room here for ungrateful muhfuckas like El Blanca.

I rubbed my jawline and spoke in a calm, yet dry and dismissive tone. “I’ma handle it.”

“Handle it now!” He yelled before hangin’ up.

I stared at the black screen of the phone for another second with my thumb on the screen thinkin’ ‘bout callin’ back but I didn’t. Instead, I smiled to myself ‘cause he didn’t even realize the Moreno hit would lead him straight into a bigger trap. I’d let him come for the wrong people. He could burn the wrong block down for all I gave a fuck. I’d let him stir the pot until every other cartel looked at him like a wild dog that needed puttin’ down. I slid the phones back onto the dresser. This wasn’t about who fired first anymore, this was about who was smart enough to finish it and if El Blanca thought he was still the one pullin’ the strings, he was ‘bout to find out that I already had the scissors in my hand.

Ifinallymadeitback tothebed. The kind of bed that had the setup that reminded you of who ran the city. The Calacatta gold marble floors were imported with the Italian headboard stitched with royal blue and gray leather. The king size mattress was firm enough to hold weight without foldin’. The room was dim and just the warm glow from the custom fireplace beneath my 100-inch flatscreen television caused a glow when I flicked it on. At a time when it should’ve been sleep, I couldn’t when my mind was goin’ a hundred miles per hour. I grabbed the remote of the nightstand and flicked the TV on.

‘Scarface’ flashed on the screen, which was one of my favorite throwback movies ‘cause his life was fitting. I was just like him, I ain’t think a dude like me was built for happily ever after’s even in my late twenties and successful I just ain’t see it comin’. I laid back with my muscles tight from all the events of the night crossin’ lines that I shouldn’t have crossed but what was done was done and this was just how the game went. I always made sure that my mini fridge was stocked with cold bottles of Fiji water and my Glock was in arm’s reach. The sounds of Tony Montana yellin’ about ‘the eyes, chico’ echoed from the screen. I let it play for a good while, but my mind was stuck on Carmen’s ass… in her words, the fuckin’ visa. My mind was also on Victoria but only ‘cause she started as a pawn but was now collateral.

Thenmyphonebuzzed once again from another encrypted line. It was one of mine from the street team. “Yo boss, thought you should know… I saw Carmen at Opus Bar & Grill dressed like she wanted to be seen, sittin’ with some baller-lookin’ dude in a suit. I mean they real close laughin’ and look real familiar with each other.”

I sat up slowly with my heart rate steady. Carmen ain’t never did shit without a purpose. If she was at Opus, our spot, our turf, she knew our people would see her and if she was laugin’ in another man’s face, she was sendin’ a message loud and clear ‘cause she ain’t even move like that. That was confirmation that that call earlier, she heard it but just like any other time, she ain’t confront me. Instead, she chose to move real strategic and cold... the only problem with that was, we were officially in the middle of a war.

However, just like I taught her to do, I told them as well. “Keep eyes on ‘em,” I said in a low, yet flat tone. Don’t approach and don’t speak, just watch ‘em.”

I hung up and laid back down, but sleep wasn’t comin’ easy… not tonight ‘cause Carmen was my fuckin’ wife even when she tried not to be and now, she was lettin’ her emotions takeover, which was the very thing I was afraid of. She wanted to play this like a chessboard, but she forgot one thing, I’m the muhfuckin’ King and when the Queen moves without permission sometimes the whole board gotta burn.