7. Sage #2
I knew my response wouldn’t be good enough when I said it. Not having an answer was never acceptable to Captain Rory because he had to have one when he reported to the chief.
“You better find out. We only got four out of twelve canines available to go out. That’s a problem. A serious one.”
“I’ll get on it…when the sun comes up.”
Technically it was after twelve, so it was already morning.
“Yeah, you do that,” he replied, seemingly distracted. “I gotta figure this shit out.”
“What’s going on?”
Captain Rory knew my dad. Because of that, he often gave me information not immediately available to everyone else.
“We’re about to go in on a search warrant. I need a narcotics canine.”
Of the four dogs available, two were trained in drug and bomb detection. Both of their handlers’ phones went to voicemail when Captain Rory called. And knowing the handlers, I was almost certain it was intentional. Nobody wanted to get up in the middle of the night if they didn’t have to.
“Where’s the warrant being served?”
“D-Ville Projects.”
I sat up in bed, looking over at Sage to make sure I didn’t wake her. She was still snuggled under the blanket, in one of my T-shirts, claiming three-fourths of my bed.
“Which apartment?”
“Lemme check.” I heard papers shuffling as I contemplated getting dressed to assist. “Four oh seven. It’s rented to Tremaine Jenkins.”
Tre, a DP.
I lifted myself from the bed. “Are you sure? After that last bust, D-Ville’s been kinda quiet.”
“That’s what they want us to think. But I got eyes watching and what they reported was enough to establish probable cause. The judge just signed off on the warrant.”
“When are you putting the squad together?”
“I’m assembling everyone now. I’m hoping to hit the apartment by three.”
“That soon?”
It was almost two.
“You know how it goes. Catch ’em by surprise and you catch what you’re looking for.”
Yeah, that’s the problem.
“I can come in if I need to?—”
“That won’t be necessary. I think we got enough men. I need a dog. You know…to sniff out anything we might miss.”
I sat on the edge of the bed when our conversation ended. Unbeknownst to me, the motion shifted the mattress, causing Sage to stir. She rolled around for a bit before finally sitting up.
“What time is it?” she asked groggily.
I glanced at my phone for the exact time.
“One fifty-three.”
“Shit!” She hopped up with the quickness. “I should’ve been home. I wasn’t supposed to stay this long.”
“You got somewhere to be?”
“No, but?—”
“Okay, then. Relax. You don’t gotta rush to leave my house.”
She tossed my T-shirt off, leaving me with the visual of her standing in a matching bra and panty set. “I’m not rushing.”
“Looks like it to me.”
She ignored my comment, retrieving her folded clothes off a nearby dresser.
After last night, I didn’t want her to leave, so I asked her to stay and gave her my T-shirt to be comfortable.
After the way she sucked me off, I wanted to return the favor and dive into something warm.
But she reiterated the fact that she was on her period, and it wasn’t a light day, because I asked.
Still, I wanted her close and gave her a T-shirt so she’d be comfortable in my bed.
I had to settle for the closeness of our bodies since I couldn’t fall asleep inside her like I wanted to.
It was crazy that I actually wanted to.
And even crazier that I asked her to stay.
Nobody stayed at my place, not even Jami, and we had a baby together.
“I heard you on the phone,” she revealed. “Just in case you need to leave, I’ll already be ready.”
“Who said I’m leaving?”
She shimmied into her pants. “ Are you leaving?” She stopped, waiting for an answer.
I didn’t have to. But the likelihood that I would was more probable than not.
“Yeah.”
“See.”
She fastened the top button and passed me to cross the room. I reached for her waist, pulling her close. She fell into me. “What are you doing today?”
“Besides getting some sleep?” Her lips twisted to the side. “I don’t know yet.”
I eased her down onto my lap. “When you figure it out, make sure it includes time with me. I wanna see you.”
“Will you have time?” she challenged.
“I’ll make time.” She looked away and I guided her chin back to face me. “I’m serious. I wanna see you.”
I kissed her when her lips separated to speak. She was taken aback for a minute but fell into line, pushing her lips into mine. She allowed my tongue to explore every crevice of her mouth as she closed her eyes and moaned lowly.
I didn’t want to stop, but I knew I had to. Otherwise, I’d be trying to fuck her on her period.
I pulled away, placing a string of small kisses on her soft lips.
“Are you gonna make time for me?” I asked.
Smiling, she agreed. “Yeah, I’ll make time for you.”
She left about ten minutes later. I followed her, making sure she made it home safely since we were headed to the same building.
I walked her to her apartment after noticing surveillance staking out the place.
And since I wasn’t privy to who was participating in the operation, I didn’t want to take any chances.
But Tre needed to be warned.
If he had anything, he needed to get it out ASAP and only had a small window to do so.
“Look who finally decided to come home,” Lanique said when Sage walked through the door. “Where you been—” she started, ending abruptly when she saw me. “Hey, Keyoni. What are you doing here?”
“Is Cauvey here?”
I didn’t have time for small talk.
“Yeah, he’s in the room.”
They had the exact same layout as Jami, so I had no problem finding the master bedroom. Cauvey was in the bed, laid out watching TV when I walked in.
“What the fuck?!” he jumped up in his boxers and I turned the other way.
“They ’bout to search Tre’s apartment,” I said to the door, choosing not to turn around to see Cauvey half-dressed.
“What?!” I heard scrambling behind me.
“Yeah, I just found out.”
“Fuck,” he mumbled. “What time’s the hit?”
“Soon,” I confirmed. “Like within the hour.”
“Did you let him know?”
“No. That’s why I’m telling you.”
“Shit.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Gimme a minute. Let me get dressed.”
I went back to the living room and gave Lanique a more appropriate greeting. She questioned the reason for my random pop-up, noting the hour and the fact that me and Cauvey weren’t cool like that. I put it all on me wanting to make sure Sage made it home.
She didn’t believe me.
“Cauvey’s just gonna tell me when you leave.”
“Ask him then.”
I was called back into the bedroom. Cauvey was dressed with his phone to his ear.
“Make sure everything’s out,” he demanded. “They coming.”
I wasn’t surprised when the call ended and Cauvey connected a three-way call with Suleem and Kassir. Anything DP related had to be relayed to the niggas in charge. I spoke in the background, providing information to the extent I knew.
“It’s supposed to go down at three. They got a search warrant. It’s valid, signed by a judge. They’re looking for drugs, but if they find anything else…”
I didn’t have to finish. They weren’t new to this.
Cauvey was summoned to the tenth floor before the call ended. That was where Suleem and Kassir stayed. But before he left, I told him I would stay close to the building, keeping my ear to what was going on.
Sage was dozing off when I left, so I kissed her lips and told her to call me when she woke up. Jami answered the door when I knocked, telling me she thought I was someone else when she walked away.
I didn’t press her though. She did her and I did me.
“Why you here so early?”
“Making sure Sage made it home.”
“So, you and Sage…” She plopped down on the couch.
“I’m listening.”
“Are y’all…” she hesitated. “You know…”
“I like her. She’s cool.”
I could talk to Jami about anything. We were close…still friends, although we stopped fucking years ago. She had other relationships and I did too.
“Yeah, she is. But is that the only reason you’re here?”
“My daughter’s here, so…”
“Keturah’s sleep. Been out since ten.”
“Okay.” I lowered into the seat next to her. “And?”
“Anddddd,” she stressed. “Kyree damn near busted his ass running up out of here. It wasn’t even five minutes ago. It was right before you came.” I waited for the question I knew was coming. I didn’t wait long.
“What’s going on, Keyoni?”
“Leave it alone. It doesn’t concern you.”
DP watched over Jami and Keturah. Even when I wasn’t around I knew my family was good because when DP scratched my back, I scratched theirs.
The building was safe and secure because they ran shit, and although they did their dirt, they didn’t do it where they laid their heads.
Because of that, I overlooked the petty shit…
like the drugs Tre ran out of his apartment and the various businesses the DPs ran.
Everybody had a hustle and I was okay with it as long as Jami and Keturah always remained safe.
In return, they always stayed a step ahead of Diamond Falls PD.
I made another call to Captain and learned the sneak operation was right on track, giving Tre enough time to move his stash to another DP apartment.