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  “Nah, but I definitely gave them the recipe,” Ruby replied.

  If Li'l Will was ever glad to see his daughter, he was at the moment. She was like an angel coming to rescue him from a religious debate. He got up from the table and hugged his daughter. “Renika James, thank you for showing up on time,” he whispered into her ear.

  “I don't know, Pops. Maybe I should've stayed quiet a little longer. It would've been interesting to see who would win the debate,” Renika said. She looked over his shoulder at Dee and her son, Machumu and their daughter. “I see you've added an addition to the family.”

  Li'l Will turned around and looked in the direction Renika was looking. “Renika, meet my wife, Machumu, your little sister, Dee, and your little cousin Li'l Bee. Everybody, meet my oldest daughter, Renika James.”

  They spoke to each other. Li'l Will asked his daughter to have a seat at the table. Instead of choosing a seat close to everyone, she chose to sit at the other end of the table, facing her father. No one objected to her choice of seats.

  “Nice place you have here, Pops. Not quite as nice as Mama's mansion, but it's straight,” Renika commented dryly.

  Thankfully, the kitchen help came through with the food when they did because Li'l Will could sense a verbal war about to begin between his daughter and wife. The aroma of the different meats, sweet potato pies and vegetables gave off was intoxicating. The table was set and everyone except for the children served their own food.

  “So, how's life been treating you Renika?” asked Li'l Will.

  She took a bite off of the baked barbeque boneless pork chop. “Mmm. This is delicious. Grandma, you got to give me the recipe.”

  Li'l Will was getting a little annoyed. “Renika, I damn well know you hear me talking to you.”

  “Of course I do, Pops. Life been interesting for me. I have my own clothing line that's doing great, my fiancé is serving a bid for something he had no knowledge of, and the deputies down in the great state of Texas just broke my right taillight,” Renika replied. She looked Machumu in the eyes. “But I can guarantee you they won't be breaking another taillight.”

  “Alright, Renika, that's enough. And we don't discuss certain things in the company of children,” Li'l Will said warningly.

  “Wasn't I the unlucky one?” she responded sarcastically.

  Li'l Will dropped the conversation because he knew his daughter was trying to pick a fight. They ate the rest of their meal in silence. Once done, Renika excused herself to finish unpacking and to take a nap. After she walked out, everyone else's attention went straight to Li'l Will.

  “What?” Li'l Will barked out of frustration.

  Nobody said anything.

  “Renika James is good people. She's just spoiled. Y'all got to warm up to her,” he said.

  “Spare the rod, you spoil the child,” his mother stated.

  Li'l Will, not in the mood for a biblical lecture from his mother, left the dining room. He grabbed the stash of marijuana that he kept hidden inside of a shoe box and an Optimo blunt and stepped outside on the front porch. He sat in the wicker chair and rolled up a fat blunt without breaking up the buds. He fired up and choked on the first pull.

  “Too much for you, old man.” Machumu said, standing in the doorway. She had been watching him since he sat down. She walked out onto the porch and took a seat in the chair beside him. “Why you never said anything about your daughter?”

  He knew that was coming. “Some things are best left unknown,” he replied before hitting the blunt twice.

  “But she's your daughter, Willie James,” Machumu shot back.

  By her calling him by his full name, Li'l Will knew she was in her feelings about the situation. “Machumu, that girl ain't no damn saint. She's probably buried more bodies than both of us put together.”

  “I didn't say she was. All I'm saying is, she needs to be a little more respectful.”

  Li'l Will chuckled in between coughs from too much smoke entering his lungs at one time. “What you see is what you get with Renika. She's about family and as loyal as they come.”

  “That explains her comment about the deputies,” Machumu said.

  Li'l Will hit the blunt again and ducked it out. “Something like that, baby. That was probably Renika's personal crew’s doing. She don't go anywhere without her personal escort.”

  “Where in the hell are they then?” asked Machumu.

  Li'l Will hunched his shoulders. “Hell if I know. No one knows until they cross her. Then, it's too late.”

  Machumu nodded silently. Although she resented some of Renika's ways, the picture being painted of her was that she was to be respected. She grabbed her husband by the hand. “Come on, baby. All of this tension in the air got me horny.”

  Li'l Will allowed her to pull him to his feet and lead him through the house to their bedroom. Inside, with the bedroom door closed and locked, she undressed him and then herself. They stood naked at the foot of the bed, kissing and roaming around each other's body with their hands. As his fingers found their way between her thighs, she gasped when he lightly pinched her clitoris.

  “Man, I love the way you make my body respond to your touch,” she said softly.

  Li'l Will playfully pushed her back onto the bed. Machumu laid back on the bed. Her eyes were filled with lust. He climbed on top of her and kissed his way down to her sex.

  Li'l Will moaned while he furiously kissed, licked, and sucked on her clitoris. She spread her legs wider and wider as the sensation continued to build inside. She grabbed the back of his head and grinded herself against his tongue and lips. She fucked his face faster and faster until she came.

  Li'l Will stood back up at the foot of the bed. “Turn that ass around here girl.” He demanded.

  “Yes, daddy,” she replied and assumed the position.

  Machumu slid to the edge of the foot of the bed in doggy style. Li'l Will parted her legs and entered her from behind. Once all the way up in her, he placed his right hand at the small of her back to keep her chocolate, plump, and round booty tooted up, and grabbed hold of her left thigh with his left hand and went to work.

  “Oh shit, baby! Yeah! Yeah! Give me that dick!” Machumu screamed.

  Li'l Will pounded away with long hard strokes. “Yeah. You like that, girl? You like the way I'm handling this pussy?” He switched gears, hitting it from the back hard and fast at an angle.

  “Oh, hell yeah, baby! Fuck me! Oh shit!” she screamed as her body shook violently from the orgasm.

  He continued to lay the dick down. The wetter she became the harder and faster he stroked. “Damn, baby, this pussy good. I'm about to cum, baby.” His strokes got shorter and shorter.

  Machumu, feeling his sex starting to swell and pulsate inside of her, threw herself back against him. “Ahhh, shit, baby,” Li'l Will said as he filled her up from behind. His strokes became a grind against her soft chocolate skin. She moved to his rhythm until he'd gone limp inside of her.

  Machumu eased herself off of him and laid down on her back. He climbed in the bed beside her and kissed her on the cheek. “You're the best.”

  She didn't respond. Machumu continued to stare up at the ceiling in deep thought.

  Li'l Will propped himself where he could look at her face. Before he could get his thoughts in order to say what was on his mind, his wife had closed her eyelids, and he could hear a light snore coming from her. He laid back down and rolled over onto his side facing the opposite direction. Once Machumu knew he'd gotten comfortable, she opened her eyes and continued to contemplate.

  Chapter Six

  Sarah and her daughter Tanji were enjoying the view overlooking the lake at her home. It was a cool night out, but that only added to the enjoyment. They sipped on Long Island iced tea and ate snow crab smothered in melted butter and cheese. Sarah had made inquiry about Damien, whom she knew her daughter was in love with.

  “Mama, I'm going to marry him,” Tanji replied.

  Sarah smiled. “Of cours
e you are, Tanji. Just don't think you're going to change the way the man makes his money.”

  Tanji took a sip of her drink through the straw. The liquid felt almost as good going down as the breeze coming off the lake. “Likewise, Mama. He keep on saying he don't want me working in the field or any other job if it is left up to him. But you know I'm not a lay around kind of woman.”

  “True. The hell with all that though. Just make sure your mother gets an invite,” Sarah said.

  They laughed. Working for the federal government had proven to be profitable for them with the unaccounted for currency they'd pocketed from raids, the drugs they'd replenished the streets with, and the extra they made by handling inside business for Demetri when called on. That was the biggest of their profits.

  “Yeah, Italy, here I come,” Tanji said.

  “Correction. Here we come, baby girl,” replied Sarah.

  Tanji turned to the side in the beach chair to face her mother. “What do you have planned?”

  Sarah sipped the Long Island iced tea. “I'm retiring, girl. Didn't I tell you after that last lick we hit it was over with?” asked Sarah.

  Tanji relaxed back in the chair. She sipped the drink and looked out over the lake. “Fine with me.”

  Sarah didn't respond. She allowed the quietness to bring that much more tranquility to the scene. Tanji appreciated the silence. It gave her the time she needed to mull through her thoughts of when to give Damien the response to him asking her to marry him.

  ***

  Demetri and Thaddeus were out on the shooting range doing a little target practicing. Instead of using firearms, they had compound composite long bows - Expedition Xcentric bows, to be exact. Their targets were seventy yards out.

  Thaddeus drew back the coil with the razor tip arrow in place and let it fly. The arrow flew silently through the air and found its destination within the hay made target. “I'm on my A game today, bro!” Thaddeus exclaimed, resting the bow against his thigh.

  Demetri smiled. “I see.” He concentrated, drawing back the coil with the arrow in place. “If assassins were keener to the use of such magnificent killing machines…”He released the coil, shooting the arrow in the direction of his target. It buried itself in the target. “There would be less attention drawn to business.”

  They walked over to where the targets were. Thaddeus's arrow had struck inches from the bullseye, but Demetri's was dead center. Thaddeus slapped his twin brother on the shoulder. “Great shot!” he said.

  Demetri nodded. He was about to respond when he heard the sound of twigs and dry leaves crackling. Quickly, he grabbed the arrow that was sticking in the hay and readied his shot. “Stay low to the ground, Thad. It makes you a harder target to hit.”

  Thaddeus crouched down before grabbing the arrow he'd shot. “What's going on?” he whispered.

  “Just stay down and he quiet. Someone's out there,” Demetri whispered back. He motioned for his brother to follow his lead. Taking precaution, they ducked behind the targets, keeping the woods in view.

  Three armed and masked figures stepped to the edge of the tree line. When they started talking to each other, Demetri and Thaddeus automatically knew they were Turks. As quietly as he could, Demetri took his cell phone out and texted his nephew and niece, who responded by texting they were on the way and for them to stay put. He texted back “OK” and put his phone back in the casing on his belt.

  “The cavalry should be here in a short moment,” Demetri said at a whisper.

  Thaddeus sighed heavenward. “I'm glad they decided to live in Italy,” Thaddeus whispered thankfully.

  The three armed and masked figures were contemplating whether or not to approach the targets. Although they outmanned and outgunned their enemies, the Turks were hesitant because they knew the two men they'd been trailing weren't everyday ordinary men. They were made men, and killers on top of that. One of them suggested that they just shoot through the targets, so if they were hiding behind them, the shots would flush them out.

  Demetri didn't know Turkish, however, Thaddeus knew enough to understand what had been suggested. “Well, brother, the cavalry need to get their asses here real quick, or we're in some real trouble,” Thaddeus whispered.

  “What are you talking about? What are they saying?” asked Demetri.

  “They're debating on whether or not they should just shoot up the targets, hoping it will flush us out if we are behind them.” Thaddeus replied.

  “We are behind them. Fuck.” Demetri swore in a hushed tone.

  At that moment three gunshots broke the sound barrier. Demetri and Thaddeus watched as the bullets tore through the hay target next to them. 'I see they reached a conclusion,” Demetri said sarcastically.

  Thaddeus was thinking of a contingency plan that would save their lives long enough for Damien and Nicole to get there. “We got to lay flat on the ground. Now,” he commanded.

  As soon as they did, bullets tore through the hay over their heads. Demetri felt his phone vibrating on against his right thigh. He took it out of its case and read the unread text message notification. He opened his messages and sighed with relief.

  “Have no fear, brother. Our saviors have arrived,” Demetri whispered while putting the phone back in the case.

  The three armed and masked figures became anxious. They stepped on out into the clearing with their automatic assault rifles aimed at the targets. Their anxiousness became their downfall. While they were hunting Demetri and Thaddeus, they were being hunted themselves.

  Damien, Nicole, and Mark crept up from behind fast. Before going in for the kill, Damien had demanded that at least one of the Turks be left alive for interrogation. Nicole had suggested that her target would be the one. They carried razor sharp L.L. Bean Outdoors Hybrid Hunter Knives.

  The Turks were talking loudly, confident that they were about to complete their mission, when things went sour. Damien, with track running speed and expert agility, sliced through the back of his opponent's right calf with the first cutting maneuver, and with the second move, thrust the blade straight up through the bottom of the man's chin. He snatched the blade out, causing blood to squirt from the gaping wound. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

  The other armed and masked men didn't have time to react. Nicole and Mark were already on them. Mark kept it old fashioned. He stabbed the man repeatedly in the lower spine and slit his throat as the man’s legs gave.

  Nicole’s task, on the other hand, wasn't so simple, but it was simple to her. She sliced the wrist of the man's trigger hand, causing him to drop the AK-47. Afterwards, she squared off with the unarmed man. He cussed at her in Turkish before taking a wild swing at her.

  Nicole blocked the unorthodox swing and countered with an open palm strike to the ribs, which she followed up with an elbow to his left jaw. The man's knees buckled and he fell awkwardly to the ground unconscious. Damien looked at his sister with a childish smirk on his face. “Showoff.”

  She bowed gracefully. “Why, thank you, Damien.”

  “Enough of the compliments already,” Demetri said as he and Thaddeus came out of hiding. He stood, towering over the last living Turk. “Who do we have here?”

  Damien and Mark yanked the man to his feet and held him by the arms. Nicole snatched the mask off of his head. Demetri looked at the man, whose expression showed pure hatred. “Who are you? Who are you working for?”

  The man spat blood in Demetri's face before saying something in Turkish. Damien slapped him across the face.

  “What did he say, Damien?” Demetri asked.

  “He said he's not telling you anything. That he would rather die before he told the enemy of his people anything,” Damien said.

  Demetri laughed sinisterly. “Oh, is that so? You're going to tell me everything I need and want to know before you die. Tie him up and bring him along. I don't care if he walks or you can drag his ass the distance. It is the decision of whoever's watching him.”

  “Well, in that cas
e,” said Nicole before she judo chopped the man in the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious, “I'll enjoy dragging him.”

  Nobody objected to her decision. Mark and Damien took the belts off of the dead men and used them to bind the Turks hands and feet. Nicole grabbed the loop of the belt around his ankles and started dragging the man back through the woods. Thaddeus's expression was one that showed he wasn't quite understanding the psychology of his niece.

  Mark rested his left hand on Thaddeus’s right shoulder. “Look at the bright side of it, Uncle Thad. She's your niece, and not your wife.”

  “You got a good point, Mark,” he replied.

  Demetri and Damien laughed. “Let's get home. After a good meal, it's interrogating time,” Demetri said in a sinister way.

  They caught up with Nicole as she was exiting the other side of the woods near Demetri and Thaddeus's estate. The four men carried on in casual conversation, doing their best to keep from voicing their opinions to Nicole about the way she dragged the man. Once they made it to the front doorsteps, she let go of the belt loop. “Now you men can figure out who's going to carry the heavy bastard inside,” she said and walked inside ahead of them.

  Their prisoner groaned from the pain he was feeling. Damien grabbed hold of the belt tied around his hands and Mark grabbed hold of the belt tied around his ankles. They lifted him up like a hog on a spit and carried him in the house down into the basement, where they tied him down to a steel chair that sat in the middle of the room. They walked back upstairs and washed their hands before joining Demetri, Thaddeus, and Nicole in the dining room.

  The maids brought in personal-size fruit platters and a family-size platter of pastries. Nobody said a word while they ate. It wasn't until after the maids returned with wineglasses and wine, poured it, and left that Demetri spoke.

  “We are grateful for you being on time in such a critical situation,” Demetri said, thanking Damien, Nicole and Mark.

  “No pressure. That's what family is for,” Damien replied.

  Mark raised his glass in salute, agreeing with Damien's reply. Nicole tossed a grape in the air and caught it in her mouth.