Irv interrupted him with, “I wrote you –”
Ty cut right back in. “Yeah, but didn’t see you in the courtroom, Dad. Didn’t see you before I went down, when that shit was swirlin’ around me, not once and before that, when I did, every time I did, you were shitfaced.”
“And that’s what I’m explaining.”
Fucking shit, this was enough for now, he was done.
So he moved it that way. “Lexie wants you in our home, you can explain it more when I’m not at work.”
“She said I could come if I called and didn’t bring Reece,” Irv said softly.
“Yeah, but I give a shit about my wife and what she’s feelin’ so you’re just gonna have to wait until I confirm.”
A pause then, “I’ll wait, Ty.”
“And I’ll call, either way.”
“’Preciate it, son.”
Ty pulled in breath. Then he finished with, “She lets you in, when you come and spend time and then forever, you treat her like crystal. Her life has been shit and she’s got no blood family. The family she made for herself means the world. She makes you her family, you do not fuck her. You fuck her, we’re done. That’s it. Done. Are you with me?”
“I’m with you, Ty.”
“Right. I’ll call.”
“I’ll be waitin’.”
And, obviously, Lexie said yes and she did this about point two five seconds after he finished telling her about the phone call.
Which led them to now.
His wife, tricked out for a visit from his father who didn’t give him much but a few knocks and a lot of nothing until he had a telephone conversation with him a few days before.
Their Monday had been dramatic, their week not uneventful. Nina Maxwell, his new attorney who he and Lex had gone to meet on Thursday, was a very pretty blonde with two young children, a law degree, an excessive amount of energy and more sass even than Lexie.
This meant Peña had heard from her twice. It also meant the Attorney General’s office had heard from her daily and not just the one in Colorado but also the one in California. And it further meant that, along with communications they got from Samuel Sterling, the ACLU had heard from her. She was all over it. So, lastly, this meant that the Attorney General’s office had not fucked around in locating the communications Misty had sent and contacting Chace Keaton to obtain a sample of Misty’s handwriting which, Nina reported, the man had delivered to Denver himself. They also contacted Misty’s friend in Maryland and obtained a sworn statement that not only did she receive the documents from Misty with instructions of what to do with them, she’d also received frequent and increasingly frantic phone calls from a firstly anxious then downright terrified Misty including one warning her she’d be receiving the documents and getting her assurance that she would follow through should something untoward happen with Misty.
And she’d followed through.
With a man with the kind of money and influence of Samuel Sterling and an increasingly interested ACLU at her back, Nina wasn’t accepting any bullshit or delays. Still, she was getting them and this likely had to do with the fact that Internal Affairs in Colorado and California were trying to hold her back while they sorted their shit.
Nina Maxwell might be the pretty blonde mother of an infant and toddler who, in person, was very sweet and fucking funny, but when she was not dealing with him but for him, she was making it clear she didn’t give a fuck about IA investigations, she gave a fuck about a half black man who had five years stolen from his life and deserved a clear name and restitution, not when they got around to getting their shit sorted but yesterday, and the woman was a pit bull.
Therefore, Ty was lying on the couch watching a game, not wound up about his future, Lexie’s future and the future of their children. Peña was on it. Tate was on it. Julius’s boy was on it. Fucking Chace fucking Keaton was on it. Samuel Sterling was all over it. The ACLU were sticking their noses in it. And Nina Maxwell was living and breathing it.
So he was lying on the couch, drinking a soda, watching a game and wondering if he had enough time to make his wife and himself come in the enjoyable effort of planting his seed in her womb before his father showed.
And, lying on that couch, drinking a soda and watching his woman in that dress and shoes with her tanned skin, round ass and long fucking legs on show as she nervously fluffed, arranged then rearranged toss pillows, Ty made his decision.
And that decision was, two birds, one stone.
So he put his soda on the coffee table, put one foot to the floor, did an ab curl and lunged.
He caught Lex at the waist in mid-fluff of a pillow. She cried out in surprise, dropped the pillow, hit him front to front, he fell back then rolled so he was on top.
Then he yanked her skirt up to her waist.
“Ty,” she breathed, eyes big and on him.
“New dress?” he asked, his hands moving around her waist, back, down and into her panties.
“Uh… yeah,” she whispered, her hands moving to his chest and resting there like she didn’t know whether to push or something else.
He rolled his hips with intent and she spread her legs either because his hips were giving her no choice or because she wanted it. Either way, he felt his cock start to get hard.
“Ty.” It came again, breathy and her fingers curled into his tee.
He pulled his hands out of her panties, sliding them down the backs of her thighs then, when he got to the backs of her knees, he yanked up. Hard.
And he did this while asking over her gasp, “New shoes?”
“Ty –”
He cut her off. “New shoes, baby?”
“What are you…?” He ground his hips into hers, she trailed off and whispered, “Yes. New shoes.”
He dropped his face close to hers and one hand went to the side of her neck, one hand slid up to trace the edge of the leg of her underwear as he spoke.
“Mama, I want you to have everything you wanna have. Everything,” he paused as his fingers made it between her legs, one slid in and pulled the gusset away and he watched her eyes heat as her lids dropped halfway and her lips parted. “But,” he went on softly, dipping his head so his mouth was a breath from hers, “you gotta slow up. We got attorney fees and, all this effort,” he slid his finger lightly through her wet, “could mean a baby soon.” He brushed his mouth against hers, feeling her breath had escalated and he whispered, “This dress is the shit, baby, and you look fuckin’ good in it. I know what you’re doin’, for me, my Dad comin’. But you don’t gotta be you all tricked out. You just gotta be you. He’s gonna like you. He already likes you. The thing you gotta get is the effort is his to make you like him. Not my mama goin’ all out to make him like her.”
“Oh… okay,” she whispered and Ty slid his finger deeper through the wet folds, her chin went up half an inch, her legs spread wider, her hips tipped up as she gasped and he grinned.
“Stick with me, baby, I’m not done,” he whispered back and he watched her try to focus on him and he beat back his grin growing to a smile as his finger dipped deeper and she bit her lip. “Our house is already a home ‘cause we live here. We got time, means you got time to build it, make it what you like.” He brushed his mouth against hers again and said softly, “Home is you, Lex, not a place. I lost a lot but right now,” he found her clit, pressed, rolled and listened to her whimper as he finished, “I got it all. You don’t have to break your neck or the bank to give me anything more. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, her hips tipping up further, her fingers releasing his tee to slide around to the back, pull it up and dive in. And he knew, the look on her face, the wet at his finger, she’d say “yeah” to just about anything.
Still, she’d said yes so one bird down, one to go.
His finger rolled and his mouth brushed hers again and he whispered, “What you want, wildcat?”
She lifted her head off the couch to get his mouth but he moved it away, her eyes opened slightly
and she whispered back, “Your cock, baby. Hurry.”
“Already?” Ty asked, brushed her lips, she lifted her head to get more and he again pulled away. “Thought I’d finger fuck you first.”
Another whimper, her hips jerked, she liked that idea.
But she said, “We need to hurry and finger fucking doesn’t make babies, Ty.”
He pressed harder, rolled and her neck arched. “No, but it’s fun to watch.”
And it fucking was.
She righted her head and whispered, “Ty, we don’t have –”
He moved his finger, drove two inside and engaged his thumb.
Her mouth stayed open but only so she could moan low in her throat, her whole body arched and her nails dug in and raked up his back.
Yeah, fuck yeah, it was fun to watch.
And feel.
His fingers moved, going deep, his thumb relentless.
“Hurry, mama, I want in there when you’re done,” he told her, voice thick.
“Okay,” she breathed, moving her hips to ride his hand then, desperate, “Your mouth, honey.”
“You come in my mouth, I watch until you do.”
“Ty –”
“Hurry.”
Her neck arched and her hips went desperate too. “Ty.”
Fuck, his wife was beautiful. And that was the only reason he kept doing what he was doing because she was so fucking wet, he wanted his mouth down there.
But he couldn’t watch and he liked watching.
So he watched.
“Reach for it, mama.”
She did and he knew when the noises came fast and low, her nails stopped digging and her arms wrapped around to hold on just as her legs curved around his hips tight, heels digging in to use him for leverage to reach for it, get more out of his hand.
Then her neck arched, her back arched and he knew she was there so he growled, “Mouth.”
She dipped her chin, offered her mouth, he took it and kept working her with his hand while her noises drove down his throat straight to his aching cock. He was waiting until she was done so she could keep his hand before he took her with his cock. Finally, her body melted under him, her limbs loosened but stayed around him, he knew she was done and he was about to go for his fly when his phone rang.
Not wanting surprises, he’d given certain numbers their own tones.
And that tone said Peña.
Fuck!
He cupped his woman between her legs, released her mouth and arched his back so she wouldn’t take his weight when his hand at her neck moved to reach to his back pocket and he yanked out his phone.
“Peña,” he muttered to his still-dazed wife and she blinked, not processing this because, just like Lexie, she’d come hard and she was riding the residual wave.
Ty flipped his phone open and put it to his ear. “Please, fuck, tell me this is worth interrupting what I’m fuckin’ doin’.”
There went the daze, she blinked again then one hand came out of his tee so she could slap his arm and she snapped, “Ty!” but she did it without sound, only her lips formed his name but he knew it was a snap because her eyes were narrowed and her face was pissed. He was hard, he wanted to bury his cock in his wife who was hot, wet and under him but he still couldn’t stop from grinning at her.
“Mi amigo, that’s just plain cruel,” Peña said in his ear but there was a smile in his voice. Ty’s words and the frustrated growl he said them with were not lost on him and therefore Ty did not get this fucking guy. If Ty was miles away and knew he was on the phone with a man who was with Lexie doing what he was doing with Lexie, there would be no smile in his voice.
Then again, Peña hadn’t tasted her so he only had the dream and did not know the reality was way fucking better than the dream.
“This worth interrupting what I’m doin’?” Ty asked.
“Don’t know, is a warrant for conspiracy to commit murder, a successful raid last night that means the evidence locker bought itself a whole fuckload of smack and blow and twelve… I repeat, twelve ladies of the evening walking their Lycra covered asses into my precinct this mornin’ after a hard night at work sayin’ they’re happy to turn evidence and act as witnesses, all of this nailin’ Duane ‘Shift’ Martinez to the wall in a way he won’t come unstuck anytime soon worth interruptin’ what you’re doin’?”
Ty had frozen.
Then he gently moved his hand from between his woman’s legs and planted his forearm in the couch beside her to hold his weight off her but otherwise kept his position as he asked, “You got any more detail?”
Peña chuckled.
Then he gave him detail.
“Yeah, well, the angels in heaven above swooped down on Dallas these last few weeks. Started with me walkin’ out my front door, at home, I might add which wouldn’t have made me happy except that on my welcome mat was a manila envelope full a’ shit. Typewritten but, who gives a fuck that God’s angels use computers. Suddenly, I got leads comin’ out my ass. Now, the borin’ stuff is that raid was a raid of Martinez’s stash. Far’s I know all of it, and there’s a lot. Un-fuckin’-protected and all in one place. We’re talkin’ millions of dollars of dope here. The guy doesn’t have a gun on it and he keeps it all in one place. I knew that man was light between the ears but fuck… me.”
Jesus, Ty knew Shift dealt but he had no fucking idea he was in that deep.
“Millions of dollars?” Ty asked.
“Yeah, sucks to admit it, esé, but even I didn’t know his operation had escalated to that level. But this means his suppliers are not gonna be happy he can’t distribute and, shortly, it’ll be destroyed without goin’ up someone’s nose or in someone’s veins. Also means, case you didn’t know, the more dope, the bigger the operation, the more shit that could hit the streets, the weightier the book gets thrown at the ones who own it. And that kinda operation is makin’ the DA salivate. Now, our DA, he’s pulled himself up from rough beginnings, stayed clean but had friends who chose dark paths and he watched them get lost down those paths. He’s a crusader. This motherfucker is on a mission and has been since he got his ass elected. He’s gonna take a dealer with that amount of product he intended to put on the street and destroy lives and he’s gonna symbolically shove that product right up his ass. But I got more.”
“The warrant,” Ty said carefully, not wanting Lexie to catch on, not yet, not until he could give her his undivided attention.
“Yeah. The warrant. Got a boy in holding. This boy was caught with a gun in his possession. And this gun’s got a ballistics match on it says it did Ronnie Rodriguez, amongst others. And this boy has a protective instinct so this boy made a deal. And this boy shared the hit he confessed to doin’ on Rodriguez was ordered and paid for by Martinez. And this boy ain’t dumb like Martinez but he does have a screwy family. And when I say that, I mean, this boy does business, he does it at his Momma’s kitchen table, with Momma there. She’s lookin’ out for her boy, makes sure he don’t get screwed providin’ excellent service without gettin’ paid a good wage. She negotiates the deal, she takes a cut, her boy does the job. Therefore, she’s in holding too and she’s also facin’ time but she’s also not dumb and makes her own deal. Her boy goes down, she goes down but so does Martinez. We have the shooter, we have the gun, we have his word and we have his Momma as witness. And I’m not gonna get into the fact that Martinez is not like Rodriguez with his stable. He takes freebies, he takes ‘em often and once that boy gets off, he gets chatty. Therefore, he’s shared a lot with his girls. A lot. Too much. Stupid much. And another way he is not like Rodriguez, they have a light night, he don’t like that and doesn’t see that johns may not have a hankerin’ for a ‘ho with a black eye or busted lip. Therefore, they had it good so they are not big on how bad it’s got the last four years and are not feelin’ the love for their Daddy.”
Holy fuck.
Martinez actually ordered the hit that killed his brother.
He knew it could be true but a part of him
didn’t want to believe it not of Shift, not of anyone.
Holy fuck.
“So,” Peña spoke into his silence, “don’t got me a calculator handy but the minimum jail time on possession with intent to distribute, pimpin’ and conspiracy to commit murder all added up means Duane Martinez is oh-fish-ah-lee fucked. And since he’s an asshole who don’t discriminate with who he feels like bein’ an asshole to, he gets sent down, there are boys in there who do not like him. I’m not thinkin’ good thoughts about his survival rate.”
Ty rolled off Lexie so his back was to the couch but his front still pressed to her side and he avoided her eyes which he felt on him and he asked, “You got him?”
“Lookin’ for him now. He’s got three enforcers, uses his girls in the daytime hours to cut and bag the dope and they’re all in interrogation rooms as I’m speakin’ to you and they’re all yappin’. It shouldn’t take long. Now, what I wanna know is, did these angels fly from Colorado?”
“Payback,” was all Ty said and he got silence.
Then he got a quiet, “Okay, then, I appreciate it so I hate to do you a dirty after you handed me gold but…” he hesitated and Ty braced then he went on, “It is standard procedure to inform the victim’s family when the perpetrator has been caught. I’m makin’ this call then escaping this office that right now looks like The Ninth Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. And I’m doin’ that to get in my car and drive to Ella Rodriguez’s house. I reckon about a nanosecond will elapse after the door shuts on me when she’ll be on the phone. There is no love lost between the Rodriguez women and Martinez. But that doesn’t mean this news is not gonna hit these women and hit hard. It’s obviously up to you how you’re gonna play it but you gotta know they’re gonna know and soon and prepare to pick up the pieces.”