The World in Reverse Page 4

  “Then tell them that you don’t want it,” she growled.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I…” She looked around the room and ran a nervous hand through her hair. “Because I don’t want you to take it.”

  “That’s not a good enough reason for the MPD.”

  Her voice cracked. “Fuck the MPD, Nicola. I’m trying to watch out for my family here. This case is disaster.”

  “That’s why I was brought in. Evidently, they have more faith in me than you do.”

  “I have to live with you well after this case!” she screamed. “You got demoted after a man pissed on one of your female officers. What will you do when you actually get your hands on the person responsible for these murders? You’ll end up behind bars.”

  “I can stay professional.”

  Ivy gave him a look that let him know that she knew that he was lying.

  “What is really bothering you, Ivy? You’ve never been like this about a case before? You know I’ll watch my back. What is the problem? Why now is my job such an issue?”

  Ivy paused. She looked at him like she wanted to say something. Her eyes were panicked, her breathing heavy.

  “What, baby? Spill it,” Nicola begged. His voice was more understanding now. Although he was the one being attacked, he freely opened himself to anything that might help things.

  Ivy got control of her breathing and sucked in a breath and the words that were on the tip of her tongue. “It’s just not a good time,” she said, voice nearly at a whisper.

  “I love you. I’m doing this for all of us,” Nicola said sincerely. “I need you to believe that, and I need you to support me.”

  Arguing with his wife was completely exhausting - worse than chasing perps. He was never right with her, and she was never wrong with him. It had been like that since before they married, and it would probably be that way until the day that he dropped dead.

  Only the sound of the microwave heating the food filled the room, but Nicola could hear his wife silent screams.

  He kept his eyes on the table but he could feel her glaring at him, burning through his body with her intense you-fucked-up stare. She was waiting on him to say something, defend himself, so that she could swoop down like the mighty angel of the Lord and smite him. But he wouldn’t fall for it tonight. He kept quiet.

  When the microwave beeped, Ivy turned from him and took the plate out with brown pot holders by the stove. Setting the dish in front of him on the table carefully as not to splash any food near his face or body, she stepped back. “Eat your dinner,” she ordered in a low voice.

  Nicola tried to hide his grin. She couldn’t have been too mad at him. She had managed to fix a home cooked meal for him and his favorite at that. It was the kids’ birthday. They were full of cake and pizza. “Thanks, baby,” he said, getting ready to get up and grab a beer and some eating utensils.

  “I’ll get it,” Ivy said, walking over to the drawer. She pulled out a fork and knife and grabbed a Bud Light from the refrigerator. Setting it down in front of him, she sighed. “I hate being mad at you, Nicky, but you deserve it…always trying to be sneaky and it just blows up in your face.”

  “I hate you being mad at me,” Nicola said, grabbing her hand. Looking at her wedding ring, he pulled her to him and made her sit on his knee.

  She did so reluctantly, hating herself for giving in.

  Rubbing his head against her bosom, he sighed. “Umm, I just want to melt into you and go to bed right here.”

  Ivy knew where he was headed. “No sir. You’re not getting off that easy. You left me here with a house full of heathens, four of which belong to you. You hid from me the fact that you were on the biggest case in Memphis, and you broke your promise to be here to tuck the kids in. Making love is not an option for you tonight.” She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

  Nicola liked when Ivy got all fired up. He watched her now, completely oblivious to how turned on he was, and licked his lips. Picking up his fork, he stabbed his Manicotti. “You don’t have to be so cruel. What is that they say? Don’t turn away your husband.”

  “Don’t turn this on me,” she said, pursing her lips together.

  He bit into the food and lowered his voice. “Food is good, but I’m sure that you taste better.” He cut his brown eyes at her and winked.

  Ivy rolled her eyes in return. “Whatever,” she said, unable to hide her blush. “Goodnight, Nicky. I’m tired. I’m going to bed and getting some rest before I have to be up for church in the morning.”

  She turned to walk away but Nicola grabbed her arm again. This time he lifted her and put her on the table right beside his plate.

  “Boy, what are you doing?” she asked, laughing. “Let me go!” She felt his cold hand slip down her leg and into her jogging pants. Closing her eyes, she tried to curse him. “I said no making love,” she whispered, wanting him to take her right then.

  “Who says we have to make love?” He leaned into her and sucked on her neck with a nimble hot tongue. “We can do other things…” He adjusted his fingers down into the warmness of her panties and let out a groan.

  She found his mouth and kissed him slowly. “Like what?” she whispered, tugging on his bottom lip as she held the sides of his face in her hands.

  Nicola grabbed the waist band of her pants and pulled them down to her ankles. “Fuck, screw, pump, smash, twirk…”

  “You have such a dirty mouth.” Ivy laughed as she watched him pull off his shirt. His impatience with his own clothes let her know that this was going to be quick. He kicked one boot under the kitchen table and the other across the room into the stove. When he got to his jeans, he yanked them down along with his underwear.

  “We can do whatever you like,” he sang part of the rapper T.I.’s song, returning to her naked.

  She giggled and looked down at her name tattooed on his chest across his heart. How could she stay mad at him while looking at something like that? He was her teddy bear, her biggest baby. “You should have told me, Nicky,” she admonished one last time in a much quieter voice.

  “I know, baby. I’m sorry. Forgive me, okay?” He lifted her chin and kissed her lips softly. His tongue slowly licked at her mouth. “Don’t be mad at me. I can’t take it. You’re all I’ve got in this world besides the four heathens upstairs.”

  “You’ll say anything to get what you want,” she said in a whisper as she felt his hand running over her skin.

  “Let’s make up, right here, right now,” he begged.

  “Right here? Right now? Having sex on the table isn’t sanitary,” she reminded him as he pushed his body up against hers and melted into her. “The kids have to eat here in the morning for goodness sake.”

  Nicola grunted, turned on by her body and desire to reconcile. “Okay, I’ll bleach the damn thing after,” he said, pulling her legs to the end of the table.

  “After what?” she asked, closing her eyes. She could feel the warmness of his throbbing penis pushing between her steaming thighs and suddenly she couldn’t think of anything else. Swallowing hard, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  Nicola bit his lip and watched her face. “After this,” he said, pushing inside of her.

  4

  At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning with the crickets still chirping and glistening dew on the ground, Nicola crept out of the front door of his house before the alarm could go off and wake Ivy for church. Quickly loading into his truck with a cup of premium roast coffee and a microwave egg and sausage sandwich, he pulled off into the quiet streets of Midtown listening to talk radio and getting his mind right for the long day ahead.

  He truly hated to leave his family again this morning considering he had been gone all day the day before, but the medical examiner had come across a very important piece of information last night - too important to ignore or push off until Monday.

  To follow up, Nicola and Johnson were going to visit one of The Five Families today. The Five Famili
es were the top crime syndicates headquartered directly out of Memphis and moving illegal products nationally and/or internationally.

  Even though Memphis was a smaller metro, it had two very distinct characteristics that made it a prime spot for smuggling: the river and the largest international cargo airport in the world. On any given day, to get things in or out of the country, all it took was a dirty customs agent, a starving delivery man with a contracted truck, a cargo hold and an 18-wheeler and any major dealer could be in business.

  There were many crime syndicates in Memphis that kept the Organized Crime Task Force very busy, but most of the major crime was streamlined through five distinct organizations. These organizations knew about any of the real money in gambling, guns trafficking, prostitution, auto and identity theft, illicit and prescription drugs, burglary and murder-for-hire.

  The Fly Boys were the most notorious of all five organizations, known for selling prescription drugs, illicit drugs and even over-the-counter drugs that would be flagged if purchased in bulk at stores. Started by one drop-out med student and one reject Air Force Pilot, the two men had grown the business considerably in the last five years, but oddly enough they had chosen to stay in Memphis.

  Through his investigations, Nicola had been able to find out the truth behind the reason that the duo wouldn’t jump ship. Twist, the former pilot had a child with his ex-wife in Memphis. He worried that if he left, he might alter the relationship that he had with his son or even worst, risk putting he and his mother in danger without his protection.

  Cane, the other half of the dynamic duo, was happy in his long-time home on the farm that he and Twist stayed on right outside of town. Cane was a good old boy who started out wanting to run his father’s pharmacy but ended up running a multi-million dollar drug business instead.

  Nicola had busted the Fly Boys on a few occasions, but never had enough evidence to keep them. Usually, he did just enough damage to make them change their operations mildly. He never kidded himself with thoughts of grandeur when it came to the five families. They had too much money behind them individually and collectively. But he did hope that one day, someone would mess up on a grand enough scale that they would bury themselves.

  Today, however, he wasn’t going to shake up The Fly Boys or spend time interrogating them. He was going to ask them, practically beg them for a favor. Normally, even thinking about such a thing would be above Nicola, but considering there were children involved, he would use all resources available to him.

  But first, he had to make a stop downtown off of Main Street to pick up Johnson from his condo. Evidently, the guy wasn’t a morning person, so Nicola offered to pick him up instead of waiting for him to show at Republic Coffee shop, his favorite meet-up place on the West side of the city.

  Johnson claimed he was a night owl from years of being on delta shift before transferring to homicide. Prior to serving on the police department, he had been a 0311 infantryman at the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. And before that…well, Johnson’s story is a mystery. He never speaks of family, friends or life before the Corps. And being the type of guy that Nicola was, he didn’t ask.

  Nicola didn’t like to rock the boat.

  While the Memphis Police Department was over 2,500 men and women strong, almost everyone knew each other directly or indirectly. If a cop had a reputation, good or bad, everyone knew about it. Stories circulated among the watering holes about the amazing and most often bizarre situations that a cop could find themselves in on any given day. Johnson was one cop who had a serious reputation on the force. Dubbed a ladies’ man, charged with being excessive with force at times, tough in the interrogation room, fast on his feet and feared by the OG’s, Johnson had worked hard for his badge. While on uniform patrol, he had managed to turn in more arrest tickets then anyone on his shift at the West Precinct. His continual harassment of drug dealers and gang members made him prime for the Organized Crime Unit, but he had already bidded for a spot in homicide, which is where he had landed. Since then, he had solved more cases than he had left unsolved and helped put a few major criminals in jail through forensic evidence and pushing witnesses to actually testify.

  Nicola liked Johnson from what he could tell of the man. He reminded him a great deal of himself prior to marrying Ivy. When Johnson wasn’t on the job, he was always chasing girls, for instance, something that Nicola had received a citywide reputation for over the years. And even after he was married, he had to often worry about running into one of his old flames out in public with his family. They would often try to slip him their numbers or offer to meet up later, but he would always decline.

  That part of his life was over now. Thank God.

  He had become a new man, found a new reason to live and changed his old ways, but he didn’t fault the guys who lived his old life. That was just part of growing into a man. In fact, he lived vicariously through their stories without the side effects of crazy women showing up at his house unannounced or endless paternity tests and close calls. In the six years of marriage to Ivy, he had never had one affair. True there had been close calls. Women still found a man with a badge and gun attractive no matter how many children he had or how married he was, but he had managed to stay on the straight and narrow. At times, he had found it trying, but the one thing he knew was that he loved his wife and he would do anything to keep her.

  Plus Ivy was a good woman. She was a hard worker. She had a great job that she loved. She was a great mother to his children and an even better wife to him. He couldn’t ask for more, except longer vacation time and more hours to sleep on any given night. But his life was his own and he took immense pride in it. People always complimented him on how beautiful his family was and how lucky he was, and unlike some who only looked that way from the outside, his family and his life really was good.

  ***

  Pulling up to the Riverbend Condos off Riverside Drive not far from his old place before marrying Ivy, he parked his truck and meandered up to Johnson’s place with his coffee still in hand. He had never been to Johnson’s place before, but he liked the look of it. It screamed bachelor pad with bricked, zero lot, three-story condos overlooking the river. Smart sports cars and SUV’s lined the quiet street as early morning runners and dog walkers went about their daily routines. Birds chirped up in the strategically placed trees near the street lights and the sound of cars in the distance on the nearby freeway made for urban tranquility.

  Hitting the doorbell, Nicola took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and waited patiently at the front door. He squinted at the sunrise coming up over the horizon, slipped on his shades and ran a hand through his black curls. Leaning against the black rail of the staircase, he looked at his watch. Impatiently, he rang the doorbell again.

  Minutes later, Johnson came to the door and opened it slightly. He peered out with red eyes at Nicola, who tapped his watch.

  “What the fuck, man,” Nicola said, pushing his way in.

  “Sorry. I didn’t realize the time,” Johnson growled as he stepped back. He was in a pair of black briefs and bare-chested with only his dog tags hanging from his neck. Tattoos colored his deep olive-tanned skin over the thick, concrete muscle.

  “Well, get dressed so that we can head out to Eads,” Nicola said, looking around.

  Johnson had a thing for Scarface. Everywhere he looked there were large, black and white photos hung up of the movie and other random memorabilia on the coffee table. The guy was a real movie enthusiast.

  “Where’s your kitchen?” Nicola asked, walking through the living room.

  “Back there,” Johnson said, scratching his chest. He looked over at the stairwell as a woman in a man’s dress shirt came walking down. Cracking a smile at the young brunette, he pointed at Nicola.

  “Agosto this is….” he waited for her to answer.

  “Sam,” she answered with a frown.

  “Samantha,” Johnson said, raising a brow. “She’s a friend.”

  �
��Nice to meet you, friend,” Nicola said, walking toward the kitchen. “We’ve got ten minutes,” he called out to Johnson.

  “Whatever you say, boss,” Johnson said, saluting Nicola sarcastically. He turned on his heels. “Baby, let’s go up and get dressed. I gotta get out of here in a minute. You heard the man.”

  “Why don’t I just stay here and wait on you?” she asked as he walked up to her and kissed her lips. Holding on to the banister, he planted himself in front of her to prevent her from coming down stairs and getting comfortable.

  “Hmm,” he growled as he ran a hand down her exposed thigh. “Not a good idea, baby. I don’t know what time I’ll get back and my mom is supposed to stop by later and clean-up. Trust me, you don’t want to be here when she gets here.”

  “I’d love to meet your mother,” she said with a smile.

  Johnson sucked his teeth as he prepared to exhale a lie. With a faux-distant look in his eyes, he fibbed. “She’s overbearing, overprotective and she runs all my girlfriends away. I’d rather introduce you myself later,” he said, turning her around by her voluptuous hips. “Now up the stairs with you.”

  “Girlfriend?” Sam repeated. “But you just called me your friend.”

  “Yeah, my girlfriend. Do you think I just bring random girls home?” Johnson asked, trying to keep a straight face. “Now come on. You heard the man. I’ve got ten minutes. Don’t make me look bad in front of my boss.”

  Nicola shook his head at the conversation. Textbook player. The next thing he would be doing is telling the girl that he’d only been with a few girls and had never felt this way before. Wow, he didn’t realize guys were still using the old green as grass routine. He went into the kitchen and popped his coffee into another cup to warm it.

  Just as the microwave sounded, Nicola’s phone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. It was Ivy.

  What are you doing? She asked.