Once they were finished cleaning, Bobby came up on deck and sat down next to Nick. "I’m gonna learn how to sail one of these things so next time I can be up here chillin’, enjoying the night air, and you can be the cleaner."
Nick laughed. "It ain’t that hard, Bobby. You want me to show you?"
"Nah, not tonight," Bobby replied as he yawned and stretched. "You know we ain’t sleepin’ no time soon, right?"
Nick nodded his head slowly then turned to Bobby. Despite what Bobby said about the shit being over, there was something Nick felt he had to get off his chest.
"Look, Bobby, I’m sorry."
"For what? ’Cause I can’t sail this ship?" Bobby joked.
"No, about Camille."
"Listen, Nick, I can’t be mad at you for fuckin’ her when she set the pussy out for you. She was a ho, and I shouldn’t have gotten so strung out on her. I mean, shit, the bitch fucked Freeze and Mike then she fucked me, throw the pussy at you from the first time she saw you, and she wanted to fuck Wanda. And those are just the ones we know about."
"I didn’t know that until I read that journal she was keeping," Nick said and laughed. "You’re right. She was a ho."
"It’s me who could be sayin’ sorry to you. I should have never pulled my gun on you. I’ve regretted that shit every day since. I should have never let a woman, any woman, come between us. You’re like my brother, Nick, so let’s just put that shit behind us. Cool?" Bobby stood up and extended his hand.
"Cool," Nick said and accepted his hand.
Mike came up on deck and joined Bobby and Nick. "How far out are we?"
"About ten miles," Nick responded.
"That’s far enough. Come on, Bobby." Mike and Bobby carried the bodies up on deck. They weighted the bodies down with whatever they could find and tossed them overboard. Once they were done, Nick turned the ship around and headed back to the dock.
Chapter Six
Bobby got behind the wheel and started the car. They went to check out the address of the woman who owned the boat, but the house was in darkness.
"Where to now, Mike? Back to the airport?" Bobby asked.
"Not yet."
"Where you wanna go then?"
"Let’s go see Hector. He hangs at a club called La Covacha. It’s on Twenty-fifth Street."
"Hector?" Nick questioned. "Hector Villanueva?"
Mike nodded.
"I remember that guy," Nick said.
Back in the day, Hector Villanueva used to buy from Andre Hammond, who controlled most of the drug traffic in the area. Mike worked for Andre as enforcer, collector and at times, his personal bodyguard. Even though he did business with them, Andre hated Puerto Ricans, so he was killin’ Hector on price. Mike did Hector a favor and introduced him to Angelo Collette. Angelo and Mike were in the same homeroom class in high school. Back in the day when they were both freelancing, they did a few jobs together. They robbed a few jewelry stores, took down a payroll or two. Now, Angelo was a very important man. After Mike introduced Hector to him, Hector started buying his product from Angelo at a better price than Andre had been giving him.
Mike was forced to call in the favor when Shy had business with Hector and he was being tough on the negotiations. Mike was able to get Hector to do business with Shy. At that point, Hector considered their business together concluded, but he and Mike had something else more personal in common.
"You think Hector has something to do with this mess?" Bobby asked and glanced over at Nick.
"Not really," Mike replied casually. "But you never know."
"Yeah, right." Bobby laughed. "You just wanna fuck with Hector, see if you can go up in Nina while we’re down here, don’t you, Mike?"
"I remember Nina," Nick said. "That was one beautiful woman. Seeing her would be enough reason for me to go fuck with Hector."
"No, I just wanna ask him some questions."
As Bobby drove off, Nick thought about the years he had missed. He glanced in the backseat at Mike and then over at Bobby. He was glad to be able to close the door on that part of his life, after all these years, to finally say that he was sorry to Bobby. Maybe now he could take Shy’s advice and forgive himself for betraying Bobby and fucking Camille. Even if she was a ho who was fuckin’ everybody.
It was 2:30 in the morning when Bobby pulled up in front of La Covacha, one of the most popular spots for Latin music in Miami. Once they were inside, Bobby went one way while Nick and Mike went another.
"Nice place," Nick said as they wandered around the club looking for Hector.
"Yeah, it is a nice club. It almost burned down in the mid-nineties," Mike said over the music. They went out to the open-air part of the club, which was under a thatched roof.
"How you know so much about this place?"
"I came here few times with Nina before I knew she was married to Hector." Mike paused. "She really liked this place."
"You really liked Nina, didn’t you?" Nick said.
"There was something special about her."
Out on the patio, the place pounded with a mix of new and old salsa. The crowd ranged from the thirty-something crowd to South American teenagers. There were even a few older couples. But Hector wasn’t out there, so they went back inside. That’s when Mike saw her coming out of the VIP room.
He stood and watched her walk through the club and make her way to the bar. Mike tapped Nick on the shoulder. "There she is."
"Who?" Nick asked.
"Nina." Nick turned around quickly. "Wait here," Mike said as Bobby walked up.
"I don’t see Hector anywhere," Bobby said to Nick.
"He’s here." Nick pointed toward the bar where Mike was now standing next to Nina.
"Hello, Nina," Mike said.
Nina closed her eyes and allowed her head to drift back at the sound of his voice. "Hello, Black," she said without looking at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I’m looking for Hector."
"I was hoping you’d say something noble like you came here looking for me. That you couldn’t live another minute without seeing me."
"It is good to see you, Nina, even if you won’t look at me." Nina took a deep breath and turned around slowly. "You look good, Nina."
"So do you. Very good."
"Where’s Hector?" Mike asked before the conversation went in another direction.
"He’s in the VIP room. But if you stand here and talk to me long enough, he’ll be out here soon. I’m sure somebody will run and tell him that I’m out here talking to this big, fine black man," Nina said and put her hand on Mike’s chest.
"I wanna talk to him, Nina." Mike slowly removed her hand from his chest. "Not have to kill him over you."
Nina looked at the ring on Mike’s finger. "You’re married?"
"Happily."
"Now that we’re both married, maybe you’ll come down here to see me."
"I still don’t mess with married women."
"Is that why you never came looking for me?"
"It’s the only reason I didn’t come and get you, Nina. If you weren’t married to Hector. ." Mike paused and looked around the club. "Who knows?"
"I do." Nina smiled a satisfied smile and turned around to motion for a waitress. When one responded, Nina talked to her for a minute, then she returned her attention to Black. "Tell her what you want."
Mike reached in his pocket and handed the woman a hundred-dollar bill. "Tell Mr. Villanueva that Mike Black sends his respect and asks that Mr. Villanueva give him a minute of his time. Tell him exactly what I said. I’ll be right here waiting for his answer."
The waitress was about to go to deliver the message, but Nina stopped her. "Wait until ten minutes after I’m back in the VIP before you come in there." Once the waitress was gone, Nina turned to Mike. "Goodbye, Black. I want to kiss you. I want you to hold me in your arms and kiss me; not just a goodbye kiss or a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I want you to kiss me the way that you used to." Nina took a step closer and ran her hand up Mike’s crotch then whispered in his ear, "What I’d really like to do is suck that big dick and then ride you until I feel it swell up and explode inside me." And then Nina stepped away. "But then somebody would die tonight. Goodbye, Mike Black. I hope this won’t be the last time I see you."