I inhaled a little, coughed, and handed it back to me. “Good God. This is strong.”
“Oh yeah. Y’all don’t play in Russia, man. You get that sticky icky icky here, baby.” Maxwell grabbed the joint and twirled the joint around his nose as if he was tasting a fine wine. “You catch the notes of mango in that motherfucker?”
I coughed again. “I don’t even know, if I still have both my lungs.”
“Yo, give it some time. You have to take another hit. The weed is so good you can taste it on your tongue.” He handed it back.
I waved him away.
“Your loss, man.” Maxwell took another hit. “Damn. It’s like the citrus is colliding with lemon candy.”
I laughed.
“Shoot. You may want to take some of this over to grandma. This shit will get her right.”
“You think she smokes?”
“You never know.” And then he winked. “Shoot. You may know. You’re the one watching her.”
That made me leave the balcony to check the screen.
In my time of playing around with Maxwell, the designer had arrived with two assistants. They rolled in several racks of gowns and then a couple of casual clothes for her to wear during the week. I had no idea how long Jacqueline would want to stay, but I would keep her as comfortable as possible. A stack of shoe boxes sat along the sofa.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline had gone to the bathroom. Apparently, she’d gotten a phone in the few seconds I’d been on the balcony. My guard was supposed to give her one.
Finally, everyone is on point.
I touched the pad on my desk controlling the screens, zoomed in the bathroom’s camera, turned up the volume, and signaled to my guard. “Get the number that she’s calling. Have it sent to my phone.”
He nodded, sat down at the sofa, and typed into his laptop.
“Where is she calling?” I asked.
“Somewhere in New Orleans.”
“Interesting.”
Looking around the bathroom, Jacqueline put the phone by her ear, unzipped her house coat, and shimmied out of the garment. It dropped to the floor.
“Damn!” Maxwell sounded from the balcony door. “Grandma has a nice body, man.”
“Don’t look.”
“How can you not? It’s right there!”
“It’s inappropriate.”
“You watching her in the bathroom is inappropriate. I’m just going with it.”
“Shh.” I held up my hand as she spoke.
“Cecil?” Naked, Jacqueline glanced over her shoulder and then hurried to the gold tub. “Hold on. I don’t want anyone to hear me.”
She turned the gold knob.
Water spurted out into the hot tub, blocking the audio.
I called out to my man at the laptop. “Send the phone call to screen number two, so we can get better audio.”
“Yes, sir.”
Soon my suite filled with Jacqueline’s conversation.
A man’s voice rose in the room. “What you mean you’re in Russia?”
“That’s what I said.” Jacqueline hurried over to the window and stared out.
I did my best to not take in her body, keeping my view at her head.
Maxwell whistled. “That ass looks like a twenty-five year old’s ass. I swear black women don’t age, man. And pussy don’t age either.”
“Stop looking,” I growled.
The phone conversation continued.
“Ava is involved with some Russians. Probably mafia.” Jacqueline turned away from the window and scanned the room. “Top level mafia.”
“Not our Ava, cher,” The man said. “Ava is too sweet for anything like that.”
“There’s no way Ava knows what’s going on.”
“I told you to not shelter her too much.”
“My son almost killed Ava with his recklessness. I was concerned. Ava went through too much.”
“She don’t even remember.”
“That’s beside the point. I’m in Russia.”
“But how did you get to Russia?” the man asked.
“Cecil, that is beyond the point. Another story for another day.” Jacqueline checked the door’s knob as if making sure it was locked. “I don’t know what to do or what this boy wants. He’s got me in this suite talking about it’s a surprise for Ava.”
“We’re all watching Ava from New Orleans. She was on the news this morning. I almost spit my coffee into my grits. They’re talking about she’s going to be the premium ballerina.”
“Prima ballerina.”
“That too.”
Jacqueline shook her head. “I’m scared for her, Cecil.”
“You want me to send them boys your way, cher? If I do, you know they won’t be talking.”
“Please, send them. I wouldn’t ask, but this might call for them. I don’t know how deep Ava is involved with this man, but we’ve done too much for Ava to let her mess with gangsters.”
“We sure did. Don’t worry, sis. I’ll send my top people.”
Jacqueline sat down on the seat in front of the vanity table. “I don’t know what I would do without you?”
“Lose your mind.” Cecil chuckled. “But do you think you’re safe enough until my people get there?”
“I think so.” Jacqueline let out a long breath. “I think so, but. . .I don’t know how long he’ll be nice. He’s got me in a big expensive suite. Gowns and food and champagne—”