A Triple Shot of Karma & Platinum Fury Focus

Part 23: Two of Cups

Suggests continuance of a harmonious relationship, able to find common ground and reach a compromise between opposing viewpoints. Time to cooperate and reason with others. A business deal, balanced give and take.

After Mongito left for a meeting with Paoli, Terri knew it was time to invest specific attention in her sobrino. Tru would be the difference maker for the crucial money transfer, it was time to reinforce why his helping her was necessary and beneficial. 

He'd be scared to shit right now. His message about a weekend trip with his geek friends on auntie's message machine - after she'd grabbed him up on the way to their hideaway with Eddie - had been so choppy, he might've pissed his pants saying it to her face.

Most teenagers regarded shading the truth with parents as a given, but Tru's lying to his Mama about where he'd be would be super bad for him. Reasons he could tell Auntie he was with her didn't exist. 

The promise she'd made at the beginning was one she even intended to keep. If he listened to her, in another year, with his good looks, sincerity, and smarts - plus a few more muscles - her aunts wouldn't be able to shoo away all the pussy he'd attract.

Tru was scared but functioning with his situation.

Since Terri'd come to the house Saturday, picking him up on the way back from their successful kidnapping - KIDNAPPING! - when he'd been alone, she'd pushed him hard about needing his skills for her important next steps. 

"Two, maybe three days, Tru. There's technical material to make the bank transactions happen, and I need your computerdoro inteligencia..."

She'd pretty much dragged him to this house, three long blocks into an area of large brick McMansions. He'd seen the high end mall off Johnson Road, they'd be around Ballantyne, off 485. He'd barely slept, thinking about Mama being worried or mad by somehow knowing Terri was doing something crazy. And so was he. There was no lock on the door, and the possibility of Mongito's druggie crew just coming in had been disturbing. 

If Mama called Ricardo's mother, her worrying about him would escalate big time. Right now,  Terri had involved him in Eddie Starkes kidnapping, and she'd be asking him to do much more. 

There was going to be hell to pay for this. A lot. It didn't take a genius to see that coming.

The thumb drive Terri gave him helped understand the transfer elements she needed to know he could handle for Cassius' end of upcoming financial transactions. It was standard stuff actually, but Terri didn't figure to have strong tech skills. She'd brought him food several times, and spent maybe twenty minutes discussing the contents of the thumb drive, repeating how she needed him because "that money has to disappear for everyone except me - including Cassius," which would require making subtle but tricky code changes. 

He was fine on the security know-how and following transaction instructions, but having kidnapped Mr. Eddie, that caused a constant wailing that kept breaking through everything else.

She would bring shame and disaster to the entire family, and all of this was my fault! If he hadn't tried to get a sunset on his laptop for Mama - and gotten Mr. Eddie and Marlena poolside in full-out sex instead - Terri wouldn't have seen it on his laptop, and he wouldn't be dealing with drug sellers carrying guns, or maybe going to jail.

Learning about Manhood though, as Terri and Mongito did things he NEVER could have imagined, literally before his eyes, had been outrageous. Watching from a narrow, well-constructed back staircase, starting inside the far right dormer in his room - and terminating in the basement where Mr. Eddie was kept - everything about a stunning woman and a well-developed man's strength and ability to pleasure her had been...