text: Ashon Thadon Ice Cream Man(prequel to Untamed) the beginning of a legend 
   
   
   Blackhood series page 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   prologue 
   For the record, I am not a thug, I'm a businessman. 
   "Felix, youse gonna waste him, homes." 
   That's my best friend, Carlos Mendoza, asking me that question. He's asking me that question because I'm holding a snub nosed 32. Caliber pistol in front of some kid maybe five years older than me. The kid had violated and touched my older sister, Yelissa. Now here I am, only thirteen, but I have to let not just him but the whole neighborhood know my family is not the one to fuck with. So when my big sister, who’s only fifteen, tells me some cabron tried touching her bottom, I don't care what age he is. I'm bringing it to him. 
   So Carlos wasn't a bit surprised when I came to his apartment which was one floor below mine and asked to borrow his brother's gun. Carlos' brother, known as Tres Locos in the neighborhood, was a heavy drug dealer and always kept an assortment of guns at his mother's house. Tres Locos had his own apartment, in fact quite a few, around the neighborhood but his mother's casa was his main stash spot. Carlos had no problem finding me one of Tres Locos' many weapons of destructions and handing it to me. But he wanted to tag along. 
   Now usually I like to do dirt alone but I decided to say 'fuck it' and let him come. The dude that my sister had complained about earlier was still outside in front of the local bodega at the corner. He had two other older boys with him but that didn't bother me. To me, all three of them were 'hijos de puta(sons of bitches)'. 
   I casually walked to the main culprit with Carlos in tow. I didn't know how I was going to approach him or what technique I was going to use. All I knew was my feet was moving and they were marching in his direction. What really surprised me was how calm I was on the outside when I was scared shitless on the inside. But it was too late to back out now. 
   "Hey, puta!" was all I remember saying and then I rose my hand with the gun in it and smacked the pervert across the face with it. 
   The kid went down like a sack of hard rocks and his buddies stood in shock. I waved the handgun around and the two friends that were with the kid I knocked to the ground ran off. 
   I pointed the gun at my sister's handler and Carlos asked me the question that I didn't even think about. I mean I asked for a gun not a knife or a bat. The rule of the street is if you pull out a weapon, you better use it or you may not be so lucky next time. 
   But here I was. I was holding a weapon that caused death and could possibly change my life forever. If I pulled the trigger, I would be a murderer. I would have a police record, I would go to jail and I would be a disgrace to my family. All for what? Because some young pervert wanted to touch my sister inappropriately. The kid didn't rape her, he didn't even fondle her real hard. Was it worth losing his life? 
   "Listen, motherfucker," I said as the kid held his bloody nose with his hand still in fear on the ground. "If you ever touch my sister again, you die." 
   With that threat, I walked away. At the time I didn't know I had an audience. At that time, I didn't know I had put into play events that would later change my life. 
   The reason why I'm telling you this is because I'm doing it again. Five years later. Holding a gun in front of some young dude's face for violating and touching something that's mine. It's not my familia this time, this time it's my product. Two grams of the purest white substance this world ever made. And this guy took it upon himself to help himself to what was mine. Now this time I can't simple say 'don't do it again'. This time a lesson has to be taught. This time that question has to be answered without hesitation. 
   My homey, Carlos, now named Starlos, is still beside me. This time he is holding a weapon of his own holding back the group of onlookers that didn't ran off. 
   Example has to be made this time. A bloody nose and a swift kick in the culo is not going to let this problem go away. This guy will come back. No second chances. 
   I know Carlos, sorry Starlos, has my back and knows the decision I have to make. The streets are watching. It's not like it was five years ago. My mentor told me so. The same mentor who told me that I had to handle this problem on my own or the problem would handle me. The same mentor that gave me the stuff that this dumb motherfucker stole. 
   "Negro, you need to make up mind and fast, muchacho," Starlos whispered. 
   Same rules applied as it did five years ago. If I shoot this puta, same jail time, same record, same family disgrace. But I still had to do something so I did. 
   Bang! 
   The shot was deafening. Whoever had stood around before started to run. Even my homeboy Starlos was about to start a sprint. I just nodded and we took off. 
   My first murder in broad daylight. I couldn’t believe I had pulled the trigger this time. I ran home which was now a small two bedroom apartment I shared with Starlos when we started hustling. I was so sure the police was going to come barging through my door any minute. But they never did and that’s how I knew I was going to be invincible. 
     
     
   
   
   
   chapter 1 
   “All rise,” the bailiff shouted to everyone in the courtroom. 
   Everybody stood up as the judge walked in and took his position behind the podium. Felix Orlando half smirked as he looked at all the suckers that looked like they was about to bow down to this bitch ass dude in the robe. Felix had that air of confidence that you could smell right away. After all he was invincible. 
   The judge read off a list of charges and asked the defendant who he pleaded. The defendant happened to be Felix Orlando. 
   “Not guilty,” was all Felix said. He was damn sure not about to say ‘your honor’. The judge lucky he didn’t say the word ‘bitch’ behind his plea. 
   Felix listened to his lawyer say something to the judge in his defense. All Felix was waiting for was to hear how much bail was. He had been through these procedures before. It was nothing new. They had nothing on him like they had nothing on him last time. Felix was just wondering when  they , that meant the prosecutors, the police, his rivals, would get the hint. You can’t touch Felix Orlando. 
   Felix tuned back in when he heard the judge set bail even after the bitch ass prosecutor stated how much of a flight risk he was. Felix wasn’t running anywhere. Brooklyn was his home. That’s where he built his empire. Why would he run? To live off his savings? His cost of living was too high. He liked the finer things in life and that meant steady income. And steady income resided in a borough of New York called Brooklyn meanly a section called Brownsville. So that’s where Felix Antonio Orlando was going to stay at. Flight risk, my ass. 
   Bail was set and matched on site. He already had money set up in a bails bond account. Felix always thought ahead and he would never spend a minute more in jail then he had to. Prison was for losers that couldn’t afford to keep their freedom and Felix knew he was determined not to be one of those unlucky many. 
   The afternoon sun felt good hitting his face as he stepped out of the courtroom with lawyer in tow. His small entourage was already waiting down the court steps to greet him and take him home. A black limousine pulled up on the sidewalk and a gorgeous Spanish female driver stepped out. She had long auburn hair going to her back and a body of a model that you see on cover of magazines. She gracefully walked to the back of the limousine and opened the door while all the men just looked on drooling with their mouths wide open except for Orlando. He was used to it. This is how he was expected to be treated: like a king and nothing else. Orlando offered his lawyer a ride but he declined and he knew his crew already had their own vehicles to get back. 
   Once the driver made sure Orlando was in, she walked back to the driver’s seat making sure to give the onlookers a good look at what they would be dreaming about tonight. Orlando just laughed at his small crew of misfits from the comfort of his leather seats as he looked at them from the tinted windows of the limo. Those men may have been oglers but they were also the most dangerous men he ever had the pleasure of encountering and managing. They basically were the reason why he could do his business without worrying about the harsh reality of jail time. His team was what made him what he was: a force to be fucking reckon with. 
   “You know where to,” Orlando simply told his lovely driver. 
   The driver nodded and proceeded to drive the limo unto the street. 
   As Orlando leaned back in the cushion, he started to reflect on his life and how he came to be the man he was. It wasn’t easy, not by a long shot. It took some trial and tribulations. Yes, it was a journey but a prosperous one. A very prosperous journey, indeed. 
     
     
     
     
     
   My first body. I can still recall it. I have to. It changed me. 
   But I didn’t start off wanting to be a bad ass. I started off in the drug game like most people do. It was for a purpose, to support mi familia. I had to take care of mi hermana even though she was older than me and definitely mi madre since she couldn’t speak a lick of English to work anywhere else but a maid or laundry service.  
   Tres Locos knew talent when he saw it and he said he saw extreme talent in me. He saw me teach that chump a lesson when he tried to violate my sister and he knew he could use me in his organization. Besides I was cool with his little brother which pretty much made us family. Tres Locos really didn’t want his little brother involved in the kind of business he was in but he knew he couldn’t shield Carlos from it either. Carlos was already a well-known name due to his brother so he also knew that the same enemies that were out to get him would try to go for his family.  
   Now Carlos is my boy, mi amigo. But he has no heart,  no corazón. He’s basically a follower. If he didn’t have me to run around with, he would have probably latched on to some other clown kid and would have gotten into real trouble. Tres Locos loved how I handled myself as well as keep his Little brother in line and safe. My reputation was based on just me putting in work. I was una persona fría, a very cold individual and it didn’t take long for the streets to take notice. 
   
   And take notice it did. 
   
   
   “You handled yourself very well, mi hermano,” Tres Locos was beaming as I walked into his office which was in the back of a local strip club with his actual brother, Carlos, in tow. “Job well done. You handled that puta with no problema. I’m glad that Starlos is in good company.” 
   
   
   Starlos smiled but I knew he was a little jealous his own brother was given me more attention than him but that’s life. You have to earn stripes to count in this mundo. Props can be a birthright but to keep it you have to get dirty. And looking at Starlos, he was happy just being Tres Locos’ brother and my best friend since we protected him and still made him look like el hombre malo.  
   
   
   “Look, don’t worry about la policía,” Tres Locos, I guess, saw the concerned look on my face. “I have them as you say in my hip pocket. You did good. Muy bien. And the streets is noticing you.” 
   
   
   I smiled. I liked the encouraging words and even though Carlos, aka Starlos, was smiling beside me, I knew he wasn’t liking the idea of the big hermano giving me my props and basically signaling him out. 
   
   
   I knew it would only be a matter of time before Starlos’ jealousy gets the best of him and me.  
   
   “Look, hermano, I got some big stuff coming in today,” Tres Locos was now getting to the reason he called us into his office in the first place. “Mucho peso. Heavy. Manny and estúpido  Benny got caught on dry run and it’s gonna take mucho tiempo y dinero to get those two culos out so I need you to be in charge of this, hermano. Can you handle it? I know you young, jovencito. But I need you on this, rápido. You on?” 
   
   “Si, hermano,” I agreed. I knew this was a chance of a lifetime. A major drug boss was putting me in charge of a package. That was beyond a honor, that was a gran logro. And I was ready. 
   
   
   
   Publication Date: March 4th 2014 https://www.bookrix.com/-wz56446a3341625