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"I don’t know, Nick. It would be a real shame, because he worked very hard to get himself clean," Wanda said and she paused. "But Jamaica wasn’t the only one who took Vickie’s death hard. The one who took it the worst was Mike."
She was definitely right about that. And to be honest, I can’t say I would have been any better. After all, she died in his apartment. Overdosed on pure cocaine he had there. Black never did any caine, but those days he would always keep some around ’cause women would do all kinds of shit for it.
That night we were hangin’ out; when Black saw André, he gave him some pure. Black didn’t get home until nine the next morning. He said he was getting ready to put a cut on it, but he was blasted and didn’t feel like it. So he threw the bag on the coffee table and crashed on the couch. He had been asleep a couple of hours when Vickie came in. She had a key to all of our apartments. They kicked it for a minute, and then Black passed out again. When he woke up again and decided to get in the bed, the door to his bedroom was locked. Black knocked on the door but Vickie didn’t answer. When Black noticed the bag was gone from the table, he kicked the door in and found her laying on the floor naked with the pipe still in her hand.
After that it was like something snapped inside of him. You wouldn’t know it to see him or talk to him, but that was when he really earned the name, Vicious Black. The first time I really noticed it, he had called me and said, "Come scoop me up, I gotta make a run." Whenever he said that, we knew he was going to either collect money for André or hurt somebody for not paying. And you hated to see Black coming, ’cause you knew why he was there, and it was all bad. I picked Black up and we were on our way to see an old hustler named Wilson Goode.
"So what’s up with good old Mr. Wilson?" I asked.
"He owes André fifty large," Black replied.
"For what? Wilson’s a pimp. How’d André get his hooks into him?"
"Says Wilson came to him, wanting to borrow fifty grand. You know at twenty-five cents on the dollar André was more than happy to front it to him. When he couldn’t pay, André put that ass to work. But he’s been playin’ André off for a couple of weeks now. Cynt said that Wilson was at her spot late one night and he dropped ten grand playing poker. Said he ha
d some young girl with him."
"Young girl and a old man, cause of trouble since the world began," I said laughing.
"I thought it was a two faced woman and a jealous man, that was the cause of trouble since the world began."
"Whatever, Black." We both laughed.
"I know the little honey he got himself hooked up with," Black said. "She’s a fine ass bitch."
"Can I fuck her?"
"Don’t waste your time. She thinks she is too pretty to move. Wasn’t even worth the time it took for me to get undressed."
"I hate it when that happens."
When we got to Wilson’s apartment I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. "I know he’s in there. I hear them talking." Black stepped up to the door and listened for a second or two, then he put both of his hands on the door and pushed it. "Move back." Then he took a step back and kicked it in. Black stepped aside and I ran in with my gun out. Black followed me in calmly with his hands in his coat pockets. There was Wilson and two very pretty young ladies. Both of them were naked, and all Wilson had on was his underwear. On the coffee table was cocaine. Some rock and some powder and two or three pipes.
"What the fuck!" Wilson shouted. "What the fuck you mutha fuckas doing here? And my fuckin’ door! Y’all gonna fix my door."
When Black saw the dope on the table his eyes narrowed.
"Black! You hear me talkin’ to you nigga! Black! What the fuck is goin’ on here?"
But Black didn’t answer. He just stood there staring at the dope.
"André sent us," I finally said. "He wants his money."
"I’m a get him his money, Black. I just need a day or two to make some things happen. You tell him that."
"You two get dressed and get outta here," Black said to the women.
"They ain’t gotta go nowhere. Y’all ain’t gotta go nowhere. They were just about to leave."
"I ain’t gonna say it again." And with that, both ladies got up and went in the bedroom. "Go with them, Nick." I did so, gladly.
While I was in there watching the ladies get dressed, I could hear Wilson yelling at Black, but Black never said a word. Once I escorted the ladies out, Black took a gun and a silencer out of his pocket. "Search the place, Nick. Find me some money." Black put the silencer on the gun, but the whole time he’s staring at the table. I put on my gloves and tossed the place.
By this time, Wilson’s whole attitude had changed. Now, with the ladies gone, he was beggin’ Black to give him a couple of days to come up with the money.
"I found this under the mattress," I said, handing Black twenty grand.
"On the real, Black, I need that money to make this thing happen. Give me ‘til tomorrow, Black. I’ll make it worth while for both of you."