Page 45

"Out."
"Out?" she pulled back the covers. "Only place you need to go is in, back in this bed. I want to feel you inside me."
"I’ll be back," I said and armed myself. "You’ll want to feel it even more when I get back." I left there and was up in there about seven that morning, wondering what was goin’ on. I asked if Black was there and Sammy told me that he’d been there earlier and said that he’d be back. Right after I got there, Bobby arrived, and Jamaica wasn’t far behind. They had got the same call from Black, and neither of them knew what was up. Which shocked the hell out of me. Bobby was in on everything.
We all took a seat, had a drink, and waited. When everyone was gone, Black came in. he went straight to the bar and poured himself a drink. He came over to where we were sitting and sat down. "So you gonna tell us what is so important to get me off some pussy at six in the morning?"
"Mine if I finish my drink first?"
"No, by all means, finish your drink," Bobby said. "This better be good; that’s all I’m sayin’."
We talked while Black finished his drink and let Sammy out. Then he led us in the back to the storage room. Black knocked on the door twice and opened the door. There was The Kid, sitting in a chair by the door. As we got in the clear, I saw four men kneeling down on a large piece of plastic. I recognized one of them right away. He dealt blackjack at Cynt’s. Which is Ayana’s game and where she likes to play it.
Bobby started smiling, "What we got here, kid?"
"These the mutha fuckas that robbed us," Black answered.
"You caught them?" Jamaica asked and took out his gun. So did Bobby. Black already had both his guns out, so naturally I pulled mine.
"Freeze did," Black said.
We all looked at Freeze. "By yourself? All at once?" Bobby asked sarcastically.
"By myself. One by one over the last couple of days," Freeze said quietly but proudly.
After that there was no more talk. No questions of how he found them. Me, Black, Bobby, and Jamaica lined up across from them and opened fire.
I saw Freeze a few days later and I asked him how he found them. Freeze said, "Black figured it out. That night you walked up on us at The Late Night, he was lyin’ it all out for me. Keep your enemies close, but watch your homies. See Black knew if Ayana didn’t tell nobody, then it had to be somebody who knew she owed Black that money and knew the broke bitch had to have something else to deal with. That’s what led me to your boy at Cynt’s. He’s the one that gave Ayana the idea. They had them a little robbin’ crew, so once I had him, catchin’ the rest of them were easy. Black told me that there ain’t too many mutha fuckas that would want to touch a shipment of electronics like that. Black told me who the people were that could handle that type of merchandise. Then Back told me to start with the guy he had a deal with. He called me right after they called him. I got the last one when he rolled up in truck."
Wanda looked at me and shook her head. "I never heard that story," she said. "That’s how things were then, but they changed."
"But you can see why I thought we were out of the dope game and nothing would change."
"None of us saw it coming, Nick. But Mike had a plan. Don’t get me wrong, after the shooting stopped, he went right back to work, robbin’ everything he could get his hands on. But we took that money and started buying property, opening businesses in the neighborhood. We tried to make things better."
"Just like that? Clean and easy?
"
"Of course not. We were still had the women, still brokering loans, still into the numbers and running the gambling houses. We still had enemies and Mike still dealt with his enemies in the same old way. But as time went on, that got to be less of an issue," Wanda continued. "Bobby met Pam, got married and opened Impressions. A few years later, Mike opened Cuisine, and they were both basically out. Freeze started running the day to day operations. And then Mike met Shy."
"Tell me about Shy?"
"She’s all right," Wanda said matter of factly and looked away.
"What?"
"What do you mean what?"
"You know what I’m talkin’ about, Wanda. I didn’t just meet you. Give it up."
"I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Nick."
"Your whole facial expression changed when I mentioned her name." Wanda frowned up and looked away again. "You don’t like her, do you, Wanda?" I said and laughed.
"I didn’t say that. What I said was, she’s all right. Anything else you chose to read into my answer is pure speculation on your part."
"Whatever you say, counselor."