by Roy Glenn
“Yes, sir,” Wanda said and saluted. “Mike, give me a call and let me know what Marshall had to say.”
“We’ll talk in the morning. There’s something I wanna run by you. What time is good for you counselor?”
“I’ll be home all day, stop by anytime. We need to talk about something,” Wanda said, thinking about telling him about her and Nick. Lately she’d been thinking that it would be better if she told him than Black finding out on his own. “Goodnight, gentlemen.”
Wanda looked at Nick and walked away. She knew this meant she would be spending another night alone. Wanda understood the reason why and understood it was necessary, but she didn’t have to like it.
Nick stood up and was about to follow Wanda. He could tell by the look she gave him that she was not happy. This was the first time he’d seen her in a couple of days, and he wanted to at least spend a few minutes with her before him and Freeze got in the street. “I’ll get with you later, Freeze. I got something I need to take care of.”
“Sit down, Nick. I need to talk to you,” Black said, and Nick quickly reclaimed his seat. “You too, Freeze.”
“What’s up?” Nick asked.
“You ever met or hear of a DEA agent named DeFrancisco, or one named Vinnelli, Nick?”
“Not that I can remember, why?”
“DeFrancisco had Cassandra killed. I want you to find out everything you can about these two mutha fuckas. DeFrancisco is in jail; find out where.”
“I’m on it.”
“The one that I’m concerned with is Vinnelli. He’s probably the one who set things in motion. Get on top of him. I want to know the cleanest way to take him.”
“You planning on killin’ a DEA agent, Black?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, I am.” Black looked at Freeze. “You wanna ask me that shit too? Hell yeah, I’m gonna kill him and every fuckin’ body I think was down with it. These are the mutha fuckas that killed Cassandra, these are the mutha fuckas that are gonna die for it!”
“He was just asking a question, Mike,” Bobby said calmly. “Same question I asked you. We’re all with you, you know that. It’s just a question.”
“All right, all right,” Black spit out.
“I understand this is personal to you, like I said, I’m on it,” Nick promised. “Say the word and he’ll be dead tomorrow.”
“You tell me how and we’ll see,” Black said and noticed that Mystique had come into the room. She smiled when she saw him looking at her. “But I wanna go slow with this. Make sure nothing comes back on us. Whether y’all believe me or not, I don’t plan on going to jail, so we take our time and do this right. That’s it, Nick. I know you got shit to do.”
Nick stood up. “I’ll get on this right away. I’ll get with you later, Freeze.”
“Whatever, Nick,” Freeze said and knew Nick was going to see Wanda, so it would be much later.
“Freeze,” Black said as Nick left Cynt's.
“Yeah?”
“Wanda is fuckin’ somebody, you know anything about that?”
“Nope,” Freeze lied.
“I wanna know who he is.”
“What you want me to do when I find him?”
“Nothing. I’ll kill him myself. Now, tell me about this nigga Stark.”
Mystique waited patiently for Black to get finished talking, even though she wanted desperately to go over there and tell Freeze and Bobby that they’d had enough time with her man and now it was her turn. As much as she wanted to, Mystique knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea. She could tell something was up when she got to Cynt's and saw Freeze and Nick with him. Usually when Black came there, it would just be him and Bobby … who seems like he’s on a mission to fuck every trickin’-ho that worked at Cynt's, Mystique thought as she watched Black. She loved looking at him so much that at times she couldn’t stop herself. He was so handsome, and his eyes were so intense. And that sexy ass voice; I love listening to my man talk.
Her man?
Mystique knew it was stupid, but she was falling in love with Mike Black. Whether he felt anything for her or not, Mike Black was her man. She had something none of the other hoes there had and so many wanted.
When he walks in every jealous-ass bitch in this joint knows he’s here to see me. They all know he is my man, Mystique thought as Black got up and started coming in her direction.
“Hey, handsome,” Mystique said and touched his face. Something else she loved doing.
“What's up with you?”
“I’m fine.”
“I know. How’s your night?”
Mystique looked around the room. “Well, you know I just got here, and from the looks of things, it’s gonna be a slow night.”
“I know you just got here; I saw you when you came in. But I asked about your night. The night didn’t begin when you got here, or is this all there is for you?”
“No, this isn’t all there is for me, but I am hoping that my night is just beginning.”
Black looked at Mystique without commenting on what she said. “Come here. Let me talk to you for a minute,” he said and took Mystique by the hand and led her up the stairs to Cynt's office.
Black knocked on the door, and not getting an answer, let himself in. “I want to ask you something,” Black started, but Mystique had other ideas.
She threw her arms around his neck and forced her tongue down his throat. “I missed you,” Mystique said when she stopped to take a breath.
Black looked in Mystique’s eyes and thought about the part she played in his decision not to see Jacara that night at the Sheridan and leave the island. “I missed you, too.”
Mystique got wet hearing those words coming from him.
“Whew.” She took a step back from him. “What do you want to ask me?”
Black leaned against Cynt's desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Do you like working here?”
“I like the money.”
“You could do other things for money.”
“Sure I could,” Mystique said, smiling inside in anticipation of where Black was going with this. She wanted to say, but if you want me to stop shaking your ass in here every night I will quit tonight, but she didn’t want to get ahead of herself. “I would much rather train, but I don’t have enough clients yet to replace this money.”
“You let me worry about money.”
“So what are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
“Yeah, I do,” Mystique said and stepped to his chest. “But I wanna hear you say it.”
“Mystique! You don’t work here anymore. I’ll compensate Cynt for her loss of income, but you don’t work here anymore.”
His words were music to her ears. Maybe he didn’t say I love you, but he definitely stepped up to the plate and claimed her. Mystique couldn’t have been happier.
“Are we leaving, now?”
“No. I got something to do.”
“You found out who tried to kill your wife, didn’t you?”
Black looked at Mystique. “Never ask me about my business. The less you know about what I do, the better it is for you.”
“I understand. When will I see you again?”
“I don’t know. You go home and I’ll call you later.”
“Yes. I will.”
With that said and done, Black and Mystique walked out of the office. As she made her way through the club to the dressing room, she saw Black stop and talk to Cynt before leaving with Bobby.
“Guess you’ll be leaving soon, huh?” one of her haters said.
“Yeah, and I won’t be back.”
“What?”
“My man don’t want me dancing here no more,” Mystique smiled and went to change clothes at Cynt's for the last time.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Where we going?” Bobby asked.
“Stark hunting,” Black said as he got in the car.
“I thought you told Freeze to handle that?”
“I change
d my mind. Why? You got something to do?”
“Nope.”
Black and Bobby had been riding for hours, checking out all of the spots Freeze said Stark hung out at. By two in the morning, Bobby had had enough.
“Don’t you wanna go back to Cynt's and pick up amazon Shy and call it a night? This nigga gone underground hiding from you.”
“Yeah, you're right. I just wanna roll by one more spot then we’ll call it a night. Ride up White Plains Road,” Black instructed.
As the two drove down the street, they passed by one of the spots that Freeze told them that Stark frequented. They saw a familiar car. “Isn’t that Angelo’s car?” Black asked.
“Looks like somebody got a case of jungle fever tonight,” Bobby replied, knowing Angelo Colette’s fondness for black women.
“That or somebody’s gonna die tonight,” Black speculated. Bobby parked the car and he and Black went inside.
“Told you,” Bobby said when he saw Angelo standing at the bar talking to the most beautiful woman in the place. He walked up behind Angelo and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, what you all up in my woman’s face for?”
Angelo turned around slowly and smiled when he saw who it was. “Look at what we have here?” Angelo said and turned to his female companion. “Honey, I want you to meet the dynamic duo. This is Batman,” he said and pointed to Black. “And this is…”
“If you call me Robin, I’ll shoot you right now,” Bobby said and made a move for his gun.
“All right, all right. Honey, this is Bobby Ray and Mr. Happy here is Mike Black.”
“So, you're Mike Black?” the woman asked.
“You know this guy?” Angelo asked her.
“You can’t be from around here and not hear of Mike Black. A friend of mine used to talk about you all the time,” she said and looked at Black like she was willing to go with him any time or place to give him a taste.
“I’m glad you're here, Mikey,” Angelo said before Black could ask the beautiful woman who her friend was. “Freeze tell you I needed to talk to you?”
“No,” Black said, still looking at the woman. She had the type of body that he liked to play with. “I just left Freeze a couple of hours ago, but he didn’t mention it. But we’re up on something else right now.”
“Yeah, he told me. But let me holla at you for a minute, Mikey. Excuse us for a minute, honey. I need to talk to this guy.”
“Sure,” was her reply.
“It was nice meeting you, Miss—” Black said.
“Cameisha, Cameisha Collins, but you can call me CeCe,” she said. Until a few weeks ago, CeCe was Cash Money’s woman, but now she was a free agent and looking for a new love. Mike Black would do her nicely she thought and watched him walk away.
“What's up, Angee?” Black asked as soon as they were far enough away from CeCe.
“Crazy Joe got out the joint a couple of weeks ago,” Angelo said. Joey Delfino used to do jobs with Angelo back in the day. Him, Angelo, and Black were supposed to hijack a load of cigarettes from a truck at the Molly Pitcher service area on the New Jersey Turnpike. Black and Angelo never showed up, so Crazy Joe did the job alone. He was arrested by Newark Police at the tollbooth when he got off the turnpike.
Joey found out later that Black and Angelo were late because on the way to the job, they stopped to rob a jewelry store to settle an argument.
“I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey. You fuckin’ know that shit,” Angelo boasted as they drove to New Jersey to meet Joey.
“All I’m saying is I like to plan a job before I do it. That don’t make me scared; that makes me careful,” Black told Angelo that day.
“You won’t do it because you’re scared, Mikey. Scared because you don’t know what you're walking into. Me, I don’t give a fuck. I’m ready for whatever they got in there.”
“Fuck you, Angee. And fuck that dumb shit you talking. We just passed a jewelry store about a block ago. If you such a bad mutha fucka, turn this car around and go rob the mutha fucka.”
“Never challenge me, Mikey. You know better than that shit. You know I will turn this heap around and do that shit, but we gotta meet Crazy Joe.”
“What's that I smell? Is it pussy I smell in here? because it sounds to me like somebody’s scared,” Black taunted.
“I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey, and I ain’t no fuckin’ pussy,” Angelo said and made a U-turn. Angelo double-parked the car in front of the store. “You coming with me, chicken shit?”
Black put on his gloves. “Let’s go,” and got out of the car.
The robbery went off without any problems, but they got stuck in traffic coming across the George Washington Bridge. When they got to the service area, they found Joey’s car, but no Joey. Angelo found out the next day that Joey was arrested.
“You talk to him since he got out?” Black asked Angelo, thinking that he already had enough shit to deal with.
“Yeah, I seen him a couple of times.”
“What’s he talking about?”
“Same shit. Still talking about killing you. He says it was your fault because you shouldn’t have challenged me, and he’s got a point,” Angelo said.
“Whatever, Angee. It ain’t my fault that he went and did the shit by himself. He should have waited for us. That shit didn’t make no fuckin’ sense.”
“We don’t call him Crazy Joe for nothing. Anyway, when Freeze said somebody tried to whack you, I asked was the guy black or white. When he said the guy was black, I knew it wasn’t Joey,” Angelo said.
“No, he wanna do the shit himself,” Black said. “I know who tried to kill me.”
“Who?”
“You ever hear of The Commission?”
“No.”
“Whoever they are they think I’m out to get them and that I killed some baby baller named Cash Money and some other cartoon character sounding mutha fucka.”
“I never heard of no Commission, but Cash Money, him I heard of. In fact, that used to be his woman,” Angelo said and pointed at CeCe.
“No shit,” Black said and looked at her on the dance floor. “She’s seems to be taking his death well.”
“Seemed to me that she was more interested in replacing him than mourning his death, if you know what I’m saying.”
“Mind if I take a run at her?”
“What are you, kidding me? This is America; it’s a free country, Mikey.”
“You can have her back when I’m done. I’m not hiring right now. I’ll catch up with you later, Angee,” Black said and made his way to the dance floor. He stood in a spot where CeCe could see him. When Black had her attention, he motioned for her to come to him.
CeCe leaned close to her dance partner and whispered something to him. Then she left him standing there and walked straight to Black.
“Hello again,” CeCe said over the music and stepped closer to him. So close that Black felt her nipples brush against him.
“I need to talk to you.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Cash.”
“The man or the paper?”
“The man.”
“I would much rather talk to you about something else, but I figured that’s what you wanted. What you wanna know?”
“Where can I find Stark?”
“Why, so you can kill him too?” CeCe asked.
“Let’s get something straight. I never even heard of these niggas and their commission before tonight.”
“Then why they think you killed Cash and K?”
“I have no fuckin’ idea. I’m looking for Stark to settle this shit. I am not his enemy. You tell him that for me. Tell him I wanna sit down with him, because we ain’t got no problems.”
“I’ll tell him next time I talk to him.”
“You do that,” Black said and started to walk away, but CeCe grabbed his arm.
“How can I get in touch with you?” CeCe asked.
“Why you wanna get in touch with me?”
&nb
sp; “In case Stark wanna meet.”
“He’ll know how to get in touch with me.”
“Okay. Suppose I wanted to get in touch with you?”
“Why you wanna get in touch with me?”
“Because I like the way you was looking at me before you found out I was with Cash. I could tell you wanted me.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right. So, I was thinking maybe you and I could get together sometime.”
“How would I know you wouldn’t be setting me up as revenge for killing your man?”
“You wouldn’t. But me and Cash wasn’t that deep. I had only been with him for a couple of months. The truth is, I just liked what he was doing for me.”
“I can get to that. A woman gotta do what a woman gotta do,” Black said to CeCe.
She was right about one thing; he had thought about seeing her naked before he found out she was with Cash.
“You just tell Stark what I said. Once this is settled, maybe I’ll get with you.”
“How will you find me?” CeCe asked.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find you when I want you,” Black said and left her standing there.
Once he found Bobby, the two left the club and headed back to their car. “Angee said Crazy Joe is out,” Black told Bobby.
“Wonderful. He still talking about killin’ you?”
“Yup.”
“That shit is crazy. He shoulda just waited for y’all to show up; not do the job by himself.”
“They don’t call him Crazy for nothing,” Black said.
As they got closer to his car, Bobby’ saw an Acura coming at them fast. When he saw the gun come out the window, he pushed Black to the ground and yelled, “Get down!”
Black and Bobby lay motionless as bullets rained over their heads. Once the car drove on, both men got up. “You all right?” Black asked.
“Yeah, you?”
“Yeah. I’m all right, but this shit is getting ridiculous. These kids gonna fuck around and make me start taking this shit to them.”
Chapter Twenty-three
