by Roy Glenn
“Hold up, we didn’t make any reservations.”
“You are personal guests of the house. Would you please follow me.”
“No, I wanna know who?” E asked, but Tara didn’t answer. Shy held E back. “Never mind, woman, I know you’re just doing your job. You lead and we’ll follow.” Tara thanked Shy for understanding and led them to a table down front just to the right of the stage. Two members of the hospitality staff awaited their arrival. The waiter took Shy’s coat and pulled out her chair, as the waitress announced that she would be serving Dom Perignon 1987. She opened the champagne and poured each of them a glass, took their drink orders and departed, as the flower man arrived with one red rose for Shy.
As Mike moved to the mirror, Bobby sat down at the monitors and used the zoom to get a look at Shy. “I see what you like. She’s a nice piece of business,” Bobby said as Freeze joined Mike at the mirror.
“Yo, Black, I’ll handle Melinda when she gets here.”
“Freeze, that’s why you’re my nigga. But let Jap handle that. What do you know about who’s been robbing her?”
“Nothing really. Seems like something’s happening, but nobody knows nothing. Four of her dealers got robbed. Couple of them got hurt pretty bad. But it’s like ghosts or something robbed them. Jap’s still on it.”
“Okay, I want you to arrange a meeting with our guests. Since she thinks we have a problem, we should meet to discuss it,” Mike said with a devilish look in his eye.
“I’ll set it up. I’ll have the front door page Jap if Melinda shows up. What time you wanna meet?”
“Anytime after the show,” Mike replied, and Freeze left the office to make arrangements for the meeting.
He knew he could depend on Freeze. He ran the day-to-day operation with Mike and Bobby being semi-retired. Freeze had worked for Black for twelve years. The day Freeze got out of jail, he saw Mike on the street. Freeze was sixteen years old.
“Yo, Black, wait up!” Freeze yelled.
“Yo, Freeze, what’s up? I thought you were on lock down for murder?”
“I got the murder charge dropped on a tech. Cops fucked up the arrest. So I got a year for aggravated and walked. Yo, Black, so yo like, where you headin’?” Mike just looked at him. “What I really mean is, like, you know, a nigga like me could learn a lot from a nigga like you,” Freeze said, without making eye contact with him.
Mike laughed, “Yeah, like how to stay out of jail.”
“You never been to jail, Black?”
“Never even been cuffed,” Mike said confidently.
“That’s what I’m talking about, after being on lock down for damn near sixteen months, I know that I never want to go back. Lock down ain’t no place for me.”
Mike looked at Freeze for a minute contemplating his proposition. He thought about the night that he met him. Freeze had come to Black’s after-hours spot and pushed up on the girlfriend of a drug dealer named Darren. When Darren noticed Freeze was at his girl, he and two of his boys grabbed Freeze and attempted to teach him a lesson. A lesson was learned, but not by Freeze. Each time they put Freeze down he got right back up and went right back at them.
Mike was impressed as he watched Freeze continue to fight back. Darren hit Freeze again and he fell over a table next to Mike. He motioned for Freeze to stay down. As they approached Mike stood up and drew his weapon, pointing it at Darren’s head.
“Yo, Darren, I think he’s had enough. Don’t you?”
Not wanting any parts of Black, Darren stopped.
“Yeah, Black, he’s had enough,” Darren said backing away.
Three days later Darren and his boys were dead and Freeze was in jail for murder.
“Okay, you come with me. You do exactly what I say. And I never, and I mean never, want to hear you say shit unless I ask you. Got that?” Freeze nodded his head without saying a word. “Good. Now let’s go.”
Since that day, Freeze has worked for Mike.
Mike went to the bar to fix the drinks he had offered earlier. He handed Bobby his drink and took a seat on the couch.
“Thanks, it sure took you long enough. Now I don’t mean to pry into your personal affairs, Vicious, but is this what you been tripping about lately?” Bobby inquired. “Because if it is, I coulda had her in here hopping on one foot and barking like a dog.”
“Bobby, I don’t think so. I was feeling like this before I saw her. But maybe she’s the answer. She is beautiful. And her eyes. You know Melinda is cool and she’s fine and all that, but unless she’s naked, she just doesn’t really interest me. Up ’til now that’s been cool, but lately I was thinking that I want more from a woman. Somebody to talk to, you know what I’m saying? Like you, Bob. You and Pam got it going on together.”
“Yeah, but you’re trying to fuck that up.”
“Sorry, man, I don’t mean to. Who else can I hang with?”
“Regina hurt you didn’t she, Mike? You know you haven’t really taken any women seriously since then. What happened that day?”
Mike had never told anybody what actually went on that day, not even Bobby. Apparently Regina never did either or Pam would know and she certainly would have told Bobby.
“Yeah, Bobby, she hurt me, but I couldn’t let any of you know that. I mean what good would I have been to myself or any of you walking around looking stupid?”
“Like you’re doing now?” Bobby teased. Mike gave him the finger. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. I think old Dean Martin had it wrong. It should be everybody gets hurt by somebody sometime. It happens man, it happened to me. Do you remember Camille?”
“How could I forget her? I almost had to shoot you about her and Nick, remember? Did you know that Nick was out of the Army and back in the city?”
“Yeah, I heard,” Bobby said nodding his head. He stared at Mike. He didn’t like being reminded about the little incident between him, Nick and Camille. But since he brought it up, he knew he had it coming.
“Calling himself a private investigator. But knowing Nick, he’s probably still doing that black bag stuff.” Bobby didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry, Bobby. What were you saying about Camille?”
“Just that she had me going in circles for months. You’re no different. I know you got feelings, you just don’t show them.”
“So are you my shrink now, Bob?”
“No, Mike. I’m your friend, one of the only real friends you got left. I don’t want to see you out there like I was. I mean she had me going.”
Mike got up and started walking toward the mirror, then stopped suddenly. “I was out there like that too, I guess. But I had to go through those changes by myself. You were gone for damn near two months on your honeymoon. I went through it in phases. First, I just felt like shit, you know. Then I was in denial, like this ain’t happening, not to me. Next I started trying to blame someone and that’s when I really started tripping. First I blamed myself, then I blamed Regina and that circle continued day after fuckin’ day. Me, her, me, her. That was the dangerous part, because the next phase was hate. You hate the one that you blame. So if you blame yourself, you end up hating yourself. Bobby, I hated her. For a while it was all I had. And I took out my anger on all women. Not trusting them, never letting them get close enough to hurt me,” Mike said pacing back and forth.
“I know what you mean, man, but you just gotta find the right one, you know. I was one of those guys who’d say anything to get some. My favorite line would be, I’m not like that. Tell them what they wanna hear and they will do anything you say. Dog them out, treat them like shit and they’ll love you. Most important, you gotta lie to them. Them knuckleheads love it when you lie to them,” Bobby said taking another sip of his drink. “Where you went wrong is you treated her right and that’s why you got hurt. You treated her like a lady, instead of like the bitch she was.”
“Yeah, man, she hurt me back then. But now, thinking back, I can see that it was me,” Mike said beating his chest.
“What are
you talking about?” Bobby asked, with a surprised and puzzled look on his face. “You just said you blamed her. It don’t go both ways.”
Mike walked over to the mirror. “Show’s getting ready to start.”
“You know I hate it when you do that,” Bobby said angrily.
Mike laughed. “Lighten up, man, you’re too intense. You should drink more water. Leave that fried food alone. All I’m saying is that I let it happen. So the only one I can blame is myself. Regina only did what any bitch would do, dog a nigga out, take his money and play him, because he’s weak for her. And I was so weak for her.”
“You’re the one that needs to lighten up. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find somebody cool,” Bobby paused, and then continued jokingly. “Like Pam’s shit-talking ass. But she’s a good girl and I know she’s down for me. But it’s like she said, I let her get comfortable with me being around the house. That’s why she’s been tripping lately.”
While Mike and Bobby looked on from the office, Freeze prepared to set up a meeting with Shy and her associates. First, he had to handle Melinda. When he arrived at the front door, Greg informed him that he just missed her; Melinda was already in the club. Freeze told Greg to page Jap and Kenny and have them meet him at bar #1, and then he made his way to the bar to meet them.
“Y’all spread out. Find Melinda’s fine ass and bring her to my table. If she asks you why, tell her y’all don’t know shit but what I tell you. She shouldn’t be hard to find. Now go,” Freeze said, before starting out in search of Melinda himself.
It was her night off so she had simply been wondering around the club. She went to bar #3 to get a drink and talked to Marcus, whom she considered her personal bartender. Then she hollered at a couple of waitresses and then headed to the ladies room to check her do. With everything in order she started for her table, which to her surprise was occupied. Melinda started for the table to tell them that they were sitting at her table, but she decided to have security do it. She turned around and walked up to Thomas, a member of the security staff. Thomas smiled when he saw her coming, as men usually do when they see Melinda walking toward them.
“Hello, Melinda, you look fantastic tonight.”
“Thank you, but, Thomas, who are those people at my table?”
“I don’t know who they are, but I saw Tara bring them there.”
“Well, just where is Tara?” she asked with much attitude. “That bitch probably put them there just to piss me off.” Melinda stormed off to find Tara and walked right into Freeze.
“Melinda, what’s up? Damn you look good tonight. You know sometimes I wish I had never introduced you to Black.”
“You know you’re too little for me, Freeze. I would hurt you. But fuck all that, who are those people at my table?”
Freeze explained to her that they were just some people who had business with Mike and Bobby and that he would be more than happy to have her sit at his table. Which, by the way, was located on the other side of the club. He assured her that Jap or Kenny would be nearby if she needed anything. Melinda accepted his explanation for the time being and followed him to his table. Freeze moved through the crowd and passed the table where Shy and her associates were enjoying the perks of the house. As she passed, Melinda couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at Shy.
“What’s her problem?” Tony asked.
“She’s fuckin’ somebody in here,” Shy replied. She had a good idea who.
As the euphoria of free food and drinks started to wear off, Shy began to question what was going on. Why the royal treatment? Were they being lulled into a false sense of comfort? By this time, somebody other than the wait staff should have come and said something.
“You can stop wondering, Shy, there goes Freeze,” Jack advised.
“Where?”
“Over there at the bar with the woman that rolled her eyes at you.”
“Everybody stay sharp, be ready for anything. Ain’t no telling what they’re up to. I’m sure it’s them that’s at us,” E said checking his weapon.
“Now just how do you know all this? You call a psychic or something? You don’t know what’s going on. Just be cool. Let’s see what he wants, but like E said, everybody stay sharp. Can’t be too much because they didn’t make us go through the metal detector; they let us keep our guns. If they were gonna try something they would have disarmed us; at least I would have. Anybody seen Black?” Shy asked looking around the club.
“No, but he’s probably up there behind that mirror,” Tony replied.
Mike smiled to himself as Tony pointed him out to Shy. Like she could see him through the mirror.
“Here he comes.”
“Showtime. E, you don’t say a thing, okay, you let me do all the talking, understand,” Shy ordered. E frowned and turned away.
“What’s up, Shy, what’s up fellas. Mind if I sit down?”
“No, sit down. After all it is your party,” Shy replied.
“Thank you.” Freeze sat down and motioned for Angela the waitress.
“What can I get for you, Freeze?”
“Yeah, Angela, bring our guests another bottle of DP and bring me a shot of VSOP straight up.”
“So what can I do for you, Freeze?” Shy asked. “And what’s more important, what did we do to deserve this hospitality?”
Freeze smiled at her and said, “Look, let’s get right to it. You seem to think that we got a problem. You had your boys rolling around asking about us.”
“So what about it?” E fired.
“Shut up, E!” Shy demanded and calmly turned back to Freeze. “Go on, Freeze.”
“Well we’d like to have a little meeting to discuss it.”
“Where and when?”
“Do you see that door over there that says authorized personnel only? Anytime after the show just tell security that I’m expecting you and he will show you where to go.”
“That’s cool. We’ll be there.” Freeze left the table and headed for the office. Shy looked around the table, shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s all there is to it. And you two …” she looked at Jack and Tony. “What did you do, announce what you were doing? I’m telling you, he just knows all our business, now don’t he?”
“See that’s what you get. Shoulda let me handle it,” E said.
Jack and Tony both tried to explain. “But, Shy …”
She cut them off. “But, Shy, my ass. That’s okay. This may work out better anyway. Better it all be out in the open, so there’s no misunderstanding. Now whatever happens up there, and, E, I am talking to you, let me do the talking. Got that, E!”
E didn’t answer. He simply turned away.
As the show drew to a close, Shy got up and started heading for the door as instructed, with her crew not far behind. Shy told the man at the door that Freeze was expecting her. He pushed a button on the wall, and before too long, Kenny opened the door. Kenny led them up the stairs to Bobby’s office. As they arrived at the door two gentlemen stopped them and asked them to turn over their weapons. Kenny told them not to worry about their weapons; he would take responsibility for it. Kenny knocked on the door and announced himself. Jap opened the door and invited them into the office.
They entered the office only to find that Jap was the only one in there. He asked them to have a seat and told them that Freeze would be with them soon. When they were seated, Jap knocked once on the other door in the office and Freeze came out.
“Black will be with you in a minute,” Freeze said, as he entered the office followed by Bobby.
“My name is Bobby Ray. I hope that you enjoyed the hospitality of my club,” Bobby said as he sat down at his desk. Mike entered the office and stood in the middle of the room, making eye contact with everybody. Then he walked over to Shy, sat down next to her, and extended his hand.
“My name is Mike Black, and you are?”
“Shy, but you knew that.” She smiled. “Anyway, it’s good to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Shy sai
d, accepting his hand.
She felt goose bumps as Mike kissed her hand. He looked around and asked if anybody would like something else to drink. Mike smiled at Shy, finally releasing her hand.
“Let’s get to it.” He got up and returned to the middle of the floor. “I understand that you think we have a problem. Freeze tells me that you’ve been hit a few times,” Mike said looking directly at Shy, as if nobody else was in the room. Her eyes fascinated him. It was as if she was looking inside his mind. Entering his heart.
“That’s right. A couple of my people got hurt pretty bad too. Now I’ve been checking around and I really don’t think it’s you personally, but E here thinks it maybe some of your people,” Shy said looking at Freeze. E started to speak, but Shy cut him off before he could say anything. She turned to Mike and continued with a smile.
Shy had the type of smile that put you at ease. He looked at her lips as if they were saying, “Love Me.” But only he could hear her.
“Now I don’t really care who it is, but I can guarantee you this, whoever it is, well —let’s just say there’s a price to be paid.”
Mike grinned at Shy before responding. “Let me assure you that we do not have a problem. I have no interest whatsoever in your business. As long as it doesn’t conflict with mine. However, you do have a problem. I’ve done some checking too and nobody knows anything about it. If you like I can push a little harder.”
E could no longer contain himself. He got up and started moving toward Mike. “What makes you think we need you to handle our business?” he shouted.
Mike turned his back as E moved toward him and walked to the bar. As he turned away, Jap and Kenny moved to either side of E. Not too close, but close enough that E stopped. Mike poured a drink for himself. He asked Bobby if he wanted one too. Jack and Tony leaned forward in their seats. Sensing that things were about to escalate, Shy motioned for them to chill. She stood up and joined Mike at the bar.
