by Glenn, Roy
The repairs to Paraíso had been completed and had no effect on business. A steel fence was built around the beach area and a mobile patrol was added to close that costly breech in their security. While Jada and her staff mourned their loss, she did her best to keep their spirits up. As far as she and Black were concerned, each conducted themselves as if their afternoon of love making never happened.
Jada had cut herself off from her feelings years ago when she got into the business. Sasha told her that feelings get in the way of making money and for years, Jada agreed with her. She tried to put a name on what she was feeling, and refused to call it love, but she was sure that it was more than pure lust. When Black talked, Jada would study his face and his body movements looking for any sign that that he was feeling for her the way she was feeling for him and found none. Each time Black came to Paraíso, he always came with Bobby and Jada felt that he went back to treating her like a porcelain doll.
Black wrestled with the conflict within him, but he doggedly stuck to his conviction that CeCe was his future. But Bobby’s words stayed on his mind. That may be true and I know that you really believe that or you wouldn’t have said it. CeCe may be the future, but that, my old friend is your woman. And besides, Jada had made it clear that, This can in no way affect our business relationship. I don’t care how good you are in bed, you are far more valuable to me as a business partner. From where he sat Jada gave no indication that her opinion on the subject had changed. But he wondered what he would do if it did? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to know.
Everything had gone back to the way it was and after a while everybody was relaxed and at ease. Everyone except for Bobby. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew that something wasn’t quite right. That afternoon, he and Black sat at Paraíso and Bobby told him how he was feeling. “You know I hate it when you start havin’ them kind of feelings, because you’re always right.”
“I think I’m gonna to go to New York for a couple of days. Wanna come with me?”
“No. I need to stay close to Cee.”
“I think you need to come with me.”
“Why?”
“You need to get away from Ms. West for a while,” Bobby said and pointed at her. “’Cause the two of you are makin’ me sick. She’s all Mr. Black this, and Mr. Black that and you’re all Ms. West this and Ms. West that, but what she really sayin’ is you need to come fuck me Mr. Black and everything you say to her screams bend over and grab your ankles Ms. West.”
Black laughed. “If you go to New York you won’t have to hear it,” he said as Jada approached them.
“Excuse me, Mr. Black, but you need to leave if you’re going to be on time to have dinner with your family,” Jada said and smiled.
Black looked at his watch. “Thank you, Ms West.” Black stood up. “You’re absolutely right.”
“I usually am, Mr. Black.”
Bobby stood up. “Sickening,” he said as he walked toward the door. “I’ll be in the car.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing.” Black followed Bobby to the door and Jada looped her arm in his and walked with him. He glanced at Jada and thought again of how beautiful she was, and how Bobby was right about him wanting to bend her over, but knew that he was doing the right thing.
“Have a good evening with your family, Mr. Black.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ms West,” Black said and walked out. Jada watched him get in the car with Bobby and drive away and hoped that he would change his mind and come back that night and without their chaperone.
Later that night over dinner, Bobby mentioned the trip to New York to CeCe. “I was thinkin’ about goin’ to the city for a couple of days and I’m tryin’ to get Mike to come with me,” he said.
“And I told him that I needed to stay here with you,” Black said.
“Take him.” CeCe said flatly.
“What?” Black and Bobby both said.
“You heard me, Bobby, I said take him. Get him outta my sight. Maybe if you’re gone I might get to feel better for a few days.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Can I go Daddy?” Michelle asked.
But Bobby cut him off before Black could say yes. “No, Michelle, I got a feelin’ that Daddy is gonna be busy while he’s in New York since he hasn’t been there for so long. He’ll be back in a couple of days.”
After dinner, Bobby took Michelle out to the pool, while Black went to talk to CeCe. “You sure you want me to go?”
“I’m sure. It’s only gonna be a couple of days, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s gonna be at least another month before the baby is due, so you’ll be back in plenty of time.”
“You know I wouldn’t even consider goin’, but when Bobby gets these feelings it’s usually something to it.”
“I know. You told me. So you go ahead, do what you gotta do and I’ll see you in a couple of days. It will give me a chance to miss you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
New York City
Late that next night, Black and Bobby arrived in New York. After Bobby got a rental car, Black went to a charter airline. He paid to have a plane on standby to take him back to Nassau, just in case CeCe called and he had to leave in a hurry. “Smart,” Bobby said as they drove away from the airport.
“Yeah, I try to do smart shit. Now, where do you want to go first?”
“Let’s start at the beginning.”
“The game?”
“No doubt. Unless you want to drop by and see Carmen.”
“The game it is. And wasn’t it you that said that I broke Carmen’s heart once already and with Cee getting ready to drop a baby, I’d just end up doing it again?”
“What’s your point?”
“That is my point.”
“I just thought since you were down there fuckin’ everybody, you might as well include Carmen. Besides, I haven’t seen Carmen in years. It would be nice to see her.”
“I promise that we’ll do that before we leave. Right now, let’s stick to business.”
“Last time I saw her she was a nice piece of business,” Bobby said and laughed.
It had been a while since Bobby had been to the spot that was now run by Jackie. When he walked in he was impressed with the changes that she had made. “Jackie runs a tight program,” Black said.
At that moment, Jackie came out of her office. As soon as she saw Black and Bobby she ran to them and threw her arms around Black’s neck. “I am so glad to see you.” She looked at Bobby. “To see you both.”
“I’m glad to see you too, Jackie,” Black said.
“Come on,” Jackie said and grabbed him by the hand. “I got a lot to tell you,” she said and led him to the office.
“What? Is something wrong?” Black asked.
Jackie stopped and looked at them. “I don’t think wrong is a strong enough word for what’s goin’ on.”
“Told you,” Bobby said and followed Jackie and Black into the office. Jackie closed the door and locked it.
“So what’s goin’ on, Jackie?” Black asked.
“There’s a war goin’ on in your house.”
“What?”
“There are three factions.”
“Three?”
“One that’s loyal to Wanda. Cynt, Doc and that crowd. Then there’s the faction that’s with Nick and Rain. Then there the faction that’s loyal to you and don’t want to get involved.”
“Who runs that faction?” Bobby asked.
“Me,” Jackie said.
“You?” Black asked.
Jackie nodded.
“You’re the boss?” Bobby asked.
Jackie nodded.
“Okay,” Black said and tried to wrap his mind around what he was hearing. “Start at the beginning, Jackie. How did this war start?”
“The way I hear it is that Wanda, Cynt, Grant and Doc got together and decided that Nick wasn’t doing a
good job running things and that she was going to take over.”
“Wanda never did think Nick was ready to run the show,” Bobby said.
“She told you that?”
“More than once,” Bobby said.
“She never—never mind. Go on, Jackie.”
“Wanda put a contract out on Nick—”
“Wait. Did you say that Wanda put a contract out on Nick?” Black asked.
“That’s what the word is. They hit him one night when him and Rain were coming out of JR’s.”
“Is he dead?”
“That depends on who you believe,” Jackie said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bobby asked.
“If you believe Rain, she says that he’s okay and she got him someplace safe. You know, in case Wanda wanna try again. But there are some people who think that Nick is dead and Rain just sayin’ that to keep Wanda off her.”
“What do you think?” Black asked.
“I believe Rain.”
“Why?”
“She was a little too calm for Nick to be dead,” Jackie explained.
Black took a deep breath and shook his head. “What else?”
“After that, Rain killed Grant and some of his men and burned his club to the ground.”
“Why Grant?” Bobby asked.
“Huh?”
“Why did she choose Grant to retaliate on?” Black asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But since then Rain and Grant’s people been goin’ at it. I heard she drove a truck through the window of one of Grant’s number joints and she killed everybody in there. Then they caught her comin’ out of a store and ambushed her.”
“How did you get involved in this?” Black asked.
“Lexi and Tara—”
“Wait a minute, what do Lexi and Tara got to do with any of this? They’re not in that end of the business.”
“That’s what I told them, but if somebody tried to take over their spots to call me and I would send some people to back them up.”
“You?” Bobby asked.
“Being in this spot, I got access to some muscle. Anyway, that same night, some of Rain’s men showed up at Impressions. I think Tara just panicked and called me and I sent some people there.”
“What happened?” Bobby wanted to know.
“There was a confrontation, but her men left without incident.”
“Anything else?” Black asked.
“After that I sent some men to back Lexi. The next day some of the smaller operations came to me and they wanted protection too.”
“Who we talkin’ about?” Bobby asked.
“Spencer, Hazelton, Tony Rizzo, Jones, Brightman, and Demet. They heard what I did for Tara and Lexi and thought if Wanda or Rain came at them they didn’t have the muscle to stop them.”
Black looked at Jackie. “That it?”
“As far as I know. Ain’t no tellin’ what happened today.”
Black looked at Bobby. “What?” Bobby asked.
“Just once could you be wrong about this shit?”
“What?” Jackie asked.
“Bobby had a feeling that something wasn’t right and we needed to come up here,” Black said.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t expecting all this,” Bobby said.
Black stood up and picked up the phone on Jackie’s desk. Wanda answered on the forth ring. “What can I do for you Jackie?”
“It’s not Jackie. It’s Mike.”
Wanda looked at the display. “You’re at Jackie’s?”
“Yeah, and you need to bring your ass down here right now,” Black said and hung up the phone. He dialed another number. “What’s up, Jackie?” Nick answered.
“It ain’t Jackie. I need to see you at Jackie’s right now, Nick. And bring Ms. Robinson with you,” Black said and hung up.
Nick looked at Rain. “Who was that?” she asked.
“Black.”
“Oh shit. What he say?”
“That he wants to see me now at Jackie's.”
“He’s here?”
“Yeah.”
Rain smiled. “Yeah, well, have a good time with that.”
“He said to bring Ms. Robinson with me.”
“Oh,” Rain said. “Shit.”
Black went and sat down, he was still having a hard time believing what Jackie had just told him. He could tell by the sound of their voices that something was going on and that they were surprised that he was there.
“Something ain’t right about this, Bobby,” Black said.
“I was just thinking the same thing. I mean I know she’s power hungry, but I just can’t see Wanda tryin’ to kill Nick.”
“Rain maybe,” Black said. “Maybe Rain was the target and Nick just got in the way.”
“That’s a little extreme, even for Wanda. I can’t see her wantin’ to kill Rain over Nick,” Bobby said.
“It ain’t about Nick.”
“What you mean?” Bobby asked.
“You ain’t heard?” Black asked.
“Heard what?”
“Rain slapped the shit outta Wanda.”
Both Bobby and Jackie started laughing. “Why?” Bobby asked.
“Wanda called Rain a low-life bitch and Rain slapped her.”
“Okay, now I believe it,” Bobby said still laughing. Black got up and picked up the phone again. “Who you callin’ now?”
“Perry.”
The phone rang and Glenda answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, Glenda, it’s Mike.”
“Hi, Mike. You in the city?”
“Yes, me and Bobby just got here tonight.”
“How’s CeCe?”
“She doin’ a lot better than the last time we talked. I don’t mean to be rude, Glenda, but is Perry there?”
“I understand completely, Mike. Hold on.”
After a while, Perry got on the phone. “What’s up, Mike? Heard you and Bobby are back in the city.”
“Yeah we got in tonight.”
“Good ’cause these niggas are off the chain.”
“Did Nick get shot?”
“Twice in the chest. But don’t worry, I saw him this morning and he’s doing fine.”
“Did he say who did it?”
“Said Wanda did it.”
“He said Wanda tried to have him killed?”
“That’s what he said, Mike.”
“Did you ask her?”
“I asked her.”
“What did Wanda say?”
“She didn’t deny it.”
“Thanks, Perry.”
“Glad you back,” Perry said and ended the call.
“I need a drink,” Black said and left the office. He went to the bar and shot his drink and ordered another. After a while Bobby joined him at the bar.
“Make mine a double,” Bobby said.
When Black turned around, he saw Monika sitting at a table. He walked over to her and sat down. “I see you changed your mind.”
“You knew about this?”
“I heard rumblings,” Monika said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to. But you told me some shit about you havin’ confidence in Nick and CeCe being sick. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“And at the time, they wasn’t all out of control like they are now.”
“Next time—paint me a picture if you have to,” Black said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Black sat in Jackie’s office along with her and Bobby. It had been a while since any of them had said a word. He wondered how things could have gotten so out of hand. The day before he was in Nassau, he had dealt with Harry Walker, put Deidra in the position that she was best suited for and his big problem was what to do about Jada West. At this point, what to do about Jada was the furthest thing from his mind. Now, two of his oldest and closest friends were at war with each other and for the life of him, it just didn’t make any sense.
He had a feeling that
when he got to the bottom of the situation that he would find Rain Robinson. He thought back to the conversation that he had with Nick the day he first saw him and Rain together. They were talking about how Rain’s father, JR shot his wife, Barbara when he found her at a motel with another man.
“It’s just like the man said; two-faced woman and a jealous man,” Nick said.
“Cause of the trouble since the world began,” Black said finishing the line from the James Brown song then stood up. “I gotta get outta here.” He looked in Rain’s direction and sat back down. “Look, Nick, I know this is none of my business, and far be it for me to tell you who to lay the pipe to. Especially when I’m fuckin’ every woman with a fat-ass and big titties I run into. Just don’t hurt Wanda.” Black stood up again.
“I won’t,” Nick promised that day. In this case it was a two-faced man and a jealous woman that was the cause of the trouble. Black knew it was a bad idea for them to get involved and it would be bad for business. He just never thought it would get to this.
Black had to remember that when he left for the Bahamas the first time with Cassandra that although Freeze ran the day-to-day, it was Wanda who carried the power. When Wanda complained so much about the way Freeze was doing business, he had to call Bobby out of retirement. Which, by the way, was the beginning of the end of Bobby’s marriage to Pam, he thought and looked at Bobby. If Bobby was at home where he wanted to be, he would have never met Cat and Pam wouldn’t have had to kill her.
After that, he pushed Wanda out and put Cassandra in charge and when she died he gave Freeze total control. “I know you been handling shit for years, but it’s always been somebody else, me, then Wanda, then Cassandra, callin’ the shots. But that’s over with. It’s your turn to run things. Me and Bobby are here to advise you if you need it, but you make the decisions.”
Then he passed over her again and handed to reigns to Nick. Black had always been protective of Wanda and her involvement in the business, so he told Wanda to focus on their legitimate businesses. Until now, he never really realized that Wanda wanted to be involved, that she was just as gangster as they were.
When they arrived, Black decided that he would hear them out, listen to their grievances and try to work out some type of solution to this so Nick and Wanda could get back to working together. “Or maybe I’ll just shoot them both,” Black said out loud.
