8

“Never keep no weight on you. Them cats that squeeze your guns can hold jobs too.”

—“Ten Crack Commandments,” Notorious B.I.G.

1991

Bentley’s was the nightclub to be at on Christmas Eve. All the moneymakers were going to be there. From rappers to hustlers, to even professional fighter Mike Tyson, everyone was getting it in. For Christmas Nut treated himself and upgraded his Mercedes 190E to a brand new Mercedes convertible 300 SL, silver with cream interior. He’d dropped ninety-five thousand on that ride, and it was brand new. No more used cars for him. Butter also dropped an obscene amount of money on a purple Porsche. But when Peter pulled up in a candy apple red 525i BMW, jaws fell open. Had the crew not been so caught up in their own hype, they would have realized that spending large sums of drug money on luxury cars was nigga nonsense.

“Yo, whose dick you done sucked to get that?” Nut asked. He knew that he paid well, but not nearly enough for Peter to stunt like that. After Peter had successfully come back from his run to meet Butter in Washington, D.C., Butter had a heart-to-heart with Nut and convinced him to let Peter stay on. Butter felt safer with fam watching his back. He was a little intimidated with how D.C.—the murder capital—got down, therefore Peter got and stayed in the game and began making his own money.

Peter grinned wildly. “You feelin’ me, right?”

“Hell, yeah, I’m feelin’ you. You gonna get mad pussy tonight when we roll through. You finally look like one of the crew,” Butter replied.

“I know, and I’m feeling right tonight.”

“So where you get the ride?” Nut asked. “Don’t let me find out that you been tapping my stash. Fam or no fam, I’ll put your lights out.”

The crew squirmed. Leave it to Nut and his threats to put a damper on things.

“Nah, I’m not stealing. This here a rental. I got it from Larry off Lincoln Ave.”

“Black Larry?”

“Yeah, him. He’s a smart dude. He got that good credit and shit, and he’s leased about twelve luxury cars, and then releases it out to broke niggas like me for a day, week, or month.”

“Word?” Nut replied.

“Yeah, so I got this for two days.”

“And how much he charging you?”

“Six hundred dollars—”

“Damn!” Nut responded. “That is a smart dude. He’s about to cake up. I bet the car companies are leasing him the cars for four, five hundred a month tops. Then he’s turning around and releasing them to y’all thirsty motherfuckers for a ransom. I’m fucking pissed I didn’t think of that myself.”

Butter interjected. “But that shit can’t be legal. That’s some fed shit if he gets caught. That’s that white-collar crime type shit that you don’t want any part of.”

“How the fuck he gonna get caught? Unless jealous niggas start snitching. You ain’t no snitch, right, Peter?” Nut asked.

“Hell motherfucking no! What type of stupid-ass question is that?!”

“Nigga, calm down. I’m just trying to make a point to this scary nigga,” Nut said and pointed toward Butter. “A’ight, if y’all done wasting time on bullshit, follow me,” Nut instructed as he hopped in his ride. Each man revved their rides and followed in procession through the Brooklyn streets until they reached the Brooklyn Bridge to the FDR drive toward Manhattan.

As Nut drove he thought about his afternoon with Ria. He’d bought her a diamond tennis bracelet that she absolutely loved. It took a while for them to start fucking around, and she didn’t come cheap. Shue was still her man, but Nut felt her heart belonged to him. As soon as he got up enough paper to fully support her the way she was used to being taken care of, she was going to leave Shue. In the meantime, she had the wettest pussy Nut had ever fucked.

He would spend tomorrow with Melissa. She’d already graduated with her associate’s degree and decided to continue on to get her bachelor’s. Even though she had all the circumstances to make her a street chick, Melissa tried her best to be different. She wanted stability, an education, and a good man. Two out of three isn’t bad, Nut thought.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. He just couldn’t love her the way she wanted him to. He knew in his heart of hearts that if he got jammed up and had to do any time in prison, Melissa was that ride-or-die chick, and would do the time with him. Ria, on the other hand, would be ghost, and he knew that. But he didn’t care. He just wanted to keep Ria for as long as it lasted. Besides, he didn’t plan on getting hemmed up. He was too smart for that. And when he was in doubt about any situation, he always had the ten crack commandments to keep him away from the pitfalls.

As the crew pulled up in front of the club, each car behind the other, they sat there idling their rides to allow everyone to see them. Nut’s phone rang. It was Melissa.

“What’s up, baby?” he asked.

“I miss you,” she whined.

“I know. I’ll be home soon.”

“I don’t know why I can’t ever go out with you when you go out to party. It’s Christmas.”

“I already explained that these clubs are no place for a lady, especially my lady.”

Melissa knew that was bullshit, but she didn’t want to start an argument with her man, not on Christmas Eve.

“OK, baby. I’m waiting up for you in something red and naughty,” she purred.

Nut wished the vision could get his dick hard, but it didn’t. “Yeah, you wait up for Daddy, ’cause I’m gonna put you to sleep.”

He disconnected the line, peered out his window one last time to make sure all eyes were on him, and then proceeded toward the parking garage. Once inside the large club, the trio headed straight to the bar. It was already well after midnight, and the club was jam-packed. No mink coats were checked at the door. Each man and woman lugged their luxury frocks on their forearms or on their backs.

Nut found a spot at the bar and ordered three large bottles of Moët. The large buckets filled with chilled Moët cost nearly one thousand dollars each. As the men began popping bottles, the vultures—women—and a few bum-ass niggas came out the woodwork. Every couple of yards he spotted a different group of men—Queens, New Rochelle, and uptown. His eyes scanned the room for Shue, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. He saw Remy and Alonzo, but that was it.

As the night continued, the party began jumping. Everyone was drunk and singing along to all the songs DJ Kid Capri played. Nut spotted her first—red skin, red hair, fuchsia-colored lips, and a chocolate-covered full length mink coat dragging across the floor. Hovering over her was Shue—pale skin, dark hair, Chinese eyes, and a jet black three-quarter mink coat. The mere sight of him turned Nut’s stomach. Then he remembered how Ria had sucked and rode his dick earlier. The two secret lovers spotted each other from across the room and made eye contact. Ria was slick with hers. She winked at Nut and he nodded and took a sip of his drink. Instinctively he rubbed his dick.

A litany of women pranced all around Nut, trying to get his attention. He flirted a little, passing out glasses of champagne and talking closely in their ears, mostly because he wanted to get Ria jealous, and partly because he was on the prowl for new pussy, and the ladies were looking scrumptious. Good enough to eat, only Nut didn’t eat pussy.

Slowly Ria made her way over to where Nut stood, but not without going unnoticed by Remy, who by now was only a few feet away from Nut, Butter, and Peter Piper. They took a few minutes to talk business, but didn’t get into anything heavy.

Remy knew the game. The first lesson someone should have taught Shue was never to treat a ho like a housewife. When Shue met Ria she wasn’t shit. She grew up in a foster home and was rumored to have fucked her foster dad when she reached the age of twelve. She’d been fucking ever since. Shue took her away from all of that and gave her a plush, opulent lifestyle, and she repaid him by fucking all the major players in the game. Although Remy knew that Shue wasn’t any angel, a man is gonna be a man regardless, and he felt his friend deserved a good girl.

“I wanna link up tonight. Can you get away?” Ria asked as she pretended to be ordering a bottled water from the bar. Nut was surprised by her question.

“I can do what the fuck I want. If you can get away, I’m down.”

“OK, when you leave here, meet me at the Hyatt.”

Nut couldn’t wait for the party to be over. Instead of going home, he got his usual suite at the Hyatt, and just as she said she would, Ria met him there. She came stumbling in, kicking off her stilettos and slithering out of her mink coat.

Nut was sitting quietly on the edge of the bed with his hands clasped tightly together. He was in deep thought. He didn’t like sneaking around anymore. He didn’t like how he felt when he saw Ria come in with Shue. And now he didn’t like the realization that she wouldn’t leave Shue until Nut could make more money.

“Yo, how the fuck you get away from that nigga twice in one day?”

Giggling, she stumbled toward the bed and dropped down to her knees. Nut could smell the liquor oozing out of her pores, and he wondered if he smelled as badly. Hunched in between his legs, she hiccupped and then held her head to get it to stop spinning.

“That bastard is so stupid.” Again she hiccupped. “I broke the code to his SkyPager and heard this bitch confirming that he was coming over tonight after the party. When he told me in the club that he had to go take care of important business, and for me to go home, I wanted to spit in his face. Instead I got even.”

“Oh, that’s what you call what we doing? Getting even with your man?”

“Nah, it ain’t even like that. I mean, fuck him. He ain’t shit anyway.”

“If he ain’t shit, what does that make you for being with him?”

“Whatchu trying to say?”

Nut was calm and steady. A lot was going through his mind. “I’m just asking you a few questions. If you know that he’s checking for someone else, then why are you still there?”

“That bitch ain’t really no threat. He been fucking with her for years now. He even bought her a car, a little raggedy bullshit Honda. Nothing too slick. That bitch been wanting to take my place for years, but I ain’t gonna let that happen.”

Nut pushed her hands off him. “Whatchu mean you ain’t gonna let that happen?”

Ria thought about her words and did a remix. “I mean she ain’t gonna take shit from me. I’d walk away first. That’s what I plan on doing, walking away from Shue and directly into your arms, if you’ll have me.”

Ria reached up and planted a wet, juicy kiss on Nut’s full lips. Nut welcomed her kiss, but he knew that it would be the last. He was a lot of things, but he was nobody’s trick.

Nut woke up in the morning to Ria’s legs wrapped around his waist. He’d definitely overslept. As the sun streamed through the hotel room and his head was no longer clogged from the alcohol, he realized that he’d made a stupid mistake. He’d let Ria control his actions, therefore dictating his life. If her man wasn’t out fucking some other bitch, then she wouldn’t have wanted to be with Nut, and Melissa wouldn’t have had to spend the night alone worrying about where her man was. Nut knew that she would be worried sick, and also furious at the prospect of him cheating.

He cut on his beeper and she’d beeped him 911 more than thirty times. It could have been more, but they just didn’t register. Nut pushed Ria’s legs off him and hopped in the shower. As he lathered up he tried to think of a good excuse to tell Melissa once he walked through the door. Whatever it was, he knew she wouldn’t believe him, but he just wanted it to sound plausible.

He called Butter and Tamia picked up. “Let me speak to Butter,” he said.

“Well good morning to you too.”

“Good morning. Now can you put Butter on the phone?” Nut had never liked her. He always thought that she had too much mouth, so he took satisfaction in hating her.

“Merry Christmas, kid,” Butter said. “Where you at, ’cause I know your ass ain’t been home. Melissa been calling all morning. Shit, since six this morning.”

“Damn! I was hoping that you could have covered for me and said that I passed out on your couch.”

“Well I could have if you told me your whereabouts last night. And that reminds me, that’s some dangerous shit just breaking out like that for a broad. That same broad could be setting you up, and no one would be the wiser.”

“I don’t need a lecture right now. I know Melissa gonna be flipping.”

“Yeah, she’s gonna be pretty pissed.”

Nut hung up the phone, got dressed, and miraculously Ria didn’t wake up. He started to tell her goodbye, but then decided against it. He grabbed his keys and his coat, and then bounced.

All the way home his stomach was uneasy. He knew he did a dummy move. When he got home he expected Melissa to be up in the living room ready to cuss him out. Instead, she was buried in bed.

“Ma, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m not feeling well.”

“Really? What’s wrong?”

“I’m just not feeling well.”

Nut sat on the bed and looked stupid. “Don’t you want to open up your gifts?”

“No, I don’t. I just said that I’m not feeling well. I just want to be left alone.”

“Well are you going to go with me to my mom’s?”

“I don’t feel like it. You go.”

Nut knew not to push her. He wished that if she was about to start beefing about his whereabouts, she’d just get on with it. He really didn’t feel like carrying this through the whole day.

“Last night I got so drunk that I fell out at Peter’s,” he said.

“Umm, humm, that’s nice.”

“Yo, what’s wrong with you?!” he screamed.

Calmly, she replied, “I just told you, I’m not feeling well.”

Melissa ignoring Nut and not showing him attention by acting all crazy somehow had him stressed. It was early in the afternoon, and now he didn’t have shit to do. He expected to sit around all day with her, and then in the evening go visit his moms. All his friends were with their girls. His other girl was with her man, and now he didn’t have shit to do. Fuck it, he thought. He went into the living room and began flipping through the channels.

Meanwhile . . . on the other side of town

“I’m telling you, you better give us someone and fast, or else we’re pulling you back in,” the federal agent warned.

“I know. I’m working on it,” Peter Piper replied.

“Your time has expired. We want Nut and his whole crew. If you don’t set it up so that we bust his black ass with no less than five keys, then you’re going away for life, my amigo. I promise you that.”

“Come on, man, you gonna threaten me like this on Christmas?”

“I’m not your man! And you better be glad that you’re out celebrating Christmas, you fucking snitch! Now bring me your fucking cousin. You got five days.”

Peter Piper hung up the phone and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead away. He didn’t know how he’d gotten into this situation, and he surely didn’t know how to get out. He wasn’t built for such a high level of stress. He was a simple man with simple needs. He didn’t need a mansion on the top of a hill. A starter home would do. He didn’t need to fuck the best looking bitch. An average chick worked just as well for him. He didn’t have to own a fleet of luxury cars. He’d settle for a lease. And in his pursuit of the American Dream, he’d gotten jammed up.

He wanted to hand them Nut on a silver platter and then leave town and start over. Nut never did shit for him, so he wasn’t losing any sleep over his decision. The only thing that bothered him was what if Nut beat the case and got out? He’d surely be a dead man walking. The mere thought sent chills down his spine.

***

“So you’re really leaving me, huh?” Nut asked Melissa the next day.

“Yes, I really am,” Melissa responded as she ran around frantically packing her things. Nut watched her as she pulled out suitcase after suitcase, stuffing them with her shoes and clothing. What amused him was that he wasn’t supposed to be home. He’d left home for the day, walked a couple of blocks, and then changed his mind and came right back in the house. He watched as she packed every article she had in the house, including all the jewelry he’d given her throughout the years.

“Why? I’m saying, why you out? What a nigga do?”

She stopped packing momentarily. “Nut, you know that it hasn’t been working between us for a long time. I know about your chick Ria from Harlem, Crystal and Lisa in Queens, and Stephanie in the Bronx. I know about all of them because I broke your code on your SkyPager a long time ago. But even as I listened to all the messages your stable of women left you, I never cheated on you. I still loved you through all of that. But now I’m done.”

Nut wanted to scream at her for breaking his code, and tell her that it was good for her. Whatever she heard was her fault. She shouldn’t have gone looking for shit, because when you looked, you just might find it. But instead he said, “Those bitches don’t mean shit to me.”

“That’s why you don’t come home at night? That’s why you leave me here crying all the time, because those bitches don’t mean shit to you? Maybe I’m the bitch that doesn’t mean shit to you.”

“Nah, I love you. You know that.”

Melissa shook her head to fight back tears. “You don’t even sound convincing.”

“So you were just going to leave me like that? Without letting a nigga know?”

“I gotta do what I gotta do.”

Her response infuriated Nut. He felt as though he was pleading a good case. He’d just told her that he didn’t love any of those other women, and that he loved her, but it seemed as if she was taking him for granted. “Look, I ain’t gonna beg you to stay. If you wanna leave, then get the fuck out. Another bitch will be glad to take your place. But leave all the shit that I bought you at the door. Money, car keys, clothes, everything! Bitch, I ain’t no trick.”

Melissa’s eyes welled up with tears. She was hoping that she could pawn all of the jewelry he had given her and sell her mink coat so that she could support herself until she finished college and got a good job. Now that she couldn’t take anything with her, she was frightened. She had managed to stash away three thousand dollars, but that wouldn’t carry her far. She’d eat that up in carfare and lunch money in no time. Plus, she had met a nice girl at school who agreed to rent Melissa a room in her apartment. That alone was four hundred dollars a month.

Melissa fought back her tears and remained stoic. He wasn’t worth her tears. She’d cried over him too many nights. Instantly she stopped packing, tossed her car keys on the dresser, and walked off with only the clothes on her back. He could have everything. She didn’t care. One day she’d earn her own money so that she would never have to be disrespected again by a man.

***

“Yo, Nut, I just got those pies from Rem. Where you gonna be, ’cause I’m coming through,” Peter Piper told Nut. It was the day before New Year’s Eve.

Nut was feeling fucked up. Melissa had left him and he decided to stop fucking with Ria. Word around town was that Ria and Shue got engaged Christmas morning. The trifling chick hadn’t called him since he walked out on her six days ago. While she was having a very merry Christmas, his shit was totally fucked up. He sat on his sofa feeling sorry for himself, wondering who he could call over to help ease his pain. If he called any one of his regular chicks on the side, they’d come with a million questions. He didn’t feel like talking. He wanted someone new. Someone anonymous.

“What the fuck you calling me for?” Nut asked. “You know I don’t touch them things. Call Butter.”

“I did. I’ve been paging him for hours, and he hasn’t gotten back to me. I need a place for these to sit while I go and service a few niggas in Queens. You know, I gotta make that money for us, and I can’t keep those niggas waiting on Butter. They’ll go cop from someone else.”

“Now what you talking ’bout?” Nut was only half listening. Peter had lost him at Queens.

“I got ten joints on me, and I gotta go to Queens to hit a nigga off with two pies. I’m not cruising the pavement with extra joints. That’s like hustling backward, right?”

“Again, why the fuck you calling me? Drop those shits at your crib.”

“Nah, baby bruh. What if I get into it around my hood? How I look bringing eight joints through the projects? I just need a place for these to rest until I come through, and since Melissa ain’t there, these will be safe.”

“You know I don’t keep pies where I rest at. That goes against one of my rules, yo.”

“I know, but we’re a team, and I’m pulling my end here. I’m out here grinding and ain’t nobody out here helping—”

“Man, stop fucking whining like a little girl.”

“Nut, man, you’re killing me. I’m like two blocks from your crib. I’m driving around in circles and shit.”

“A’ight, come through,” Nut replied reluctantly.

Nut got up, let Peter in, and returned back to his position on the sofa. The living room had a carpet picnic laid out that consisted of Chinese takeout, a six pack of Corona, a large bag of popcorn, M&M’s, and two blunts, freshly rolled. Nut was watching an old video of the Mike Tyson versus James Buster Douglas fight, and he was irritated by anyone’s presence. He was truly in a funk.

“What’s up, man? I see you doing you,” Peter Piper sang.

“What the fuck you so happy about?”

“Huh? I’m not happy. I’m working,” Peter replied as he placed the heavy duffel on the couch. “You sure you’re all right?”

“Nigga, don’t I look all right? Ain’t nobody stressing.”

“I know you’re not. I was just checking, that’s all,” Peter replied. “OK, I’m out. I’ll be back for that in the morning.”

“Don’t just leave that shit sitting there,” Nut said as he stuffed a handful of M&M’s into his mouth. “Put it in the closet or some shit.”

Peter did as he was told. “Yo, so what time you leaving tomorrow?”

“You know I don’t go out on New Year’s Eve. That shit’s cursed. Too many motherfuckers be getting murked or locked the fuck up. Just swing through early and get that shit out of my crib.”

“No doubt.”

“And don’t make me have to call ya ass!”

Peter was twenty-seven years old, way older than his cousin, and far too old to be spoken to like he was a child. Inwardly he despised Nut, and he was exhilarated at the thought that Nut’s time was coming.

“You won’t have to call me. Those joints will be out of here before noon. I put that on my life.”

***

The next morning Nut woke up feeling miserable. He was filled with angst and agitated, and he couldn’t explain away his emotions. He couldn’t sit still for shit. He tried to blame it on how he felt about New Year’s Eve. Then he told himself that it was because he was missing Melissa. Finally he decided to call his mother.

“Hey, Ma.”

“Nut, what you doing up this early?”

“I’m over here stressing.”

“Stressing? About what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well where’s Melissa?”

He paused. “Ma, we broke up the other day. She walked out on me. What happened to good women like you?”

“Now don’t go blaming that girl for y’all breakup. I was a good woman to your father, but he was also a good man to me. You can’t have one without the other. I told you to let her go a long time ago and you wouldn’t be feeling no pain. I’m sure she’s feeling just as sad and lonely. Why don’t you come over here and spend the day with your old momma?”

“I would, but you know I don’t travel on New Year’s Eve, but I’m going crazy in this house.”

“Well take a walk around your neighborhood and sort out your thoughts. You can’t be cooped up in the house all day. It’s still early. Ain’t nothing lurking outside this early.”

“Ma?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

Nut hopped in the shower, and as he rinsed off, he decided to take his mother’s advice and take a walk around his neighborhood. The crisp air was exactly what he needed to clear his mind.

After getting dressed he headed out. There was a small playground a few blocks from his house, and that was his destination. With his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets, he tried to clear his head.

Sitting on a nearby bench, he watched a white couple play on the swing with their small daughter. Nut thought it was too cold to have a child out on some metal swing, but they were jumping around and acting all jolly like the cold didn’t affect them. White people were weird. Sporadically the father’s eyes darted back and forth to Nut. Nut turned away because he didn’t want to intimidate anyone. He knew how it looked. He was a black man in a predominantly white neighborhood in a kiddie park without any kiddies.

The father gave one more suspicious glance, and Nut knew it was time to leave. He walked to a nearby corner store and decided to call Butter and curse him out for not picking up his telephone, and for not beeping back Peter last night.

“Yo, nigga, where the fuck you been?” Nut asked.

“I been chilling. Why? What’s up?”

“Nah, Peter said he was trying to get in contact with ya ass all day yesterday.”

“What the fuck that nigga talking about? He came through yesterday and dropped off five joints. He’s supposed to come through and pick that shit up.”

“Word? What the fuck going on with that stupid nigga?” Nut was pissed. He didn’t know what Peter was trying to pull, but Nut was going to bust his ass once he got his hands on him.

“I don’t know what’s up with him, but you better watch him. Make sure his count is right. That nigga was a little too happy yesterday,” Butter stated, recalling his visit with Peter. “He might either be on that shit, or shaving off the product and cutting small deals on the side.”

“You think that nigga could be getting high?”

“I don’t know. Anything’s possible. But as I said, he could be stealing too. You never know. He coming through your crib and telling you a story about me for what reason? Either he smoking that shit and it has his mind going crazy, or he’s guilty of something. You feel me?”

“Yeah, I feel you. Check it, when he comes through in a couple hours I’ma put pressure on that nigga and squeeze out the truth. You know I’m not one to fuck with.”

“True, true.”

Nut hung up and put pep in his step. He couldn’t wait until Peter came through so that he could get to the bottom of his actions.

***

Melissa had camped out all night in a borrowed car, waiting for Nut to leave the house. At first when he kicked her out with only the clothes on her back she told herself that she wouldn’t beg him to help her. But then reality sunk in and she convinced herself that she’d earned everything he bought her. She washed his funky socks, ironed his heavy jeans, cooked, cleaned, sucked his unfaithful dick, and never refused to fuck him when he wanted to be fucked.

When Nut left on foot with his car parked directly in front of her former car, she sat still, thinking that he was only going to the local store. After twenty minutes without him returning, she wondered if he had a bitch in neighborhood and was knee-deep in pussy. She wouldn’t put that past him.

Melissa used her house key and crept back into the apartment. It was filthy. She didn’t want any of her clothes, but her jewelry was important. Her livelihood depended on it. As she ran around her former apartment looking for her valuables, her heart nearly stopped when the front door was kicked in and a succession of loud noises followed.

Oh my God, they’re gonna kill me, Melissa thought as the gunmen came in and tackled her to the floor.

***

Nut couldn’t wait to get home so that he could wait on that stupid motherfucker Peter, but he slowed his quick pace when he heard the sound of sirens as he approached his apartment.

“Are they at my motherfucking crib?” Nut screamed. His heart began to thump loudly. “They are at my motherfucking crib! What the fuck is going on?”

Nut dipped in the cut and watched the commotion from across the street with the other bystanders. His apartment was completely sealed off as numerous police officers, under cover detectives, DEA, and FBI all littered the scene, which was being treated as a crime. There wasn’t any need for Nut to stick around. Besides, he was the only black man standing in the crowd. Just as he was about to bounce, he saw a figure in the back of one of the squad cars. Within seconds he realized it was Melissa.

What the fuck was she doing in the back of the squad car in front of his house? Nut was boggled.

Nut arrived at his mother’s apartment within ten minutes. He hopped out of the cab and raced upstairs. Just as he entered, his beeper began going off with numerous unknown numbers all paging him 911.

“Ma, you won’t believe what just happened.”

Julie heard the panic in her son’s voice and jumped to her feet. Her first thought was that he was shot.

“What? Are you hurt?”

“Ma, they just busted my crib.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know. 5-0 and the feds.”

“What? How they get on you?”

“Ma, I don’t know what’s going on. And they had Melissa.”

“Melissa? How they had her? Is she snitching?”

“I guess so . . . I don’t know. I don’t know shit. All I know is that they had her in the back of a police cruiser.”

“Nut, that don’t sound right,” Julie began. She wished she could have said more, but she didn’t have any insight on the matter. All she could do was ask questions. “But you don’t keep nothing in your apartment anyway. Right? They didn’t get shit, did they?”

Nut hung his head low.

“I usually don’t, but Peter came through yesterday with eight bricks.”

“What!” Julie screamed. She smelled a rat. Eight bricks would ensure that her baby spent the rest of his life in prison. “You know I told you not to trust that slimy bastard!”

“You thinking what?”

“I’m thinking that he set you up to get knocked off.”

“But why? What would he gain by getting me locked up? I’m the hand that feeds him. Nah, I think this has to do with Melissa. What the fuck was she doing there?”

“Did she know you had those things?”

“No. But I’m sure she’s mad that we broke up.”

“Nelson, listen to yourself. You can’t see the forest from the trees. Your nerves are bad right now. Sit down and think this through. You’ll see the truth once you calm down.”

Nut knew she was right. He went into his old room and lay down on the bed. He just needed five minutes, although he couldn’t quite get a handle on his concentration because he felt that any second the police would kick in his mother’s door with an arrest warrant.

He went over the situation a million times in his head. Who’d have something to gain if he were locked down—Peter or Melissa? He kept coming up empty. In his mind neither one of them had a motive. He decided to call Butter and tell him the news, and also tell him to get rid of his beeper and not to talk over the phones.

The phone rang and was picked up, but Nut didn’t hear anyone on the other end.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Yes, who’s this?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“No, who’s this?”

“Who would you like to speak to?” the voice asked. Immediately Nut knew. His heart sank as he slammed down the phone. Butter had got knocked.

He had his mother call his aunt’s house just to see if any strange events had occurred there. He wanted to know if Peter had gotten knocked too. Lorene picked up. His mother chatted with her briefly about the soap operas and then hung up.

“It’s Peter,” Julie assessed. “You and Butter’s cribs get knocked, and nothing happens to Peter.”

“I think you’re right,” Nut replied. His didn’t have a clue how or why, but all he was thinking about was when. When the fuck would he get his opportunity to murder his cousin? “You better prepare yourself to break out your black dress. I’m about to rock your nephew to sleep.”

“Fuck ’im,” Julie replied.