BRANDI SAW BOSS’S PORSCHE parked in front of the barber/beauty shop that her cousin and her girl Erica owned. She parked her Aston Martin, grabbed her purse, and climbed from the car. As she exited and entered the shop, she waved to her cousin, Tim, but continued walking around to the beauty shop side.
“Hey, Brandi, girl!”
Brandi waved to a few of the customers and girls working in the shop she recognized, and then she walked back to Erica’s station, where she was taking care of a client’s hair.
“Hey, girl!” Erica said with a smile as she paused working on her client to give a hug to Brandi.
“I see you got a lot of heads already,” Brandi said, seeing all the women already waiting on Erica. “So, what’s up? What you need to talk to me about?”
“Hold on!” Erica told Brandi. She then asked the woman in her seat to give her a few minutes, turning back to Brandi and motioning her to the back office. Once the two of them were inside the back room and Erica locked the office door, she turned around, walked over, and sat down on the edge of the desk facing Brandi. “Boss asked me to talk to you.”
“Wait! What?” Brandi asked. “What does ReSean want you to talk to me about, Erica?”
“Brandi, calm down!” Erica told her friend. “Look, Boss really does like you and does want to continue seeing you, but you have to understand that even though he’s young, he still has his own life he is trying to build. Brandi, don’t push him into anything too serious, because he’s really focused on getting his self together. You understand what I’m telling you?”
“Let me get this straight!” Brandi stated with an attitude. “ReSean told you all that bullshit when he could really just tell me he didn’t wanna be with me himself?”
“Brandi! Boss didn’t say he didn’t—!”
“Erica, why would my supposed man need you to talk to me when he could have just talked to me himself? Make me understand that!”
“You see how you’re reacting?” Erica said. “Boss figured you would act like this, which is why he asked me to talk to you since we’re friends. All that man is trying to get you to understand is that he wants to be with you, but he wants you to slow down a little.”
“Slow down, huh?” Brandi repeated with a nod of her head. “Alright! I’ma give his ass all he wants.”
Erica watched Brandi angrily leave the office. Erica then stood up from her desk and walked back to her station.
* * *
Boss pulled out his ringing phone as he and Vanity were walking out of the jewelry store, where she bought him a brand-new white gold Cuban-link chain with a Jesus face piece. Boss saw Erica calling as Vanity was leading him into another store. “Yeah! What’s good, Erica?”
“Boss, I spoke with Brandi.”
“And?”
“And like you said, she got pissed after I told her about what you and I talked about. She’s probably gonna call you.”
“I think she’s calling me now! Hold on!” Boss told Erica, after hearing his phone beep.
He looked on the screen, only to see Eazy calling him.
“Erica, let me hit you back, shorty. That’s your man calling.”
“Alright, Boss.”
After hanging up, Boss switched lines over to Eazy. “What’s up, playboy?”
“Boss, we got a problem, my nigga!”
“Tell me about it!” he inquired.
Boss then stood watching Vanity while listening to Eazy tell him about dropping off Rico at the new spot out in Opa-locka only to receive a call from him five minutes later. Rico explained that the dude named Cook and his crew showed up and robbed him and his young assistant, Magic, who was helping him.
“Where you at?” Boss asked as he walked over to Vanity and the hard-smiling salesclerk.
Boss motioned shorty to hurry so they could leave. He then told Eazy to pick up Rico and his boy and then meet him back at the spot. Boss then hung up the phone. “Shorty, we gotta go!” he yelled to Vanity.
“Alright!” Vanity said, seeing the expression on Boss’s handsome face.
Once they were outside the mall and entering the parking lot, Boss led Vanity out to his newly purchased metallic blue 2007 Ferrari F430 Spider convertible coupe. He hit the key remote unlocking the doors and walked around to the driver’s side as Vanity climbed inside the passenger side.
Boss got inside the Ferrari and started up the car just as his phone started up again. He was backing out of his parking spot as he pulled out his phone and answered it.
“Yeah?”
“ReSean, where are you?”
Boss recognized Brandi’s voice and said, “Brandi, let me hit you back, ma. I gotta handle something right now. You at the house?”
“No. I’m at my own place,” she spit out at him. “Just make sure you call me when you finish your supposed business!”
“Yeah!” Boss replied, and then hung up the phone. “Shorty, I’ma drop you off back at your spot.”
“For what?” Vanity asked him. “Why go way out of the way when we can just go to wherever you need to be? I’ll just wait in the car while you handle your business. And I’m not asking, because it wasn’t a request.”
Boss cut his eyes over to Vanity and actually smirked at her sassiness. He saw no reason to respond, so he shifted gears and punched the gas in the Ferrari, feeling the exotic car jerk and then raise up as it lurched forward.
* * *
“Where the fuck is Boss at?” Rico yelled angrily as he and Eazy sat in the Lexus at the corner of 135th Street in Opa-locka.
“Relax, my nigga!” Eazy told Rico. “My dude says he’s coming. He’s should be here in a—”
“What the fuck!” Rico yelled, staring out Eazy’s window at the Ferrari pulling up beside them.
He wanted to reach for his burner, but he quickly remembered it wasn’t there. He watched as the passenger window slid down.
“What the fuck!” Eazy said in surprise at seeing Pleasure in the seat of the Ferrari, not when he saw Boss behind the steering wheel.
Boss climbed out of the car and walked around to the Lexus while the chick from Pink Palace climbed out and walked around and got behind the wheel.
“What’s the deal, fellas?” Boss asked as he stopped in front of the driver’s door of the Lexus.
“Bruh, I’m ready to murder all these muthafuckers!” Rico said, heated, spitting each word.
“They’re still at the spot now?” Boss asked.
“Yeah!” Eazy answered. “We drove past, and they were still there getting money and selling the blue devils Rico and Magic were selling.”
“Where’s Magic now?” Boss questioned.
“He just slid back up the street to peep at what was going on,” Eazy replied.
Boss was quiet for a minute and then looked to his right back toward the main street.
“I got a plan, but, Rico, you’re taking the lead with your boy Magic!” Boss said, looking back at Eazy and Rico.
“I’m with that right there!” Rico stated. “We got one problem though, big homie. Those niggas hit me and Magic up for our bangers.”
“I want my shit back!” Boss said as he pulled his own .45 from his waist and handed it over to Rico.
* * *
Rico filled Magic in on the plan that Boss came up with as the two of them walked back onto the block on which their trap house was located. Rico stared at the house and saw the crowd out in front waiting in line for blue devils. As they approached the house, they saw the nigga Cook and four of his boys out on the porch of Gina King’s. That’s when Rico and Magic made their move and pushed through the crowd, headed for the porch.
“Look at this muthafucker!” one of the four guys said when he saw Rico and Magic. He tapped Cook and said, “This nigga really must be stupid as fuck!”
“What the fuck is you doing here!”
Rico pulled the .45 that Boss had given him. He swung up the hammer and pointed it at Cook, whose eyes got huge in both surprise and then in complete terror right before Rico pulled the trigger.
Boom! Boom!
Rico ignored the screams and all the people rushing and running to get away after putting two in Cook’s face. He then heard more shooting as two of Cook’s boys hit the ground with either their chest or face opened up. He swung his .45 at one of the staring guys and put two to his chest, which sent him slamming back into the wall. Rico then dumped another round to his face, erasing his expression.
“Let’s go!” Boss yelled, grabbing Rico’s arm and pulling him away from the dude he just bodied.
Rico followed Boss and Magic out of the front yard and saw Eazy in the Lexus waiting in front of the house with the engine still running. Rico and Magic hopped inside the back while Boss jumped up front, just as Eazy peeled off from in front of the trap house.
* * *
Eazy made it to the Quickie Mart three minutes from the spot after dealing with Cook and his team. He swung his Lexus into the parking lot where Vanity was already waiting. Boss hopped out of the Lexus and yelled to Eazy to head back to his place as he jogged around to the passenger side of his Ferrari. After hopping inside, Vanity backed out and sped off behind the Lexus.
“Babe, you okay?” Vanity asked Boss, looking over at him a brief moment before focusing back on the road.
“Yeah!” Boss answered. “I’ma keep the gun, but I’ma get you another one. This shit got bodies on it now, and I don’t want you with it.”
“Do what you think is best, boo!” Vanity told him, even though she had had that same .38 for almost four years now.
Boss was quiet the rest of the way until they reached Eazy’s apartment. Boss waited until Vanity parked the Ferrari and they climbed out. He then waited for her to lock up and then walk over to him wrapping her arms around his waist. He dropped his arm around her shoulders as the two of them entered the apartment building and headed up to Eazy’s place.
Boss and Vanity entered the apartment a few minutes later, and saw Rico and Magic in the front room while Eazy was somewhere in the back. Boss led Vanity around to the couch and sat down beside her
“You two good?” Boss addressed Rico and Magic.
“Yeah!” both Rico and Magic answered at the same time, before Rico added, “Where the hell did you come from, dawg? I ain’t even see you show up.”
“You weren’t supposed to, playboy!” Boss told Rico, just as he saw Eazy enter the room talking on his cell phone and motioning for everyone to be quiet.
Boss assumed Eazy was on the phone with Erica, so he dug out his Newports and pulled one out from the pack.
“That was Erica,” Eazy told Boss after he hung up the phone. “She was asking if I was with you, because somebody’s looking for you, my nigga.”
“Brandi?” Boss questioned, even after catching the quick shift in Eazy’s eyes toward Vanity. “Vanity already knows about Brandi.”
Eazy nodded his head and then changed the subject. “What are we gonna do about the spot now, my nigga? We just handled that, and I know it’s hot as fuck back that way. How we supposed to handle business with the heat on?”
“Relax!” Boss told him, seeing the same concerned expression on both Rico’s and Magic’s faces. “I already been thinking about that, and I’ma get at Gina and have her check out the spot, holla at the police, and clear up that her house was taken by some men and that she even reported it and nothing happened.”
“Bruh, that sounds good and all, but she’s a smoker, even if she’s trying to change now,” Eazy told Boss. “Police ain’t gonna wanna hear that shit from no smoker.”
“I’ll go with her,” Vanity spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to her while she stared at Boss. “If the police won’t believe her, then I’ll be with her to back up whatever story you come up with, babe. Just tell me what you want me to say.”
Boss nodded his head slowly, holding shorty’s eyes before he winked at her, which caused Vanity to smile back at him.
“Alright, we’ll let Vanity take care of Gina and the police, and I’ll take care of explaining to Gina what’s going on. Also, I want to get rid of the piece I gave Rico and the .38 I’m holding and get something else. You niggas know somebody who can handle that for me?”
“Babe, I know someone,” Vanity spoke up again.
“Damn, Boss, my nigga!” Magic said, smiling as he sat staring at Vanity. “Where the fuck you found baby girl from? She’s bad as hell, and she’s ready to hold you down to add to the sexiness. She got a sister?”
“Sorry!” Vanity answered, smiling back at Boss. “I only got two older brothers, and I belong to Boss!”
Boss chuckled as he shook his head while Vanity lay against his chest smiling. He looked back over at Eazy and caught the questioning look his boy was giving him.
* * *
Boss first took care of things with Eazy and then Rico and Magic, and then he dealt with Gina and Vanity, where he left the two women to talk and deal with the police back at Gina’s house. Boss then drove toward Brandi’s condo, but he called her phone to let her know he was on his way.
“You finally decided to call me back?” Brandi asked with an attitude after answering the phone.
“I’m on my way to your place now,” Boss told her, ignoring what she just asked him.
“Don’t even bother,” Brandi responded. “I’m not home.”
“Where you at?”
“Out!”
“Where at?”
“Out!”
“So, we playing this game now, huh?”
“I should be asking you that!” Brandi spit back at him. “What type of man sends a woman to deal with his problems? You can’t be man enough to tell me straight up that you don’t want to be with me, nigga?”
“Brandi, what are you talking about?” Boss asked and sat waiting for an answer.
After pausing a moment with no response, he looked at the screen and realized she had hung up on him. He began calling her back, but stopped himself after he thought about it a minute. “Fuck it!” Boss said as he picked up his phone to call Vanity.
“Hey, babe!”
“How’s everything?”
“Gina’s talking with the detective who’s in charge of the investigation.”
“Have you spoken with him yet?”
“He spoke with me first. Everything is going fine,” Vanity explained. “Am I seeing you again today or is my time up for today?”
“When you finish, just come by my place,” Boss told her, and then gave Vanity the address where he lived and the code to the front gate.
“I’ll see you in a few minutes, handsome,” Vanity told him before hanging up the phone.
After hanging up with Vanity, Boss made one last call, pushing in the number he knew from memory.
“Who’s this?”
“Murphy, what’s good, playboy? This is Boss.”
“Boss? My young hustler, Boss?”
“There’s only one of me, my nigga!”
“What’s up, youngin’? I heard you left town.”
“Yeah! I’m out here in Miami,” Boss told his old cocaine connect. “I wanna holla at you about some business though.”
“That’s nothing new! What’s up though, youngin’?”
Boss explained in code to Murphy, which they both spoke, and let him know he wanted to buy at least five bricks of whole cocaine from him. Boss then asked if the prices were still the same.
“Alright, youngin’,” Murphy said with a little laugh. “You know I fuck with you heavy, and you’ve been fucking with me since you was a bad-ass lil’ shorty. Them things go for thirty now, but since you’re family, I’ma give it to you for twenty a brick. You good with that?”
Boss did some quick math inside his head and smiled. “Alright! That’s a deal, playboy. I’ma be up there in a few days,” Boss informed him.
“I’ll have that ready for you. Just let me know when you’re on your way, youngin’,” Murphy said.
“I got you!” Boss replied. “Hey, what’s up with my boy Trigger? I tried to hit him up to give him my new number, but his phone cut off.”
“Youngin’, your boy’s locked up,” Murphy told Boss. “He just caught two months in the county. But he got like a week left since I hear the judge ran that probation time he did out here with the time he caught, and now he’s about to jump back out.”
Boss smiled at the news that he just received and then said, “Murphy, do your boy a favor. I’ma send some cash out to you for my boy Trigger, and I want you to put some on my nigga’s commissary and then have one of your girls take my nigga shopping. Then send his ass down here to me. Let him know I’ma be waiting on his ass!”
“I got you, youngin’!” Murphy told Boss before hanging up the phone.
Boss smiled as he sat inside his car that was parked in his driveway back at his house. He shut off the Ferrari and then climbed from the car, hitting the remote door locks. He then headed up to his front door just as his phone woke up, ringing inside his right hand. He saw that it was Brandi on the other line calling him back, and he almost decided not to answer the phone call from her.
“Yeah, Brandi?” Boss said as he was unlocking his front door.
“Oh, so you wasn’t gonna call me back?” she asked with an attitude.
“For what?” Boss asked as he was locking the front door. “I tell you what though, Brandi. You was right about me being a man and telling you straight up what was real. So I’ma say this and be done with it and you!”
“Wait!” Brandi cried. “What you mean done with it and me?”
“I actually was feeling you, shorty, but all I was asking was for us to slow down so I could build myself. But after how you showed me how much you was down for me or respected me when you hung up the phone in my face, I think it’s best I let you do you and I’ma do me! We cool though, shorty?”
“Oh, so that’s how you wanna handle it, ReSean?”
“You decided this when you ended the call earlier. I don’t do girls, ma! I’m into women, even if I’m younger!” Boss told her, before he hung up the phone on her.