Chapter Twenty-eight
“She is so fuckin’ sexy,” Bobby said as he drove away from Susan’s house.
“I told you, Susan is fine as hell,” Black said, shaking his head.
“When she laughed and them titties started bouncing, I—”
“I knew that I needed to get you up outta there before you started telling her jokes.”
“Because you know I was just getting started.” He laughed. “And it was you who needed to get you up outta there.”
“What you mean?” Black asked, but he knew what he meant, and he knew that Bobby was right.
“I’ve known you as long as I can remember, Mike, and I know you have a type.”
“I know that, Bob.”
Bobby laughed. “Shit, even Shy knows you have a type, and she knows that Susan is definitely your type.”
Susan was his type, and for that reason, she moved him in ways that, to this point in his life, only Shy and Jada had, and that worried him. Although he’d never admit it to Bobby, he was glad that Jada lived in another country, too. Susan wasn’t safely tucked away in another country. She lived in Scarsdale, a twenty-five-minute ride from his front door.
“Feel free to stop by anytime, Mike,” Bobby said, imitating Susan’s sultry voice. “All you gotta do is pay me a little attention and this pussy is yours, Mike,” he continued.
“I know that, Bobby,” Black said, and then he noticed that Bobby was driving downtown. “Where we going?”
“Tribeca.”
“Fuck are you going to Tribeca for?”
“I told you that RJ and Marvin got something that they wanna run by you.”
“You know what it is?”
“Yeah, it’s something they wanna run by you.” Bobby took out his phone.
“Who you calling?”
“Marvin. He said to call him if we can make it by there tonight.”
“Tell him that we’re on our way.”
Black relaxed and they drove to Pesce Tribeca, one of the restaurants that Marvin owned. On the way, Black called Michelle to make sure everything went all right with her and Easy when they got home. She told him that once she told Shy that she dropped him off at Shooters and that he would call her later, she said okay, and that was that. “And I made sure that William was on the same page.”
“That’s my girl,” her father said, and then he had to go.
“Bye, Daddy.”
Michelle ended the call, thinking about how much she really liked driving the Alfa Romeo much more than she liked driving her car. The interior was laid: leather upholstery, power-adjustable front seats, heated front and rear seats, and the steering wheel was heated. The Alfa had a dual-pane sunroof, remote push-button start, dual-zone automatic climate control, Bluetooth, fourteen-speaker Harman Kardon stereo, an eight-inch touch screen, and auto navigation. Michelle had decided that when her mother gave back her keys, she would ask her father if she could drive the Alfa. He only got it because her mother thought it was cute. Since he didn’t like to drive, that would be her car after that.
When Black hung up with Michelle, he called Rain and told her and Monika to meet him at Pesce Tribeca. He wanted to hear what they had planned to shut down the Albanians if they kept coming at them after their data was returned. As much as he hated it, Black had to consider the possibility that that was exactly what would happen.
Black and Bobby arrived at Pesce Tribeca, one of the two upscale restaurants that Marvin owned in Tribeca. The other, Trikala Greek Taverna, served authentic Mediterranean cuisine. He also owned a small chain of three fitness centers called Healthy Lifestyle: the Power Punch Gym, and Marvin controlled the contract of welterweight prospect Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Benton.
Although everything seemed wonderful in his world, Marvin was still dealing with his feelings over the betrayal and loss of his relationship with Sataria, a woman who had killed multiple husbands. Although he really didn’t like how it sounded, by definition that was who Sataria was: his own personal black widow.
Marvin had never loved a woman the way that he loved Sataria. She had shattered his trust. The sadness of the loss of the relationship that he thought that he was building with her was depressing. Thinking back about the good times in their relationship only made him miserable. That was when the thought settled in that he would never love or completely trust a woman ever again. However, there was nothing like the comfort of a woman. The two were inconsistent: wanting the pleasures of women, but never trusting them.
There was an old saying in player logic that the way to get over your woman was to fuck another one. The more women you fucked, the merrier. He had been fucking Joslin Braxton. She meant it when she said that she was nothing but a drug dealer’s girlfriend. And once she realized that Marvin wasn’t going to take care of her in the manner she’d become accustomed to and he actually mentioned that she consider getting a job, Joslin moved on. However, she did call every once in a while to get some.
Marvin had begun seeing Savannah Russell. She was the assistant to former IBC middleweight champion turned fight promotor Frank Sparrow. He also had his eye on LaSean Douglas. She was setting up an online gambling operation for Barbara. Each time he saw her, LaSean had made it obvious to him that he could have her with just a bit of effort. So he was working his way around to her, too.
Black and Bobby were greeted by Amy, the hostess at Pesce, and she escorted them to a small private dining room that was off of the main room. When they were seated, Liliana wheeled to the table a cart filled with food samples, a bottle of Rémy Martin Napoleon, a carafe of apple martini, and three glasses. When Black saw the carafe, he knew that Wanda had been invited to hear whatever it was that Marvin and RJ wanted to run by him. While Liliana poured their drinks, Black and Bobby helped themselves to the samples, and it wasn’t long before Wanda arrived at Pesce, and Amy escorted her to the dining room. Bobby was surprised to see her when she walked into the private room.
“What are you doing here?” Bobby asked.
“RJ called and asked if I could meet you and Mike here, so here I am.” Wanda sat down, and Liliana poured her an apple martini. “Thank you,” she said to Liliana. “What are you doing here?”
“RJ said that he and Marvin had something they wanna run by Mike,” Bobby said.
“Apparently it’s something they want to run by all of us,” Black said as Marvin and RJ came into the room.
In addition to being Sherman’s top lieutenant, RJ had established himself in the entertainment industry as a producer and as a multi-city concert promoter. Where Marvin had accepted that he would never love a woman again, RJ’s problem was the opposite. He was in love with two women: his current girlfriend, Mia Rubio, and his ex-girlfriend Venus.
When Venus gave him an ultimatum, “Marry me or it’s over,” RJ, who wasn’t ready to get married, let her walk away. Heartbroken, RJ threw himself into his work and went on tour with The One, and he tried to forget about Venus in nightly orgies. When he returned from tour, he met The Breakout contestant Mia Rubio, and the vibe between them was immediate.
What RJ didn’t know was that Venus’s plan hadn’t changed. She still intended to marry him, and there was something else. Venus was pregnant. Since her plan hadn’t changed, while he was on tour Venus kept coming to Sunday dinner with his family and never mentioned that she had broken up with him because he wouldn’t marry her. Imagine his surprise when he showed up for Sunday dinner and there was Venus.
They fought about it and had makeup sex over it, and then Venus told RJ that she was pregnant with his baby. He promised to stand by her and be there for his child, but he still wasn’t ready to get married. They fought about it and had makeup sex over it, but it changed nothing for him, and Venus angrily ended it again. But Venus still wasn’t done. Her next move was to tell Bobby and Pam that she was pregnant, and for Venus, it was the move that turned everything around in her eyes. Before she and Bobby left to go on vacation with Black and Shy, Pam had sat Venus down and had a chat.
“You need to stop being so stupid.”
“Excuse me?” Venus had asked Pam indignantly because nobody talked to her like that.
“You need to stop acting like a stupid little girl and start acting like a woman. Stop being so demanding all the time. It gets on my nerves, with you whining about . . . about every little thing, so I’m sure that it gets on his nerves too.”
That conversation with Pam had an impact on the expectant mother, and she made changes in her life and how she dealt with RJ.
Now it may or may not have had something to do with what Marvin called “that massive guilt trip” his sister, Tenikka, who had grown up without their father in her life, laid on RJ, but he was totally committed to being there for Venus and his child.
“I need my brother to be a better man than our father was. Can you do that for me?” Tenikka had asked of her brother, and he promised that he would.
Although she was still extremely needy, the new Venus was patient, considerate, and understanding of RJ’s time. He noticed the change and the effort that she was making, and RJ, who still loved her, appreciated this new Venus. Since she was no longer any trouble at all, RJ would happily do whatever she asked.
“For the baby.”
Therefore, while Mia was on tour in Europe opening for Cristal, Venus had moved into his parents’ house, and they were having a baby shower for her at Black and Shy’s house.
RJ fist-bumped with Marvin, and he approached the table. “I know you all are busy,” Marvin began.
“So we want to thank you for coming tonight,” RJ said.
“At Uncle Mike’s urging, The Family now has a controlling interest in the Spring Hill Media Group,” Marvin said and looked at Black. “As we discussed, RJ and I have expanded his promotion company to include boxing in areas where he has existing relationships.”
“Because of Big Night Records and the success of The Breakout, we plan to develop music programming,” RJ said. “We’ve been working with Margie Gorman, the vice president of artist development at Big Night, so we have access to a lot of musical talent we’re not utilizing. Using those same relationships I’ve built around the country, in addition to music content programming, competition shows, musical-based reality shows, and documentaries, for example, we’ll also have the capacity to produce sports entertainment programming with Spring Hill for distribution.”
“We could go into detail about how everything is going to work,” Marvin said and held up the proposal they had written. “But what do you think, Uncle Mike?”
“It all sounds good, but since you know I know most of this, what did you need from me?”
“We don’t need anything, Uncle Mike. We just want your blessing before we moved forward,” RJ said.
“All of your blessings,” Marvin added quickly.
“I’m flattered just to be consulted,” Wanda said modestly. “I would like to go over the details of your plan with you, but I agree with Mike. It all sounds good.” Since she never had any of her own, Bobby’s children were her children, so she was proud of what RJ had accomplished and the small part she played in getting him started in the music business.
“What about you, Pop?” RJ asked because it was important to have his father’s approval.
“I’m so fuckin’ proud of you, son,” Bobby said. “That all sounds great, RJ.”
“Thank you,” both RJ and Marvin said.
“Congratulations,” Black said, and he stood up thinking that this was nice. “I’m sure it’ll be very successful, and we’ll all make a bunch of money.”
He appreciated that they thought enough to seek their approval. If this were any other time or under any other set of circumstances, he would have told Marvin to break out the champagne so they could celebrate, but this was not the time. They were fighting a cold war with the Albanians, and there was no time to waste.
“We’re out.”
Bobby stood up, and he shook hands with RJ. “I’m proud of you,” he said and hugged him.
“Thanks, Pop.”
“I’m gonna stick around here for a while. I wanna hear more about your plan,” Wanda said as Black and Bobby walked toward the door. “Call me tomorrow and let me know what’s going on with the Albanians, Mike.”
“I will.”
Black and Bobby stepped outside as a van came to a screeching stop in front of Pesce Tribeca. When the panel door opened, five men jumped out. Black and Bobby dove for the ground as their Albanian attackers spread out and opened fire on them. As the glass shattered, the customers inside Pesce dove under tables for cover. RJ, Marvin, and Wanda ran to the office to the weapons safe that each location in The Family had. Marvin opened the safe and grabbed two AK-47s. He handed one to RJ, and they ran out of the office. Wanda got a 9 mm and some clips and went to get into the fight.
“You hear that?” Monika asked. She and Rain weren’t far away from Pesce to meet Black and Bobby.
“Sounds like shooting,” Rain said, and Monika drove faster.
As bullets flew over their heads, Black and Bobby took out their weapons. Marvin and RJ took up positions in the window, and all waited for an opportunity to return fire. When Monika rounded the corner, Rain had already mounted the M203 grenade launcher on her M4 carbine. She opened the sunroof, stood up, and fired.
“Look out!” one of the men yelled.
The explosion that followed took out the van, the driver, and two of their Albanian attackers. RJ stood up and fired, and one man went down. Marvin raised the AK-47 and fired. His shots hit one in the chest, and he fell to the ground. The remaining attacker continued firing, so he was easy prey for Black. He stood up quickly, raised his weapon, and shot the last of the men.
He extended his hand to help Bobby up as Wanda came out of Pesce with RJ and Marvin.
“Everybody all right?” Black said.
“I’m fine,” Wanda said, and RJ nodded.
“I’m going to check on my customers,” Marvin said and went inside as Rain and Monika walked up.
“Everybody all right?” Rain asked.
“We’re okay,” Black said and turned to Monika. “You were right. I’m tired of fuckin’ around with these muthafuckas. It’s time to start taking it to these bastards.”