“Hi, Mike,” she said the second I opened my eyes.
She was lying on her side next to me with her hand on her head and I wondered if she slept that way.
“Hi,” I said, and tried to remember her name.
I knew who she was; she dances sometimes at André’s private spot in Ricky’s afterhours club. She says she has a real job, and she only dances there when she needs extra money. I’ve seen her in there a few times, but last night was the first time we talked.
André had left word that he wanted to talk to me and Bobby. He heard that we had gone to see Emmet that night and he wanted to know what happened. André laughed just about the entire time Bobby was telling him the story.
“That’s right, nigga; that’s how you do that shit. But you know that the word is gonna get around. But that’s what you want.” André laughed. “Emmet gonna tell everybody. He already called here a couple of times.”
“That’s why Emmet was first.”
“Smart. Now all the weak mutha fuckas will just roll over for you and you won’t have any problems with them. But the flip side of that tune is that the others, the ones that have muscle, they’re all gonna dig in.”
“We got this,” Bobby told him. “You know old Vicious Black there got a plan.”
I hate it when Bobby calls me that. I hate being called Vicious Black, like I’m some kind of fuckin’ animal, but it’s just worst when Bobby does it. But it works to my advantage sometimes, so fuck it. I did have a plan. I had the whole thing planned out to the last detail. I read somewhere that if you don’t have a plan, then you plan to fail. I wasn’t ever planning on failing at anything.
We left André’s office and we were about to leave when she caught my eye. She was dancing off in a corner for some guy and he was dropping money at her feet. “I’ll catch up with you later,” I told Bobby as I watched her.
He looked to see what I was looking at. “Short, big titties, fat ass, she got fuck me Mike written all over her. I’ll get with you tomorrow,” Bobby said, and left as I walked up on her.
What got my attention, other than the fact that she was fine as hell, was that she wasn’t letting him touch her. Either she’d dance away like any good seductress, or she’d move his hands when he did. There was something different about her, and that piqued my interest.
“This a private show,” he shouted over the music when I got closer. “Oh … I’m sorry Black.”
She stopped dancing and turned around. “Hi, Mike,” she said, and waved. “You want me to dance for you?”
“Maybe some other time … when you’re not busy.”
“I’m done dancing for him because he doesn’t know how to do what he’s told,” she said, and started picking up her money.
“Fuck you mean you done? Much money as I just dropped,” he shouted at her. I leaned forward and he sat back in his seat. “Uh … I’m sorry Black.”
“I’m all yours,” she said when she finished picking up her money. “Where you wanna go?”
“Outta here.”
She started putting her clothes on where she stood. I’m talking real clothes, not no cheesy stripper outfit.
“You ain’t said nothing but a word. I didn’t want to be up in here anyway.”
But here you are, I thought but didn’t say. “You ready?”
She put on her dress and spun around. “Zip me and we can go.”
We left there, went around to a couple of spots, and had drinks before we ended up back here. We drank some Rémy, smoked a couple of bobs, and we talked. She’s smart, so I liked talking to her. And then she came out of that dress, danced for me, and the next thing you know, I got her bent over the couch.
“Did you sleep in that position?”
“No,” she said quickly and with conviction and then she looked insulted. Then the look on her pretty face softened. “Well … kinda,” she said and giggled.
I laughed with her. “I won’t tell nobody.”
She moved closer, reached between my legs and began to stroke me. “I know just how to position my head so I don’t mess my hair up while I sleep.”
I had to admit, her hair did look nice, but— “It sounds uncomfortable.”
One second later than the second it was hard, she got on top, rubbed my dick up and down her lips a few times before she slid her body down on it.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling as she put her hands on my chest and rode me slowly. I massaged her soft thighs and she grinded that wet pussy into me, side to side, up and down and in circles until her mouth opened and her eyes rolled back in her head and I could feel her tightening around me.
When she jerked and then collapsed on my chest, I arched my back and pushed it in her as hard and deep as I could until she rolled off me and retreated into the fetal position.
“Don’t touch me.”
After a while, I eased up behind her and slid back inside her. I long dicked her slowly until she began to push back against me. When she did, I reached for her shoulders and I slammed it in her.
“Don’t come inside me. Come on my ass,” she said and I gladly did as she asked ’cause I ain’t trying to make no babies. It may sound old fashion, but I want to be married to the mother of my children. And right now, I wasn’t looking for a wife.
I got out of bed after a while, twisted up another bob for us to smoke and got back in bed. She laid her head on my chest and she was talking when I decided to ask a question.
“What’s your name?”
“Huh?”
“Your name, I forgot it, what is it?”
“You didn’t forget it, I never told you.”
“So what is it?”
But she just looked at me and smiled.
Just then, I heard the door slam.
“Mike! You in here!” Bobby yelled.
“In the bedroom,” I shouted back.
“You alone?”
“No.”
“Hi, Bobby,” she said, and rolled out of bed.
“Who’s that?”
“I don’t know,” I said as she scooped up her dress on her way to the bathroom and closed the door just before Bobby came in the room. We set out a lot of women for each other, so Bobby thinks he can fuck them all.
“Where she at?”
“Bathroom.” I pulled the cover over my head.
“Who is she?”
“I told you I don’t know. She didn’t tell me her name.”
“Fat ass, big titties from last night?” Bobby asked, and sat down on the bed.
“Yeah.”
“Can I fuck her?”
“Why don’t you ask her, but I think she plans on leaving,” I said as I heard the shower go on.
And I didn’t think she would anyway. I didn’t think she was a hoe. I mean I had to talk her out of that dress. I think she really did come up there to use that body to hustle some money and go back to her real life. That’s why she didn’t tell me her name and I know she has no plans to.
“So, you don’t think I can just walk in there naked and fuck her?”
“No.”
“Then since she’s leaving, you need to get up and ride.”
“Where we going?”
“Fuck should I know; outta here.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s after three.”
“Too early.”
“For what?”
“To go see Drew. I wanna talk to him before we see Henderson tonight.”
“You think we can trust him?”
“We don’t have to ’cause I ain’t gonna tell him shit.” I heard the shower go off. “We’ll talk about that later.”
Bobby shook his head and stood up. “What you got to drink?”
“Bottle’s in the kitchen.”
“You want one?”
“No.”
“I’m gonna roll one to ride with so we can get outta here,” Bobby said as the bathroom door opened and she came out. I pulled the cover off my head. Just as I thought, not a hair out of place.
“Hi, Bobby,” she said, and stepped into her heels.
“Hello.” Bobby stepped closer to her. “And you are?”
“Leaving.” She stepped around him. “But I’d like to say goodbye to Mike.”
“Go ahead.”
“Alone.”
After Bobby closed the door, she sat down on the bed.
“I had a good time with you,” she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
Old boy dropped a chunk of money at her pretty feet last night, so she made her money. Now it was time to see if she was a hustler or a hoe.
“I did too.”
“Maybe I’ll see you again next time I’m at André’s.”
I sat up in the bed. “Or you could tell me your name and give me your number.”
She laughed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said and kissed me again, on my lips this time, and then she stood up. She looked around the room and then picked up my pants. “Now get up and walk me out, please.”
“You ain’t afraid to walk past Bobby alone, are you?” I sat up and she handed them to me.
“No, Bobby is harmless. Every time I see him, he asks if he can fuck me, I say no and he goes away.”
“That’s Bobby.”
I walked her to the door, she said her goodbyes and she left. I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, even if she wouldn’t tell me her name.
Once she was gone, I sat down in the living room with Bobby and we went over how we planned to do this thing again. We identified the key players, you know, the ones André said would dig in. That was Montel Lamont, Roscoe Simeon and Bodie Ringling. But first on our list was Canard Henderson.
Henderson was a gambler and hijacker that used to be an enforcer for André back in the days when he was at war against Sonny Jones. The story goes that when the war started going André’s way, Jonesy had secretly approached Henderson about switching sides and offered him a lot of money to kill André. Instead, Henderson warned André about the plot.
“What time you wanna roll by Drew’s?”
“Some time before midnight.”
“Put some clothes on anyway and let’s get the fuck up outta here.”
“You don’t mind if I shower first?”
“No, by all means, throw some water on your ass and let’s get outta here.”
We left and rode around, doing what we usually did; hang out, drink, talk shit and fuck with women, and then we rolled by to talk to Drew. His name was Andrew Glover; he was a leg breaker for Henderson. He didn’t know it, but he was an important part of what I had for his boss.
“Who is it?” Drew shouted when I knocked on the door to his apartment.
“It’s Black and Bobby.”
He opened the door. “What’s up, y’all?”
“You got time to talk?” I asked.
“Yeah, come on in,” Drew said, and walked away from the door. When we stepped inside, I saw that he wasn’t alone. She was wearing a see-through white gown with nothing on under it.
“Evangelia, this is Mike Black and Bobby Ray.”
“Hi,” she waved.
“I need to talk to them, so go on and wait for me in the bedroom?”
“Okay,” she said, grabbed her drink and went into the bedroom. Once she was gone, Drew turned up the music and we all sat down.
“What’s up?” Drew asked.
“There’s gonna be some major changes coming down.”
“What kind of changes?”
“I can’t tell you everything, or exactly how it involves you yet. But I can say that the changes will put you in a stronger position so you can make a lot more money.”
Drew laughed a little. “I’m always for making more money. What I need to do?”
“Nothing now. But when the time comes, I need to know if I can depend on you to be with me or not?”
“How will I know when the time comes?”
Bobby laughed. “Trust me, you’ll know.”
Drew sat there for a second thinking. Bobby put his hand on his gun; he was ready to kill Drew if he said no.
“I’m with you, Black,” Drew said, I held out my hand and we shook on it. I stood up and so did Bobby and Drew. Bobby looked in Drew’s eyes. The look on Bobby’s face said, fuck us and I’ll kill you.
We left Drew’s apartment, and we rode down in the elevator in silence. Neither of us said a word until we were in the car and Bobby had driven off.
“What do you think?” Bobby asked.
“If you’re asking if I trust him—”
“That is what I’m asking, ’cause I damn sure don’t,” he said as we turned on the Avenue. Bobby doesn’t really trust anybody but me and Wanda, so his not trusting Drew came as no surprise.
“The answer is no, but I don’t have to. I trust that Drew knows what's in his self-interest and that he’ll do whatever it takes to protect that interest.”
I knew by now that Drew had to have heard about what happened with Emmet the night before and so had Henderson, which is what I wanted.
“You’re right. If Emmet was true to form—”
“And he always is.”
“He called Henderson crying about us right after he couldn’t get André, so he’ll be expecting us.”
“I don’t think so Bobby, I think that arrogant fuck probably thinks his past relationship with André puts him above everybody else so we won’t try him. But he’s wrong, André don’t give a fuck about him.”
Bobby laughed. “André’s more interested in Henderson’s dick sucking wife,” Bobby said as he pulled in the alley across from The Late Night.