I followed security outside, and watched as they beat on dude for a minute before they tossed him face-first in the street. His boy, who wanted no parts of the ass kicking, waited until security had walked away before he went and picked his boy up. As he walked away with him, he looked back at me and nodded his head. I nodded mine as Wanda walked up and stood next to me.
“You didn’t have to do that, Mike.”
“Yes I did. Nobody is going to disrespect you up in my spot. Especially a punk ass nigga like that.” I looked at Wanda. “And I thought that I told you to stop carrying that gun. One day, you’re gonna pull that gun out and somebody is going to make you use it.”
“Yes, sir,” Wanda said, and laughed a little.
“I’m serious, Wanda.”
“I know you are, Mike, and you're right. When I pull it, I best be ready to use it,” Wanda said and turned to go back inside. Since I wasn’t finished talking to her, I followed her back into The Late Night.
“So ask yourself, college girl, are you really ready to stand in somebody’s face and pull the trigger.”
“I guess we’ll just have to find out one day,” Wanda said, and all I could do was shake my head because she can be so fuckin’ hardheaded sometimes. But you know what, she says the same shit about me, so fuck it.
I made my way through the crowd with Wanda following closely behind me. Once we were in the office and Wanda closed and locked the door, she had questions for me.
“What happened tonight with Henderson and them?”
“Henderson is dead.”
“I guess things went the way you wanted with Drew, or is he dead too?”
“No. Drew and I now have an understanding.”
Wanda nodded her head like she was pleased with the outcome. “Any problems? I mean did any of Henderson’s people try anything?”
“No, Wanda, it went just like I told you it would. Those people are loyal to Drew and they were no trouble at all.” I paused. “At least not yet anyway.”
Wanda nodded her head. “It’s going just like we planned it,” she said, and I’ve known her long enough to know that she was thinking about the plan and our next move.
Everybody says that me and Wanda are two sides of one criminal mind. Some of those same people think that eventually me and her will get together, but I don’t ever see that happening. For one, been there done that and it lasted a week and by the end of the week, we couldn’t stand each other and two, Wanda is like my sister.
“By the way, Silky’s dead too.”
“The pimp?”
“You know anybody else named Silky?”
“That wasn’t part of the plan. What you kill him for?”
“He deserved it.”
“True, that bastard needed to die,” Wanda said, and smiled a very satisfied smile.
She couldn’t stand Silky either.
“Who’s next?”
I looked at the clock on my desk. “I was thinking about grabbing The Kid and going to see Montel.”
Montel Lamont was a loan shark and a gambler that ran his game out of an apartment. He was a lying, cheating, backstabbing mutha fucka that would sell his grandmother if he thought he could make a dollar. André told me that back in the day, Montel was playing poker and lost big time to a hustler called Big Sky.
“Story is that when Montel couldn’t pay, Sky said don’t worry about the money, just let me have your wife and we’ll call it even. That nigga said take her,” André told me, and said that wasn’t the only time he did that.
Me and Montel had a run-in over André’s money once and he had to feel pain … okay, I damn near killed him, so I wasn’t one of his favorite people. But that nigga clocked so much paper outta that game so like Silky, André let him do what he wanted, but that was then. Now, I had André’s blessing to do whatever I wanted as long as it made him more money.
“You gonna kill him too?”
“No, Wanda. I’m not gonna kill him. I’m just going to talk to him.”
“I’m just asking because I know you don’t like him.”
“It’s not even about that, Wanda. This is business.”
“Make sure you remember that.”
“Yes, mommy,” I said and Wanda took a playful swing at me.
“I ain’t Emily. If I was, I would have beat your little ass a long time ago,” Wanda said, and we both laughed.
I stood up. “What you getting ready to do?”
“I’m going home to bed. I need to get up in the morning and study.” Wanda paused. “But before you go, there’s something I need to tell you about.”
I sat back down. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been applying to law schools?”
“Really?” I said, and tried to act surprised. Her mother had told me she was applying a month ago. But even if she hadn’t, I know that Wanda has wanted to be a lawyer since we were kids.
“Really, Mike. And I’ve been accepted at New York Law School, Columbia Law, and the New York University School of Law.”
I hugged her. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Mike.”
“I am so proud of you. You decide which one you want to go to?”
“Not really, but honestly, Mike, unless I get a scholarship, I can’t afford law school.”
I stood up again. “You just decide where you wanna go and you let me worry about how we’re gonna pay for it,” I said and headed for the door.
“Mike.”
“What?” I turned and asked.
“Thank you.”
“You can thank me by graduating law school and becoming a lawyer.” I had a feeling we were going to need one.
“With the moves we’re making, having a strong criminal lawyer on retainer wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Wanda said, and then she got that look on her face that she gets when she wants something. “I’ll be our lawyer, Mike,” she said definitely and nodded her head. “But in the meantime, I’ll start making some inquiries. And before you say André got lawyers,” Wanda dropped her voice a few octaves trying to imitate mine. “There may come a time when our interests conflict with his and we need to be prepared for that.”
“I agree. Make it happen.”
Wanda is the smartest person I know, she always has been. I trust her like I trust Bobby.
“I know you'll always do what’s best for us,” I said and turned to leave again.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“You really going to see Montel now?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How you getting there?”
“On the train. Kid has the schedules down pat.” I pointed to my head. “Kid’s sharp.”
“Why don’t you let me and Vickie take you?”
“Why you let Vickie get fucked up like that?” I asked to change the subject.
“I am her friend, Mike, not her mother.”
“You couldn’t say ‘you had enough’?”
“Honestly, Mike, I don’t know how she got so fucked up. We were hanging out at Ricky’s and like one minute she was fine, and the next.” Wanda shook her head. “I mean this happened while I was dancing. I come back and sit down and she’s talking all over herself. What did you expect me to do?”
“Nothing, I guess,” I started to leave again.
“So you want me to drive you to Montel’s?” Wanda asked as she walked past me.
“Okay, Wanda, you can drop us off, but take Vickie home first.”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind.”
It took a while, but once we found Vickie and convinced her that it was time to go, we left The Late Night. On the way to Wanda’s apartment, Vickie fell asleep. Talking all over herself and now, she’s crashed out on The Kid’s shoulder. I wondered not if she was sniffing blow, but how much blow she was sniffing. Me and Freeze waited outside while Wanda put Vickie to bed.
When we got to Montel’s building, Wanda parked down the street and I asked her why. “I know you don’t think you’re coming with us,” I said even though I knew that was her plan all along.
“Why can’t I go inside? It ain’t like I haven’t been there before. And besides, if you’re just going to talk, why can’t I go inside?”
She had a point. Wanda had been up in there plenty of times and since killing Montel wasn’t part of the plan, and there wasn’t a real good reason for her not to come … other than … because I said so … I didn’t say anything; I just started for the building. Freeze followed me and Wanda quickly locked her car and then rushed to catch up with us.
Once the doorman let us in, I looked at Freeze and pointed in his face. “I don’t have to tell you what your job is, right?”
“Protect Wanda.”
“With your fuckin’ life, my nigga,” I said, and went looking for Montel. When I saw him coming out of one of the back rooms with a hoe named Stylisha, I knew I had picked a good time to talk to him. I heard Stylisha got good pussy, so he’ll be in a good mood.
“What’s up, Black,” Montel said when I approached.
“You and I need to have a conversation.”
Montel laughed. “Sounds important.”
“It is.”
“Well, come on; let’s talk out on the fire escape. Too much noise in here,” he said, and began making his way to the window.
I made eye contact with Freeze. He tapped Wanda on the shoulder and they began making their way to the window behind me. When Montel and I were outside on the fire escape, I looked back inside, and saw that both Freeze and Wanda were standing there.
“So what’s shakin’, Black?”
I took my time and laid out our program, you know, that he and I were partners in this now, just like I did with Drew. Seventy-thirty his way and we still kick up twenty-five percent to André.
“Nigga you must be out your fuckin’ mind. Coming up in here and telling me some bullshit like that. Shit! You think just ’cause you got Emmet to roll over for you, that you can step to me … like this … all fuckin’ incorrect and shit. Yeah, mutha fucka, I heard about that shit and I ain’t the mutha fuckin’ one. Now, nigga, you need to get the fuck outta here before my boys throw you out,” he said, and grabbed my arm like he was gonna put me out his damn self.
I jerked my arm back and punched him in the face. I hit him so hard that he lost his balance. Then I hit him again, this time he stumbled back and went over the rail.