Chapter 20

My adrenaline was still pumping over what Detective Gamble wanted me to do. Even though I had killed a rat to get Detective’s Gamble proposal off my mind, the shit he wanted me to do really had me tripping good. Here was a crooked cop who wanted me to kill another cop who worked in Internal Affairs. Apparently, the Internal Affairs cop had opened up an investigation on Detective Gamble, trying to take him down for various complaints of corruption, police brutality, and extortion.

Murdering the cop for Detective Gamble should have been fair exchange, no robbery. But no, Gamble’s creep ass wanted his cake and ice cream. He wanted me to kill the cop and still pay him a ransom to remain in society—picture that!

After climbing out of the Beamer, I spotted a small crowd standing outside the club. They were the first people here, trying to beat the crowds who loved visiting my club. I saw Tiny at the front door checking out identification and frisking the partygoers with a small wand-like metal detector.   

“What’s up, Big Boy?”

“Ain’t shit, Melo. You know Kisha’s waiting on you. She’s been acting like she on her period all day, so be careful.” He laughed, making me laugh.

“Thanks for the heads up, Big Guy. Remind me to give you a raise.”

“Yeah, I’ma do that so I can start rocking dat all-white everythang like you,” he said in a sly tone, referring to my outfit as I stepped into the club.

“Go ‘head with dat bullshit, boy!” I waved at him before disappearing inside.

Once I got inside the club, I heard Kisha calling out my name. I ignored her, making a beeline straight for my office. As soon as I entered my office, I flopped down face first on the low plush couch near the door. I growled loudly in the cushions at what the crooked cop wanted me to do just to keep my freedom.

I didn’t mind killing, but only when it was for the right cause. I mean, I had killed a cop before, but he was a childhood friend of mine who got in my way while I was trying to gun down a rat. This situation here was too wicked even for my taste. I mean, to kill a cop for a cop, what would that make me? I thought, turning over on the couch to the sound of knocking on my office door.

“It’s open!” I called out and Kisha walked in, rocking some wide-legged gray wool slacks over medium-heeled open toe sandals and a pink button up blouse that suffocated her huge DD-sized breasts. She had a pearl necklace hanging down in the cleavage of her huge melons and some matching pearl earrings.

“What’s wrong with you? I know you heard me calling you. Why you ain’t stop for me?” she asked, leaning over me, putting her big hooters right in my face.

I could see the pale lipstick and too much eyeliner and I smelled the sweet perfume that she wore to hide her natural body scent.

 “You wouldn’t want to know, Kish.” I sighed and motioned for her to take a seat in one of the leather chairs sitting in front of my desk.

Kisha took a seat, crossed her chubby legs, and folded her hands over one knee. One of her fingers had a nice platinum ring with a diamond on it that had a faint canary-yellow hue.

Kisha looked incredible. Everything fit together on her nicely. But I couldn’t offer the usual compliments I gave her because I was stressing over how this punk-ass detective was harassing me and coming out to my home.

Kisha sat as calmly as a lioness waiting for dinner to cross her path, and the fact that I didn’t compliment her didn’t seem to unsettle her. She didn’t look like she was waiting on a compliment from me anyway, so I just asked, “Why you call the house instead of me, claiming that you needed my help tonight, when you know you can handle this shit by yourself?”

In her professional, neutral voice, Kisha said, “Because I needed to talk to you.” She sighed and then added “I want more than a co-manager position here. Melo, I want to be your partner, fifty-fifty.”

“Why, Kish?” I asked, not really caring about her reasons. But this quick question usually provided a good idea of how much money somebody wanted to take from me.

“Is that important?” she asked. “I’m damn near running this place on my own anyway.”

“And you getting paid, ain’t you? How do I know you ain’t making money under the table behind my back?”

“If I did, you wouldn’t know, since you’re rarely here anyway,” she argued.

I didn’t need sarcasm from her right now. “Don’t say that, Kish. You have no idea what you getting yourself into with your mouth.”        

“So you can’t make me your partner?” she asked, sounding like a spoiled brat.

“Where’s all this shit coming from? Shit was good just a week ago.”

She obviously didn’t understand the complexities of my life. I had at least twenty niggas I was taking care of in prisons all over America from time to time. Even though I loved every minute of it, sometimes it drained me, but it kept me on my toes and was a constant reminder on where I could end up on any given day. Now this crooked cop was trying to get me to kill another cop and push me back into a jail cell if I didn’t meet his monetary demands. On top of that, Kisha up and starts demanding a partnership. I figured I’d make out better all the way around the board if I crushed Gamble’s cruddy ass before the deadline he gave me to kill the other cop expired. I’d just have to drag him along until I could find a way to kill him and get away with it. Kisha, on the other hand….   

“So you just going to ignore me, Melo?” Kisha pressed, breaking into my thoughts.

“Ain’t nobody ignoring you, Kish, Damn!” I griped, knowing I’d have to keep her happy for a few more days, at least until I took care of this police business, so that I could focus on my business here at the club and with my publishing company.

Kisha’s such a genius at running things around the club that I couldn’t risk losing her, and I think she realized that. That’s the reason why I thought she was pressing the issue to be my partner all of a sudden.

“Listen, Kish, I understand where you coming from, but I don’t have time for this right now. I got a lot of shit on my mind. Just let me handle my business first and then we’ll rap about a partnership, okay?”

“Are you sure you going to keep your word to me?” she wanted to know.

I pretended to think that one over, making her suck her teeth loudly in irritation.

“Look, Kish, I didn’t keep you around here for nothing, right? But if you can’t have some patience and wait ‘til I handle a few things and you prefer to do you, just say the word. I’m sure you’ll be missed, but life goes on with or without you around.”

“All right, Melo, I’m sorry,” she sighed. “Maybe that wasn’t necessary, but ever since that shooting the other night, I been thinking. I was like, damn, if I die right now, I wouldn’t have shit to leave my family.”

That’s funny. She didn’t look like the “planning to help her family in the event of her demise” type. “Kish, I got you. Just hang around for me, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever,” she hissed in a nasty tone. “I’ma hang around here for thirty more days. If you ain’t ready to talk business and partnership by then, I’m handing in my walking papers.” She got out of the chair and sort of shook herself a little, making her outfit settle back on her chunky frame without wrinkling.

As she stepped towards the door like she was a runway model on the stage in Milan somewhere, her wide hips moved in a way to express that she was annoyed, but not ready to sever our business relationship. Somewhat entranced, I raised up on my elbows to watch her angry exit.

Kisha stopped at the door and looked at me long and hard for a moment. “You need to make out a living will just in case something happens to you before the thirty days up, so your wife knows to bring me on board as her partner…just in case!” she emphasized before leaving and slamming the door.

What the fuck? Just in case? Bitch, you probably the one who paid someone to take a shot at me the other night so you could own this club! Then again, she ain’t crazy enough to ride with me if she wanted me dead. But she did get low with the quickness, right before the shooting happened, I thought, making a mental note to really keep my eyes on Kisha from here on out.

“Just in case,” I repeated, becoming annoyed and even more suspicious by Kisha’s sudden suggestion for me to make out a living Will.