Chapter Forty-Five

Petie drove uptown to Washington Heights after speaking to Calderon. He told him he wanted some weight, but he had something else in mind.

He got to Calderon’s building and whistled up at his window. Calderon buzzed him in, and Petie walked up two flights to his apartment. Calderon greeted him at the door, happy as ever to see him. He knew that whenever Petie came through he always spent dough.

Calderon went into the bedroom and came back out with the two bricks that Petie told him he wanted to cop from him. He offered to weigh it, but Petie told him it wasn’t necessary.

”Yo, poppy, I’m seeing you on TV every day. You gotta be careful, ‘cause they looking for you like crazy, my friend,” he said. Petie hated that ‘poppy’ shit. He told Calderon that he was about to bounce. He got up like he was pulling out his money, but instead he pulled out his burner. Calderon froze like water in an ice tray. ”Poppy, what ‘appen?” he asked Petie.

Petie looked at him and gave him a crooked smile. ”Poppy this, nigga,” he said before putting two in Calderon’s chest and one in his head. Petie didn’t think anybody else was in the apartment, but he walked through just to make sure.... Calderon, knowing that he was on the run, had trusted him enough to let him into his apartment while he was there alone with all that weight in the house—dumb muthafucka.

Petie put on a pair of gloves that were inside his jacket and ransacked the apartment. He took a kitchen knife out of the sink. He cut open the mattress in the bedroom and then he tore open the living room couch. There he found a bag of money, which he laid in the middle of the floor. When he cut open the sofa bed he found two more bricks. He put everything in a shopping bag and bounced.

Petie lucked out when he caught Calderon off guard like that; usually there would be like six cats in his crib. But Calderon had dealt with Petie so long that he trusted him. However, Petie would never have been able to pull that off in the daytime.

He got back to the hotel and paid for another day in the room he shared with Patrice. Then he rented another room, where he called Ladelle and left a message on his voicemail, telling him to come through, before going back to the other room with Patrice. She didn’t know about the additional spot.

Peite’s cell phone rang. It was Ladelle returning his call. He wanted to know what was up, and Petie told him he had something for him and that he needed to get there. Petie hung up before Ladelle could say anything else; too many questions weren’t good. Ladelle knew he was at the Fame Hotel on 135^th Street, so Petie just waited for him to call and say he was outside. He took a sack of money out of the bag and counted it up real quick. He counted eleven hundred dollars and then gave it to Patrice, telling her to put it in her pocketbook. Petie kissed her on the forehead and headed back to the other room he had rented.

He got to the other room and started counting up more money when his phone rang. It was Ladelle, telling him he was outside.

”Aiight, dick, listen: I’ma come down, but I need you to go to that store on the corner and see if they got a calculator—and bring me back a pack of cigarettes,” Petie said before hanging up. Knowing Petie and what he might be up to, Ladelle thought twice about his request before making a move.

Petie gave Ladelle enough time to go to the store and come back before he went downstairs to meet him. The desk clerk wanted more money when he saw Ladelle about to go upstairs with Petie. Ladelle gave him thirty bucks.

When they got upstairs, Ladelle put the bag with the calculator and cigarettes in it on the table. Petie took out the calculator and sat on the bed. He pulled the bag with the goods in it from underneath the bed and took out the bricks. Ladelle asked him who he had hit and Petie told him.

”Oh, word? You hit Calderon at his crib?” Ladelle said, trying to appear normal.

Petie gave him a ‘what you think’ look and told him the money was rightfully theirs for all the years they had copped from those Germans. ”Fuck those oiyes, dick. How many times we paid for a hundred grams, and when we got back it was only ninety-two or some foul shit like that?” Petie said.

”Yeah, you right...you definitely right about that,” Ladelle said somberly. He was feeling totally guilty about being there now. He reluctantly sat down and started stacking the money in tens, twenties, fifties and one-hundred-dollar bills. He wished he could back-track his steps and tell Petie he had something else to do. But he was here now....

”I got this chick upstairs in another room, so I’m gonna run up and check on her. Hold it down until I get back,” Petie said before exiting the room. Aside from everything they had discussed, he was still suspicious of Patrice. He thought that maybe he shouldn’t have given her that money, because it might kick up her shit. But at the same time he had to know if she could be trusted. If she couldn’t be trusted with eleven hundred bucks, then she damn well couldn’t be trusted with what he was about to share with her.

He opened the door not expecting to see her, but she was sitting up watching the news. She told him that they had just shown his picture. The look on her face made Petie feel that she was proud to be in the company of one of New York’s most wanted. And he could tell that she wanted some dick, but he told her he was taking care of business and to get some rest because they were leaving tomorrow. ”I need you to be on point,” he added. She smiled and rubbed his manhood, thinking about how big he was, even when he was soft. Petie rubbed her shoulder and went back downstairs to rejoin Ladelle.

Share and Will were at the 125^th Street restaurant for its re-opening. She had been in contact with the contractors the whole time during the renovation, and she was more than happy with the repairs; the restaurant looked even better than it did before. She was impressed with the new security system, and she decided that they could officially open the store back up tomorrow for business.

When Abdul had returned from vacation he was horrified when he heard what happened. He was devastated, and he still had not yet gotten over it.

Will drove downtown to another location that Share was interested in buying; this McDonald’s was larger and in a busier section of the city. Their conversations these days were mainly based on the restaurants and business in general.

Share was anxious to find out Will’s results. He had handled the news about her having the virus like a trooper. She wasn’t really sure if she had contracted the virus from Petie. She wondered how many people he had infected and if he knew he had the virus and just didn’t care enough about anybody to tell them. Then she wondered if people would be able to look at her and tell that she was infected. Finally she wondered if she and Will would be able to have kids. So many things were going through her mind that she couldn’t think straight.

”Why you so quiet, ma. Penny for your thoughts,” Will said taking her out of her zone.

”I’m sorry, Will. I was just thinking about my health...I pray that your results are negative. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll understand. I just want us to always be friends, and please know that I never meant to cause you any pain or grief,” she said on the brink of tears. Will pulled the car over and put it in park.

”What, you plannin’ on goin’ somewhere?” Will said. ”Because I already told you I’m not goin’ nowhere—positive or negative. I told you that years ago, so don’t think a nigga gon’ run out on you now. Ride or die, ma. We in this for life.”

Petie looked into Patrice’s honey brown eyes. ”I got you, ma,” he said. “All you gotta do is follow my instructions. I’m gonna help you get your life back together, and maybe you can help me, too.” He asked her if she had any family still living in Baltimore, and she told him that her mother and aunt were there. Petie looked at her and smiled. Then he did what he didn’t normally do with women other than his wife—he kissed her on the lips, and he told her he was going to make a move so they could have some money. He said he was on the run and had to leave New York as soon as possible. He told her not to worry because he would take care of everything.

”You game or what?” he asked her.

”Of course—when we leaving?” Patrice said. Petie told her he was going to pay for the room for another day and then take care of his business before they bounced.

”Believe me when I tell you we gonna be all right. I got this. Just don’t go against the grain, and everything will fall in place. You hear me?”

”I’m with you, baby boy,” Patrice said. She had been smoking for almost a year. And she had come across plenty of niggas who had gangsta written all over their face, but she had never spent this much time with any of them. She and Petie had spent just the last few days together and he already made her feel special. But what really got to her was when he told her that smoking crack was a dead issue. Most niggas tried to give it to her, but Petie was doing just the opposite. That really made her feel good.

Patrice’s mother didn’t know that she was smoking crack. That would have broken her heart, so Patrice just kept it to herself. She missed her mother, and it felt good to be able to call her and say, ”Mom, I’m coming home.”