Payback

taken care of, and used to a certain style, a style that he couldn’t afford. 'Baby, you know I love you, right? We can hang out and kick it or whatever, and you can get this pussy, but until you start stackin’ some serious paper, the kind of paper where you drop ten grand on me ’cause it’s a sunny day, I will never be yours,' she told him on more than one occasion, and it was unacceptable. He had to have her. Clark Kent was in love. He was in love with Paulleen. There was only one problem with him loving Paulleen. She was Freeze’s woman.

Shortly after Clark Kent got out of jail, he met Paulleen. She was coming out of Macy’s on 34^th Street. He gave her his number and she called him once in a while because she thought he was cute. But as hard as he tried, she would never see him. Paulleen told him that not only was she with Freeze, but she had a man on the side that took good care of her. This went on for a year before she finally agreed to see him.

Paulleen was worth the wait. Clark Kent was hooked the first time she set it out for him. Now I understand why they call her good pussy Paulleen. When he asked about her man on the side, you know, the one that was taking such good care of her, she said that she had grown tired of him and moved up to bigger and better sex with Clark Kent. What he heard was that Freeze had found out about it and killed the guy. It was a fate that he planned on avoiding, and it just gave him one more reason that he had to kill Freeze.

'I kill Freeze,' Clark Kent said out loud while he sat in his 73 Nova, 'D-Train will blast Birdie, set me up for killin’ Freeze, and Paulleen will be all mine.'

It wasn’t too long after that when he saw Freeze’s truck pull into a parking space. He watched nervously as Paulleen got out, and she and Freeze went into the mall. She was dressed in orange from head to toe. Everything matched: her outfit, her shoes, her accessories. She looked so good to him. It excited Clark Kent just to see her. He wanted to get out of his car and run to her, but that wasn’t what he was there for.

The thing to do now was prepare. He had thought long and hard about how he would kill Freeze. His first thought was to walk right up on Freeze when he exited the mall with Paulleen. He would look her in the eye, make some comment about this being for her, and blow Freeze’s brains out. That’s not strong enough. He would walk up on Freeze and tell him that he was in love with Paulleen and she loved him, and for that reason, he had to die. Yeah, that’s it, he thought. But then he reconsidered. Suppose Freeze wasn’t tryin’ to hear that shit and shot him before he got a chance to declare his love and kill Freeze. No, the thing to do was to wait on them to come out of the mall and roll by Freeze, blastin’.

He briefly gave some thought to the fact that if he did the drive-by thing, Paulleen wouldn’t know that he was the man who killed Freeze. But he slowly came to the conclusion that it was best that way, just in case Paulleen wasn’t happy about the fact he had shot her golden goose and decided to snitch.

So, he waited in the car for somebody to move out of a parking space that would give him the best angle of approach. There wasn’t any rush. He knew how Paulleen shopped; they would be in there for hours.

Paulleen was starving by the time she and Freeze got to the mall, so the first thing she wanted to do was eat. She suggested that they grab something at Applebee’s before they started shopping.

Freeze didn’t care. He had other things on his mind. The night before had been a quiet night, which meant that he got no reports of any of D-Train’s people setting up in any of their spots. Freeze doubted that it was over just like that. What he had to do now was figure out what D-Train had planned, and stop it before it started.

His conversation with Black and Bobby about the situation kept rolling around in his mind. He sees this as an opportunity. Me gone, Bobby layin’ back. Makes it look like your strength is exhausted. We need to deal with this now or other muthafuckas will raise up outta nowhere to try some shit like this. He had to wonder if maybe Black and Bobby thought that he was weak.

After they left Applebee’s, Paulleen went to Baker’s Shoes. After she looked at a few pairs of shoes, she settled on a pair of Mojo sandals, a thong-styled sandal with rhinestone detailing on the upper straps and 3-inch wedge heels. 'What do you think, Freeze?'

'They look a’ight,' Freeze replied without looking. We need to start takin’ it to them, Black. Just fall up in there and start blastin’ like we used to. Maybe that was the answer. Bring back the old days. Shoot first and never get to the ask questions part. He had always thought that they had become too soft lately, but it wasn’t his fault. Even though he was running the day to day operations, it was Wanda who was calling the shots.

'But I like these too,' Paulleen said, holding up a dressy sandal with a snake-and-leather upper, hooded ankle strap, and lacquered platform wedge heel by Wild Pair.

'Fuck it, get ’em both,' Freeze told her, still thinking about the old days. In his opinion, Wanda was now too deeply involved in the business. Sure, Wanda had done a great job at making money for all of them, but back then, Black was very definite about what parts of the business he allowed her to become involved in. Wanda had no say at all in how Black and Bobby ran things. Now, Wanda had her hands up in every part of the business, and she was always on him about the way he chose to handle things. That had to stop.

Once they were finished in Baker’s they passed a Com-Fit Shoes. Paulleen started to go in, but decided to go to Nine West first. There she found a gorgeous sling in a metallic dust kidskin and a pair of EnzoAngiolini’s. Then it was on to Bath amp; Body Works. She wanted to pick up some True Blue Spa, All in a Clay’s Work Detoxifying Facial Mask. 'What’s that for?' Freeze asked.

'It absorbs excess oil and draws impurities from the skin. I use it once a week.'

'You don’t need that shit,' Freeze said as they walked to the register.

'Why not?'

'‘Cause you ain’t got no impurities in you skin. That shit is flawless.'

'Yeah, that’s because I use stuff like this to keep myself beautiful for you, baby,' Paulleen said and gave Freeze a kiss on the cheek. Their next stop was CeBon Cosmetics, where it seemed like Paulleen tried every fragrance before settling on Issey Miyake for her and one for him. After that, Paulleen dragged Freeze into Charade Fashions, but she didn’t see anything that she liked.

That wasn’t the case in Wilson’s Suede and Leather. Paulleen found an Italian leather belted briefcase. 'Check this out,' Paulleen told Freeze. 'It has a phone case, and a detachable cosmetic bag with a mirror.'

'Just get it and let’s go,' Freeze said and walked out of the store. He thought about what Black always said about understanding your enemy. The thing to do now is figure out what your enemies are plannin’ and stop them. He thought about the way that D-Train was coming at him. That wasn’t the way, sending people into the houses to set up, and each of them meeting the same fate. Maybe Black was right. The smart move was to defeat them without any fighting. He needed to out-think him, not out-fight him.

Maybe that’s all Wanda was trying to do was to make me think.

Then they came to her favorite store, Victoria’s Secret. Paulleen loved Victoria’s Secret, and not just for the sexy lingerie, although she loved that too and had tons of it. It was because of the variety that they carried. She started with a Point d’Esprit sequined babydoll. 'Side slits, lace trim, adjustable straps, matching V-string. Sweet,' Paulleen said and picked out a satin robe with a shawl collar and tie belt. But it didn’t stop there. She found a lace- up mesh corseted Anna Paul silk floral babydoll. Next Paulleen tried on an Allen Schwartz crinkle chiffon cami, and a lace racer back bra-top tank.

Then they moved on to Macy’s.

'Baby, these are Blue London jeans. Top- stitched, ultra sexy jean in black platinum.' Paulleen liked those, but they weren’t going to work for every outfit. Then she found some DKNY jeans and a pair of Michael Kors Greenwich stretch jeans, and a sexy strapless dress with allover soft pleats and sparkling bands of contrast sequins for added glamour. The short, flirty skirt hit at mid-thigh; side zip, of course, by Allen Schwartz.

On the way to the car, Paulleen wanted to stop at Nail City to get her nails and toes done. 'Fuck that shit,' Freeze said. 'We been here too damn long already.'

'Okay, okay,' Paulleen said and struggled to the car with her bags. Freeze’s hands were full of bags too, but he didn’t mind. Even though he complained about it the whole time he was there, Freeze enjoyed shopping with Paulleen. It was one of the few chances that he afforded himself to treat his woman like a queen. Besides, she was light today. All this cost only five grand.

'I don’t know what you need all that shit for anyway,' Freeze said. 'You’re not gonna wear half of that shit.'

'Well, if you would take me out sometimes instead of runnin’ the streets all day and night, then maybe I would have someplace to go.'

That’s when Freeze saw a car pulling out of a space near where he was parked. Out of the corner of his eye, Freeze noticed the old Chevy Nova speed up and come right for them. As the speeding car approached, Freeze saw