that are gonna die for it!”
“He was just askin’ a question, Mike,” Bobby said calmly. “Same question I asked you. We all with you, you know that. It’s just a question.”
“All right, all right,” Black spit out.
“I understand this is personal to you, like I said, I’m on it,” Nick promised. “Say the word and he’ll be dead tomorrow.”
“You tell me how and we’ll see,” Black said and noticed that Mystique had come into the room. She smiled when she saw him looking at her. “But I wanna go slow with this. Make sure nothin’ comes back on us. Whether y’all believe me or not, I don’t plan on goin’ to jail, so we take our time and do this right. That’s it, Nick. I know you got shit to do.”
Nick stood up. “I’ll get on this right away. I’ll get with you later, Freeze.”
“Whatever, Nick,” Freeze said and knew Nick was going to see Wanda, so it would be much later.
“Freeze,” Black said as Nick left Cynt's.
“Yeah?”
“Wanda is fuckin’ somebody, you know anything about that?”
“Nope,” Freeze lied.
“I wanna know who he is.”
“What you want me to do when I find him?”
“Nothin’. I’ll kill him myself. Now, tell me about this nigga Stark.”
Mystique waited patiently for Black to get finished talking, even though she wanted desperately to go over there and tell Freeze and Bobby that they’d had enough time with her man and now it was her turn. As much as she wanted to, Mystique knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea. She could tell something was up when she got to Cynt's and saw Freeze and Nick with him. Usually when Black came there, it would just be him and Bobby-
Her man?
Mystique knew it was stupid, but she was falling in love with Mike Black. Whether he felt anything for her or not, Mike Black was her man. She had something none of the other hoes there had and so many wanted.
“Hey, handsome,” Mystique said and touched his face. Something else she loved doing.
“What's up with you?”
“I’m fine.”
“I know. How’s your night?”
Mystique looked around the room. “Well, you know I just got here, and from the looks of things, it’s gonna be a slow night.”
“I know you just got here, I saw you when you came in. But I asked about your night. The night didn’t begin when you got here, or is this all there is for you?”
“No, this isn’t all there is for me, but I am hopin’ that my night is just beginning.”
Black looked at Mystique without commenting on what she said. “Come here. Let me talk to you for a minute,” he said and took Mystique by the hand and led her up the stairs to Cynt's office.
Black knocked on the door, and not getting an answer, let himself in. “I want to ask you something,” Black started, but Mystique had other ideas.
She threw her arms around his neck and forced her tongue down his throat. “I missed you, baby,” Mystique said when she stopped to take a breath.
Black looked in Mystique’s eyes and thought about the part she played in his decision not to see Jacara that night at the Sheridan and leave the island. “I missed you, too.”
Mystique got wet hearing those words coming from him. “Whew.” She took a step back from him. “What do you want to ask me?”
Black leaned against Cynt's desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Do you like working here?”
“I like the money.”
“You could do other things for money.”
“Sure I could,” Mystique said, smiling inside in anticipation of where Black was going with this. She wanted to say,
“You let me worry about money.”
“So what are you sayin’?”
“You know what I’m sayin’.”
“Yeah, I do,” Mystique said and stepped to his chest. “But I wanna hear you say it.”
“Mystique! You don’t work here anymore. I’ll compensate Cynt for her loss of income, but you don’t work here anymore.”
His words were music to her ears. Maybe he didn’t say I love you, but he definitely stepped up to the plate and claimed her. Mystique couldn’t have been happier. “Are we leaving, now?”
“No. I got something to do.”
“You found out who tried to kill your wife, didn’t you?”
Black looked at Mystique. “Never ask me about my business. The less you know about what I do, the better it is for you.”
“I understand. When will I see you again?”
“I don’t know. You go home and I’ll call you later.”
“Yes, baby.”
With that said and done, Black and Mystique walked out of the office. As she made her way through the club to the dressing room, she saw Black stop and talk to Cynt before leaving with Bobby.
“Guess you’ll be leavin’ soon, huh?” one of her haters said.
“Yeah, and I won’t be back.”
“What?”
“My man don’t want me dancin’ here no more,” Mystique smiled and went to change clothes at Cynt's for the last time.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Where we going?” Bobby asked.
“Stark hunting,” Black said as he got in the car.
“I thought you told Freeze to handle that?”
“I changed my mind. Why? You got something to do?”
“Nope.”
Black and Bobby had been riding for hours, checking out all of the spots Freeze said Stark hung out at. By two in the morning, Bobby had had enough.
“Don’t you wanna go back to Cynt's and pick up amazon Shy and call it a night? This nigga gone underground hidin’ from you.”
“Yeah, you're right. I just wanna roll by one more spot then we’ll call it a night. Ride up White Plains Road,” Black instructed.
As the two drove down the street, they passed by one of the spots that Freeze told them that Stark frequented. They saw a familiar car. “Isn’t that Angelo’s car?” Black asked.
“Looks like somebody got a case of jungle fever tonight,” Bobby replied, knowing Angelo Colette’s fondness
