talking to Kevon. Trying to get past him really. She had been staring at Black the whole time we were talking to Cynt.
Once we were done with Cynt, Black signaled to Kevon that he was ready to go. I followed Black to the door, but when I turned back, Kevon seemed to be having problems separating himself from Mercedes. When we got in the car and were on our way, Black tapped Kevon on the shoulder as he drove.
Chapter 11
Mike Black
“What she say?”
“Her say she can’t understand why I am trying to keep her from you. That I know you want to see her,” Kevon said. “Her think I must be working for Miss Maria and not you.”
I laughed. “She’ll be all right.”
Then I turned my attention back to Nick. “It’s all you now. I know I can count on you. From here on out, you and I need to talk at least once a day. And if you don’t mind, for the time being, unless it’s a legal matter, I want to keep Wanda out of the loop. I don’t need her thinking that you have to report what’s goin’ on to her. If she has a problem with it you tell her that’s the way I want it and she can talk to me. I know she ain’t gonna wanna hear that shit.”
Nick laughed. “She’ll be all right.”
Nick didn’t say anything else on the way to his apartment. Probably thinkin’ ’bout what he had in front of him. I knew I put him in a tough spot, but I also knew he could handle it.
Once we dropped Nick off at his apartment, I told Kevon to call Maria. We were going dancin’ at Impressions, and I wanted her to be ready when we got there for a change. But I knew when I got there she still wouldn’t be ready. She never was.
Maria used to dance at Cynt’s, where she went by the name Mystique. She’d been dancing at Cynt’s for years and I always marveled at how much she looked like Cassandra. I ran into her about a month after Cassandra died. At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. Maria was bigger than Cassandra: five-eleven and heavier, but there’s not an ounce of fat on her. Her complexion, lips, facial structure, and her eyes; she had the same beautiful eyes. There are still times when I wondered if Maria and Cassandra could be sisters. Could she be one of Chicago’s many children? Maria never met her father and her mother was dead, so there was no way I would ever know for sure.
“Nick say anything about Jackie?” After Freeze was killed, it was a couple of days before I got around to checkin’ things out. When I got to the game, there was Jackie holdin’ it down. Since she’d been watching Mylo for me, Jackie knew how things worked. Everything was goin’ fine. I owed Jackie for puttin’ me on to Mylo. And besides, I respected the way she stepped up and ran the game when I needed her, so I left her there.
“He start to come in the office, but I tell him, Jackie
“What he say then?”
“Nothing. Him lost in thought after that. We drink and wait until you come out.”
“Lost in thought, huh?” Yeah, I know, I shouldn’ta just dropped it on him like that. I shoulda talked to him about it, made sure he understood what I wanted him to do. You know, made sure he wanted to do it. But you know what? Either he’ll step up to the job or he won’t. If things had happened the way they were supposed to, it would have been Nick runnin’ the day-to-day operations when me and Bobby made the decision to take a less active role.
If Bobby hadn’t threatened to kill him over Camille, he would have never joined the army. I would have chosen Nick over Freeze. Not that I had a problem with Freeze or the way he ran things; it woulda just been Nick’s time.
When we got to Impressions, I found Bobby at the bar surrounded by women, as usual. “What’s up, Bobby?”
“Chillin’,” Bobby said and dismissed the women he was talkin’ to. “How you doin’ tonight, Mystique?”
“I’m fine, Bobby.”
“Yes, you are,” Bobby said to her and then turned to me. “You and Nick do y’all’s thing today?”
“Just dropped him off.”
“And?”
“He’ll be all right.”
“Come on, there’s somethin’ I need to talk to you about.”
“I’ll be right back, Maria,” I said and kissed her on the cheek. “You want me to leave somebody with you?”
“No, Kevon is around here somewhere.”
I followed Bobby to his office. As we made our way through the crowd, it seemed like he knew every woman we passed-Waving to him, blowin’ kisses and shit. “I thought you were gonna call me today,” one woman said.
“I thought so too,” Bobby said and kept walkin’.
“What happened to you last night?” another asked.
“That was so long ago that I don’t remember,” was his answer.
“Am I gonna see you later?” asked a woman in a red dress.
“I never make plans that far in advance,” Bobby told her and dismissed her.
Lately, Bobby’s head hasn’t been on business. He’s been in some kind of early mid-life crisis, or some shit like that. He brought a new CLK35 °Cabriolet convertible Benz and went back to runnin’ the club, which he didn’t really have to do since Tara has been runnin’ the joint for years. I mean he’s still with Pam and he’s a good father to his children, but he’s on a mission to fuck as many women as he can. I can’t say shit about that ’cause I’ve been on a tear my damn self.
In addition to Maria, and the occasional stray, I fucked Mercedes. The day after I’d made Maria stop dancin’ at Cynt’s, she set the pussy out for me. To be honest with you, I really don’t even like her. Probably ’cause she got ’bout as much sense as a box of rocks, but she is so fuckin’ fine that I had to have her. The last time we were together she told me that she was gonna change her name to Diamond, ’cause when I call her box of rocks she thinks I’m talkin’ ’bout diamonds.
Then there’s Jackie’s fine ass. Jackie is bi-sexual and likes to invite her girlfriends along to play with us, which always makes for an interesting night. And Jacara; she’s a nightclub singer that I met in the Bahamas. I only see her when I’m down there visiting Michelle.
Maybe it’s both of us in mid-life crisis.
I know Bobby loves Pam and would like for things to be different between them, but it is what it is. I know what my problem is. I love Cassandra and I miss her. Miss everything about her. The hole she left in my life has grown, and no matter how I try to fill it with these women, I know I never will.
When we got to the office, Bobby made us some drinks while I went and stood by the two-way mirror that overlooks the club. I looked out on the floor for Maria and spotted her on the dance floor. I looked around for Kevon, he was on the dance floor too, but his eyes were on Maria.
“What you wanna talk about?” I asked when Bobby handed me my drink.
“I want to know what direction you goin’ in.”
“What you mean?”
“I mean you got Wanda wide-open; making plans for us to get out of the game and at the same time you got Nick steppin’ up to run things.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Other than it makin’ for some long nights in that house, you mean?”
“Yeah, other than that.”
“Nothing, I guess. I just wanna know where your head is.”
“One is the future, one is the past.”
“I know that shit. Wanda’s in my ear with that shit all the time.”
