Angel's Revenge

like being a jockey and walking into a barn full of stallions in every flavor and every shade of the rainbow. Only the biggest ballers, athletes, and entertainers could afford a table at the Eleganza.

Downstairs, ballers gambled for pots that easily exceeded fifty grand, game after game, night after night. It was always the same-alcohol, gambling, and pussy. What more could a man ask for?

Young World placed his cell phone back in his pocket. It was the sixth time he had tried to phone Duke with no success. Why this nigga not answering his phone? He figured Duke was at the El, his home away from home. That’s why he made it his first stop.

He entered the club and approached the bar, greeting the bartender.

“What up, Tank? What’s good?”

“Same ol’, same ol’, Young. What up wit’ you?” the big bartender asked back.

Young World glanced around the club. Five of the girls were working the floor. One of them, Tania, saw Young World and her heart leaped with lust. Not for him, but for the five thousand dollars Roll had offered her if she called him the moment he came into the club. Tania was Roll’s cousin, and she knew Roll was looking for him. She knew Roll had ordered a hit.

She watched World at the bar. Where’s his army? He just walkin’ around like it ain’t nothing, Tania thought to herself as she slipped away from her lap dance and placed a call to Roll. It rang twice.

“Who this?” Roll’s gruff voice rumbled through the phone.

“It’s Tania.”

“Tania who?” Roll barked, wondering how the ho had gotten his private number.

“Your cousin, nigga! And guess who here?”

“Who?” Roll asked, not interested in playing twenty questions.

“World.”

Roll sat straight up. “Where?” he asked with murderous anticipation.

“The Eleganza. He just walked in and he by himself,” Tania said, ready to get her five thousand.

“Hold him! Whatever you gotta do, hold him. If you got to put that nigga’s dick in your mouth and hold him with your teeth, do it!” he ordered and hung up.

“That nigga really think shit’s sweet! He at the El right now, alone!” Roll said as he turned to his main man, Nitti.

That’s all Nitti needed to hear. He and his driver, Jay, were out the door.

At the Eleganza, Tania sashayed across the floor and rubbed her bare breasts up against Young World from behind. Young World turned around, annoyed.

“Bitch, get your titties off of me. Do I look like a trick to you? Ain’t your ass supposed to be working?” he arrogantly spewed, turning away from her, back to Tank.

“But I need to talk to you, World. It’s important,” she insisted. That’s why you about to get fucked up, muthafucka. See how you like it then, she thought to herself.

“Talk to me for what?”

“Just let me holla at you before you leave, aiight?” she said, sucking her teeth.

“Yeah, whatever, if I remember.”

“Shit, you won’t never forget,” she mumbled to herself as she walked away.

“Anyway, yo. What was you sayin’, Tank?”

“Oh yeah, they tried to murder that nigga, Roll,” gossiped Tank.

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Tank said as he shrugged his shoulders. “All I heard was Roll was comin’ out of Branch Brook and some guys caught him at the light. Lit his shit up and completely missed,” Tank explained, cleaning a glass.

Young World shook his head.

“Musta been some lame-ass stick-up kids. Fuck was they shootin’, slingshots?”

They both laughed.

“Must’ve been,” Tank agreed.

Young World looked at his watch. “Where is this nigga at? Yo, Tank. Call Duke again. Fuck is this nigga doin’?”

Tank slid over to the phone and dialed Duke’s cell as World had asked him to. He handed the phone to World, who let it ring until the machine picked up and confirmed that the mailbox was full.

“He still not answerin’,” said World before hanging up.

“Nigga probably laid up with them nasty-ass white girls he be fuckin’,” Tank said, and they both laughed.

World got up from his seat and started for the rear of the club just as Nitti was parking his car outside. World entered the bathroom and went inside a stall. The toilet wasn’t sparkling clean, but it wasn’t bus-station filthy either. He made a mental note to cuss Tank out for not keeping it cleaner.

He rolled the toilet paper across the toilet seat, lowered his pants, laid his gun on the floor, then sat carefully on the seat, making sure he didn’t knock any paper into the toilet. Young World searched his pants for a match so he could light a blunt while taking a shit.

World thought again about his plans and began organizing his mental notes. Whoever tried to knock off Roll fucked up his plans. Roll was probably taking extra precautions and would be harder to get at. At least that’s what World thought. Regardless, as soon as Duke arrived, he planned on getting the ball rolling. The way he figured, he had the element of surprise on his side. But, in fact, he was the element about to be surprised.

Jay walked into the club, trying to focus in the smoky, cloudy room. He spotted Tania and took a seat at a secluded table. She quickly made her way over to him and straddled him for a lap dance.

“Where he at?” Jay asked with Tania’s tits jiggling in his face.

“In the bathroom,” she said, grinding and bouncing on top of him.

“Aiight. Nitti’s at the back door. Let him in,” Jay instructed, wondering if it was true what he heard she could do with a Corona bottle.

“Y’all gonna take care of me, right?” Tania inquired, her green contacts looking like dangling money signs in her pupils.

“Just go let him in and we’ll talk later,” he said, meaning it. She slid off his lap and headed for the back door. Tania looked around before she cracked it and allowed Nitti to step in.

“He in the bathroom.”

Nitti winked at her, then crept along the wall.

• • •

After this shit all over, I’ma marry Lana, have some kids, settle down, do the family thing. He imagined himself a father, teaching his son how to dribble or having tea with his daughter.

The weed made his thoughts funnier than they were, and he laughed out loud just as Nitti entered the bathroom. Nitti heard the laugh, checked under the doors and saw Young World’s Timberlands. He smelled the haze in the air. After spotting the gun on the floor, Nitti smiled. He had truly caught World with his pants down.

Tank watched Tania and knew her trifling ass was up to something. He couldn’t figure it out, but knew something wasn’t right. He had seen her dancing and then stopping to make her way to the back of the club where she had no business. Then he watched her re-emerge seconds later, looking as if she had stolen something. Tank moved to the other end of the bar, trying to see down the darkened hallway. He saw the bathroom door swing closed, but he didn’t see Nitti enter it.

Then he got a good glimpse of Jay, who was headed for the bathroom, too. Tank recognized Jay as one of Nitti’s people and put two and two together. In the blink of an eye, he snatched the pump shotgun from under the bar and hopped the counter.

“Jay!” Tania screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the music. He saw her frantic expression too late. By the time he knew to look, Tank was aiming the shotgun directly at him.

Jay didn’t ask any questions. He tried to go for his pistol, but a shotgun blast to the stomach folded him on impact. Tania and the other girls screamed and ducked, but Tank’s only concern was Young World. He ran for the bathroom.