TeTe said, "What do you say, Butterfly?"

  Butterfly smiled and said, "Can I have another one?"

  Black laughed his ass off and said, "You got game."

  TeTe said, "Don't give her little ass shit. What do you say?"

  Butterfly poked her lip out and said, "Thank you."

  Black passed her another hundred dollar bill against TeTe's will.

  Black said, "I have a daughter about your age. Maybe one day ya'll can play together."

  Butterfly said, "What's her name?"

  "Tierany."

  "That's a pretty name."

  "TeTe said, "Go to your room. Mommy is going out for dinner."

  Butterfly lips were poked out again as she trotted away.

  "You leaving her here by herself?"

  "No. Her nanny is here."

  Black led TeTe to his Porsche and being the complete gentleman, he opened the door for her. When he fired up the Porsche, "No Type" by Rae Sremmured blared through the speakers. When he saw her displeasure, he switched the music to Tinashe's "Pretend" and they sped off.

  "I like hip hop too, you know?"

  "What do you like, OG?"

  She laughed and said, "Biggie."

  "Biggie? Biggie aight, but that's so old school."

  "That's what I like. I like when they were actually saying something. But I do like some of Lil Wayne's and Drake's stuff."

  "Old school, you be up on shit."

  "Young boy, I'm going to teach yo ass a lesson."

  "I want you to take advantage of me."

  They both laughed and sped through the suburban neighborhood. Black hopped onto the Interstate and headed downtown. Black exited onto Lennox road Northeast ,when a forest-green Jeep Cherokee pulled alongside them, lowering their window. TeTe spotted them first as the men in the jeep tried to get her attention, requesting her to lower her window.

  She nudged Black and said, "Baby, I think these guys want directions." She lowered her window.

  Black unbuckled his seat belt and shoved her to the floor. Then he pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

  "Get down!" he yelled.

  That's when the men opened fire. Black shot across the median and barely escaped an oncoming car. The Porsche skidded for about twenty yards before flipping over on the side. The passenger window shattered and the airbags exploded in their faces. TeTe's leg slammed hard against the dash.

  Black said, "You okay, baby?"

  TeTe said, "What the fuck was that about?" She hobbled out of the car, but she was fine other than her knee and her heart being about to jump out of her chest. Black's door was stuck and his leg was broken. She tried to help him out but he couldn't move his legs and he was too heavy for her to move.

  Chapter 11

  Nobody knew where the hero had come from, but his black F15 pickup truck was in the median of the road. The hero was six foot four with dirty blond hair and weighed about two hundred and forty pounds. He wore a red flannel shirt, jeans, boots, and a John Deer ball cap. He looked like he had leaped off the pages of an L.L. Bean Catalog and was certainly big enough to drag Black out of the car. The hero ordered Black to turn his head to avoid the glass and he kicked in the windows. Then dragged Black from the car.

  Black was still fully conscious and he thanked the hero. But there was a matter of two ounces of OG Kush and the gun in the glove compartment. He knew that the police were coming and if they got their hands on that gun, he would be fucked and there would be no way around it. He was a convicted felon and there was no way he could get out of it. Black called TeTe. She kneeled down with the hero standing over them, wanting to know if he could be of any further assistance.

  Black whispered. "I need you to get the gun out of the car. It's in the glove compartment."

  The hero heard the last part of the sentence. "You need me to get something from the glove compartment? I'll get it."

  Black said to the man, "My leg's in pain. Can you bring me something to elevate it?"

  The man dashed to his truck and got a crate that was in the cab.

  Black was thankful for the man's help, but there was no doubt in this mind, that this great blue-blooded, American hero would let the cops know about the marijuana. TeTe retrieved the gun and the weed. She dumped the weed into a nearby trashcan and placed the gun in her purse. Then they waited there until the ambulance came.

  The police and firemen came and the police questioned TeTe about what happened. She simply stated the obvious. She didn't want to talk to them, but what was she going to say. She didn't know what happened, but she was in the car, so she knew that they wouldn't buy that for one moment. She told the officer that two men pulled alongside them and opened fire.

  "Can you give a description?"

  "I can't. It happened so fast."

  The officer said, "There is one witness saying that it was a forest-green Jeep Cherokee. Does that sound about right?"

  "Yes," she agreed.

  Black was being attended to by the paramedics when the police came up to him. "Could you tell us what happened, sir?"

  Black said, "I have nothing to say."

  The officer said, "Do you want to talk later?"

  "No."

  They loaded Black into the ambulance. TeTe climbed in with them and rode with Black to the hospital.

  # # # # # #

  Black was in Emory University Hospital in room 664.

  The doctors had to place a rod in Black's leg. His fibula had been shattered. Ironically, it was the same one that had fractured before when Chris had riddled his car with bullets. He knew that his leg would never be the same, but he was grateful that he was still alive. He was resting up in the hospital after his surgery when came in. She spotted an old lady by his side with a big old Bible in her lap .She figured the woman had to be Black's grandmother. She kind of reminded her of her own grandmother, Big Ma. Black smiled when he saw her enter the room.

  The old lady turned and said, "I'm Nana. I don't believe that we've met."

  "I'm Theresa." TeTe extended her hands.

  Black said, "You're looking at the woman that raised me, baby."

  "I didn't do a good job obviously."

  Black laughed and said, "Ha, Ha. Very funny."

  TeTe sat on the chair beside Nana and Black said, "Nana, can I talk to Theresa for a moment?"

  "Yeah, go ahead." Nana said as she sat there with her Bible in her lap.

  "Alone, Nana."

  Nana made her way to the entrance. "I'll go down to the vending machines."

  When the door closed, Black said, "I didn't tell Nana what happened, so don't mention it."

  "Why is she here then? I know she's your grandma, but if you didn't want her to know, why did you call her?"

  "The hospital wanted me to call somebody before I went into surgery."

  "And you called her?"

  "Nana's number was the only number I could remember. She still has a house phone and the number has been the same since I was eight years old."

  She stood over him, looking down at him. He looked weak in his hospital gown and his leg propped up. She stole a glance at his dick. It wasn't erect but still very impressive.

  "Are you okay?" she asked.

  "I'm fine."

  "You wanna tell me what was that all about?"

  "I don't know."

  "Look, that shit wasn't random. Somebody wants you dead and I need to know if I'm going to keep fucking with you."

  Black was thinking to himself that this bitch had to be crazy to deal with somebody like him. Why would she want to be involved with him? She'd just been shot at.

  "It's a long story."

  "I got time."

  "Not with Nana here."

  "Tell me what happened." He could tell that she was growing impatient. He thought that he owed her that much. She was in the car with him and she didn't run away.

  "My ex-girlfriend Lani—"

  Nana barged into the room and said, "I'm going to leave."

  TeTe said, "That's okay, Nana. You can stay. I'm going to leave and I'll come back later." She kissed Black on his forehead and said, "Mister, we need to finish this conversation as soon as you get out of the hospital. Please call me."

  "I will."

  TeTe hugged Nana and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you."

  "Same here."

  Chapter 12

  Two days later, Black got of the hospital. Since the Porsche was totaled, he was forced to drive the Camaro that he'd given to Asia, his baby mama. Since she hardly drove it, she said it would be okay if he kept it. It was ten in the morning when he drove to Jada's place.

  She answered the door and said, "Black, what the fuck have I told you about popping up at my house?" Then she noticed the crutches and the Aircast. "What the fuck happened to you?"

  "Can I come in?" He hobbled inside and Jada led him to the kitchen. They sat at the bar and she offered him some water.

  "You got anything stronger?"

  "Yeah, what do you want?"

  "Patron."

  "It's ten in the morning."

  "I don't care."

  Jada made her way to the liquor cabinet. Black couldn't help but notice her Victoria Secret shorts crawling up her ass. She poured him a glass of Patron and herself one as well.

  He laughed and said, "I thought it was too early to drink."

  "I got a feeling what you're about to tell me requires a drink."

  "Yeah, I lost my phone. Well, I think it's in my car. My car that looks like a sardine can now. So I have a new phone and I didn't have your number. That's why I popped up."

  Jada passed him the drink and then took a swig of her own. He downed his drink right away and she poured him another. He was watching that fantastic ass the whole time. He knew he would never fuck her but there was no harm in dreaming.

  She passed him the second glass of Patron and placed the bottle in front of him.

  "Someone pulled up alongside me and TeTe and opened up the other night."

  "Oh my God. Is she okay?"

  "She's fine. I'm the only one that got hurt and I'm fine. I just broke my leg, but other than that, I'm okay."

  "I swear, boy, you got nine fucking lives."

  "I do, don't I?" He laughed.

  "That shit ain't funny. You are blessed, but I'm afraid one of these days it's going to catch up with you."

  "Surely hope not. But I know if it does, I've done a lot of fucked-up shit.

  "Are you saying you'll get what you deserve?"

  "I ain't saying all that."

  "How long do you think you're going to keep getting away with shit, Black?"

  "Look, that's why I'm here."

  "You want a prayer?"

  "Do you know where Shakur lives?"

  "No."

  "If you did, would you tell me?"

  "No. Look, Black, how do you know Shakur had something to do with this? It could have been Chris's brother. You don't know who it was."

  "You right. I don't know. But I need to find out."

  "Look, I ain't getting in the middle of it."

  Black could tell that Jada meant what she said. "You talk to Mari?"

  "He just called. I'm going to see him tomorrow."

  Black heard what Jada said, but he wasn't listening. His mind was on Shakur. He had thought for sure that Jada would give him some information on his whereabouts.

  Black stood and hobbled through the kitchen. Jada trailed behind and Black stopped at the front door. "I almost forgot, have you spoken with Fresh?"

  "Yes, last night."

  "Can I have his number?"

  Jada disappeared into her bedroom. Those tight shorts barely containing that big, bouncing ass. Of course, Black stole a peek but he had more important things to worry about. He knew that he needed to find out who in the hell was trying to kill him and he knew where to start. He would have to go in the hood and find out who knew Shakur. He would ask other D-Boys and strippers. Strippers knew everything about everybody.

  Jada came running back with her phone in her hand and she mouthed off Fresh's phone number.

  Black saved the digits in his new phone.

  # # # # # #

  Later that night, Black met TeTe at Bistro Nikkos, an elegant little French restaurant that had expansive ceilings and artwork from Paris. It was one of TeTe's favorite restaurants. It was very classy but affordably priced. TeTe was dressed in a white pantsuit and flats. She was carrying a YSL clutch. Black was dressed in jeans and Louis sneakers, his usual Dope-Boy apparel, and an Aircast on his leg.

  When he entered the restaurant, TeTe waved him over to the booth where she was seated. When she saw him struggling to get inside the booth, she said, "I'm sorry, I should have gotten a table."

  "It's okay. I'd rather sit in a booth." He managed to get his feet planted under the table.

  He stared at her for a while and she looked absolutely amazing. Sometimes he'd forget that she was in her forties. He skin looked exceptional tonight. Black gazed around and saw that everybody including TeTe was dressed very well and he said. "Damn, babe. Why didn't you tell me that I should dress up?"

  "If I did tell you, would you have dressed up?"

  "No."

  "Exactly why I didn't tell you."

  "So you on your bourgeois shit tonight?"

  "Not at all." She sipped the glass of water in front of her. "We gotta quit thinking that Houston's is a nice restaurant, that's all."

  Black laughed his ass off. Then he sipped his water. The waitress appeared and they ordered drinks. Then TeTe ordered their food. Black trusted her since he'd never been there before. She ordered the roasted duck and Black had salmon and asparagus.

  When the waiter disappeared, Black said, "I want to say how sexy you look."

  "I had to put on more make up than usual. Had to cover up the bruises from the air-bags."

  "You still look incredible."

  She smiled and placed her napkin in her lap and said, "Thank you. And remind me to give you your gun back."

  "So what did you wanna talk about?"

  "You know damn well why I wanted to talk to you. We did just get shot at the other day."

  "I'm sorry. There is some things I have to tell you."

  "You think?"

  "There are people after me. People wanting to kill me."

  She sighed and then took a big gulp of her water. "Tell me something I don't motherfucking know."

  Black looked confused. Did she just curse him? They were talking calmly and now he was being cursed out.

  "Why are you cussing?"

  "Will you tell me what the fuck is going on?"

  Black's leg throbbed a little as the hydrocodone wore off. He slid to the side of the booth and lifted his leg. "My ex-girlfriend got murdered."

  "Okay."

  "And there are some people out there that think I had something to do with it."

  "Did you?"

  "If I did, I'd already be in prison."

  "Not necessarily."

  "I swear to God I didn't." He looked TeTe directly in the eyes and she believed him.

  "Why do they think you had something to do with it?"

  "I don't have the best reputation on the streets."

  "You've been known to hurt people?"

  "Yes."

  "But you didn't hurt her?"

  "I didn't, but everybody loved Lani and so they think I killed her."

  "So who were these people? Her family?"

  "I don't know."

  There was a long silence before she said, "You're leaving something out."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "I can tell."

  "I don't know if I can trust you."

  "Why?"

  "I just met you."

  "I'm no angel. You know that."

  "Okay, I'm supposed to trust you."

  TeTe laughed and said. "That's up to you."

  "My mother is doing life in prison in South Carolina."

  "I'm sorry but what does that have to do with me."

  "I know the streets, better than most."

  He did know that and that was part of her appeal.

  She said, "My man's got twenty-five years in prison for drugs and white slavery charges."

  "Butterfly's Dad?"

  "Not him, but he's in prison too. I'm talking about the man that taught me everything I know. A man named Slick, the best hustler I ever witnessed."

  "Two men in prison and you're out."

  "I never sold drugs, but I've been in the county jail before for a year."

  Black laughed and said, "What street cred you have, my dear."

  "What the fuck ever, Black."

  "Why do you want to know who did this so bad?"

  "I need a motherfucking drink," she announced then flagged the server and ordered a Tom Collins.

  Black adjusted his leg again before deciding to place it back on the floor. Then he said, "I'm sorry. I can't tell you too much."

  "Look, I was in that car too and if they would have killed me, who would have taken care of Butterfly?"

  "Are you going to the police if I tell you who I think was behind it?"

  The server dropped the Tom Collins off at the table. TeTe downed it then ordered another. Then she lowered her voice and said, "Do I look like a snitch?"

  "I don't know what a snitch looks like."

  "Well, I'm not."

  "Look, my ex had a man named Shakur that I think had something do with it."

  "Shakur?"

  "Like in Tupac, but I think Shakur is his first name."

  "Okay. I don't know anyone by that name."

  "And then there is a dude named Mike that thinks I killed his brother," Black said. That was all he was going to tell her because he didn't want her to figure out that Chris was Lani's boyfriend too. He'd figured he told her too much already but what reason would she have to go to the cops and if she did, she didn't have the whole story.

  "Mike?"

  "Yeah."

  "There is a million Mike's in Atlanta."

  "Exactly."

  "How was his brother murdered?"

  "I don't know. His body was found in the trunk of a Lincoln, burned-up to a crisp."

  "What was his last name?

  "Why?"

  "Just wanna know."

  "Jones, I think."

  "Chris Jones." TeTe said. "That name sounds so common."

  "It is."