“Huh?”

  “I know you went to Cali a few weeks ago to pick up something. How did you get it back?”

  “A girl name Erica, a friend of my sister’s boyfriend, brought it back.”

  “Is she black or white?”

  “Black. Why?”

  “What if I tell you I could get a middle aged, white man to bring it back?”

  “What are you talking about? How do you know him?”

  “You know him too.”

  “Who is he?”

  “The surgeon.”

  “No way.”

  “Yeah, he wants to do it.”

  “Why do he want to do it? I don’t believe it. Why would a man like that want to be involved with something like this? He’s making legitimate money.”

  “He has a problem,” Jada said.

  “What kind of problem?””

  Though Jada was more loyal to Shamari, she still didn’t feel good about telling him Craig’s business. But she had to, if she expected him to want to help him out.

  Shamari pressed, “What kind of problem?”

  “A habit.”

  “What kind of habit?”

  “Coke.”

  “He’s a coke head?” Shamari laughed. “But he doesn’t look like a coke head.”

  “I know.”

  “He needs money?”

  “Well, things are going really bad for him. His wife is divorcing him and he has to pay her a lot of money per month.”

  “And he has to get the nose candy.”

  “Cut it out, Shamari.”

  “You defending this motherfucker?”

  “Not defending anybody. He told me to ask if you can use him, and so I’m asking.”

  “Why should I help that motherfucker?” Then he thought about Craig fucking Jada, getting head from Jada,and fucking Jada in the ass. “Tell me why should I help this motherfucker, Jada?”

  Jada sensed that Shamari was getting upset and she said, “Now would you really be helping him or would you be helping yourself?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “It’s a matter of perspective.”

  “Perspective?”

  “It’s all about how you look at shit, Shamari. You would really be helping yourself. I mean, look at this motherfucker? No cop is going to stop him.”

  “You’re right.” Shamari thought maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all.

  “I mean, he’s not going to go through all the bullshit a black male or female will go through.”

  “True. What does he want for doing this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “He’s gonna want a lot more money than what I’m willing to pay.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  Shamari said, “Think about it. You think this man is going to risk his personal life and freedom for three thousand dollars?”

  “Three thousand dollars?”

  “Yeah, that’s the most I’m paying a runner.”

  “You’re right. He’s not going to want to do this for so little. It just won’t make sense.”

  “Exactly!”

  Chapter 15

  Trey was lying on Shantelle’s sofa about to doze when the phone rang. It was his son, T. J.

  “T. J., my main man, what’s going on?”

  “Daddy, what are you doing?”

  “I’m lying on the sofa. Why? What’s up?”

  “Can you come and play with me?”

  “Sure,” Trey said. There was nothing else he was doing, so there was no reason for him not to meet up and play with his son for a few hours.

  “Can we go to the park and then to grandma’s house?”

  “We can do anything you want.”

  “I want a Mountain Dew too. Mommy won’t let me drink sodas like you do.”

  “Where is your mother?”

  “She’s in the other room.”

  “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

  “I know, Daddy. That’s our secret. Remember we pinky promised.”

  “That’s right.” Trey sat up and looked at his watch. “I’ll be there to pick you up in about an hour okay?”

  “Ok. Yay!” T. J. yelled.

  When Trey terminated the call, he glanced over his shoulder to see Shantelle staring at him with her hands on her hips.

  “Who was that?”

  “My son. I’m going to pick him up and play with him for awhile.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Yeah, I figured I wasn’t doing anything else.”

  Shantelle sat on the edge of the sofa and said, “Baby, when am I going to get to meet your son and your baby’s mother?”

  “In due time.”

  “Why can’t I meet them now?”

  “Now is not the right time.”

  “When will be the right time?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Trey, give me an answer instead of saying it’s not the right time.”

  Trey looked her straight in the eye. He wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up, but he knew how super sensitive she was and he didn’t like being verbally abusive. He never had to say anything to Starr. She just followed his lead, but she could hold her own. Damn he missed that woman.

  “Why is this important to you?”

  “T. J. is a part of you and I want to see him.”

  “I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you meet T. J. I’ll bring him by, but now is not the time to meet his mother. She’ll make it hard on me.”

  Shantelle smiled and said, “At some point, I’d like to meet your mother.”

  “Slow down. One thing at a time.”

  “Okay, baby.”

  Trey stood up from the sofa and made his way to the door. Shantelle’s insecurities were beginning to get on his goddamned nerves.

  *****

  Trey had spent the whole day with T. J. They had gone to the movies. He’d taken him to see his grandma. He played catch with him at the park and he had taken him shopping to buy him some new shoes. Then they met Shantelle, who had baked T. J. some cookies. He was exhausted and though he liked spending time with his son, he was happy to be bringing him back home so he could go home and get some rest. When Trey approached Jessica’s driveway, T. J. became sad.

  Trey said, “What’s wrong, champ?”

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  Trey said, “I’ll come back and get you next weekend.”

  “I don’t want to go in there. I don’t like being home.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s lonely in there. It’s just me and mom all the time. I don’t have any brothers or sisters like the other kids.”

  Trey knew exactly how T. J. felt. He grew up in a house where he was the only child. Although he had a half brother, he hardly ever saw him growing up and Trey knew it could be lonely. He didn’t know what to do right now, he didn’t want to try and gain custody of T. J. until he was through with the drug business. Right now was not a good time. Trey kissed his son’s forehead and said, “I tell you what, champ, I’ll come to your school to eat lunch with you tomorrow.”

  T. J. was smiling hard. “Would you?”

  “I love you, son. Don’t ever forget that. Be good and take care of your mother, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re the man of the house. Okay?”

  “I know that, Dad. Mom tells me that all the time.”

  Trey and T. J. got out of the car and made their way to the front door. They stepped inside the house. Jessica was waiting for T. J. and she looked amazing. Her hair was down, she was wearing a black fitted dress, and her legs looked absolutely delicious. Trey noticed her right away.

  T. J. said, “Mom, I had so much fun. Dad and I went and saw grandma and we went to the park, the movies and this nice lady, named Ms. Shantelle, baked me some cookies.”

  “Ms. Shantelle, huh?”

  “Yeah, she’s nice and pretty too. She’s gonna be my girlfriend.”

  The fact that her son had said some other woman was pretty infuriated the hell out of Jessica.

  “So she’s going to be your girlfriend?”

  T. J. smiled revealing the missing teeth that most six year olds have. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t think your daddy would like that.” Then she kissed T. J. again and said, “Go to your room. Let me talk to your daddy for a moment.”

  T. J. high-fived his father then disappeared into his bedroom. When he was gone, Jessica said, “So you have my son around women I’ve never met.”

  “It’s not what you think.”

  “You know, Trey, the grownup thing to do would be to introduce me to your new girlfriend. But that’s what a grownup would do and I’m giving you too much credit for being grown. You hid me and T. J. from Starr for years.”

  “Could you chill? Damn, you’re getting on my nerves.”

  “Look, I’m not going to let you upset me, I’m in a good mood and I’m going on a date, so there is no way I’m letting you get me down.”

  “Look, can’t we get along for T. J.‘s sake?’ “

  “Of course.”

  “So where are you going? You’re all dressed up.”

  “Catching a movie with a friend. Mom is going to watch T. J.”

  “Good, you need to get out more.”

  “I think so.”

  “You looking damn good.”

  “So, I was right.”

  “Right about what?”

  “I thought I saw you admiring me.”

  Trey smiled. “I was checking you out a little bit”

  She smiled and walked toward him. “You know you still want me.”

  “I never said you weren’t fine as hell.”

  She leaned toward him and kissed him. He tried to resist for a moment but then he found himself kissing her back. His hand was on her ass then around her tiny-ass waist. She kneeled and placed her mouth on his dick through his jeans and his dick sprang to life. He wanted to fuck her badly but he knew that it would ultimately lead to destruction. He resisted and pulled away.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We don’t need to go down that path.”

  “Why? I know you have a woman. I mean women.”

  “I need to be going.”

  “Whatever, Trey. You know you wanna fuck me.”

  Trey made his way to the door. He looked back at her and said, “Tell T. J. to remember I’m coming to his school tomorrow for lunch.”

  “Fuck you, Trey!”

  Chapter 16

  Two white men were knocking at Lani’s door. There was a doorbell outside but they were knocking. How did they get into the building? They didn’t know the code. They never buzzed her and she never let them in. They had to be the police on official business, not like those clowns, Williams and Kearns. They were wearing nice suits, clean shaven, and looked very serious. She did not want to let them in but she had a feeling they knew she was inside, and they were not going to leave until she answered. Besides, she didn’t want the neighbors to be alarmed. She tip-toed over to the peephole so they knew that she was there.

  One of them said, “Open the door, Ms. Miller.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Department of Homeland Security.”

  “What?”

  “Homeland Security.”

  “Just a second,” she called out.

  Lani disappeared into the back room thinking this was some bullshit. What the fuck did the Department of Homeland Security want with her? She hadn’t done anything and as far as she knew, Black didn’t do anything to warrant the Department of Homeland Security to want him. He wasn’t a terrorist. The Department of Homeland Security went after motherfuckers like Bin Laden. Motherfuckers who are trying to take over the country, overthrow the government and hijackers who ran planes into buildings, not an Atlanta D-Boy that rides around listening to Trap music.

  She knew that they had better shit to do than to fuck with her and Black. She slipped on a pair of tight jeans. She wasn’t concerned about either of them lusting after her ass. They seemed to be more professional than that Williams clown who’d been in her house before.

  She opened the door and the two men presented their badges. They looked to be in their mid-thirties. They were very handsome white men. One was kind of short. He had dark hair and was clean shaven. The other man had movie star good looks. Tall, blonde and very well built. The type of guy she would fuck if she were into white men.

  The movie star said, “Scott Chandler.”

  The brunette said, “I’m agent David Carroll.”

  “What do you want with me?”

  “Can we come in?”

  “Please do.”

  She led them into the living room.

  Once they were seated, David Carroll said, “I know you have no idea why we are here.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You’re part of an ongoing investigation.”

  “Me? Wait a minute, you’re homeland security, I’m no terrorist.”

  The men laughed and said, “That’s a common misconception that all we investigate is terrorism.”

  “Okay, what do you want from me?”

  “Not here to ask you anything. We know you had an interview with the APD about a week ago.”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “I’m here to tell you that this case is bigger than you think, bigger than even what the APD thinks.”

  “What case? And what do I have to do with it?

  “You have a lot to do with it, but you don’t have to.”

  “What are you saying?” Lani was racking her brain. Wondering what the fuck they were talking about and what the hell did they want from her? She’d never killed anyone or sold drugs. This had to be a mistake.

  “I’m saying Tyrann is a major drug trafficker and has been for a long time. We know you haven’t been with him for a long time.”

  “So why are you here?”

  “Because when he first came to our attention, you were together. Remember the House at 2121 Alpine Circle?”

  “Yeah. That house was in my name.”

  “But financed by Tyrann.”

  “Wait a minute, I was working at the time.”

  The movie star said, “So we’re supposed to believe that you paid the rent with a hotel front desk salary?”

  Lani realized that they had been investigating her thoroughly because she had been a front desk clerk at the Marriott at the time. “What do you want with me?”

  “We’re here to give you an opportunity.”

  “What kind of opportunity?”

  “To walk away from all of this unscathed.”

  “In exchange for information, right?”

  “Right.”

  Lani looked at the two white men. Both of them were very serious and devoid of any personality. She knew they weren’t playing and they were in fact on Black’s ass. As much as she hated that son of a bitch Black, she loved his black ass at the same time. He’d done too much for her and her family for her to say anything about him to the authorities.

  “Am I being charged?” she asked.

  “No, not right now.”

  “Listen, I would like for you to leave my house right now.”

  The two men stood up and made their way to the door. They didn’t argue or try to persuade her. They left without saying another word.

  *****

  Lani drove to Black’s home in Alpharetta. Black was surprised to see her. He attempted to hug her and invited her in when he noticed that she looked worried.

  “What the fuck is wrong, babe?” he asked.

  “I had some visitors today.”

  “Visitors? What kind of visitors?”

  “Department of Homeland Security.”

  “What? What did they want with you?” He laughed and said, “So, you’re a part of the Taliban?”

  “No, they came to my house asking about your black ass.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah it was two white men with the Department of Homeland Security asking for information about you!”

  “What did they ask, and why in the fuck did you talk to them?”

  Lani looked puzzled and confused. “That’s just it. They didn’t ask anything.”

  Black stood up and made his way to the bar. He poured himself a glass of Hennessy.

  “And you didn’t tell them anything?”

  “Are you listening, motherfucker? They didn’t ask me anything.”

  Black sipped his drink and said, “But you said they were looking for me.”

  “They said they were there because of an ongoing investigation that I was a part of along with you.”

  Black was laughing his ass off. “Wait a minute, so you trying to tell me the same people that are trying to stop terrorism are investigating me? Yeah, right. What the fuck is wrong with you, Lani? Who put you up to this bullshit? Is this some kind of sick joke? Nobody is looking for me. I went to my lawyer’s office. He checked to see if I had any warrants and I didn’t.”

  “Look, I’m not here to argue with you. I’m just telling you what happened at my house. Two white men showed up and said they had been investigating us since we lived on Alpine Circle.”

  Black finished his liquor.

  Lani said, “I know this sounds crazy, and it sounded crazy to me to. I thought it would have been the DEA or ATF, not the goddamned Department of Homeland Security. I thought it was a joke too.”

  Black’s face got serious and he said, “So what did they want with you?”

  “They said they wanted to give me an opportunity.”

  “What kind of opportunity?”

  “To walk away unscathed.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “I asked them to leave my house.”

  Black said, “I don’t believe it.”

  “I can tell you don’t believe it.”

  “What in the fuck would they want with me?”

  “Have I ever lied to you?”

  “No.” He was now quiet and reflective.

  “Haven’t I always been loyal to you?”

  “Even when I didn’t deserve it.”

  “You don’t believe me.”

  “I just don’t want to believe it, I guess.”

  Chapter 17

  Big Papa called Jada and asked to meet up for drinks. She asked him to bring one of his friends with him for Lani.