He snatched the strawberry jam from the center of the table and spread some on his toast, and then he bit into it. Jada just sat watching him. She enjoyed watching him. She hadn't felt like this in a very long time.

  "So, what do you think about the food?"

  "The best damn toast I've ever eaten."

  "Fuck you, asshole," she said, laughing.

  "What do you want me to say? I've only eaten the toast."

  "I want you to say it looks amazing. I'm sure it's amazing."

  "It looks amazing. I'm sure the food tastes amazing."

  "You know what? You got jokes."

  He ate a forkful of eggs and then the bacon and said, "Okay, at least I know that my future wife can make bacon and eggs."

  "Future wife?"

  "Just kidding."

  "Don't kid like that."

  "My bad. Don't you want to be a wife one day?"

  "I do. I didn't think I would ever want to be somebody's wife, and I know I'm making myself vulnerable, but fuck it, I like you a lot, Fresh."

  "I like you."

  She bit into her toast and said, "No, I don't think you understand. I really like you."

  There was an awkward silence. He ate his bacon and eggs.

  Finally, she said, "I don't expect you to marry me, Fresh. I was just letting you know how I feel."

  "I know."

  "You got so damn quiet."

  "I'm sorry, baby. My mind was somewhere else," he lied. He was thinking about what she had just said. He liked her but it was clear to him that she liked him more than he liked her at this point. But he did think Jada was the kind of woman he could see himself with, but right now, he didn't feel that way.

  "I want to ask you a question."

  She took a swig of orange juice and said, "I'm listening."

  "What do you think about Black?"

  "I've already told you how I feel about Black."

  "I know. I guess I'm looking for you to convince me one way or the other whether to fuck with him."

  "Look, you're a grown man. You do what you want to do. I've already told you that Black has enemies, but he does good business for the most part."

  "The most part?"

  "He's greedy as hell.,"

  "Aren't we all?"

  "Do what you want to do with Black, but if it blows up in your face, don't say shit to me."

  "Do you think it will blow up in my face?"

  "I don't know."

  "Is Black the reason Shamari is in prison?"

  "No. Shamari is the reason he is in prison."

  "How did Black escape?"

  "Nobody wanted to testify on him. His friends took the fall for him. He has loyal friends. Black is no snitch, I can tell you that. Though he did tell the Feds where a body was to keep Shamari from getting the death penalty."

  "He did that?"

  "Yeah."

  "Damn. Tell me about it."

  "I don't want to get into it."

  He stood up and made his way over to her. He planted a kiss on her jaw before heading out the door. She had fallen for him, and it had become apparent that he didn't feel the same way. She watched him walk out of the door. She hated feeling this way, but she couldn't help it.

  Chapter 19

  When Black hobbled on crutches into Fresh's hotel suite, there was strange man there. A tall guy wearing expensive jeans, a T-shirt and a Frank Mueller watch that Black had priced at around fifty grand. The man looked to be in his early to late thirties. He looked like money.

  The stranger introduced himself. "I'm Q."

  Fresh said, "This is my partner."

  Black and Q shook hands. Q handed Black a pair of shorts and ordered him to go change.

  Black stared at the shorts, a yellow pair of Nautica swimming trunks.

  "What do you mean, go change into these?"

  Q said, "Relax. Just want to protect ourselves."

  "You think I'm wearing a wire?"

  "I didn't say that."

  Black looked at the small-ass shorts that he was sure would cling to his ass like a pair of Daisy Dukes. He didn't want to put them on, but he complied.

  When he entered the restroom, Q said, "Leave your phone in the bathroom and turn the shower on."

  "Okay."

  Moments later, Black remerged into the suite and found Q and Fresh sitting at the table.

  Q said, "You knew Trey?"

  "I did."

  "You ever do business with him?"

  "Once, but I vaguely remember."

  "You sell heroin too?"

  "For a while, but I'm not doing anything now."

  "Coke and heroin are different."

  "Look, I know the coke business. My dad was once the biggest coke dealer in Atlanta."

  "No open cases."

  "None."

  Q said, "Just so you know. I don't take losses."

  "Huh?"

  "Meaning if I give you something, I expect to get paid."

  "You will."

  "I can make you a rich man."

  "I already got money."

  "Fresh said you didn't have a hundred thousand."

  "My money is tied up."

  "Meaning you don't have money."

  "I guess not."

  Fresh said, "How fast can you get rid of a hundred ki's?"

  "I know I can do that in at least a month."

  Fresh and Q laughed and said, "A month?"

  "Yeah, I'm fast."

  "We're thinking that's actually slow."

  "A hundred kilos a month is slow? How many did you used to give Trey?"

  "Not much, but Trey was buying his own shit, so he could do whatever he wanted; however he wanted."

  "I see."

  Fresh said, "How much money do you have?"

  "I was able to come up with fifty grand."

  "I needed a hundred."

  "I don't have it right now," Black said.

  Black suddenly became self-conscious about being damn near naked with two men in a hotel room. But he understood exactly why this made them feel comfortable. They didn't know him.

  "Give us an address. I'll have something delivered to you."

  Fresh passed Black the hotel pen and pad, and Black scribbled Nana's address on the paper.

  "This is my grandma's house, so you make sure you wrap it up nice."

  "You telling me how to do my job?" Q said."

  "No, bruh."

  "Look, we're going to take care of this. Don't worry."

  Fresh said, "I thought you were a major player in Atlanta."

  "I do okay for myself."

  "We need you to do more than okay. We need people to do volume. To be honest, this is a waste of time."

  They'd just made Black feel small as hell. He did what he could do. He knew that he wasn't the biggest dope dealer in Atlanta, but he thought he did well for himself.

  Black stood and was about to head to the bathroom to change back into his clothes when Q said, "Black?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you cut out for this?"

  "Homie, if I get caught, I can do my time."

  "Not talking about getting caught. Only dumb hustlers get caught."

  "I'm saying you're going to be in the big leagues. A different level of money. A different level of access. We don't need you to do nothing stupid."

  "Bruh," Black said, then he smiled, "I'm good. I might not have your money, but it ain't like you dealing with a peasant."

  They all laughed their asses off then Black went into the bathroom and got his clothes and cell phone. He re-emerged, gave Fresh and Q a pound, and then left. An hour later, Nana called and told him that some man had dropped off a plasma TV. When Black opened the box, it had ten kilos of coke with a handwritten note from Q saying it was nice meeting him today.

  # # # # # #

  Fresh received another text from Diego. Three days. He showed Q the text.

  "What the fuck?"

  "There is no way we're going to get rid of two thousand kilos in three days," Fresh said.

  "We can do a thousand though."

  "A thousand won't do. They're going to kill him."

  "We're going to have to go into our stash and pay the rest. Then get our money on the back end."

  "You want to pay for a thousand kilos?" Fresh asked.

  "If we can sell a thousand, then we can pay for the other thousand."

  "This is complete bullshit. How in the fuck does he think he can make somebody work for him?"

  "You knew he hated Rico."

  "We always send Rico. What the fuck are you talking about?," Fresh said.

  Fresh was right and Q knew it. They'd always sent Rico. "We're going to have to pay out of our pockets."

  Q passed the phone back to Fresh and Fresh brought the calculator up on the phone. He calculated the cost of 1000 ki's at 10,000 each and then he said, "Do you realize that you're talking about paying ten million dollars?"

  "I didn't realize it was that much," Q said. "But I'll pay half and you pay half."

  "I don't have five million dollars, bruh."

  "Do you have three?"

  "No."

  "What the fuck have you been doing with your money?"

  "I've been spending it. I'm a young nigga."

  "Now you're young. A couple of weeks ago, I said I was old and you're young."

  "Look, I spend a lot of money. Don't talk to me like you're my daddy."

  "If I got to send ten million dollars to Diego, then you're not going to see any profit because I got to put my shit up."

  An image came through on Fresh's phone. A butt naked picture of Rico lassoed and gagged.

  Then Rico's daughter Ivy texted: Still haven't seen my Dad?"

  "Let me make some phone calls quickly."

  Chapter 20

  John called TeTe and gave her the information on Michael Jones that she needed. Michael had a place in Buckhead but his primary residence was with his wife and seven-year-old son.

  TeTe had her goons, Todd and Dank, stake out Mike's house for twenty-four hours and they never saw Mike. All they observed were a woman and a little boy going in and out of the house. On the third day, they saw a black man that looked like the guy in the picture that John had given TeTe. The next morning they parked a white work van in the driveway of a rental house on the opposite end of the street. They sat in the van eating Egg McMuffins and potatoes and sipping Cokes.

  Todd said, "Remember not to hurt the woman and the kid. As a matter of fact, I'll take care of them.

  Dank smacked loudly as he ate his Egg McMuffin, and it irritated the fuck out of Todd. He stuffed some potatoes in his mouth before removing the lid off the coke and burped. "I know what she told us and what she told us was nobody was going to get hurt. Not just the woman and kid."

  "She said nobody is to get hurt at the house. Especially the woman and kid."

  "As long as the motherfucker does what he's told, nobody has to get hurt."

  Todd sipped his soda and watched the house with a pair of high-powered binoculars. He noticed that the woman and her son were coming out of the house. He quickly drove down the street, pulling up in front of her. When he made eye contact with the woman, he lowered the window of the van and asked, "Do you know where Shadow Lane is?"

  "What street?" She ordered her son to get in the family car as she approached the strange men.

  Todd held a map to his face and said, "Yeah I'm looking for Shadow Lane. According to this map, it should be around here."

  "Can I see the map? Maybe I can help you out."

  Todd lowered the map and the woman spotted the Desert Eagle. She was about to scream and Todd said, "Make one sound and I will blow your goddamned head off, you hear me?"

  Her heart was trying to burst through her chest. She breathed hard and quick.

  Todd and Dank exited the van and walked her over to her car. She ordered her son to get out of the car. Greedy ass Dank still carrying the bag of food finished off his potatoes then tossed the McDonalds bag in the yard then yanked the little boy out of the car and covered his mouth and they walked quickly toward the house. The woman struggled to open the door before Todd slapped her twice in the back of the head with the gun and said. "Open this goddamned door or I'm killing yo ass! "She opened the door fast and then they disappeared into the house before the neighbors could see them.

  * - *

  Inside the house, Mike was lying in the bedroom sprawled across the bed, asleep with his mouth open.

  Dank slapped Mike hard as fuck in the mouth with the gun. "Wake up, bitch!"

  Mike came to and tried to focus on the two goons in his bedroom. Why were they here and how did they get in his house?

  "Sit up," Dank said.

  Todd followed Mike's eyes to a chrome Taurus 9.mm on the nightstand. Todd grabbed the gun and said, "Mike, you're going to do what the fuck we say. You understand me?"

  "What do you want? You want money? You want work?"

  "I want you to know that the person that you shot at the other day was a very important person. Do you understand me?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Mike, you're going to cooperate with us. Understand? Either you cooperate or your baby mama and your son will be found in the fucking ocean somewhere."

  "What do you want?"

  Dank sat down on the edge of the bed, his gun pointing at Mike. Mike knew by the size of the gun that it had to be a Desert Eagle or something. Dank ordered Todd to take the woman and the kid to the other room. When he heard the door close, he said, "This is the deal we're going to make. You're going to let me know where these other men are and your son and wife live."

  "If I don't?"

  Dank slapped the fuck out of Mike with the gun and said, "You're not that motherfuckin' stupid. If you don't tell me who those other men are, we're going to end your life, your kid's life and your wife's life. Am I clear?"

  "And if I do?"

  "I hate repeating my motherfucking self. They live."

  "And me?"

  "It's over for you. It's just a matter of if you have balls enough to spare your family."

  Dank ordered Todd to bring the woman and the kid into the room. Mike stared at his son standing there with his jacket on. He was still wearing his little Spiderman backpack. He stood and made his way over to his son.

  "Dad, save us from the bad guys," his son said.

  Mike kissed his son on his forehead and said, "I love you, son."

  "If you love me, you'll save us from the bad guys."

  "I do love you, son."

  Dank said, "Get the kid out of here!" Then Dank turned to Mike. "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm gonna call the other men."

  "Smart guy."

  "What about my wife and kid?"

  "They'll live."

  "How do I know you're going to do what you said you're going to do?"

  "Because I said I was, and that's the only thing that you're going to have to go on."

  "So I have to take your word for it?"

  "What motherfucking choice do you have?"

  "None."

  "Exactly."

  * - *

  Mike got dressed and phoned Kenny-Boo and Tater, asking them to come over. Tater came over first and screamed like a bitch when he opened the door and saw the Desert Eagle pointed at him.

  "Oh God! Oh God!" Tater screamed.

  "You're going to see him soon enough," Todd said.

  Tater spotted Mike tied up in the corner and wondered who in the hell the man pointing the gun at his head was. Was this a robbery?

  Dank grabbed Tater's ass and flung him to the floor. Tater struggled, kicking and spitting while clawing at the carpet. He thought about making a dash for the door but when he stood up, Dank kicked him in the stomach. Tater fell face down on the floor and then Dank smacked him in the mouth with the gun. Dank then gagged and hogtied Tater's bitch ass.

  Ten minutes later, Kenny-Boo rolled in. As soon as Kenny saw the gun, he tried to run out the door but was tackled by Todd. Todd cuffed and dragged him into the room with Mike and Tater.

  "Mike, what the fuck is going on?" Kenny-Boo asked.

  Mike couldn't answer. He was gagged and tears were cascading down his face. He was wondering who the fuck these men in his house were, and what were they going to do with him. He suspected that Black must have had something to do with this.

  Todd phoned TeTe. "I got them. We got all three of them and we'll bring them to you tonight when the sun goes down. We don't want to take a chance and have one of the neighbors spot us and call the police.

  "Tonight, then. You're at Mike's house?"

  "Yeah."

  "All three?"

  "Yes."

  "Is any of them named Shakur?"

  Todd turned and said, "Who is Shakur?"

  No one moved.

  "None of them is named Shakur."

  "Check their licenses."

  Kenny Boo's license said Kenny McDonald and Tater's license read Shawn Wright.

  "Nobody is named Shakur." Todd pulled the gag off Mike and asked, "Who the fuck is Shakur?"

  "I know him, but we ain't friends."

  "You know where he lives?"

  "No, he don't fuck with me. We had a disagreement."

  TeTe could hear the conversation on the phone and she said, "Meet me in Dunwoody and make sure nobody has a phone on them."

  "Huh?"

  "Do what I say."

  # # # # # #

  Later that evening, they met TeTe in a home that she rented in Dunwoody. All three men were gagged and bound. TeTe, wearing a business suit and basic black Louboutin shoes, stood over the men. She was dressed very conservatively and none of the men knew who the fuck she was. They were hogtied and laying on the carpeted floor while she paced in front of them.

  "I bet ya'll wondering why in the fuck are ya'll here and who in the fuck am I?"

  She asked Dank, "Which one of these characters' name is Mike?"

  He pointed to Mike who was feeling like a bitch for giving up his friends, but it was either them or his wife and child.

  "Untie him."

  Dank untied Mike, and TeTe said, "Come here, Mike."

  Mike approached.

  "Bow."

  "Huh?"

  "Bow! I need you to bow down. You're in the presence of a queen."

  Mike was thinking was this crazy bitch serious. Did she really think she was a queen? Dank now had the Desert Eagle a hair away from his temple. He screamed that he had heard her and bowed.