“Look, you’re the Feds. I’m sure you bust guys every day. Why do you need me?”

  “Look, I know you can help me.”

  “But I’m not.”

  “Then I’ll just shut that little escort service of yours down.”

  “Look, man, you need to get away from me before I scream.”

  He passed her a card and said, “TeTe, call me.”He lit another cigarette and winked at her then jumped into his car and drove away and pulled up Jada’s contact information.

  CHAPTER 15

  Shamari sat on the passenger side of Jada’s Benz with his seat reclined. Jada lowered the volume of her radio and said, “TeTe had a visit from your boy the other day.”

  “Who?”

  “Daniels.”

  “Who the fuck is that?”

  “The FBI agent.”

  “Who is TeTe?”

  “Black’s ex. I keep telling you about her.”

  “Was she at the funeral?”

  “She was.”

  “I want to meet her.”

  “She’s crazy. I’m warning you.”

  Shamari lowered the visor where he found a mirror on the passenger side of the car. A long strand of hair spiraling from his nostril. He yanked it out and said, “You didn’t tell me that your boy was on the run.”

  “He told you?”She sounded surprised that Fresh had told him.

  “Yeah.”

  She turned and faced him. “I’m sorry.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “I know.”

  His grabbed her hand and held it for a while. She turned to him, their eyes met and for a moment, there was sexual energy between them. She pulled her hand back.

  “Jada, you’re going to have to stop taking chances for people. One of these days your luck is going to run out.”

  “You’re right.”

  “You have a good heart.”

  “I know.”

  “You can’t save the world, baby.”

  “He’s going to turn himself in.”

  “Bullshit. If he was going to turn himself in, he would have done it by now.”

  “You think so?”

  “Jada, use your brain. Don’t be dick dumb. Women get fucked good and forget all about common sense.”

  “I believe him.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You don’t like him, do you?”

  “Actually, I think he’s cool. I hate the fact that he has the woman I love, but there is nothing I can do about that, can I? You made your choice.”

  Jada knew it was time to change the subject. “The FBI dude that came to see TeTe threatened to shut her down unless she helped him.”

  “She runs a ho house?”

  Jada laughed and said, “It’s an escort service. High-end bitches.”

  “He knows about it?”

  “Obviously.”

  “What does he want her to do?”

  “Wants her to help him move drugs, but she would never lie in bed with him. She is convinced that he had something to do with Black’s death, but there is no way for her to prove it.”

  Shamari said, “What’s up with this guy? Why the fuck won’t he go away?”

  ***

  Jada had given Shamari TeTe’s number. He called her and said that he would like to meet with her. She gave him directions and he drove right over. His first thought when he saw her was that there was no way that this woman was in her mid-forties. The second thought was there was no way she was as gangster as Black had told him she was.

  His eyes were on her svelte figure. The black dress was painted on her and the Louboutin shoes made her look very tall. He would absolutely fuck her if the opportunity presented itself. Black was gone, so there would be no problems.

  She invited him in and said, “Nobody warned me that you were so sexy,” she said, admiring his buffed body.

  He smiled and inhaled her Tom Ford perfume.

  “Would you like something to eat?”She winked, then flashed a smile.

  “I’m fine.”

  “At least have a drink with me.”

  “Okay, what do you have?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Henny.”

  She led him to the bar and poured two glasses of Hennessy.

  “Madam TeTe.”

  She smiled. “You have kind eyes.”

  He smiled and said, “I’ve never heard that before.”

  “I can read people. It’s one of my gifts.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes. You think I’m bullshitting you, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You tend to care about people more than they care about themselves.”

  “Sometimes.”

  He took a swig of the Henny.

  “So what brings you here?”

  “I came to talk about Black.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “What about him?”

  He downed the Hennessy and she poured him another shot.

  “There was this detective…well, FBI agent, that came by my sister’s house and said he worked with Black. He wanted to work with me. Says he helped get me out.”

  “Black guy?”

  “Yeah. Do you know him?”

  “He approached me at the gas station.”

  “What do you think about him?”

  “I don’t.”

  “You don’t what?”

  “I don’t think about him. I got more important shit to do than to worry about some cop. I told Black not to fuck with him, but he said that it was a means to an end. Said that dude would take work from dealers and give it to him.”

  “What did Black say about him? Was he a’ight?”

  “Black didn’t say much. I don’t know if he was a’ight or not, but he did help us get my daughter back when she was kidnapped. Well, he gave us some counterfeit money to give to the kidnappers.

  “Okay.”

  “You’re not thinking of dealing with this dude, are you?”

  Shamari sipped his Hennessy. “I didn’t want to get back in the game, but I just had to realize I am what I am.”

  “You sound like Black.”

  “I mean, what else is a motherfucker supposed to do?”

  “There are other ways to make money.”

  “I don’t know them. I know what I know. One more thing. Did Black ever mention a dude named Big Ced?”

  “Yes, he mentioned him a time or two. I never met him.”

  “What did he say about him?”

  “He was his homie. You know Black. He knew everybody in Atlanta.”

  “Yeah, part of his downfall.”

  “Really.”

  “Can you remember anything that he said about him?”

  “Not much, but they were friends and toward the end of Black’s life, he was working with Ced.”

  “Okay, so he’s legit.”

  “I guess. Like I said, I never met him.”

  “He know Black’s whole family.”

  “Like I said, Black never said anything bad about him. In fact, I think Ced got shot one night while hanging with Black.”

  “Ok. Good info.”Shamari downed his drink, stood and offered his hand.

  TeTe refused and said, “We’re family, Shamari.”She reached up to give him a hug.

  He held on to her for a while and when he released her, she guided his hand down to her ass. Damn, she was scandalous, but he had to admit, the old bitch turned him on.

  ***

  The motorcycle sounded like it was on the next street over. The sun had just gone down and Big Ced and his two friends, Dante and a guy named Hen, were playing craps. Big Ced was shaking the dice, about to roll the dice when Shamari rode up on the Black Kawasaki Z800. Ced stood when Shamari approached.

  “Damn that’s a nice bike, bruh.”

  Shamari grinned. “I just got it a few weeks ago.”

  “Did you have a hard time finding us?”

  “Not at all.”

  Ced introduced Shamari to Hen and Dante.

  Shamari recognized Dante from when Ced had visited his sister’s house. He had never seen Hen. Dante was the man with the black assed lips that had gotten out of the car at his sister’s house.

  “Can we talk for a moment?”

  “Yeah, let’s go in the house.”

  Ced passed Dante the dice and led Shamari inside the house.

  Once they were on the inside of the house they sat at Ced’s granny’s kitchen table said. “I did a background check on you.”

  Ced said. “And what did you find out?”

  “I heard you were thorough.”

  “I told you that but, my question is how am I going to eat bruh? Black is gone I need some money and some money fast.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight.”

  Ced looked confused. “What?”

  “Don’t you ever come over my sister’s house again, with a gang of Niggas. You feel me?”

  “That was my bad bruh. I’ll never do that.”

  Shamari removed a backpack from his back dumped the contents of it on the little rickety table—A ziplock bag wrapped in gray tape. A half of a kilo of pure coke.

  Ced eyeballed the package “What is this for? How much do you want back?”

  “It’s a gift.”

  “For what?”

  “Look I’m back in the business. I’ve been gone for a while and I’m going to need enforcers.”

  Ced said, “Look bruh I’m a hustler I ain’t some kind of bodyguard, but since you were friends with Black, any kind of problem you have becomes a problem of mine.”

  “And that’s all I ask. But I want you to help me find these L.A. dudes that killed Black. I promised his Dad that I would take care of that for him.”

  Ced gave Shamari a pound and said, “We will.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Plies’s Ran Off On The Plug Twice was playing at a table in the VIP section inside the strip club Magic City. Stunna had thrown about fifty thousand dollars in the air. Making it rain baby! Stunna, Micky, Micky’s girlfriend Kelsey and four other dudes had three tables at Magic City with fifty thousand dollars on each table. Around one a.m., he told Micky that he was leaving.

  “Okay. I’m going to stay here for a few more minutes.”

  “You want me to leave Blue here with you?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Stunna was gone and Goldie, Micky’s stripper girlfriend, plopped on Micky’s lap.

  A man named New York approached the section. New York had a square jaw and bushy eyebrows. He grabbed Goldie’s hand, and said, “Let me talk to you for a second.”

  Micky smacked his hand.

  The man smirked and said, “She with you? Who the fuck you ‘posed to be?”

  Goldie turned to the man. “Let me finish here and I’ll be with you in a second.”

  “Yeah, man.”Micky grabbed a handful of money from the table and tossed it at the man and said, “Go get your own girl.”

  The man laughed. “Bitch, don’t think you a dude because you look like one. Don’t get yourself fucked up.”

  Goldie bounced from Micky’s lap and approached the man and said, “You don’t want these problems. Trust me her brother will hurt you.”

  “I don’t give a fuck who her brother is.”A short pie-faced man wearing dress shoes approached the man and took him by the arm and said. “Chill New York.”. New York turned to the man and said “Get your motherfuckin’ hands off me.”

  Then one of the bouncers had heard all of the commotion, grabbed New York and escorted him out of the club.

  Goldie took her position on Micky’s lap and kissed her.

  “You coming home with us tonight?”Micky asked.

  “Not tonight. I have to get my son ready for school in the morning.”

  “I feel ya. Thanks for trying to de-escalate that situation because it was about to get ugly for that nigga.”Micky flashed her black .380 Ruger.

  “No problem.”

  ***

  Shamari had just finished five sets of pushups, a kettlebell workout, and some calisthenics. The tiny wifebeater struggled to contain Shamari’s pecs. And his triceps looked damned good to Ava. He smiled when she entered his sister’s home. His sister and Hunch had gone to the movies to see Batman v Superman.

  “You okay, babe?”

  “No, I’m not okay.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There are people after me.”

  “What kind of people? Who are these people and why are they after you?”He knew that there were people after her but he wanted to see if she would be honest with him about what she had done.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “We have nothing but time, baby.”

  “When I lived in North Carolina, I was fucking around with this D-Boy named Mario and I took some money from him.”

  “You took the man’s money?”

  “I know. I was wrong for doing it.”

  “You damn right you were wrong for that. How much did you take?”

  “A million dollars.”

  “You took a million dollars!”Shamari stood and paced. “What the fuck? Why did you take it?”

  “I’m not a thief. I was listening to my friends and they convinced me to do it.”

  Shamari laughed and said, “That peer pressure excuse don’t fly once you’re over twenty-five.”

  She started crying. “I fucked up and I think about this every day of my life. I was wrong for what I did. I know I was.”

  “So what made you decide to tell me this?”

  “I just wanted to be honest with you. I like you. I haven’t met anyone like you in a long time.”

  He sat down beside her on the bed and he kissed her. He told her it was going to be okay and that everyone made mistakes. He took hold of her hand and pulled her onto the bed. He collapsed on the bed and she was now on top of him. The left hand gripping her ass and the right tugging at her dress.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What do you think?”

  “In your sister’s house?”

  “Why not?”

  “You gotta get outta here.”

  “And you gotta get out of that dress.”

  Her smile revealed deep dimples. “Take me out of it then.”

  He unzipped the back then unhooked her bra and tossed it on the bed. His dick swelled after seeing her perfect little boobies, they were just a handful and he loved that.

  She stood then removed the dress then took the bra off the bed and lay it on the chair across from the bed. She stood in front of him with a pink G-string.

  He removed it with his teeth, and seconds later, he was staring at her kitty.

  “I love lavender.”

  She smiled.

  He seized her waist, bringing her close and kissed her kitty again. Then he licked the lips and asked, “How do you want me to make love to you?”

  She laughed. His attentiveness fascinated her. “I want you to fuck me. But first lick my clit.”

  He licked her gently and he gnawed at it. She resisted and he knew she didn’t like it. He picked her up and lay her on the bed and nibbled on her clit until she clawed his back, ripping his wifebeater off his torso. His V-shaped taper aroused her. His abdomen was chiseled like a super hero in a comic book. She imagined him doing sit-ups and pullups and pumping iron on the prison yard.

  “Take your pants off, bae. Fast.”

  He removed his pants and then his boxers and his dick swelled even more and it was long and it hooked slightly left. He drove his penis down her throat as she took hold of his ass. She was uninhibited and he liked that. She removed his dick from her mouth and licked his balls, then his asshole. His face reddened then he struggled to break free from her grip.

  “Whoa,” he said.

  “What’s wrong?”she said, smiling.

  “You just caught me off guard.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I don’t.”

  “I won’t do it then.”

  “I’ll do you, but I’m not that kind of man.”

  She giggled at the thought that at least she didn’t have to ever wonder what he did in prison. She laughed again and then went back to work until he couldn’t take it any longer. He thrust her onto the bed and went deep inside her. She moaned and he plunged deeper.

  She said, “Hard and rough. Don’t take it easy on me.”

  He flipped her over and she arched her back, poking her ass out. He entered her from behind as he took hold of her beautiful, natural hair.

  “You slut! You ho! Bitch, you!”

  She was aroused. He knew how to fuck her the way she wanted to be fucked and she loved that. He removed his dick and she sucked him again and he was hard again in seconds.

  “I want more,” she said.

  “Damn, girl.”

  “I’m telling you, I haven’t been fucked in a while.”

  “I need some water.”

  She made a sad face.

  “I promise you, after I down the water, we can go for round two.”

  She was smiling hard as hell.

  ***

  Micky’s hand grabbed Kelsey’s thigh while waiting on a red light. They kissed and proclaimed their love for one another.

  “This has been the best eight months of my life.”

  “Mine too,” Micky said.”

  “When are we going to get married?”

  “I don’t know. I want to soon.”

  “What about Goldie?”

  “What about her?”

  “I want you for myself.”Kelsey said. “And to be honest, I’m getting tired of this threesome shit.”

  Micky leaned over, kissed Kelsey and said, “Relax, babe, we’re going to work it out. I promise.”

  The driver of a silver Volvo SUV honked the horn interrupting the flow of the conversation then the light turned green. Micky took off and then exited I-285 headed to Sandy Springs. She noticed a black Altima that she had seen on Peachtree.

  “I think we’re being followed,” Micky said.

  Seconds later, she was cut off by a white Dodge Ram. She crashed into the truck and the Altima blocked her in. Four men got out of the car. Micky reached for the gun under her seat but didn’t feel it. A rail-thin man with receding braids smashed the window. Guns were drawn. Big guns. The kind of guns that would annihilate Micky and Kelsey. Kelsey and Micky were yanked out of the car and tossed into the truck. They were driven to an alley in a remote location and tossed out of the car into the street.