"Just want to know who's in my house, that's all."
"But who the fuck asks for people's government name except the government?" Shamari asked. He was always suspicious about people wanting to know too much even though she was his woman. He only wanted her to know so much.
"Okay, my bad," she placed the Chic-Fil-A food on the table and bolted upstairs before realizing she left her purse in the car. When she strolled through the kitchen, she heard?
Duke said, "I'm sure he's telling."
Tony said, "We don't have to keep talking about it, I'm going to handle the situation."
Shamari looked up at her before sipping his lemonade, shoving a handful of fries down his throat.
"Would you get outta here? Can't you see men talking?"
"I left my purse in the car. I could care less what y'all are talking about." She eased into the garage.
She retrieved her purse then stood in front of the door entrance and eavesdropped.
Shamari said, "Nobody gets hurt but him."
Tony said, "Whatever you say. I'll do the job however you want. If you want me to kill the roaches I will kill the roaches. I work for you. I will do the job anyway you want me to do it."
"No kids and no women," Shamari said.
"Whatever you say boss, since I'm going to have my mask on I will just put the kids and the girl in one room and pop him," Tony said.
"Good deal," Shamari said.
If she doesn't cooperate, I'm going to have to pop her too," Tony said.
"But only if she don't do what you say," Shamari said.
"This dude should have been dead a long time ago. You remember when he shorted eleven stacks?" Duke said.
"I don't want to hear, that could have, would have shit. We gotta job to do now, because he said I knew something about those thirty kilos they found in the trunk of his Jag, I'm gonna get life with my record," Shamari said.
Tony said, "I'm the equalizer. Even if he did, he won't live to testify."
Shamari gave Tony a pound.
Tony said, "So where is my money?"
Shamari said to Duke, "Give him the thirty thousand."
Tony said, "I only wanted twenty-five."
"But I trust that you're going to handle this the right way. So take an extra five,." Shamari said.
"I'm a professional," Tony assured him.
Chapter 4
Lani's boyfriend, Chris, loved basketball and he'd been a ballplayer before he started hustling full-time, after his mother's home was foreclosed. He was 6'5 two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He and Lani had floor seats for the Hawks game. They were playing the Lakers tonight, and he and Lani were there with the rest of the who's who of Atlanta trying to be seen. At the game Lani wore an electric blue dress that exposed just a hint of her back. Her hair flowed and her six-inch heels elevated that ass and made it look spectacular.
Chris was rubbing Lani's thigh when he noticed a man with floor seats on the other side of the arena looking his way.
"What the fuck is that character looking at?"
Lani turned to Chris, "What are you talking about?"
"The man across the court in the red shirt. Sitting there next to the clown with the Mohawk," Chris said, "I mean I can see if he was checking you out, but that dude is looking at me, Lani."
Lani recognized Black and his friend Kyrie.
"Baby, I think you're overreacting. Nobody is looking at you."
Black had turned his attention back to the game.
"I'm telling you, he was watching me."
"Baby, just watch the game. He probably thinks you're a basketball player or something."
Chris said, "Maybe." Since he was tall he had often been mistaken for a basketball player. Sometimes a football player.
Lani held his hand trying not to look at Black. Damn, she'd never known Black to like basketball. Boxing maybe. What the fuck was he doing here and why was he looking in her direction. She watched the game avoiding Black's gaze.
Later Chris and Lani were at the concession stand getting drinks, and on the way back to their seats Black bumped Chris, knocking one of the drinks to the floor.
"What the fuck?" Chris said.
Black smiled and said, "My bad partna."
Lani didn't know what to say. She didn't want to speak to Black but this was a man she'd known for ten years.
"Hey Lani," Black said.
"You know this clown?" Chris asked.
"Let me buy you some more drinks partna." He grinned again. "Seriously, it was an accident."
"This is the nigga that was staring at us. Now I know why he was staring. He knows you," Chris said.
Black still grinning said, "Lani, you ain't gonna speak?"
"Black don't start no bullshit. I ain't got time for this."
Chris doused Black with the other drink.
Seconds later the two men locked like a couple of pit bulls, neither having a clear advantage.
Black said, "You bitch ass nigga, let go of my shirt and fight like a man."
Security came and separated them.
Seconds later, police officers were at the scene. They cuffed both men and led them away.
"Baby, I'm going to call the bondsman," Lani said.
Black grinned and said, "Thanks, babe."
"Nigga, I ain't talking about you," Lani said.
Kyrie said to Lani, "I'm sorry. I told that fool he was out of bounds. But, Lani, you gotta understand that Black loves you. He ain't over you yet."
"He might as well be over me., I can never get back with him. I have a man that loves me."
"Black will always love you," Kyrie said.
"I don't want to hear that bullshit, I got to get my man out of jail and I gotta get him out fast. Fuck Black!"
She left the arena and called a bail bondsman.
Chapter 5
Shamari's cell phone rang in the middle of the night. He picked it up on the second ring. Jada rolled over and glanced at the clock on the dresser. It was 2:45 am
"Who the fuck is that? Calling this time of the morning!"
"Don't worry about it. Go back to bed."
Jada said, "Let me see that phone." It had better not be Rachel Hernandez, the bitch that she'd caught Shamari leaving the W hotel with a few months ago. She listened for a moment; she could tell it was a man's voice-sounded like Tony. She folded her pillow in half and tried to resume her rest, but she couldn't. She thought about what she heard when she was in the garage. The hit they'd planned. Why in the hell was he calling? Why couldn't it have waited until the morning?
"Did something go wrong?" Shamari asked.
"Yeah, real wrong."
"Where are you?"
"Bruh, I'm in the woods. I'm hiding; the police are all over the place. They are searching for me. They got the helicopters out and everything.
"Get rid of that cell phone."
"I know! I gotta get out of these woods first, I think I can make it. I need to make it out before the dogs get a trail on me. I'm approaching somebody's house. I can see a man on the porch. An old black man. I'm hoping he'll let me stay there till the morning."
"If he don't?"
"If he don't, I'm fucked and just get me an attorney and take care of my babies."
"I got you man."
Tony said, "Appreciate you bruh."
Shamari sprang from the bed and eased out into the hallway, trying to walk as lightly as possible. He paced the hallway then turned to see Jada. "You scared me babe, why are you not in bed?"
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah right, you know I know you."
He embraced her, and said, "If something happens to me, just know I love you."
"What's going to happen to you?"
"I don't really wanna get into it right now."
"Tony, he's in trouble right?"
"What?" He looked shocked. Trying to figure out how she'd guessed that it had so
mething to do with Tony.
"I recognized his voice; I'll never forget that voice." She still held his hand. "What happened?"
He looked her in the eyes. "You remember Don?"
"Yeah?"
"He got busted a few months ago and now he's talking?"
"Huh?"
" He's talking to the cops. Snitching. How else do you want me to say it?"
"How you know?"
"When he got out on bond I met him and he kept talking about old stuff that had happened years ago."
"He had a wire on him." Jada said, "That motherfucker! All the times you've helped his bitch ass out? You bought his kids clothes. Gave him money."
"I'm sure."
She thought about Craig. For that moment she thought being his mistress wouldn't be a bad idea after all, at least she couldn't go to jail for being a mistress.
"And you sent Tony to take care of him?"
He didn't want to admit that to her or nobody for that matter.
"I listened from the garage. I heard you tell him not to hurt anybody but Don."
"Don't repeat that to nobody, the less you know the better."
"You know I would do nothing to hurt you."
She followed him back to the kitchen. "You gonna tell me what happened?"
"He didn't say over the phone. He just said something went bad."
"Where is he?"
"In the woods somewhere in Gwinnett County."
"Damn, you think he's going to be okay?"
"I hope so."
She took a deep breathing then said, "I was just thinking about Tiffany and the kids."
Tiffany was Don's wife. She and Jada weren't exactly friends but they were cool with each other.
"I think they're fine."
"You hope so you mean?"
He banged his fist against the table. "Why you gotta be so goddamned negative? I hated I had to do that, but I had to, he was trying to take my life away."
She made herself a cup of coffee with a cream and two sugars, sipped it and said, "Damn"
He stared her in the eye and said, "It's real fucked up right now."
At 6:17 the doorbell rang. Jada headed into the bedroom with her coffee and Shamari answered the door. Tony stood on the front porch wearing soiled jeans and a ripped t-shirt in 27 degree weather.
He followed Shamari to the kitchen. They sat at the kitchen table. "What the fuck happened?"
"It went all bad man. All bad." His eyes were moist. He wanted to cry.
"What the fuck happened?"
"I kicked the door in and Don fired first, which shocked the hell out of me. I wasn't expecting him."
"Well you did kick his door in."
"Then I fired, and his wife came running out of another room, so I aimed and shot her."
"Damn, I told you nobody but Don."
"I know, man, but I thought she was a dude, man."
"Did you get Don?"
"I fired, but I don't know if I hit him."
Not only did this idiot hit the wrong person, but he didn't even know if he'd killed the right person. There was a possibility that Don was still living. Shamari stood up from the table. He wanted to pace, but this info was crippling. He just stood there thinking about prison, two of his brothers were there and one of his uncles as well. That was not somewhere he wanted to be. At that moment he regretted sending dumb ass Tony on a mission, clearly he wasn't as qualified as he had led him to believe.
"That's not all."
"What else happened?"
"A little girl looking to be around 9 or 10 came out of her bedroom and I shot. Man I don't know why, but I was nervous." Tony began to cry, "I didn't mean to do it man," Tony said, with a stupid ass look on his face. "It just kind of happened you know."
"No I don't know!" Shamari banged his fist against the table and said, "Goddamn it, you did exactly what I told you not to do!"
"I'm sorry." Tony's face got serious. "I've always gone to jail alone and this time it will be no different, I'm gonna wear it if I have to."
Shamari believed Tony. Tony had done 15 years in the Fed. He'd gotten caught with ten kilos of cocaine that wasn't his and he didn't talk, but this was bigger. This was attempted murder on a government informant. There was a difference. Stakes were higher. Both of their lives were on the line.
Jada burst in the kitchen, "Man the news has been showing that shit all morning."
Tony stared at her. He looked uneasy.
"She knows everything, I told her."
"The eleven year old Essence, died and a woman who was in the house is in critical condition.
"Damn, we're fucked."
"I swear to you Shamari, I ain't going out like that. You don't have anything to worry about. This is all on me."
"We gotta get you outta here. Do you have anywhere to go?"
"I need some clothes and some money, and if you give me a bus ticket to Baltimore I will be fine once I get there."
"I paid you already."
"My wife and kids is going to need that money."
Shamari sighed.
Tony became irritated with Shamari's unwillingness to give him some money. He said, "Now if you want me to keep my mouth shut, give me the money."
Jada said, "Ok, does Shamari have something to worry about?"
Tony looked at Shamari, not even acknowledging that Jada was in the room. "Look I know that sounded fucked up but I didn't mean it that way. I just need to get to Baltimore. If you can't, I understand. You did pay me."
"I'll get you the ticket, and I'll give you ten stacks." Shamari said.
"That's all I need. Once I get where I'm going, I'll be okay; I'll be able to hustle up some money to take care of myself once I'm there."
"Cool." Shamari said.
Chapter 6
Trey told Starr, "You're the best thing that ever happened to me." They were lying in bed, silk sheets barely covering both of their naked bodies.
Starr smiled, not because Trey had just put it down in bed, but because of the nice things he always said to her. He always made her feel so lucky. Not only was her man super generous to her, but he loved her. Something many women didn't have. They usually had one or the other. Starr gave Trey a peck on the cheek and then scooted her butt against him. She could feel his throbbing dick against her ass and she loved it. Moments later she grabbed it and eased it into her love hole. She came three times before he pulled out and came all over her ass. She turned to him and frowned.
"What's wrong babe?"
"You always do that."
"Do what?"
"You know, I want you to come inside me."
"I know, babe, but not yet. I will when I get out the game, babe. I don't want to be raising kids, while I'm in the game."
She sat up on the edge of the bed pulled the sheet up to her chin. She looked sad and he didn't like it.
He scooted beside her and started massaging her back. Then he said, "Baby, we're going to have a baby one day. Just not right now."
She turned to him and said, "You always say that. You've been saying that for years."
He continued to massage her. He kissed her neck then he placed his scruffy face on her shoulder. She winced a little but she didn't move.
Starr forced a smile then said, "So when do you think you'll be done?"
"Soon babe, real soon., As soon as Derringer blows up. I'm out of this game."
Derringer was a rappera rapper he'd been trying to make into a household name. He'd invested a half a million dollars in Derringer's rap career.
"You've been saying that for the past two summers. Have you ever thought that maybe Derringer ain't got what it takes?"
"This is ATL. All we gotta do is get the strip clubs to start playing his shit and it can catch on."
"The strip clubs have been playing his shit and it ain't catching on."
"Derringer is the best lyricist in ATL besides Andre 3000."
Starr sai
d, "Trey don't nobody give a damn about lyrics. I know I don't and my girls damn sure don't. We want to dance. When I buy music, I buy it because it's catchy and has a nice beat."
Trey looked sad, he said, "You right."
Starr kissed Trey and said, "Baby, I just don't want us starting our family dependent on Derringer getting a hit, cuz I don't see that shit happening."
"I just don't want to get you pregnant knowing that I don't have something legitimate. I don't want to be looking over my shoulders."
"Babe, I've helped you count millions of dollars. We have enough money. We can live off ten grand a month and be comfortable."
"And ordinary."
"And what's wrong with being ordinary?"
"I just don't want my kid to have to want for nothing."
"Bullshit, Trey, I think you're addicted to the power."
He pulled a little bit of sheet from her and got underneath and said, "You might be right."
"I know I'm right."
They kissed again. Before long he was inside her again. Missionary. Twenty minutes later he came again. This time he sprayed her chest.
Chapter 7
It was 9:33 am when Chris got bailed out. Lani was waiting for him in front of the police station. He hopped on the passenger side of the Range Rover.
"So what the fuck is up with you and Black?"
"Oh, Chris, it's too early in the morning for this bullshit. Okay? Can we just get home before we start arguing?"
"Why didn't you tell me that your fuckin' ex was staring at me?"
"Because I knew you were going to act just like you're acting now. Like a fucking child."
"What the fuck ever! That dude knew who I was and I ain't even know who he was, that's some bullshit, Lani, and you know it."
She pulled her BMW onto the side of the road and said, "Look, Chris, I'm sorry. I should have handled it better. I didn't handle it like a real woman was supposed to and I'm sorry."
"Are you still fuckin this dude?"
"Oh my God, here come the high school ass questions. You think I'm that fuckin' trifling? I've never been the type of chick to fuck with two dudes."
"I don't get it. What was that all about?"
"I will admit, Black still has feelings for me, and I love him too and always will, but I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with you. But I can't erase Black and our past. If I could, I would because you're my man."
"Look Lani, I believe you but what is this nigga's problem?"
"When Black and I broke up, he said, I would be nothing without him, and that I would never find anybody that treated me like he treated me. And now it seems as though I upgraded and it's killing him to see me doing great without him."