B00BNB54RE EBOK (12 page)

             
The great start to a long day was celebrated with a good breakfast that he consumed in the nude. Thad enjoyed egg whites, sausage, an English muffin and fresh squeezed orange juice. After he ate the vittles and rinsed his plate off, he placed another plate in front of him. This fancy gold colored saucer held breakfast for his nostrils. Thad sniffed five lines and then dashed off to hop in the shower feeling like a million bucks.

             
As the hot water rained down on his shoulders he thought about Angelique. His mind replayed the comment about her being rich. He rubbed his balls with a bar of soap and wondered to himself just how much money she really had.

             
I gave Carmela the day off and Khari was at Pamela’s house. I was up early sitting on my back patio in black basketball shorts and a matching wife beater. I’d just finished my morning workout, but I still had plenty of energy left for a fight.

             
Angelique walked out to join me after she scoured the house looking for Khari. She’d come in at her usual hour looking a warm mess. I watched her closely as she stood over me, blocking the beautiful morning sun from my view.

“Where’s Khari?” She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.

I grinned at her knowing that it would make her mad. I rubbed my daughter’s beautiful face as I massaged my sore bicep. I recently got a tattoo of my baby girl, which was now on display as I grinned at my pissed off baby mama.

“Don’t jus’ sit there and fuckin’ smile at me! Where is my child?!” She screamed.

“Relax, she’s with my mom.” I shook my head.

“Which one?!” She put her hand on her hip.

“Pamela.” I crossed my legs at the ankles.

“Why did you send her o
ver there and why didn’t you ask me first?”

She didn’t ev
en bother to take her heels off and I noticed that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She definitely had one on when she left the night before though.

“I ain
’t gotta get your permission about shit, but I do have to ask you a question though.”

She huffed. “What?!”

I folded my arms across my chest and cocked my head to the side.             

“How long have you been doin’ coke?”

For a second she looked dazed and I could almost see the lie forming behind her forehead.

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about? I don’t do coke.” Her dry face twisted up into a snarl.

“Is that right? You don’t do coke? So now we lie to each other, is that it? I’m talkin’ to you about this cuz I care about you. I love you and I don’t wanna see you lose your grip on the shit. I knew you might have dabbled in it a few times in your past, especially being around Biz. I don’t run the D.A.R.E program or nothin’ like that. I ain’t got a problem with a grown ass nigga takin’ a bump or two every now and then. Shit, do you, but you’re losing control.”

“Look, I’m gonna
say this nice and slow cuz it seems like you have a hearing problem. I don’t do coke. Period. You’re jus’ tryin’ to flip the script on me cuz we’re beefin’ right now. You’re trying to avoid the real problem which is you and your crooked lifestyle. I think you have an addiction! You’re addicted to the fast life!”

I sat up in the chair. “Wow. I got the problem now. Gettin’ money is suddenly an issue. I didn’t hear you complaining when you was a part of my crew. You didn’t bitch and moan when you made millions living the fast life with
me.” I put my hand to my chest.

She sighed angrily. “That was different and you know it. Things have changed since then. We have a baby now. On top of that we have everything we want. We have money, we have nice cars, we have this big ass house what more do you…”

I cut her off with a wave of my hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up.
I
have a big ass house. This is
my
house.” I put my hands in the air like I was signaling a field goal.

Her mouth fell open in awe. I could tell that last comment really hit her in the gut.

“Fuck you Tyce, when I moved in here it became ours nigga. Don’t pull that my my my bullshit on me. I live here too and so does my daughter!”

“Oh, you live here. Shit, I can’t tell. You’re never home. You come and go like its Hotel Tyce up in
here. How long do you think I’m gonna put up with your attitude and how long do you think I’m gonna jus’ let you lie in my face? You’re a coke head!”

“Kiss my ass Tyce!” She yelled.

I wanted to talk more, but she stormed back inside the house. I could hear her snatch the keys off the table as she headed for the front door.

“You might wanna grab some tissue from the bathroom cuz your nose is dripping like an IV bag!” I shouted as she slammed the door.

I crossed my legs again and watched the sun rise over the trees in my back yard. That whole scene went exactly as I planned. I confronted her and she denied it. Now her guard was down. It may not have shown, but she jetted out of there relieved. Angelique just knew the gig was up when I confronted her. In the back of her foggy mind she just knew I was about to bust her for cheating on me with Thaddeus.

             
In her mind, that cocaine induced conversation explained my suspicion. She thought my focus was the drugs and that I somehow missed the fact that she was sucking another nigga’s dick. That was just what I wanted her to think. The conversation wasn’t a total lie though. I was worried about her and I hated to see her in denial about her growing addiction.

             
An infuriated Angelique pulled up in front of Thaddeus’s home in Baldwin Hills. She slammed her car door and stomped up the sidewalk. Just as she was about to knock on the door, he opened it to greet her.

“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” He pulled her into his body for a tight hug.

She allowed herself to relax a little in his arms and then the two of them went inside.

“What’s wrong? You seem upset.” He sat beside her on the couch.

She kicked off her heels. “I’m fine. I jus’ had an argument with Tyce.”

“About what?
” Thad’s interest grew.

“Do you have any here? I need to do a bump
to get my head right.” She buried her head in the cushion.

“Yeah, it’s in the kitchen.
I’ll get it.”

Moments later he returned with his fat stash. His guest wasted no time getting her fix and took four bumps up her nose and sighed.

“So what was the argument about? Did he hit you?” Thad’s eyes darkened.

Angelique sniffed. “No, he would never do that. He knows I’m doin’ coke and he tried to confront me about it. I’m pissed cuz he’s actin’ like I’m a fuckin’ crack head or somethin’. He even sent my baby to his mom’s house without even checking with me first. I didn’t know where she was when I got home. I thought she was kidnapped or somethin’. Shit you never know what type of shit he’s into and I don’t want my baby to get hurt
behind his ass.”

Thad rubbed her back in circular motions attempting to calm her down.

“How does he know you’re doin’ drugs?”

Angelique rolled h
er eyes. “He’s not stupid Thad. Plus I think our house keeper is spying on me.”

Thad pointed to his golden tray. “What you do is none of her business. She works for you.”

Angelique just stared at the T.V screen watching a commercial for birth control. Her frantic mind was starting to settle as the drug began to seep in.

“I can’t st
and him right now,” she spat.

“Why don’t you just stay here for a couple of days? You said your little girl is with her grandma
, so you really don’t have a reason to be there. I don’t want you to get into another argument and it escalates to something domestic. Is he the violent type?”

Angelique smirked to herself as she thought about that question.

“You remember when I told you Biz was murdered?”

“Yeah.” His thick eye brows rose up.

“Tyce killed him. He used to work for him. That’s how I met him. Tyce is the nigga other niggas wanna be like. He used to be an enforcer in the drug game.”

Thad looked confused. “What’s an enforcer?”

Angelique chuckled to herself at her lover’s naivety.

“He killed the competition.”

“Oh.” He pointed at her. “And that’s the kind of man you had a baby with? That’s the man you can’t leave? He’s a killer Angie!”

Again she chuckled to herself as Thad got more animated.

“He’s a complicated man.” She shook her head.

             
Khalil dialed Roman’s phone number for the eighth time that week. The last time he saw him face to face he was mad as hell. His out of control temper was his downfall. Khalil knew that in the streets a hot head could get a man in trouble more often than not. To his surprise Roman finally answered his call.

“Wasup Lil.” Roman’s voice was gruff.

“
You
cuz! Where you been?” Khalil sat down on the steps of his front porch.

Roman sucked his teeth. “I been holdin’ down all my spots. I’m still takin’ care of business.”

“I didn’t say you was slackin’. I jus’ asked where you been all week.”

“I been doin’ me…chill
out.” Roman sounded irritated.

Khalil wiped some dust off his Italian loafer.

“Naw nigga, you been trippin’ over Tyce and what happened at the barber shop.” Khalil shook his head with disappointment.

“Whatever, I’ll bring the re up money to you later.” He changed the subject.

“A’ight that’s cool, but I didn’t call for that. I called to let you know that I talked to Dallas and she told me not to touch Tyce. She ain’t got no beef with him, so neither do I.”

Roman stopped talking. He still couldn’t believe Khalil was sucking Tyce’s dick and letting a girl dictate shit.

“You and Dallas can slow dance with that muthafucka, but I’m still gonna handle my business.” Roman hung up the phone.

             
The vast night club was packed with ladies on top of ladies and the few men who sucked it up and took their girlfriends to the concert. All I saw when I looked at the sea of people were niggas with screwed up faces and women wearing dresses and jeans two sizes too small. I was dressed casually in blue jeans, powder gray suede Air Max’s, a gray sweater that hugged my physique, and an all black Laker’s hat. My wrist glistened with a thick white gold rope bracelet and as usual my ears sparkled brightly even in the dark club. Sway was to my left while Peck lagged behind a bit.

“Do you see Angeli
que?” I leaned into Sway’s ear.

“Naw, maybe she ain
’t…no wait, I see her. She’s talkin’ to some girls on the other side of the club.” He nodded his head in her direction.

I followed his eyes and spotted my cheating woman. She had her back to me
, but I could clearly see that it was her. I’d recognize her plump ass anywhere. I thought she would be back stage with Thad, but I guess she chose to wait for her man to come out like all the rest of the groupies.

“Let’s go.” I patted Sway in the stomach and he signaled Peck.

We all made our way toward the back stage entrance before Angelique could see us. That was important to me because I didn’t want her to get in the way when I snatched Thad’s punk ass up. The three of us approached the doorway to the back rooms, which were blocked by two bouncers. They looked us up and down as we got closer to them.

“Look at these fools.” Peck wa
ved his hand.

He obviously wasn’t impressed with the buff men or their tight ass black T-shirts. I grinned at my newest crew member. I liked his spirit. He was always willing to fight…or shoot somebody. However, I was ready to try
a different approach to get pass the black National Guard. I led the way as the bigger bouncer with the beard took a step toward us.

“Ya’ll can’t come back here unless you got a pass.” His deep voice had a little too much bass.
“We know the drill Barry White, but maybe you fellas can make an exception tonight.” I pulled out five one hundred dollar bills.

I wa
ved the bills in front of his big eyes hoping he would take the payoff, so I wouldn’t have to fuck them up.

“How much is that?” The burly man behind him got curious.

“Five hundred, I figure it’s probably about what you’re makin’ tonight if you both split it and let us slide by.”

The two protectors looked at each other as they thought about my proposal.

“We gotta pat you down for weapons first.”

Barry White took the bribe money from my open palm.

“No problem fellas. I appreciate you.”

After the brief search my trio made the
way down the dim hallway. A few steps later Sway turned around.