The Mike Black Saga; MOB (33 page)

“Robber, huh? Then he got money,” Miller said and Jordan smiled. “We’ll get him before he gets us. He’s just another muthafucka to rob. You know where to find him?”

“I know where his woman lives,” Jordan said.

“Is she fine?” Blue asked.

“As hell,” Jordan replied.

“Then she gettin’ fucked too.” Blue laughed.

The last few weeks had been stressful to say the least for Me’shelle. She had taken a leave from work and spent her days taking care of Brandy practically around the clock. Most of the day they sat in Brandy’s room talking or watching TV.

Having Me’shelle there with her seemed to make Brandy more comfortable, but it had begun taking its toll on Me’shelle. Feeling that Me’shelle needed a break, not to mention that she was getting on her nerves, Miranda strongly recommended the she get out of the house for the day. “I’m sure Brandy will make it through one night without you.”

Since she was out of the house for the day, Me’shelle called Travis on her cell phone to see what he was doing. He told her that he had nothing planned and would love to see her, especially since it had been a while since they had been together.

“Maybe we could have dinner, see a movie or whatever,” Me’shelle suggested.

“Maybe we could do both,” Travis replied happily.

“I need to change if we’re going out to dinner. Why don’t I come and pick you up? You can ride with me to my apartment to get changed.”

“I’ll be ready when you get here,” Travis said.

On the way to pick up Travis, Me’shelle though about how much she missed spending time with him. She knew that she wanted him to be a part of her life, which meant there was something Me’shelle had to seriously consider.

She was adamant that she wanted Brandy to stay with her, but Brandy had been through a lot. She’d seen enough crime and experienced enough violence to last a lifetime. Was Travis the kind of person that Brandy needed to be around? All Me’shelle had from Travis was a kiss and a promise that he would end his life of crime and violence.
Promises get broken every day.
Suppose Travis was neither interested in nor ready for the responsibility of having not only a teen-aged girl, but a teen-aged girl with issues? She wondered what he would say when she told him, and if he said he couldn’t deal with it, if it would affect their relationship. In her heart, she knew that it would.

When Me’shelle arrived at the house to pick Travis up, she asked if she could use his phone. “My battery died while I was talking to Brandy.”

“How’s she feeling?”

“She’s doing much better. At least I think so. She still doesn’t like being alone. She gets headaches. She says they’re from having been hit in the head during the assault. She doesn’t eat like she used to, so she’s losing a lot of weight. I think the nightmares might not be happening as often, because she is sleeping better lately.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“This is the first night in a while that I haven’t been there with her, so you can understand why I wanted to check on her.” The doorbell rang. Travis looked at Me’shelle. “I’ll use the one in the back,” she said without asking.

Not expecting anybody, Travis reached for and cocked his pistol. He opened the door and was surprised to see Jackie.

“Hey, you,” Jackie said as Travis stepped aside to let her in.

“How you doin’, Jackie?” Travis asked.

“I’m good. I was on my way to pick up Ronnie, so I took a chance and drove by to see if you wanted to ride.”

“Where’s Ronnie?”

“Some young-minded trick he’s fuckin’ with took his truck, his clothes and his wallet and left him stranded at some motel in Yonkers.”

“He say what her name was?”

“No. He just told me the story and said to come get him.”

“I don’t know what he sees in them drama queens,” Travis said, hoping the young minded trick wasn’t Pauleen.

“You don’t know?” Jackie asked.

“Know what?”

“Them drama queens is crazy. And everybody knows crazy women got the best pussy.”

Travis glanced toward the bedroom and thought about Me’shelle. “Come on, now. Not all the good pussy women are crazy.”

“I didn’t say
all
, but you’ve had some fools with that bomb-ass pussy, and so have I.”

“True that. But good pussy or not, I try to stay away from them nuts. Besides, I’m off the market anyway.”

“She back there?” Jackie whispered and pointed toward the bedroom. Travis nodded. “My bad,” she whispered. “So, do I get to meet the little woman?”

“She’s on the phone. I guess she’ll come out when she’s done.”

“If she’s any kind of woman, she’ll be out here as soon as she hangs up to see what woman her man is talking to.”

Travis laughed, but he knew she was right. “So, how’s Ronnie doin’? Every time I call him he’s running out somewhere or he’s right in the middle of something and never has time to talk.”

“What else is new? That’s how he’s always been. But other than this latest shit, he’s been doin’ all right. Still fuckin’ up his money on women and trying to be a day trader. The market is just too unstable to make that shit work for him.”

“He’s not dippin’ into his reserve, is he?”

“No, but I know that between the market and his usual spend it like it’s water lifestyle, he just about ran through the thirty grand from the last job.”

“Damn,” Travis said, thinking that he hadn’t spent any of his share. The day after the job, he wired all his money to his bank in the Caymans. Veronica had sent him back confirmation that his money was deposited in his account. “How you doin’ with your thing?”

“What? The gambling? I’ve been a good girl the last two weeks, but that’s only because Freeze banned me from all the houses,” Jackie lied. “I’m too scared to roll up on another game, and I’m too lazy to drive, and I refuse to fly to Atlantic City.”  

“Damn, Jackie.

“I know I’m off the chain with it, Travis, and I need to get some help. I’m thinkin’ seriously about goin’ to Gamblers Anonymous.”

“If that’s what you gotta do, then let’s do it. I’ll go with you.”

“Ronnie says the only reason I think I got a problem is because I’m losing and my money is gettin’ low. Says I wouldn’t be talkin’ all this problem shit if I was winning.”

“He’s probably right about that part, but you still need to get help if you think you got a problem.”

“I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but Ronnie’s been talkin’ bout we need to hit someplace soon. Either with or without you.” Jackie held up her hands. “Before you say it, I know you said that you’re retired.”

“Right. I’m out, especially after the way he acted after the last job.”

“Shit, Travis, that was just Ronnie being Ronnie. You know that.”

“Yeah well, I guess it’s me then.”

“Well, you are the one who changed up on us.” Travis scowled at Jackie. “Just being real. You are in a brand new favor now.”

“Am I that bad?”

“I never said you were bad. Just different.”

There was silence in the room until Jackie said “Hello.”

Travis turned around and stood up quickly as Me’shelle came into the room. “Jackie, this is Me’shelle.”

“It good to finally meet you,” Jackie said, extending a polite hand.

“So, you’re Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.” Me’shelle smiled and accepted her hand. “Some days all Travis talks about is Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.”

“You’re not jealous, are you? Because I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me. In fact, Me’shelle, you and I are gonna get along just fine,” Jackie said as she looked Me’shelle over.

“Are we?” Me’shelle asked cautiously. The look on Jackie’s face was making her feel just a little uncomfortable.

“Yes, Me’shelle, we are,” Jackie said and smiled at Travis. “Because all I want is for Travis to be happy, and he is happy with you. We were just sitting here talkin’ ’bout how he’s changed. And what’s changed him is you. You’ve been good for him. So, I’m hoping that change rubs off on all of us.” Jackie stood up. “So, come give me a hug so I can go.”

Me’shelle and Jackie hugged. Jackie winked at Travis.

“I’m not running you off, am I?” Me’shelle asked.

“No. I just stopped by on my way to perform a mission of mercy.”

“What?” Me’shelle said.

“I gotta go pick up Ronnie, but if y’all are gonna be here for a while, I can pick up Ronnie and swing back through.”

“We were getting ready to go by Me’shelle’s apartment so she can change for dinner.”

“Mind if me and Ronnie tag along? I know Ronnie is dying to meet you. ”

“No, not at all,” Me’shelle said. “I’m dying to meet Ronnie too. I’ll be a while changing, Travis, so why don’t you go with Jackie to pick up Ronnie? Then you can come by my house and pick me up.”

“You sure?” Jackie said sweetly.

“Yes.”

“Come on, Jackie. I’ll walk you to the car and tell you where she lives,” Travis said, ignoring Me’shelle’s suggestion.

As planned, Jackie made it out to Yonkers and picked up Ronnie. While he put on the clothes she’d brought for him, Jackie couldn’t wait to tell him that she had met Me’shelle, and that she was fine. “He wouldn’t even ride out here with me.”

“What part of that surprises you? Pussy-whipped nigga.”

“Look who’s talking,” Jackie shot back. “You calling him pussy-whipped, but some bitch left you out here butt naked, with no truck and no money.”

Ronnie laughed. “I guess she didn’t appreciate me calling her a triflin’ money grubbing bitch.”

“I think that’s enough to piss her off. You should be glad that all she did was leave you here asleep. She could have cut your dick off.”

“Maybe,” Ronnie said and thought about a few other things that a pissed off Paulleen could do to get him back.

Me’shelle and Travis drove over to her apartment to get ready for dinner. On the way over, Me’shelle told Travis that she thought Jackie was sweet. “But should I be afraid of her?”

“Even though Jackie is at best bisexual, I don’t think that you have anything to worry about,” Travis assured her.

While Travis waited in the living room and channel surfed, Me’shelle wandered around her bedroom, trying to decide what to wear. The doorbell rang.

“That’s probably your friends,” Me’shelle said as she went to answer the door. She stepped out of her apartment into the foyer and looked out the window. Outside were three men she’d never seen before. It was Miller, Jordan and Blue. When they began to bang on the door, Me’shelle ran to get Travis.

Travis came out to take a look. “They’re armed,” Travis said as he took out his gun. “Is there another way out of here?”

“Through the basement and out the back door.”

“Come on.” They ran down the steps into the basement just as Blue kicked in the door. As Me’shelle escaped out the back door, Travis settled himself, ready to shoot the first one who came down the steps.

Blue was the first to come running down, followed by Jordan. Miller went into Me’shelle’s apartment and began to look around. In the basement, Travis took aim and fired, but he missed. Blue fired back wildly, and Travis ran out the back door.

Me’shelle ran through the yard and climbed over the fence to the street. Travis was right behind her. He made it over the fence just as Jordan and Blue came out the back door blasting. Me’shelle ran down the block but stopped to look back for Travis.

“Keep goin’!” Travis yelled, but she waited for him anyway. Jordan and Blue hopped the fence and began shooting. Travis and Me’shelle ducked behind a car and Travis shot back. When Jordan and Blue took cover, Travis and Me’shelle took off running.

“Where do those woods lead?” Travis asked as they ran.

“It comes out on the next block,” Me’shelle answered, still running.

Inside Me’shelle apartment, Miller was tearing up the place, looking for whatever he could find, getting angrier by the second because there was nothing of any real value in the entire apartment. Miller was just about to search the bedroom when he heard voices.

Jackie and Ronnie approached Me’shelle’s apartment building and noticed the door had been forced open.  The wood on the frame was splintered and the door was hanging off its hinges.

“Do you hear that?” Ronnie asked.

“Hear what?”

“Sounds like gunshots.”

“What part of that surprises you?” Jackie asked as she stepped into the foyer.

As Jackie stepped inside, Miller came out of Me’shelle’s apartment. He raised his gun and fired at Jackie.

“Gun!” Jackie yelled as she pushed Ronnie back out the door.

Miller fired a couple of shots through the window before running into the basement and out the back door. Once the shooting stopped, Jackie and Ronnie went to the car, armed themselves, and came back to the building. They went inside the open apartment and looked around for Travis. Not finding him there, they closed the apartment and went to the basement, moving carefully down the steps.