URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (6 page)

“That’s crazy but it could be a coincidence.”

“I thought the same thing so one day I went inside the corner store and asked to use their phone. I called the operator and asked about the pizza business and it doesn’t exist.”

“Oh shit.”

“Same thing I said. I feel the feds is up on me. I only know it’s a matter of time.”

“Is that why we’re stopping business?”

“Yeah I’m just tying up loose ends before it all happens. I’m getting rid of all our product.”

“By selling it?”

“Worse, by giving it to our competition.”

“Ah shit, for real. Why did you do that?”

“If I get caught, I need the least amount of incriminating shit around me.” He explained. “They not going to be adding charges on top of all other charges because I keep all the illegal shit around me. I just called up my competition told him I had a few extra because the connect fucked up and sent too much. Of course him being the greedy snake motherfucker, he didn’t hesitate to snatch up the product for a good price.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. Lenny was leaving the game and might be getting locked up soon.

“So now what?” I asked. “What about the connect?”

“He’s still going to be making money.”

“Not with our competition?” I protested.

“Get the fuck out of here. I’ll only give that snake so much business. I handed everything to my second in command.”

“Damien is a good man.” I nodded. “That means money is still to be made while you gone. I still can help out with the work and make sure what you leaving behind temporarily don’t get crazy.”

“Nah, you not in the business anymore young one.”

Now that shocked me the most. I could finally get my head around the fact that he might be leaving, but me not working? That didn’t make sense at all.

“What?” I leaned in. “You always said that I was one of the best that you got.”

“And that’s still true but I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen when they lock me up. I don’t know who else they gonna take with me when they do and I’m not letting it happen to you. I know you still in school and you got pretty okay grades, but seeing how your senior year starts this fall, I’m going to need you to buckle down.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it kid. You got to go to school and get some grades and go to college.”

“College?” I screwed up my face. “The fuck am I going to do there?”

“You going to pursue business. You already know how to run one, now get the degree.”

“But why?”

“Because I don’t want you getting locked up one day. That shit would eat at my heart. I know I ask a lot from you, but you never once disappointed me. So this is one thing I’m going to ask you. I need you to do this for me.”

His eyes told me that he really meant this. I could see how the fact that he was about to get locked up really put a lot of things into perspective. He just had this whole new vibe to him. I knew that I didn’t understand it, but one of these days I would. A week later, Lenny was locked up. While he was away he sent me a letter.

“Dear Little Man,

I told you so! The home is for you. Check the mail
.” And that was it. I must have turned the piece of paper around millions of times hoping there was more to it, but that was it. So I went to his house on a hunch and looked into the mailbox. There was a huge envelope and inside the house was signed over to my Mom. There was also a key with directions to a safety deposit box. I went there and found out that he had over $600,000 in the bank for me and me only. The teller led me to the box and in the safety deposit box, it only had a date written on a piece of paper. That date was tonight.

I got back home and didn’t know what to do. At first I thought that Lenny was just being paranoid, but he was right about getting locked up, and he gave my mom his house. I didn’t bother to look inside the house. I was about to go check the house out, when the phone rang.

“This is a collect call from …” The operator saying Lenny’s name and the prison shocked me, but I accepted the charges.

“Lenny? How are you? What’s up?”

“I was hoping you’re home. I’m hoping you got everything.”

“Yeah the house-”

“I heard a rumor that they tap prison phone calls. That’s crazy, don’t you think?” He said and I knew then to shut the fuck up.

“I read that report but that doesn’t matter for us because we have nothing to hide.”

“For real. I called to congratulate you on that college scholarship you got. I heard that it pays up to $600,000. I say you take that money and go to school and get a degree. That would be the smart thing to do. I know you’re smart though and you won’t blow it all. You won’t blow it all, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Then that’s it. I’m hoping you’re done with that summer job now that school is starting again.”

“I’m done.”

“You promise.”

“I promise...at least until after my degree. I might get to work after.”

“I can’t say nothing on that, but I hope your degree puts you in a better position.”

“We'll see.”

“Keep your head up out there Little Man.”

“I’m going to come see you.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Lenny was like a father to me. Yeah he was a drug dealer, but he didn’t hesitate to take me under his wing. With the work he gave me I paid a lot of the debts behind my mother’s back. She caught on, but by then Lenny set me up with a fake job. I even had a fake paystub and everything. She just thought it was from this record shop. When Lenny left her the house, he wrote her a letter and said it was for the good deed she did. She felt funny about it at first, but it was hard to turn down a three story home that came with it’s own security.

Respecting Lenny’s wishes, I went into my senior year of high school concentrating on my grades. I fell in love with the idea of doing business legit in some ways so I went after my bachelors in business management. I got partial financial aid but that didn’t matter with the money that Lenny left behind. I got the degree that I wanted all because of Lenny.

“Yo!” Douglas snapped me out of it. I was walking down memory lane forgetting that I was doing business right then.

“My bad. I just had a flashback.” I explained. “So, what’s up? When are you going to set up everything?”

“We can go tonight if you want.”

“That’s what’s up.” I got off the wall. “Let me just go change real quick.”

“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing right now?”

“These sweats and Timbs don’t make me look like a boss. Remember something, first impressions is the most important. If I show up dressed like this, I might get respect, but I got to earn it. But pop up in a suit, looking like a boss, acting like a boss, and talking like one, they really got no choice. “

“You what?” Janet said with her jaw dropped open. She was at my apartment. We were getting ready for the party later tonight. I decided to tell her about what I did the other day. I thought that we were just going to laugh and gush over all the details, but by seeing her screw face, maybe I should have kept that story to myself.

“And then we had sex.” I told her. “What’s the big deal?” She was looking at me like I gave away my virginity or something.

“Did you even get his name?”

“No….”

“What the fuck? You’re just fucking strangers now Melissa?”

“I hate to be that bitch that says, ‘It just happened,’ but honestly it did.” I shrugged when I saw that the look on her face didn’t change. “I was a bit tipsy when I approached him, but I was sober when it all happened. I just wanted to get fucked and it had been a while so….” I drifted off.”

“Girl…” She rolled her eyes. “Was it good?”

I closed my eyes and saw it all over again. We went from flirting at the bar, to kissing in the streets, to sex at his hotel room. With my eyes closed, I swore that I felt all his touches, his body on mine, his tongue inside of me, and his hardness pounding me. It was some of the best sex I ever had. Who knows if I could ever get it like that again? Maybe it was good because I was really horny. Maybe it was good because he was in tune with my body. Maybe I’ll never find out.

“Fuck yeah, it was good.” I laughed. I licked my lips at the thought of him and I. “It was really good, but enough about that. I didn’t have sex with him to fall in love or to get into a relationship. That was the whole point why I didn’t give him a name.”

“Did he ask?”

“Of course he asked but I didn’t give it to him.”

“Aw, what if he wanted to get to know you?”

“Janet….”

Janet was giving me those puppy eyes and I had to remind myself that Janet was a hopeless romantic. She was the type that watched those gushy over-the-top love stories and thought that it could happen to her. She was even after I got my heart broken, she was still a fighter for love. She had been in love many times and each time she got her heart broken, she built it back together like nothing happened. I admired her for that, but after mine broke, I told myself that I wasn’t going to fall in love again, and I meant it. That’s why I avoided men since my breakup.

I’ve had men approach me but I turned them all down. Janet swears that I’m going back to Michael but I don’t see it happening. I just wanted to be by myself for a while. Crazy as it seems, I liked being single. I just kept to myself, answered to myself, and was by myself. I didn’t have to tell a man where I was going or who I was with. It was a sweet arrangement for me. Of course every now and then I would get horny and that’s what happened the other night. I got horny and made an excellent choice in the man I got with. He served his purpose and now he was gone.

“But enough about that, how about this New Year’s party tonight? I can not wait! I’ve been working like crazy. I can’t remember the last time I had fun. If I have to file one more tort of brief, I’m going to go crazy. I can’t wait for this party though.” I jumped up and down. “I just tried on your gold dress, and it is everything.” I whirled around. “I’m just going to do my makeup and then my hair. I got all my things right here.”

“Good, because you know I always have to borrow something from you.”

“But don’t borrow means that you give it back.”

“Stop playing, you know I always give it back.”

“Nah chick, I always buy it and by the time you bring it back, I don’t want doubles.”

“But I still give it back.” She playfully stuck her tongue out.

“Whatever. I got to put on this sexy smelling lotion, the perfume, and this new lip gloss I just got.” I listed all that I have to do before we went out for the night. “I can’t wait! Now that I have had sex, I got this new boost of energy and shit.” I laughed.

“Good dick will do that for you.”

“Won’t it though?” I smiled. “I just know that this won’t be a night we forget.” She nodded her head in agreement.

***

“So, you guys are going to take this corner and sell to these buildings.” I showed the new crew the map. Dwayne and I were taking over a new operation and I invited them all to my suite. I liked to do that because anyone who had to come upstairs, needed to go through the front desk first. I told them downstairs that youths that I was mentoring would stop by before I left for the day. I didn’t want to set off any red flags. I then continued, “And put the word out that we got that good shit to our customers. I promise you after a few weeks, you won’t have to worry about getting rid of the product at all. The shit we sell is going to be flying out of here.” I turned to all of them. “Any questions?” They shook their heads. “Aight. You guys got the work. I got this bread for all of you because I don’t want ya to start the game starving. Let’s keep everyone eating and fed.” I handed my six man crew $2000 each.

I’ve been taught under the school of Lenny. He always made sure that everyone had their pockets filled. He used to always tell me that a fed man works twice as hard. When I went to college, in class my professor would show us companies that paid their employees well and how the workers productivity would always go up. I always kept that in mind. Of course it made sense that now we were taking over, that I would keep these people fed and dressed well.

“And when business picks up, we’re going to be recruiting more. You guys have to ask Doug or Black about letting people in. We going to keep this tight and make sure none of our people get locked up. I got lawyers, I got the rest of that covered. All you guys got to do is sell the product and don’t be reckless out there. And by being reckless I mean watch your tongue and watch your gun. Don’t speak your business to nobody that you don’t know through here. If you got to talk business, do that shit face to fucking face, not over the phone and not even texting. Don’t be flashy with your money all at once. Be fucking humble so that you won’t be suspect. And don’t shoot niggas and pop off. If you got a problem with a nigga come see me, Black, or Doug and we will handle it. Ya got it?”

Everyone nodded their heads. I gave them a bit more money and told them to go. I picked up my phone and saw that Black texted me the address for the party. I groaned out loud, I know that I told him that I would go, but it was so hard for me. I am really a person that is used to routine. I come home, watch TV, look at things that I can invest my money in, and then take care of business. I just didn’t see the point in partying, but I gave Black my word, so I had to go. Plus I’m never really in New York unless it was time for business. I just hated that I had to go to the New Year’s party with no date. I should really just pick up the phone and call Ranice.

Ranice is a woman that I’ve been dealing with on and off for about ten years. I met her in college in my mathematics class. I can still see her walking in like nothing in the world fazed her. Those thick thighs in those jeans was like a magnet for my eyes. She breezed in the classroom and I was just struck by her. The second she sat down across for me, she gave me a glance then a smile. Throughout class she answered almost all the questions. She was so smart but humble. She didn’t try to make no one feel dumb or talk over anybody. She was humble.