The cost of vengeance - [27]

So now Nita is makin’ money and it gets Bull’s attention. He feels like Nita was still his ho and that he has a right to some of that money. He finds Nita, beats her ass and takes her money. She goes crying to Skip. He offers to extend his protection to Nita, but somehow, she convinces that nigga that he don’t want any money. But Bull is obsessed with Nita, and every once and a while, he would hunt Nita down, beat her ass, and take the pussy and her money.

Now, back in those days, Andre was a drug dealer. He made his money off heroin and cocaine. To him, gambling, loan sharking, and prostitution, which he controlled, were all just sidelines; and he really didn’t pay much attention to that part of his business. That’s where I saw an opportunity. I found out that Nick and Jamaica were shakin’ down the number runners that they knew were skimmin’ money off Andre. I went to Andre and got him to let me take over that part of the business. “I guarantee that I will more than double your take in less than three months,” I told Andre and he went for it. Since I knew just about everybody that worked for was him was coming up short on the money, it was easy.

So I get to Nita Blue. Me and Freeze catch her one night at the spot she works out of; the same spot me and Bobby were on our way to now. I sit Nita down and stick my hand out. Nita says no. Freeze put a gun to her head. “You’re not understanding me, Nita. Those are my streets. That is my stroll your ho’s are walkin’. You wanna keep gettin’ that money, you gotta pay me for the privilege or your life ends now. Choose wisely.”

“You need to talk to Skip about that, Black,” Nita Blue said.

“What Skip got to do with my money?”

“You have this pretty nigga here take that gun from my head and I’ll tell you,” Nita Blue said. I motioned to Freeze to remove his gun and Nita Blue explained her arrangement with Skip. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“If you lyin’ to me, Nita, ain’t gonna be no talk. This pretty nigga will kill you the next time he sees you,” I said and left. I went straight to see Skip and he confirmed what Nita Blue had said. I looked at Freeze and he put his gun to Skip’s head. “How much money you costin’ me?”

“Huh?” Skip said.

“You lettin’ that bitch work my streets for free. How much money is that costin’ me?”

“I don’t know.”

“You better come up with a number fast,” I said and put my gun to the other side of his head.

“I don’t know-a couple of grand maybe,” Skip blurted out.

“That’s how much extra you need to give me for y’all’s dumb-ass arrangement.”

But that little soap opera didn’t stop there. There was still Bull to deal with. Every once and a while, for reasons even he says he can’t understand, he gets drunk and goes after Nita. He hunts Nita down, beats her ass, and takes the pussy and her money. So, Nita always has one of her girls following Bull. If he gets anywhere near Nita, they let her know and she lays low for a day until Bull calms down. That system has worked for Nita for the last three years, but I heard last month Bull finally caught her and made up for lost time. Crazy right?

When me and Bobby walked in the place, it seemed like all eyes were on us. “You see her?” Bobby asked.

“No,” I said and headed for the bar. “Remy, straight up.”

“Make it two,” Bobby said and looked around again. “A lotta pimp-lookin’ mutha fuckas in here.”

“You ain’t scared, are you?”

“Yeah, shakin’ in my pants,” Bobby laughed. “These niggas lookin’ at us like we marks.”

“Let ’em come, we haven’t killed anybody yet, today.” I looked around. “I haven’t been in here since the Nita told us that bullshittin’-ass story about her, Bull, and Skip.”

The bartender brought us our drinks and we shot them. I took one more look around and was gettin’ ready to get out of there, when I saw Nita Blue coming out of the back room.

“There she is,” I told Bobby and headed in that direction. Bobby was right behind me. A couple of young bucks got up to block my path.

“You want somethin’?”

“I want you to get outta my fuckin’ way,” I said, and Bobby put two guns in his face.

“Mike Black and Bobby Ray,” Nita Blue said. “I knew my ass was hurtin’ for some reason.” She walked up and tapped the young bucks on the shoulder and they sat down, but Bobby decided to keep his guns out. “You don’t want to fuck wit’ them two niggas. They old school; the original gangsters,” she laughed.

“Hello, Nita,” I said. “You got a minute to talk?”

“For you, Black, I got all the time in the world,” Nita led us to her table and sat down. I looked at Nita’s face. I could still see the effects of the beating she took. “What can I do for you, Black?”

“I’m lookin’ for Bull.”

“So am I.”

“I see why,” Bobby said.

“You always did think you was funny, but ain’t nobody here laughin’, Bobby. And don’t think that them guns scare me, either,” Nita Blue said definitely.

“Look, Nita, ain’t nobody come here to try and scare you.”

“Then what you here for? You may be all dressed up in a suit now, Mike Black, but to me, you still the same Vicious Black that came up in here and held a gun to my head fifteen years ago.”