Changed Man

by Roy Glenn

  “I don’t know.” I looked at Angee. “What do you think it means?”

  “I think it’s your Uncle Tony being your Uncle Tony, Mikey, that’s what I think it means,” Angee said and started walking back toward the pizzeria, leaving me and Wanda standing there dumbfounded. “Come on. I’ll buy you a slice.”

  Chapter Twenty

  We followed Angee back in the pizzeria, had a couple of slices and talked. Talked about everything except what me and Wanda wanted to talk about. Every time either of us would try, Angee would just ignore us and talk about something else.

  “So,” Wanda said as soon as we left. “Why do you think he did that?”

  “I don’t know, Wanda. Maybe it’s just like Angee said it is. Just Uncle Tony being Uncle Tony.”

  “Yeah, I heard, but what does that mean?” she asked as we got in her car.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Uncle Tony likes me,” I said and wondered if that would change if he knew that I was fucking Mirella and had fucked her in just about every room in his house.

  “Likes you enough to intervene on your behalf.” She paused. “What does that even mean?”

  “All good questions, and I wish I had an answer, but you were standing right there next to me, so you know as much as I do.”

  Wanda looked at me for a while, probably thinking of another way to ask the same question neither of us could answer. “I don’t get it.” She started the car and drove off.

  “I don’t either, but we’re gonna accept this gift horse and I’m gonna thank Uncle Tony when I see him and then we’ll find out what it means. In the meantime, we got other things we need to deal with.”

  “You find out who had Whitey killed?”

  “Not yet.”

  “So, Lisa Benson had nothing to do with it?”

  “No.” I paused. “And before you ask, it’s a long story.”

  “I have time,” Wanda said and after I got her to tell me how she heard about it, I told her the story. “Dumbass.”

  “That’s what Bobby said.”

  “So, now that you and Bobby are done playing around with old girlfriends, what now?”

  “Right now, I’m gonna get Bobby and we’re gonna ride out to Long Island to see that guy Whitey was in business with that I asked you to check out,” I said, and Wanda told me what little she’d found out about Kasim.

  “That’s not much more than King told me.”

  “That’s all I could find.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I talked to Nick at The Late Night,” Wanda began. “He said that him and Freeze haven’t gotten anywhere trying to find out who hired Vance.”

  “What about Whitey and Vance? Was there anything going on between them?”

  “Nick doesn’t think so, and neither does King. Vance killing Whitey was business to him.”

  Wanda glanced at me and saw that I was smiling. “What?”

  “Nothing. What did you tell him?”

  “I thought maybe it was personal for one of the other two shooters, so I told him to check them out. And I told Freeze to stay on finding out who hired them and make sure that everybody is on top of this.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, what were you smiling about?”

  “I don’t need to tell anybody anything. Everybody knows that you carry power,” I said, and she smiled.

  “You want me to take you back to the hotel?”

  “Not yet. Ride by the Real Estate office first.”

  “You gonna tell Andre about this?”

  “No. But I am interested in knowing if he knew about it.”

  “Which it are you referring to?” Wanda laughed, but quickly turned serious. “Because to me, they are three separate things.”

  “All of it. But you make a good point.”

  “Did Andre know that Nicky and Johnny Boy were checking us out?” Wanda asked. “I think he did.”

  “I agree. Andre’s got people everywhere, so he hears shit.”

  “So, did he know Fat Luca gave the go ahead?”

  “I don’t think so. And that’s only because none of The Curcios would tell him.”

  “So, he wouldn’t know that Big Tony stepped in on your behalf,” Wanda said and then she got that look on her face.

  “What?” I needed to know why.

  “Even though we are running our own show now, we still work for Andre, so technically those spots are his.”

  “Technically, because we kick up to him, so yeah, technically those are his spots.”

  “Your Uncle Tony intervened on your behalf, not Andre’s behalf. On your behalf, Mike. They are two totally different things,” Wanda pointed out and she was right.

  “That stays between me, you and Bobby.”

  Wanda stopped at a red light. “Still.”

  “I know. His ego.”

  “Right.” Wanda looked at me. “You know we’re gonna end up killing him.”

  “I know.”

  When the light changed, Wanda drove on and we rode the rest of the way to Andre’s office in silence.

  As we got closer to the Real Estate office, we saw Lucinda, one of Andre’s coke hoes, walking down the street. I didn’t think anything of it until we had parked and saw Shawna come storming out of the office. When Andre appeared in the doorway, Shawna stopped, turned and threw her cell phone at him. It hit him in the chest.

  “Maybe this isn’t a good time,” Wanda said.

  “Now we know why Lucinda was walking,” I said. “That lazy bitch don’t walk nowhere.”

  “If she could drive to the bathroom she’d do it,” Wanda laughed as we watched Shawna yelling at Andre and him seemingly unfazed by it all.

  “I guess she caught him and Lucinda doing what they do.”

  “Caught him again, Mike,” Wanda said, disgusted. “Why doesn’t she just leave him?”

  “Why don’t you ask her?”

  “I will. Just not right now,” Wanda laughed as Shawna picked up an empty beer bottle off the ground and threw it at Andre’s car. It shattered harmlessly on the hood and Andre laughed. But when Shawna picked up and threw a garbage can and it hit the windshield, Andre came charging after her. But he wasn’t gonna catch Shawna. She hopped in her car and was driving away by the time he got there.

  “I think we should give him a minute,” Wanda mused.

  “Why?” I asked as I was getting out of the car.

  By the time we got inside the building, Andre was back in his office with the door closed. I tried the knob, but it was locked. Wanda tapped lightly.

  “What the fuck you want!” Andre yelled.

  “It’s Wanda and Mike, Andre,” she said sweetly and then she covered her mouth. I just shook my head and waited for him to open the door.

  “Finally decided to show your face,” Andre said and then he looked at Wanda. “How you doing, Wanda?”

  “I’m fine,” Wanda smiled as he walked away from the door. “How are things going with you?” she asked, and we sat in the chairs in front of the desk.

  Andre sat down at his desk. “Everything is lovely.”

  “That’s good. And how is Shawna doing? I haven’t seen her in so long.”

  Andre smiled at Wanda. “That’s because you don’t come around like you used to.”

  Wanda shrugged. “Law school.”

  “I understand,” Andre said and looked at me. “What’s your excuse?”

  “Excuse for what?”

  “You been back damn near a week and you just now showing up here.”

  “Been busy.”

  “I heard.”

  “Then you already know why I’m just now showing up here.”

  “You find out who had Whitey killed?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Heard somebody took a run at you and Bobby a couple of times. You think it’s the same people?”

  “I’ll find that out when I find out who hired Vance to kill Whitey,” I said, thinking that this nigga hears everything, nothing gets past h
im. So, he had to have known what Nicky and Johnny Boy were up to. “Anything going on with you that I need to know about?”

  “Like I said, everything is lovely. But what about you? Anything going on with you that I need to know about?”

  “No. Wanda and Bobby held it down while I was gone.”

  “I heard that Crazy Nicky, Johnny Boy and some of his crew had been hanging out in some of our gambling spots.”

  “You hear everything,” Wanda said.

  “Information, Wanda; knowing what you need to know to do what you have to do. That’s how you get on top and stay on top. I’m surprised Mike hadn’t told you that.”

  “Oh, but he has. Many times. That’s why we’re here,” Wanda paused. “To learn as much as we can from the master.”

  That girl is something else.

  Andre’s smile broadened. “Come by anytime, Wanda. I’ll teach you things that will help you in this game that you won’t learn in law school.”

  “I will certainly make time to do that,” Wanda flirted. “But as far as Nicky and Johnny Boy are concerned, I think it was just them having a case of jungle fever. They did a little gambling, had their fill of dark meat, and moved on.”

  “And nothing else came of it?”

  “No,” Wanda said flatly.

  “You hear anything about it?” I asked.

  “No,” Andre said flatly, and I knew that he was lying. If he knew that they had been there, he would have called Carmine to see what was up. Only question now is, what did Carmine tell him?

  “If you hear anything else about that, let me know.” I stood up. “I gotta make a run out to the island.”

  Wanda stood up and started for the door.

  “About Whitey?” Andre asked as he got up.

  “Yeah.”

  “You let me know what’s going on with that,” Andre said to me, but his eyes were focused on Wanda’s ass as it swung to the door.

  “I’ll roll by Ricky’s tonight and we can talk,” I said, as we got to the door.

  “It was good seeing you, Andre,” Wanda flirted easily. “And you never know, I might roll by Ricky’s tonight with Mike and then we can talk.”

  “Anytime,” Andre said, as Wanda opened the door and stepped outside.

  “Oh … I forgot to tell you.” She pointed at his car. “There’s a garbage can in your windshield,” Wanda said, and we kept walking toward her car.

  “He knew all about it,” Wanda said the second she shut her door. “Only thing he doesn’t know is how it got squashed. He was waiting for you to tell him that.” Wanda started the car. “But he knew. The bastard. He knew and didn’t tell us shit about it.” Wanda drove off. “The bastard.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  When Wanda dropped me off at the Residence Inn, I went back to the room and found Lo-Lo and Anya sitting in the living room watching Jerry.

  “Hey, ladies.”

  “Hey, Black,” Anya said.

  “You hungry?” Lo-Lo asked and pointed without looking away from the screen to the table in the kitchenette. I guess they ordered Chinese food while I was gone.

  “No, I had pizza.”

  “I wanted pizza, but I was overruled,” Anya said with the cutest made-up pouty look on her face.

  “Where’s Bobby?”

  Lo-Lo and Anya giggled a little and pointed toward his room door.

  “Bob!” I shouted as I went to the door and knocked. “You ready to ride out to the island?”

  “No!”

  I looked at Lo-Lo and Anya, they both had big smiles on their faces. Then Anya got up. “Y’all coming?” And then she went in our room.

  “So, what we gonna do?” Lo-Lo asked.

  I held out my hand for her.

  “I guess we’re gonna go play with Anya.”

  Lo-Lo accepted my hand and we went in the room. Anya was already naked and crawling up on the bed when we got in there. Lo-Lo only had a T-shirt on, so it was off, and she was naked in no time.

  While I took my time getting undressed, I watched as Anya laid on her back and Lo-Lo got on her knees and crawled between her legs. Anya held her head in place, as Lo-Lo eased two of her fingers inside of her. Anya squeezed her nipples and rubbed her clit while Lo-Lo’s fingers penetrated her. Lo-Lo spread her legs as wide as she could, parted Anya’s lips with her tongue and worked that tongue back and forth across Anya’s clit.

  “Oh, shit!” Anya screamed and tried to move, but Lo-Lo gripped her cum-drenched thighs.

  “You are so fuckin’ hot,” Lo-Lo moaned as I got in bed with them.

  Anya leaned forward and slid her tongue along the length of my dick. I fingered Lo-Lo’s clit and then eased two fingers in her wet pussy. She scooted forward and took my balls in her hand while Anya sucked my dick. She licked and sucked them hard and then she joined Anya on that dick.

  Watching the two of them work was always amazing to me, but the feeling was incredible. While Anya deep throated me, gagging and spitting on it before going back down on it, Lo-Lo teased my balls with her tongue before gently pulling them into her mouth and sucking on them.

  While Anya worked the head, she let Lo-Lo lick around my shaft. I could tell by the look in Lo-Lo’s eyes that she wanted in. She winked at me and I watched her glide her tongue slowly up my dick and then gently nudged Anya out of her way.

  As Anya licked and sucked my nipples, Lo-Lo took me in so deep, her tongue could have licked my balls. My eyes crossed. It took a lot not to cum in her mouth, but I still had fuckin’ to do. Lo-Lo knew what she was doing to me, so she eased my dick out of her mouth. She caressed it in her hand and licked it while it twitched.

  Lo-Lo smiled and went back to going deep. When Anya joined back in, both of them worked the head and licked the shaft while they kissed. I relaxed and just gave in to the pleasure, because watching them was just making my dick harder. Which was a good thing, because like I said, I still had fuckin’ to do.

  It was almost five when I came out of the room. Bobby was in the living room waiting for me. He looked at me and shook his head. We both laughed.

  “You ready to ride out to the island?”

  “Yeah, Bobby. Let’s go.”

  As soon as we got in the car, Bobby asked the question that made me regret not waking him up and forcing him to ride to talk to Angee with us. “What Angelo say?”

  Because now I had to go through it again.

  “So, let me get this straight. Angelo’s Uncle Tony intervened, but you don’t know how or why, but whatever he did, it took Nicky and Johnny Boy off our necks.”

  “Right.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “I don’t know, Bobby.”

  “Do we gotta kick up to him or worst, to fuckin’ Angelo?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m sure we gotta pay him some kind of tribute.”

  “He fuckin’ owns us now,” Bobby said.

  “We are definitely in his pocket. Because you know as well as I do that one day, I am gonna have to repay this favor,” I said and wondered how much it was gonna cost me.

  “You damn right. Because like you or not, Mikey, Big Tony didn’t do this out of the kindness of his heart.”

  “I’m not arguing with you.”

  “Question is, are we just gonna hand him what we were prepared to fight Crazy Nicky for?”

  “Right now, he hasn’t asked for anything. But I’ll be sure to ask him when I see him.”

  “I’m sure you won’t have to ask. I’m sure he’ll tell you what he wants for this accommodation.”

  “In the meantime, I think we need to start recruiting some new faces,” I said, and we looked at each other.

  “A lot of new faces,” we both said at the same time.

  “Because it just might come to that,” I said and thought about it. “We need to start making some allies too.”

  “Who’d you have in mind?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Dope boys.”

  “You m
ean the same niggas you were killin’ at random?”

  I laughed. “Or not.”

  Bobby laughed. “You just don’t know, Mike.”

  “Know what?”

  “The Vicious Black stories.” Bobby shook his head. “You were still dropping bodies for weeks after you left.”

  “I was?” I laughed.

  “I tried to kill that talk. Funny thing was, nobody was sayin’ shit about the shit you actually did, but the made-up shit,” Bobby paused and then he started laughing again. “Everybody was talkin’ about that nonsense.”

  “I’m laughing, but that shit ain’t funny. That’s how I become a suspect in every open murder,” I said and that was all I needed. And that was when I realized that Bobby had parked at the train station.

  “You didn’t think we were getting on the L.I.E. in rush-hour traffic, did you?” Bobby got out of the car. “We’re taking the train downtown and we’re catching the Long Island Railroad to go see Kasim,” he said, and I couldn’t argue with his logic. So, we took the train. I mean it wasn’t like it was the first time I took the train to go talk business.

  And that’s all I planned to do was talk and since it was just me and Bobby, I really hoped that’s all it turned out to be. But from all appearances, we were going to a legitimate business to talk to Kasim Rafsanjani, the general manager.

  When our train arrived in Syosset, we took a cab to the dealership and asked the hostess if it was possible to speak with him.

  “You’re name, sir?” she asked.

  “Mike Black.”

  She asked if we would mind having a seat while she checked to see if he was available. Me and Bobby were looking at a new Caddy when the hostess came and escorted us to a conference room where we were asked to wait.

  “Can I get you anything?” she asked politely.

  “No, thank you. We’re fine,” I said, and she left us to wait.

  Fifteen minutes later, a well-dressed Persian man walked in the conference room, closed and locked the door. Bobby and I stood up.

  “Mr. Black,” he said with his hand out. “My name is Kasim Rafsanjani.”

  “My associate, Mr. Ray.”

  We all politely shook hands like gentlemen.

  “Please, have a seat.”