Big Ant chose Donald Goines's White Man's Justice, Black Man's Grief and tossed it up to Shawn. “That's a good book there, kid. All right, now tell me. How did you know I wasn't gone jaw you?”
Shawn caught the dog-eared novel and propped himself up on his pillow. He opened the novel. “It's simple really. You don't strike me as being a stupid dude.”
Shawn's answer ruffled Big Ant's feathers. “What the fuck you mean by that?”
“Calm down,” Shawn said in his usual dry monotone. He never took his eyes off the first page of the novel. “I meant that only an idiot would go out of his way to provoke his cellmate.”
Big Ant couldn't see the boy's face but he was already beginning to like his character. He felt it was his duty to hip the naive youngster to the ways of jail. “Well, I'm sorry to bust yo bubble, but this place is full of idiots. But you don't have to worry about that shit in this cell. Like I said, I'm out of here in a few months. I got a crazy weed connect from my Mexican buddy that was up in here wit me for two years. When I get out of here, I'm get rich wit the prices this stud done told me he'd give me the shit for.”
Shawn sat up on his bunk. He looked at Big Ant earnestly. “Mind if I ask you a question?”
The look on Shawn's face made Big Ant laugh. “Man, you's a solemn little cat. That's what I'm gone call you—Solemn Shawn.
Yeah, go ahead, Solemn Shawn, ask me anything you want.”
“How do you survive in this place?”
Tilting his head, Big Ant gave the question some serious thought. Finally he said, “Most dudes would never ask a question like that. That's why so many of them come in here and jag they bits off. I would have to say there's a number of ways. You got to learn to go with the flow mostly. Like you gots to be hard but not too hard. You gots to be cool but not too cool. Just like everything else I learned about in life. If you don't take yo time then you gone be giving up time.
“Also you got to learn to mind yo own business. That don't seem like it'll be a problem for you. You got to learn to read situations and adapt to the shit that's going on around you, you dig. But even after that, I ain't gone lie to you, Solemn Shawn. Motherfuckas is still gone try you up in here. A lot these cats be selling wolf tickets though. Punks be having a little crowd around and try to get tough with you.
“Man, if that shit happen you better blast one of these studs out the water, you dig. If you don't they gone think you a poot-butt. I know you heard that shit they say about one chance to make a first impression.”
Solemn Shawn looked at Big Ant earnestly, as if he were committing his every word to memory. “Is there anybody in particular that I need to be on the lookout for?” he asked stoically.
This little motherfucker ain't no joke. I got to sneak into the files and see what he in for, Big Ant thought.
“Nall, ain't nobody in particular. You got to watch out for all these studs. Don't trust nobody. I don't know how much time you got and I ain't ask, but my advice is not to even worry about returning to the world. You'll get there when you get there. It's natural to get homesick, but you can't let that shit fuck yo head up. You got to be watching yo ass twenty-four/sev, you dig?”
“I will,” Solemn Shawn replied as he reclined again and resumed reading.
“HELLO,” VEE SAID INTO HIS CELL PHONE AS HE EXITED THE Dan Ryan Expressway on 95th Street. He headed westbound on the large thoroughfare.
“Uh, hello,” a female voice said. “May I speak to Vee?”
“This is him. Who is this?”
The voice purred, “Oh, you don't remember a sister, huh? You always said that you would never forget me.”
Pulling the phone from his ear, Vee looked at the caller ID, but it read “No ID.” He put it back to his ear. “Shorty, I don't know who you is, but you sound sexy than a motherfucka. What's the deal, is you gone tell me yo name?”
“Damn, player. You got that many women that you don't know a sister's name. You kinda making me jealous. This is Sakawa.”
Vee almost dropped his cell phone. “Who did you say?”
A seductive sound that would have to be called a laugh escaped from Sakawa. “I said this is Sakawa James.”
“What you want?” Vee asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.
“Damn, Vee. Why you say it like that?”
“‘Cause the last time I called you, you japped out on me and shit. Told me not to ever call yo fuckin’ house again.”
Sakawa apologized. “I'm sorry ‘bout that. It's just that I had a lot of shit on my mind at the time, you know. But if I'm bothering you…” Her words trailed off.
“Nall, it's cool,” Vee said hurriedly, afraid that she might hang up. He heard only silence on the other end, so he said.
“Sakawa?”
“Yeah, I'm still here.”
“I thought you hung up on a nigga again, shorty. What you up to?”
Sakawa sighed. “Nothing heavy. Really, I was just laying back at the crib all by myself and I got to thinking about the old times we had.”
Vee wasn't lured in so easily. “What old times, girl? You stopped fuckin' wit yo boy over some bullshit. You ain't even give a nigga a chance to get back, you know what I'm sayin'.”
“Vee, you need to stop bullshitting yo'self. ‘Cause you shole ain't bullshitting me. I caught you up in the party with a nasty, baldheaded, ran-over-shoe-wearing hood booger. What was I s'posed to do. I couldn't have my man going out like that. How do you think that make me look?”
Vee conceded. “Yeah, you is right, shorty. I was trying to hit, shorty. It was only ‘cause you wadn't gone give me none.”
“How did you know what I was gone do? I was gone give you some that night. I was gone let you take my virginity, but you fucked that up. I come up in the party and you hugged all up with a hoodie-hood.”
“You was a virgin?” Vee asked incredulously. “Stop playing.”
“I was,” Sakawa assured him.
Vee banged the steering wheel with the palm of his driving hand. He took the cell phone's mouthpiece away from his lips and mouthed the word “fuck.” He decided to test the waters with Sakawa. “So what's up now, shorty?”
Sakawa wouldn't bite. “What you mean by that?”
“Are you still fuckin' wit that nigga Wayne?” Vee asked as he steeled himself for a sharp-tongued reply.
It never came.
Sakawa said, “I don't fuck with Wayne no mo'. That nigga ain't gangster enough for a bitch like me.”
Vee had to chuckle to himself at her answer. He said, “I always did wonder what you saw in that soft-ass nigga. But anyway, like I said, what is you doing right now?”
“Like I said. Nothing. Just laying back at the crib and I got to feeling like I wanted to holla at somebody, you know.”
Vee licked his lips. His voice lowered an octave. “What you got on?”
“You get straight down to it?” Sakawa asked seductively. “Well, I wasn't on nothing, so I really ain't got on nothing.”
“What you mean by ‘ain't got on nothing'?”
“I mean a baby T and some thongs. Nothing exotic like thigh-high stockings and high heels, though I do have some of them.”
“Um-um,” Vee muttered.
“What you mean by ‘um-um’?” Sakawa asked coyly.
“Nothing. It's cool. When can I see you in them thongs, shorty?”
“One day. If you act right,” she said.
“What you mean if I act right?”
“I mean if, and only if, I decide to give you another chance. To get another chance I need to know that you gone act right, Vee.”
The call waiting signal on Vee's celly clicked in his ear. “Sakawa, give me a second to clear this other line.” He clicked over to his other line. “What's up?”
“Vee, this is O.”
“What's the deal, O?”
“Bing got killt last night, family.”
Vee snapped, “What the fuck you mean last night and I'm just hearing about it!”
&n
bsp; “My fault, family. I tried hitting yo horn last night but yo shit kept going straight to voice mail, fam.”
“Nigga, hold on a minute.” Vee clicked back over to Sakawa. “Shorty, I got to call you back. Some business just came up,” he told her.
“All right, hit me later,” she said.
He clicked back over to O. “What the fuck happened?”
“We don't know.”
Vee's face screwed up in thought for a moment. “Get the State Department together. We gone meet at the garage. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Let them niggas know they better be there or every one of them is gone be wearing Governor glasses!”
Vee slammed his cell phone shut and tossed it on the passenger seat. “Fuck!” he shouted. He had been on his way to the Evergreen Plaza and Breyer's for a quick shopping spree, but it would have to wait. Hanging halfway out of the Excursion's window he busted a tire-screeching U-turn. Several drivers honked their horns furiously at him. He barreled down 95th to the expressway. He was at the garage in a little over twenty minutes. He parked his large SUV alongside a brown Chevy sitting on twenty-inch Daytons. He grabbed his celly off the seat and slammed the door.
In the garage the Governors' State Department lounged on old car seats, overturned buckets, and milk crates. Cigarette and blunt smoke thickened the air in the already musty garage. Vee eased through the door and took the seat reserved for him, an old leather lounger. Mentally he took attendance; everyone was present. Idle conversations stopped as the State Department looked to their leader. One of the blunts being passed ended up in Vee's clutches.
“So what the fuck happened?” Vee asked as he filled his lungs with smoke from the sticky green.
Governor Ornell “O” Jones blew Black & Mild smoke toward the center of the room. He said, “Last night I was bending a couple of corners in my whip, when I drove down upon a gang of pigs and shit on Bing's block. First I was gone keep on sliding, but when I weeped the yellow tape and shit and saw a crowd, I decided to check the shit out.
“I parked my whip and walked over to the crowd. As I got closer I could see that the yellow tape was around the whip that Bing took from Wayne's pussy ass. I could see Bing slumped on the steering wheel and they wadn't trying to get him no help, so I knew that somebody had rolled his carpet back. The pigs kept pointing at something on the ground and when they moved I could see that it was a A's fitted hat.”
Vee jumped to his feet. He moved so fast that he startled the Governor sitting next to him, causing him to topple off the bucket he had been using for a seat.
“Bitch motherfuckin' Apostles!” Vee bellowed. “I know them ho-ass niggas ain't kill no Governor. I'mma off one of those bitches!”
Teddy, one of Vee's staunchest followers, sat watching the proceedings. He was a smart man and partly responsible for the Governors' survival. It could be said that he was the mastermind behind Vee, but the Head Governor would never admit it. Teddy resembled Snoop Dogg with the exception of his brown teeth and the razor bumps covering his chin and neck. That he was particularly vicious was a quality that slid him through the ranks of the Governors. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail covered by an Akademics cap. “So what's up with these niggas, Vee?” he asked.
“Fuck you mean?” Vee snapped.
“Do we get to merc a few of these assholes or what?”
Vee retook his seat. He tugged weed smoke into his lungs. A smile crossed his lips as he kicked back in the recliner and exhaled. The State Department sat quietly and waited for him to speak. He sat up suddenly and tossed the lit blunt to Teddy, who fielded it easily and righted the blunt before it could burn his palm.
“One of ours, two of theirs,” Vee said evenly as he looked into Teddy's eyes.
VANESSA HENRY ROLLED OVER ONTO HER STOMACH. THE olive green jersey sheet poofed around her for a moment, then settled down, framing her curves. A slight snore escaped from between her pouting lips. Her micromini braids were pinned under a silken scarf wrapped securely around her head; only the mahogany tips peeked from under the scarf. The sheet toppled from her shoulders, baring her arms. Her caramel-colored skin looked soft to the touch where her camisole failed to cover her.
Solemn Shawn stood in the shadows and watched her sleep. He had done so on many occasions, but it never failed to amaze him just how angelic she appeared when she slept. He loved to watch her sleep. To him she seemed like she left this physical plane and returned to Heaven.
A smile invaded his heart and forced itself upon his lips. Outside of his sisters, his nephew, and his reading, Nessa was one of the few pleasures he allowed himself. The woman was pure energy and bustle, but she also knew how to chill and relax. Really she was his exact opposite and it showed. Where he was quiet and brooding, she was talkative and outgoing. He could keep a secret to himself, but Vanessa couldn't wait to shatter her friends' confidences by regaling him with tales of who was cheating on whom.
Noiselessly Shawn slipped out of his pants and shirt and placed them carefully on the leather settee in the corner of the bedroom. Wearing his multicolored boxer shorts he approached the gigantic platform bed. He placed his eyeglasses on the ebony nightstand, then he slid under the jersey sheets. Vanessa stirred.
“Shawn?” she said, reaching back and touching his arm.
“Yeah, baby,” he answered.
“Come closer,” Vanessa demanded playfully. “You act like you scared.
“ Solemn Shawn rolled over onto his side and propped his leg across the backs of her thighs. “Thought you was sleep, Nessa.”
“You know I wake up when you get in the bed.”
“I be trying not to wake you. I know you got to get up for work in the morning.”
“I'm the boss,” Vanessa said. “If I'm a little late what are they gone do to me?”
Shawn had to agree with her, but he said, “Just like a Black person, you give them a little power, then you can't tell them shit. Don't be around here getting big headed just ‘cause you run the joint.”
Vanessa snuggled back against Shawn. For the first time he realized that she wasn't wearing any panties under her short nightie. His manhood stirred as he rubbed her naked thighs and round, smooth buttocks.
“Girl, why you ain't got no draws on?”
“I was expecting company,” Vanessa teased.
“Yeah, who?”
“You don't know him,” she answered slyly.
In a mock-angry voice, Shawn said, “You better stop playing with me, woman.”
Without warning Vanessa sprang from under Shawn's leg and rolled on top of him in one quick movement. In a husky voice she challenged, “What you gone do if I don't stop playing with you?”
Shawn threatened, “You better quit playing with me, woman, before I do something to you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She leaned forward and kissed Solemn Shawn on his neck. She nuzzled his ear, then licked behind it. With a gentle breath she blew on the wet path she kissed down to his throat and chest. Entirely at her mercy, Shawn shuddered. As Vanessa licked a path from one of his nipples to the other, his manhood threatened to rip his boxer shorts off.
“Damn, Nessa. What you trying to do?”
She didn't answer. Instead she balanced herself on one knee and reached behind her to free Shawn from the confines of his boxer shorts. She swung her leg back over him as he reached for her satin-covered breasts. He gently squeezed and massaged her breasts until the hardened nipples raised the fabric from her chest. Vanessa moaned as she kissed her way back up to his throat. She locked her soft lips on his and slid her tongue into his mouth. While she kissed him, she reached behind herself and grasped his joint with her fingertips. Using her French-manicured hand she inserted him into her moist slit.
In unison they groaned.
“Damn, baby, you wet,” Shawn muttered, as he moved his hands from her breasts to her hips to guide her up and down.
Vanessa rotated her hips. “You know you make me wet, daddy.”
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br /> She pushed herself up into sitting position using Shawn's abs. She stripped her camisole off and flung it across the room. She leaned back down and teasingly dangled her nipples inches from Shawn's face. He grabbed her ass tighter and craned his neck to capture the tip of her luscious fruit in his mouth. He bit, licked, and sucked the taut skin of her nipples until she had to bite back a scream.
“Just like that,” Vanessa groaned as she rolled her hips from side to side. “That's my spot, daddy. Uhhh, that's my spot. Right there, daddy.”
As Shawn plunged upward into his woman, simultaneously he licked and blew on her nipples. She sat upright and ground her hips down against his pelvis with an intimate urgency. Her hands came up to knead and massage her own breasts. Half-closed, her eyes fluttered. A low, guttural moan escaped her—it came more from her throat than her mouth.
“Daddy, grab my ass, I'm coming!” Vanessa announced.
Shawn complied by palming the smooth, firm cheeks of her behind.
“That's it, daddy!” Vanessa moaned. “I'm coming. Uhhh, I'm coming! Do you feel my juice, daddy?”
Vanessa's erotic movements and animal-like grunts and groans inspired Solemn Shawn. He held her ass tighter as he pumped furiously, lifting up off the bed. Sensing that her man was about to come, Vanessa egged him on. “C'mon, daddy! Nut in this pussy! This is yo pussy! Empty yo nuts in this hairy pussy, daddy!” She rolled her hips clockwise then counterclockwise and pinched Shawn's nipples.
“Damn, Nessa,” Shawn grunted. “I'm coming, baby!” He pumped even faster as semen shot upward into her womb. She responded by grinding even harder on him.
Vanessa's voice fell to a whisper as she said, “That's it, daddy. Get it all out. Put it all in me, daddy.”
As Shawn spent himself, he stopped moving and fell silent. Vanessa collapsed on his sweaty chest and began gently kissing his neck. After a few moments she rolled off him. Without saying a word, Shawn got up and went to the bathroom. He turned the hot water on and stepped into the shower. With a hand towel he lathered himself. Seconds later the glass shower door opened and Vanessa stepped in behind him. She ducked past Shawn into the fine spray of the warm, reviving water.
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