by Kiki Swinson
I looked over at Carolyn’s pale face and said, “Oh that’s sweet! To what do I owe the favor?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she said sympathetically. “I figured that was the least I could do, considering we’re colleagues and all.”
Bullshit! I thought to myself.
“Yeah, and I agree,” Marcus added.
“Well, that’s sincerely a nice gesture on your part. Get with me in the AM, and we’ll go over the specifics. Good night,” I added.
“Hey, before you leave,” Carolyn interjected. “Karen told me about your client that might have some interest in one of my clients that was released today.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I just want you to know that I am going down to the halfway house to pay her a visit. I will personally stress to her how important it is that she abide by the guidelines set for her probation, and that she must not see your client by any means or they will be violated on the spot.”
Just like that, I developed a knot in the pit of my stomach. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought that they heard the nervousness inside of me rattling like a baby rattle. First of all, I didn’t ask for none of this bullshit! I never wanted Karen or this bitch to get involved with my affairs with Seth. I knew the cat was about to be let out of the fucking bag. As soon as Carolyn sat down with Samantha and had that talk, I knew Samantha was going to run her motherfucking mouth about everything, including the conversation we had on the telephone a couple of weeks ago. When that happened, all hell was going to break loose, for real. Now, how was I going to handle that? I knew one thing, though. Seth and I were gonna have to work out an early retirement plan for me today, because I would not give the bitch in front of me the satisfaction of watching Karen fire me. No fucking way! After I thanked Carolyn for the heads up and asked her to keep me informed about how her meeting went with Samantha, I tapped Marcus on the shoulder and told him I would talk to him in the AM. Then I flew out of there like a bat out of hell.
As soon as I got into my car, I got Seth right back on the phone. I could tell by all the commotion in the background that he was in his car listening to music. “Baby, you and I got some serious talking to do when I see you,” I said, sounding out of breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“My co-worker is going to have a sit down with your codefendant next week, and believe me, our names are going to come up. If she starts running her mouth to her P.O. about us, then you and I are going to be history.”
“Whatchu mean by that?”
“I mean, I will lose my job and we’ll both be behind bars.”
“Maxine, what could she possibly tell that lady?”
“For starters, she could tell her that you and I are in a relationship, and then about the argument she and I had over you a few weeks back.”
“Nah, I don’t think Sam would do that.”
“And what makes you so sure? What, you been talking to her?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You mean to tell me that she hasn’t tried to call you at all today?”
“Nope, but I’m sure she will.”
“Well, when she calls you, I want you to make sure that she doesn’t open up her mouth. You need to understand me, because this shit is critical.”
“Yeah, I understand. Now, why don’t you calm down? Everything is going to be all right.”
“Trust me, everything isn’t going to be all right until I resign from that place, which is the other thing I want to talk to you about.”
“What’s up?”
“When do you think you’ll have all the money for me so I can start getting everything lined up to open up our business?”
“How much are you going to need?”
“I’m not sure. The way the economy is now, I’d probably need about twenty thousand at the least. Do you think you can swing it?”
“Yeah, I’m sure I can.”
“When do you think you’d have it?”
“Give me to the end of the month,” he said.
I let out a sigh of relief. “Good! Because I am ready to tell everybody at the federal building to kiss my ass!”
“Well, it won’t be long now,” he assured me.
We talked for a few more minutes about my aspirations to open up a pastry shop or any kind of restaurant that served gourmet food. Then we talked about what location might be good for business. While I was going on and on, Seth cut me off by saying, “Maxine, I gotta go, that’s my moms beeping in on the other end.”
“Tell her to call you back,” I protested.
“I’m not gonna do that because it might be important.”
“Well, just click over and see what she wants,” I demanded.
“A’ight. Hold on.” He clicked over.
After he answered his other line I just sat there with the phone pressed to my ear and wondered if it was his mother calling him for real. Because on some real shit, it might’ve been that bitch Samantha. But he wasn’t gonna tell me that. I sat there and waited patiently for him to click back over. After waiting for seven consecutive minutes, this bastard never did click back, and I was steaming. I was literally about to go out of my fucking mind. I held my composure and dialed his ass right back. He’d better have a good explanation, or else I was going to let him have it. Since I had just hung up with him, all I had to do was press the SEND button again. His phone rang immediately.
“Hey baby, I am so sorry!” Seth apologized. “I tried to get my moms off the phone, but she kept talking and going on about how her joints was still hurting, even after she left the doctor’s office today. Then she told me that she forgot to pick up her medication from the pharmacy, so she needed me to go by there and pick it up for her.”
“When you plan on doing that?”
“Don’t worry. I already told her I’m gon’ have to do it later.”
“Well, where are you now?”
“I’m about to pull up at your crib, why?”
“OK, good, because I’m about five minutes away myself.”
“A’ight. Well, I’ll see you in a few.”
“All right.”
SETH
Taking Losses
The next morning, Maxine went to work and I went back to my mom’s crib to gather my thoughts. Maxine was driving me crazy as hell about this shit with Samantha being home. Not to mention, I wasn’t gonna be able to keep my stamina up if I kept jumping from Samantha’s pussy to Maxine’s. I thought I was going to die when Maxine got on top of me last night. Man, I didn’t know what the hell to do. I was already tired from busting three nuts in Samantha. When Maxine whipped my dick out and started sucking on it, I couldn’t tell her to stop because I had already had enough pussy for one day, so I just laid back and rolled with it. I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to do that too many more times. My dick wasn’t gonna allow me to. And that’s my word!
When I got to my mom’s crib, she was in her recliner in the living room. She told me how upset Samantha was last night because I wasn’t there to take her call.
“Why didn’t she call me on my cell phone?”
“She said they only had pay phones in the facility, so that’s why she called here.”
“She called collect?”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“She called four times.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me on three-way?”
“Seth, you know I don’t know how to use that three-way mess. That’s why I told her to keep calling back.”
“What did she say, Ma?”
“She just said that you better not be with your probation officer because if she found out that you were, she was going to break it off with you.”
“Did she try to call me this morning?”
“No. The phone only rang one time and it was one of them ol’ telemarketers, trying to get me to do a survey.”
“A’ight, Ma. Thanks,” I said and kissed her on the forehead. As I was a
bout to walk away, she grabbed my hand and told me to look at her.
“You know you’re playing with fire, right?” she said.
“Ma, trust me, I know what I am doing.”
“That’s not the point, Seth. Maxine is going to try to put you back behind bars as soon as she finds out that Samantha is back in your life. Now mark my words, because I know what I am talking about.”
“Maxine already knows Samantha is home, and she’s not too happy about it, either.”
“What are you going to do, son?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you better think of something because Maxine isn’t gonna let you walk away from her without paying a price for it.”
“I know.” I shook my head in dismay because my mother was right. Maxine wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I was going to have to come up with a clever plan to eliminate her without damaging myself.
After my mom and I had our heart-to-heart, I went upstairs to my room and lay down on my bed. Thoughts of me killing Mike’s sheisty ass, among other things, were embedded in my mind. While I was in deep thought, my Blackberry rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but something told me to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Where the fuck you been all night?” Samantha screamed through the receiver.
“I was out the way,” I lied.
“Why the fuck you lying? You just told me yesterday at the hotel that you wasn’t gonna fuck around out there anymore.”
“Sam, I’m not lying. I did go out there.”
“But for what, when you said you didn’t have a need to?”
“I can’t talk to you about it right now.”
“Why not?”
“Listen, mommie, I had some business to take care of, so please stop beefing with me.”
“Seth, don’t try to turn this shit around. I know you were out with that bitch last night.”
“No, I wasn’t, Sam.”
“Well, call her on three-way so I can ask her for myself.”
“Come on now, you sound real stupid,” I told her. “You know damn well I ain’t about to do no dumb shit like that! What, you trying to get us both locked back up?”
“That bitch can’t do shit to me!” she snapped.
“She can get your silly ass locked back up for harassing her.”
“Trust me, she ain’t gon’ tell them people at her office shit because knows I can rain on her damn parade.”
“Look, Sam, come off that dumb-ass shit! You and I are back together now, so don’t make something out of nothing,” I yelled.
She finally managed to calm herself down. After I reassured her that it was only about me and her, she got the picture and didn’t utter Maxine’s name any more during our conversation.
“Whose phone you’re calling me from?” I asked.
“My roommate let me use her cell phone, but I can’t be on it long because she ain’t supposed to have it. If one of the house monitors walks up on me while I got it in my hand, they will take it from me. And you know I ain’t trying to be responsible for somebody else’s stuff.”
“Check it out, I’ma pick you one up today so you can have your own.”
“Wait. Don’t get it until tomorrow, because that’s when I will be able to leave this place.”
“How long they letting you out?”
“Just for four hours so I can go to the Social Security Office to apply for a Social Security card, and to the DMV to get a new I.D.”
“They only giving you four hours to do all that?”
“Yep.”
“A’ight. Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll come scoop you up.”
“What time?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“I’m not sure. I’m gonna have to wait until my counselor signs off on my pass.”
“I’ll tell you what; call me as soon as you find out what time they’re gonna let you out.”
“OK, let me go.”
“A’ight, but are you going to be able to call me later?”
“Yeah, but it’s gonna have to be from the pay phone.”
“What time?”
“I am going to be in orientation until about five or six o’clock, so I’ll call you back about six-thirty.”
“A’ight.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, mommie.”
SETH
Like Old Times
Later on that day, I got a call from Mike. I told him I had been out of town but now I was back. He went straight for the jugular and asked me if I was ready to go back to work. I told him I needed a few more days because I had some shit lined up down south that I wanted him to get in on.
“What’s good?” he asked with excitement.
“Yo, son, all I can say right now is that my cousin introduced me to some peoples that’s trying to spread a lot of love.”
“Where they at?”
“Down in Florida.”
“Word?”
“Yep. And believe me when I tell you that those niggas are caked up, too.”
“Where they from?”
“My cousin told me they from South America.”
“Yo, if they’re from South America, I know they got some real good shit.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So, when you gon’ hook me up?”
“Well, I’m gon’ take a trip back down there in about another week, so if you ain’t busy, you can go with me.”
“Damn right! I’m down.”
“A’ight. Well give me a couple of days to get back with my cousin so he can set a meeting up for us and as soon as I hear the word, I’ma hit you up.”
“A’ight, dawg, don’t forget.”
“Come on now, Mike. You looked out for me and put me on, so that’s the least I could do.” Little did he know I had a death warrant for his ass, and as soon as I got the chance, I was gon’ put one right in his head.
Once I made him believe that I had a plan in motion for us to make more money together, I flipped the script on him and asked him for the dough he owed me. Just like that, the nigga acted like he had amnesia.
“What money you talking about?”
“I’m talking about that dough you told me I would collect from that job out in Norfolk,” I reminded him.
“Oh yeah, I got that for you.”
“Good, because I’m gon’ need that. I got a lot of shit going on and I’m gon’ need every dime I can get.”
“What’s going on?”
“Man, this new chick I’m fucking with wants me to go in with her to start a business and she needs for me to hit her off with my half. I’m trying to scrape up all the dough I can.”
“How much you gotta come up with?”
“Just $30,000.”
“You ain’t got that?”
“I did. But I fucked around trying to play Big Willy and lost most of it at the Hard Rock Cafe Casino in Hollywood, Florida a few days ago.”
“Damn son, that wasn’t a smart move.”
“I know. And right now I’m paying for it, too.”
“A’ight. Well, come by my crib later and I’ll set you straight.”
“What time?”
“Come by about three o’clock.”
“A’ight.”
After I hung up, I sat on the edge of my bed and wondered if Mike bought all that shit I was feeding him. All the excitement in his voice had me believing that he was looking forward to making new moves, so I could only assume that he took the bait. Time would tell, though.
Other than that, I could only wonder how much dough he was supposed to be pushing in my direction for that hit I put on Jay. I knew that nigga better not come at me with a little bit of pocket change, because I would definitely tell that nigga where to stick that shit. Murdering niggas nowadays paid anywhere from ten to one hundred grand, depending on how important that cat was. Regular niggas could get slaughtered for less than five grand, but I wasn’t wasting my time with those
types, because they weren’t worth it. By the time you suited up, scoped out the area you were going to murder the nigga at, and then executed the mission, you felt just like you just went to war. For that little bit of dough, it wasn’t worth it because you had to take so many risks. I would stick with the big dawgs and leave the smaller jobs for the amateurs.
Before I knew it, three o’clock was there in a flash, and I was right at Mike’s doorstep a minute after. Lacy answered the door with a bright smile, which made me wonder if she knew how crooked her husband was. She seemed like a sweet and laid back type of chick. Lacy was always laced up in Christian Louboutin or something by Chloë or Oscar de la Renta. She was one bad-ass chick walking around carrying a big-ass load in her belly. Then again, my eyes could’ve been playing tricks on my ass. For all I knew, the broad could be a crooked-ass snitch like her buster-ass husband. If she was, she was going to fuck around and catch a few slugs in her head right along with her man if she didn’t watch out.
“How you doing?” she asked.
“I’m doing fine, and yourself?” I replied as I stepped into the foyer.
“I’m fine, sweetie.” She closed the front door behind us. “Come on, Mike’s in the TV room.” She escorted me in that direction.
When I walked into the room where Mike was chilling, I found him lounging back on his recliner watching the Steelers playing the Patriots. This nigga was so into the game I didn’t think he realized I had walked into the room until Lacy said something to him.
“Mike, don’t you see Seth standing here?”
Mike turned around in slow motion. “Oh shit, son! What’s good?” He stood up to greet me.
I smiled as we shook hands. “Nothing much.” I watched his wife as she left the room. “So, who’s winning?” I asked as I took a seat down on the loveseat right across from him.
“The Patriots is killing them niggas!” he said with happiness.
“Oh, so the Patriots must be your team?”
“And you know it!” Mike’s face lit up as he said it.
“What quarter is it?”
“The fourth, and we ain’t got nothing but two minutes left in the game.”