All Or Nothing (16 page)

After exchanging daps and hugs, Mike turned and introduced Shantell to the crew.

“Yo, Shantell, this my man Sha. That’s Rock. And that nigger over there is Dame.”

“Hi,” Shantell managed to say.

This introduction was done for two reasons: one, to appease Shantell. And two, to let Mike’s people know that this was his bitch so if they should see her again, they knew what time it was: hands off.

As soon as Mike’s crew left,, Adolph the promoter walked in followed by a large entourage. The first thing Shantell noticed about the group was that the guys were awfully big and tall. What she didn’t know was that this was a group made up of professional athletes.

“Yo, Adolph!” Mike hollered. “C’mere.”

Mike didn’t really want anything; he was trying to impress Shantell. He wanted to show her he knew everybody and everybody knew him. He wanted to impress in her mind that he was a major figure in Charlotte and that she was lucky to be rolling with him.

As Mike and the promoter kicked it, his entourage lingered nearby. Coolly, Shantell glanced in their direction. She was careful not to look too long; she didn’t want to be taken for a groupie. She didn’t want to play herself or her man. Shantell didn’t get down like that. Even though Mike didn’t deserve that kind of respect, she gave it to him anyway.

Shantell thought to herself, “There go that guy from the draft, Ronald Wright. Damn, he tall!”

She could have sworn a couple of times that she saw him staring at her. Maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t; Shantell wasn’t too sure. He might as well save his breath if he was looking, because she was leaving here with Mike tonight.

Their conversation was over just as quick as it started. Mike and Adolph parted ways. Shantell and Mike were alone for the first time in a long time.

“Yo, you want something to drink?” Mike asked.

“Naw, I’m good.” “Look, it’s kinda hot in here. Follow me outside for a minute.”

Amazingly, there were still people outside hoping to gain entrance to the party. That was pretty much a dead issue; the Mecklenburg County Police Department was out there, and they refused to let anyone else in. This party would go down as one of the best ever seen, long after it was over.

Shantell followed Mike to the Hyatt car garage.

Before she knew it, they ended up in back seat of Mike’s Range Rover. Now it was time for her to handle her business. Shantell performed oral sex on Mike like a pro. By now, she knew what he liked and how he liked. When Mike climaxed, she swallowed a mouthful of his semen while staring him directly in his eye. She knew that would drive him wild, and it did.

When they re-entered the party, courtesy of their bright orange-colored VIP arm bands, Mike was in for quite a surprise. Unbeknownst to him, his girlfriend, Tonya, and a group of her friends were now in the party. Tonya stepped out from time to time just to check on Mike. She wanted to make sure he was being faithful. She had no concrete proof that he was a dog but over the years she had heard her fair share of stories. She knew everybody couldn’t possibly be hating on him, as he claimed. “Aye, yo, Mike, c’mere. Lemmie holla at you,” Sha called out.

Shantell watched as Mike walked over to him. As soon as he was in arm’s reach, Sha pulled Mike close and whispered something in his ear. Whatever Sha said, Shantell could see it changed Mike’s whole attitude. A mean mug instantly masked his face.

“What’s wrong?” she wondered aloud.

“Nuttin’!” Mike replied. “Just some bullshit. My people got a li’l drama wit’ some niggers that owe him some dough. He don’t like the fact that they partying’ and ain’t pay him.”

Mike was lying through his teeth. He could never reveal his true reason for his sudden mood change. The fact that his main girl was in the club irritated the hell out of him. Immediately, he knew Tonya’s girlfriends had put her up to coming out to the party, because Tonya knew that Mike didn’t play that.

Now, all Mike knew was that he had to get rid of Shantell. If he ran into Tonya while he was with her, then there would be too much explaining to do. To his girlfriend, that is. She was the problem. Mike didn’t give a damn about Shantell. He felt he could control her. Plus, she already knew the deal.

“Yo, look I need you to do something for me.” Mike announced. “My man got something for me in the car. Get it and take it home for me. I’ll be by tomorrow.”

While Mike spoke, Shantell glanced over his shoulder and saw his man, Sha, hovering around. She wasn’t happy that she had to leave to handle Mike’s business, but she accepted the fact and followed orders like a good little soldier.

Just as Mike finished talking, out of nowhere his girlfriend Tonya appeared. She was a beautiful dark-skinned woman, a college-educated, sophisticated, professional type. Many people thought, including her friends, that she was too good for Mike. He didn’t deserve her.

Tonya walked up to Mike, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the lips. She totally ignored

Shantell. Her actions spoke volumes, as if to say, “This is my man.”

“Hey, babe. Where you been? I been looking all over for you.”

When she spoke Mike smelled the liquor on her breath. Instantly he knew he had a problem. Tonya couldn’t hold her liquor; when she got drunk, she tended to run off at the mouth. That was out of character for her.

“Yo, what you doin’ here?” Mike questioned. “You been drinkin’?”

“What do you mean, what am I doin’ here?” Tonya repeated. “What, I can’t go out now? I stay in the house all the time, I needed a li’l break. My girl had an extra ticket, she asked me did I wanna go? So here I am. Anyway, who the hell is this?”

Who the hell is this? The comment echoed in Shantell’s head.

This is the bitch that just sucked your man’s dick. Shantell was burning up inside but she played cool. She didn’t like anyone questioning someone else about her. Shantell was right there; she could speak for herself.

“Oh, that ain’t nobody,” Mike countered. “That’s my man’s girl. He standin’ right there.”

When Tonya glanced to her right and saw Sha, she felt so stupid.. Mike seized this opportunity to make his girlfriend feel bad.

“This the shit I’m talking’ bout. You always think a nigga is doin’ wrong. I’m tired of this shit!.” Mike knew his comment would make Shantell mad, but he knew he could clean up that mess later. He was sure of it. Pretending to be mad, he stomped off in the opposite direction. Tonya ran right behind him, apologizing. Her buzz from the alcohol was completely gone.

After leaving the party, Shantell’s mind went blank. She didn’t even remember taking the kilo of coke from Mike’s friend. She jumped on the highway and sped home. She wanted to put an end to this disappointing night as quickly as possible.

The swirl of blue and white lights brought Shantell back to reality. Her heart sank. Suddenly, she remembered that she was dirty. She had a sneaker box full of drugs sitting in the passenger seat. Fear raced through her body. This was the moment she feared.

Shantell tried her best to remain calm. She took a few deep breaths but they didn’t do her any good. She knew she had enough drugs in the car to get her a lot of time. Thoughts of her daughter flashed in her mind. How could she be so stupid to jeopardize herself and her child like this?

“Miss, license and registration please,” the state trooper asked.

Complying with the officer, Shantell dug into her bag and retrieved her license. Then she reached into her glove compartment and grabbed her registration. She prayed that she didn’t accidentally knock the box over because at that point the state trooper was watching her every move.

“Miss, is there any particular reason that you were speeding?” he asked. “Your vehicle was traveling 80 miles an hour in a 65 miles-per-hour zone.”

Shantell thought it was best to play stupid. She didn’t offer much of a defense.

“Officer, I didn’t even realize I was goin’ that fast. It didn’t feel like I was goin’ fast. At all”

“Okay, Miss. Just stay put. I’ll be right back.”

Shantell stared at the rearview mirror, watching the state trooper run her license for warrants. Shantell hoped like hell she didn’t have any unpaid summonses or fines. That would give him probable cause to search the car, then it would be over for her.

Before she knew it, the state trooper returned to her car. He handed Shantell a speeding ticket then he gave her a lecture. “Miss, please slow it down and be a little bit more mindful of the rate of speed you are traveling at. The speed laws are strictly enforced along this corridor of the highway. Over the years, we’ve had a lot of nasty accidents here. The traffic laws are enforced to protect all citizens.”

Shantell took her ticket and reprimand in stride. She was glad she wasn’t going to jail. She promised herself the first thing she was going to do when she got home was to kiss her daughter, Jordan. That close call with the law shook her up. For the rest of the way home she drove slow, like an old lady.

The Fall Out

Weeks had passed since Mike played Shantell in front of Tonya, his real girlfriend. The very next day, Mike came over and cleaned up his mess as best as he could. He talked a good game, but in all reality it would never be the same. Shantell would only give herself to him because she needed to, not because she wanted to. Shantell may have reacted off pure emotions, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew who paid the bills. Right now, she was just biding her time.

Shantell told herself repeatedly, I’m not fuckin’ wit’ Mike like that no more. Still, it was easier said than done. Her present good fortunes, and that of her daughter’s, were currently tied to Mike’s purse strings. She knew it but most importantly, he knew it too.

On one of her rare days alone, when her daughter was at daycare and her mother was supposedly looking for work, Mike paid her a surprise visit. He entered the apartment unannounced and barged into Shantell’s room. It came as quite a shock to Shantell what Mike accused her of.

He announced, “Yo, I don’t know what the fuck is goin’ on ‘round here, but somebody goin’ tell me sumthin’!”

Shantell shot him a perplexed look.’

“Don’t look at me like that. I ain’t fuckin’ stupid!”

“What!?” she blurted out.

Mike leaned back against the dresser, scanning Shantell’s face for any hint of falsehood. The results of his personal lie

detector test were inconclusive. Mike decided to stop beating around the bush and cut straight to the chase.

“Look, somebody’s been tappin’ the work. I don’t know who it is, but everybody is suspect right now.”

The reason why Shantell drew Mike’s suspicion was because of the way he felt he embarrassed her at the party. Mike was a firm believer in the old saying, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.” If it was one thing Mike knew about women, it was that they were sneaky characters. They tended to extract measures of revenge in some of the strangest ways. Maybe this was one of them.

Mike first discovered that someone in his organization was stealing when he started receiving a rash of complaints from his workers and customers to whom he was selling weight. He wasn’t sure just how long the thievery had been going on, but he was trying to put an end to it. There was no telling what he was going to do when he identified the culprit.

What really angered Mike about the entire situation was that he thought he was more than generous with dividing the profits; so whoever was stealing from him was biting the hand that fed them. That was a no-no in his book. Mike didn’t like anyone taking his kindness for a weakness. Examples had to be made.

“Listen, I ain’t got no reason to steal from you,” Shantell told him. “You been too good to me. I’m really kinda of fucked up that you would even think that of me. I been a lot things in my life, but I ain’t never been no thief.”

Shantell looked him straight in the eye and didn’t flinch as she proclaimed her innocence. She was unapologetic in her speech and stood her ground. She refused to accept the blame for something she didn’t do. She wasn’t about to be anyone’s scapegoat.

She continued, “Mike, if you think I stole from you, then you don’t know me. If you don’t know me, then ain’t no sense in you fuckin’ wit’ me like that. You always trusted me before. I held a lot of fuckin’ drugs for you before, and nothin’ like this ever happened.”

Though there was some truth in her words, Mike was too mad to really comprehend it. All he knew was that there was a weak link in the chain and he had to find out just who that was.

From here on out, Mike promised to monitor the situation more closely. Instead of chasing hoes, he vowed to get back on his job and stop leaving the success of his livelihood in someone else’s hands. If this minor setback served any purpose, it put Mike back on point.

“Yo, here’s what we gonna do, I’ma start weighin’ the shit out in front of yo’ face. Then, there can never be any discrepancies if shit comes up short.”

Shantell nodded her head in agreement. At this point, she really didn’t have too much choice in the matter. It was what it was now. Shantell was playing his game, so she had to abide by his rules. There was no doubt in her mind that the honeymoon was over.

For the rest of the day, Shantell was tense. Quietly she sat in her room, pondering the whole situation. All kinds of scenarios played themselves out in her head. Maybe Mike was just trying to cut her off and he needed a reason, so he made this story up so he could hide his true intentions. As she played devil’s advocate, suddenly it hit her. Brenda.

Shantell kicked herself for not thinking of this earlier. That explained everything. Who else could have possibly had access to the drugs? And why had this suddenly happened? Somehow, her mother must have found Mike’s stash. This explained her extended periods away from the house, under the pretense of job hunting. Her mother was getting high again.

A sad thought ran through her mind: ”Once a junkie always a junkie.”

When Jordan arrived home from daycare, Shantell interrogated her daughter. She used her like the Army would use any spy and she pumped the child for information.

“Jordan, does Grandma be in my room while I’m gone?” She gently asked.