In a Cold Sweat (22 page)

“Yes, sir,” Wanda said and saluted. “Mike, give me a call and let me know what Marshall had to say.”

“We’ll talk in the morning. There’s somethin’ I wanna run by you. What time is good for you counselor?”

“I’ll be home all day, stop by anytime. We need to talk about something,” Wanda said, thinking about telling him about her and Nick. Lately she’d been thinking that it would be better if she told him than Black finding out on his own. “Goodnight, gentlemen.” Wanda looked at Nick and walked away. She knew this meant she would be spending another night alone. Wanda understood the reason why and understood it was necessary, but she didn’t have to like it.

Nick stood up and was about to follow Wanda. He could tell by the look she gave him that she was not happy. This was the first time he’d seen her in a couple of days and he wanted to at least spend a few minutes with her before him and Freeze got in the street. “I’ll get with you later, Freeze. I got something I need to take care of.”

“Sit down, Nick. I need to talk to you,” Black said and Nick quickly reclaimed his seat. “You too, Freeze.”

“What’s up?” Nick asked.

“You ever met or hear of a DEA agent named DeFrancisco, or one named Vinnelli, Nick?”

“Not that I can remember, why?”

“DeFrancisco had Cassandra killed. I want you to find out everything you can about these two mutha fuckas. DeFrancisco is in jail; find out where.”

“I’m on it.”

“The one that I’m concerned with is Vinnelli. He’s probably the one who set things in motion. Get on top of him. I want to know the cleanest way to take him.”

“
You plannin’
on killin’ a DEA agent, Black?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, I am.” Black looked at Freeze. “You wanna ask me that shit too? Hell yeah I’m gonna kill him and every fuckin’ body I think was down with it.
These the
mutha fuckas that killed Cassandra, these the mutha fuckas that are gonna die for it!”

“He was just askin’ a question, Mike,” Bobby said calmly. “Same question I asked you. We all with you, you know that. It’s just a question.”

“All right, all right,” Black spit out.

“I understand this is personal to you, like I said, I’m on it,” Nick promised. “Say the word and he’ll be dead tomorrow.”

“You tell me how and we’ll see,” Black said and noticed that Mystique had come into the room. She smiled when she saw him looking at her. “But I wanna go
slow
with this. Make sure nothin’ comes back on us. Whether y’all believe me or not, I don’t plan on goin’ to jail, so we take our time and do this right. That’s it, Nick. I know you got shit to do.”

Nick stood up. “I’ll get on this right away. I’ll get with you later, Freeze.”

“Whatever, Nick,” Freeze said and knew Nick was going to see Wanda, so it would be much later.

“Freeze,” Black said as Nick left Cynt's.

“Yeah?”

“Wanda is fuckin’ somebody, you know anything about that?”

“Nope,” Freeze lied.

“I wanna know who he is.”

“What you want me to do when I find him?”

“Nothin’. I’ll kill him myself. Now, tell me about this nigga Stark.”

Mystique waited patiently for Black to get finished talking, even though she wanted desperately to go over there and tell Freeze and Bobby that they’d had enough time with her man and now it was her turn. As much as she wanted to, Mystique knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea. She could tell something was up when she got to Cynt's and saw Freeze and Nick with him. Usually when Black came there, it would just be him and Bobby-
Who seems like he’s on a mission to fuck every trickin’-ho that worked at Cynt's,
Mystique thought as she watched Black. She loved looking at him so much that at times she couldn’t stop herself. He was so handsome and his eyes were so intense.
And that sexy ass voice; I love listening to my man talk.

Her man?

Mystique knew it was stupid, but she was falling in love with Mike Black. Whether he felt anything for her or not, Mike Black was her man. She had something none of the other hoes there had and so many wanted.
When he walks in every jealous-ass bitch in this joint knows he’s here to see me. They all know he is my man,
Mystique thought as Black got up and started coming in her direction.

“Hey, handsome,” Mystique said and touched his face. Something else she loved doing.

“What's up with you?”

“I’m fine.”

“I know. How’s your night?”

Mystique looked around the room. “Well, you know I just got here, and from the looks of things, it’s gonna be a slow night.”

“I know you just got here, I saw you when you came in. But I asked about your night. The night didn’t begin when you got here, or is this all there is for you?”

“No, this isn’t all there is for me, but I am hopin’ that my night is just beginning.”

Black looked at Mystique without commenting on what she said. “Come here. Let me talk to you for a minute,” he said and took Mystique by the hand and led her up the stairs to Cynt's office.

Black knocked on the door, and not getting an answer, let himself in. “I want to ask you something,” Black started, but Mystique had other ideas.

She threw her arms around his neck and forced her tongue down his throat. “I missed you, baby,” Mystique said when she stopped to take a breath.

Black looked in Mystique’s eyes and thought about the part she played in his decision not to see Jacara that night at the Sheridan and leave the island. “I missed you, too.”

Mystique got wet hearing those words coming from him. “Whew.” She took a step back from him. “What do you want to ask me?”

Black leaned against Cynt's desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Do you like working here?”

“I like the money.”

“You could do other things for money.”

“Sure I could,” Mystique said, smiling inside in anticipation of where Black was going with this. She wanted to say,
but if you want me to stop shakin’ ‘your’ ass in here every night I will quit tonight,
but she didn’t want to get ahead of herself. “I would much rather train, but I don’t have enough clients yet to replace this money.”

“You let me worry about money.”

“So what are you sayin’?”

“You know what I’m sayin’.”

“Yeah, I do,” Mystique said and stepped to his chest. “But I wanna hear you say it.”

“Mystique! You don’t work here anymore. I’ll compensate Cynt for her loss of income, but you don’t work here anymore.”

His words were music to her ears. Maybe he didn’t say I love you, but he definitely stepped up to the plate and claimed her. Mystique couldn’t have been happier. “Are we leaving, now?”

“No. I got something to do.”

“You found out who tried to kill your wife, didn’t you?”

Black looked at Mystique. “Never ask me about my business. The less you know about what I do, the better it is for you.”

“I understand. When will I see you again?”

“I don’t know. You go home and I’ll call you later.”

“Yes, baby.”

With that said and done, Black and Mystique walked out of the office. As she made her way through the club to the dressing room, she saw Black stop and talk to Cynt before leaving with Bobby.

“Guess you’ll be leavin’ soon, huh?” one of her haters said.

“Yeah, and I won’t be back.”

“What?”

“My
man don’t
want me dancin’ here no more,” Mystique smiled and went to change clothes at Cynt's for the last time.

“Where we going?” Bobby asked.

“Stark hunting,” Black said as he got in the car.

“I thought you told Freeze to handle that?”

“I changed my mind. Why? You got something to do?”

“Nope.”

Black and Bobby had been riding for hours, checking out all of the spots Freeze said Stark hung out at. By two in the morning, Bobby had had enough.

“Don’t you wanna go back to Cynt's and pick up amazon Shy and call it a night? This nigga gone underground hidin’ from you.”

“Yeah, you're right. I just wanna roll by one more spot then we’ll call it a night. Ride up White Plains Road,” Black instructed.

As the two drove down the street, they passed by one of the spots that Freeze told them that Stark frequented. They saw a familiar car. “Isn’t that Angelo’s car?” Black asked.

“Looks like somebody got a case of jungle fever tonight,” Bobby replied, knowing Angelo Colette’s fondness for black women.

“That or somebody’s gonna die tonight,” Black speculated. Bobby parked the car and he and Black went inside.

“Told you,” Bobby said when he saw Angelo standing at the bar talking to the most beautiful woman in the place. He walked up behind Angelo and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, what you all up in my woman’s face for?”

Angelo turned around slowly and smiled when he saw who it was. “Look at what we have here?” Angelo said and turned to his female companion. “Honey, I want you to meet the dynamic duo. This is Batman,” he said and pointed to Black. “And this is—”

“If you call me Robin, I’ll shoot you right now,” Bobby said and made a move for his gun.

“All right, all right.
 
Honey, this is Bobby Ray and Mr. Happy here is Mike Black.”

“So, you're Mike Black?” the woman asked.

“You know this guy?” Angelo asked her.

“You can’t be from around here and not hear of Mike Black. A friend of mine used to talk about you all the time,” she said and looked at Black like she was willing to go with him any time or place to give him a taste.

“I’m glad you're here, Mikey,” Angelo said before Black could ask the beautiful woman who her friend was. “Freeze
tell
you I needed to talk to you?”

“No,” Black said, still looking at the woman. She had the type of body that he liked to play with. “I just left Freeze a couple of hours ago, but he didn’t mention it. But we’re up on something else right now.”

“Yeah, he told me. But let me holla at you for a minute, Mikey. Excuse us for a minute, honey. I need to talk to this guy.”

“Sure,” was her
reply.

“It was nice meeting you, Miss—” Black said.

“Cameisha, Cameisha Collins, but you can call me CeCe,” she said. Until a few weeks ago, CeCe was Cash Money’s woman, but now she was free agent and looking for a new love. Mike Black would do her nicely she thought and watched him walk away.

“What's up, Angee?” Black asked as soon as they were far enough away from CeCe.

“Crazy Joe got out the joint a couple of weeks ago,” Angelo said. Joey Delfino used to do jobs with Angelo back in the day.
Him
, Angelo, and Black were supposed to hijack a load of cigarettes from a truck at the Molly Pitcher service area on the New Jersey Turnpike. Black and Angelo never showed up, so Crazy Joe did the job alone. He was arrested by Newark Police at the toll booth when he got off the turnpike.