The Cost of Vengeance (9 page)

“I am so glad that you did.” I looked at him; he was undressing me with his eyes. “I’d ask what you’re doing here, since you said this isn’t your type of affair, but I don’t think you’d tell me.”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“I had some people to meet. This is where I could meet with them all at one time; socially of course.”

“Of course,” I said as the band broke into a slow vamp.

He put his glass on the bar. “Would be like to dance, Ms. West?” he asked and reached for my hand.

“I would love to dance, Mr. Black.” I accepted his hand and followed him onto the dance floor. He pressed his body against mine and I melted into him. It felt so good being in his arms. I closed my eyes and my thoughts drifted to the scene I’d imagined in my suite: Imagining how it would feel to have him inside me. I thought about whether I was going to wait to be asked, or if was I just going to offer myself to him.

When the song ended, he led me off the dance floor to very impatient looking woman. “Ms. West, I’d like you to meet my lawyer Wanda Moore. Wanda, this is Jada West.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Moore,” I said graciously.

“Likewise. Are you ready to go, Mike,” she asked and glanced at her watch.

“You have to go?”

He looked at his lawyer and then at me. “I have someplace I need to be,” he said.

“And we’re already late,” Ms. Moore said and I wanted to kick her.

I put on my best smile. “I am sure I’ll see you again soon, Mr. Black.”

“I’m sure you will, Ms. West,” he said. And that night, once again, I watched him walk away from me.

After the night I’d had, I wasn’t surprised that I slept late that day. I had just gotten out of the shower and dressed when the doorbell rang. I went to the door and peeked out. Since I didn’t see anybody, I yelled, “Who is it?”

“It’s Leon,” he said and stuck his head where I could see him.

I opened the door and let him in. He gave me a big hug and we talked for a while, and then he got quiet. “You wanna tell me about it?”

“About what?”

“About what you and your friends is plannin’, Nina.”

“How you—,” I started to ask, but I knew the answer. “Pearl told you?”

Leon laughed. “No, Pearl told Diamond; Diamond told me what you was plannin’. I came to talk you out of it.”

“We took care of it last night,” I said.

Leon dropped his head. “Any problems?” he asked. I could tell by the look on his face that he was disappointed in me.

“Nope,” I said. I didn’t think he needed or wanted to know the details. The doorbell rang again and I got up to see who it was. “No problem at all.”

I looked out and saw a man standing there. “Who is it?”

“Police. I’m looking for Nina Thomas.”

“No problems, huh?” Leon said.

A cold chill came over me as I opened the door.

“Sorry to bother you, Miss Thomas. My name is Detective Kirkland, and I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Can I come in?”

I opened the door a little wider and let him come in. As soon as he saw Leon sitting there, his expression changed. “Hello, Leon.”

“What’s up, Kirk?” Leon said.

“I heard you moved to Florida. I didn’t know you were back in the city?”

“No, sir; I’m just here visiting.”

“Leon Copeland,” Kirk said and smiled. He looked at me. “Mind if I sit down?”

“Please, have a seat,” I said and the doorbell rang again.

“I’ll get that,” Kirk said and went to the door and opened it. “Come on in, Gene. There’s somebody here that you might remember from the old days.”

Another man walked in and took a look at Leon. His reaction was the same. “Leon Copeland.”

“Lieutenant Sanchez,” Leon said.

“I heard you took your business to Florida,” the Lieutenant said. “I didn’t know you were back in the city?”

“No, he said he’s just here visiting.”

“Who?” The lieutenant asked.

“I came to see my sister Angel.”

My phone rang and I looked at the cops. “You can go ahead and answer it,” Kirk said.

I picked up the phone. “Hello.”

“It’s Teena. I just heard the Kenyatta and two of her folks got dropped last night at her spot,” she said excitedly.

“Really, girl. You gonna have to tell me about that later. I got company right now,” I said as casually as I could.

“Company? Bitch, this shit is important.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, girl,” I said and hung up, and when I did the cops got back to Leon.

“What are you doing here, Leon?” Kirk asked.

“Miss Thomas used to date my cousin,” Leon said.

“Lorenzo Copeland,” Kirk said and looked at the lieutenant.

“That’s right. I just stopped by to holla at her.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Kirk said.

“Why is that, Kirk?” Leon asked.

“Because it just might answer a question that was nagging me.”

“Glad I could help, Kirk. You wanna tell me what that is?”

“Sure. Last night three people, Kenyatta Damson, Robert King and Bernard “Blade” Bradshaw, were killed outside of her drug spot. We also found the body of another woman, Shantia Lewis; she was executed in a vacant apartment in the same building,” Kirk said, and I did my best to look like it meant nothing to me. “She used to work for your cousin Lorenzo.”

“And since he’s in jail,” Sanchez said with a big smile on his face. “We were wondering who was supplying her. That wouldn’t be you, would it, Leon?”

“No, sir. I don’t have no business in New York no more.” Leon looked at Kirk. “You know that, Kirk.”

“You made a deal with Black?”

Leon didn’t answer, but it was apparent that everybody but me knew what he was talking about. I knew I should just keep quiet since they seemed to be more interested in Leon than me, but I couldn’t. “Can I ask a question?”

“Sure, Miss Thomas, go ahead.”

“What are you doing here? I don’t know any of those people you mentioned; so why are you here?”

Kirk and Sanchez both stood up. “We came here hoping that you might help us find some of your boyfriend’s associates and we found you with Leon,” Kirk said. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. But I’m sure we’ll talk again.”

After that, the cops left my apartment and I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked at Leon. He was sitting there with his head in his hands. “That’s not good, Nina. You don’t wanna be nowhere around nothing Kirk is involved in. You need to shut down now and come South with me for a while until that is closed, or until Kirk moves on to something else.”

“Why? I didn’t kill none of them,” I said and knew that Shantia Lewis was the one Teena executed. “Why do you think we need to shut down?”

“Nina, listen to me. If Kirk came to see you, fuck what he said, that means he knows that you’re involved with Kenyatta. Next thing you know, they have you under surveillance, if they don’t already, and then you’ll be in jail.”

I trusted Leon, he was more than just my supplier, Leon was family. He was my mentor. It was Leon who taught me the game after Lorenzo went to jail. He told me that I needed to build my own team. And I did. The only exception to that was Kenyatta. I had known her since junior high school. And since I was the one that brought her to Lorenzo, I thought that she would be loyal to me—and she was. She was the foundation of my operation; where I moved the bulk of my product. Now she was dead and my being associated with her brought the cops to my door, and what’s worse was that Leon was there and now they suspected him. I had fucked up all the way around.

I looked at Leon, he looked worried and I had never seen him look that way. I knew he wasn’t worried about himself. He could get on a plane and head back to Jacksonville and never have to worry about the NYPD again. He was worried for me.

“Look, Nina. Maybe it’s time you think seriously about getting out of the game.”

“And do what?”

“Whatever you want to do. This ain’t your life you’re livin’; it’s Lorenzo’s life. It’s my life. I ain’t have no choices. This is what I was born and raised to do. What my daddy and my uncles have always done. I knew from the start that this life would end in one of two ways: That’s in jail or dead. Half my family is in jail, Nina. The rest gave they’re life to the game. That’s the way it is. But it ain’t got to be like that for you. You don’t have to do this, Nina. You been to college; got a degree. You’re still young, you’re pretty and you’re smart, Nina. You can do something with your life. I’ma say this one more time, Nina, then I’m done with it. Maybe it’s time you think seriously about getting out of the game. ’Cause I can guarantee you this, Kirk may not have no murder case on you, but if you stay in business, Sanchez will put a drug case on you and you’ll be in jail within a year.”

I didn’t want to hear that shit, but I knew he was right. “Okay, Leon, I get it.”

“Good,” Leon said and stood up. “I’m leaving in the morning. You let me know if I’m flyin’ alone.”

“Where’re you going now?”

“I’m going to see Angel. Why, you wanna come?”

“No,” I said quickly.

“Why you say it like that?”

“Angel makes me uncomfortable,” I said and walked Leon to the door.

“How does Angel make you uncomfortable?”

“Angel wants some pussy and I ain’t the one.”

“My sister does have a way with women.” Leon laughed. “Men too.”

“Whatever. You say hey to Angel for me, and call me tonight and I’ll let you know what I’m gonna do.”

After Leon left I thought about what he’d said and knew he was right. I mean, what was I doing? This was not the life I planned for myself. It took me five years, but I graduated from Hampton University with a degree in business administration. My plan after graduation was to have some fun hanging out with Teena and Shay for the summer, and then I’d get serious about getting a job in September. I had planned to work for a year and then go back for my master’s. I let all the things I had planned for myself after college, get away from me. I had been out of school for years and I hadn’t looked for a job or filled out an application to grad school. At first I got so caught up in Lorenzo and what he was doing, that I lost myself in being the baller’s woman. I loved Lorenzo and was happy to be anywhere he was, doing anything he was doing.

Then he went to jail, and instead of turning my life around and getting back to my plan, I let the money lead me to becoming a baller myself. I thought back to me, Shay, and Teena sitting in my living room, talking about getting into the game. And most importantly, avoiding Lorenzo’s fate.

“You were the flashy one. Drivin’ that BMW; spending all that money shoppin’. And Teena, you weren’t too much better. Both of y’all was caught up in that lifestyle.”

“Don’t hate, Shay,” I said.

“I’m not hatin’. Come on, Nina. You know me better
then
that. I’m just being real. Y’all two heifers was caught up in that ballers’ girl lifestyle, spending money like it was water. Now what you got to show for it? Government took everything but the clothes you had on your back.”

I was as low profile as it got. I sold the BMW and got a Honda Civic. I lived in a small one-bedroom apartment in a rundown building. Sure, it was laid out on the inside, but I didn’t let a lot of people in here. I cut out all that shopping for clothes. Shit, I didn’t wear half of them anyway. I kept to myself and didn’t go out much. The only time I left the apartment was to go to Jacksonville to get product or to sell it. With the exception of Cedric and Victor, I didn’t have a man; and you see how they turned out. This was not the way I planned to live my life. I didn’t have a life, and maybe it was time for that to change.

Leon’s words kept ringing in my mind.
You need to shut down now and come South with me for a while.
If he thought I needed to get out of town, then I was Florida bound. Later that night I went to tell Teena and Shay what I had decided.

I knew who Baby John was: His name was John Tinselly. He used to roll with Kevin and Jay when they used to stickup joints. That’s how I met Jay; the three of them were at JR’s one night after they hit a big score, and were droppin’ paper buyin’ drinks like it wasn’t shit. When Jay saw me he dropped his drink; I don’t know if it was just because he was drunk, or because he never saw a body like mine.

He rushed over to me and tried to talk, but his game was so lame that I played him off. After that, he was at the club every night tryin’ to talk to me, until he’d wore me down and I finally went out with him. At the time I was just startin’ to roll, and the one thing I could say about him was, back then, Jay Easy had heart.