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"I see this. I’ll leave it alone."
"You a lyin’ mutha fucka, Nick."
I got up from table. "Thanks for dinner, Freeze."
"Nick."
"Yeah."
"If shit gets wild," Freeze stood up. "I’m with you."
"Thanks, Freeze."
I left there thinking about Black.
Whether he respected me or not, the truth of the matter was that I ran out on him when he needed me most. But I wasn’t about to let Bobby kill me over Camille just to save face with Black. But in spite of all that, Freeze was still for me. It would make my burden just that much heavier.
It started me thinking about the old days, the old crew. Black and Bobby. Jamaica and Freeze. I thought about the first time Black told us he was going to kill André. We knew he was planning something big when he called a meeting at The Late Night. Black never had meetings. In spite of that, we were late. Waitin’ on Freeze, of course.
"Now that we’re all here," Black said, as soon as we came through the door. "I bet you all are wondering why I got you all over here."
"The thought had occurred to me," Bobby said, staring at me. The way he was looking, I knew then that he knew I was fuckin’ Camille.
"I’m gonna kill André," Black declared.
There was complete silence in the room.
We all sat there looking at Black and one another, until Bobby started laughing. Everybody did at first, until we noticed Black wasn’t laughing.
"You serious, Black?" Freeze asked.
"Deadly." Black flashed a rare smile.
"How you gonna do it?" I asked.
"What you gonna do? Just walk into his office and blast him?" Bobby inquired, but his eyes were still on me. Then he slowly turned to Black.
"No. I have a plan," Black said.
"You plannin’ on taking over after he’s dead, Black?" I asked.
"The gambling houses and the women, yes. But I’m gettin’ out of the dope game."
Nobody was really surprised by that. We’d all seen it coming. After Vickie died in his apartment smoking cocaine, Black turned totally against drugs. He even stopped smokin’ weed. And Black loved to smoke weed.
"We’d be givin’ up a lot of money, Mike. I don’t think that’s good for business," Bobby said.
"Maybe. No. You’re right, Bobby, it’s not good for business. We’ll just have to find different ways of making money. But when I walk around here and I see what it’s done to the neighborhood." He looked at Jamaica. "To people. I just can’t be involved in that anymore. Anybody who wants to is free to do whatever he wants once this is over. As long as you don’t do business around here."
Black looked around the room.
"Bobby, you with me? I can’t do this without you."
"You don’t even have to ask me, you know I am," Bobby said.
"Even though it’s not good for business?" Black asked him.
"Business will just have to suffer."
