Chapter 14

For the next three months, I pursued Kitty hard – but she had one excuse after another. Her life was complicated, and I understood that, but she could have squeezed a nigga in somewhere. I knew she had a business to run that swallowed up most of her time. What I didn’t realize, though, was that she also had a full life outside of the bar. She went to the gym faithfully every single morning of the week, come rain or shine. The bar closed at 2 a.m., and she usually didn’t get out until somewhere around three. Regardless, her gym schedule was always the same: in by 5 a.m., out by 7. Once she showered and made her way back to her condo, she only had time to fit in three hours of sleep, four if she was lucky. After that, she was in her home-office, running the small publishing business Christoff started before he died. The only day she really had to herself was Sunday, and she shared that day with the Lord: she went to church, read her bible, then spent an hour or two meditating at home. I could want her with everything I had inside of me, but if she didn’t have time for a nigga, then all I could do was let her be.

Friday night rolled around, and I needed something or someone to take my mind off Kitty. I was used to doing my own thing anyway. Life goes on, and if nobody else was there for me, my cousin Pee-Wee was. He called and let me know about a new spot that had just opened up in our old hood; that was all I needed to hear. Somebody told me a long time ago that the best way to get over one broad is to get under another one, and it was time to put that theory to the test.

The Two One was a small lputas a smounge on the corner of 21^st Street where people from the neighborhood went to unwind on the weekends. The vibe was laid back at first - but once me and my nigga Pee-Wee showed up, every gold digger in the place had their antennas up. They were wasting their time, though; Pee-Wee lived by the same rules I did: we didn’t pay for water, and we didn’t pay for pussy. We were just there to peep out the new place and see what was up with the old hood. I still had a few workers posted up around the way, but I rarely came through myself.

“Hey, Boss.” Jayla seemed to appear out of nowhere. “How you been?”

“I’m good.” I opened my arms and welcomed her inside. “How you been?”

I could tell instantly that something was wrong. When she hugged me, she clung to my chest for a while. It was times like that when I missed Marco the most. My cousin had his flaws, but he took care of his girl. She never walked around looking that lost when he was here.

“Boss, can I talk to you for a minute?” She looked up at me with desperation in her big light brown eyes. “It’s kinda private.”

I threw Pee-Wee a nod towards the door; that was his signal to follow me outside. I led Jayla out to my ESV, and she didn’t hesitate to climb in. I walked around to the driver’s side while my lieutenant stood outside and watched my back.

“What’s up?” I gave Jayla my undivided attention. “What’s got you actin’ so ‘noid?”

“I had an accident.”

“What kind of accident?” I picked up the already rolled blunt I’d left in my ashtray earlier, knowing that I’d need to be high to get through this conversation.

“I ran into this white dude’s Mercedes, and I ain’t got no insurance. He say if I don’t pay him fifty grand by next Friday, he’s goin’ to the police.” She cracked the tinted window a bit to let in some fresh air. “You know I got a record; I can’t go to jail,” she whined. “Boss, I’ll do anything.” She reached over and put her hand on my dick.

“Come on now.” I quickly pushed her hand away. “What you doin’?”

“You do somethin’ for me, and I’ll do somethin’ for you.”

Before I knew it, she had my dick out and was deep throating it the same way she used to do my cousin’s. I felt a little guilty at first, but the weed helped ease my conscience. If the shoe was on the other foot, Marco would have done the same thing – but that nigga was dead, and there was no sense in wasting some head that good.

After Jayla took me where I needed to go, I agreed to take care of her little problem for her; I would have done it anyway, but she did give me an extra incentive. The next morning, I called the white dude - whose name was Kevin Ark - and scheduled a meeting with him for later that day. First I had a few runs to make, though. The bank's parking lot was busier than it usually was that time of day, and I was about to say “Fuck it” and back out of my parking space – but then I spotted her.

“Long time no see,” I shouted in Kitty’s direction as I got out of my truck and began to walk towards her Aston Martin.

“Hi.” She smiled and almost made me forget how upset I was with her sexy little ass. “How are you?”

“How am I? That’s all the fuck you gotta say to me?" I was pissed - but I was also trying hard to cover up how happy I was to see her; she looked good, real fucking good.

She reached inside her coupe and got her jacket. The wind was whipping the shit out of her hair, but she didn’t seem to mind; she just moved it from one side to the other while putting on the brick-colored leather jacket over her beige sleeveless blouse. Her body looked amazing in the matching brick-colored leather skirt.

“A nigga can’t win for losin’,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air in a metaphoric surrender. “You fuck a broad and don’t call her, you a dog; you call her, and this how you get treated.”

“Boss, you’re young, handsome, and could probably have any woman you want.”

“Obviously not - or I’d have you,” I told her, softening my demeanor just a little. “You judgin’ me and ain’t even givin’ me a chance to show you what I'm really about.”

“Alright.” She gave in quicker than I thought she would. “Pick me up at the bar in an hour.”

I smiled all the way back to my truck. Sixty minutes was more than enough time to handle my business and get back to Kitty’s bar. As bad as I wanted to be with her again, I would have moved mountains to make it happen. She could try and sneak all the tests by me she wanted to - I was planning on passing them all.