“Did Nick get shot?”
“Twice in the chest. But don’t worry, I saw him this morning and he’s doing fine.”
“Did he say who did it?”
“Said Wanda did it.”
“He said Wanda tried to have him killed?”
“That’s what he said, Mike.”
“Did you ask her?”
“I asked her.”
“What did Wanda say?”
“She didn’t deny it.”
“Thanks, Perry.”
“Glad you back,” Perry said and ended the call.
“I need a drink,” Black said and left the office. He went to the bar and shot his drink and ordered another. After a while Bobby joined him at the bar.
“Make mine a double,” Bobby said.
When Black turned around, he saw Monika sitting at a table. He walked over to her and sat down. “I see you changed your mind.”
“You knew about this?”
“I heard rumblings,” Monika said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to. But you told me some shit about you havin’ confidence in Nick and CeCe being sick. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“And at the time, they wasn’t all out of control like they are now.”
“Next time—paint me a picture if you have to,” Black said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Black sat in Jackie’s office along with her and Bobby. It had been a while since any of them had said a word. He wondered how things could have gotten so out of hand. The day before he was in Nassau, he had dealt with Harry Walker, put Deidra in the position that she was best suited for and his big problem was what to do about Jada West. At this point, what to do about Jada was the furthest thing from his mind. Now, two of his oldest and closest friends were at war with each other and for the life of him, it just didn’t make any sense.
He had a feeling that
when he got to the bottom of the situation that he would find Rain Robinson. He thought back to the conversation that he had with Nick the day he first saw him and Rain together. They were talking about how Rain’s father, JR shot his wife, Barbara when he found her at a motel with another man.
“It’s just like the man said; two-faced woman and a jealous man,” Nick said.
“Cause of the trouble since the world began,” Black said finishing the line from the James Brown song then stood up. “I gotta get outta here.” He looked in Rain’s direction and sat back down. “Look, Nick, I know this is none of my business, and far be it for me to tell you who to lay the pipe to. Especially when I’m fuckin’ every woman with a fat-ass and big titties I run into. Just don’t hurt Wanda.” Black stood up again.
“I won’t,” Nick promised that day. In this case it was a two-faced man and a jealous woman that was the cause of the trouble. Black knew it was a bad idea for them to get involved and it would be bad for business. He just never thought it would get to this.
Black had to remember that when he left for the Bahamas the first time with Cassandra that although Freeze ran the day-to-day, it was Wanda who carried the power. When Wanda complained so much about the way Freeze was doing business, he had to call Bobby out of retirement. Which, by the way, was the beginning of the end of Bobby’s marriage to Pam, he thought and looked at Bobby. If Bobby was at home where he wanted to be, he would have never met Cat and Pam wouldn’t have had to kill her.