Passion for the Heist, page 19
* * *
Tyriq had managed to gather up a small group of hood rats, which he brought over to entertain the group. Him and Jay were all over the broads, trying to force free liquor down their throats while playing stink finger up their short skirts. One of them had cozied up to Case. She was a nice-enough-looking girl, and normally he would’ve happily bought what they were selling, but he had more pressing business on his mind. Like how to get the money together for the guns he needed from Jay’s people.
He was in a catch-22 of sorts. He needed money to get the guns, but he needed guns to get the money. Case wasn’t broke, nor was he living as ghetto fabulous as he led people to believe. Robbing had always been his primary source of income, and he made nice money pushing pills and coke, but most of his flash came from scamming. With the credit card numbers they were snatching off the web, Case could walk into most stores and charge thousands of dollars up on someone else’s credit line, but that was all digital and no cash. Still, Case was pulling in enough to where he should’ve been able to set himself up comfortably, but Case never wanted to be comfortable. He wanted to ball! He had allowed himself to become accustomed to a lifestyle that he really couldn’t afford, and when his pockets started feeling the pinch and that lifestyle was threatened, it forced Case into a series of bad decisions. This was also a contributing factor as to why he was cash poor. The lick that he had spent almost a month trying to piece together would be a game changer for him, but he would need those guns.
“Bruh, why you sitting here looking like you got to take a shit when you got a fine-ass bitch over here practically begging to suck yo dick?” Tyriq ambled up to him. The girl who had been trying to get with Case had finally grown tired of being ignored so she had gone back to join her friends.
“I got heavier shit on my mind than getting my dick wet,” Case told him.
“You still thinking about that shit with Jay? Dawg, don’t worry about it. Between us and our niggas in the hood, we can pull together the guns to make this happen,” Tyriq assured him. He was always the optimistic one of the group.
“No, this is too important to depend on a few dirty Glocks and maybe a MAC that’s probably so old it don’t shoot straight anymore. We need to step it up and I need those guns. I just have to figure out how to get up the paper they’re asking for.”
“We get it like we always do. We steal it,” Tyriq said simply.
“That was the first method that popped into my head. The only thing is, shit is hot out there right now. When that free government money dried up, there were a lot of muthafuckas who had to take it back to the basics, including us. A lot of the spots we could’ve normally taken off for the amount of cash we need in the time we need it, are on point by now. They’ll see us coming.”
“They won’t see him.” Tyriq nodded in Pain’s direction. He was at the bar chatting up the bartender.
“Shit, if Pain was back on the team a lot of these dudes would more willingly give over their shit than deny us. That boy was a beast in his day. I don’t know what the fuck he is now,” Case said disappointedly. He had been anticipating Pain coming home for months. That was the one man he knew who could help him right their sinking ship, or so he had hoped. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Pain was on a different type of vibe. Case had love for him still, but even he had to admit that Pain had come home a shell of the man he had been going in.
“Well, from as much as Pain claims to have changed, I see he still likes to play with fire,” Tyriq laughed.
Case shook his head when he saw why Tyriq had made the remark. Pain had traded in the bartender for Lolo. He was spitting heavy game at her and from as big as she was smiling it looked like she might be going for it. Case didn’t know why he hadn’t anticipated this happening when he saw Lolo was in the backyard. He thought that his warning to Pain about staying away from Lolo had been clear and his friend would’ve taken heed, but no. He was still the same old Pain. When he wanted something he went after it, whether it could likely get him killed or not. Lee must’ve peeped what was happening at the same time Case did because he was currently making a beeline toward the couple. From the twisted look on his face, Case knew what type of time he was on and so did Tyriq.
“Oh shit! It’s up!” Tyriq was moving toward the altercation when Case stopped him.
“Fall back for a minute. I wanna see if that dog still has its teeth,” Case said, and positioned himself to watch.
* * *
Unlike Lee, his friend hadn’t been drinking, so his punch was well aimed and vicious. His fist connected with the side of Pain’s head and he immediately heard the ringing in his ear. He’d barely had a chance to assess the new threat before another one of Lee’s boys got into it. It was now a three-on-one situation. Pain tried to protect himself as best he could as the crew rained blows over him. His mind was snatched back to the brawl in the prison dayroom. It was no longer Lee and his team assaulting him, but Brute and the prison gang. It was then that Pain lost it. One of the men landed another shot, this one to Pain’s jaw. He ate the punch and fired off one of his own. He knew the moment he felt a shift in the kid’s jaw that he had knocked it off its hinges. When his buddy tried to help, Pain kicked him in the nuts, followed with an uppercut that deposited him on his back. Pain would’ve probably killed all three of them had it not been for the security team wrestling him away. They were trying to calm him down, but Pain was beyond the point of reasoning. He even bit into the arm of one of the men when he tried to yoke him up. The guys who worked security at those kinds of spots didn’t play around, and would’ve likely worked Pain over had Chase not chosen that moment to step in.
“Fuck off, my man!” Case swooped in and shoved one of the security men. Tyriq was on his heels, ready to pop off. Even Jay stepped up, though he wasn’t as eager to knuckle up over a dude who had tried to play him only moments prior. It became a shoving match between Pain, his friends, security, and whatever remained of Lee’s people. The situation stank of something that was about to go so far left that it would probably make the local news, but thankfully the voice or reason finally spoke.
“Next nigga to throw a punch is going to be the last nigga to throw a punch.” When Dice appeared, everything stopped. It wasn’t because his presence was so grand that it commanded a pause in all activities, but the long .45 dangling at his side did. Dice waited until he was sure that he had everyone’s attention before turning his irritated glare on Pain. “How did I know I would find a Crow in the middle of this shit? Turn him loose,” he ordered his staff.
“Good to see you again too, Dice.” Pain shook the wrinkles out of his clothes and went to stand with his people.
“I wish I could say the same.” Dice tucked his gun.
“Wait … y’all know each other?” Case looked to Pain for an explanation.
Pain eyed Dice. He could see the discomfort in his eyes. Pain represented history, and that was never good for a man looking to reinvent himself. “Let’s just say that the stories of our lives feature some of the same characters.”
“Everybody good?” Dice shifted the conversation to Lee and his boys, who were licking their wounds.
“Nah, ain’t shit good about this,” Lee said in a menacing tone.
Dice knew Lee. Pain had hurt his pride. That wasn’t something he would let go. “Ain’t been enough blood spilled to make it a thing, Lee. This shit is light and I’m happy to turn a blind eye, but if it goes any further than this then the people I work for might feel in a way about it. I don’t think that’s something either of us want. I’m sure you’d agree?”
Lee didn’t say anything right away. Dice was a gunslinger and a gambler, nothing Lee couldn’t handle if it came to it, but the family he served was a different story. For as much as he wanted to put the hurt on Pain for embarrassing him, doing it there was not worth drawing the ire of the Stones. “Another time, my nigga,” he said to Pain in a threatening tone.
“Rain checks are my favorite kind to cash,” Pain taunted Lee. He was turned up by then and happy to go all the way with it.
“We’ll see.” Lee gave him a knowing nod. This was far from over. “Let’s go.” He snatched Lolo by her arm and pulled her behind him as he made his exit.
Pain watched as Lee manhandled Lolo, belittling her on his way out. She was probably going to get hands put on her at some point during that night, which wasn’t Pain’s problem. As Lee was pulling her outside, she cast a glance back at Pain. Something passed between them. It was like when Lot warned his wife not to look back lest she turn to salt, but she failed to listen. All it took was that last look for him to know that she hadn’t totally closed the door on him. Earlier he had been on the fence about trying to fuck her, because he knew that Lee was going to be a headache, but now he planned on trying to fuck her for the very same reason. Taking Lee’s life, if he’d chosen to, would’ve been easy, but taking his pride would be sweeter.
Dice waited until Lee and his crew were gone and the danger had passed before turning his attention back to Pain. “All these years later and King Crow is still leaving bloody messes in his wake.”
“Says the man who turned down a set of wings of his own,” Pain shot back. “I’d heard you hung up your hustle and started turning in the niggas you used to rob with.”
“I’m providing a service. Whoever ends up on the wrong end of my expertise,” he shrugged, “call it the luck of the draw.”
The story of how Dice came into his new profession was one that was only known to a few. Dice was a professional gambler and part-time robber, and at the height of his criminal career he had been amongst the best in the city at both. Dice could make a truckload of televisions disappear with the same ease that he could sit down at a craps table and make the dice read pretty much any numbers he wanted. He also had a sleight of hand technique when dealing cards that was second to none. Dice was damn near the LeBron James of breaking the law, but his hall of fame career of stealing ended prematurely at what would be his last card game. He’d walked into a room with intentions on fleecing everyone at the table and left the lone survivor of a massacre. The killer had let him live on the condition that Dice deliver a message: “The bastard son has returned.” It wouldn’t be until days later when the bodies started dropping that the message would make sense.
“As I recall, you were the best at busting these joints out,” Pain continued. “When the dust settled around here and everybody started picking sides, it wouldn’t have been too hard to see you sitting at the head of your own poker table. You could’ve been a king.”
“Maybe.” Dice momentarily reflected on what might’ve been and then came back to his senses, “But I’d rather die old and unknown than young and notorious. You might do well to remember that while you’re out here sniffing around what don’t belong to you, Blackbird. Lee is a dangerous enemy to have.”
“So am I,” Pain assured him.
“So, what’s up? We good here?” Tyriq asked. He was ready to keep the party going.
“As long as y’all niggas can keep your talons to yourself. Oh, and somebody gonna have to break bread over the shit y’all broke up,” Dice told them.
“That’s on me.” Pain peeled off a few bills from his cash collection and tossed them down on what was left of the tabletop. “With my compliments.” He patted Dice on the shoulder as he passed him. The Yard was starting to feel small and he needed a breather. He stopped short, turning to Dice with a question in his eyes. “That night … the one that they say changed you. What did you see at that card game that could make you pass on wearing a crown?”
Dice thought on it. Not because he didn’t know the answer to the question, but because he was a careful man when it came to his words. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
CHAPTER 15
The night air felt good against Pain’s face. It helped to cool the fire that was building in his gut. He couldn’t believe that the young punks in the club had tried him. Had this been a few years earlier they’d have never tried that bullshit. Everybody who was anybody knew what time it was with Blackbird. Then he had to remind himself: He wasn’t Blackbird anymore. The days of him putting people in the hurt locker were behind him. Now, he was just a man displaced in time and trying to figure out where he belonged.
“Got a light?” A feminine voice tickled his ear.
Pain spun, ready to tell whoever had dared invade his space to fuck off. He wasn’t in the mood. Venomous words filled his mouth, but when his eyes landed on the girl with the cigarette dangling from her full lips, he found himself at a loss for words. She was tall. Not as tall as he was, but slightly above average height for a female. She was a pecan-colored beauty who had a shape that looked like it was giving the seams of those skin-tight jeans a run for their money. Long, neat dreads spilled from her head and touched her shoulders. There was something about her that struck him as familiar. He had seen her before, but it didn’t hit him as to where until he looked into her eyes. He would know those eyes anywhere. It was the girl who had gotten her necklace snatched on the subway. Her face had been covered by a mask at their first meeting, but now that he could take in the whole of her he found her breathtaking!
“You got a light or nah?” the girl repeated her question.
“Sorry, I don’t smoke cigarettes.” Pain found his voice.
“Don’t need to be a cigarette smoker to carry a lighter,” the girl said. From the slight slur in her words he could tell that she had been drinking heavily.
Pain smiled. “You’re right about that. Sorry I couldn’t help.” He was speaking about the incident on the subway, but she assumed he was talking about his not having a lighter.
“It’s all good,” she replied, digging through her purse in hopes that she could find some random matches. She spared a glance at him and noticed that he was giving her a curious look. He was likely wondering why she hadn’t moved the hell on already after finding out he didn’t have a light. She found herself studying him. He was handsome, to be sure, but it wasn’t his face that held her attention. It was his eyes. They weren’t anything special, just an average shade of brown, but there was something else there. It was sadness. They were the saddest eyes that she had ever seen on another human, with the exception of probably Birdie. His eyes made her want to reach out to him, but thankfully she caught herself before she did.
“You good, shorty?” Pain noticed the perplexed look on her face.
“My name isn’t shorty, it’s Passion,” she replied, uncertain why she was so forthcoming.
“Passion,” Pain repeated the name, letting it roll around in his mouth as if he could taste it. “That’s pretty.”
“You think? Most people I tell my name to think it’s weird,” Passion admitted. She was always teased in school about her name, or people thought it was an alias.
“You can find beauty in weird stuff too, Passion.” He caught himself. “My name is Pain.”
“Passion and Pain.” She tapped her chin as if she was deep in thought. “Sounds like a song title,” she joked.
“There is no doubt in my mind that we could make some beautiful music together.” He hadn’t meant to be so forward, but it was what was in his heart.
“So, you being named Pain the reason you’re out here bleeding?” Passion motioned toward his bloodstained jacket.
Pain glanced down at himself. He hadn’t even realized that he was wearing Lee’s blood. “It ain’t mine,” he told her, slipping out of the sweat jacket, which had suffered the worst of it. There were splotches of blood on his T-shirt too, but they weren’t too bad. The jacket was ruined. As he was balling the jacket up to discard it, he noticed that Passion was still staring at him quizzically. “So,” he began awkwardly, “is this the part of the song where the two lovers exchange numbers with the promise of meeting again?”
“No, this is the chorus in the song when the lead singer talks about how she should’ve known better than to get caught up with a man covered in blood.” Passion said in a tone that made it hard to figure out if she was joking or serious.
“You gonna let a little splatter deter you from making the best decision of your life?” Pain eyed her. He was like a cobra trying to hypnotize the curious mouse. She had an energy about her that Pain wasn’t used to and he wanted to drink it in as much as he could.
“Instead of Pain they should’ve name you cocky.” The drinks had added an edge to her tongue, and she was feeling a little cocky herself. She walked a tight circle around Pain, not close enough to touch, but close enough where he could take in her smell and her presence. “How many dizzy young broads you hit with them bedroom eyes and they fall into your lap? Nah, playa. You ain’t gonna Erykah Badu me,” she laughed.
“You got jokes.”
“Nah, I got good sense,” Passion capped with a wink. “Besides, it wouldn’t make no sense to give you my number even if I wanted to.”
“And why is that?” Pain wanted to know.
“Because I’m only here for a season, not a reason.”
“Winter is coming.” Pain quoted one of his favorite television shows.
“They say it’ll be the longest winter in a hundred years.” Passion matched his quote. She too was a fan of Game of Thrones.
“You House Stark or Lannister?” Pain asked, wanting to keep their banter over the shared show going.
“Neither, if I was around back then I’d be Khaleesi,” Passion told him.
“Breaker of Chains?”
“No, conqueror of the world. My life is gonna stretch beyond these five boroughs and I plan to make an impact everywhere I touch,” she said passionately.
“I’m still trying to figure out what all that has to do with you not wanting to give me your number?” Pain questioned. He was intrigued by the quirky girl.
“Because I’m probably not going to be in this city long enough for you to use it. I got a birthday coming up three weeks from today and I don’t plan on celebrating it in New York. Chase another dream, handsome, because I ain’t it,” Passion said honestly.
