Chapter One
Mike Black
“Who the fuck you think you are coming up in here trying to tell me how to run my business?”
Emmet Grey had asked the exact question that I wanted him to ask, so naturally, I had an answer. I rammed my forearm into his jaw and he hit the floor hard. When I did, Bobby, Nick and Jamaica each pulled their guns to cover the other people in the gambling house. I stood over Emmet and then I kicked him in the face.
“I’m Mike Black!”
I snatched him up from the floor. I punched him in the face and kept punching him over and over. Then I grabbed his collar and pulled him toward me.
“And you’re wrong. This ain’t your business, it’s mine, and I roll up in here any time I fuckin’ feel like it.”
Then I grabbed Emmet by the arm and slung him toward the door, he stumbled and fell. I jerked him to his feet, and slung him toward the door again. I walked up on him quickly, pulled him up and threw him out the door. I went out after him and everybody in the place followed me out into the street.
Good.
I wanted them all to see.
I jerked Emmet up from the ground and got in his face.
“Look around you, my nigga, and understand. These are my streets! As far as the eye can see. That means if you make a nickel in my streets, I get paid. Understand!”
Before he could say anything, I took him by the collar and rammed him head first into a car. And then I did it again. His body crumbled to the ground and I stomped him against the pavement. When I pulled him up, his face was a bloody mess. I spun him around so everybody could see.
“This is what happens to dumb mutha fuckas like this nigga that wanna try me!”
I knew when I said it, that there would be a few niggas that would wanna try me. I was taking over André’s gambling and prostitution operations, so yeah, there were definitely gonna be a bunch of mutha fuckas that were gonna try me. I looked at Bobby, Nick and Jamaica and I knew that we could handle it.
In fact, they don’t know it, but it was Nick and Jamaica that gave me the idea to do this. One of the first things that I learned from André was to know everything that’s going on around me, and especially with the people that work for me. I thought that was good advice and I’ve lived by it ever since. Staying up on shit that you need to know, what a fuckin’ concept.
Anyway, when I heard that Nick and Jamaica were shaking down the gambling operators that weren’t kicking up what they should to André for his influence and protection, I saw an opportunity. The first thing I did was go around to all the gambling spots to check them out. Emmet was top of the list.
When me and Bobby walked into his joint, Emmet looked surprised and then scared; surprised that we were there and scared because he thought André sent us to hurt somebody, and it was most likely him. I could see the fear in his eyes; saw the way his jaw tightened. But when I nodded at him and then kept going toward the bar, it seemed to relax him a little.
I wasn’t there to hurt him; I was there to size him up, have a drink and do some gambling. I looked around at the working girls and knew I was definitely getting my jimmy waxed.
“Hey, Black,” one said as she passed.
“Yo, Baby, what’s up?”