Streets of New York. Mark Anthony

cool. He’s wit’ me,” I said, referring to Grams.

      The bouncer nodded his head. I was hoping that neither he nor anyone else would put two and two together and realize that I was the wanted cop killer. I was also desperately hoping that there were no undercover cops staking the place looking for my ass.

      Once inside we headed to the strip club section of the club. Even though we had a mission to accomplish, I hadn’t had any ass in three weeks so I at least wanted to look at and rub up next to something thick, just for a minute.

      “Son, this is what’s up!” Grams said as we walked around looking at the sexy strippers in their thongs.

      We were there for five minutes before we bounced. I asked the different bartenders had they seen Squeeze but none of them had. I asked one of the bouncers had he seen Show and he said he thought Show was in his office.

      “Ahight, thanks,” I shouted over the loud music.

      I didn’t want to seem suspicious by asking the bouncer where the office was so I went back to the bar and I asked a different bartender where Show’s office was. Lloyd Banks’ hit song On Fire was blasting throughout the club as I shouted over the music.

      “Miss, excuse me, Show told me to meet him at his office tonight but I don’t know where it is?”

      The shapely and sexy bartender yelled into my ear and she directed me to go upstairs. I signaled to Grams that the steps that led to the office were back at the VIP entrance on the ground level where we had come in. Grams and I headed in that direction. He reminded me to just play everything cool.

      “Yeah, when we get inside just introduce me and act like everything is normal. We’ll chill for a minute and I’ll give you a nod, or you give me a cue and that’s when we’ll make our move. I’m a follow your lead but don’t worry about nothing cuz I gotchu on this!”

      We made it to the black metal spiral staircase that lead to the office.

      “This will lead us right there,” I said.

      Grams nodded, signaling me to proceed. When we reached the top, we knew we had reached the jackpot. There was a door with a ‘private’ sign. It was locked. The music from the club could still be heard so we couldn’t tell if someone was inside or not. With such loud music, it would have been useless to knock. There was a buzzer and I didn’t hesitate to ring. I rang twice. There was no answer.

      “You think they in there?” Grams asked.

      “I don’t know.”

      I rang the bell two more times and this time, I laid on the bell for about thirty seconds. Finally the door was opened by a nice looking, dark skin chick. Tall and looking like Naomi Campbell, she appeared to be about twenty.

      “Can I help y’all?” she asked, her perfect full titties fully exposed.

      “Yeah, we looking for Show. He around?” I asked.

      “Who are you?” the chick asked with neck twisting attitude.

      “Tell Show it’s Promise.”

      The girl stared me down with unnecessary drama then I heard Show yelling asking who was at the door. The dark skinned chick told him who was there and then with Show’s approval she let us in.

      “Goddamn nigga! It’s like Fort Knox trying to get up in here!” I jokingly said to Show as I gave him a pound and a ghetto hug.

      “What’s the deal, kid?” Show asked. He came across like he was genuinely happy to see me. “What’s really good?”

      Squeeze was sitting behind a small desk on the other side of the office. He didn’t greet us. His first question was, “Promise how da’ fuck you bringing muthafuckas up in my office that I don’t even know?”

      I could tell that Squeeze was probably already pissed off about something.

      “My bad. This is my nigga from Baltimore. He’s good people. Squeeze, this is Kendu. Kendu this is my mans and ‘em, Show and Squeeze.”

      Everybody said what’s up to each other while the sexy chocolate chick went over and sat on Squeeze’s lap. There was an awkward silence before Squeeze spoke. He spoke with a toothpick sticking out from the side of his mouth.

      “On da’ real, I ain’t tryin’ to disrespect you but Promise, you can’t really stay up in here but a minute.”

      I looked at Squeeze and couldn’t believe he was still feelin’ his self that way. I looked at him without responding. My silence made him uncomfortable and he spoke up again real quick.

      “I’m just saying, wit’ yo ass on America’s Most Wanted and on CNN, I don’t need heat from the feds, you kna’imean?”

      I still didn’t respond. There was more awkward silence in the soundproof office. The only thing we could hear was each other. We couldn’t even hear the club music now.

      “Yeah nigga, what’s up wit’ that shit in Philly? I heard you bussed down nine cops and killed two?” Show asked.

      I remained quiet not saying a word. The room went back to being awkwardly silent. I simply looked around the office and quickly scoped the whole layout. I nodded to Grams.

      Breaking the silence, I reached into my waistband and pulled out my gun. All the anger that had built up when I was underneath the abandoned car shitting and pissing on myself suddenly returned. Liked he’d promised, Grams followed my lead and pulled out his burner. I pointed my gun at Show while Grams had his joint pointed at Squeeze and his girl.

      “You wanna know what was up wit’ that shit? I’ll tell you what’s up! You know exactly what the shit was about cuz you and this punk ass set me da’ fuck up! Y’all ratted my ass out! Payback’s a bitch!” I said moving in on Show.

      “Money, don’t even think about reaching for your joint!” Grams barked at Squeeze. “Me and my man got this...”

      Show stood up and demanded to know what was going on, while denying emphatically that he and Show had not set me up.

      “Show, sit yo ass back down in that chair!” I ordered. “Y’all niggas knew that I was on the run for a whole year. When I show back up and find out that y’all are living, I thought it would be all love, like y’all would lookout for your boy! But then y’all try to front on me and shit on me! Come on, man! Can I live?” I shouted. I continued ranting as Grams held everybody at bay.

      “And why was I on the run? Huh, Squeeze? I was on the run cuz your ass called me and told me we was rolling on Nine and his crew. I was laid up wit’ my girl and I come up out of some warm pussy to help y’all niggas and then y’all front on me and try to play me? All I’m sayin’ is can I live? Can I eat?”

      Squeeze attempted to interrupt me.

      “Shut da fuck up, Squeeze! I’m talking now and I’m running this muthafuckin’ club now!” I boasted.

      Squeeze didn’t care what I had ordered him to do. He proceeded to swear and warn, “Promise, word is bond! You better kill me up in this piece tonight cuz I swear to God I’m a buss yo ass when you stop buggin’ ‘em drugs you’s smokin’!”

      “Promise, you want me to handle this cat?” Grams asked with attitude.

      I was silent then I spoke up, “Nah, I see how this is gonna go down... Niggas still wanna play me for a sucker and disrespect my ass. You know what? Squeeze, and Show, both of y’all stand da’ fuck up and strip butt ass naked, right now!”

      “Promise you trippin’ for sure!” Show stated.

      “What?” I walked up to Show and slapped him upside the head with the butt of my gun. He spun around and fell to the ground. Blood spilled out of his mouth.

      “You thinking I’m bugging now! Huh nigga? Take off your goddamn clothes right now or I’ll murk yo punk ass right