“I didn’t tell them anything about you. I wouldn’t even say your name. They tried to say that you were involved with Bruce, or that maybe it was something that you were involved in that got them killed. But I knew better. I couldn’t tell them anything about you, Travis. I know this was all Bruce’s doing and you had nothing to do with it.”
“But I had to ask.”
“I’ve been wondering these last few days how I feel about what you do for money.”
“Used to do for money. Before you go any further, Me’shelle, I want you to know that I’m finished with that life. Today I ran my last job.”
“What brought this on? And don’t say it’s because of me.”
“Well, I’d be lying if I said it was all because of you, but I’d be lying if I said that you had nothing to do with it. Does that make sense?”
“In a way.”
“I mean, it has everything and nothing to do with you. I’d been planning to get out long before I met you, but I didn’t think I’d have enough money to retire on.”
Me’shelle just looked at him.
“It’s like this: when I got into this, it was because me, Ronnie and Jackie had all lost our jobs and we didn’t see any other way.”
“I remember, you said ‘Sometimes real life leads you to make real hard choices that you normally wouldn’t.’ But why that, Travis? You’re a smart man. There’s a lot of thing that you could have done.
“But I guess it’s not fair for me to judge you for that. That job belongs to a higher power than me. I don’t know what you were going through at the time to force you to make that choice.
“What I need to know from you now is what you plan to do in the future. I can’t live like that; I won’t live like that, wondering every time you go off with your friends to handle your business if you’re coming home. I won’t live in fear that every time the doorbell rings it could be the police coming to take you away. That someday you may decide that you don’t have enough money and you have to do one more job. ’Cause that one job will always lead to the next.”
“You want to know the truth, Me’shelle?”
“Yes.”
“The truth is that I’m scared. Scared of the same things you just mentioned. Whether me or Jackie and Ronnie will get shot or killed, or when I’ll make a mistake on a job and the police will come after me. I don’t want to live like that.”
“So, what do you want?”
“I want to live a normal life, and I’d like the chance to live that life with you. When I think about the life that we’ve had these last few months, I know that’s where I wanna be. Worrying only about what restaurant we’re going to eat at and whether you’ll be on time.”
Me’shelle laughed. “You make it sound like I’m always late.”
“Well-”
Me’shelle took a playful swing at Travis. “Okay, let’s say I believe you when you say that you’re done. Have you told your friends yet?”
“Yes. I told them tonight that I was done.”
“How did they take it?”
“Ronnie called me a fuckin’ coward and told me to get the fuck out of his house.”
“What about Jackie? What did she say?”
“She’s scared that there’s nothing else that she can do.”
“What does she do?”
“She’s a chemist.”
“That’s right. You did mention that. She’ll be all right. They both will, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, I just hope it doesn’t cost our friendship.”
“Have you ever killed anybody?”
“I’m not sure I should be answering all these questions.”
“Why not? You think I’m wearing a wire or something?” Me’shelle asked and smiled.
“I don’t know. You could be,” Travis said playfully.
Me’shelle looked at Travis and wondered about the kind of person you had to be to both plan and execute robberies. She was disturbed by it, but at the same time, and for reasons she couldn’t really explain to herself, it excited her. Travis Burns was the kind of man who went after what he wanted. Just like he went after me. She looked into his eyes. He wanted me, and he got me.
“Maybe this will ease your fears about that,” Me'shelle said and stood up. “This will prove to you that I'm not wearing a wire.” Me'shelle began to undress, throwing Travis every piece of clothing as she took it off. He happily felt each piece to be sure it contained no electronic devices. Once she was naked, Me'shelle made several turns in front of him. Once Travis was satisfied the she wasn't wired, he carried her off to the bedroom.
The following morning, Travis woke up early. He left Me’shelle asleep in bed and left the house to call Freeze. “Meet me at Cynt’s,” Freeze told him. “No, on second thought, since I know you don’t want to run up on Mystique, meet me at Doc’s spot this afternoon around four.”
Travis laughed, but he appreciated the gesture. “I’ll be there.” He had only been to Doc’s once and wasn’t really all that impressed. The dancers were ugly, and Jackie said that the dealers stacked the deck.
That afternoon, he told Me’shelle he had to go handle some business with Freeze. She was reluctant to let him go until he promised it had nothing to do with any more robberies.
When Travis arrived at Doc’s, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Doc had upgraded the quality of women he had dancing there. Gone were the women with stab wounds and bullet holes, replaced by a variety of Nubian princesses to satisfy any taste. He took a seat a table in the back of the room and waited for Freeze to arrive. Since he was not a regular there like he was at Cynt’s, dancers didn’t flock to his table. It didn’t matter to him. He was there to take care of his business with Freeze and get back to Me’shelle.
As he usually did, Freeze kept Travis waiting. He had been there for over an hour when a fairly large man approached the table. “Can I help you?” the man asked.
“No.”
“I said can I help you?” the man repeated.
“No. I’m waiting for somebody.”
“Who?”
“What?”
“Who you waitin’ for?”
“Who I’m waitin’ for don’t concern you,” Travis stated as the people around them began to move out of the way.
“Everything that goes on in here is my concern. Now, who you here waitin’ for?” The man opened his jacket to be sure that Travis saw his gun.
“Okay. Unless you gonna shoot me now, you need to back the fuck up off me,” Travis warned and stood up. “I told you I got business here. Important business.”
“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” Freeze asked as he walked up.
“No,” Travis said and reclaimed his seat.
“This guy says he got business in here. Said he’s waitin’ on somebody. You want me to put him out?”
“No,” Freeze said. “I got him.”
“You don’t want me to-”
“What are you, deaf? I said I got him!” Freeze yelled. The man left angry.
Once he was gone, Freeze sat down and Travis discreetly handed him the envelope. “Sorry about that. I should have told you that they’re on edge here ’cause they got robbed a couple of weeks ago,” Freeze apologized.
“Maybe you should have. I wasn’t gonna say your name, so it was about to get ugly.”
“You could handle him. He’s a bitch,” Freeze said. “So, how did it go?”
“Everything went smooth. Cops came, but we handled them.”
“Any problems I need to know about?”
“No problems. Like I said, cops came on the scene, but we handled them.”
“Cool,” Freeze said and started to get up.
“There’s something I need to ask you.”
“What?”
“You ever heard of somebody that calls himself Chilly?”
“Yeah.”
“You know where I can find him?”
“He hangs out at a place called Rocky’s. Why?”
“Me’shelle told me that her brother used to do business with somebody named Chilly.”
“What’s her brother’s name?”