He had never forgiven Gomez for not doing enough to get him out of jail and out of the country after the incident with Black. "You need to be taught a lesson to not to involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you." He could still hear Gomez saying to him at the time. "Maybe jail will make a man of you," Gomez told him. He had always hated Gomez for treating him like a child. No matter what he did it would never measure up to Gomez.
In the end, Gomez did get his case heard before a sympathetic judge, got the drug charge thrown out and provided him protection, even status while he was in prison. Diego swore that he would pay him back.
If this had happened at any other time, he might have told the kidnappers to kill Gomez and hung up the phone, but not now. Now he needed Gomez alive.
Chapter Forty-two
Melinda parked her car outside of Cuisine and turned off the engine. She sat there for a moment thinking about how everything had gone wrong. How could things have gotten so fucked up? Melinda asked herself. The answer was simple, maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.
Melinda thought she had D-Train wrapped around her little finger. She felt the stinging in her cheek and knew that wasn’t true. Melinda got out of the car and went inside. I’ma make damn sure his ass pays for that.
Not much had changed at Cuisine since the last time she was there. Same band, still playing the same kind of music. Melinda thought back to all the times when she would walk in the club with Black and the band would break into The Girl from Ipanema. She wondered aloud if that was still his favorite song.
Melinda took a seat at the bar, knowing that it would be a waste of time to ask for Freeze. Everybody would just act like they never heard of him. Melinda looked around for somebody that she knew, there were a lot of new faces. The bartender came and asked her what she was drinking. "Double Black Russian."
When the bartender returned with her drink, Melinda sipped and enjoyed the show while she continued to look for somebody she knew or for Freeze to come out of the office. She looked at the door to the office and the man standing by it. Maybe she could use her charm to get him to let her back there, but she knew better. That’s when she saw a familiar face coming toward her. Melinda couldn’t remember her name, all she remembered was that she used to fuck Freeze, but she knew her face.
As the woman got closer she smiled. "Melinda?"
"Hi," Melinda said faking surprise.
"How are doin? I haven’t seen you in a long time."
"Yeah, I haven’t been here in years," Melinda said causally. "I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name."
"Alexia."
"That’s right, Alexia. I see a lot of new faces, but other than that, not much has changed."
"Well, there have been a few changes since you were here last, but you’re right, not much has changed."
"I heard Freeze is running the place now."
"He does."
"Is he here? I’d love to say hello."
"He was in the office. If he’s still here, I’ll let him know that you want to holla at him," Alexia said.
"Don’t go to any trouble. It ain’t that deep," Melinda lied.
"It’s no trouble at all," Alexia said, tired of making small talk. She couldn’t stand Melinda when she used to come to the club. Always thought she was better than everybody just cause she was fuckin’ Black. She thought as she walked off.
By the time Melinda finished her drink Alexia was back. "Come with me," she told Melinda and started walking toward the office. When they got to the door that led to the office, security handed Alexia a metal detecting wand, then he took Melinda’s purse and searched it. When they were both satisfied that Melinda wasn’t carrying a gun, Alexia escorted her to Freeze.
Alexia opened the door and showed Melinda in. There sat Freeze at what she remembered as Black’s desk. A rush of memories washed over her, and Melinda saw herself laying on that desk having the most fantastic sex. Only now there was a gun laying where she used to lay. "Hello, Freeze."
"What’s up?" Freeze tilted his head to the side. "What happened to your face? Your boy Curl do that to you?"
"It’s nothing, it’s what I got for thinking I was smart, that’s all. No big deal, Freeze."
"So what are you doin’ here? I know you didn’t come here trying to get me to do something about that. So what’s up?"
"I came here to tell you what you wanna know."
"What do I wanna know?"
"Who killed Paulleen and why."
"I’m listening."
"A guy named Paul Clay, they call him Clark Kent."
"Yeah, but he’s dead. So tell me something I don’t know. Who killed him?"
"D-Train killed him."
"Stop fuckin’ around and tell me why," Freeze demanded.
"Because he missed you and killed Paulleen instead. He wants you dead so he can get to Black. But he knew Black wouldn’t talk to him, he’d have to go through you. And besides, Black’s been busy trying to find his bitch."
"How you know about that?"
"It ain’t no secret, Black and Bobby been ridin’ all over the city lookin’ for that bitch, and they haven’t exactly been nice and quiet about it. Word gets around quick."
"So why does he want to get to Black?"
"He doesn’t think that you’re on his level so he needs Black to sit down with him, like he did with Chilly. You see, after your boy killed Chilly, D and two of his people, wanna step up to Chilly’s position in the game."
"You mean them other niggas don’t respect him."
"Yup."
"Figures. I always thought Curl was a bitch and Chilly was fuckin’ him."
Melinda had no comment.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I’m talkin’ about the man you love. But now that he slapped the shit outta your pretty ass, you come sneakin’ back here wantin’ me to do something about it."
Melinda dropped her head and said quietly, "Yes."
Freeze laughed. "That’s okay, Melinda."
"You get what you want, I get what I want. It’s business. It’s just business for personal reasons."
"Where is he?"
"I know where he’ll be in about an hour."
Nick turned the corner and drove slowly down Wanda’s block. He promised that he would call her to let her know what happened with Marshall, but decided to drop by instead. This might prove to be a bit more interesting. Nick thought as he got closer to Wanda’s house. He figured by now she had come outta that evening gown that she looked so good in, and had changed into that robe she had on the night they talked. Since he saw no lines, Nick wondered if Wanda had anything on under it. Maybe tonight he would find out.
He put the car in park and was about to get out when his cell rang. He started to ignore it, but quickly thought about the last time he ignored a call and what happened to Monika because of it. He looked at the display. It was Freeze. "What’s up?"
"I need you to ride with me," Freeze said.
"Now?"
"Yeah, now."
"Okay," Nick said and started the car. "Where are you?"
"I’m at Cuisine. Where you at?" Freeze asked. "I’ll come get you."
"No," Nick said quickly. "I’m on my way to you."
Freeze laughed. "I’ll see you when you get here."
When Nick got to Cuisine, Freeze was standing outside by his truck waiting for him. Nick got out of his car, got his bag out of the trunk and came toward Freeze, who started walking away. When Nick caught up with him, Freeze pointed to the cars parked along the street. "Pick one. Make it a four door."
Nick knew they were going to ride on somebody, the only question was who? Nick looked around and walked toward a 95 Lincoln. "What did you find out?" Nick asked.