All of Jamal's feelings were crushed. He couldn't believe it. She really wasn't that upset he was with Kim. His plan failed. At that moment he got the picture that it was really over. "f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h," he rasped.

"Jamal, you're in a church," said Kim.

"G.o.d understands. He made all of you, didn't he?" Jamal asked, looking at Kim, waiting for her to say he was right.

"Come on, Jamal," she said, leading him out of the church.

Outside, Gena saw all her girlfriends. Girls from the beauty salons, girls who worked at the mall, girls she hung out with in the park, girls who were close to both her and Sahirah.

"Yo, G. What's up?" said Bridgette.

"Guess what? Jamal is here with Kim."

Bridgette took the bait. "You should have known. I never trusted that motherf.u.c.ker. b.i.t.c.h ain't nothing but a wh.o.r.e. And she don't be bulls.h.i.ttin' when it comes to your man, neither."

"I didn't know the b.i.t.c.h rolled like that," said Gena, knowing that Bridgette was just as slimy as Kim.

"Please, she f.u.c.ked Adrienne's man and then called her on the phone and told her. She said she felt bad about it and, as a friend, she had to tell Adrienne about her man. Now, you know the b.i.t.c.h is crazy 'cause the day she ring my phone with some s.h.i.t about my man is gonna be the day she get her a.s.s kicked."

"I'm not fighting over no Jamal," said Gena even though she wanted to.

Bridgette glanced across the street. "Look. Isn't that Quadir?"

Gena's heart raced, her mind scrambled and her eyes darted. "Where? I don't see him." Quadir was in his black Range Rover with the black tinted windows, which Gena had never seen. So, she turned her back, not wanting to be seen, trying to see something she didn't.

"Yo, the kid is so large it's ridiculous," said Bridgette.

Andrea walked over to where Gena and Bridgette were standing. "Yo, what's up? I'm so sorry about Sahirah," she said, giving Gena a hug.

Gena returned her embrace. "I know, I'm really torn up about it."

"Yo, I wonder what he's doing out here," said Bridgette.

"Who?" Andrea wanted to know.

"That kid Quadir, from down North Philly," said Bridgette.

"Oh G.o.d. Is he out here? Where? Girl, the motherf.u.c.ker is a millionaire," said Andrea pulling out a pocket mirror. You would have thought she had a winning Lotto ticket in the palm of her hand. Gena just stood there feeling two disappointments, one after the other. She felt so f.u.c.ked up inside. What if he was there to see another girl? What could be worse, besides her girlfriends standing there getting their panties wet over a Range Rover?

Qua pulled the jeep over and parked. Gena just stood there with her back turned from him, knowing his every move from the channel zero news reporters.

"He's walking over here," said Bridgette.

"The Lord is truly among us," said Andrea, looking at the sky happy to be near the church.

Gena was so nervous, she wanted to turn around so bad to see exactly where he was. He stepped from behind, put his hands up to her eyes and bent into her ear.

"Guess who," he said.

"I hope it's who I want it to be," she said pushing back against him.

"Who do you want it to be?" he asked, with his hands still covering her eyes.

"I want it to be Quadir."

Andrea and Bridgette just looked at each other in disbelief. Gena wanted to pull him over to the side and tell him how much she missed him, kiss him a thousand times, ask him why he hadn't called, but instead she carried on real cool and casual with the conversation. "I thought you didn't come near funerals," she said after he let her go.

"I don't, but I knew you would be here." Gena just stood there looking him up and down as if she had a serious att.i.tude about something.

"Come here," he said, as he s.n.a.t.c.hed her arm and pulled her over to the side. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, it is. You want to tell me about it?"

"Okay. For starters you acted like you didn't want to see me anymore when you dropped me off. You never called, and you left like it wasn't nothing to you. Then I come home to find that my best friend had been murdered. You have no idea how I've been feeling. I thought we had something, but I don't know where you're coming from. I thought I did, but I was wrong."

"You got the pager number," he said, cutting her off. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I couldn't find it. Besides, you said you were coming back."

"Baby, I was taking care of my business, that's all. If I was f.u.c.ked up and broke, you wouldn't want to talk to me."

"That is not true. I would too," she said.

"No, you wouldn't. Don't no woman want no broke-a.s.s man."

This was true, Gena thought to herself as she cracked a smile. "Money isn't supposed to matter."

"Yeah, well, tell that to those miners standing over there," said Qua, using his head to point at Gena's girlfriends. Gena started laughing. "Yo, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I missed you," he said.

"I missed you too." Gena went to grab him, but he grabbed her and pulled her close so he could kiss her.

The anchorwomen down the street acted like they were on CNN's payroll. The news bulletin read: Gena got it going on. Don't you wish it could be you! And they wanted more news. Bridgette started walking over to them and Quadir let Gena go. Gena saw Jamal turning the corner and speeding away as if the police were after him, looking right at her.

"Hi, Quadir," Bridgette said, in an I'm cheap-you can f.u.c.k me voice.

"Hi," he said looking at her. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"No, I don't think so," said Kim's twin.

"Do you know Black?" Gena asked, putting an end to the madness.

"Yeah, that's my man. That's where I know you from, Black. Where's he at?" Qua said.

"Oh, he's downtown," said Bridgette, gritting her teeth at Gena.

"Well, tell him to get at me."

"I will." Turning to Gena, she asked her if she needed a ride home.

"No, I'm okay." She turned to Quadir, "I'm okay, right?"

"You're better than okay. You're with me now. Come on."

"Where are we going?" she asked as he led her to his jeep.

"Anywhere you want to go, within city limits," he replied opening the door for her.

"I got something for you," she said.

"What is it?" he asked. Gena scrambled through her MCM bag, and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. Quadir unfolded the paper and began reading: Come Back Where did you come from?

Where did you go? Will you come back?

Or don't you know? Or will you get scared and keep running away? Forgetting feelings that won't go away?

You can't shake it, or fake it, these feelings inside.

If you'd just stop running, I'd be by your side.

Forever your lady, forever my man, For the rest of my life, or until the world's end I'll love you, you'll see that you can't hide And these feelings are memories of moments lost in time The sooner you realize, the better I'll be, And my love will always be here, for you, from me, G.

"Come here," he said. Pulling her next to him, their lips touched as he kissed her deeply. Gena just sat there smiling. She thrived off mad affection.

"Did you see Bridgette? Isn't she a trip? She had no idea that I was seeing you. No one did, except for Sahirah, and then I talked to Kim."

Quadir just sat there, blocking Gena out for a moment. He thought of the bright side of Sahirah's untimely death. Ra told him that Sahirah knew about Cherelle being in the Bahamas with him. He knew Sahirah was waiting to tell Gena. They should remember Sahirah as big mouth, he thought to himself as he tuned Gena back in.

"Bridgette is really a trip. She just had to come over there and try to get in your face."

"I dug her. I knew that I knew her from somewhere," said Qua.

"You know her from Black, or you might know her from the boy Rich Green."

Rich Green, Qua thought to himself. He knew he didn't like that guy. Rich Green was out to make a name for himself as a member of the Junior Mafia. He was the one who had beef with Qua's young bucks.

"She f.u.c.ks with Rich Green too?"

"Yeah, but that's supposed to be on the DL."

"I know Rich Green. Does Black know about them?"

"I don't know. Tell him."

Qua and Gena kicked names around for a long time. It seemed that for every brother Quadir named, Gena had one of her girlfriends to match with them.

"Do you know who Black's woman is?" said Qua.

"Bridgette," said Gena, looking at him.

"No. Her name is Pam," Quadir retorted. "And she is set for the rest of her life. If you ask me, Black is running game on your girlfriend. She's so busy thinking she's being sneaky and getting over when in reality she's getting played." He paused. "The sad part about it is that if Bridgette isn't careful, she will probably wind up like your girlfriend, Sahirah. That's why you're on probation."

"Why am I on probation? I haven't done anything."

"I know you, Gena. I have been watching you for a long time. I heard your name before. I saw your face and trust me, baby, the two go together well."

"Well, what did you hear about me?"

"I got the dirt on you. I had to dig deep. And you're not so trustworthy, are you?"

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"You just don't know what you're talking about." Gena hated when people talked about her.

"I know at least two brothers you messed with while you were supposed to be with Jamal," Quadir laughed.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said your conscience was bothering you and you couldn't see them anymore because of Jamal. You came off like a saint. That's why you're on probation."

"Who?"

"I'm not saying,"

"That's because you're lying. It's not true." She was so f.u.c.king convincing she should have been on television. Until he said a name.

"Dion. Remember Dion?"

Gena just couldn't believe the boy was coming at her with the dumb-a.s.s s.h.i.t. d.a.m.n, she thought, no one knew about that one. "That's different. I didn't care about him and I didn't do anything with him. I never cheat," said Gena.

"If you didn't care about him, then why'd you take his money?"

"He was throwing it at me."

"d.a.m.n, I wish a motherf.u.c.ker would just throw money at me," said Qua, making a funny face.

"How do you know about him?"

"Aha! Don't choo wanna know. I don't think so, baby doll."

Gena, headstrong, refused to be caught and continued sticking to a story she thought she had sewn up. "Well, at the time Jamal wasn't spending any time with me, but I never cheated on him," she said, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"How could the man spend time with you if he was busy making money to keep you happy, meanwhile, you're out foolin' around?" Qua said. "You should be ashamed of yourself. That's why you're on probation."

This one was different, Gena thought. He had inquired into her past, knew s.h.i.t he wasn't supposed to, and then threatened her with probation. What exactly is probation? Does it mean no money or something? What part of the game is this? Gena just couldn't figure him out. Most male creatures were simple as f.u.c.k. Quadir, however, was in a cla.s.s all by himself. He didn't just want to play. He wanted to win.