"Yeah, I'll be out there in a minute," he said, pushing her out the door and closing it behind her. He picked up the phone and called Rasun.

"As-Salaamu Alaik.u.m."

"Alaik.u.m As-Salaam? I miss you, man. When you coming home?" Rasun was glad to hear from his hero.

"I just got here. So, what's going on? Everything safe?"

"Yeah, s.h.i.t is tight. I'm gonna meet the boy Rock tomorrow and everything else has been running real smooth. Marlon Hawkins wants you to call him. I told him you was down in South Philly."

"What else been going on?"

"Nothing. Stop worrying."

"Alright, I'm out. As-Salaamu Alaik.u.m."

"Alaik.u.m As-Salaam."

GOTTEN AND GONE.

Back in Philly, the summer heat had driven everyone outside onto the sidewalks, porches, corners, and streets. There were open fire hydrants with bursts of water spraying children. Even elderly people were outside trying to keep cool.

As usual, Rasun was pretending to be Mac Daddy in Quadir's BMW. He drove to Gena's house, figuring he would surprise Sahirah with dinner and a movie. When Sahirah came to the door, she had this stupid "I can't believe you're here without calling first" look on her face.

"What's up?" Rasun asked.

"Nothing, I was just getting ready to go out with a friend of mine," she said.

"Out? Where you going?"

"Dinner and a movie," Sahirah said as Rasun's smile faded. She looked down at him as she stood on Gena's porch steps. For a moment she remembered the night before last. It had been less than a week since she slept with him and she was already disinterested. Besides, him and Quadir were nothing but wh.o.r.es. Sahirah was infuriated at the thought of what was going on and was waiting for Gena's telephone call.

"Why does Quadir have Gena over in some Bahamas somewhere with Cherelle? I heard that b.i.t.c.h is suppose to be waiting for him to get there. How is he playing my girlfriend? Answer that."

"Well, I don't know nothing. I don't have nothing to do with it, and I don't know what your talking about," Ra said, ready to go now. "Being as though you got company and all, I'll push up on you some other time," he said.

"Mmm hmm, later," she replied as she turned her back to him and closed the door.

Rasun walked over to the BMW trying to figure where he knew the burgundy Mercedes-Benz that was parked in front of the door. He knew Sahirah had some n.i.g.g.a up in Gena's house. He felt bad 'cause he really liked her. As much as he felt like shouting, f.u.c.k you, b.i.t.c.h, he just kept it inside, knowing that she just didn't feel the same. f.u.c.k it, he finally said to himself as he turned the sound system up. There's nine women to every one man out here, he continued thinking.

Rasun drove back down to North Philly. "What's up?" he said as he pulled up on the corner of Twenty-fifth Street.

"Nothing, man. What's up?" asked Reds.

"You got the money?"

"Yeah," Reds said, pulling a knot of paper out his pocket, handing it to Rasun. "I'm almost out."

"What you got left?" Rasun asked.

"Maybe twenty," Reds said, spotting some girls walking across the street. "Hey, you in the red shorts! Can I talk to you for a minute, baby? d.a.m.n, you got it going on," he hollered loud enough for them to hear. The girls looked his way and walked toward him smiling and snickering among themselves.

"Yo, I'll be right back," Ra shouted to Reds, who wasn't paying him any mind with all that a.s.s surrounding him. Actually, he didn't even hear him.

Ra drove off in the Beemer, headed back to his mother's house, and got some more caps for Reds. When he got back, Kenny, Reds, and the whole crew were out on the Av.

"What's up?" Ra asked.

"Rich Green is what's up," Reds answered.

"Man, f.u.c.k Rich Green. I will lay that n.i.g.g.a down. He don't want none of this," said Ra tapping a nine that was by his waist side.

"Okay, we'll see what happens when the motherf.u.c.ker comes through sprayin'. Let's see what you do then," Pookey said knowing that something bad was going to happen.

Paying him no mind, Rasun looked around and asked everybody, "What's on for tonight?"

"I don't know. Wanna go to Chances?" Reds asked.

Ra heard him, but he didn't answer. He was thinking about Sahirah. He wished he was out with her, not getting ready to go to Chances with Reds.

"Yeah, we can do that," said Ra.

"I want to go," Kenny said.

"Me too," said Pookey.

"I'm going," Dontae added.

"How are all of you gonna go?" asked Ra. "Everybody can't go. Somebody has to stay out here and hold down the fort. Kenny, you and Pookey stay out here. Where's Wiz?"

"He went to take his moms a platter," Dontae said.

"Why the f.u.c.k do I got to stay out here?" Kenny demanded to know.

"Because, man, you gots to stay the f.u.c.k out here. That's why," Reds told him.

"Man, f.u.c.k you," said Kenny.

Ra didn't like this bickering. "Yo, why you drawin', Kenny? Man, you know why you got to stay out here."

"Why?"

"Because, man, you can keep track of s.h.i.t. I know that if you're out here, s.h.i.t will be cool." Ra had been learning from his mentor. It's what Quadir would have said, a.s.suaging the boy, stroking his ego. Unfortunately, Kenny wasn't trying to hear the s.h.i.t. He wanted to go to the party too.

"Where's the gat?" Kenny wanted to know, looking at Reds.

"Man, I got it."

"Well, give it up," Kenny said.

"What you need the gun for?" Reds asked.

"Man, what you need it for? You're going to a party, right?"

Reds didn't want to give up the gun. "What the f.u.c.k you need it for?"

"Man, y'all leaving me out here with Dontae and Pookey man, no offense, no defense," Kenny acknowledged, looking at them. "So, you gonna have to give the gat up."

"Ock, give Kenny the motherf.u.c.king nine, will you?" Rasun huffed, having no understanding why they was always fighting over the guns.

"That's right." Kenny had an ally in Ra. "What am I supposed to do if sucker a.s.s Rich Green comes back around here?"

But Reds wasn't satisfied. "Why I got to give him Ena? This is Quadir's. Why don't you give him yours, Rasun?" He stood tall waiting for Ra's response.

"We can stop by my moms and get Homicide; just let Kenny hold the gun. d.a.m.n," huffed Rasun, getting agitated. "You gonna be with me, you don't need a gun."

"Man, f.u.c.k that. I needs mines."

"We all need our own guns," said Pookey.

"Well, take that s.h.i.t up with Quadir when he comes back," Ra said, knowing Qua wasn't giving them no guns like that. Mentally, they couldn't handle a gun. Putting a gun in their hands with their intellect was mayhem and ma.s.s confusion, and Quadir knew it and wasn't taking any chances on bucks f.u.c.king up his game. Finally, after bickering and debating, Reds gave it up. He and Ra got in the BMW. "We'll be right back," said Rasun as he sped down the Av.

As they drove away, Reds gave Rasun a lecture, which included one hundred and one reasons why he should have never given Kenny the gun. "Man, Kenny will kill somebody with that gun," said Reds.

"He isn't gonna kill n.o.body."

"You know how he is. I don't know why you want to put a body on the gun like that. The gun was clean, the gun was Quadir's," reminded Reds.

"He ain't gonna kill n.o.body."

"Well, if Rich Green comes back around that motherf.u.c.ker, s.h.i.t is on," said Reds.

Chances was packed. People were everywhere. "Mercy me, the freaks do come out at night. They is everywhere," said Reds admiring all the skimpy outfits and the outlines of what was underneath. "Look what her a.s.s got on. d.a.m.n, baby, might as well have worn nothing, just come outside naked, dammit," he hollered across the street to some half naked girls.

"Man, leave them ho's the f.u.c.k alone and don't call them over here to us," said Rasun.

"No problem. I'm getting ready to go over there as soon as I roll this spliff."

"Man, I wouldn't want to f.u.c.k with none of them girls, man," said Ra.

"You might not want to f.u.c.k with them, but you will f.u.c.k them, so shut the f.u.c.k up," said Reds, laughing at his best friend. Ra knew Reds was right. They both got out the car. Everybody was out that night. All Quadir's people were there, who had individually reached the hundred kilo mark. Rik's boys were on the set, but Rik wasn't with them. The brothers were out. They dealt strictly with Amin, who no one ever saw much of. The boy Rick, who put Jerrell Jackson and the boy Blair on their feet, was in the house with a bottle of Dom in his right hand, and some girl's t.i.tty in his left. She didn't mind, 'cause she was half drunk too.

Quadir, Rik, Amin, Blair, Forty, and Winston were all making millions of money in the drug game. Everyone else was down with one of them. Even though the Mafia controlled the majority, it did not affect them from getting paper. It made them targets for being so large. The funny thing about it, though, was that everyone knew one another. Everyone knew who was down with one another. Females might not have known all the players, and for the most part, they didn't, but the brothers did.

Rasun saw Jerrell's Jaguar parked outside. He was probably inside trying to figure out who had more money than him. That seemed to be his main concern in life, having the most drug money. All of Gena's girlfriends were out. Finally Rasun saw Sahirah who was with Winston. That's whose burgundy Mercedes-Benz that is. The thought went through his heart like an arrow.

Trying to get past it, he decided to mess with Reds. "Yo, Reds, there goes your girl," said Ra, looking at Veronica across the street.

"Man, I can't stand that girl. She really tried to play me, and for the phone bill at that."

Veronica stopped and talked to Sahirah's old boyfriend Troy. Troy, who use to be Sahirah's man, was now seeing Val who was Jamal's girlfriend before Gena. Val was there; she had a baby by Jamal. Val loved Jamal, but not enough to be faithful, though.

One day Jamal was downtown and there was a brother in his *98 leaning to the side, riding his car with his woman, like he was the owner of both. Jamal, being the psychopath he is, kicked both their a.s.ses and put them both out of his car. When the cops came, they didn't do anything. As a matter of fact, Val was all beat up and the other guy needed st.i.tches. But the officers called it a domestic dispute, no bones broken, no harm done. They cleared the scene, and Jamal wouldn't speak to Val anymore even though Val was five months pregnant. Sis wasn't sure whose baby it was, so she followed her heart. Her heart didn't have nothing to do with it when that baby was born the spitting image of Jamal. Jamal loved his son. He truly did, but Val played him for another man and there was no way his pride would allow him to take her back.

"Is everybody out here tonight or what?" Reds asked.

"Most definitely," Ra said.

The majority of the brothers who were out had a woman at home. The funny thing about it was that even though you might be with a guy and really call him your man, you knew in the back of your mind that he wasn't your man. He was his own man first and then anybody's man for the moment. That was the bottom line. The brothers were socially acceptable wh.o.r.emongers inheriting the earth.

Gena's girlfriends all knew this, but it didn't make a difference. As long as they were spending money, nothing really made a difference. Nothing else mattered.

Inside the club, everyone was really partying. No one in the club was standing still, except the thick a.s.s bouncers. Ra paid one of them fifty dollars to let him in with his nine. You figure how many brothers had their guns on them, and how many guys paid the bouncers fifty dollars. The bouncers got paid.

Everyone was partying and having a good time. Rasun was standing near a table with Rock and his peoples.

"Yo, get with me tomorrow, same place, same time. I'll see you brothers on the outside," Rock said, ready to make his exit. "All right," they said shaking his hand good-bye.

"Yo, you ready to go?" Ra asked.

"Waitin' on you," said Reds as they both headed for the door.

Reds and Ra walked across the street to the car.

"Yo, hold up," Reds told Ra, as he saw a prospective one-night stand. He walked down the street in the opposite direction of the car over to a group of girls.

Ra spotted Winston sitting in his car, but Sahirah wasn't with him. Where was she, he wondered as he looked through the crowd of faces. Finally, he spotted her across the street standing in front of the club.

"What's up?" he asked, walking up on her.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" she asked.

He wanted to tell her that he took her personal, that he felt something for her and wanted to be with her, just her, if just for a minute or for longer than that. He wanted her time.

"So, you waiting on Winston or what?" Ra asked as they both looked across the street. Winston was sitting in his car talking to a group of girls that had flocked around his 300 CE. Sahirah knew the girls. She couldn't stand them. Neither could Gena.

"Yeah. How'd you know that?" she asked.

"His car was sitting outside Gena's door earlier so I figured it out, it wasn't too difficult," he said, shrugging his shoulders, as if it really weren't.

"Oh."

"I'm getting ready to go. You want to ride with me?" he asked, praying inside that she would say yes. Sahirah didn't know what to do. What if Winston left her for one of those girls he was talking to?

"You need to come with me, Sahirah. Don't you know about the guys you hang around? Do you understand you need to be careful out here?"

It was really crowded outside the club. Cars were riding back and forth, up and down the street. People were standing all around as if they had no place to go, while other people were walking around not really going anywhere.

"You really think I should go with you?"