URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin Read Free Page A

the end of December and plus this was North Philly. It was almost always a breeze in the air. You’d think after living here for about 16 years that I would be used to the winter air by now, but I wasn’t. I thought the transition from New York City to here wouldn’t be that hard either, but it wasn’t easy. Everything happens in its own time.
    “Yo Jamal.” Hearing my name called made me turn around. There stood my homey Black. He was this tall, football player looking, toothy nigga. His large figure had niggas afraid of him back in high school, but people that really knew him, knew he was cool. He wasn’t no pussy though, he’d beat niggas asses on a drop of a dime if they were disrespectful. I guess that’s why him and I always got along, because in a lot of ways were alike. I was tall and athletic too. wasn’t as wide as Black, but I wasn’t skinny either. People tell me that sometimes I resemble Idris Elba, but I just laugh it off. I take it as a compliment but I don’t let it get to my head.
    “Ay what up?” We exchanged hands greeting each other. “How’s life out here?” I asked him.
    “It’s good my nigga.” He pulled out a cigarette. He offered me one but I politely shook my head to decline it. “I forget that you been off of these joints.” He put the cigarette to his mouth. “How long has it been now?”
    “Shit.” I closed my eyes trying to think back. “I started smoking when I was 16 and stopped ten years later when I was 26. So I guess it’s been three years.”
    “Oh you about to be 30?”
    “In a few months.”
    “That’s right. You becoming an old man.”
    “My nigga ain’t you like 31.” I hit him playfully and we both started laughing. “So, let's talk.”
    The mood immediately changed because he knew what I was talking about. As much as it was fun to kick it with Black we both knew that I was here for business.
    “Heard about a lick.” He told me lighting up a cigarette. I listened closely once he told me that he heard about a place that we could rob.
    “Speak on it.”
    “Have a cousin that works at this check cashing place.”
    “Ok.”
    “Said that she know they getting a lot of money because the store next to it has to move the money through there.”
    “Why?”
    “Some logistic shit going down at the store and the bank was giving them problems. She really didn’t explain but she just knows that there are going to have a lot of money there.”
    “What type of store?”
    “One of those racetrack betting places.”
    “Oh shit.” I nodded my head. “A lot of niggas like to put money on horses.”
    “You know that.”
    “So what it look like? She sound sure.”
    “My cousin is so sure.”
    “For real?”
    “You ain’t gotta worry about her Jamal. She always got her head on her shoulders. You know her.”
    “I know her.”
    “Yeah, you do.” He inhaled hard on the cigarette.
    I tried to think about what he was talking about. Black has been around a lot of females. The numbers of the females he has around him is astronomical but I can’t think of any of them that he called his cousin. But then it hit me. He used to be around this beautiful, thick, dark skin beauty all the time. I remember the first time I saw her I couldn't get my eyes off that ass. She was built like a stripper but the minute she opened her mouth, you knew you were in the presence of a genius.
    “Oh yeah, now I remember who you talking about.” I nodded. “Yeah, your cousin is real smart. Since she’s the one that said that, I definitely feel more at ease with it.” I thought about it some more. “But your cousin is not even on that hood shit, why she put you on?”
    “Because her boss been cutting her hours and harassing her. You know how they be dickheads sometimes. She was complaining about it and she just brought it up. I think she’s trying to get that payback.”
    “You know what they say about a woman scorned.” I shook my head. “That shit is no joke.”
    Black