Roy Glenn - All About The Money

Simone and Diane had just returned to the table when the waitress came over and leaned down toward me. “Compliments of the gentlemen over there.” She placed the standing ice bucket with a bottle of Cristal on ice near our table. Once the waitress had filled my glass, I glanced in his direction and raised it in acknowledgment of his gesture, but he was on his way over to me.

“So, whassup?” he asked.

“You,” I said.

He looked at Simone then back at me. “You ladies mind if I join you?”

They both shook their heads.

“I was just about to use the ladies room,” Diane said as she stood, Simone followed.

“I like your style,” he said. “You know, the way you carry it.”

“Is that right?”

“So what’s up with you? I ain’t seen you here before,” he said.

“Are you a regular or something? Keeping tabs on who comes and goes?” I inquired.

“Nah, I just recognize a dime piece when I see one,” he countered.

“I understand,” I said, but I wasn’t getting a good vibe from this one. The way he was talking just didn’t fit what he was wearing.

“Would you like to dance?”

“No. I don’t dance,” I replied coldly, as Bella came back and slid in next to me. He started to say something, but I cut him off. “I don’t mean to be rude, but, I need to speak with my friend. I really appreciate the Cristal, but if you’d excuse us.”

“I really did wanna talk to you.”

“Do you have a card?”

He stood up and reached in his pocket, pulled out a solid gold cardholder and handed me one. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” he said and walked away.

Once he was gone, Bella looked at me. “He was cute. What does he do?”

I looked at his card. “Investment banker,” I told Bella. “But there’s something about him that doesn’t quite feel right. But I’ll check him out.”

By the time we left the club, I had a collection of business cards and phone numbers that I was confident would turn into money.

Since we began going to the club business had picked up, and not a moment too soon as far as I was concerned. The club had become a mandatory event, unless you had an appointment, and had been every Friday night for the last three months, but it was starting to get old. Fact of the matter was, I was getting enough referral business from our clientele that we really didn’t need to go there, but the ladies loved it. It was the one night of the week they looked forward to. At first, I thought it was because it gave them a chance to be stars. “That’s not it, Jada,” Bella corrected. “It’s because it’s the only time that we all get together and hang out.”

“Yeah,” Diane added, “just hangin’ together, you know, like we used to, shoppin’ or whatever. But we were always together.”

“Like a family, Jada. Ain’t that what you used to call us? Well, that’s what we are.”

The limo picked us up at my apartment, we made our usual entrance, and we were escorted to what had become our spot at Sensations. That night the club was packed. More packed than usual. But as packed as it was that night, our usual targets didn’t seem to be in the house. So I allowed everybody to cut loose a bit, which meant doing more dancing and drinking than usual.

We had been there an hour and a half when I decided that nothing was up for the night and Simone advanced the idea that we go to another club. “You know, see what else is out there,” she suggested.

“Yeah, I’m for that,” Diane added. “Have some fun. I ain’t got drunk and wild in a minute.”

Bella laughed. “Now you know any time you start drinkin’, you start lookin’ for a woman to seduce.”

We all laughed, but it was true. When she used to dance at Ecstasy she’d get with a woman, but only if the price was right. That was her policy until she ran up on this one client that turned her out. After that, anytime I ran up on a female client, she belonged to Diane. “Keep talkin’, Bella,” Diane threatened. “And I’ll be suckin’ on one of those fat, juicy nipples you got,” she said and playfully reached for Bella.

“Back up off me. You know I’m in it strictly for the Benjamins.”

“I am too. So for you, I’ll only charge you half price to suck on these titties.”

Just then, a commotion started not too far from us. The next thing I knew there were shots fired and everybody started running for the exit. Not wanting to get caught up in the stampede, I ushered the ladies into the VIP room.

When things quieted down, I found out from one of the security staff that a man had been shot. It seemed that his woman showed up at the club and caught him with another woman. He told me that the police were in the club, and that they wanted to ask everybody who was in or around the VIP room some questions. “Questions? What kind of questions?”

“Don’t worry, Ms. West. They wanna talk to everyone who was in the VIP room at the time. Since you were sitting right where it happened, they just want to know what you saw. No big deal,” he assured me. But I wasn’t feelin’ that at all. There was no way I wanted to talk to the cops about a murder or anything else, for that matter. I looked at the ladies. Diane was borderline drunk and Bella was just a little too easy to rattle. I knew I didn’t want them talking to the cops either.

“You need to get us outta here,” I said, digging in my purse for some money to give him.

He looked around. “Okay, okay. Let me think for a minute.”

“Well, think fast,” Simone told him and touched his face. She knew that he liked her and would do anything for her.

“I’ll make like I’m takin’ y’all to the bathroom and let you out the back door. But it would be better if you all didn’t go at once.” He grabbed Simone by the hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“No,” I said quickly. “Bella, Diane, y’all go with him. You stay with me, Simone.”

“Why?”

“Not now, Simone.”

“Okay, whatever. Whoever’s goin’, let’s go,” he said, and Diane and Bella followed him out.

Once they were gone, Simone looked at me with angry eyes. “Why you do that?”

“’Cause you are stronger than they are, Simone. If somebody gotta talk to the cops, I’d much rather it be you.”

She looked at me and then her look softened. “You’re right. Diane is drunk and Bella is just Bella. The cops start sweatin’ them, there’s no tellin’ what they might say.”

“I’m glad you understand. I need you to be a rock for me, Simone.”

“I am,” she protested.

“I know, but you gotta have faith in me and not question everything I say. Especially at times like this.”

“My bad,” Simone said to me as the cops bum-rushed the VIP room.

“When are we gonna be able to leave?” a woman asked in a whiny voice.

I didn’t say a word. The last thing I wanted to do was give the cops a reason to toss attention my way.

“We ain’t see shit; we been posted up in here all night,” this rapper I had met, but couldn’t name, offered up. They asked us a few questions, took our names, told us that they would be in touch if they needed us, and let us go.

I felt relieved that that’s all it was, but the next day I got a call from the cops. They wanted to ask me some more questions and wanted me to come down to the station. My first thought was to ignore their request, but I knew that wasn’t the answer. They would probably think I was trying to hide something and start looking at me. Not that I was worried about the murder; I didn’t see anything. But I knew how cops were. My next thought was to show up with my lawyer, but I talked to Sasha and she didn’t think that would be a good idea either. “No, Jada. You walk in with a lawyer, it would be the same as saying, ‘Look at me, coppers, I got something to hide’.”