The young man continued making his way in their direction. As the lights flickered, his chocolate skin seemed to melt in and out of the crowd. In the dim club you couldn’t tell where his black silk Armani shirt ended and his skin began. With a hungry glare and a confident smile, he brushed his way over to where the girls were standing. When he had made it to their little clearing, Crazy Eight stepped in front of him.

“Ladies, what it is?” Eight said, tugging the collar of his JCPenney’s suit.

“Oh, hell nah!” Rhonda threw her hands up.

“Crazy Eight, get your ass out the way.” Reese shoved him.

He caught his balance and looked down at the girl. “What the hell is wrong with you? Didn’t your mama ever tell you not to lay hands on a pimp?”

“So you’re a pimp now?” Billy asked, already knowing that Crazy Eight was full of shit.

“I’ve been pimping since I was ten. My daddy was a pimp and my mama was a ho. Get it right.”

Rhonda dipped her hand into her bra and took a step toward the man. “Eight, if you don’t get your ass away from over here, you’re gonna be a sorry yellow nigga.”

Eight, not wanting to call her bluff, made his exit. “I ain’t wanna be over here anyway, you hos ain’t got no class,” Eight called over his shoulder.

When Rhonda finally managed to get rid of Eight, she looked back in the direction that the stranger had been approaching from, but to her disappointment he was gone. She scanned the crowd frantically, but couldn’t locate him. When she turned back around to express her displeasure to her crew, her stomach sank. The stranger had reappeared and was breathing heavily on Billy.

Jah moved swiftly around the corner, keeping his head low and his hands in the pockets of the light leather jacket he was wearing. Spooky was supposed to roll to the club with him, but had gotten caught up with some baby mama drama at the last minute. That was one of the many reasons that Jah was happy he didn’t have any kids. The new chain he had bought swung heavily around his neck every time he took a step. A few chicks sized him up, but he wasn’t trying to stop and kick game. The last thing he wanted was to be caught slipping on a dark-ass street. Once he was safely inside the club, he could really get his swerve on. When Jah got to the front of the club, he was immediately spotted by Bear. The bouncer gave him a distrustful glare and mumbled something under his breath. Jah gave one last look around and approached the club.

“’Sup, shorty?” Bear said, looking down at the much-shorter Jah.