you were, I couldn’t even answer her. How hard is it to pick up your cell? Send a text? You don’t fuckin’ get up and leave for days without telling anybody! You just don’t do that!”
“I didn’t say anything because I knew you would try to talk me out of it, Tasha.”
“Kyra, you don’t know that. Your dumb ass could easily have said, ‘I’m going anyway.’ At least, then I wouldn’t be out looking for you and worried sick about you. That was so stupid of you, Kyra.”
“I know, I know.” Kyra started kissing her all over her face. “Can you forgive me? I won’t do that again.”
“Stop it, Kyra!” Tasha yelled while trying to push her away. But Kyra wouldn’t stop.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and then we all started laughing.
“So what happened? What did he say? Why did you go out there?” Tasha asked her.
“I needed some of that dick,” Kyra said nonchalantly.
“You what?” I had to be sure I’d heard her right.
“I needed some dick. Y’all forget, it’s been a long time for me.”
“You bitch! I’ma fuck your ass up!” Tasha said, laughing as she jumped out of her chair and dived on top of Kyra.
13
TRAE
You talkin’ about Mr. Li opening my eyes to a whole new level of being in the game? I’d have to call that an understatement. In five days, I’d traveled on private jets to Mexico and Texas, and in two weeks, I’d be going to Singapore. I made a mental note to cross Texas off my relocation list.
Why? Because you don’t shit where you eat, and the Li organization had the state of Texas on lock. My job was to handle any business with the organization’s black clientele. I was now the black poster child for the Li organization. Wherever there was black clientele, they had to deal with me. My job was simply to collect money. And since it appeared to be all business people, and no block niggas, everything was cut clear and dry. I was told how much I was picking up, they would turn it over, no questions asked, no excuses. And I was picking up money by the shitload.
Throughout Mexico and Houston, the Li’s owned a string of banks called the People’s Bank. What they were running through them wasn’t shared with me. I was overly anxious to find out what was happening in Singapore. They had me open.
I was assigned to a mentor named Kon Li, who I found out later was Charli’s cousin. After a few short hours, I saw how the whole situation was going to be to my advantage. One, I had Charli in my pocket. The bitch would do anything I asked. Two, Kon Li had loose lips. Three, he was fascinated with black people. The black that was portrayed in the rap industry, hood movies, and the media. Hell, he was the blackest Chinese dude I knew next to TV Johnny the Jeweler. But best believe he didn’t act or speak that way when he was around Mr. Li.
But from what I could gather, Kon was fucking up with the black people. At first, I didn’t know why. But when I saw how he thought he was Nino Brown from New Jack City, I knew that was where the trouble was. He was dealing with these black professionals as if they were niggas on the block. I saw exactly why they were replacing him.
“Dude,” Kon said through slurred speech. “I’m not stupid, you know. I can teach you a lot. I know they want you to replace me. But it’s okay. You know why? Because I will be getting a promotion. The Big boss is about to be even bigger. He’s about to fuck up the whole banking system. And I’m going to help him. We about to get paid, dawg!”
Banking system? I poured him another drink. “So, I can come to you and get a loan or get some side work or what?”
“No doubt, bro!”
“School me. What I got to do?”
“Hold up. Let me holla at that chick over there. I’ll be right back.”
We were at one Li’s private clubs in Houston. There were only two other black brothers there besides myself and they were security. Needless to say, I didn’t see Kon for the rest of the night.
The last thing that blew my mind was that the Li organization had a ritual that consisted of having your finger cut and mixing your blood with that of your assigned mentor.