Free Criminal Minded by Tracy Brown Page A

my father wanted for me. You’re the one I want for myself.” She kissed me again, knocked on the partition, and said to the driver, “We’re ready.”
    When we emerged from the limo, all eyes were on us. Not only was our ride the flyest one in the lot, but Lucky made all the other girls look like losers in a beauty pageant. Most of the chicks were blondes, wearing tons of makeup and looking like Barbie dolls. Their dates looked like a bunch of Kens.
    To my surprise, there were quite a few sistahs in the crowd. I recognized two of them as Lucky’s friends, and most of the others seemed like they didn’t know they were black. Two even had white dates. Lucky looked better than all of them.
    Lucky greeted her two friends, Veronica and Audrey, and their dates. I recognized Veronica’s date—this guy from the Stapleton projects they called Born. Veronica introduced him as “Jeffrey” so I looked at him again to confirm his identity. He gave me a look that told me that Veronica had no idea that he was one of Zion’s workers. I guess he was “Jeffrey” around Veronica and Born in the streets. I nodded my understanding, and our silent conversation went undetected. We all proceeded inside the Country Club.
    All the ladies at our table stood out. Veronica and Audrey looked nice, although Lucky was still the number-one stunna! I remembered Audrey was the loud mouth from the sneaker store the day I met Lucky. Guys don’t like for their girlfriends to hang around with hoes, flirts, or loudmouths. Those are the three types that no man wants his girlfriend around. Audrey fell into that last category, and I would keep an eye on her.

    When Jodeci’s “Come and Talk to Me” came on, I steered her away from her chatty friends and onto the dance floor. We danced well together and I was glad I came. As we swayed back and forth to the beat, we had the attention of everyone in the room. I didn’t know that white people listened to R&B, but they sure liked that song. It turned out to be a pretty nice party. They robbed my baby, and named some Irish girl as prom queen. But Lucky didn’t seem to mind. She was happy just having fun with me, and that made me feel good.
    By 10:00, I was ready to go. Lucky’s friends tried to persuade her to go with the rest of the senior class to the Jersey Shore for an after party at some boy’s summerhouse. But me and Born were trying to get some ass that night. The last place we wanted to go was to some whack-ass party.
    Audrey and her stiff date George went with the rest of the class. We said good-bye to them and prepared to go do our own thing. Born was taking Veronica to a hotel in New Jersey. I had plans of my own for Lucky.
    While her and Veronica had “girl talk,” I conspired with the driver. When the ladies said their good-byes, we got inside the limo.
    “Where do you wanna go, Lamin?” Lucky asked, clueless about my plans. The driver pulled away from the Country Club and onto the expressway, headed for the Verrazano Bridge. Lucky smiled. “Where are we going? To your house?” I guess she thought she knew where my mind was at. She was only half right.
    “Nah,” I told her. “Tonight is special. So I’ma take you someplace special.” I kissed her pretty lips to stop her questioning. By the time we came up for air, the limo was rolling through the bright lights and busy streets of Manhattan.
    Lucky was surprised. “Where are we going, Lamin?” She was smiling, but I could tell the suspense was killing her.
    I put my finger to her lips. “Shhh,” I said. “Trust me, Laila.” It was one of the few times I had called her by her real name. She smiled, letting me know that she noticed.

    “I trust you, Lamin.”
    I held her in my arms, both of us sipping Cristal and enjoying the breeze blowing through the sunroof. Within minutes, the driver pulled up at Pier 86 in midtown Manhattan. Lucky looked like she had no idea what to expect. I explained. “I got a business associate who