Free Private Deceptions by Roy Glenn Page B

point in the evening, Black walked up to me at the bar and asked, "You havin’ a good time?"
    "Yeah, man, shit, havin’ a ball," I said to a very serious looking Black. I then turned my attention back one of the women that worked at the house. I began to walk off and take her upstairs to one of the rooms, when Black grabbed me by the arm.
    "Nick! Have fun, but you and Freeze don’t drink too much tonight, I got something important I want y’all to do later."
    "No problem. Drinkin’ ain’t what I got in mind right now," I replied then went on to handle my business.
    At midnight everybody got together in the main room to drink champagne and bring in the New Year. Black said a few words, and then he went and reclaimed his seat next to Bobby. About three in the morning, Wanda went around and said goodbye to everyone and Black walked her to her car. When he returned he looked at Bobby and nodded his head. Bobby got up and the two of them started goin’ around room to everybody and handed each one an envelope. After receiving it, each one quietly left the house. I called Freeze over, "Something’s about to happen," I said.
    "What you talkin’ ‘bout, Nick?"
    "Check it. Everybody’s leavin’. Either Black or Bobby hands them an envelope, and then they leave."
    "I know. Black just givin’ everybody a little somethin’, you know, breakin’ them off a little change."
    "Oh, okay, cool," I said to Freeze, but I had a feelin’ that it was more than that. He waited until Wanda was gone, which meant he planned to do something that he wanted Wanda to have no part in. Black always has been very protective of Wanda and her involvement in the business. His waiting until she was gone only meant one thing.
    After a while, almost everyone was gone. All of the women, which let me know the party was over, except Cynthia. Cynt is still the only woman that runs a house for Black. In fact, the only people left were the ones who ran houses and a few of the guy’s that ran numbers or did loan sharking.
    Jamaica walked over to the band and sent them home. He said a few words to Bobby and left with them. Once Bobby locked the door, it was on. Black got up and walked to the front of the room. "I wanted to thank everybody for comin’ out and spending the New Year with us."
    "We gonna get a bonus too, Black?" Banks yelled out.
    Black looked annoyed by the question.
    "Everybody is gonna get theirs, nigga, trust me," Bobby said.
    "I’ve known everybody in this room for a long time," Black continued. "I even like most of you. I don’t know if y’all like me or not, and to be honest, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you trust me, and that I can trust you. That’s what makes us a family; trust, loyalty, and honor."
    With that Bobby began walking around the room and continued to pass out envelopes. He stopped in front of me and Freeze and handed us our envelope. "You and Freeze go stand by Mike," Bobby whispered before moving on. We got up and walked over to where Black was standing. He motioned for us to sit down and he continued talking.
    "In order for us to continue to earn a livin’, we have all chosen to live by certain rules. Rules that were put in place to insure that we can do that. Rules that each person in this room has sworn to me that they will uphold over everything else." Black started walking around the room. "Anybody who doesn’t follow these rules puts all of us in danger. I spent a lot of time thinking about this; tryin’ to give the betrayal of these rules a name. I even went to the library and did some research on the subject."
    Even though everybody laughed, this really didn’t surprise anybody. Black going to the library, I mean. Although he basically stopped going to class when he was fifteen, Black read everything he could get his hands on.
    "The word I came up with is treason. According to the American Heritage dictionary treason means, the betrayal of ones country, by aiding the enemy. It comes