When Black and Bobby got outside, they got in Bobby’s car. They had driven for a while and Black noticed that Bobby was uncharacteristically quiet. Since he had a lot on his mind, Black didn’t mind, but there was a question he had to know the answer to.
"What’s bothering you?"
"Nothing," Bobby replied as he drove.
"Nothing, huh? Well, let me ask you this then; what was up with you last night?"
"What you mean?"
"I mean you chopped the guy’s toes off with an ax."
Bobby laughed. "The shit worked, didn’t it?"
"That’s not the point."
"Well, what’s the point then?" Bobby asked angrily.
"I just never saw you like that before, that’s all," Black said and decided it was best to back off.
They had driven for a while in silence when Bobby looked at Black and said, "Pam wants a divorce."
"That’s what’s bothering you."
"And she’s talking about moving to South Carolina with the kids."
"That’s fucked up. What did you do this time?"
"I got home one night and the house was fucked up. I mean, shit was thrown everywhere. I looked around for the kids, but they were gone. I finally found Pam sitting in the basement. She said some woman called the house asking for me."
"Same old Bobby. Didn’t you learn shit from fuckin’ around with Cat?" Black asked referring to the last woman Bobby had an affair with.
Cat decided it was a good idea to call Pam and tell her that she had just gotten finished fucking Bobby, and he would still be there if Black hadn’t called and asked Bobby to pick him up. That forced Pam to have to deal with the situation in a way that nobody ever thought she was capable of.
After that, Pam had a nervous breakdown. When she got out of the hospital, she told Bobby that even after what he put her through, she could be a good mother to the children and a good wife to Bobby, but she couldn’t bring herself to have sex with him.
After that, they came to an understanding. Pam understood that if she wasn’t gonna give Bobby any pussy, somebody else would. "Just keep it away from me and the kids. I won’t go through what I went through again," Pam told Bobby. And that was fine with him. So it was settled. Bobby did his thing and kept it away from his family. Until now.
"Yeah, I did, but I swear, Mike, it ain’t like that this time."
"What’s her name?"
"Ivillisa Ortiz. Little Puerto Rican ho I fucked a couple of times. I don’t even know how she got my number."
"What she say to Pam?"
"Nothing; just asked to speak to me, and if she saw me to tell me that she’ll be at home waitin’ for me."
"That’s a little more than nothing, Bob. It was enough to set Pam off and make her tear up the house and ask for a divorce."
"No shit."
"What you gonna do now?" Black asked as Bobby pulled the car over.
"I don’t know," Bobby said and put the car in park.
"Your choices are simple. Either you’re gonna be what Pam wants or you’re not."
"No shit," Bobby said and started to get out of the car. "You coming?" he asked and got out of the car.
They went inside the convenience store and walked up to the young woman at the counter. "He here?" Black asked.
"He’s in the back," she said and pointed.
"Thanks," Black said and headed for the back.
"Hey, Bobby," the woman said flirtatiously.
"Hey, Debra," Bobby winked and followed Black.
"What? You fuck her too?"
"Prettiest titties I ever saw, but she couldn’t fuck her way out of a paper bag," Bobby said.
Black shook his head and opened the office door. Bobby followed him in.
"Black; Bobby," Sherman Williams said and stood up to shake hands. He had been running numbers out of that store for years. Sherman also had a reputation for keeping his mouth shut and his ears opened.
"What’s goin’ on, Sherman?" Bobby asked.
"Money. Lots of fun and lots of money. Same as every other day. What brings you two high-rollers up here?"
"You heard about Kenny?" Black asked.
"Yeah, I heard about it. Shame, too-dirty shame. Kenny was good people. Honest as far as that goes in this business."
"You heard anything about who killed him?" Bobby asked him.
"I ain’t heard shit about Kenny. But I tell you what I have been hearin’. And I can’t say that it had anything to do with Kenny, but I keep hearin’ it from a lot of people-people who know what’s up-that something big is gettin’ ready to go down around here," Sherman told Black and Bobby.
"That does us a lot of fuckin’ good," Black said. "Something’s gonna happen, something big, but you don’t know what."
"Sorry, Black, that’s all I got, but I’ll let you know if I hear anything else."
"You do that."
"Have you talked to Luke?"
"No."
"I did hear that he was with Kenny last night when it happened."
"Why didn’t you tell us that shit before?"
"Sorry," Sherman said as he watched Black and Bobby walk out.