What The Heart Wants

No public defender is going up against the District Attorney and can get us off like a paid lawyer can. I ain’t know she was going to do you dirty. I thought she would help you out just off my recommendation, but I guess she’s done with me.”

“Listen, you don’t have to explain to me why you like that cold-hearted bi*ch and whatever attachment you guys have to each other. I just wanted to know why you would send me to her knowing she don’t like black people,” Jackson laughed.

Nick raised an eyebrow. “If she’s black, how was I supposed to know that she ain’t like black people? I think she just don’t like you because you run with me. She likes Brown Sugar enough to try and keep her away from you, right? So she’s gotta feel something.”

“Whatever man,” Jackson threw a roll at him. “All I know is that Brown Sugar is my lawyer and she likes me. As hard as she stuck up for me to that Rebecca chick, I can only imagine how hard she’ll fight for me as my attorney. I wasn’t even paying her yet. Seems like that Corolla was good luck.”

“I think it’s that stupid ass Corolla that got the cops looking at us in the first place! I told you you shouldn’t have taken that car!” Nick scolded him.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get off and this will behind us soon. We need to figure out what we’re going to do about Demetri before he gets wind of what happened. We already missed his deadline. I’m surprised he ain’t reached out to me yet,” Jackson mentioned, wondering what Nick knew.

“Demetri’s cool. I spoke to him already. Actually, he’s the one paying for my lawyer,” Nick revealed matter-of-factly.

“Oh really,” Jackson cocked his head to the side. “When was you going to tell me you and Demetri are all buddy buddy?”

“Listen, don’t take this sh*t personal. Remember, I’m the one who introduced you two. He doesn’t care that you own the shop. He prefers to deal with me because he met me first. If he’d met you, he’d be dealing with you on a more personal level.” Nick sensed that his comfortability with Demetri made Jackson uneasy.

“I don’t trust that fu*k,” Jackson admitted. “Ever since we started dealing with him, cops been on us quicker and his orders keep getting bigger and bigger. I think he’s trying to set us up.”

“Relax,” Nick assured him. “Nobody’s trying to set us up. You’re just being paranoid.”

Jackson shrugged it off as he finished his meal. He refused to believe that he was being paranoid. Intuition was telling him that Demetri couldn’t be trusted. Everything was too easy with him and suddenly they get arrested and Nick’s using his lawyer. Something was going on.

Jackson parted ways with his friend after promising they would get together to have a meeting with Demetri about picking up business where they left off. Home was calling him as he desperately yearned to return to the slumber he was pulled from when the detectives knocked on his door. Walking up the steps to the brownstone, he stripped his clothes off, leaving them in a trail behind him as he made his way to the bedroom. The mattress welcomed him warmly. Sleep came shortly after.

Jackson’s phone buzzing on the nightstand was like a gnat buzzing around his ear; he just wanted it to stop. Looking at the number, he didn’t recognize it and let it go to voicemail. Sleep was his first priority and whoever was on the phone could wait until he woke up.

Paula rolled her eyes as she dialed Jackson’s number for the third time before leaving him a message. The most frustrating thing to her was when a client dodged her calls. What if it was something pertaining to the case? What if it was something that needed to be addressed immediately? How would he know if he didn’t answer the phone? So, she left a message and waited for him to call her back.