Chapter 11: LaRoy

LaRoy's cell phone had been ringing incessantly for the past hour, tired of and annoyed by the sound of the ringing, he had turned his cell phone off.  He knew that would cause him to lose some business for the day, but he did not care.    Blaire would be the last customer he personally served that day, and she had better hurry the f**k up, or else she would have to go elsewhere.  She had blown his phone up trying to track him down, and he began to regret getting involved with her personally.  He could thank B-Block for that.  Somehow LaRoy found himself mixed up with Blaire because of B-Block.  She seemed cool enough.  LaRoy actually liked her spunk, and her balls, but he would never reveal this to her.  After today, he would cut her off; make her deal with his people.  Her phone call had rubbed him the wrong way. 

As he sat in his car waiting for her, he thought about just skipping out on the sale.  He would make it up later by increasing the price, or reducing the amount of product for each sale.  His s**t was always good, and at one time or another his customers would get it back when he randomly hooked them up.  LaRoy had learned very early if he gave them a few freebies here and there, he could earn the loyalty of his customers, and it kept them coming back for more.

LaRoy was not really into cheating anyone out of anything.  His product was always good, if not great, and he gave the people what was paid for.  To avoid problems, LaRoy never credited, nor did he ask for credit from anyone.  LaRoy was very serious about money, and had witnessed many disputes between friends, dealers, and family member, some which had ended very violently.  This taught him to never trust anyone when it came to money, no matter what their relation was. 

This was not to say LaRoy had never encountered troubles concerning money.  Of course, there had been times when he had to handle friends and business associates who had tried to cheat him, and these people had learned the hard way that even though LaRoy was quiet, crossing him could be very deadly.  Very rarely did he have to behave violently, but once pushed to the point of no return, LaRoy's gentle exterior would disappear, and a new unrecognizable monster would burst forward.  Sometimes after a fit of rage, LaRoy would have no recollection of what happened. 

Once, he returned to himself, to find himself in a dimly lit room standing over a business associate who tried to sell him product that was cut after LaRoy distinctly specified it was to be pure.  The business associate was rolling around on the floor and screaming "You crazy b*****d,", while clutching his right hand. 

LaRoy looked down to his own hand to find he was grasping a long machete, its bloody blade gleaming in the dimly lit room.  LaRoy's attention turned back to the man lying on the ground, he had stopped rolling around, and LaRoy noticed the man was missing his middle, ring, and pinky fingers, in its place remained the stumps that spurted rich, red blood down his hands and surrounding areas. 

"You m**********r!" the man shouted in between sobs, "You sack of s**t! I'll have you killed!"

LaRoy approached the man, and with the sharp blade of the knife, lifted the man's thin, ash blonde hair away from his sweaty forehead.

"You come here with intent to s**t me after all the years we've done business, and you threaten me?"  

"Look around, there's nobody here but you and I," LaRoy said calmly, "I didn't call you.  You called me trying to make a sale.  We've done enough transactions for you to know I don't f**k around when it comes to business.  I don't look for handouts, and I expect quality product."

"Look at my hand!" exclaimed the man, who had taken his own shirt off and wrapped it around the injured hand.

"Man, f**k your hand!" LeRoy shouted, feeling his anger attempting to grow.  He suppressed his rage, not wanting to kill the little cheat, but to make an example of him that send a clear message to anyone who was had similar ideas.

"You're lucky I didn't dismember you and throw you in the river, and it's not too late," LaRoy said,  kneeling down beside the hurt man, and looking into his eyes, "Let me make something clear to you, unlike you, I don't threaten, I fulfill promises.  I could have chopped off every one of your limbs, and saved your head for last, to make sure you feel the pain.  The only reason why I have not chopped you up like a side of beef is because I do like you, despite this s**t you just pulled,” LaRoy chuckled, then stood up.

"You can count on not getting my business any more, and after I tell your clients about this, well, let's just say, you wouldn't sell them a glass of water if they were on fire,”

"When I let you leave, keyword being 'let', I will consider our business finished," LaRoy said, motioning with the machete for the man to rise from the ground.  The man attempted to get up, stumbling before successfully rising to his feet.  His reddened face, tear streaked face, distorted from fear and anger.  He opened his mouth to say something, but LaRoy interrupted him, "Remember Baker, you brought this on yourself, because this could have been a normal transaction.  Now you better get yourself to hospital before you bleed to death,"

The man slowly backed away, clearly furious at his helplessness and lack of power.

"Oh, yea," LaRoy called once Baker had reached the door, "I'm trying to decide who would be sadder; Donna and the children about your death, or you about theirs.  If anything ever happens to me or anything that belongs to me, well, that'll be a question that would have to be answered"   

He could be a bad man when he needed to be; quite ruthless.  But he wasn’t always that way.  LaRoy had not forgotten his humble beginnings.  He had spent many nights in Aunt Evelyn's three bedroom shack when his mother would disappear for days, which later on he discovered were due to her crack binges.  By the time he started hustling, LaRoy was already aware of ugly effects of crack on its users.  It was not that LaRoy condoned their usage, but after witnessing his own mother's battle with the addictive drug, he was somewhat sympathetic to the struggle of others who abused crack.  He knew that each user had their own story of about they came be entangled with the unrelenting drug, which was why he never used the word "crack head".  The complexity of the drug was too great emotionally, mentally, and psychologically to ever be classified under one simplistic label.  This sympathy he kept to himself, being smart enough to never let anyone, especially a fiend, see this crack in his tough exterior, at the risk of being mistaken for a sucker.

LaRoy abided by his own set of rules. He never concerned himself with the business of others if it did not involve himself, therefore, he never formed a judgmental opinion about the users of his product, but he made special mental notes about each individual he associated with, from his employees to his customers.  Always two steps ahead of others, LaRoy was aware of which clients were good paying customers, and distinguished them from other problematic clients.  LaRoy had several clients that he had to teach the hard way that he could take away his generosities as quickly as he gave them.  It never failed that eventually those whom he lent lead way too would eventually run out.

The problematic clients he named, such Lou, who was named "The Complainer" due never being fully satisfied in the twenty years of dealing with LaRoy, no matter how generous LaRoy had been.  This familiar rapport between the two men was the only reason why LaRoy still took any of Lou's calls, however LaRoy was beginning to grow tired of pacifying the old, cantankerous man, especially since he had come to develop a sense of entitlement, instead of recognizing LaRoy's generosities as favors.   

LaRoy's employees were ordered to receive authorization from LaRoy himself before making a sale to "The Complainer".  A few weeks of having to buy someone else's botched product would teach "The Complainer" a thing or two about being ungrateful.  Later "The Complainer" had asked LaRoy why he was cut off, to which LaRoy did not even respond, but smiled slightly, with a knowing look, giving "The Complainer" confirmation that in all these years, he had not been fooling LaRoy with his false complaints.  With this realization came an epiphany to Lou that LaRoy had dealt with him because for whatever reason, LaRoy had liked him, not because he had been outsmarted by Lou, and now tired of Lou's games, LaRoy placed him in the category with any other user.  Their rapport was ruined, and if LaRoy decided to allow Lou to buy his product, Lou knew he could never again ask LaRoy anything other than what he paid for. 

Blaire was certainly on her way to being treated like this; after the way she haggled him over the phone about hooking her up; as if LaRoy had owed her something.  While he admired Blaire’s balls, he had no love for her using her balls on him.  LaRoy knew Blaire must have already been high to pull that s**t on him, but it evoked no sympathy from him.

Even though the drug was addictive, his clients made a conscious choice to continue using instead of getting help, and this reason allowed LaRoy to continue down his chosen career path with a clear conscience.  His employees were never to serve the parents of any other employee.  Many times, addict parents of employees would purchase goods from another employee to hide their usage from their child, which eventually would cause problems when the child discovered their co-worker had been secretly serving their parent.  LaRoy, knowing any small discord between members of his crew could turn into huge liabilities, mandated employees could only serve their own parents. 

LaRoy also forbade anyone to make sales to women who were obviously pregnant.  It was one thing to ruin your own life, but quite a horse of a different color to ruin the life of a helpless person.  LaRoy also instructed them to not taunt the women, his empathy allowing him to understand the type of hold the formidable drug had to have on a person in order to allow a mother to harm her unborn child. 

If LaRoy ever discovered that either of these rules were broken, not only would the deviator be off the team, but LaRoy would personally contact other dealers to inform them of the employee's untrustworthiness, blackballing the employee throughout a large vicinity.  This could be especially critical, if not detrimental for employees who knew no other way of life. 

He was a man about rules, and he ran a tight ship. He didn’t like to be questioned, and Blaire had fucked up with him when she decided to be a crack broker earlier.  Although she didn’t know it, Blaire’s one and only saving grace was Keitha.  LaRoy would tolerate a little bit of insolence just to glimpse Keitha.