“I said, where is the stash?” he repeated through clenched teeth. He bent down and grabbed Draya’s hair and pulled her to her feet.
“Down the hall to the right,” she whispered, covering her face. June was now running through each room looking for valuables.
All of a sudden the front door opened and in walked Mrs. Harris. She had forgotten her passport on the bed in their bedroom; her sexual rendezvous with her husband had distracted her and she’d left it behind. Mrs. Harris’s head was down as she searched inside her purse, so she didn’t notice at first that a robbery was taking place.
Draya’s heart dropped when she saw Mrs. Harris’s face. The woman gasped when she finally noticed a masked man holding Draya by the hair.
Blink, with no hesitation, squeezed his trigger. Two loud thuds erupted and a small spark emerged from the gun’s barrel. The hollow-point bullets entered Mrs. Harris’s chest, causing two maroon-colored circles to emerge on her white peacoat. Mrs. Harris collapsed to the floor and gripped her chest in pain.
“Nooooooo!” Draya yelled at the top of her lungs. She broke from Blink’s grasp and rushed to the aid of Mrs. Harris. Blood poured out of her chest and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head. “What did you do? Why! Why?” she shouted. Her hands were shaking frantically.
Mr. Harris burst inside the house in a frenzy; he had heard the gunshots from the car. He had a gun in hand from his glove compartment, but before he could even raise it, Blink fired another shot, hitting him in the thigh.
Mr. Harris went flying back and dropped the gun in the process. “Aghhh!” he screamed as he gripped his leg.
Draya’s body went numb. Everything was happening so quickly. June came running downstairs with his mask off. He had panicked and removed it after he heard the shots and commotion.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” June yelled when he saw the bloody couple on the floor.
Blink was at the point of no return and had a killer look in his eyes as he blocked out all of the yells and cries. He walked up to Mr. Harris who was on the ground grimacing. The older man looked across the room to where his gun had landed and began to crawl toward it, but he couldn’t feel his entire left leg. Blink stood over him as blood squirted out of the wound and he breathed heavily, obviously in excruciating pain.
“No, Blink. No!” Draya screamed.
She immediately realized she had said his name. The plan had now gone totally awry, and Draya knew that her life would never be the same. She watched as the helpless Mr. Harris rolled around in complete agony. She glanced down at Mrs. Harris and saw her blue eyes staring into space; her life had already left her body. When Mr. Harris flopped over to his wife, Draya stood up and put her hands over her mouth. She shook her head wildly and cried herself a river. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” is all she could utter as she watched the man weep over his dead wife.
Mr. Harris fought through the pain and focused on his wife. He ran his hand over her eyes and closed them. He kissed her and then closed his own eyes. He was bracing himself for impact. “I love you,” he whispered, and rested his head on her chest.
Blink placed the gun on the back of the man’s head and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Five
Tears streamed down Draya’s face as she tried to wipe down everything in the house that she could have possibly touched. Blink was in the storage room, retrieving the tape. Draya told him that they used the same tape and rerecorded on it daily. Also, there was no official record of them ever having employed Draya so she was trying to disconnect all ties. Meanwhile, June’s true colors emerged as he sat on the couch in a daze. He had never seen a dead body and sat frozen in fear while Draya and Blink moved around the house.
“Got it!” Blink yelled when he emerged from the back, holding a tape. “Let’s head to that painting.” He looked over at June and shook his head in disbelief. I knew that lil’ nigga didn’t have any heart, he thought, grinning at the bitch that had come out of June.
Draya brushed away her tears and knew that she had to remain calm so she wouldn’t make any more mistakes. She wanted to curse at Blink, but she would have to do that later. She had to adapt to her current situation: cover her tracks and get the money.
“Follow me,” she said, and they headed to the spacious master bedroom in back. Blink rubbed his hands together as soon as he entered the luxurious room. He went right to the dresser and noticed the extensive Rolex collection there in plain view. Mr. Harris had everything from platinum to gold bands, modest to diamond-encrusted faces. Easily half a million worth of watches. Blink grabbed a pillow and Mrs. Harris’s passport fell onto the floor. He yanked the pillow out of its case and used it as a knapsack, dumping the Rolex tray in, already thinking about where he would pawn them off.
Bingo, he thought. This is bigger than I imagined. We hit a honeypot. He glanced back at Draya who was examining the painting, trying to pry it open. For some reason it wouldn’t budge; it seemed to be bolted to the wall.
“What’s the problem?” Blink asked. He walked over to the painting and studied it closely. It was a nude oil painting of Mrs. Harris. Blink inspected every curve and color, and finally saw something . . . an inconsistency. On one of Mrs. Harris’s nipples, the texture looked different. He touched the spot and instantly knew it was a hidden button. He pressed it hard and voilà . . . the painting swung open like a door, exposing an open vault behind it. Blink winked at Draya; in front of him appeared every dope boy’s dream. His knees began to buckle. The safe was about a foot deep and full of both money and bricks of cocaine. “What the fuck?”
Although Draya was still shaken by the murders that had just taken place, the sight of all the money and drugs changed the game.
Blink’s dick started to get hard all over again as he pulled out one of the cocaine bricks and studied it. There was a stamp of a scorpion front and center. He had just hit the jackpot. “Let’s load up!” he announced with a smile.
* * *
Draya, June, and Blink sat at the kitchen table and looked on in awe. They had been there for six hours and had counted the money three times. It was exactly $330,000 and fifty bricks of raw, unadulterated cocaine. Blink knew that this grade of dope could go for $30,000 per brick on the street. That totalled up to another $1.5 million.
“I still can’t believe you did that crazy shit,” Draya said in disgust.
Blink was unfazed. He had just come up and wasn’t worried about what he’d done to achieve it. “Look, Draya, are we going to talk about old shit or talk about splitting this money up?” He put his hand on top of one of the scorpion-stamped bricks.
Draya simply shook her head. “Okay, we’ve got $330,000 here. That’s . . .” She pushed a hundred-dollar stack toward Blink, pulled a stack toward herself, and scooted one over to June. “A hundred thousand apiece. It’s thirty left—that’s mine. The bricks . . . You and I can split those,” she said without hesitation.
“Yo, that’s not even,” Blink frowned.
“Well, it was my lick—my rules,” Draya replied.
Blink nodded his head, not wanting to complain. After all, she was forgetting about the Rolexes he had in the pillowcase.
“What about me? What about my bricks?” June asked, pouting.
“Your bricks? Nigga, you going to school. You are done with the streets. Matter of fact . . .” Draya reached into his pile and grabbed a stack of bills. “This is for your school tuition. I’ll hold onto this for you.” She was taking full control and wasn’t trying to hear any suggestions from either of the two youngsters before her.
“You shouldn’t be getting shit the way you bitched up in there,” Blink said, smiling as he began dumping his portion of the bricks and money into a black garbage bag that sat at his feet.
“Don’t do that.” Draya shot a menacing look over at Blink.
“Whatever,” Blink said before standing up, and rubbed his hands together. He was ready to leave; he had a lot of things planned. He grabbed the
bag and grunted while picking it up, then headed toward the door, leaving Draya and her brother alone at the table.
“Yo, Blink,” Draya said just before he reached the door.
“Yeah?” Blink played with the toothpick in his mouth, switching it from side to side with his tongue.
“Stay away from June. This is the last time we should see each other.”
Blink chuckled and nodded his head in agreement as he opened the door and exited the apartment. As soon as he was gone, Draya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She put her hand on her chest and exhaled. She had been very worried that Blink was going to put a bullet in her and June’s heads and take the money all for himself. She glanced at June, who was smiling while recounting his share.
“Lock that door,” Draya instructed. June jumped up and did as she asked. He was smiling so hard that Draya realized he didn’t really understand what they had just done. Murder was a serious crime and they had killed a very important man. She had never known Mr. Harris was in the drug business—and that’s what scared her most. Somebody would come looking for their product.
“You don’t get it, do you, Julian?” she said, calling him by his government name. “You don’t even realize what’s going on, do you? We aren’t going to do anything! We are going to live our lives like we have been. You are going to college this summer and we are going to forget this ever happened. You hear me?” Draya pointed her finger at her brother.
He had never seen his sister so angry, so he conceded and nodded his head.
“We are going to lay low and get you ready for college just like Mom and Dad wanted. After that, we will never see this city again. But we have to get away from this apartment. It’s too hot. We’re sitting ducks. Blink doesn’t have any sense, and honestly, I do not trust him.” Draya had a plan and she was going to stick to it.
Chapter Six
Draya had a lot on her mind as she wiped down a table at the diner. She was on the last hour of her graveyard shift and was on pins and needles. Although she had a lot of money and tons of drugs, she didn’t want to do anything differently. She thought at any minute police would come rushing in and arrest her for murder. It had been two days and there wasn’t a second that went by that she didn’t think about it. Draya had put her brother and herself in downtown Detroit; they were staying at the MGM Grand hotel to lay low. She couldn’t wait until the school year was over so June would graduate and go to college. She had convinced him to take summer classes so he could leave immediately. His graduation was one month away. Just one month, she whispered to herself as she cleared the dishes from an empty table. She was planning on leaving the city, the diner, and her past life forever.
Just as she completed the thought, in walked Cass. Instantly, a wave of guilt came over Draya. He had been texting her, but there had been so much going on that she hadn’t responded to him. Now, however, she thought about their passionate night up north and her spirits lifted. He sat down in the same area he did every time he came in. Draya put the dishes away and headed toward Cass. She grabbed her pad out of her apron and approached him with a smile.
“Hey, handsome,” she greeted.
“Hey, beautiful,” he replied with a half smile before looking away.
Draya noticed the difference in his demeanor. She also noticed it wasn’t around the first of the month, the usual time he came into town. “Ay, what are you doing here anyway? I usually don’t see you in town this time of month.”
“I’ve been trying to call you,” Cass said calmly.
“Yeah, things have been crazy for me lately. I came down with a little cold over the last couple days. I’m fine now, though.” She was starting to get butterflies in her stomach—she wasn’t a good liar and hoped he didn’t notice.
“Oh, okay. I’m glad you doing better.” He pulled out his phone and checked for text messages. “Just give me the regular.”
“No problem, sweetie,” Draya said and placed her hand on the nape of his neck. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m cool. Just going through some shit right now.” He finally looked up at her with his dreamy eyes. “Can we talk?” He placed his hand on top of hers.
“Sure, I’m off in about thirty minutes,” she replied, glancing down at her watch.
* * *
Draya and Cass sat silently in his truck outside of the diner. It was an awkward silence and Draya wondered what was going on with him.
“My uncle got murdered the other day,” he started. “They went in and killed him and his wife before robbing him. That man meant the world to me. He was the only family I had.” A single tear crept down his cheek. He stared forward as he clenched his teeth and the muscles flexed along his jawline.
Draya’s heart dropped and it seemed as if all of her blood had escaped her face. She waited for a reaction, but got none. Her knees began to tremble and she quickly placed her hands on them to stop them. “Oh my God, Cass, are you okay? Who would do something like that?” Her voice was shaky and she was scared to death. Did he know it was because of her? That’s the uncle he was always coming to see? Draya couldn’t believe the odds of this happening.
“We don’t know who did it. Nobody has a clue. Unc moved so careful. He was so low-key. I don’t know who would do something like this. He was a good man. A damn good man.”
“Oh my goodness. Baby, I’m so sorry. I’m here for you,” Draya said, trying to comfort and read Cass.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just have to get ready for the funeral this weekend. I need to get away or I’ma go crazy. Let’s get away for a couple nights. Let’s go back up north,” Cass suggested, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
“Of course I will, baby,” Draya said, not knowing what else to say. Then she began to wonder if Cass was playing possum and knew that she had been the mastermind behind the whole setup. What the fuck! What did I get myself into? I cannot believe this shit is happening. I have to remain calm. I can’t act differently in the slightest. She had already made up her mind that this would be her last time with Cass. It was too close . . . too dangerous.
* * *
Draya looked over at Cass who was sleeping next to her. They had talked all night at the cabin and he’d told her great stories about his uncle—they had been closer than close. He had explained to her that his uncle had been a retired drug kingpin and only did business to keep Cass’s own operation alive. Cass felt the robbery was all his fault and was taking it real hard. Every time he mentioned how good and noble his uncle had been, it was like a sharp dagger straight to Draya’s heart.
Cass had really opened up to her and she could tell that she had gained his trust. He also talked about retaliation, and Draya tried to squeeze as much information out of him as she could to see if he had any leads. But he had none.
Draya slipped out of the bed, grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand, and stepped into the living room. She dialed her brother to check up on him. She had decided that when she returned home, she would pack their shit up and leave town right away. Things were getting too crazy and too close to home. Maybe Atlanta for a while, she thought. She had some high school friends who had moved down there.
“Hello,” June said as he browsed jewelry at a local jeweler.
“Hey, what going on?”
“Oh, nothing. Just at the library,” he lied, as the jeweler handed him a heavy gold rope. He slipped it around his neck and looked at himself in a mirror the jeweler held up and smiled, all while holding the phone to his ear.
“Okay. Well, we might leave quicker than planned. We need to get out of this city for a while,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone.
“Yeah, okay. Whatever you want to do, sis,” June said, not really paying attention to what she was saying.
“Okay. Keep a low profile and please stay away from Blink.”
“I got you, sis,” June responded, pulling out a wad of money to pay for his new piece. “Listen, I gotta go. Talk to you later, sis. Lo
ve you.”
June hung up and looked at Blink who was also getting a necklace and slapped hands with him. They were about to shine and wanted the whole city to see.
“I love you too,” Draya said, not realizing the call was already over.
“Good morning,” Cass greeted from the doorway, startling Draya. His naked ripped body was a work of art. His half-erect penis was on full display.
“Hey you,” she responded, and tucked her phone in her bra. Draya was nervous but quickly calmed down when he gave her a warm smile. Her eyes drifted down and she liked what she saw. She loved the way Cass was so comfortable with his body and didn’t mind being completely naked in front of her. Even when his thick penis was half hard it was a sight to behold. Draya walked over to him, stood on her tiptoes, and gave him a kiss.
“Thanks,” Cass said.
“For what?”
“For being here with me. I really needed you and you were there. I appreciate you.” Draya could still see the pain in his eyes. She so badly wished she could reverse time and just erase what she had done. However, she knew there was no possible way to do that. Sadness overcame her when she remembered that after this brief trip, she could never see Cass again. She had finally met a guy who she was feeling and she couldn’t have him. They were two peas in a pod, battling their own dilemmas—ironically, from the same unfortunate event.
Chapter Seven
Blink and June cruised through the city streets in a brand-new Beemer, fresh off the lot. Blink had just copped the black-on-black joint with white seats. He was feeling like an overnight celebrity and was glad to finally be in a position of power. He ended up pawning the watches for $50,000 even—only a fraction of their real value—and still had his share of the bricks from the robbery. He knew exactly where to unload them and headed to the trap spot to give his big homey an offer he couldn’t refuse. Blink was high off life plus a gram of the powder that he had taken from one of the bricks—it was the purest coke he had ever sniffed. He had on a fresh leather Pelle Pelle and wood-grain-and-gold Cartier glasses on his face, with a wooden toothpick dangling from his mouth. A freshly lined haircut and a pocketful of money made him feel like Tony Montana. He glanced over at June who was admiring his own gold chain and bobbing his head to the music blasting from the speakers. June was loving the attention they got in the mall earlier and the feeling of money in his pocket. He was definitely catching the vapors.
The White House Page 4
