Blink pulled up to a house that his big homey ran and instructed June to wait in the car. He was going to try to unload the bricks at a wholesale price, to make a quick profit. Blink lifted the armrest and grabbed the small baggie full of coke. He sprinkled a little between his index finger and thumb, then dipped his head and used his nose as a vacuum. He quickly threw his head back to prevent his nose from running. After a couple of seconds he closed his eyes as he felt the total euphoria.
Blink looked over at June and held up the baggie. “Here, take a bump,” he offered.
June had never done coke and had no desire to, even though he sometimes slung it in their project. However, he felt obligated to prove that he wasn’t soft. He was still embarrassed by the fact that he had frozen during the Harris robbery and wanted so badly to prove himself to Blink. So June grabbed the bag and mimicked what he saw Blink do: he poured a small snow hill between his index finger and thumb and then sniffed it up.
“Slow down, homey! Take it easy,” Blink laughed.
June threw his head back and felt an instant rush. He was in new territory. “Fuck . . .” he said under his breath as the drugs hit him like a ton of bricks.
“Yeah, nigga,” Blink said, “you tried to be superman on your first go-around. Yo ass going to be stuck. Like I told you, stay here. I’m going to run in here real quick.” He reached in the backseat and grabbed the duffle bag holding the bricks.
June watched Blink exit the car and turned up the volume of the music so that he could zone out. His rush came almost immediately, and he began to fidget and squirm. For no apparent reason, he opened the glove box. He saw a small cassette and suddenly knew what it was. What the fuck? He grabbed the tape that could put all of them in prison for life. He was supposed to destroy this, June thought as he examined it. He shook his head in disbelief and then stuck the tape in his pocket so that he could burn it later.
Blink, meanwhile, walked up to the trap spot and reached his hand through the armored guard door. He gave it a knock and seconds later a man with an emotionless stare answered.
“What’s good, Gee?” Blink said.
“What up, lil’ nigga? What you need?” the man asked, looking Blink up and down, noticing that he was fresher than usual.
Blink held up the bag and smiled. “I want to talk business.”
Gee opened the door and let Blink in. “You want to talk business, huh?” He looked at the bag with skepticism. “Let’s step in the back, lil’ homey.” Gee threw his head toward the rear of the spot.
“No doubt,” Blink said confidently, moving the toothpick around in his mouth. They made their way to the back and Blink didn’t waste any time. “I think I got something that you might be interested in, big homey.”
“Let me see what you got,” Gee said, peering down at the bag at Blink’s feet.
Blink kneeled down and began to pull out the bricks of cocaine. He stacked a couple of them on the table and smiled, feeling proud. He knew that Gee would be very interested in what he was offering. “I know you can do magic with these. I will let them go for the low too. This that grade-A shit. Make me a offer.” Blink crossed his arms and smiled.
Gee picked up one of the bricks and smiled too. Blink began to rub his hands together, knowing that he had a sell in the bag.
“Yo, where did you get these?” Gee asked as he examined the brick.
“I hit a quick lick. Nothing major. It was light work,” Blink said cockily.
“Oh yeah. Light work, huh?” Gee smiled again and nodded his head. Almost instantly, he caught Blink across the face with a right hook. Blink crumpled to the ground and held his jawbone, which felt like it had been disconnected. Gee quickly reached into the small of his back and pulled out an all-black Glock .40. He pressed it to Blink’s forehead.
“You have to be the dumbest mu’fucka of all time or have balls the size of melons. You bring me scorpion-stamped bricks? The same ones that was taken from my people’s uncle?” Gee said and whistled, signaling for his young boys in the front room to come join them. “These are our bricks, nigga! You stupid mu’fucka! . . . Take this nigga in the basement! Did he come alone?” Gee asked his henchmen.
“Nah, somebody’s in the car,” one of them answered.
“Drag his ass in too. It’s about to get real ugly. Yo, get Cass on the phone. He ain’t going to believe this shit,” Gee said, just before giving Blink a thunderous kick to the midsection, making him fold like a lawn chair.
* * *
Draya sat across from Cass as they ate brunch together. They had just shared a quick and much-needed lovemaking session. She noticed that Cass’s joy was short-lived and he had wrinkles on his forehead that weren’t going away. She could tell a lot was on his mind. She had even more on her mind and hated the fact that their relationship could be no more. Cass had no idea that this would be the last time they made love. Just as Draya was about to say something, Cass’s phone began to buzz. He wiped his hands and mouth with a napkin before picking up the cell.
“Hello?” he answered, then listened carefully and remained quiet. It was an uncomfortable silence as Cass sat there soaking in what was being told to him.
Draya peeked at him and tried to ear hustle, but she couldn’t make out what the other person was saying. The only thing she knew was that it was a man’s voice. She grew anxious and feared her cover was being blown. Draya was preparing for the worst and her palms began to sweat. Her nerves were starting to get the best of her.
After a minute of not saying anything, Cass finally spoke: “Good. I’ll see you this evening to take care of that.” He disconnected the call and a smile came over his face as he began eating again. He chuckled to himself and shook his head. Draya felt relieved. Whew, she thought, realizing that she was just being paranoid.
“What has you smiling? Musta been good news,” Draya said.
“You really want to know?” Cass asked as his smile grew even bigger.
“Of course,” she answered.
“They found the two niggas that killed my uncle.”
Draya’s heart stopped. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. “Wha . . . what?”
“Yeah, they found out who did it. Can you believe they fell right in our lap? Blew one of their brains out and the other one got away. We gon’ find him though. It’s only a matter of time. We’ll find him.”
Draya felt the urge to cry. She thought about June and hoped to God he was the one who got away. She had butterflies in her stomach and suddenly wanted to vomit. She got up and rushed to the sink, letting out a small scream as her breakfast came up. Cass swiftly got up and rubbed her back until she stopped heaving.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m talking reckless and letting you into my world. You not supposed to hear things like that.”
Draya wiped her mouth and breathed heavily. “Sorry, Cass. I have a weak stomach.”
“No, I’m sorry.” He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just need to gather myself.” She hurried to the bathroom, closed and locked the door behind her. She took out her cell and dialed June’s number. While the phone was ringing she prayed that she would hear her brother’s voice on the other end.
“Please God, please God . . . let June pick up,” Draya whispered as tears began to fall down her cheek. She got the voice mail so she hung up and tried again. Once again . . . voice mail. Draya’s whole world crumbled as she assumed the worst. She scrolled down her phone contacts and called Blink. After a couple of rings, she heard a lot of commotion and then Blink, out of breath, answered.
“They killed him! They killed June, Draya!”
Draya dropped her phone and covered her mouth as she began to cry her heart out—all while trying not to make a sound and tip-off Cass. She had just lost her only family. She had just lost her baby brother. She was broken. Karma was real and she was getting a firsthand lesson.
* * *
Blink hung up the phone and ben
t down, resting his hands on his knees. He had run almost ten blocks from Gee’s trap house. When the goons had gone to the car to retrieve June, he made a break for it out of the rear of the house and got away. He had wanted to go back for June but knew he was outgunned and outnumbered. He breathed heavily as he hit himself in the head, thinking how stupid he was to get himself in this situation. The bad move cost a young man his life. “Fuuuuck!” he yelled in the air and staggered down the street. He dipped between some houses, knowing that he had to get out the area, and quick.
* * *
Cass glanced over his shoulder, making sure Draya was still in the bathroom. He put on a coat and went outside to get some privacy—Gee was on the other end of his phone.
“I want to make a statement,” Cass instructed. “Hang his body in the middle of downtown, so everyone can see. He’s going to be our commercial to the streets. Niggas goin’ to pay for what they did to my uncle. Put a fifty thousand–dollar tag on the other kid’s head. I want him brought to me on a platter.” Even though Gee put five bullets into the back of the kid’s head, that wasn’t enough. Cass wanted the whole city to feel his wrath for what they did to his uncle. Now, his only focus was to do the other kid the same way.
That, and build his relationship with Draya. He truly believed that he had found someone special. She was helping to ease his pain and he respected that. Little did he know . . . she had created his pain.
Chapter Eight
Total pandemonium were the only words to describe the streets of Detroit. It was the most gloomy week for the city in recent memory. A well-respected OG was put to rest and days after a young man hung from a streetlight with a bullet-riddled body. The entire city was on pins and needles and the local officials were in a frenzy trying to hold everything together. The media had a field day with the murders and tried to connect the two, but no one knew the true story; no one except Blink and Draya.
Draya had to have a secret funeral that was by invite only, a closed-casket service. Only classmates of June and childhood friends could attend. Draya pleaded with the newspapers not to mention her name or those of any other relatives. She told them it was out of respect for the family, but in reality she didn’t want her cover blown, which might give her the same fate as her baby brother. Draya also asked the police to park outside the funeral, just to be safe. They agreed and posted two officers.
Draya went over the scenario again and thought about what she could have done differently. However, it was a mental exercise in futility because there was no bringing her Junebug back. She thanked the Lord for her decision to ask Mrs. Harris to pay her under the table, so there was no record of her ever being involved with the Harris family. Draya was a wreck and no amount of money could heal her pain, not even the substantial amount of drugs and dead presidents she had in the back of her rental car. She would have traded it all away to get a reset button on her life.
Draya sat in the front pew of the funeral home, puffy-eyed and sniffling, as she stared at the closed wooden casket in front of her. The funeral had been over for two hours but she hadn’t moved. She just sat there and cried and asked June to forgive her for putting the plan together that took his life. As she wept, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Someone had crept behind her without her knowing. Draya instantly went into her inner coat pocket and pulled out the small .22-caliber pistol that she had purchased that same morning at a pawnshop. She turned and pointed the gun at the man behind her and staring right back was Blink. He had on a black hood and shades, trying to be as low-key as possible.
“Yo, chill, it’s me,” he said as he snatched off his shades.
Draya, with tears running down her face, lowered her weapon and took a deep breath of relief. “Damn, Blink, you can’t sneak up on me like that.” She tucked the gun back inside her inner coat pocket. She didn’t know how to feel about Blink; she didn’t know if she should be mad at him or what. The only thing that she did know for sure was that he was the only one who understood her whole truth, and that they were in the same boat.
“I can’t even look at my man like this,” he said, peering at the casket and shaking his head in disbelief. He walked up to the casket and placed his hand on the shiny wood. He bowed his head and quietly said his last goodbye to his partner. Seeing Blink genuinely hurt slightly reduced Draya’s skepticism about his loyalty. But she didn’t know that Blink was a master manipulator and that his only thoughts at that moment were on the bricks that Draya still had. He had lost his by default to Gee and he wanted to get his hands on Draya’s so he could set up out of town and out of harm’s way. Every dope boy in Detroit was looking for him and he knew that he was on fire within the city limits.
Blink managed to squeeze a tear out, and seeing that, Draya broke down even more. She stood up and embraced him. She could feel the steel on his waist and knew that he could relate to her. She felt that someone would come and blow her brains out any second. She kept seeing flashes of her brother’s body with the bullet holes and the rope marks around his neck. Identifying his body had been the absolute hardest thing she’d ever done. Every local news channel had her brother’s name in the headline and the streets were talking. She couldn’t escape the pain anywhere she turned.
“They didn’t have to do him like that,” Draya said, resting her head on Blink’s chest.
Blink put his hand on the back of her head and stroked her hair. He had a warm feeling as he looked down at the beautiful woman. He’d always had a crush on her but she would never give him the time of day. In his demented mind, he began to imagine her naked. While she cried her eyes out and looked to him for comfort, he was thinking about having his ass in the air. Blink saw that she was vulnerable, so he went for it.
“Listen, I have to make sure you all right. We all we got. We have to get out the city,” Blink said, and put a finger under her chin so she could look into his “watery” eyes. He was laying it on thick and was going to see how far he could go. “From what I’m hearing, the old guy was the brick man and was well connected. Connections with the Mafia—and they coming for the people responsible. On top of that, his nephew put money on my head. It won’t be long before they find out June had a sister. We have . . . to . . . go,” he concluded, putting emphasis on each word.
With June gone, Draya had no solid plans and didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that she needed protection and that Blink was a shooter. She needed him, so she nodded her head in agreement.
“You still got them bricks?” Blink asked as he threw his arm around her and headed toward the rear of the church.
After they buried June, they were on the first thing smoking out of Detroit. Blink already had a place in mind.
* * *
A little over year later Blink and Draya had settled in Atlanta, Georgia. They were living in a nice, modest condo in a quiet suburban area. Blink had already grown larger than life in the Atlanta drug scene. He had taken Draya’s bricks and cut them, doubling the profit. The product was still strong, and was the best cocaine that Atlanta had seen in years. Blink quickly became the go-to guy and as his pockets grew, his street fame did as well.
The tides had turned completely. Blink had convinced Draya to move in with him temporarily in Atlanta, so he could protect her from potential retaliation. However, he had also become more than just a roommate to her. One drunken night, Blink had sexed Draya and she quickly discovered that he was gifted in the bedroom. His rugged approach and chocolate member had Draya’s nose completely open—she had never orgasmed so much in her life. But with that and her newfound weed habit, she was becoming dependent on Blink. He slowly milked her of her money to the point that even if she wanted to leave, she couldn’t because she no longer had the funds to do so. Cass was a distant memory to her at that point.
Draya stood in the bathroom one morning wearing a luxurious terry-cloth robe. She leaned into the sink and splashed water on her face. When she looked into the mirror she hated what she saw. Her left eye was blackened and sore
from the previous night’s argument with Blink. He had accused of her of cheating when she came back later than expected from a spa outing. She had taken more time than he felt fit for a pampering session and the black eye was the end result of an hour-long shouting match. And it wasn’t the first time Blink had been physically abusive to her. His anger was uncontrollable from time to time and Draya got the shit end of the stick when he lashed out.
She walked into their bedroom which had all-new furniture that she had custom ordered. She loved the condo, but hated being there. Aside from the sex, there was no love inside of that home and Draya felt trapped. She looked at the bed and saw a powder-blue Tiffany’s box with a chocolate bow neatly wrapped around it. There was a greeting card on top of it, propped up perfectly. Her name was handwritten on the front. “An I’m-sorry gift,” she said aloud as she walked over to it and opened the card. It simply read, I’m sorry, baby. I love you.
He had left earlier that morning and must have crept in to deliver the gift while she was in the shower. Draya unwrapped the bow and opened the box to take a look inside. It was the most beautiful necklace that Draya had ever seen. She picked it up and grinned as she admired it, then placed it back in the box and headed to the walk-in closet. She had all types of mink coats and red-bottom designer heels. Yet she couldn’t enjoy them because every time she saw an expensive item that Blink had purchased for her, a memory of a beating went along with it. Draya thought often about leaving, but with no savings and no connections, she was stuck. She was more unhappy than she had ever been. It seemed as if her life had stopped when her brother got brutally murdered. She tiptoed around the house and tried to stay out of the way of Blink’s sporadic mood swings. She just wanted out. For some reason, on that day Cass popped into her thoughts.
The White House Page 5
