“Don’t worry about me. Ramel and his uncle are as good as dead, I promise you.”
Rayshawn leaned over and kissed Jaicyn softly on the lips, the only part of her face that wasn’t bruised or swollen.
“I love you and I’m not going to let this shit happen to you.”
Jaicyn sighed. When she collapsed on her grandmother’s front porch, she knew that Rayshawn would shoot everyone on the west side until he got to Ramel. She was scared. He was going to get himself killed because of her.
“Please,” she pleaded in vain. Rayshawn shook his head slowly.
“You can’t talk me out of this, Jay-Jay. They are going to pay for this shit.”
“Then be careful,” she demanded. “If something happens to you-” her voice broke off as she pictured the worst.
“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m going to handle this. I’ll be back later, okay?”
Jaicyn nodded and Rayshawn kissed her again.
“It’s going to be alright, Jay-Jay, I promise.”
It was a promise he meant to keep. There was no way in hell Rayshawn was going to let Ramel or Mario see daylight after what they’d just done. He knew too many girls who were afraid to walk out of their apartments because of the shit some guy had done to them. Jaicyn wouldn’t be one of those girls. His girlfriend would walk down the block with nothing to be afraid of because Mario and Ramel weren’t going to be around ever again.
Before Rayshawn went looking for Ramel he knew he had to warn King of what he was about to do. Nobody in King’s camp could just go off starting gunfights and not get the okay from the boss.
Rayshawn and Little Man drove to the apartment where King was. When they arrived there was an assortment of people, including Blaque and Slim, looking like they were waiting for him. Rayshawn walked into the living room and sat down when King told him to.
“So you heard?” Rayshawn asked even though the answer was obvious.
King nodded. “Yeah, Little Man called me. How’s Jaicyn?”
Rayshawn shook his head slowly. He couldn’t speak. King noticed that Rayshawn was trying hard not to break down in front of his crew so he cleared out the room and had everyone wait in the kitchen so he and Rayshawn could talk in private.
As soon as the room was clear, Rayshawn did something he hadn’t done in years; he started to cry.
“Is she alive?” King asked. Little Man had said that she was but according to the neighborhood buzz, Jaicyn was really messed up. Things could have changed.
“She’s alive,” Rayshawn said, “but she’s all fucked up!”
“How bad?”
“They pistol whipped her, broke her ribs, dislocated her shoulder and all types of other shit. And they raped her.”
King shut his eyes. Jaicyn was well liked amongst everyone in King’s crew. The general consensus was that eventually she’d come work with them. Anyone involved would pay dearly for hurting her.
“I’m gonna kill them,” Rayshawn announced. “My girl is lying in the hospital apologizing to me for what they did! She doesn’t even look the same. You wouldn’t recognize her, King!” Rayshawn continued to vent. “I swear, I’m gonna blow that nigga’s fuckin' head off!”
King understood exactly what Rayshawn felt. He wanted Mario and Ramel dead too. Two low down men like that shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets.
“It’s going to get handled,” King said.
King had eyes and ears everywhere. The nurses at Belleview called King as soon as Jaicyn was admitted. Plus half of Washington Heights’ police department was on his payroll.
“Ramel’s already locked up. The police picked him up not long after Jaicyn’s rape kit came back.”
“So, we go after Mario. Where is he?”
King smirked. “Mario’s hiding out. He thinks his people won’t give him up.”
“They might not say shit to the police,” Rayshawn fumed, “but I bet they start talking when I start knocking them off, one by one.”
“I want you to hang back and let me handle this.”
Rayshawn looked up from the floor in surprise. He couldn’t believe that King was telling him to ‘hang back’ when it was his girl lying up in the hospital.
“No way,” Rayshawn argued. “Fuck that. I’m goin’.”
King knew that Rayshawn would buck at the idea of letting someone else handle what he considered his business. Rayshawn hadn’t come to fully understand his rank within King’s organization. On any given day King could ride past any of Rayshawn’s three corners and see him out there hustling with his crew. King admired Rayshawn’s willingness to show his crew that he was willing to get dirty and wouldn’t ask them to do anything that he wasn’t willing to do, but Rayshawn was more than just a corner boy. He had the potential to be next in line if something ever happed to King or when he decided to give up the crown.
First, they had to deal with Mario and no matter what Rayshawn was feeling at that very moment, King was pulling rank. He had a crew of shooters ready and Rayshawn Moore was not one of them.
Rayshawn felt differently. He knew that Blaque and Slim were excellent at their jobs but this was more personal than settling disputes, collecting on loans, and clearing corners. He didn’t want Blaque and Slim to spray the block and just happen to hit Mario during a drive-by. King had no intention of letting him carry out the plan that had been brewing since he saw Jaicyn lying in the hospital bed.
“Listen to me, Rayshawn,” King demanded. “This shit is fucked up on more than one level. Ramel’s dumb ass is already locked up which is going to piss his people off. He’s looking at eight to ten years minimum. Do you realize what’s going to happen to the drug game on the west side while Ramel is locked up? Taking him out of the game just made a lot of people on that side of town wonder where their next meal is going to come from.”
“Oh fuckin’ well. I don’t give a shit about them.”
“Do you realize the caliber of what I’m saying?” King yelled. “This shit is bigger than you and Jaicyn. This shit means a war between the south side and west side. I’ve been through this before so don’t take this shit lightly!”
“I’m not letting this go!” Rayshawn interrupted. “Don’t even ask me to do that shit!”
“Calm your damn nerves,” King replied. “I didn’t say shit about letting this go. But I’m talking about a war! Do you realize what that means? It means people are going to die over this shit. How many of your soldiers are you ready to see fall? How many bullets do you think that you’re strong enough to take?”
“All I want is Mario,” Rayshawn said. “I’m not trying to take over the west side. I don’t even care about that”
“It doesn’t matter what you want,” King said angrily. “It is what it is. You’re putting a lot of lives and money at risk over Jaicyn. You better be prepared to handle what’s coming.”
“I am.”
“You’re not ready,” King replied. “So tonight you’re gonna chill. Whatever you had planned, squash it. We’ll get him but it’s going to be done my way, understand?”
Rayshawn didn’t answer.
“You don’t have to answer me,” King said. “You don’t have to even understand. All you need to do is stay the fuck out off the west side until I say so. I don’t need you and your hot ass temper catching a bullet.”
“So I’m just supposed to sit back and wait?”
“Patience is a virtue, Rayshawn. Now either go home or go see your girl but stay the fuck on this side of town until I give you word.”
Rayshawn knew when he was being dismissed. For a second he thought of ignoring King’s orders, calling his crew, and making a trip to the west side. It was just a passing thought. Crossing King would mean more than just getting cussed out.
Rayshawn didn’t go home or to the hospital. Instead he walked out of the house, pondering his decision to listen to King. What would people on the streets think if he didn’t do anything right away? He couldn’t let people think that t
hey could get away with doing anything to him or his people. He couldn’t be seen as soft on the hard streets of Washington Heights. Soft ass niggas couldn’t get money. Soft niggas didn’t eat.
Even though it was after midnight Rayshawn walked aimlessly through the south side streets. He was alone but he wasn’t worried. He was pissed off and strapped. Combined with an already short fuse, Rayshawn was a dangerous combination. Besides, he didn’t believe that any of the Ricans on the west side were loco enough to come to the south side starting shit. All Rayshawn could think about as he walked was a way to take care of Mario on his own without King getting too pissed off.
Forty-five minutes later Rayshawn had circled his block about five times. At one point Dayshawn had come out of the house and tried to talk to him. He tried to talk to his brother; to get him to open up about what happened to Jaicyn and what he planned to do but Rayshawn couldn’t be consoled and wouldn’t talk about any retaliation plans.
As soon as Dayshawn gave up and went into the house, Rayshawn noticed a gray Caprice riding slowly down his street. It rolled to a stop and Rayshawn, with his hand on his gun, watched the front window roll down. He breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized Slim in the passenger seat.
“King wants you,” Slim said. “Get in the back.”
Slim and Blaque were two of the few people in King’s camp that weren’t jealous of Rayshawn. They’d been working for King for a very long time. Aside from King, they were the most respected of all the crew. They took their orders directly from the boss so if Slim or Blaque were involved, it was serious.
Rayshawn didn’t ask any questions when he got in the car for two reasons. One, shoptalk in the car was forbidden. The other reason was that Blaque and Slim wouldn’t have told him anything anyway. If an explanation was needed, then King would do the explaining.
Even as the Caprice crossed over the train tracks into the west side, Rayshawn didn’t ask any questions. The car pulled up in front of an abandoned house and Blaque cut the lights and engine. Rayshawn still didn’t utter a sound. Even when they entered the dark house and Rayshawn saw King standing in front of a man tied to a chair, Rayshawn still stayed silent.
The man in the chair was making noise and sweating profusely. His words were muffled by the piece of silver duct tape stretched across his mouth. Tears mixed with blood and sweat streamed down Mario’s face. The moonlight allowed Rayshawn to see that he’d taken a beating before and probably after he ended up in the chair.
As Rayshawn looked at Mario he felt nothing but rage and contempt. Jaicyn’s bruised face was all his eyes allowed him to see. Her whispered apology was all he heard. Everything she said drowned out the sound of Mario’s pleas for his life. The coward strapped to the chair had raped Jaicyn. Nothing else mattered.
“You wanted him,” King broke the silence. “What you gonna do?”
Without a second of hesitation Rayshawn pulled out his gun and pointed it at Mario. King, Blaque, and Slim drew their own guns. None of them actually thought Rayshawn was man enough to pull the trigger. It was the first time that he’d ever been in a position where’d he needed to. Killing a man wasn’t an easy thing to do, especially for a sixteen-year-old boy.
Rayshawn wasn’t thinking about that. He was thinking about Jaicyn. How her screams did not do a thing to stop the adult rapist from beating her and taking something that didn’t belong to him. Jaicyn deserved more than Mario and Ramel going to prison. She deserved them never being able to beat or rape anyone again.
Rayshawn cocked his .45 and watched the growing fear in Mario’s eyes. With his eyes staring straight ahead at Mario, Rayshawn pulled the trigger. The back of Mario’s head exploded. Rayshawn never even blinked.
King stepped towards Rayshawn and eased the gun out of his hand. A close range shot to the head was all it took to end the rapist’s life, but King had a feeling that Rayshawn would have emptied his whole clip into Mario’s head, an act that was reminiscent of the Italians on the north side, not King’s crew.
“Let’s go,” King ordered.
“What about the body?” Blaque asked.
“Leave it. Let his people find him.”
King led Rayshawn out of the house first. He was too calm. Blaque and Slim got in the Caprice while King and Rayshawn sat in the back.
“You did what you had to do, what you were supposed to do, Rayshawn,” King said to Rayshawn when he noticed a nervous twitch in Rayshawn’s leg.
“I know.”
“Don’t feel bad about that motherfucker,” Slim advised. “He deserved it.”
“I don’t.”
And he didn’t. All that he cared about was the type of person that he’d become in the blink of an eye. Knowing that if necessary he could take a man’s life without even flinching.
****
When Rayshawn walked into the house, he ran right into his grandfather in the kitchen. Ike immediately started cursing at Rayshawn for coming home after midnight. Rayshawn lied and said that he’d been at the hospital with Jaicyn. Ike didn’t say another word. Rayshawn continued to his bedroom.
“I saw Slim come by here earlier,” Dayshawn said, looking up from his Calculus book. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere,” Rayshawn answered. He kicked off his shoes and dropped his jeans to the floor. The pants hit the floor with a loud thud from the weight of his gun.
“What did you do?” Dayshawn closed his book. Rayshawn slid under the covers and switched off his lamp.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying,” Dayshawn insisted. “What did you do?”
“Damn Dayshawn, leave me alone. I’m tired. Either finish what you were doing or go to sleep. I’m not talking about shit!”
Dayshawn stared suspiciously at his twin. He knew he was lying but there was nothing that he could do about it. It pissed him off that Rayshawn didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth.
“What?”
“If you didn’t do anything, then you might want to clean the blood off your shoes,” Dayshawn said before closing his Calculus book and turning off the light.
Chapter 12
The next day Rayshawn skipped school and went up to the hospital to spend the day with Jaicyn. After what he’d done the night before, all Rayshawn wanted to do was be as close to her as he could. He decided to take the bus instead of riding around with Little Man. Little Man would be asking a bunch of questions about the night before. Rayshawn didn’t like answering questions. He could barely force his own mind to accept the fact that he killed a man.
What he’d done didn’t bother him as much as the fact that he could do it and do it again if he had to. He didn’t get any type of thrill from it, that’s for sure. It was just something that needed to be done and he’d done it. At least his girl wouldn’t have to worry about Mario anymore.
Jaicyn was sitting up in the bed watching The Young and the Restless when Rayshawn walked into her room. She didn’t look any better but she must have felt better because she was chatting with a nurse who was admiring the huge bouquet of yellow and pink roses sitting on the stand beside the bed.
“Hey Rayshawn,” Jaicyn said, her voice still scratchy. “Look what my father sent me.”
“They’re pretty,” Rayshawn said, bending down to kiss her. “Where’s your grandmother?”
“She just left. She had to go home and change and then she’s picking my father up from the airport. I’m so happy that he’s coming.”
Jaicyn looked happy as she explained that Juanita had called Jason while she was waiting in the ER last night. He wanted to be there with his daughter, especially when she talked to the police. Jaicyn just wanted to see her Daddy.
When the nurse left the room, Rayshawn sat down in the chair next to the bed. Jaicyn noticed the pained expression on Rayshawn’s face.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Mario’s dead,” Rayshawn stated in an eerily calm voice.
“What about Ramel?”
�
�He’s locked up. Word is that he won’t have a bail hearing until sometime next week. King’s taking care of the judge and prosecutor so he won’t see light for a minute.”
Jaicyn shut her eyes. She wanted Mario dead. She wanted Ramel dead but could deal with him being locked up. Still, there was something else that Rayshawn wasn’t telling her. She took a wild guess.
“Who did it?”
“Me,” Rayshawn answered quietly, almost unable to believe it his self. He wasn’t ashamed. He just didn’t know how Jaicyn would take the news.
Jaicyn’s eyes popped open in surprise. Why him? He had a team of shooters around him. Everyone knew that Blaque and Slim usually handled situations like that.
“Rayshawn,” Jaicyn groaned. “Why you?”
“Who else would do it? This was my problem and I needed to handle it.”
“What if you get arrested?” Jaicyn asked.
“Then King will have his lawyers get me off,” replied Rayshawn.
Honestly he hadn’t given any thought to what would happen once Mario’s body was found. He only hoped that King would come through for him when the shit actually hit the fan.
“Don’t even worry about that,” Rayshawn told Jaicyn. “I just need for you to concentrate on getting better.”
“I’ll be alright,” Jaicyn said confidently. She felt better already and she owed her peace of mind to Rayshawn.
“Baby,” she said softly, “thank you. I promise that I’ll make this up to you.”
Rayshawn leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips across Jaicyn’s.
“Don’t thank me. No one hurts you, Jay-Jay. I love you.”
Jaicyn sighed. “Do you really love me? You don’t care what they did?”
“I ain’t gonna lie, Jay-Jay but when I found out what they did, I was real fucked up about it. But I don’t blame you for it. I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re not?” Jaicyn was positive that Rayshawn would be pissed at her too. She was mad at herself. She could have fought more. She could have talked herself out of the situation before she got in the car. She didn’t have to provoke Ramel in the restaurant. Even if Rayshawn didn’t blame her, she blamed herself.
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