The girls jumped out of the car, practically stepping on Little Man’s head as they climbed over him to get out.
Rayshawn and Jaicyn were both surprised how quickly Rickie and Bobbie had taken to the people in Rayshawn’s crew. Prior to going to live with the Blairs, Rayshawn had kept his crew away from Rickie and Bobbie as much as he could. Not because he was afraid something would happen to the little girls but because he didn’t feel like answering their questions like “who is he?” and “why is he always around?” Now that he and Jaicyn were raising the girls it was harder to keep them away so they were used to seeing King and Sandy.
When the girls scurried over to Sandy, Rayshawn and Little Man walked through the building towards King’s back office.
“What’s up King,” Rayshawn greeted his boss and mentor. Every time the two saw each other they greeted each other with a hug, like father and son, not business associates. From the way that King treated Rayshawn, he might as well have said “What’s up, Pops.”
“How are things in the Park,” King asked.
“It’s good,” Rayshawn answered.
“No problems?” King asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nothing I can’t take care of,” Rayshawn answered. No need to bring up another complaint about Jaicyn.
“What’s up with Sabrina?” King questioned.
“I don’t know yet,” Rayshawn had to admit. “Sonya says that she went out of town with some broad.”
“You gotta get a better line on that bitch,” King advised. “She’s too important to be running off on a whim.”
“I’m going to handle it,” Rayshawn answered. “In the meantime, Jaicyn’s pulling double duty.”
King nodded. “That’s what’s up. She can handle it. I called you two down here for another reason. I have good news.”
“What’s up?” Little Man leaned forward in his chair. He didn’t usually have much to say during these meetings with King. They were usually just for Rayshawn’s benefit. His interest was spiked.
“What’s going on?” Rayshawn added.
“We’re expanding,” King announced.
“We’re taking over the east side?”
Rayshawn was surprised. King had never expressed any interest in setting up shop on the east side with the Jamaicans and Haitians. They were a self destructive bunch that would eventually take care of themselves. It seemed more feasible to take over the west side. They were disorganized since Ramel was locked up.
“No, not the east side or the west side for that matter,” King explained. “We’ve gotten about all we’re going to get out of Washington Heights. I’m talking about going south. I’ve been scoping out the scene in Atlanta. It’s an open air market down there. Everybody’s doing their own thing with no real organization. We could go down there and make a killing!”
“That’s what I heard too,” Little Man chimed in.
“If you two are down there doing what you do here, it’ll make shit a lot easier to expand outward.”
“You want us to go out of town?” Rayshawn questioned.
King nodded. “That’s the plan. We’ll start in Atlanta and work from there. I figure it’ll take time to build a solid organization down there. Then we can set up somewhere else.”
“What about the connect?” Little Man asked.
“Let me worry about that,” King said. “It will take about six months to set up and then you two will stay in Atlanta until I get a new crew down there. And I’ll be setting up in another city.”
“There are some places we need to stay away from,” King continued, “but the south is where it’s at. Virginia, Atlanta, North Carolina; we definitely need to have a presence down there,” King said excitedly.
“I know I’ve been saying we need to expand,” Rayshawn said, “but I was talking about here. Ain’t this kind of sudden? I mean, I can’t just up and go to Atlanta.”
King had expected Rayshawn to be the voice of opposition. He knew that he was asking Rayshawn to do a lot by handing over the reigns to his crew to someone else and leaving his girlfriend and the girls.
King dismissed Little Man so he could talk to Rayshawn alone.
‘What’s the real problem?” King asked. “I told you not to get content with the Park. I told you that I had bigger plans for you. Now you actin’ scared. What’s up?”
King intimidated a lot of people, sometimes even Rayshawn. He was the only father figure that Rayshawn had. How do you tell your father that you don’t want to do something without coming off as disrespectful and ungrateful?
“I remember what you said,” explained Rayshawn, “but things are different now. My situation has changed. You know that.”
“You and I both know that Jay-Jay is good. She can handle things without you for a few months.”
“What about my people in the Park? Who’s gonna take care of them while I’m jumping from city to city with you?”
“You have a solid crew down in the Park. Find someone else to replace Sabrina and I suggest you let Jaicyn run it.”
Rayshawn burst out laughing at the idea of Jaicyn doing his job. He wouldn’t dare give her that much power.
“Hell no,” Rayshawn laughed. “She’s already feeling herself way too much. I’m not about to hand over the Park to her.”
“Why not? She’s definitely capable of running the show,” King replied. “You’ve taught her everything she knows.”
“Exactly! Jay-Jay already thinks she’s the boss,” Rayshawn shouted. “If I give her the Park, I’ll never get it back.”
Jaicyn was the type of person who relished power even more than money. She would love being the boss. Putting her in that position would be risky but it had its advantages too. She’d make sure that King’s money was always right, nor would she let anyone do anything that would tarnish King’s reputation.
“Jaicyn wouldn’t do you like that and you know it,” King said. “Talk to her. Lay it all out on the table. Let her know what the deal is and that’s it’s only temporary. She’ll be cool.”
Rayshawn didn’t think so but he’d been wrong about Jaicyn before.
“I’ll talk to her,” Rayshawn agreed, “but I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
“It’ll be fine,” King assured him. “Do it tonight. We leave in three days.”
****
From the moment that Jaicyn walked through the door of their apartment Rayshawn knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy night. She still was pissed, even though he had cooked dinner for her, especially since it was past Rickie and Bobbie’s bedtime when she’d finally made it home. Rayshawn decided to break the news after she ate. He wasn’t in the mood to dodge flying plates and glasses. While she was eating in front of the television and not speaking to him, he ran her a bath and lit her favorite candles. He had some serious sucking up to do.
“What are you up to?” Jaicyn asked suspiciously when she came upstairs.
She was still angry at his disrespectful way of bossing her around and then leaving her in the stash house to cook, vial, and bag fifty thousand dollars worth of crack and heroine. As soon as he left she called Joy and Taylor and had them help her, for a small fee of course. What could have been a four hour job was cut in half and the girls went to the mall and out to eat when they finished.
When he found out what she’d done, and she had every intention of him finding out, Rayshawn was going to be pissed. It was a violation bring outsiders anywhere near his dope. Jaicyn wasn’t thinking about his rules. She was thinking about a way to get even. Rayshawn and his rules could kiss her ass. If she hadn’t called her friends, she’d probably still be at the stash house, while he was chillin’ at the crib.
“I’m not up to anything,” Rayshawn answered. All night he’d been waiting for her to go off about what had happened earlier. He hated when she held stuff in because she used it as ammo later.
“Then why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?” Jaicyn asked, stepping out of her jean skirt and
tossing it into the hamper. “You haven’t been nice to me in days. What’s changed?”
“I can’t do something nice for you?” Rayshawn asked. “Come on,” he urged, “let’s get in the tub.”
Jaicyn wanted to stay mad at Rayshawn but the relaxing smell of her jasmine and vanilla aromatherapy candles and bubble bath was enough to melt away her anger as she slid into the tub with Rayshawn. Sitting between her man’s legs with her back against Rayshawn’s chest, Jaicyn sighed.
“Did you ever think it would be like this?” she asked Rayshawn.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean us living in a nice apartment in a neighborhood where the girls can play outside and we can look outside and not see any crackheads scurrying down the street.
Rayshawn laughed. “It’s cool here but don’t get too content with this place. We’re going to have something much bigger and nicer real soon. I’m talking about a house in the suburbs near King with a yard and a pool where the girls can go to private school and maybe even college.”
Jaicyn smiled. She thought of the same things all of the time. Her little sisters were going to have the life that they deserved to have. Jaicyn didn’t care if she had work three jobs and sell drugs to make sure it happened.
“I didn’t know you thought about stuff like that.”
“Yeah, I do all the time. You know my plan.”
“Do you ever feel like Rickie and Bobbie are our kids?” Jaicyn wanted to know.
The thought that had been nagging at her for a minute. If Rayshawn felt like he already had two kids, he might not want any more. Jaicyn wanted kids of her own. She wanted to get married and have a different life.
“No, I don’t feel like that,” Rayshawn said, shaking his head.
“Sometimes I do,” Jaicyn confessed.
“Well don’t, because when the time’s right I’m going to make a true Puerto Rican woman out of you and have you poppin’ out babies every year.”
Jaicyn burst out laughing but inside she was thrilled. Once they were married then she couldn’t wait to have his baby. Juanita was already pressuring her.
“We’re going to need lots of money for that to happen,” Jaicyn said.
“Yeah, I know.”
Jaicyn had just opened the door for Rayshawn to tell her about King’s decision to expand.
“I have to tell you something,” Rayshawn said softly as he sponged water down Jaicyn’s back.
“I knew something was up,” Jaicyn said. “What is it?”
“We’re expanding. Me, King, and Little Man have to go to Atlanta for awhile.”
“How long is awhile?” Jaicyn demanded.
She’d suspected something like this was about to go down because King had been making a lot of trips out of state. Jaicyn talked to Sandy every day and they both figured he was thinking about branching out. If King was making moves then he was taking Rayshawn with him.
“King said about six months.”
“Damn,” Jaicyn sighed. “What’s going to happen to the Park?”
“Well, that’s up to you,” Rayshawn answered. “King can get someone else to take over until I get back, like Marcello from 129th Street, or you can do it. The choice is yours.”
Jaicyn spun around to face Rayshawn, sloshing water all over the bathroom floor.
“You want me to run the Park? While you’re gone I’m going to be the boss?”
The louder Jaicyn said it, the more excited she became. She could do it. She could control the crew. It wouldn’t be hard.
She was going to be the boss!
“If that’s what you want,” Rayshawn answered, knowing that she wasn’t going to say no. He hoped he was making that right decision.
“Hell yeah I want it! I’m so ready for this. I can do this,” Jaicyn said excitedly.
“It’s only for six months,” Rayshawn reiterated. “I am coming back.
Jaicyn knew why Rayshawn didn’t sound happy about his news. She wrapped her arms around Rayshawn’s neck and looked into his eyes. She didn’t like what she saw. Confusion wasn’t a good look for Rayshawn Moore. He was always confident in his decisions, whether wrong or right. This time he didn’t look so sure.
“Let me tell you something, Papi,” Jaicyn said softly, staring into Rayshawn’s dark eyes. “I’ll only do this if you believe in your heart that this is the best decision for us. If you’re not sure that you want to give me this type of responsibility then just say so.”
“It’s not that, Jay-Jay,” Rayshawn tried to explain. “My job is dangerous.”
“That’s not it,” Jaicyn said. “I know what it is and I have one question for you. Do you trust me?”
“Jaicyn-”
“Do you trust me,” Jaicyn repeated.
Rayshawn nodded. “You are the only person I completely trust.”
“Then you know I can do the job and I can do it well. You know that I’ll run the crew just like you would. You know that I would never even consider taking over something that you worked so hard to build.”
Rayshawn put his arms around his girlfriend and held her up against him.
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you. These niggas out here will try you and I’ll have to kill somebody for fucking with you.”
Jaicyn wriggled free and stood up in the tub. She wrapped a towel around her.
“That’s the last thing you need to worry about,” Jaicyn said, stepping out of the tub. “Don’t let the pretty face and stilettos fool you. I’m a hell of a lot tougher than you think.”
Rayshawn watched as Jaicyn stepped into the shower to rinse off the bubbles. She was beautiful and smart and she was tough. She’d calmed down from the wild child she was in high school but she still had a fiery temper and a ‘take no shit’ attitude. She could do the job until Rayshawn came back.
Chapter 25
Jaicyn stood in Rayshawn’s office staring outside the window. Standing in almost exactly the same spot as where Rayshawn stood all the time, Jaicyn hoped that she could conjure up some of Rayshawn’s wisdom. It had only been a few weeks since he left, but Jaicyn was in over her head. She hadn’t realized it then but Rayshawn had left her with no support system, except Blaque. He was second in command under King. It helped that she got along well with him.
She thought she got along well with everyone in Rayshawn’s crew, especially Pete and Johnny. She thought that everyone liked her. Now she wasn’t so sure. Jaicyn’s plan was to keep Rayshawn’s team intact while he was gone but from the way things were going, she wouldn’t be able to.
Sabrina still hadn’t shown up. Word on the street was that she moved to Jamaica with her girlfriend. With no one to handle the drugs and Jaicyn doing both her and Rayshawn’s job, she had to do something. She hired temps. Joy and Taylor were the only ones she felt she could trust and they were happy to team up with her.
Even with Joy and Taylor on board, Jaicyn still had a problem on her hands. She didn’t command the same level of respect that Rayshawn did when he walked through the projects. The dealers didn’t hop to attention when her black Mustang pulled into the parking lot. They’d gotten very lackadaisical when it came to being on time with their money. For two weeks Pete had been coming up short. It was time for Jaicyn to put her foot down, or better yet, in somebody’s ass. That was the reason that she was waiting for Blaque. He’d be able to help her.
Jaicyn looked at her gold Rolex watch. It was almost seven o’clock. She had dropped Rickie and Bobbie off with Sandy two hours ago. Pretty soon she’d have to go get them so Sandy could close the restaurant. She was about to call Blaque again when Marcus opened the door and announced that he was in the other room.
“Tell him to come back here,” Jaicyn ordered, knowing that Rayshawn never had to make a demand like that. When he was around people used common sense. She was fed up with the bullshit.
Blaque smiled at Jaicyn when he entered the back room. Jaicyn hated the apartment that Rayshawn and his crew hung out in. There was n
o reason for the two bedroom apartment to look so raggedy when it served as headquarters for a crew that made seventy-five grand a week. She planned on doing something about the décor but she had other things to handle first.
Blaque had a very warm smile and a surprisingly laid back personality. He didn’t talk much but everyone knew that when he had something to say, he usually let his gun to the talking. His rep was well deserved but if Jaicyn hadn’t known the man she wouldn’t have believed that the tall handsome guy who always wore black, no matter the occasion, was the one of the two deadliest people in Washington Heights. He killed more people in the Washington Heights drug wars than anyone else in the state of Ohio.
“What’s up Lil Mama?” Blaque greeted Jaicyn affectionately.
Jaicyn Jones was twenty-one years old and the object of many men’s fantasies but she was off limits for more than one reason. Not only did she belong to Rayshawn, she was she part of King’s organization and Blaque refused to get involved with anyone he worked with. Mixing business with pleasure didn’t work for him. However, it didn’t stop him from wanting to help Jaicyn with her situation.
“I need some advice,” Jaicyn admitted.
She confessed to him all about what was going on since Rayshawn and Little Man left. She didn’t tell him anything that Blaque didn’t already know. He’d been keeping an eye on things in the Park and been hearing things he didn’t like about Rayshawn’s crew for over a week.
“Your problem is that your crew doesn’t take you seriously,” Blaque stated. “They think you’re just playing a role until Rayshawn comes back. They don’t see you as really in charge around here.”
“That’s bullshit!” Jaicyn yelled. “I am in charge.”
“Is it? Are you really in charge?” Blaque questioned. “Because if I didn’t know you, I would think the same thing. If you aren’t taking shit seriously, why would they?”
“I am serious,” Jaicyn protested. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“How can you be serious about this here when you’re hardly even here? Your people see you two or three times a week and when you are here you look and act like you’d rather be somewhere else. You weren’t even here when Slim dropped off the re-up the other day. That’s unacceptable.”
A Hustler's Promise: Some Promises Won't Be Broken Page 21
