A Hustler's Promise 2 Promises Kept

by Jackie Chanel

  Closed legs don’t get fed was bullshit. Spreading her legs to Jason, Ricky, and Bobby hadn’t helped Angelina Jones feed her daughters. Jaicyn had even made Rayshawn wait a year before she gave him some. He was her first and only. Look at them now! She had everything she wanted and a wedding to plan!

  “Is your name Jaicyn?” a tall skinny girl in a fake leather jacket and knock off Chanel sunglasses said to Jaicyn.

  Jaicyn adjusted her Jackie O Ray Bans and gave the girl a quick onceover. Jaicyn had never seen the girl before and the scowl on her face told Jaicyn that the skinny girl wasn’t hanging around to compliment her on her ring.

  “Who wants to know?” Jaicyn answered. She glanced in the car where her brand new pink and black .22 was sitting in a box on the backseat. Damn it! If the girl tried something, Jaicyn would be forced to beat the bitch down with her fists. She calmly ran her hands over her left bra strap feeling for the box cutter she kept there…just in case.

  “So, are you Jaicyn?” the girl said.

  “Like I said, who wants to know?” Jaicyn repeated.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rickie and Bobbie stop walking. She made a slight gesture with her hand to let them know to hurry up and get to the car. If she needed to get away quickly, she didn’t want to have to wait for them.

  “I have a message for you,” the girl paused. “From D-train.”

  Jaicyn scrambled to remember who D-train was. The name sounded familiar but she couldn’t register it.

  “Who?”

  “Bitch, don’t act like you don’t know who the fuck I’m talking about!” the girl yelled. “D-train said you better stay out of the SWATS! Moore Street is his and if he sees you down there again, he’s goin’ to fuck you up!”

  “Really?” Jaicyn laughed. “Tell you what. You go back to Moore Street and tell D-train that I said if he wants to make money in the SWATS he better come work for me. And make sure you tell him that if he sends another raggedy bitch with a message for me, I’m gonna fuck him up!”

  “Fuck you!”

  The girl swung her fist wildly at Jaicyn, catching her on the shoulder when Jaicyn backed up a few inches so she wouldn’t hit her face. She grabbed the girl’s cheap weave with one hand and pulled her box cutter with the other. She held the blade against the girl’s throat, pressing just hard enough to let the girl know she was serious.

  “Bitch, I will slice your fuckin’ throat if you ever put your hands on me again. You got beef with me; we’ll handle that shit in the SWATS. Don’t you ever come up to this school again.”

  Jaicyn punched the skinny girl in her stomach and pushed her away from the car. Seconds later, Rickie and Bobbie got in the car laughing as Jaicyn peeled out of the parking lot.

  “Shut up!” she yelled at them. “That shit ain’t funny! I can’t have bitches coming up to your school looking for me. This is bullshit!” Jaicyn pounded her fists against the steering wheel.

  Rickie and Bobbie didn’t utter another word for the rest of the way home. As soon they got home they ran to find Rayshawn. He walked into the bedroom where Jaicyn was slipping into a pair of jeans. Her skirt was in a heap on the floor and her favorite Prada sling backs were kicked across the room.

  “What are you doing?” he asked calmly. Jaicyn didn’t answer. She opened her dresser drawer and pulled out some socks then slipped on a pair of sneakers. Her black hoodie was zipped all the way up.

  “Jaicyn!”

  “What?” she snapped angrily.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Call the fellas,” she demanded. “We’re going over to Moore Street and find this nigga D-train and fuck him up. How he gon send some wack ass bitch up to my sisters’ school to give me a message. You know I don’t play that shit, Rayshawn!” She positioned her box cutter underneath her bra strap and tucked her other gun into her waistband.

  “Why are you still standing there?”

  “Baby, calm down. We’re not goin’ to just mount up and start blastin’ niggas we don’t know. You know that’s not how we handle shit. Who’s this dude anyway?”

  “The hell if I know,” Jaicyn yelled. “Just some reckless ass idiot that’s pissed off that he can’t get no money in the SWATS.” She tried to move past Rayshawn to leave the room but he blocked the door.

  “Jaicyn, for real, calm down. We have people that handle this type of shit! Let me find out what’s going on and I’ll get Chris and Ronnie on it,” Rayshawn said, naming the two people he hired to take care of people like D-train.

  “You better do something quick,” Jaicyn mumbled.

  Rayshawn shook his head and walked out of the bedroom. King needed to hurry up and get back to him about Cesar. The sooner he could get Jaicyn off the streets, the better he’d sleep at night.

  ****

  Jaicyn’s temper still hadn’t subsided hours later after she made dinner and was watching Jay-Z’s “Answer the Call” concert on YouTube. She paused the show when Autumn’s face appeared on her caller ID. She pressed the speakerphone button.

  “What’s up girl?”

  “Are you sitting down?” Autumn asked anxiously.

  “Yeah. What’s up?”

  “You will never guess who I saw when I was in Washington Heights with my parents earlier.”

  Autumn knew that Jaicyn hadn’t heard the news yet or she would have called Autumn by now. Word on the street was that Ramel Cruz had been home for months and the only thing on his mind was finding Rayshawn and Jaicyn.

  “Who?” Jaicyn asked absently, thinking it had to be someone they went to school with…or her mother. Even though she had told Autumn to stop looking around Washington Heights for Angelina, Autumn still did from time to time. Jaicyn hoped that Autumn wasn’t going to tell her that she’d seen Angelina. It would be hard to explain to Rickie and Bobbie, especially since they thought their mother was dead.

  “Ramel.”

  The blood drained from Jaicyn’s face as her laptop crashed to the floor. Instinctively she rubbed her shoulder, where Ramel had dislocated it trying to pull her out of his car.

  “No,” Jaicyn whispered. “How?”

  “I didn’t talk to him,” Autumn answered. “I heard that he’s looking for you and Rayshawn but I’m sure Marcus and Corey will take care of him.”

  Jaicyn didn’t say anything. Fear clenched her heart. If Ramel found her, raping and beating her wouldn’t be enough. He’d kill her this time, probably after he raped her again. Tears streamed down Jaicyn’s face as her heart pounded in her chest.

  “Jay-Jay, are you there?”

  Jaicyn quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yeah Autumn. I’ll call you back, okay?”

  “Jay-Jay…” Autumn was worried about her friend. Her voice was shaky. It was the first time Autumn had ever heard Jaicyn sound afraid of Ramel.

  “I’m okay,” Jaicyn insisted. “I just need a minute. I’ll call you back.” She disconnected the call before Autumn could respond. She heard footsteps headed towards the study and she quickly locked the door.

  Rayshawn wiggled the knob, surprised to find the door locked.

  “Jaicyn! What are you doing in there?”

  She didn’t want Rayshawn to see her like this, crying and afraid. She wiped her face with her shirt and smoothed her hair with her fingers. Then she unlocked the door.

  “Sorry. I was on the phone with my dad,” she said in a rushed voice. “We were talking about Rickie’s birthday party and I didn’t want her nosy ass to hear.”

  “Well, are you coming to bed?”

  The way he asked, the hopeful lust in his question made Jaicyn cringe a little. As soon as she thought about making love to her man, she found herself back in abandoned crackhouse, with salty tears and blood stinging her eyes as Ramel and his uncle forced themselves on her, taking turns until she’d passed out from the pain. She trembled when Rayshawn touched her shoulder.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  She had to tell him. He had to know what was
causing the fear in her eyes and nausea in her stomach. She’d never turned down sex with him before. He’d get upset if she started now, with no explanation.

  “Umm,” Jaicyn stammered, “umm, Ramel’s out of jail and-”

  “Yeah, I know,” Rayshawn interrupted.

  Jaicyn stepped back and looked at her man in surprise. How the hell did he know?

  “What? You knew? When did you find out?”

  Rayshawn shuffled from side to side. He knew that she’d be upset that he didn’t tell her but he was still trying to figure out if he needed to do something about Ramel before telling Jaicyn.

  “King told me,” he replied, not willing to admit when King had told him. From the high angry pitch of her voice, if Jaicyn knew that Rayshawn had been keeping a secret that big for over a month, she’d probably slap the shit out of him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to hear it from Autumn?”

  “Because Autumn has a big mouth and got to you first,” was his reply.

  Jaicyn stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, searching his face for any sign of deception. When she couldn’t find any, she turned around and walked back to the sofa. Rayshawn followed her.

  “Are you okay?”

  Jaicyn nodded her head, afraid that even a slight quiver in her voice would crack her façade.

  “You don’t have to worry about him, Jay-Jay. Ramel is weak right now. He doesn’t have the muscle to come after us. If he steps out of bounds, Corey and Blaque will handle him.”

  Jaicyn raised her eyebrows. “Blaque? I thought he was in New York.”

  “Shit was getting too hot. Niggas were getting popped by the FEDS. Blaque kept his shit tight but King wasn’t taking any chances and brought him back to Washington Heights.”

  “Oh,” was all Jaicyn said. Her mind was still focused on Ramel.

  Just because Blaque was in Washington Heights didn’t mean that everything was kosher. Ramel could easily hop on a Greyhound and come to Atlanta. Jaicyn knew that she had to be on guard and keep her ear to the streets in Atlanta and Washington Heights.

  The minute Ramel left, she would know. This time she wasn’t waiting on Blaque, King, or Rayshawn to make a move.

  If or when Ramel Cruz set foot in Atlanta, Georgia, Jaicyn was going to blow his head off. She would not be afraid. She’d do whatever she had to do to never feel that kind of fear again.

  Chapter 5

  “Sure Tina,” Jaicyn said to the fashion conscious middle aged woman standing at the counter. “Tell your daughter to bring some samples by the next time she’s in town. I’ll be happy to find a place for her line in the shop.”

  As the woman left, Jaicyn looked around her small boutique. The store was packed with women trying on clothes and jewelry. Only five more days until the Fourth of July and the fashionistas of Atlanta were gearing up for the holiday.

  Jaicyn should have been shopping for her own party but Rayshawn had insisted that she started spending more time at Caliente, at least until he got a handle on the situation in the SWATS.

  Jaicyn had tried to sneak over there a couple times. She was losing money left and right since D-train had become such a problem. He was trying to run off her crew and her boys were nervous. D-train was a trigger happy asshole. He and his crew were making southwest Atlanta too hot. Police had begun driving through the area more frequently which meant nobody was making enough money.

  Jaicyn wanted to shoot D-train right in his face for being such a problem and almost did when his crew did a quick drive-by in front of her stash house and riddled her freshly painted Charger with AK47 rounds. It took an act of God and Rayshawn hiding all of her guns to keep her from going after him.

  The man was clever too. He knew how to keep a low profile when shit got too hot. Rayshawn didn’t know what part of Atlanta he was hiding out in but he wasn’t going to stop looking for him. D-train had to come out of hiding soon.

  Jaicyn quickly tired of watching other people shop and the two sales clerks fussing over them. She picked up the latest issue of Cosmo and sat down in one of the plus chairs. She started flipping absently through the pages. She was too high-strung to concentrate on anything.

  She looked up when her sisters, fresh from cheerleading camp and still in their practice clothes, walked into the boutique.

  “What are you two doing here?” Jaicyn questioned. Rayshawn was supposed to have picked them up and taken them home.

  “We took the train,” Rickie answered.

  “I didn’t ask how you got here,” Jaicyn said. “I asked why you’re here.”

  Rickie and Bobbie shrugged their shoulders.

  “We waited for Rayshawn but he didn’t show up,” Rickie explained. “So we came here to wait for you.”

  Jaicyn couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t ask Rayshawn to do a lot for her sisters. All she asked was that he pick them up from practice every once in awhile.

  “What? Did you call him?”

  “Yeah,” Rickie answered and plopped down on the other chair. Bobbie went off in search of new jewelry to try on.

  “His phone kept going straight to voicemail,” Rickie said. “I left two messages and we waited for a half hour. Then we caught the train here.”

  Jaicyn pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her fiancé. Like Rickie said, the call went straight to voicemail. She tried a few more times, growing more agitated each time the voicemail picked up. What could he possibly be doing? His phone was never off.

  Something was wrong, seriously wrong.

  “Bobbie,” Jaicyn shouted. “Grab my purse from behind the counter and let’s go!”

  The girls had to jog to keep up with Jaicyn as she ran to her brand new Lexus, the replacement she was forced to get after D-train shot up her car.

  “Jay-Jay, what’s wrong?” Bobbie asked as the car peeled out of the gravel parking lot and raced down the street. Jaicyn’s wrinkled brow and white knuckles as she clenched the steering wheel caused both girls to be alarmed.

  Jaicyn drove like a bat out of hell through their sub-division. Something had happened to Rayshawn and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t push the horrible scenarios out of her mind. Her heartbeat quickened when she pulled into their driveway next to Rayshawn’s car.

  Just because his car was there didn’t mean that he was okay. She hopped out of the car and ran through the house frantically calling his name. She ran through each room upstairs but there was no sign of her man.

  She leaned against the doorway of their bedroom and tried to calm her panicked nerves.

  “Jaicyn,” Rickie called upstairs, “he’s outside by the pool.”

  Jaicyn ran through the kitchen and stopped by the sliding patio door.

  Rayshawn was sitting on one of the patio chairs, his ball cap that rarely left his head, was sitting on the glass table. Jaicyn slid open the patio door, and rushed over to her fiancé. Bobbie started to follow but Rickie stopped her.

  Jaicyn slowed her pace and walked over to Rayshawn. She could see that he was distraught. Something bad had happened!

  Rayshawn’s face and red t-shirt were wet with tears. Jaicyn had never seen him like that before and she didn’t know how to approach him. All she knew was that she wasn’t mad anymore. She was just relieved that he was alive.

  “Rayshawn,” Jaicyn said softly. Rayshawn didn’t respond. Jaicyn walked over to him and put her arm around him which only made him cry harder.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  Unable to speak, Rayshawn put his head on the table. His shoulders shook as he tried to stop his tears. Jaicyn knelt down on her knee beside him. The only thing that could make Rayshawn break down like that was if something had happened to Dayshawn. Her heart sank.

  “Rayshawn, baby, please tell me what happened,” Jaicyn pleaded, but he still didn’t say anything. Jaicyn’s phone rang. She wasn’t going to answer until she saw it was Little Man. He would know what was wrong with Rayshawn.

  “Hello,” Jaicy
n said into her phone.

  “Jay-Jay, where’s Rayshawn?” Little Man asked.

  “He’s right here.” Jaicyn didn’t like the sound of Little Man’s voice.

  “Talk to me, Little Man. What’s going on?”

  “King got shot,” he answered. “He might not make it.”

  “What?” Jaicyn screamed. “What are you talking about?”

  “He got shot,” Little Man repeated. “Him and Blaque, but Blaque is going to be okay. No disrespect Jaicyn, but I need to talk to Rayshawn.”

  With both King and Blaque shot down, the crew would turn to Rayshawn for their next move. But one look at her man and Jaicyn knew that he wasn’t ready to deal with them.

  “Look, hang back for a minute,” Jaicyn instructed, taking charge of the situation. “We’re on our way to the airport now.”

  Without waiting for a response, Jaicyn hung up her phone and shoved it back in her pocket. She walked over to the patio door and slid it open. Rickie and Bobbie jumped back, afraid that they were going to get in trouble for eavesdropping.

  “Rickie,” she said, “listen. I need you to get online and book four seats on the very next plane to Cleveland today. Use one of the credit cards in my purse. And Bobbie, I need you to throw some clothes in your and Rickie’s overnight bags. Can I trust you guys to do that for me and do it fast?”

  Both girls nodded. They didn’t know what happened but Jaicyn had just given them really important jobs and they were determined not to disappoint.

  Once the girls scampered out of the kitchen Jaicyn went back outside to Rayshawn. His tears had stopped but he was staring vacantly at the pool. Jaicyn had a feeling that he was reliving his mother getting killed eleven years ago, especially since he considered King to be the only father he had.

  “Baby,” Jaicyn whispered, “he’s going to be okay. We have to believe that.”

  “I gotta go to Washington Heights,” Rayshawn finally spoke.”

  “I’m taking care of that. But you have to….” Jaicyn’s voice broke off. She was going to say ‘snap out of it’ but that was insensitive. She really didn’t know what to say. If King didn’t make it, everything they worked for could come crashing down in an instant.