A Hustler's Promise 2 Promises Kept

by Jackie Chanel

  “They didn’t say,” she answered and sat in the chair next to Blaque’s bed. She watched as he struggled to adjust his bed and pillow with his one good arm.

  “I can help you with that,” she commented.

  Blaque laughed. “I know. I just didn’t want to ask.”

  Jaicyn smiled warmly. It was just like Blaque to not want to show any sign of weakness. Rayshawn was like that too. It bugged the hell out of her.

  “Any word from Rayshawn?” Blaque asked.

  “No,” Jaicyn said with a frustrated sigh. “I’ve been calling but Rayshawn’s got nothing. I don’t think they know anything. Do you know who did this?”

  “I think so,” Blaque said. “But it was dark so I’m not completely sure.”

  “What happened that night?” Jaicyn asked since it seemed like Blaque was in the mood for talking.

  “We were leaving the dealership, about to grab something to eat at Sandy’s. It was about nine o’clock so it was dark. I didn’t see any cars or nothing,” Blaque told her.

  He heard a quiet pop. He knew what guns with silencers sounded like. Blaque had been around guns all his life. He told Jaicyn that grabbed his gun. All he and King could do was shoot back even though they couldn’t see anybody. They couldn’t go back inside because the door was locked. They’d be dead before King could unlock the door. The only thing that they could do was run to the car.

  He and King started shooting in the direction they thought the shots were coming from but they kept coming and eventually both of them got hit. King fell when he took the shots in the chest. Blaque caught one in his shoulder trying to cover King. He took another in the leg while he was trying to get King in the car.

  “But you don’t know who it was?” Jaicyn asked. She felt sick after hearing Blaque’s account of the shooting.

  “I don’t know for sure but the dude laughed when King fell. It sounded like Ramel.”

  Jaicyn sucked in her breath. Ramel! Just hearing his name sent her reeling.

  “Seriously?” Jaicyn managed to ask.

  “I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but I’m almost sure. It makes sense,” Blaque replied. “He’s been talking shit about Rayshawn since he got out and he’s pissed that all of his good people work for us now. I thought I handled his ass a few weeks ago but that nigga is crazy. He just can’t let shit go.”

  “I know. You think he did this to get back at Rayshawn?”

  “That and other reasons,” was Blaque’s sleepy answer.

  Sensing that Blaque was getting tired, Jaicyn stopped asking questions and thought about what she’d just heard. She looked over at King. He looked helpless with all the tubes and machines attached to his body and Jaicyn felt responsible.

  If Ramel had done this, it was her fault. King had never had any problems with the Puerto Ricans until she came along. She should have taken care of her problems with Ramel before it escalated to this. Now Rayshawn was in danger again. Ramel would easily find out that they were in town and there was no doubt in her mind that her man was on his hit list.

  “What you thinkin’?” Blaque asked when Jaicyn got quiet.

  “I have to do something about Ramel. We both know that he’s going to try and hit Rayshawn next. That boy is reckless.”

  Blaque shook his head. Even hurt, he was looking out for Jaicyn, always her protector. He didn’t want her out there trying to do anything to Ramel Cruz. Ramel was trying to avenge his uncle’s death and his prison sentence. Jaicyn was just as much on his hit list as Rayshawn and King.

  “That’s the last thing you need to do,” Blaque said. “You need to let the others handle it.”

  “Why? Because I’m a girl?” Jaicyn sneered angrily. “Look at you! Look at King! This is happened because of Ramel’s beef with me and I’m going to put an end to this shit once and for all!”

  “Calm down,” Blaque said calmly, his tone typical of himself. Even being shot up in the hospital didn’t rattle Blaque and he wasn’t going to sit there and listen to Jaicyn fly off the handle.

  “That’s the problem with you and Rayshawn. You can’t control your emotions and be ready to shoot without consequence. That ain’t cool. This has nothing to do with you. Ramel is on some other shit and we have people to take care of him. Let them do their jobs. When has it ever been your job to be muscle?”

  Jaicyn stared at the floor, feeling like she was being scolded by her big brother.

  “Whatever,” she muttered.

  “Don’t ‘whatever’ me,” Blaque said. “You know I’m right. King has the people in place where he wants and needs them to be. Respect the organization that he put together and do your part. Let Slim, Corey, Marcus, and Rayshawn take care of this.”

  Jaicyn disagreed but didn’t argue. She couldn’t convince Blaque that she was right. She had no intention of sitting back twiddling her thumbs and playing babysitter while her arch enemy roamed around Washington Heights gunning for her man.

  “What’s wrong?” Johnny said, entering the room. Rayshawn and Slim were right behind him and they noticed the angry look on Jaicyn’s face as soon as they stepped in the room.

  “Nothing,” Jaicyn said standing up. “Rayshawn, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Rayshawn was quietly staring at King. He hadn’t been back to the hospital since the first day. He still couldn’t believe that this was happening. Jaicyn noticed him standing over the bed with his shoulders quivering and went over to him.

  “He’s going to be okay, Rayshawn. It looks worse than it is,” she said soothingly. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Rayshawn followed Jaicyn out of the room until she found an empty corridor.

  “What’s up?” Rayshawn asked. He was eager to talk to King’s doctor, not Jaicyn.

  “Blaque told me who did this.”

  “Who?”

  “Ramel.”

  Rayshawn nodded his head slowly. “That’s what Slim thinks too.”

  “We have to take that nigga out, Rayshawn,” Jaicyn urged. “Me and you.”

  Rayshawn laughed. “Me, yeah. You, hell no! You ain’t getting caught up in this.”

  Jaicyn wasn’t deterred. She had expected a similar reaction from Rayshawn, but she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her from doing what she felt she had to do.

  “This is not the time for your male chauvinistic shit,” Jaicyn fired back. “This is our problem; yours and mine. Not anyone else’s and you know it. I refuse to hang back and watch from the sidelines. I know how Ramel thinks. I’ve known him since I was eight. He’s coming for you next. And if he can get to King, in this city, what makes you think he can’t get to you? And I’m not having that.”

  “No,” Rayshawn repeated. “Baby, I appreciate your willingness to help but you’re not looking at the bigger picture. I don’t want shit to happen to you.”

  Jaicyn folded her arms across her chest. Her lips were tight and the little vein in her neck that throbbed when she was angry was out of control.

  “That’s bullshit and you know it. The same shit that can happen to me out there can happen to you. Eight years ago, I was the one in the hospital and I had no choice but to let you take care of Mario. But this is now, and I’m knee deep in this game, right along with you, Blaque, Slim and all the others. You can say no until you’re blue in the face but I’m not accepting that.”

  Jaicyn glared coldly at her man. “Either we do it together or I do it alone, doesn’t matter to me. One way or another, Ramel is a dead man. And I guarantee you, Rayshawn; I’ll find him before any of y’all do.” Jaicyn uncrossed her arms and started to walk away.

  “Jaicyn!” Rayshawn called but she kept walking. Rayshawn ran after her, calling her name but she didn’t stop until she reached the elevators. Rayshawn caught up with her before the doors opened.

  “Don’t,” she said and pushed his hand off of her shoulder. “Go back in there and get your boys. Ramel will be an afterthought before you can even get the crew together.”

  Rayshawn c
ould see that Jaicyn was dead set on doing something stupid. He hated this side of her. Her alter ego had taken over. The one who knew how to hustle and loved it. The one who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty if necessary. This was the side of Jaicyn Jones that everyone claimed was just like him. Still, he wasn’t going to let her hit the streets of Washington Heights, gunning for one of the city’s craziest residents, alone, even if she was capable of doing so.

  “Alright,” Rayshawn said, reluctantly giving in. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 7

  Jaicyn drove the borrowed Ford Taurus down LaSalle Avenue in LaLa Land like a woman on a mission. She knew the street like the back of her hand. It was the same street her grandmother used to live on.

  Rayshawn sat in the passenger seat, feeling anxious and apprehensive. No one in the crew had a clue of what he and his girlfriend were up to and he didn’t like that. But it was Jaicyn’s idea to go at Ramel alone and reluctantly he was following her lead. She seemed to know what she was doing.

  Rayshawn should have been impressed with Jaicyn. She had connections and contacts all over the city. With only two phone calls she had a car and an appointment to see the biggest gun runner in Washington Heights. It was Rayshawn who felt nervous and out of place once they got there.

  Blue was one of the most highly respected men in Washington Heights. In all the years that Rayshawn had worked with King and Blaque, he’d never met Blaque’s father. He came from a long list gun sellers and Blaque was his only child. He was happy to help Jaicyn out. Knowing that the Prince and Princess of Washington Heights had returned to take care of the situation that landed his only son in the hospital, Blue was happy to provide them with all of the fire power that they needed.

  Now Jaicyn was behind the wheel of the Taurus looking out of the window for any sign of Ramel, anyone in his family, or his crew. All of a sudden she pulled the car over to the curb and stared at a girl in a white shorts and a red bikini top who was walking down the street listening to her iPod. Jaicyn cocked the borrowed nine millimeter sitting on her lap and continued to stare out the window as the girl moved closer to the car.

  “What are you doing?” Rayshawn asked.

  “That’s Marisol, Ramel’s sister,” Jaicyn answered. “I’ll be right back.”

  Before Rayshawn could stop her, Jaicyn swung open the door and started walking towards the young woman who was just minding her own business. Rayshawn watched as Marisol noticed Jaicyn walking towards her with her gun at her side and took off running.

  Jaicyn chased her and with Marisol running in heeled sandals and Jaicyn in her Nikes, it wasn’t much of a chase. Jaicyn grabbed the girl by her hair and dragged her, kicking and screaming, to the car. Rayshawn had no idea what Jaicyn had in mind but he opened the back door anyway and Jaicyn threw Marisol in.

  “¿Qué haces?” Marisol yelled. – What are you doing?

  “¿Dónde está Ramel?” Jaicyn questioned – Where is Ramel?

  Marisol stared at Jaicyn with fiery anger in her eyes.

  “Fuck you Jaicyn! No estoy diciendo que la mierda!” – I’m not telling you shit.

  Jaicyn argued with the girl, firing off Spanish sentences in rapid succession. Rayshawn had no idea what they were saying but it was exciting, especially when Jaicyn got out of the car and dragged Marisol out by her hair. Marisol started kicking and her shoes went flying off, almost hitting Rayshawn in the head. Jaicyn punched the petite girl in the stomach and pulled out her gun when Marisol doubled over in pain.

  “Where is your brother?” she asked again, this time in English, while she pointed the gun at Marisol’s head.

  Jaicyn usually used more tactical and reserved ways of getting information out of people but she was very familiar with the Cruz family. They were an unreasonable clan so she was determined to use their same scare tactics to get information out of Ramel’s youngest sister. She’d shoot her in broad daylight in the middle of LaLa Land on the 4 of July if she had to. Eventually, with a bullet in both of her knees and elbows, the girl would talk.

  Just when Rayshawn thought that Jaicyn was going to pull the trigger and splatter the young girl’s brains all over the car Marisol caught her breath and whispered something to Jaicyn.

  “What?” Jaicyn said.

  “He’s at my mother’s house,” Marisol cried. “Please don’t hurt my mother.”

  Jaicyn stared at the girl with contempt. She reached out and grabbed the cell phone that was clipped to Marisol’s shorts and got in the car.

  “Ain’t nobody gon do nothing to your mother and if you say shit, I’m coming back for you,” she said and pulled off, leaving the girl in the street. Jaicyn felt Rayshawn staring at her.

  “What?”

  “You’re crazy,” he answered, shocked by what had just happened. “Everybody said you were and they were right.”

  Jaicyn rolled her eyes. “Who cares? I get the job done.”

  It didn’t take long for Jaicyn to drive two blocks and pull the car to a stop in front of a bright yellow eyesore of a house.

  “What the fuck?” Rayshawn said. “This is Ramel’s place?”

  Jaicyn laughed. She always hated the house. It was ugly and disgusting. Everyone in the neighborhood hated the house but there was nothing that they could do. Ramel would terrorize the neighborhood if anyone said anything to his mother about painting her house or cleaning up her front yard.

  “This is his mother’s house. Let’s see if he’s here.”

  Using his sister’s phone, Jaicyn looked for the number to the house. She stared at the front yard while the phone rang. Ramel’s black Monte Carlo was parked in the driveway but that didn’t mean anything. His beat up Camaro that he’d never got around to fixing was still parked in the front yard, where it had been for the last fifteen years.

  “His mother’s car isn’t here,” Jaicyn stated. Suddenly the phone stopped ringing and Jaicyn heard Ramel’s voice on the other end.

  “¿Qué?”

  Jaicyn hung up the phone.

  “He’s in there,” she told Rayshawn. “So if he’s there then Paco and Manny are in there too. How do you want to do this?”

  “I got the shotgun,” Rayshawn said, “so it’ll be easier for me to lead. We’ll go in the back door and shoot our way to the front if we have to. Just keep the car running.”

  “Are you really ready for this?” Rayshawn asked Jaicyn seriously.

  He knew what it was like to shoot a man. He knew how seeing a man beg and plead for his life could make you feel. He wasn’t sure if Jaicyn could handle it and he didn’t need her freezing up instead of pulling the trigger. This wasn’t like it was with Mario. He was sure that everyone inside that house had guns. If she did freeze, the likelihood of them getting out of the house alive was slim.

  “I’m good,” Jaicyn said confidently. “Let’s go.”

  She was the first out of the car and walked with so much determination in her hasty steps that Rayshawn had to jog across the yard to keep up with her. She stopped at the back steps and looked around the backyard. There were a couple of coolers filled with ice and beer and the grill had been cleaned. It looked like the Cruz’s were getting ready for a 4 of July party.

  The back door opened and Manny, a short stocky man who did everything that Ramel told him to do, stepped out carrying some stereo equipment. He didn’t even see Jaicyn or Rayshawn at the bottom of the steps. He was too busy laughing and yelling something to his buddies inside the house. He didn’t see who had pulled trigger as his chest exploded from the blast from Rayshawn’s shotgun. The stereo Manny was carrying crashed to the ground seconds before his body hit the porch.

  Rayshawn ran up the steps, sidestepping the quickly forming pool of blood. Jaicyn followed eager to get inside the house. Another blast from the shotgun ended Paco’s life in the hallway, his .45 still in his hand when he fell. Jaicyn felt no remorse over Paco and Manny. She didn’t like them either.

  Jaicyn peeked into the kitchen but didn’t see Rame
l. Rayshawn checked the small dining room and started to look around the living room.

  “I don’t see him,” Rayshawn turned towards Jaicyn just as they heard a shot and bullet whizzed past his head.

  “He’s behind the couch!” Jaicyn yelled and started firing rounds into the couch. Rayshawn followed suit, pumping round after round into the sofa. Ramel kept firing at them. Rayshawn and Jaicyn ducked behind the dining room wall, narrowly avoiding the bullets whizzing past them. Jaicyn’s heart pumped ferociously in her chest. So much adrenaline was coursing through her body that she felt lightheaded. When she stopped shooting in order to reload, Ramel jumped out of the open living room window. Rayshawn ran out of the front door with Jaicyn right behind him.

  Rayshawn stopped running and fired at Ramel running across the front yard. The shotgun blast hit Ramel in the leg, blowing out his kneecap and he fell. He tried to drag himself to his car. This time Rayshawn and Jaicyn didn’t have to run to catch up to him. The young couple walked over to their bleeding enemy and each fired a shot into Ramel’s chest. The man who had tried to ruin both of their lives on more than one occasion lay perfectly still, as his blood soaked into the ground. Finally, he was dead.

  Jaicyn stared down at Ramel’s lifeless body. He tried to make her life miserable every day that she’d known him. He had raped her. He wanted her dead. But she’d gotten to him first because she wasn’t stupid and impatient like him.

  She poked at his body with the tip of her shoe.

  “Fuck you,” she whispered. “I hope you rot in hell.”

  Rayshawn heard the police sirens in the distance and grabbed Jaicyn’s hand. They ran to the car, tossed the guns in the backseat and sped off in the opposite direction of the arriving cops. This time Rayshawn drove. He drove straight to the motel room they’d rented. It was a beat up and run down establishment that took cash with no identification required and you could drive straight up to the room, which was exactly what they needed.

  They didn’t talk while they undressed and stuffed their jeans, t-shirts, underwear, socks, and sneakers into a black garbage bag. One of Rayshawn’s favorite TV shows was CSI and even though he knew that Washington Heights didn’t have a police department as dedicated at those guys, he wasn’t taking any chances.