Jaicyn and Rayshawn showered together, making sure there was no blood or anything on each other’s bodies. In record time they were dressed again, this time looking fresh and fly as usual and back in the Taurus.
“You okay?” Rayshawn asked Jaicyn once they were in the car and headed back to the safety of the south side.
“I’m fine,” Jaicyn said. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Rayshawn thought that she was shaken up by what they’d just done. He expected her to be.
“You’ll be alright,” he assured her. “Once we get rid of the clothes and the guns we’ll be fine.”
“I know that,” Jaicyn said. “I’m not worried about anything. I just don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Rayshawn had to respect her wishes. In fact, Rayshawn respected her more than anyone else that he knew. Jaicyn didn’t hesitate. She didn’t falter and right there, in the car, was the first time she’d showed any type of weakness since she heard about King. She deserved a moment to let it all sink it.
“Take me back to the Ritz,” Jaicyn said. “I don’t want to go to the Park.”
Rayshawn was relieved that Jaicyn didn’t want to go to the Park and talk to her friends about what had just went down. It meant that she was more like him than like Slim and the rest of the shooters who like to brag and tell stories about what they did.
The truth was Jaicyn didn’t care about retelling the story. She wasn’t feeling emotional. She was relieved that it was all over. Ramel was dead and no longer a threat to anyone, especially her. All Jaicyn wanted was the nightmares that she had about the day Ramel raped her to stop. She hoped the fear she felt when Rayshawn was late getting home would subside.
She never told anyone about her nightmares. She didn’t want people to tell her it was okay to feel scared. It wasn’t okay. She didn’t want to be scared. Now it was all over and all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and get the peaceful and restful sleep that she hadn’t had in eight years.
Chapter 8
Jaicyn pulled the dark comforter up over her chin and groaned at the sunlight. She was too comfortable and too happy about being back in her own bed to get up now. After spending two weeks in Washington Heights sleeping in a hotel, she never wanted to leave her bed.
“Jaicyn, did you make the dinner reservation for tonight?” Rayshawn called from inside the walk-in closet.
“Yes!” she yelled back and kicked the covers off her. She sat up and peered into the closet. “You said dinner at seven at Straits.”
She wanted to throw Dayshawn a huge party at a club with all his friends. She wanted to buy out the bar and pop bottles of champagne all night. Dayshawn was graduating from law school! He was the first person they knew who went that far in school! He deserved a party. But neither of the twins wanted a party.
Rayshawn was still reeling from King’s shooting and what he and Jaicyn had done in Washington Heights. Dayshawn was happy that he was finished with school but he was anxious to get the day over with so he could go back home and check on King. He hadn’t been able to go with his brother when it happened and now that school was finished, all he could focus on was making sure that King knew he cared enough to go back and see him. The twins were getting on a plane the very next day.
Jaicyn walked into the closet and watched Rayshawn just throw his clothes into a suitcase haphazardly until she couldn’t watch one more pair of jeans fall on top on his already wrinkled shirts.
“Rayshawn! I pay a lot of money for your clothes. Don’t just throw them in there. Fold them!”
“Baby, calm down. They’re just pants,” Rayshawn said.
He knew that Jaicyn was thinking of more things to complain about. The clothes, the party, him not taking out the trash were all arguments she started since she was forbidden to even mumble another word about the one thing that was really bothering her.
His return to Washington Heights.
Rayshawn didn’t give a rat’s ass about her attitude. His other family was there, holding things down until he got back. Plus King was still in the hospital. He wouldn’t feel right leaving Blaque alone to handle the business while King recovered. Rayshawn was expected to keep things in order, not just by King but by everyone who depended on King in order to feed their families.
“Are you going to stand there and watch me pack?” Rayshawn asked his fiancée, “Or are you going to get dressed? We have to be at the school in a couple of hours.”
“I know,” Jaicyn rolled her eyes and stepped around her man. She grabbed a dress and a pair of shoes before stomping out of the closet. Rayshawn heard the bathroom door slam and the shower come on.
At first, he tried to understand what Jaicyn’s problem was with him going back but he couldn’t. Ramel and his boys were dead. The cops weren’t looking for their killer anymore. The entire police force was probably glad to have that nuisance out of their way. The mayor should be giving him a parade and a medal for taking care of that problem child. There wasn’t a logical reason for Jaicyn to worry.
She just didn’t want to be left alone in Atlanta for her own selfish reasons. She’d get over it. She didn’t have a choice but to get over it.
Rayshawn walked into the bathroom. Jaicyn was standing at the mirror washing her face while the scalding hot shower filled the bathroom with steam. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“You mad?”
Jaicyn shook her head and continued to apply the sickly sweet smelling cleanser to her face.
“Why would I be mad? It’s not like we didn’t just get back from Washington Heights, right? It’s not like I don’t have some crazy ass fool down here that shot up my car and threatened my life, right?”
Rayshawn kissed Jaicyn’s left shoulder softly.
“You’re going to be fine,” he said between kisses. “You’re not scared of D-train.”
“So,” Jaicyn mumbled. Her resolve was weakening with every kiss. “That’s not the point.”
She closed her eyes as Rayshawn’s large hands caressed her flat stomach and his thick lips kissed her neck.
“What’s the point then?”
But Jaicyn had lost her train of thought. Every argument she had, every word of protest left her head at the sound of Rayshawn’s sweatpants hitting the floor. He pressed his body against her ass and she moaned.
“You don’t play fair.”
“I know.”
Off came his wifebeater, then his boxers. He unhooked her bra and let it drop to the floor.
“Let’s take a shower.”
Jaicyn turned around slowly and eyes Rayshawn’s thick erection.
“Shower, huh? That’s all you want to do?”
Rayshawn smirked. “Nope.”
“Too bad,” Jaicyn grinned. “We have to be the school in a couple of hours.
****
Rayshawn and Dayshawn stood outside the Cincinnati airport waiting for Raul Valdez to pull his bullet proof, black on black Range Rover to a stop.
“Hola Rayshawn!” the son of the Cesar Valdez yelled at Rayshawn like he was greeting an old friend. “Que pasa?”
“It’s all good.”
The relationship between the two men had started off rocky. Cesar’s sons were close to King but hadn’t trusted Rayshawn in the beginning. He didn’t trust them either. They were two Columbian hotheads who shot first and never asked questions. The brothers were an integral part of their father’s empire. The half million dollars worth of dope that King bought every month was chump change to them.
Over the years, the brothers had tested Rayshawn’s integrity, loyalty, and manhood every chance they got. He’d passed every test. By the time he and Jaicyn had moved to Atlanta, they had begun to treat him the same as King.
That’s why he had called Raul and set up the meeting with Cesar before he and Dayshawn touched down in Washington Heights. King wasn’t able to make decisions yet, nor had he talked to Cesar about Rayshawn’s idea before he got shot.
Rayshawn had to make things happen quick. The only logical thing to do was to talk to Cesar himself, but he had to get the man to actually talk to him. The best way to do it was cut his sons a side deal.
Raul and Cortez agreed to twenty percent cut of Rayshawn’s profits if their father agreed to supply him. King and Rayshawn would split the other eighty percent, with King getting thirty. Jaicyn wasn’t going to be happy when Rayshawn told her that they’d only be keeping half of their money but he had no other choice.
They needed to get off the streets. Street level dealers were getting locked up every day in Atlanta. He didn’t like putting himself or his girl at risk like that. If someone in their camp got knocked, he couldn’t trust that they would just take the years and not rat him or Jaicyn out. The Atlanta dealers weren’t family.
Not like his people in Washington Heights.
When the Range Rover pulled into the Valdez compound, Dayshawn let out a low whistle. Rayshawn grinned. His brother had never been to the estate. Hopefully, he never would have to come back.
Still, the sheer magnificence of the estate couldn’t be ignored. The freshly manicured lawn, the sprawling mansion, and ornate decorations made the house look more like a museum in Europe than a house in Ohio that people actually lived in.
“Damn,” Dayshawn said, staring ahead at the house. “This is the biggest house I’ve ever seen. Why isn’t King living like this?”
“Because King doesn’t supply good Columbian dope to most of North America,” Rayshawn replied. “Stay cool,” he advised his brother. “Cesar doesn’t like it when people act all awestruck and he usually doesn’t conduct business in his home. He’s doing me a favor.”
The four men walked into the house and stopped by the updated marble fountain in the foyer.
“He’s upstairs,” Raul said to Rayshawn. “You come with us,” he told the other twin. “Papa wants to talk to your brother in private.”
Dayshawn shot a worried glance at his brother who already headed up the white carpeted staircase.
“It’s cool,” Rayshawn assured him.
“And don’t forget to tell him about our deal,” Cortez added. “He won’t like you keeping that a secret.”
Rayshawn nodded and continued up the stairs to the room where he’d first met Cesar eight years ago.
Cesar was sitting on the couch staring at a chessboard that was on the forty-two inch plasma mounted to the wall. He was playing against the computer.
“The Queen is a bad bitch,” Rayshawn commented.
“Always. The Queen is the most powerful piece in the game. What have I always said to you?”
“Protect your Queen at all costs,” Rayshawn answered.
“This life we live is like a chess game,” Cesar said solemnly while studying the board. “One bad move and it’s all over, for you and your Queen. The other player takes over your territory and you’re dead. One wrong move, one bad decision and it’s all over. Do you understand that?”
“Yes sir,” Rayshawn answered respectfully. Cesar wasn’t just talking about a chess game anymore. He had something completely different on his mind.
“Andre, you’re here about Andre, right?” Cesar asked.
“Something like that,” was Rayshawn’s reply.
Cesar’s eyes tightened and he frowned. “Andre is getting sloppy. He’s taking too many chances. What happened to him should have never fucking happened!”
Rayshawn’s fists clenched in his pockets. He feared that Cesar would think that fronting him any dope would be too big of a chance.
“All his life,” Cesar said, “I’ve tried to teach that boy to lay low, keep a low profile. This life I’ve built here didn’t happen over night. It’s dangerous in America. It’s safer to be a drug dealer in Colombia.”
Rayshawn grinned. “You’ve been talking about going back there ever since I’ve known you.”
“I will go back. I won’t have a choice.”
Cesar turned off the television and stared at Rayshawn.
“You’re young,” he said. “Young but smart. You’re asking for a lot of drugs. What do you plan on doing with all of that dope?”
Rayshawn trusted Cesar. He could tell him his plan without judgment.
“I want out soon,” he admitted. “I want a normal life. I want to open a couple of businesses, make sure my brother is set for life, and take my family away from here, from this game.”
“I’m only twenty-four,” Rayshawn continued. “I don’t want to be a forty year old drug dealer. I want to live my life away from all this, on some island somewhere with my wife and kids.”
“That’s new,” Cesar sighed. “You weren’t thinking like that a few years ago.”
Rayshawn hunched his shoulders and looked down at the floor. “People grow up. Look at King. Look at his wife. I don’t ever want Jaicyn to see me in a hospital bed fighting for my life or locked up behind bars.”
Cesar patted Rayshawn on his back. “You’re a good kid. Family is important to you. Your woman is important to you. I like that. If my Maria asked me to stop, I’d do it, no questions asked. Family is more important than anything, you hear me.”
“Yes sir.”
“I’ll help you. But,” Cesar warned, “do not screw this up. Make a few million and stick to your plan. Don’t get greedy and don’t get sloppy.”
Rayshawn grinned like a kid in a candy store. Cesar was on his side! But that didn’t take away from Rayshawn’s feeling that Cesar was extremely disappointed in King. Rayshawn hoped that King could make things right with the man who taught him everything.
Rayshawn finally understood that’s King’s relationship with Cesar went beyond the drugs. They shared the same bond that Rayshawn had with King. Cesar’s disappointment would come at a price, a price that Rayshawn didn’t want to think about. For now, all he could focus on was making sure that Cesar kept supplying Washington Heights with the dope they were used to and convincing Jaicyn to wire the money to Cesar.
****
Jaicyn tossed the cheap pre-paid phone on the sofa and paced the family room restlessly. She ran her hands through her hair while she replayed the conversation she’d just had with her man through her head.
“Six hundred thousand dollars!” she said out loud. “He can’t be serious!”
The amount was all of what she had in one of their accounts and now Rayshawn wanted her to just give it to Cesar!
Sure, he was cutting Rayshawn a great deal and only wanted twenty-five percent upfront, but damn. Six hundred thousand dollars from their stash was going to hurt.
“Baby, we’ll make it back in a couple of months. Don’t stress over stupid shit,” Rayshawn had said before hanging up the phone.
She still didn’t like taking orders from him but he was right this time. She handled all of their money, down to the penny. He didn’t have access to it, only what she put in their joint account and his separate account. Hell, he didn’t even know how much money they actually had. Only one other person had access to the money in case something happened and her father would never give her up.
It was safer that way.
Jaicyn finally sat down and opened up her laptop. She logged into the bank account for Janet Wilson, one of her five aliases and transferred some money to Cesar’s numbered account in the Bahamas that she’d memorized. She did this six more times from different accounts until all the money was deposited in his account. She used the untraceable pre-paid phone to call Cortez and let him know the transaction was complete. Then she called Rayshawn.
“Now what do you want me to do?” she snapped when he answered.
“Spread the word. Front five apiece to Rock, Darren, and Lil Joe. The comeback is-”
“Ninety,” Jaicyn interrupted. “I know how to multiply, Rayshawn.”
He sighed into the phone. He still didn’t understand what her problem was. They had to spend money to make money. Giving Cesar six hundred thousand was small compared to what they’d actually make i
n the long run.
Jaicyn’s problem was that she never looked at the big picture. Maybe that’s why their relationship and business partnership worked so well. They balanced each other.
Most of the time.
“Don’t meet anyone in person, not even Rock,” Rayshawn told her. “I’m sending Johnny down there to handle that part. Just until I get back. We’re disappearing off the radar, Jaicyn.”
“What does that even mean?” she snapped again. Rayshawn was trippin’. They couldn’t disappear. They weren’t even leaving Atlanta.
“It meant you are not getting involved in any street deals. It means no one talks directly to you about anything. Every deal will be filtered through Johnny. All you have to do is make sure that the product is where it needs to be when it needs to be there, okay?”
“Sure, Rayshawn,” Jaicyn replied doubtfully. “How much time do I have before it gets here?”
“Three days. The same set up we’ve been using. The key to the storage unit will be there tomorrow.”
“And when are you coming home?”
On the other end, Rayshawn groaned silently. They had almost two million dollars in dope headed their way and his absence was still Jaicyn’s main problem.
“I don’t know, babe. King won’t be out of the hospital for a couple more weeks. I want to make sure everything is good here before I come back. You can hold it down for a couple of weeks, right?”
“That’s not the damn point!” Jaicyn argued.
She wanted him home where she could see him every day and know that he was safe. She didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t feel completely safe when he wasn’t around.
“You’ll be fine,” Rayshawn assured her. “Start looking for space for your second shop. Take your sisters to Fashion Week or something. Just stay out of trouble. I’ll be back before you know it. I love you.”
“I love you too. And you be safe, please,” she pleaded. “If something happens to you, Rayshawn,” Jaicyn stopped talking as a lump formed in her throat.
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