Against the Grain

by Freeze

  • • •

  By 5:00 p.m. that afternoon the party was crowded. Everybody was on the beach behind the house. The house was off-limits unless you were using the bathroom or changing into your bathing suit. Craig “G” was set up on the top patio. People were playing football, volleyball, horseshoes, and dodgeball. Some were playing in the water, some were dancing, and others were just standing around looking cute. Kay hired cooks to grill all the food. Steaks, burgers, chicken, lobster, jumbo shrimp, fish, steamed oysters, and crabs. They had all kinds of beer and alcohol. Extra security was hired, to make sure no one got drunk or out of hand or in the house. Almost everybody they had come in contact with since they had been there came through to show love.

  This other money-getting cat named May-May came through with his crew. They were all wearing T-shirts that said R.I.P Shampoo on the front. Alzina played hostess to everyone. And of course everything was videotaped and pictures were taken for all their niggaz on lock. At least five hundred pictures were taken that weekend. Everyone partied as hard as they could for as long as they could. The Virginia Beach Police came by around mid-night and shut shit down. The party was over. Everyone slowly left and thanked Kay and Mike. The fellaz all headed back to their hotel for more freak shit. Even Lil ‘C’ bounced with Erica.

  • • •

  The next day by 1:00 p.m., Kay had paid to have the house cleaned. He even had the portions of the beach that they used cleaned. They were all packed and ready to go. They said their good-byes to the ladies. Kay kissed Alzina as she got in her car.

  “Make sure you call me if you get bored on the highway or when you get home, you know, to let me know you made it safe,” she told Kay.

  “I will, love. I’ll call you anyway, just to talk,” he said. They kissed again and she drove off. Kay and them drove to the hotel. The guys were loading up their bikes on the truck. That took about an hour. Everyone double-checked everything to make sure they hadn’t left anything. Lil ‘C’ came out the hotel with a pillow, he planned to go back to sleep. They still drew the attention of a few lingering spectators. Most of the crowd was gone. Kay told his man that drove the truck for them that he would meet him back in the city. The truck was too slow to keep up with them. They made one last stop to gas up, buy phillies and junk food, and to use the bathroom. Then they headed home. . . back to Baltimore.

  18

  The next day was another beautiful day, and the whole crew hung out around the way. They sat on the stoop of an abandoned house on Harlem Avenue, across the street from Romanos, eating sunflower seeds. Even Shu-Shu was there and sat between Kay’s legs. They were talking about all the fun they had on their trip. They didn’t say anything about the women though. Not as long as Shu-Shu was around. All the neighborhood kids were out playing. They all loved “Uncle Kay,” because he always bought them ice cream and candy. On really hot days he would turn the fire hydrant on for them and sometimes even get in the water with them. He also made sure they all had food in the house and clothes on their backs. Especially at schooltime. This was his way of giving back to the community, since most of these kids’ parents were either strung out on his or Mike’s drugs. Big Duke sat in his truck, talking to wifey, who was fussing at him about something. Three Muslim brothers dressed in all white with the turbans and full beards came around the corner.

  Saadiq and Mahir grew up on this block. The third brother wore glasses. His name was L.A. He was from Durham, N.C., but he’d moved to B-More a few years ago. They walked over to the familiar crowd.

  “As-Salaamu Alaikum, brothers and sister.”

  “Wa Alaikum As-Salaam,” everyone responded. They always respected the brothers whenever they came around. They would also listen to the teachings that they would give. Today would be a little different though, because as soon as they started talking, suddenly the knockers bent the corner in an unmarked car and stopped. Big Duke saw them in his rearview mirror and passed his gun to his girl and told her to walk. She stuck the gun under her shirt and walked in the opposite direction. Officer Ayala and her partner lined everybody against the wall. They even made Big Duke get out of his truck and line up. They told the Muslim brothers that they could leave without searching them.

  “How you doing today, Kay?” Officer Ayala asked.

  Kay shrugged his shoulders and said, “Better than some, worse than others.”

  “What about you, Big Bad Mike?” she asked, being sarcastic.

  “What the fuck kinda question is that? I’m aiight, I’m always aiight,” he told her.

  They took their time searching everyone thoroughly and talking shit to them. Officer Ayala was extra rough when it came time for her to search Shu-Shu. Officer Ayala walked over to Shu-Shu’s convertible Mercedes and started going through it when she didn’t find anything on her. “What do we have here?” Officer Ayala asked as she pulled a 9-mm Glock 17 from under the driver’s seat. Everyone was shocked except Kay, because he was the one who had taken Shu-Shu to the range and taught her how to shoot. No one else expected her to be packin’ a burner. They didn’t even know that she was the mastermind behind Kay’s wealth.

  “Is this yours?” the officer asked Shu-Shu.

  “Yeah, it’s registered, too,” Shu-Shu told her and rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah? Is that right? Well, is this registered?” Officer Ayala asked as she showed her a half ounce of cocaine that appeared to have come from under the seat also.

  “Bitch, that shit ain’t mine!” Shu-Shu said loudly.

  “Yeah well, bitch, you going to jail for it.”

  No one said a word. They all knew it was a setup. Ayala’s partner handcuffed Shu-Shu and called for the paddy wagon. He also had her car towed. The whole neighborhood watched as Shu-Shu was taken to jail. Kay was heated. No one dared say anything to him. Dre called Fred Frank, the bondsman they always used when someone got locked up, on his cell. He told Dre that since it was close to five o’clock, Shu-Shu probably wouldn’t see the commissioner for bail until in the morning. Kay called Shu-Shu’s lawyer, Warren Downs. He told Kay the same thing. He said that he would go talk to her later on that night and pull her first thing in the morning. Spending the night in Central Booking was rough for anybody, but Kay knew that Shu-Shu could handle herself if anything went down, so he calmed down and relaxed a little.

  “Yo, Duke, take me to my mom’s,” Kay said as he got in on the passenger side of Duke’s truck. When he got there, he told his mom what happened and asked to borrow her car. She gave him the keys and told him to drop the kids off at Lyniece’s shop down-town because she was taking them to see WrestleMania at the Baltimore Arena.

  After he dropped Lil ‘C’, T-Kie, Kaneeka, and Kelli off, he headed out to Cherry Hill. He drove to a house in a nice residential area and parked behind a Toyota Solara. He jumped out and started to put his key in the door. Agents White and Powell had stopped about a block away.

  “I wonder who lives here,” Agent Powell said.

  “I don’t know, let’s run a check on the Toyota,” Agent White said.

  As Kay stepped inside, a woman met him at the door.

  “Hi, baby,” she said. He locked the door, turned, and slapped her so hard that it spun her around. She looked at him. She couldn’t believe he hit her.

  “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” he yelled at her. She didn’t say anything, so he slapped her again. This time she stumbled back a little. He stepped in and slapped her again. This time Officer Ayala pulled her gun and pointed it in his face just as he was about to slap her for the fourth time. Kay froze in his tracks.

  “I’m sorry!” she yelled as the tears poured down her face. “I know that’s your woman, but when I saw her sitting between your legs, I just lost it. I’m sorry, baby. You know I can’t control myself around you,” she said as she handed Kay the gun. He threw it on the sofa and pulled her to him. They kissed. He picked her up and took her to the bedroom.

  Agents White and Powell discovered that the car was re
gistered to a Victor Ortiz of New York City. Now they waited while a check was run on him. They wanted to know what connections he had to Arkadian Frost. Could he be Kay’s supplier?

  • • •

  Two hours later Kay noticed the time. He got up to get dressed.

  “Where you going?” Officer Ayala asked him as she lay there naked.

  “Home,” he responded.

  “Why can’t you stay tonight? It ain’t like you got somebody you got to run home to.” She had an attitude.

  “Yeah, but I’ve got to be there when she calls.”

  She didn’t say anything, she just watched him get dressed.

  “What’s the word?” he asked her.

  “Same ole, same ole. The Chief wants Mike bad, but no one will give any info on him. They’re all scared. They’ve got pictures of all of you, but they still know Mike calls the shots. Tell Mike he needs to disappear for a while and stop doing dumb shit. There’s rumors of him kidnapping, tying people up, and pistol-whipping them. If anyone ever comes forward, he’s done. The DA said that he’s going to make an example out of Mike,” she said as she got up and put on her old police uniform shirt. She wore nothing under it. Kay liked when she wore her uniform shirt like that. Sometimes he would make love to her with it on. It was his way of fucking the police for a change.

  “After you get your call, will you come back? I missed you while you were in Virginia.”

  Kay thought about it for a minute and said, “Yeah, I’ll be back in a few hours. I want those charges to go away. You hear me?” He walked out the front door and stopped. She stood in the doorway.

  “Oh shit, look at that!” Agent Powell said to her partner, who had dozed off. He grabbed his camera and began taking pictures. Officer Ayala was in perfect view.

  “I’ll take care of it in the morning. I’ll switch the coke with flour,” she told Kay as he kissed her and walked away. She stepped back inside and shut the door. Agent Powell looked at her partner.

  “Did you get all that?” she asked.

  “Sure did. Pictures and video.”

  “This shit is getting juicer by the minute.” They followed Kay.

  • • •

  Officer Marisol Ayala had been a good cop right until Kay came back into her life when he got out of prison. For some strange reason she couldn’t get him off her mind. Anytime or anywhere she saw him, she would harass him by pulling him over and searching him. After a while it became obvious to Kay because she would expose her hand making flirtatious comments. One night, three years ago, they ran into each other and it was no turning back. Kay took care of all her needs physically, mentally, and financially, and she made sure he was always two steps ahead of the po-po by giving him info. They were real discreet about everything, too. They never called each other directly. They always went through her father in New York, Victor Ortiz. Kay almost never went to her house in the daytime. If he did, he drove someone else’s car. He bought her nice things, but nothing too extravagant that she couldn’t afford on a cop’s salary. They didn’t want to bring suspicion to her. But now she had been found out. Over the next few weeks the Feds and her police chief were watching her more closely. They even fed her info about a few of Kay’s dope houses being raided, just to see what would happen. And just as they figured, she was very much involved. The dope houses would be empty within a half hour after they told her.

  19

  Since shit was hot for everyone, they decided to shut almost all business down for a few weeks. Kay needed to branch out. Baltimore was getting too small for him. So he made a few phone calls to some of the niggaz he’d met in prison who were home. Then he made a trip out to Cali to see his friend Joey. He took Dre, Mike, and Tank with him. They landed at LAX and took a cab to the house that Kay now owned in West Hollywood. None of the other guys had been to Cali before, so they were pretty excited with the scenery, all except Dre, of course. The house in L.A. was huge; it wasn’t near the size of Kay’s house in Maryland, but it was nice. The house had two floors, five bedrooms, and a pool with pool house. As they got out the cab, they noticed a white 750iL BMW sitting on twenties and a white convertible Corvette. Kay’s neighbor, an elderly white man, was getting out of his car at the same time. He was a retired movie director and he and Kay always talked. He thought Kay played pro basketball overseas, since he only saw Kay once or twice a month.

  “What’s the dealy, son?” the old man said to Kay in his best street slang accent. They all laughed.

  “What’s the deal, Pops?” Kay said back to him. They always greeted each other like this. “Yo, Pops, these are my peeps, Mike, Dre, and Tank. They all play on the same team with me in Italy,” Kay said. Everyone caught on immediately.

  “What’s up, fellaz? I see you chillin’ wit my man Arkadian. Is this ya’ll’s first time in Cali?”

  They all laughed at him again and said, “Yeah.”

  “Well, just call me Pops. And if you want, you can all come over later and smoke a blunt wit me and I’ll call up some of my freaks. Just bring some phillies wit you, cause I ran out.” They all laughed again.

  “Nah, Pops, we can’t. They might give us a drug test when we get back. We got to bounce, Pops. We’ll hang out before I leave,” Kay told him.

  “Aiight, aiight, that’s peace,” the old man said as he went into his house.

  “That’s my man,” Kay told everybody as he unlocked the side door to his house.

  They walked into the kitchen. Kay made everyone take their shoes off. The whole house was decorated in all white, from floor to ceiling. Kay looked in the fridge and got a bottle of juice. He drank half of it and put it on the counter.

  “C’mon, let me show you to your rooms.” As they left the kitchen, Kay’s California girl ran and jumped in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

  “Hi, honey,” she said as she threw her arms around his neck and showered him with kisses all over his face. He kissed her back and put her down. She noticed the rest of the crew.

  “Boo, these are my friends, Mike, Dre, and Tank. Fellaz, this is Jordan,” he said. The fellaz were shocked. Kay had never told them about her. Especially the part about her being white. She walked over and shook all of their hands.

  “I feel like I know all you guys already, as much as Kay talks about you. Where’s Scatter, Gee, and Big Duke?” she said with a smile, not even caring that she was damn near naked. She had on a black Baby Phat mesh bra and thong with crystals on it. For a white girl, shorty had ass out of this world. She was built like a sister. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she asked Kay as they all went up the steps to the second floor.

  “I wanted to catch you in something,” he told her jokingly.

  “I’m not crazy; I know better.”

  Tank whispered to Mike, “Damn, shorty reminds me of that bitch from Blossom. You remember the TV show Blossom? What was that bitch name?”

  Dre overheard the conversation and told them that the girl was called Six.

  “Yeah, Six. That’s her name,” Tank said.

  Mike smiled. “Yeah, Six was a bad motherfucker. Everybody wanted to fuck Six,” he said.

  “Shit, that’s the only reason why we watched Blossom,” Dre said. They laughed. Kay showed each of them to their room. He told them that he would meet them by the pool once they changed clothes. Then he and Jordan disappeared into their room and shut the door.

  An hour later, Kay came down to the pool house where the fellaz were shooting a game of pool, drinking beer, and smoking weed. He wore a pair of white Sean John jean shorts, a white wife-beater, and a brand-new pair of white Nike Air Force Ones with no socks. He even had on all his jewelry. He was in relax mode in Cali.

  “What’s up, Kay? I was just getting ready to tell these niggaz about this broad I played out yesterday. Peep this,” Tank said as Kay walked in.

  “Ya’ll know my little man Fats that hustles for me up on White-lock, right? His baby muhva be sweatin’ me. Well, I ran into the bi
tch the other day and she was like, ‘I know you want some of this pussy, just give me five hundred.’And I ain’t gonna front, that bitch gotta phat ass. Me, being the nigga that I am, I was like aiight, shorty, when? So the ho tells me to come to her house the next day, around ten in the morning because Fats had to be in court by then and he would probably be there all day. To make sure that didn’t no funny shit go down and I have to kill a nigga, I picked Fats up myself and dropped his ass off on Wabash and told him to page me when he was ready. So I double back and me and this bitch is fuckin’ and she’s suckin’ and eating my ass. I ain’t no fag or nothing, but that shit felt good when she made her tongue go around—” He caught himself and stopped when he saw how his friends were looking at him. He started his story with a smile on his face. “Then she let me bust off on her face and I had her calling me niggaz I don’t even know. She was like, ‘Oh Lord! Oh Jesus!’ Now here’s the good part. I pay the bitch and bounce. When Fats called, I told him that I couldn’t make it but the five hundred that I borrowed from him that morning, I dropped it off to his girl for him.” Tank fell out laughing thinking of the look she had on her face when Fats asks her for the five hundred dollars he left. They all laughed.