The Last Kings

by C. N. Phillips

  “I just wish he would settle down. When I don’t hear from him, I can’t help but to worry. I know what he does, and I don’t like it, not one bit!”

  I felt my head fall slightly; I couldn’t look her in the face. I heard her sigh and continue sweeping.

  “But he’s grown now and has to find his own way. I know that money is addictive, but it’s dangerous. Patty down the street just got a call last week saying her grandson was murdered. He was two years younger than Ray. I don’t know what I would do if I got a call like that.” She put her hand on her heart. “I thank God every day that you and Mocha are safe at the dorm getting your education. I just wish Ray would have stayed and got his! He’s a smart boy, too smart to be running the streets!”

  I didn’t speak; I couldn’t. I felt too guilty and that was a feeling I was trying to avoid. I knew my actions would hurt her, and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to handle that. Grandma Rae had always been there for me and given me everything I needed, and there I was planning to basically betray her. I felt like a snake in the grass, and I wanted to leave before I had to lie to her too. I finished the rest of the food on my plate and prepared to leave.

  “How’s school comin’ along, honey?” Grandma Rae’s voice was back to being soft and sweet.

  Well, so much for not wanting to lie.

  “Umm, it’s OK,” I answered. Not completely a lie.

  I’m just planning on dropping out to start the biggest drug cartel Detroit has ever fuckin’ seen, I confessed in my mind.

  “That’s good. Make sure you and Mocha are keeping them grades up,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am.” I grabbed my purse and stood to leave. “It was nice seeing you, Grandma Rae, I’m about to get back before Mocha think I got kidnapped.”

  “OK, honey, take this plate to that girl!” she handed me a heavy plate covered in foil. “And it was nice seeing you too. Oh, and if you see Ray, can you give him this?” She handed me a few envelopes that had Ray’s name on them. “He keeps forgetting to take them. Call me to let me know you got home safe, you hear! And baby?”

  “What’s up, Grandma Rae?”

  “You have a special heart,” she started with her eyes staring into mine lovingly.

  “And I’m going to do great things, Grandma, I know,” I finished for her, smiling. She said that whenever she saw me. I gave her small frame a big hug and made my way to the front door. “Love you!” I called back to the kitchen before closing the door.

  I walked quickly to my two-door coupe in the cold with the plate warm in my hands. I got in my car, set the plate on the passenger seat and began to eye the mail. I had the strongest urge to rip both envelopes open just to see a part of Ray’s life I wouldn’t see any other time.

  Don’t open it, Sadie, I told myself. Don’t. Open. It.

  After about one minute of a great debate in my head, I couldn’t help myself. I ripped the first envelope open. What was inside made my eyes bulge. It was a bank statement that said Ray had just shy of half a million dollars in his account. I wasted no time in opening the second envelope. Inside that one was also a bank statement, that one with only two hundred thousand. Just as I was about to pull off en route to Uncle Rojer’s auto shop, my phone began vibrating in my back pocket.

  “Hello?” I said knowing it was Mocha calling without looking at the caller ID.

  “Where are you at?” Mocha asked. “You never go anywhere without telling me.”

  “Damn, Mom, I didn’t think you would be that worried,” I said pulling off away from the curb in front of Grandma Rae’s house.

  “Shut up, bitch, after the mess you were talking, I thought you had gone out and done some stupid shit,” she said.

  She sounded as if she was seriously worried about me so I couldn’t even be agitated.

  “No, not yet anyways. I haven’t talked to Ray yet. As a matter of fact, where are you at right now?” I asked.

  “The dorm, obviously, bitch. How else would I know you aren’t here?” I could hear her eyes rolling.

  “Well, get in your car and meet me at Uncle Rojer’s shop. You know Ray always helps out on Thursdays. I would rather talk to him about this face to face.”

  “OK,” Mocha told me. “I’m leaving now.”

  “I’ll see you there.”

  “Say?” she asked just as I was about to hang up the phone.

  “What?”

  “What if he says no? Then what?” she asked in all seriousness.

  “Then nothing,” I told her. “He’s not going to say no.”

  * * *

  “Well, look what the cat done dragged in!” Uncle Rojer greeted both Mocha and I when we walked into the garage. He and Ray were in the middle of working on a raggedy-looking green pickup truck when they heard our footsteps.

  Ray turned around and smiled when he saw us.

  “I was wondering when you two were going to come looking for me,” he said wiping his hands off on a rag hanging from the pockets of his dirty overalls. “About a day late though.”

  For some reason, seeing Ray was different to me. For once, I didn’t look at him as my big cousin who protected me and kept my pockets filled. I saw him as the street saw him. His presence demanded respect. He was the epitome of a boss, and I knew then that soon, Coopa’s mistakes in the streets would get him caught up. I was at a loss for words with my cousin for a moment, but quickly, I regained my composure. He might’ve thought I was shook; but really, I was in awe.

  “How are you doing, Unc?” I asked my uncle, not knowing what to say to Ray.

  Uncle Rojer was a forty-four-year-old heavyset man, which was odd due to the fact that he was almost as tall as Ray.

  “Tired!” Uncle Rojer’s loud voice boomed. “Seems like every motherfucka in this city done broke their car!”

  “It’s what’s bringing in your money, though, Unc,” Ray chuckled.

  “Yea, yea.” Uncle Rojer began walking to the door leading to the inside of his shop. “Just make sure you lock up the place.”

  He waved bye to us. When I heard an engine start and the car drive off, I knew he was gone. I went and sat on a chair next to the truck that was previously being worked on.

  “I have to go to the ladies’ room.” Mocha excused herself from the garage, and I knew what she was doing. “I’ll be right back.”

  She shot me a look as she exited to the inside of the shop, and I knew she would be gone until things with Ray got squared away.

  “So much for being ride or die,” I said. I was hoping I would have her support in the matter of the conversation with Ray

  “So, what’s up, shorty?” Ray threw his towel to the side and pulled up a chair directly in front of me.

  He knew what I wanted. He was testing me again. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me, especially with what I was asking for. What I wanted wasn’t just given; it came at a cost. I had to prove that I was worth it.

  “You know what’s up, Ray. You’ve known since that day at the restaurant,” I started. The way he was looking at me with those sharp eyes again I was almost unsure of myself. “Regardless if you help me or not, you know what lifestyle I want to live. The lifestyle I’m going to live. I’m not like my mom. You know the shit I dealt with coming up in Grandma Rae’s house. Everybody knew about my momma being a hoe and was sure I would be just like that.”

  Ray’s eyes stared intensely into mine; I could tell that he was latching onto every word escaping my mouth. He knew all of the stories about my mother. He probably knew some that even I didn’t know, so I knew he understood what I was saying. But I needed him to feel what I was saying. I was only nineteen, but in my mind, I was double that.

  “In some ways, I’m just like her. We’re obviously attracted to the same things. But the difference is that I plan to be on top, never on the bottom. So what’s up, boss? You gon’ put me on or nah?”

  I looked at Ray to see his exact reaction, but all I got was a look of sadness.

  “Don’t
look at me like that,” I said sternly to him. “Don’t you fucking dare look at me like that!”

  Ray sighed before finally nodding his head.

  “OK . . . OK, it seems to me whether or not I help you, you’re determined to make it into the game somehow. I would rather you be with me than against me. I know your drive. But just give me a minute, a’ight?”

  “How long, Ray? When Coopa has your ass laid out in a ditch?” I asked him becoming upset that he was really trying to give me the runaround. “Real shit, Ray, the time is now or never.”

  I didn’t like the fact that it seemed like Ray was Coopa’s flunky, especially when Ray was the brains behind every operation. He was the reason Coopa’s pockets stayed filled, and I didn’t understand why Ray stood for it. Ray never had it in him to follow; he always had to be in the lead. But Coopa had a team and a connect, while Ray had only himself. So it seemed. If he was going to start, it was going to have to be from scratch, and I was willing to help build with him. Instead of responding to my words, however, Ray stood up and grabbed a duffle bag.

  “I have to go get dressed. I’ma fuck with y’all later, OK?” he said, and with that, he left the garage.

  I sat there dumbfounded, staring at the green truck. I couldn’t believe he had just cut me off like that, like my conversation wasn’t worth his time. I heard the door open to the shop once more, and I looked up to see Ray standing there staring at me.

  “Keep your phone on OK, shorty?” he said smiling. “Something big is about to go down.”

  Before I could inquire on what the hell he was talking about, he was gone again. Seconds after his exit, Mocha reappeared. She saw the bewildered look on my face and held up her hands.

  “What just happened?” she asked me, wanting to know all of the details.

  “I-I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Come on, let’s go.” I stood up to leave the garage and ponder over Ray’s words.

  “Did you get your answer?” she pressed again walking after me.

  “We’ll see,” I said and got into my car.

  “I drove all the way down here for a fuckin’ we’ll see?”

  “Yea,” I told her. “You did. I’ll see you back at home.”

  I started my car and sped off, leaving her on the sidewalk to inhale my exhaust. I knew that was rude since I’d told her to come meet me, but whatever. I had too many of my own thoughts to sort through. If Ray didn’t accept my business proposition, I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I would rather be a broke homeless person on the street than stuck in a career I hated for the rest of my life. The streets were all I knew, and there was money in them. So why not invest? I couldn’t help but to wonder what Ray was going to say when he called me; hopefully, something good.

  Hopefully.

  Chapter 7

  Ray handed the shiny silver keys back to the owner of the green pickup and closed up the shop once it drove off. He was no longer in the dirty overalls that he wore on the days he chose to work at his uncle’s shop. He’d gone to the bathroom in his uncle’s office and taken a shower. When he emerged, he looked like a new man. Gone were the somewhat thuggish clothes he’d become accustomed to wearing. Replacing them was a light green Gucci button up that was slightly tucked into his tan Gucci slacks, and on his feet he wore light green Gucci dress shoes to match. The shoes added a nice touch, and with his dreads pulled back into a ponytail, Ray’s appearance was very suave. As soon as he put on his coat and stepped out of the shop to lock the door, an all-black Mercedes with windows tinted so dark pulled up. You couldn’t see who the passengers inside were. It slowed to a stop in front of the shop. Ray glanced down at the diamond-studded Rolex on his wrist gleaming back up at him. It read six o’clock.

  Right on time, Ray thought to himself as he approached the vehicle.

  Ray was supposed to be handling some business for Coopa. Word had it that another one of his houses had gotten hit. But if all went well, that wouldn’t be Ray’s problem any longer, so he didn’t answer his call.

  Lately, Coopa had been on some acting-funny shit with Ray, but Ray knew what was going on. He didn’t speak about it, especially when people brought it to his attention, but he knew that Coopa was losing his grip on the game. Ray knew he’d been doing the thing that led to every great hustler’s demise. He’d started smoking his own product. Ray had always been observant so he could tell by the slight twitch in Coopa’s right eye and by the way he constantly rubbed his hands together that he was on drugs. Those were two things he didn’t do before, and as soon as he started doing them, his empire began to crumble. Coopa also started to make poor choices in business and putting snakes on. He was putting his trust in all the wrong people. Within a year, almost half a million dollars came up unspoken for. No one knew that but Ray and Coopa, and that was another reason Ray didn’t trust him. Coopa noticed all of that from the beginning but hadn’t done anything to prevent it except kill the people he actually found out for sure were stealing from him. Why would Ray make an effort to save a man who couldn’t save himself? The game was going to have its way with Coopa. Ray wasn’t a fortune-teller, but he could see that.

  Ray knew when he first started working with Coopa no good would come from it. His pockets would stay fat for a while, but he knew eventually the time would come when he would have to strike out on his own. Ray had the mind-set of a real man and the swagger of a hustler. He was intelligent, ruthless, and got every job done without a blemish. He knew that in order to set the operation off right, he would need a connect with some product that nobody had ever seen. It was backward a little bit because Ray had helped Coopa add on to his empire, only to take it into his own grasp. He knew Coopa wasn’t going to bow without a fight. Ray had heavy artillery, but Coopa had heavy artillery and the manpower. For a while, Ray felt like an ant in the shadow of a shoe . . . until one night an unknown number hit his phone.

  The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to one Ray had never heard before. Listening to the person speak, he knew it belonged to someone of Italian heritage. The person informed him that they’d been watching him very closely, and they liked the way he handled his business. Told him that they couldn’t say much over the phone but to be ready at six p.m. the following Thursday in business attire.

  “None of that thug shit.”

  Any other time, Ray would have been suspicious of a setup, but something in him told him it wasn’t. He walked to the car, and the door opened for him. Ray entered the car with three Italians seated, all dressed in black Armani suits. Ray studied all of their hardened faces trying to read them, and, in turn, they did the same to him. To Ray’s surprise, he recognized one of the men in the car as a man who’d been to his uncle’s shop a few times for minor car problems. He’d told Uncle Rojer that he was just in town for a few days and wanted his vehicle inspected. His name was Vinny.

  Vinny stared at Ray and was very impressed with his attire. He knew from the first day he met Ray that he was dealing with someone with potential. The way he knew numbers was impeccable. There would be no getting over on him. He could see by Ray’s poise that he was different, unlike the two-bit street hustlers he’d grown accustomed to seeing in Detroit. The majority of them weren’t about business, just quick cash, but with the information he’d dug up about Ray, he knew he would be the perfect attribute to his cartel. Vinny needed to expand his work. He didn’t want to control any territory, he just wanted to get off his product. He was looking to be the supplier; however, he needed someone trustworthy and business savvy enough to supply to. At first he’d heard about a man named Coopa, but after scoping him out for a few days, he saw how sloppy he handled his work. Doing business with a man like him would be too much of a liability. Vinny needed someone he could depend on. Not someone who would end him up in federal prison.

  After testing Coopa’s product, Vinny knew for a fact that the hunger in Detroit was real because nobody wanted to deal with a plug who couldn’t even deliver. Vinny heard
about Ray through the grapevine and was pleased with what he’d seen. He had one of his men contact him and ready a meeting as soon as possible. The streets of Detroit were getting hungry, and Vinny had what their appetite craved.

  “Gentlemen,” Ray broke the silence nodding his head at the occupants of the Mercedes, and they returned the gesture.

  “I believe we met indirectly before,” Vinny said, holding his hand out from the far side of the backseat where he and Ray sat. “I am Vinny, and that’s Eduardo,” he nodded to the heavyset, slick-haired driver. “And that man right there is Stanley.”

  Stanley nodded at them from the passenger seat. His sleek black hair was combed up into a Mohawk, making his beaklike nose even more distinguishable. Stanley gave Ray the eye, and Ray stared back wondering why the muhfucka was staring at him. Stanley then nodded his approval to Vinny, who smiled wide. Vinny was a middle-aged man. He’d come from a wealthy family of mobsters, so he knew no other life than the dirty one he lived.

  “This, my friends,” Vinny pointed at Ray, “is the future! Ray, you’re not new to this, so let us get straight into business.”

  “I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Ray said cockily and got comfortable in his heated leather seat waiting for Vinny to continue.

  “As I’m sure you know, Coopa has some very unhappy customers. He doesn’t have what the streets are looking for, and pretty soon, he’s going to pay for it. Probably with his life or his dick; one of the two.” Vinny’s accent was laying on thick with every word spoken. “The city needs some new work . . . and a new leader. Someone willing to get their hands dirty.”

  “So what are you proposing, Vinny?” Ray asked, cutting to the chase. “You got some work for me?”

  Vinny chuckled at Ray’s boldness, but little did he know Ray was just as deadly as him.

  “You know how this shit works. To rule, you need a connect. I got what you’re looking for,” he told Ray, staring seriously into his eyes. “I’m not going to lie. I’ve been watching your every move for a few days now, and I like you, kid. You’re smooth; the little operation you have going on is nice. I just don’t know yet if I can trust you.”