The Last Kings

by C. N. Phillips

  Ray stopped as he reflected on what Grandmas Rae used to say to Sadie growing up. “Sadie, you’re Grandma Rae’s special baby. Your heart is special. Make this world, don’t let it make you.”

  Sadie’s ambition and loyalty to the game was something Ray knew he was going to need. He remembered when they were younger and Grandma Rae could only afford to put twenty dollars a month in their pockets. Sadie would take her money to the candy store and spend it all. She sold the candy at school, and like a slanger on the corner, she tweaked the prices so that the students would still buy, but so that she would also make a good profit. Since candy at school was like cocaine to a crack house, all the kids flocked to her. Soon, it was nothing to flip twenty dollars into $300 in a matter of days. Ray knew her game was tight when she started bringing shopping bags home that neither he nor their grandmother bought.

  She actually got expelled from the first high school that she attended while staying with Grandma Rae. It turned out that Sadie was the head of an operation at school that sold things; nothing illegal, however. Somehow, she got her hands on a piece of paper with the schedules of every student and teacher. It also told her when and where a classroom would be vacant. She would have one of her team send out a mass text to an exclusive number of students, letting them know when and where to come to shop. Her shop was only open fifteen minutes a day to keep it low-key. Sadie had moved up from selling candy. She started selling designer clothes she purchased on sale with the money from the original candy operation. She then sold them to all the scandalous bitches and raggedy niggas at school for the low, trying to get their stunt on. Sadie had the good shit too. Gucci, True Religion, Dior dresses, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc. You name it, and for the right price, Sadie got it.

  Ray was beyond impressed when he overheard his grandmother and uncle discussing it one night. She, single-handedly, started her own business at school and was bringing in a minimum of $5,000 a week. Ray had that in mind the day he handed her that pistol. If she could flip work like that at age sixteen, he could only imagine what she could do with cocaine. The need to make money burned a fire in her eyes, and Ray knew that she was a valuable asset to The Last Kings and to himself. Out of all the six businesses, she was bringing in the most money, effortlessly. Ray knew at that very moment, Sadie was making a $150,000 deal, but she didn’t feel as if that was enough money for her to show her face, so she did a conference call and had the money wired. Some of their soldiers were going to be making the drop. The way she moved her work was impeccable. Ray was a real nigga, so he could admit how crucial losing Sadie would be for his business. He also knew that out of everyone, including Tyler, Sadie was the one he could trust with everything. He knew this because they shared all of the same values, and he knew that because he instilled them in her.

  “I’ve been so wrapped up in this shit that I haven’t even taken the time to ask you how you’ve been.” Ray shook his head, disgusted with himself.

  “Naw, you’re good,” she reassured him. “We’ve all been busy, even Mocha. This cartel has to be strong. You never know when a hating-ass nigga is going to try to go to war. We have all the time in the world to spend time; right now, it’s about getting this money the best way we know how.”

  Ray smiled at Sadie’s words and nodded once in respect. Unlike most people, Sadie got it. She understood the way of life when cocaine was involved. You got no time off. Unless your cousin ran the whole city. The Last Kings ran Detroit, and over the last year, the city saw more money than it had in ten years.

  “I feel you on that.” Ray reached in his pocket and grabbed something out. “But every boss needs a break.”

  He handed Sadie the contents in his hand, and when she saw what they were, her face lit up.

  “Jamaica? Oh my God!” Sadie’s eyes widened as she looked at the tickets.

  “The perfect place to let loose, lay low, and have a good fuckin’ time,” Ray told her, reminiscing on his trips to Jamaica. “And it will give me a chance to pick ya mind a little.”

  “When are we going?” she asked, rolling her eyes although the effect was thrown off by the big smile on her face.

  Ray smiled mischievously and took the tickets back.

  “Pack your bags, shorty, our flight leaves in the morning.”

  Chapter 14

  My bags were packed in less than two hours, and I barely got any sleep. I was too ecstatic to be leaving the country. Never in my twenty years of life did I think I would ever get such an opportunity. The fact that Ray was placing it at my feet brought me even more joy. I was a little upset that Mocha wouldn’t be joining us, but that was cool. I knew she was doing her thing in the A and getting that Last Kings money. Early the next morning, my personal housekeeper Maria assisted me with waking up and getting dressed. She was a tiny, older woman, and she put me in the mind of Grandma Rae. Ray tried to get her to move in with us, but she declined, insulted. She had owned her house for more than thirty years and wasn’t going to give that up. So having Maria was a good thing on my part, especially since she treated me with the kindness and love a grandmother would give a granddaughter. After the last bag was placed inside of the Hummer limo parked outside of the house, I gave her a big hug, knowing it would be a week before I saw her again.

  “Maria?” I said into her hair.

  “Sí, señora?” Maria said, releasing me, holding my hands.

  “Do me a favor and don’t do any work for the next week.” I smiled big because she and I both knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  Maria gave a big laugh.

  “Señora, working is in my blood,” She looked lovingly into my eyes. “You do me a favor and have a good time, OK?”

  I nodded, and with one last hug, I let the driver open my door, and I climbed in the limo across from Ray. The limo was decked the fuck out with a TV and a minibar. I was thinking OK! I’m feeling this! Even though I drove an all-black Range Rover, I was still loving the luxury.

  “You ready?” Ray asked, cheesing and rubbing his fingers on his goatee.

  “I’m ready,” I smiled at him feeling the butterflies in my stomach. “I’ve never been on a plane before.”

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?” he asked me and motioned for the driver to pull off.

  I turned to look out the tinted window at Maria once more. I knew she couldn’t see me, but she waved nevertheless as the limo pulled off. I smiled and leaned back in my seat, knowing that ahead of me lies a beautiful paradise.

  “I gotta go holla at Tyler before we hit the airport,” Ray told me.

  “Cutting it close, don’t you think?” I asked, wary that we could potentially miss our flight.

  “We’ll be coo,” he turned to the right slightly and yelled to get the driver’s attention. “Pierre! Make a stop at Amore!”

  I watched Pierre, a little African man, tip his hat acknowledging Ray’s words. He drove us through the woods and finally we reached a highway. We had two hours before our flight left, and we had to be there an hour before. Pierre got us to Amore in less than fifteen minutes. That nigga was flooring the gas to get us there in a timely manner.

  I stared at the outside of the building I saw daily and felt a twinge of pride. I ran it day in and day out. Unknown to any federal agency, Amore saw a minimum of $200,000 daily. As the heart of The Last Kings, I had to make sure business was conducted regularly. Ray told me that Tyler would be overseeing the business while we were away, but I was a little worried just because no one knew how to run it better than me. I knew the clients like the back of my hand. I guess all of those research papers in college I did had some purpose in my life after all. I dug so deep into those muhfuckas’ files, I knew what hand they wiped their asses with and why. No one was going to get over on me or shut my shit down. The women I had working the club below were superb; no blemishes could be found on their bodies. They all had attributes to make the eyes of any man pop and were all nationalities. I didn’t consider myself a pimp or a madam or w
hatever the fuck they were called nowadays. The women who worked for me were women who had nothing and nobody to depend on but us. They were orphans . . . rejects. Like me, but not like me at all. I purchased a nice house for them all to live in, and I paid them well. So well that none of them would ever even think to be the birdie to chirp to any fed-ass nigga. There was only one rule . . . One way in, no way out. Once you were down with The Last Kings, you got branded for life. The pyramid on their bodies showed their allegiance to us, and if they ever wanted to stop working in the club at Amore, then they could, but they would have to put in work in another part of the operation. If they wanted out, then my .48 would see to it that that happened.

  “I’m coming in,” I told Ray as Pierre opened our door. I needed to see firsthand my shit was going to be taken care of.

  Ray smirked and shook his head.

  “Everything is going to be straight, Say.” He knew exactly why I wanted to go in.

  “Yea, whatever. I need to see this shit for myself,” I said, exiting the limo before he could.

  “We’ll be right back, Pierre,” Ray said and walked quickly after me.

  I entered the restaurant, and once we were spotted, we received an array of love.

  “Ms. Sadie! How are you today?”

  “You look fabulous!”

  “Ray, my man! Looking like a sack of money, but what’s new?”

  We smiled and greeted everyone from servers to customers. Although it was an Italian restaurant with mostly Italian customers, our faces had become implanted into the foundation of the place. Ray’s business with the Italians was proving to be the best partnership, and I truly felt like I was surrounded by family.

  We walked to the secret entrance of the club and found Tyler in the money room, of course. He was looking fresh as usual in Ralph Lauren from head to toe. The fade on his curly head was fresh, and he gave me a knowing look once he saw me.

  “I should’ve known yo’ ass wasn’t going to leave without stopping by,” Tyler said smirking at me smugly as he finished rolling a joint.

  I gave him a sideways glance and made my way past him to look at the counts so far, but before I could get to them, he stepped in front of me. His Ralph Lauren cologne invaded my nostrils, and I stopped in my tracks although I was not able to stop the butterflies from fluttering in my gut.

  “Everything is coo, ma; don’t trip,” he said seriously.

  “Move out of my way, Tyler,” I said trying to sound rude.

  “Put them fuckin’ claws away, Say,” Ray said, chuckling. “My man is only doing what I asked. You on vacation, shorty; you been working nonstop since you been on. Tyler is going to hold down the spot for you starting now.”

  “But—” I was cut off by Ray’s hand being held up, and I knew it would be futile to argue; instead, I rolled my eyes in defeat.

  “So what’s real, my nigga?” Ray asked Tyler.

  “We got a business proposal,” Tyler said simply, and my interest piqued.

  Ray was used to hearing those words, so his demeanor didn’t change. He was on an uprise and there was a handful of young men who were hungry and trying to get put on. Ray turned all of them away. You had to be chosen to be down with his operation. I wondered at times if I wasn’t family if he would have taken such a leap of faith with me and Mocha.

  “All right, so what’s up?”

  “I ain’t really wanna tell you right now since you about to be on a trip and shit,” Tyler shrugged, and I knew he could really give two fucks about our trip; money came first. “Dude from Atlanta hit me up, says he’s looking for some big work. I told him we got it, but if it ain’t legit business, we can’t fuck with ’em. Also told ’em he has to go through the big man first. You.”

  I studied Ray’s face. From the sounds of it, someone was looking at Ray to be their connect. That would be a first. Ray mainly sold to clients and those residing in his area. When it came to getting his business in other cities, Ray did it himself, and he headed those operations too.

  “Who is it?” Ray asked.

  “The nigga’s name is Khiron. He’s hot in the A, I guess,” Tyler told him.

  “Yea, I heard of that nigga. His pops used to push some heavy work back in the day. He was on some Coopa shit, though, and ended the same way.” Ray nodded his head. “If that nigga is anything like his pops, I won’t fuck with it.”

  Tyler nodded his head, agreeing.

  “I did some research on the little nigga, though, bro.” Tyler sat down and leaned back in his chair. “He’s bringing in mad work in the A. Word on the street is that his connect just got bumped up. Nigga is looking at life with no chance of ever seeing the outside world again.”

  Ray’s dreads shook slightly as he cocked his head, interested.

  “So the nigga is thirsty. I feel him. How much he throwing?”

  Tyler sparked his joint and took a long draw from it.

  “Here’s the fuckin’ kicker, bro.” He sat forward rubbing his light hand across his face. “He wants to talk business. Face-to-face, he wants to do some big business with us. I guess he heard what The Last Kings is doing in the dope game and wants a slice of this pie. Only thing is the kind of pie and how big his slice is, is up to you.”

  “A’ight, and when does he want to conduct his business?” Ray asked.

  I looked at Tyler as he fixed his mouth to speak, knowing what he was about to say before the word was out.

  “Tomorrow,” Tyler said, grinning sheepishly.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at Ray. My visions of paradise quickly faded away. Business always came first. I knew that, but I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t a slight bit disappointed. I tried to remove the disappointment from my face, but Ray still saw it.

  “A’ight,” Ray said, running his fingers through his dreads the way he did when he was deep in thought. “I’ma hold down shit here, Tyler; you’re going to go in my place to Jamaica, fam. It’s only a week.”

  Both Tyler and I looked at him, and then at each other. What Ray was informing us was that he wanted Tyler to accompany me overseas. Alone. The look in Tyler’s eyes said he didn’t think it was a good idea, and the butterflies in my stomach agreed.

  “Are you sure, fam? You might need me here,” Tyler said, still looking at me.

  “For what?” Ray asked picking up a stack of hundreds and holding it up for us to see. “The flow of this shit never stops. Go. Pierre is waiting. He has the plane tickets.”

  I broke eye contact with Tyler and smiled at Ray.

  “Thanks, fam. Just don’t burn this bitch down while I’m gone,” I whispered into his ear, giving him a hug.

  “Watch after her and make sure she has the best time possible. You feel me?” Ray said with one good squeeze, and then let me go.

  Tyler stood up and shook Ray’s hand.

  “You know it,” Tyler said. “Well, let’s go then, shorty. We don’t want to miss our flight now, do we?”

  I cut my eyes at him and gave Ray one last farewell before leading Tyler to the limo.

  “I was starting to think you weren’t coming back,” Pierre said, opening my door.

  “No, I’m definitely going, but there has been a slight change in plans,” I said nodding my head backward to Tyler. “Ray’s staying, but this nigga is coming.”

  “This nigga?” Tyler said in his deep voice laughing. “What’s up, Pierre? Just try to get us to the airport in one piece.”

  “Will do,” Pierre smiled at the two of us and winked at me.

  I didn’t know what that was all about, but it was almost like he knew something I didn’t. He shut the door behind us and once he climbed in himself, we were on our way. Tyler sat across from me, and I couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. His mother was a white woman, and his daddy was black as night. The mixture of the two gave him a nice smooth light brown skin tone. His facial hair was perfectly trimmed and lined along his powerful jawbone structure. His eyes were hazel and cold as ice, but that came with the job
. His body structure was similar to Ray’s; big, muscled, and intimidating. I tried not to stare, but it was like I was seeing him for the first time in years. As my gaze traveled down to the one thing that remained hidden, his voice interrupted my almost naughty thoughts.

  “Excited?” Tyler asked me, showing his perfect pearly whites.

  “A little bit,” I smiled at him, wondering if he’d been watching me study him that whole time.

  “Shot?” Tyler went into the bar and got out a bottle of Hennessey and two shot glasses. “Real niggas drink dark liquor.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” When I reached to grab the tiny glass Tyler had poured the liquor into, our hands brushed slightly together, and I felt a tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was a feeling that I’d been fighting off for years. I had a secret. If Ray knew that secret, he may not have let me go thousands of miles away with Tyler. Tyler was like a big cousin to me, and more so, he was Ray’s right-hand man from the jump, so any attraction I felt for him had to be ended.

  When I was in my senior year of high school, I tried to test the waters and see how far I could get before having to resurface. I remembered that night like it was yesterday. It was the reason being alone with Tyler was more than a little awkward. Tyler used to stay the night at Grandma Rae’s house all the time, and my budding crush on him had turned into a burning desire to feel him inside of me. The feelings I had for him were so real, or they seemed like it. After all of the sexual trauma I’d gone through, it was hard giving myself away to just anyone. I hated sex after Nino. I had only slept with two other guys, and I regretted both times. But for some reason, I had it in my mind that I had to have Tyler.

  At that age, all the girls were on Tyler and Ray, but I had already claimed Tyler as mine. I would sometimes catch him staring curiously at me . . . not in the way a guy looked at his best friend’s kid cousin. In his eyes there was a longing. We used to kick it all the time. He would pick me up from school, and we would just ride and talk about nothing, but everything. He told me that I was smart and could be anything I wanted to be in life, and I remember wanting to tell him all I wanted to be was his girl, even though I knew he would just turn my young ass away with all the grown pussy being thrown his way. He was asleep in Ray’s room one night. Ray was gone. I don’t remember why he was, I just remember he wasn’t there. I snuck in the room after deciding that it was time for me to make my move. I blinked, and in one quick moment, my eyes shut and I reminisced on how things played that night.