No More Tears in the End (10 page)

“No, no. It’s all right, Lorraine. Come in. I want you to meet somebody.”

She went and stood next to her father and I could see the resemblance.

“Nick, this is my daughter Lorraine. Lorraine, this is Nick Simmons, he’s an associate of Mike Black.”

Lorraine smiled like somebody told her that she had just hit the number. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Simmons. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“It’s Nick, and it’s good to meet you too, Lorraine.”

“Call me Rain,” she said and went to the bar to fix
herself
a drink. “I’m just gonna get a drink and then I’ll be out of your way. We can talk later, Daddy.”

“It’s good that you’re here, Lorraine. Nick was just tellin’ me that one of his places was robbed, and the word is that we had something to do with it. You hear anything about that?”

“Nope,” Rain said quickly, “how much money we talkin’ ’bout here?”

“About two hundred dollars.”

Rain laughed just like her father did. “I can tell you right now that we wouldn’t be involved in no small-change robbery like that.”

“All the same, Lorraine, I want you to talk to Jeff Ritchie about it and ask around. Two people were killed: Innocent people, just waitin’ to get their food.” JR turned to me. “See Nick, this is exactly what we
was
just talkin’ ’bout. There was a time when something like this would never happen. Killin’ civilians over some chump change, shit, every player in town would be all over this, tryin’ to make it right ’cause it makes all of us look bad,” JR said angrily.

“I knew you would understand, JR I’ve taken up enough of your time. If you hear anything let me know,” I said and started moving toward the door.

“I’ll do that, Nick. You have my word on it.” JR turned to Rain. “See Mr. Simmons out, would you, baby, and tell Jeff Ritchie that I need to see him.”

Rain kissed her father on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, Daddy.”

Rain looped her arm in mine and walked with me out of her father’s office. As we passed the bar Rain turned to me. “You in a hurry, Nick?”

“Not especially.”

“Good. Then you have time to have a drink with me.”

“Sure,” I said and Rain led me to a table near the back of the club and signaled for a waitress.

I had Johnnie Black of course, she had straight tequila. After we ordered, Rain took a deep breath. “I wasn’t exactly honest with you back there in the office.”

“Honest about what?”

“The robbery.”

“What about the robbery?”

“I heard the same thing. That it was some of our people that did it.”

“Why didn’t you say that then, and the better question is why are you tellin’ me now?”

“You probably couldn’t tell it to look at him, but my father ain’t in the best of heath. He’s been sick a lot lately.”

“I couldn’t tell. What’s wrong with him?”

“Doctors don’t know. Bunch of fuckin’ quacks. All that fuckin’ money we give them and other than him havin’ high-blood pressure, they can’t tell us shit.”

Rain stopped talkin’ when the waitress returned with our drinks. Once the waitress left, Rain shot her tequila. Not wantin’ to be punked by this young girl, I shot mine.

“I don’t like to bother Pops with shit like that. I ain’t tryin’ to make his pressure go up. You see how upset he was gettin’.”

“I can understand that. But my question is what you gonna do about it?”

“I can take you to the place where they hangout.”

“I don’t need you to take me anywhere. You just need to tell me who they are and where to find them.”

“No deal.”

No deal?

Has this little girl lost her fuckin’ mind?

“What you mean no deal? This ain’t
no
fuckin’ negotiation. You’re gonna tell me what I need to know and I’ll take care of it.”

“Good luck findin’ them without me then.”

I had to admit, the little girl had heart, I just wasn’t gonna admit it to her.

“Look, Nick, if these are my people. I’m the one who needs to make this right. Not you, me. So here’s how it’s gonna go. Me and you gonna roll by they spot, and I’m gonna handle my family’s business. And I’ma
tell
you why. See, I ain’t
no
stranger to you and how you handle your business.”

“Really?”

“Really. Niggas is still talkin’ ’bout some of the shit you and that nigga Freeze used to do: Burnin’ bitch-niggas with acid and shit; throwin’ muthafuckas off rooftops and shit. Y’all was the type a niggas that would shoot first and never get to the ask questions part. See, if you do that, all it’s gonna do is make muthafuckas wanna bust back for they homies. Then y’all gonna come at us and that ain’t how this shit need to go. Am I right?”

I didn’t answer her ’cause she was right. The way I was feelin’, I wouldn’t be askin’ how and why. I might just walk up on whoever it was and put a bullet in their brain and we’d be at war over some bullshit when Black, not to mention Wanda, are making plans to move us away from all this.

“Okay.” I stood up. “We’ll do it your way.”

“I knew you’d see the logic in my point,” Rain said and started for the door.

We got in my car, she told me where to go and I headed in that direction. I started to call some people to handle this shit for me, you know, since I was boss now. But I wanted to do this myself. I needed to let out some of this rage I was feelin’ over Freeze being dead and it being my fault. And besides, I was the one who promised Mrs. Phillips that I would see that whoever killed Zakiya would get what’s coming to them.

On the way, Rain told me about the stories she had heard about me and I told her which ones were true. “I gotta admit that I always wanted to meet you. I met Freeze a couple of times. That was one scary nigga, may he rest in peace; and relentless. Once he was on to something you might as well lay down ’cause you
was
good as dead.”

The more she talked about me and Freeze and the way we used to roll, the madder I got. I tried to calm myself down by changing the subject. “So with JR being sick, and you keepin’ shit from him, who runs things? Jeff Ritchie?”

“No. Jeff Ritchie is a bullet. You load him in a gun and pull the trigger. Jeff Ritchie ain’t got the mind for shit like that.”

“The question still stands.”

“I run shit.”

“You?”

“Yeah, me. Somethin’ wrong with that?”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-two. And in case you didn’t hear me the first time, I’ll ask you again: Is somethin’ wrong with that?”

“No. Ain’t
nothing
wrong with that, as long as you can handle it.”

“And you don’t think I do?”

“I don’t know you. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t give a fuck. How y’all run your business
don’t
matter to me.”

“Okay, Nick. Chill out. I wasn’t tryin’ to make you mad or nothing. I got mad respect for you. And if what I hear in the wind is true—then you ain’t the one to be fuckin’ wit’,” Rain said.

I took a breath. “So, why don’t you tell me how you run your thing?”

“Well, Pops still pretty much runs the gambling and shit. And I run everything else.”

“What is everything else?”

“Little of this, little of that. I usually got something goin’. Sell a little dope, you know.”

“I thought JR wasn’t involved in the dope game?”

“He ain’t, and he
don’t
know that I am. And I hope that you ain’t plannin’ on tellin’ him. Like I said, shit like that will just send his blood pressure through the roof, and I ain’t havin’ that.”

“You don’t have worry about me bein’ a snitch. But I seem to remember JR havin’ a son. What’s up with him?”

“My brother Miles. He’s playin’ the family man role. You know, he married, a got a couple of kids. He runs the club and keeps the books. He ain’t got
no
heart for this other shit.”

“Okay, Rain, why don’t you tell me who we’re goin’ to see?”

“His name is Rodney Baker, but they call him Shake.”

“You know why he robbed our joint or why he killed those people?”

“I ain’t heard nothin’ ’bout that.
I just heard it was him and his crew. I was gonna see ’bout it, but me and Shake don’t usually see eye-to-eye on shit. That’s what I was gonna talk to Pop about. Get some advice on how to settle our beef.”

“I thought you didn’t wanna bother him with shit like that?”

“I don’t. But that nigga is all out of control.”

Chapter 16

We pulled up in front of the place and went inside. It was a neighborhood joint, long bar and a few tables. Loud rap music pumped from two huge speakers at the back of the room. “You see them?” I asked and Rain took a quick look around.

“No.”

I looked the place over for other exits. Always a good idea to know how we were gonna get out in case shit gets wild. “You know if that door leads to the street?”

“I think it goes to the back door that leads to the alley. But I ain’t sure.”

“Why don’t you get us a table by that door? I’m goin’ to get us a drink.”

I went to the bar and ordered while Rain went to find us a table. The bartender had just put our drinks on the bar when three men came through the front door. I looked over at Rain. She nodded her head and started moving through the crowd to get to them.

“That’s fifteen,” the bartender said.

I peeled off a twenty. “Keep the change.” I shot my drink and started for them. As I made my way, I saw Rain get up in the face of a big Jabba the Hut lookin’ muthafucka. I assumed that he was
Shake
by the size of his belly. By the time I got to them I heard Shake say, “You beat me outta ten grand, bitch!”

“Who the fuck you callin’ bitch, you fat muthafucka? I ain’t
beat
you outta shit!” And with that, Rain reached back and slapped the shit outta him.

Jabba the Hut came out with his gun. I already had
mine
out. Rain was a little slow with hers, so were Jabba’s crew. They were still trippin’ off Rain bitch-slappin’ Jabba.

Since I wasn’t tryin’ to kill him, I hit Jabba in the arm with my first shot, but that didn’t stop him from shooting at Rain. The people in the place all scattered at the sound of the shots.

Rain turned over a table and took cover. Then she sprang up quickly and fired a few rounds at Jabba. He was a big muthafucka, so there was no way she could miss his big ass. She caught him with one to the gut and one to the head. Jabba went down hard.

While the crowd forced their way out the front door, I grabbed Rain by the hand and headed out the back. We made it back to my car in time to hear the police sirens in the distance.

Rain was hyped as we drove away from there. “That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout! Did you see the way I slapped the fuck out that nigga, the way I put two in his bitch ass?”

“Yeah, Rain, I saw it.” Maybe it was her first time, I don’t know, but she definitely was more excited about it than I was.

“When we do catch up with the niggas that robbed you, I’ma
do
the same shit.”

“What you mean? That wasn’t them?”

“Na. I asked him ’bout that before we got into it ’bout our shit.”

I was mad as hell, but I tried not to show it. “You believe him?”

“No reason for him to lie ’bout it.”

“I heard him say that you beat him outta ten grand.”

“The muthafucka say the package I sold him had so much cut on it that he couldn’t do nothing wit’ it.”

“Was it?”

“Why you wanna know all that?”

“Why you think?”

“Damn. Sorry I got you up in that shit.” Rain laughed. “He was right, the shit was stepped on. But that’s not how I usually roll. He just caught me at a bad time.”

“So instead of making it right, you killed him for it.” This was exactly the kind of shit her father was just complaining about. If JR knew his daughter was out here, not only dealin’, which he is dead set against, but doing shit like this. . . .

“Hey, I tried to make it right. When he came at me ’bout it I offered to make it right on the next package. But he said he wanted his ten Gs back. I said give me back the dope. Nigga says he cooked it up and sold it. Now what am I supposed to do?” Rain asked and I didn’t bother answering her. She wouldn’t have liked my answer anyway. There was silence until we pulled up in front of her father’s spot. “What we doin’ here?”

“What you think we doin’ here? I’m droppin’ you off.”

“Why?”

“You got anymore ideas?”

Rain folded her arms across her chest and her lower lip eased out a little. She had just shot somebody and now she was pouting like a spoiled child.

“I didn’t think so.”

“Well, where you goin’?”

“I got shit to do.”

“Let me ride wit’ you?”