No More Tears in the End (17 page)

“Why don’t you make me one too?” I said and finished my drink. “Why don’t you like her? She seems like a nice person.”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s real nice and whatever. I just don’t like her, and let’s leave it at that.” When Rain came back she had both bottles. Like she planned on us being there for a while. That was fine with me. I had a lot of questions for her; about her brother and their operation. Specifically; what else she had going on. If we do move on them, I wanted there to be as few surprises as possible.

She took my glass and poured me a drink. As soon as she poured herself a shot, I raised my glass.

“Didn’t mean to make you mad,” I said and drained my glass. Rain followed suit and drained hers.

I took the glass from her hand and poured her another and one for myself.

“I would rather drink to something else,” Rain said.

“What do you wanna drink to?”

Rain raised her glass. “Anything
that don’t have nothin’ to do with Lakeda Johnson
.” Rain turned up her glass. “Talk to me about something else.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know; anything.”

“I’d rather talk about you.”

“Why you wanna know about me?”

“You already know ’bout me. Only thing I know about you is that you’re twenty-two. I know you can handle a gun.”

Rain looked at me and smiled. I was starting to like the way she smiled. Rain had those pouty lips I seem to like so much. “My daddy taught me how to shoot.”

“You daddy’s little girl?”

“Yup. Everything I know that’s important I learned from him. He taught me a lot about dealin’ with people.”

“How to get them to do what you want them to do?”

“That too. But he taught me to look and listen. Said that’s why we got two eyes and two ears.”

“And only one mouth.”

“Exactly.” Rain poured herself another drink. “I remember once when I was in high school.”

“What school did you go to?”

“Immaculate Conception.”

“Catholic school girl.”

“And I ain’t even catholic. Pops sent me there after I got kicked out of public school.”

“What you get kicked out for?”

“Fightin’. Let this mouth get me into somethin’ I had to fight my way out of. That’s when he told me about lookin’ and listenin’ to mugs, see where they really coming from. But when I first got there these girls wanted to try me, you know, ’cause I’m new and shit. But I just got kicked out of school for fightin’, so I’m tryin’ to be cool. But these bitches won’t let up. So I tell Pops about it.”

“What he say?”

“He listened, and then he said, ‘I can’t tell you what to do. I could tell you what I would do if I was in your place.’ Then he said that I had to start makin’ my own decisions, and once I made those decisions that I had to be willing to stand up and be responsible for those decisions.”

“Good advice.”

“Yeah, I’ve lived by it since. But anyway, he said this is a matter of honor. You already know what the right thing to do is. The right thing is not to fight in school. So if it just a question of right and wrong, the choice was easy.”

“Don’t fight in school.”

“That was the right thing. He said what I have to decided is doin’ the right shit worth what I had to give up?”

“Your honor.”

“Pops told me once that all you really have at the end of the day is your honor. If you don’t have honor you don’t have shit. I know the right thing was to let them bitch-punk me everyday, tell a teacher or some shit. I tried all that, it didn’t work. I had to beat the bitch down, but it was a decision I had to make for myself.”

“What you do?”

“They would always come at me in the lunchroom. So, like, I’m in line, right, gettin’ my food and here they come.”

“How many?”

“Four. Soon as this bitch says something to me, I
takes
my tray and wheeled around on her ass. I caught her in the face with it and she starts cryin’ like a fuckin’ baby. After all that tough talk, this bitch is cryin’ like a baby. You believe that shit?”

“Sometimes bullies are all talk.”

“Yeah, no shit. I just kept hittin’ her with that tray until the teachers came and pulled me off her ass. The other
kids was
cheerin’ and shit, ‘get her, get her,’ ’cause this bitch used to fuck with everybody. Nobody liked her, but they
was
all afraid of her. I got a rush from beatin’ her ass. It was the best feelin’.”

“Did they kick you out?”

“Pops had paid for the year in advance and he spread some money around, so they just suspended me since everybody knew she had been fuckin’ with me since I got there.”

“I bet nobody fucked with you when you got back?”

“Nope. I was the queen fuckin’ bee after that.”

I raised my glass. “To the queen.”

Rain raised her glass and pointed at me. “Queen needs a king.”

For the next couple of hours I sat in the office drinking shots with Rain while she flirted with me and I asked her questions. The more
Patron
she drank, the easier it was to get answers. I needed to know about their gambling operations, and what exactly she was in to, but I worked it into conversation so it didn’t seem like I was interrogating her.

When Rain announced, “I’m fucked up in this bitch.” I finished my drink and stood up.

“Where you goin’?” Rain said and tried to get up, but couldn’t.

“I got something to do.”

“Why you gotta go?” she pouted. “Have another drink with me.”

“You don’t need
no
more to drink and besides, you haven’t even finished the one you got.”

“Oh yeah,” Rain said and looked at the glass in her hand. She put the glass down and tried again to get up. I held out my hand to help her up. “Thank you,” she said in a whisper. “You can’t go.”

“Yes, I can.”

Rain took a step closer. “So you think you can just come in here, get my ass drunk, ask me
a bunch-of-fuckin’ questions
, and then leave?”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, Nick. That’s not right. You can’t leave me like this.”

“This is your spot; you’ll be all right here.”

Rain took a step closer but she stumbled a little. I caught her before she fell. She pressed her body against mine and put her arms around me. “That ain’t what I mean. You can’t leave me like this. The least you could do is drive me home, strip me down and put my ass to bed so I can sleep this off, ’cause, I’m for real, I’m fucked up,” Rain laughed and so did I.

What was I supposed to do?

“Come on, Rain.” I stepped away and took her by the hand. “Can you walk?”

“Long as you don’t let me fall I can walk.”

Rain showed me the way out the back door. That’s when I saw it, another computer sitting on a desk where anybody and everybody could use it.

We made it to my car without her doin’ too much stumbling. I unlocked the door and helped her get in. When I started the car I turned to Rain. Her eyes were closed. “Where do you live?”

“Mount Vernon,” she said and repositioned herself.

“Where?” I asked and turned on the navigation system. Rain said the address and made
herself
comfortable.

Rain slept through the drive to her apartment. While she slept, I thought about what I was doing, and more importantly, what I was about to do. I mean its not like I don’t see where this was goin’.

Rain had been flirting with me all night and I went along with it because I wanted something. I could have shut it down anytime I wanted to, but I didn’t. I used it. Used her.

I had sized-up her father’s gambling operation and she told me everything I needed to know about her brother. But now I wasn’t so sure that it was Miles. Anybody could have sent those e-mails. I was back to square one.

But either way, I got what I came for, so what was I still doing with her? Drunk or not, I could have left Rain right where she was, and she would be just fine.

I thought about Wanda. I loved her, but I had to admit that Rain moved me in ways Wanda doesn’t. They were exact opposites. Wanda’s a businesswoman and Rain’s a ride-or-die chick.

“Rain, Rain.” I nudged her. “We’re here.”

The ride seemed to have sobered Rain up enough that she got out of the car under her own power. “I’m okay, I can walk,” she slurred as she gathered herself together. I was thankful. Carrying her inside was the last thing I wanted to do.

Rain semi-staggered toward her door and fumbled for her keys. Once she unlocked the door I started to say goodnight. “I'll—”

She grabbed me by the arm.
“Come in, I want to show you my place.”

“Just for a minute, I got someplace I need to be.”

“Have a seat,” she said, stepping out of her heels as soon as she walked through the door. I followed her in, looking around the apartment. “Very nice, Rain.”

“Thank you,” she said and started walking toward the back of the apartment.

I started to sit on the couch, but selected a lone chair instead. “You want a drink?” she said when she came back.

 
“What do you have?” From where I was seated it looked like she had taken off her bra.

“Patron okay? It’ll have to be, it’s all I have.”

“I guess it will have to be,” I stood up and walked toward the kitchen. Rain came out carrying the bottle and two glasses. She handed me a glass and then took a step closer. “What should we drink to?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, stepping toward Rain almost out of instinct.

“Let’s drink to tonight. I had a good time with you.”

“I enjoyed you too. We have to hangout again.”

“Do you mean that?” Rain said, almost in disbelief. “You wanna hangout with me?”

“Yeah.”

“I was startin’ to think you didn’t like me.”

“Why? Because I’m not all over you?”

“Yes. Most men can’t resist me, but you treat me like a little girl.”

We toasted our night and emptied our glasses. I leaned forward to put my glass on the bar just as Rain reached for the bottle to refill the glasses. Her breasts brushed softly against my chest, ending all speculation about the bra.

Rain handed me my glass and stepped to my chest again. She exhaled. I felt her nipples brush my chest. My eyes met hers then dropped to her cleavage. She followed my eyes. Rain touched my face and she kissed me. It caught me off guard at first, but slowly I warmed to the task and put my body into that kiss.

I thought about Wanda, thought about what I was about to do and pulled up. When I stepped away from Rain I saw somebody at her window, and then I saw the gun.

I grabbed Rain by the shoulders and pushed her down behind the couch. We stared into each other eyes while the bullets flew over us.

“I want to fuck you so bad,” Rain said.

When the shooting stopped Rain jumped up and ran toward the front door. She grabbed a gun from the lamp table by the door and ran out. I ran out after her. I got outside in time to see two men running down the street. Rain began firing wildly in their direction while she ran.

A Chrysler 300 stopped in front of them and they started to get in. I fired and hit one of them before he made it in. The other one got in the car and they drove off and left him there. Rain kept running behind the car, busting shots the whole time.

I went for the car and caught up with Rain. I pulled up alongside of her. “Get in!” I yelled and took off after the 300. It turned the corner and sped away.

Rain let down the window and fired again. “I’m empty.” I handed her mine. “Do you see them?”

“Over there, on your right. About two cars ahead,” I answered as I weaved in and out of traffic until I caught up. The 300 turned sharp onto Lincoln Avenue. As they crossed Columbus the light turned yellow.

“Don’t lose him,” Rain yelled.

“I won’t.” I stepped on it and just barely made it before the light turned red. Just then, the 300 cut across lanes, causing the cars to crash in front of me.

“Shit!”

I slammed on my brakes, turned sharply to the left to get around it, then I had to swerve back right to avoid the on-coming cars.

As I got closer, Rain started shooting. This time she hit the left rear tire. The 300 spun out of control and slammed into some parked cars. I pulled over ahead of the wrecked 300. With guns drawn, Rain and I approached the car slowly. There were two men in the car. Both of them appeared to be alive. I recognized them as I got closer. They were with Shake the night Rain shot him.

“You niggas?” Rain raised her gun and started shooting through the window. I emptied my clip. We stood there looking at each other for awhile before we went back to my car.

Chapter 27

When we got back to Rain’s apartment the cops were there, so we decided not to stay. “I need some place to stay,” Rain said as we drove away.
I
 
stopped
at the first motel I got to. I left Rain in the car and went to get a room for her. “You okay?”