Against the Grain (15 page)

“Aiiight, you got that,” Lil ‘C’ told him.

16

Kay stood next to Jessica at the front door of the club with Big Duke behind him. He wore a tailor-made navy blue suit with Mauri Gators in the same color. Kay couldn’t believe that Jessica had set up everything so perfectly, right down to the smallest detail. The line was down the block and around the corner. It was only 10:00 p.m. and the streets were packed.

“Are ya’ll ready?” he asked everyone. “Tell Caleek to start the music.”

Kay told him to play all the old hits until midnight, then crank shit up. DJ Boobie rocked the nonstop house music on the second floor. He started with the old shit, too. When the door finally opened, there was a big spotlight on the corner, shining straight up in the air rotating from side to side. The light could be seen from miles away so out-of-towners could find the club. On the other side of the street, about ten photographers had set up lights and backdrops. People were lined up to take pictures. The crowd started coming in. There were two lines. The regular line was forty dollars a head and the VIP line was a hundred dollars a head. That line went straight in the club.

The menu included jumbo shrimp, king crab legs, and buffalo wings. There was fresh fruit and $25,000 worth of free champagne. Within an hour the club was packed.

The music changed: “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem, remix” by DMX and company. People were still lined up down the block.

The music changed: “4, 3, 2, 1,” by LL and company. The crowd was amazed at how big and lavish The Raven was. Most of the football team was there.

Shu-Shu, Misha, and Linda walked in. Kay hadn’t seen her since he left her in New York. She was looking good as usual. She wore a beige/orange tweed Chanel jacket that had only one button at the top. Beige linen Chanel pants. A white Chanel tank top. A gray lambskin Chanel handbag with silvertone hardware. And a pair of clear one-band Chanel heels. Kay kissed Shu-Shu. She was wearing his favorite perfume, Southern Exposure by Terry Ellis. He had security escort them to VIP 1.

The music changed: “I Got a Story to Tell,” by Biggie. Kay could hear the crowd go wild on the inside. A fleet of limos and vans stopped in front of the club, which caught Kay’s attention because the cops had blocked off the street. He looked at Jessica, and she smiled. The first limo door opened and out came Russell Simmons, Kimora, Kevin Liles, and Lyor Cohen. As the other limos and vans unloaded their passengers, Kay met an array of celebrities. The whole Pussy Pound made their grand entrance. When Puffy came in with his entourage, Jessica introduced them.

“Yo, I ain’t going to have none of the bullshit tonight, am I? Please don’t shoot my shit up,” Kay said to Puff with a smile.

“Nah, Playboy, I’m just here to show love and have a good time.” They gave each other a pound and Puff and his crew went inside. Kay told security to watch them niggaz. He looked up and saw his family making their entrance.

“What’s up, niggaz? I thought ya’ll wasn’t going to make it,” Kay said as he greeted everyone with pounds and hugs. He had security escort them to VIP 1 and he went to his office to change clothes.

The music changed. “We Be Clubbin’,” by Ice Cube.

•         •         •

On their way through the club, Tank saw Mia, one of his many side women, with another hustler that he knew. They were standing at the bar. Mia was from around the way. The whole crew knew her. She was a good girl who was always trying to better herself by taking different classes. She had dreams of getting her and her family out of the ghetto. She’d been messing with Tank on and off since they were young. As a matter of fact, Tank was her first lover. But now she was in love with a guy named Lil Glenn, who was getting big money over by the Alemeda. Mia was his main girl. He loved her, too. She inspired him to want to be more than a drug dealer. He’d even told her on several different occasions that one day he was going to make her his wife.

Lil Glenn knew Tank because they had done business a few times. So when Tank walked up to him and started whispering something in his ear, he thought it was going to be about better coke prices. Mia was standing on the other side of her man. As Tank spoke, she and Lil Glenn held eye to eye contact. She watched his facial expression change and she knew that Tank was up to no good. Tank and Lil Glenn gave each other a pound and Tank bounced through the crowd to join his crew, who watched as Lil Glenn screamed on Mia. She tried to explain to him what was really going on but he didn’t want to listen to her and walked toward the exit. She watched as he left the club, then searched the crowd until she found Tank and the crew, who were laughing as she approached them. They thought it was funny how Tank played her out. She had tears coming down her face.

“Oh, so I’m a freak now? You can’t stand to see someone happy, can you? If it was all about some pussy, I would have fucked you to keep your mouth shut. That’s fucked up! That shit was corny. You didn’t have to fuck my shit up like that, Tank,” Mia told him as she turned and walked away. When her words set in with everyone, an awkward silence came over the group. Tank had played himself this time.

•         •         •

Kay watched the monitors in his office. Both floors were off the hook. He turned the temperature on the cooling system down some more and took his time getting dressed. While he watched the monitors, he listened to the music change over and over. “C.R.E.A.M.” by Wu-Tang finished playing, which was Kay’s cue. The music stopped and Kay stepped on stage with a mic.

“I’d like to thank all of you for coming out to celebrate the grand opening of The Raven. I hope everyone is having a good time. For those of you that don’t know, I’m your host, Arkadian Frost, but you can call me Kay. Before we continue this party, I’d like to take a minute to make a toast to all my family—I love you guys to death. And let’s not forget all our fallen soldiers and playaz in the belly of the beast. Apache, P-Lay, P-nut King, Mickey, Clark, Achie, Eric Brown, Michael Bonds, Liddy, Jo-Jo Dancer, Dan Hill, Andre Poole, AJ, Anfernee Allen, Farmer, Rudy, Sidney, and the many others.” He raised his glass. Everyone in the club who had a drink did the same thing. There was complete silence in the club. Kay continued, “In the game of life you win some and you lose some. When you win, don’t laugh too loud, and when you lose don’t cry too hard cause neither one lasts too long.”

Tank leaned forward and said in Mike’s ear, “Damn, that nigga’s trying to be you.” Mike stared at Kay, whose face was on every TV monitor in the club.

“Aiight, DJ, let’s do this,” he shouted. The music came on and the crowd went wild. Kay started making his way to VIP 1. He was now dressed in a pair of white Perry Ellis slacks, a white wifebeater, and a pair of denim/silver/frost Nike Air Max Plus. He wore a platinum link and Jesus piece, which was sixty-five carats altogether. His iced-out Presidential Rolex, bracelet, and ring were another sixty carats. On his way through the crowd, a woman ran up to him and kissed him.

“Can I go with you?” she asked. Big Duke pushed her back and Kay got a good look at her. She was wearing a pair of watercolor Iceberg shorts with a matching sleeveless jacket, a baby T with Iceberg on the front, and a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti jeweled heels. She was brown-skinned with long dark hair down her back.
Shorty is like that,
Kay thought, but he didn’t like the way she came on to him. Shu-Shu might be watching.

“What’s up, Kay?” she said, looking around Big Duke, who was between them.

“Yo, chill, ma. Lots of love but don’t push and shove,” Kay said stepping away from her. Agent Powell stood there for a moment watching Kay walk away. She was upset with herself. She had fouled up maybe her only chance of getting close to Kay, by coming on too strong. She told herself that she would try again later. She turned and went to the bar.

When Kay got to VIP 1, he was greeted by everyone. Mama, Lyniece, Scatter, Lady, Mina, Quchelle, Sandra, Sonia, and her boyfriend had all made it.

“So how ya’ll like it?” He asked as he kissed Mama, Lyniece, Lady, and Shu-Shu.

“Hi, baby. Ya’ll having a good time? Your brother called last night. He said that it wasn’t important, he just wanted to talk to you about his appeal. He said he’ll call you back. I sent him and Yang both a grand this morning,” Kay told his woman. He kissed her again and walked over to the fellaz. He hugged Dre, Gee, Tank, Scatter, and then Mike. He sensed something in Mike’s hug and backed up.

Mike smiled. “Damn, nigga, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to close my shit down,” Mike said.

“Nah, stop buggin’, it ain’t like that,” Kay told him.

“I’m only playin’, nigga. Congratulations, this shit is fly. Especially the coed bathroom,” Mike said as he hugged Kay.

The music changed: “Wifey,” by Next. Everyone in VIP 1 was dancing, especially Scatter, doing all that old-folk shit. VIP 1 sat in the middle of the club. The whole room was made of two-inch-thick bulletproof glass and held about thirty people. There were leather couches and chairs. The atmosphere was comfortable. People on the outside could walk all the way around it, looking at whoever was inside. Ray Lewis sat in one of the recliners playing Madden NFL 2000 on the PlayStation. Kay told everyone, “Watch this.” He picked up the extra remote. It was one of those fancy ones with the little TV screen instead of buttons. He touched the screen and the game Ray was playing went to every TV monitor in the club. Everyone ooohed and ahhhed. Then he touched the screen again and the laser light show started.

Kay touched the screen again and VIP 1 was soundproof. He touched the screen again and the music came back on. The next time he touched it a black curtain came down real slow. No one could see in or out. He made the curtain go back up. He touched it again and Sharese, the club manager, came in a few minutes later.

“Sharese, have a case of Salon champagne bought in,” he said. The woman turned and left.

“What the fuck is Salon?” Tank asked.

“I don’t drink that Cristal shit, it’s low budget,” Kay said with a smile. Shu-Shu lit up a cigarette. Kay stopped talking mid-sentence and gave her a look that could kill. He’d told her about smoking around him. She sucked her teeth and grabbed her bag.

She said to Misha, “Girl, I’ll be right back.”

Kay finished showing everyone the rest of his gadgets while Shu-Shu went to the ladies’ room.

There were a few women in the bathroom when Shu-Shu went into a stall to finish her cigarette. When she was almost done, two young women walked into the bathroom talking loud. They stopped in front of the mirror to check out their hair and makeup.

“Who was that, that paged you?” Reut asked.

“Who else?” Kilita said.

“Your granddaddy?”

“Girl, I done told you to stop saying that dumb shit.”

“Bitch, stop being so sensitive. He could be your granddaddy.”

“He ain’t that old. Besides, he takes good care of me and my kids. I’d rather be an old man’s sweetheart before I’m a young boy’s fool. Ya feel me? And he got the Viagra jumpin’ off.”

“I know that’s right. I can’t say shit, my man is out-of-town hustling and I know he got another bitch down there. He loves to fuck too much not to. He just thinks I’m stupid.”

“Reut, did you see that fine-ass nigga, Kay?”

“Hell yeah! He could have kept all that free food and just gave me dessert, girl, dick and nuts?” They both laughed out loud. Then Kilita said, “I heard he’s holdin’, too. I love a big fat dick. I’ma pain freak. I want it all up in my back like a spinal cord. Know what I’m sayin’?” All the women in the bathroom laughed as Reut and Kilita high-fived each other. The toilet flushed and the stall door opened. Shu-Shu walked out, and everyone became silent.

The bathroom attendant turned on the water so that she could wash her hands. She stared at Reut and Kilita in the mirror. All the women in the bathroom knew that Kay was Shu-Shu’s man and they also knew that she had overheard the two women talking. When Shu-Shu finished, the attendant turned the water off and handed her a fresh towel to dry her hands. She reached across Kilita without excusing herself and dropped the used towel in a basket. Then she looked both women up and down and said, “Puh-leeze, he wouldn’t even let you two broke-ass bitches suck his dick.” She turned and walked out. Kilita and Reut couldn’t say a word. They were upset and embarrassed.

Someone in the background said, “Dayum! No she didn’t just say that!” Everyone laughed.

The next day was just a bright Sunday afternoon in June. Everyone was at Kay’s house for a big barbecue. While kids ran around playing with the dogs, the guys were in the game room shooting craps for money on the pool table. They were discussing their big trip to Virginia Beach for the Fourth of July.

“Yo, I rented a big-ass Ryder truck for ya’ll niggaz to load your bikes on. My man is going to drive them down on the first so everybody needs to have their bike at Mama’s by then,” Kay said.

Tank was winning the game and talking shit to everyone. “Yeah, I’m going to send all you niggaz to your re-up money fuckin’ with me.” He rolled another seven and picked up all the money.

“That’s it for me,” Scatter said.

“Yeah, pops, go lay your old ass down somewhere. When you’re ready for some more, come on back. I’m sure Kay will loan you some money. Yo, Kay, loan this old motherfucker some money.”

Kay saw the look in Scatter’s eyes and knew he was upset. “Yo, chill, Tank.”

“Man, fuck chill! How the fuck?!” Tank stopped himself. “Aiight, you got that Kay. Just for you. What you got for the beach this year, nigga?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Mike is going to bust yo ass again this year, watch,” Tank said. Every year Kay and Mike bet to see who would have the flyest car for their annual trip to Virginia Beach. Whatever they wanted, Shu-Shu would get it for them. And she never told one what the other ordered, even though Kay was her man. Mike had won every summer.

“What you tryin’ to bet, nigga? All ya’ll niggaz ante up. I’m takin’ all bets,” Kay said. Tank threw two grand on the pool table. Everyone bet against Kay. Even Dre bet a grand. Everyone knew that Mike would go all out. He always did.