Authors: Ashley Antoinette
Guilty Gucci (17 page)
In the aftermath of their rapture neither knew exactly what to say. Eerie and doubtful of his affections for her, Raegan instantly doubted that they could ever go back to what they were. She wished that she could just hit reset and do things over again, but life wasn’t a game.
“What now?” she asked, as they adjusted their clothes. Her head hung low, unable to keep eye contact with him out of shame and remorse.
“Now we go home,” he whispered.
She looked up at him in disbelief. Pools of fresh tears sparkled in her eyes and fell gracefully down her cheeks. “Really?”
“I’m not saying we can fix this today, tomorrow, or the next day ... but one day things will be right again. I just know that I don’t want to lose you, ma.” As he said the words he felt like a sucker. He was going against everything that he stood for and all that he knew for her. If he had been watching from the outside he would have called himself a tender-dick nigga. He was moving like a chump and he was aware of that fact. This time he was putting logic to the side as he allowed his emotion to lead. He only hoped that he was making the best choice. Nahvid pray that Raegan was worth it.
“I can’t just desert my girls,” she said. “I just need to tell them–”
Nahvid shook his head and interrupted her. “That’s your business, but I can tell you that I don’t want them snake bitches around me. They’re on some federal shit so I can’t have my woman associated with that. Cut them off, Raegan, and when you’re done come home to your man.”
Chapter Eighteen
Reason watched as Nahvid left the restaurant. They had come up in the game together and had reigned supreme in D.C. with their iron-fist tactics. The way that Nahvid was handling this situation with Raegan was completely out of character. Reason had never jumped stupid or tried to overthrow the empire in the sake of greed, but the way things were looking it seemed as though it was time to dethrone the king. There was a crack in Nahvid’s armor and Reason was the only nigga close enough to see it. Reason wasn’t a grimy man, but he was loyal to the money above all else. Nahvid was jeopardizing everything they had built to chase pussy and Reason wasn’t having it. The D.C. nigga in him wanted to pop his melon on sight. He gripped the .45 that lay in his lap. If Nah had been any other nigga he would already be leaking on the sidewalk and before his body was cold in the ground Reason would have been courting the connect to a $500/plate dinner, but the years of friendship that they had established kept Nahvid breathing ... for now. Nahvid wasn’t the true problem.
Everything was butter until that bitch stretched the nigga nose wide open,
he thought.
Everything was butter until that bitch stretched the nigga nose wide open,
he thought.
Many women had divided many men, but Reason refused to allow Raegan to become a modern-day Helen of Troy. If Nahvid didn’t have the moxie to eliminate the issue, then Reason would gladly step in. There wasn’t a day that he woke up that Reason wasn’t prepared to put his murder game down. While Nahvid was the one calling in the death warrants, Reason was the actual one pulling the triggers. There was no hesitation when he was involved. He lived, ate, breathed, and shitted on these streets.
Raegan emerged from the restaurant and walked down the darkened streets swiftly. Her heart was heavy because she was about to step out on a limb with Nahvid, but it wasn’t strong enough to carry any extra weight. She had to cut her friends off.
She finally hailed a cab and made her way back to the hotel. Raegan was so distracted and torn over what she was about to do that she never noticed the vehicle tailing her. If she had been on point she might have seen the headlights reflecting through the rearview mirror. Instead she sat, unknowingly, as Reason preyed upon her.
“Wake up!” Raegan said as she turned on the light, illuminating the room.
“Hmm! What are you doing, Rae? Turn that shit back off. Whatever it is it can wait until morning,” Chanel groaned as she turned over and pulled the covers over her head.
“It’s important. Get up,” she said, antsy as her voice quivered.
“Are you okay?” Gucci asked, hearing the angst in Raegan’s tone. She sat up in her bed and instantly knew that something was awry. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m going back to Nahvid.” Raegan let the words fly from her mouth and she braced herself for their response, but silence filled the room as Chanel sat up also.
The stare down between the three girls was intense as animosity built in each of their hearts.
“So I guess that leaves us on our own? That’s how you playing it, Raegan? We’re supposed to be in this together! That’s where you ran off to tonight?” Gucci whispered harshly, clearly upset.
“He has my son!” she shouted back.
“Raegan, stop! Stop acting like this is about Micah. That nigga got your head that’s what he got. If your kid was lying right here in this room your ass still would have gone back to that nigga. So now what? Of course you can go back cuz you’re fucking him, but what about us?”
Raegan didn’t respond, she opened her mouth to defend herself, but no words would come to her.
“Let me guess. We’re the grimy friends that corrupted his precious Sunny Rae? Right? That’s the way the story’s spinning? Well let me ask you something, Raegan. Did you tell him that this entire scheme started with you? If I recall the shit correctly robbing stash houses was your bright idea!”
Raegan knew that Chanel was speaking truth. She wished that she had never proposed the thought to start pulling capers.
“If she want to go then let her go,” Gucci said with a wave of her hand. “We’re all grown. I don’t know what makes you think he’s going to just forget that you played a role in killing his mama. She’s dead behind what we did. What makes you think he just gonna let you breathe when she’s no longer able to?”
A knock at the door interrupted the heated conversation and sent each girl into a panic.
“Who the fuck is that?” Chanel asked.
“Did Nahvid follow you here?” Gucci asked.
“No,” Raegan said.
“You sure?”
“Yes!” Raegan whispered.
Chanel reached under her pillow and removed her pistol, clicking the safety off like a pro as Gucci followed suit.
“You strapped?” she asked.
“You know it,” Raegan replied.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Housekeeping!” a woman’s voice rang out. The girls looked at one another knowing that they were being set up.
“He promised me,” Raegan whispered.
“He lied,” Gucci replied.
There was no way that housekeeping was coming through their room in the wee hours of the morning in a fleabag motel. They already knew who was on the other side of the door and there was only one way out.
Raegan cocked her pistol, her heart silently breaking as she walked over to the door. “Fuck it,” she said as she unloaded her clip into the wood.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
She kicked the door open and saw a bleeding woman fall backward into a man’s arms. Their eyes met for only a brief second before he raised his gun. The color drained completely from her face when she saw Reason.
He sent Reason after me,
she thought.
she thought.
Raegan had caught him off guard. He had never expected her to shoot first and ask questions later. Reason had underestimated her ruthlessness. He certainly wasn’t prepared for all three of the girls to be strapped. They let their cannons bark, making it rain lead all around him. Reason shuffled backward, firing reckless cover shots and holding the woman he had paid to knock on the door as a human shield.
He was outgunned and he wasn’t one to defy the odds. He backed all the way up to his car, dropping the dead woman at his feet, before hopping in and speeding out of the parking lot.
The girls fired on him until they saw his taillights disappear from sight and their clips ran dry. “Fuck!” Chanel shouted.
Raegan’s stomach felt as if it were suddenly hollow as she gripped it in agony. “He lied to me ... he lied. My son ...”
“You fucked us!” Chanel shouted. “Your love-struck ass led Nahvid straight to us!”
Chanel and Raegan ran toward the room while Gucci headed toward the office. “The tape! I’m getting the tape!”
The bell above the office door rang as she stepped inside. She looked around, seeing no one, but she could hear a young girl whimpering. Gucci rushed behind the counter to find a white girl trembling beneath it.
“Get up. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re good. I just need the tapes of the property,” Gucci said.
The girl’s black mascara ran down her face and her hand trembled as she pointed to an old television set and VCR in the corner.
“Get it,” Gucci demanded as she pulled the girl to her feet. Sirens rang in the background drawing louder the closer they got. Gucci saw Raegan and Chanel running for the car. She silently wondered why she had ever gotten involved in something so dangerous. Maybe it was because for most of her life she felt as if she didn’t belong. She felt different and as though people didn’t respect her. Chanel and Raegan were the only friends she had ever really connected with. They accepted her without judgment and because of that she knew that she would ride this thing out with them until the very end. Gucci threw her head toward the TV set and said, “Get the tape and hurry,” Gucci ordered the girl. “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said to herself as the fear of being caught invaded her brain.
Nahvid sat in the plush rocking chair staring through the bars of the crib, watching baby Micah’s chest slowly rise then fall. His heart was in distress as he watched the golden rays of the sun slowly peek through the horizontal blinds that covered the windows, inevitably turning dark to light. The long sigh that escaped his lips gave him no relief. He had been waiting for hours ... hoping ... wishing ... wondering when Raegan would come home. It was at that moment that he remembered why he had never allowed himself to love a woman. He hadn’t known Raegan for that long and already she was turning his world upside down. There were no feelings of bliss or fulfillment as far as he was concerned. Love had always been like a thorn in his side ... it hurt. Now he was left with so many split ends, ends that he needed to clip.
The small cry of an infant interrupted his reverie and he arose to comfort baby Micah. There was a monster inside of him that lay dormant when it came to Raegan. From the trespasses she had committed against him she should be lying face down in a ditch with her dead baby by her side, but he couldn’t bring himself to make that call. He felt a unique connection to this woman and as he thought of her he brought her child to his shoulder. Nahvid sat down in the rocking chair and slowly glided back and forth.
“Shhh ... it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay, li’l homie. I’m going to find her and I’m going to bring her home.”
Nahvid had no idea that the events that had transpired tonight had been the straw to break their relationship apart forever.
Chapter Nineteen
The girls stayed up all night as paranoia kept them alert. They each knew the type of clout and hood prestige that Nahvid carried. The entire city was loyal to one man so if they were caught slipping by anyone it was curtains. Everyone was on his payroll and therefore they knew that they weren’t wanted by one ... they were wanted by all. A thousand unknown faces knew their faces and at any moment they could be attacked.
“We just have to get out of here. We keep moving south and when we finally get to Florida we’ll figure everything out,” Chanel said.
“How do you know this friend of yours will even help us?” Gucci asked.
“Because a long time ago he used to love me,” Chanel whispered, her voice distant as if she was strolling down memory lane.
Raegan kept her eyes low as she thought of Nahvid. “That doesn’t mean anything now does it?” she said. Her statement wasn’t meant to be malicious, but she was devastated. “I was naive to think that he would forgive me after what I did.”
Gucci nor Chanel had no words that would comfort Raegan so they said nothing at all concerning Nahvid.
“What if she’s right?” Gucci asked. “I don’t want to get all the way down there and then be left on stuck. We have to have a backup plan. We need money and enough of it to buy our way out of the country just in case this friend of yours doesn’t come through.”
Chanel looked around the deserted parking lot and then turned around in her seat. “Y’all know what we have to do. There’s only one way we’re getting that type of money.”
“At this point we have to do what we have to do. I’m all in. I have nothing left to lose,” Raegan replied.
Raegan pulled up to Nahvid’s storage unit and took the key off of her ring. “Everything we need is inside. He’ll never know that it’s missing,” she said as she hopped out of the car. The other girls followed suit and their heads were on a constant swivel as they looked around to make sure that no one was watching. Raegan unlocked the padlock and slid the heavy door up, revealing the goodies that were hidden inside.
The storage unit was huge. It was like a mini warehouse, and everything from guns, cars, and cocaine was concealed inside. The unit could never be traced back to Nahvid, however. It had been rented ten years ago by an old woman on her deathbed so technically it was owned by a ghost. If it was ever discovered nothing would lead back to Nahvid’s doorstep. In fact Raegan was the only other person beside himself who knew where it was located.
“Damn,” Gucci exclaimed as she looked around the massive space and at the hood riches that filled it. “I need to be whipping this!” she shouted as she touched the hood of a luxury car.
“You will be,” Raegan stated. “The keys are under the mat. We all will be driving something nice. If we’re going to do this again ... this time we do it right. You take the BMW, Guch, I’ll take the Benz, and Chanel you take the Cadillac. We drive separate cars all the way down to Florida. We’ll use the one outside to do the bank job and these three will be waiting for us to switch into. There are sets of plates registered to dummy names in each of the trunks so whenever we get hot we can always switch the plates.” Raegan walked over to a large box and ripped the tape from the top. She reached inside and pulled out an automatic assault rifle. “We have everything we need to pull this off.”
Gucci and Chanel looked at each other in shock. Raegan was going all in and they knew that it was because of her scorned heart. She would have never shown them one of Nahvid’s spots under normal circumstances, but she was feeling crossed so now nothing was off limits. He had her son and she was going to do what she needed to do to get him back. “When we get out of the country we upload that tape and we use that as leverage to get my son back. If Nahvid doesn’t send him to me, I mail the tape to the police.”
“Do you think he will hurt your baby before then?” Gucci asked, sincerely worried.
“I don’t know. If you had asked me yesterday I would have said no. Today I can only pray,” Raegan said sadly. She was truly scarred by Nahvid. She didn’t know how he could look her in the eyes and promise forgiveness one moment and then send goons for her head the next. “I can’t focus on that right now. I need my head right if we are going to pull this off. We’re not hitting the tellers this time ... this time we hit the bank’s safe.”
“What bank?” Chanel asked.
“First National ... downtown,” Raegan replied.
“Are you crazy? Every cop in the city will be on us. It’s right in the middle of every government building in D.C.,” Gucci protested.
“It also has the most money and we don’t have time to play. I don’t want to go on another robbing spree. We need to take one bank, one time. This time we need to do it right. Everything is riding on this.”
Reason pulled up directly behind Nahvid and hopped out of his car. He joined Nahvid, hopping into his passenger side.
“What’s good, fam?” he asked as they slapped hands. He immediately noticed Raegan’s son sleeping soundly in the car seat behind him and he hid his disapproval.
“I need you to find her, Reason. It’s not something that I feel obligated to explain. Just find her and bring her to me, unharmed. I don’t want a hair on her head out of place,” Nahvid said seriously.
Reason’s temperature rose, but he kept his composure. “Yeah, whatever you need, baby. I got it.”
“She’s into some shit. Some shit that she’s not even built for. You find her for me. Put your ear to the streets until you locate her. I need her back before things get so out of hand that they can no longer be worked out,” he admitted.
Reason did not understand the connection between Nahvid and Raegan. It was baffling him and mind-boggling to see Nahvid so hung up on one chick. “What is it about this broad, Nah? You really going to let the shit with the stash and your mom dukes just ride? I can’t understand this shit ... shit’s crazy. You moving different.”
“It’s not for you to understand,” Nahvid replied.
Reason sniffed and gritted his teeth as he got out of the car. “This soft-ass nigga got the game fucked up ... I’ma find the bitch a’ight,” Reason mumbled as he sauntered back to his car and pulled out into traffic recklessly. In all honesty the more weakness Nahvid showed, the more Reason wanted to make a move. It was time for new leadership and Reason was slowly becoming comfortable with the idea of wearing the new crown. All he had to do was take it.
“Everybody on the floor! Don’t try to be a hero and I won’t make you a memory! On your stomachs flat on the floor! Do it!” Raegan yelled as Gucci and Chanel followed suit. Raegan went to the tellers and immediately tied all of their hands up with plastic zip cuffs, as Gucci commanded the customers to the ground, and Raegan kept her guns fixed on the security guards. The plan was to be out in three minutes flat and as adrenaline raced through their bodies they left all inhibitions behind as they strong-armed the bank. Time was moving so quickly that none of them were actually thinking of what they were doing. The first bank job had been peaceful, but this time they were going for broke. Heels, wigs, sunglasses, and trench coats they came through the bank like they were official. They were scared shitless, but no one would have ever detected that they were amateurs.
“If you fucking move, I will blow your top off!” Gucci shouted as she walked back and forth, gun moving from customer to customer as her eyes traced over each person swiftly.
“Get to the safe! I’ve got it up here,” Chanel yelled.
Raegan grabbed one of the tellers off the floor, roughly snatching the heavyset woman up. The woman trembled so badly that she could barely keep her composure. “Who has the power to get in the safe?” she asked.
“Oh ... Lord ... I ... I ...” The woman was nervous and Raegan’s stomach knotted when she saw the stream of urine darken her pants leg.
“Listen ... I’m not going to hurt you. We just came for the money. You don’t even have to speak. Just point. Who can get inside the safe?” she asked, lowering her voice this time to make the woman feel more at ease. “Just point,” Raegan coached.
The woman pointed to a young white man. “Nobody likes a snitch, Judy!” he sneered as he stood to his feet while holding his hands up.
“The safe ... now!” Raegan instructed sternly. He guided her to the back of the bank where a large vault stood closed with a steel dial keeping it secure. “Open it.”
“Okay ... okay,” he complied as he inserted his key. He began to turn the dial and Raegan slapped fire from his ass, using the handle of her AK to bust his mouth and nose open. Blood gushed everywhere.
“Don’t play with me. If you don’t enter the code after the key the alarm is triggered. You must not like your life,” she threatened.
“Please ... I ...”
“Open the vault,” she ordered, this time with no patience left for his attempt at heroism. She had no time for his antics. It wasn’t his money that she was taking. Hitting banks was a victimless crime. The system took a loss, not an individual and because of that she felt no guilt. The bank had the sign posted directly on its doors: FDIC INSURED.
“Hurry uuupp!” Chanel shouted.
“Two minutes!” Gucci added.
The man opened the vault and Raegan was momentarily in awe at the amount of money that filled the steel walls. Raegan ordered the bank manager back to the ground and zip cuffed him to the inside of the vault so that his hands were connected to his ankles. She then opened the two large duffel bags she carried and began to stuff the neatly packaged bundles inside. The money was so new that it looked fake and the smell of the fresh paper was intoxicating. They had hit the jackpot and she was high off the lick. She stuffed money into the bags until they were dumb full. The zipper would barely close by the time she was done. Sweat dripped into her eyes as her body temperature rose from the stress of it all and she struggled to carry both bags back into the main lobby.
“Let’s go!” she shouted.
They were headed for the exit when Gucci remembered the tapes. She ran back over to the same woman that Raegan had questioned and pulled her to her feet once again.
“Oh Lord. Please you have the money ... just leave me be,” she sang out as her eyes shot toward the sky.
“Where’s the tape? The system that records the bank, where is it?” Gucci asked.
The lady led her to a closed wooden door and opened it to reveal an array of TV monitors and recording devices. This system was too complex. There was no physical tape. It was all digital set up to DVRs. She had no time to figure it out. She looked around the room and saw a coffee maker with a full pot of coffee sitting on a stand. She quickly took the liquid and poured it all over the expensive technology. Static immediately erupted and the monitors turned grey. The entire system was completely ruined.
“Let’s get out of here!” she heard Raegan shout.
“Sit down,” Gucci told the woman, aiming the gun to make her comply. Cuffing the woman’s hands to the door, Gucci knew that they were in the clear. No alarms had been triggered and everyone in the bank was tied up so it would be awhile before the police even realized that anything had gone down. What she didn’t know was that there was a backup system that was still recording their every move.
Gucci ran back toward the lobby and out the front door. They hopped into the getaway car.
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