Raunchy (17 page)

She really looked inside, which meant she didn’t trust me either. Then I flipped open my pockets so she can check those too. A few quarters fell out and I told her she could keep them. Besides, they were hers anyway.

When she was done I said, “See…I ain’t got shit.”

“Why would she do some shit like that to me?” She said to no one in particular. “I would expect that from anybody but her.”

“Anybody like me?”

“No girl.”

Yeah whatever
. I thought.
I can’t stand fake bitches.

“I don’t know why she did it to you, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell her I told you. You know she one of my best friends. But right is right and wrong is wrong.”

“Thanks, girl,” she said trying to separate herself from me. I knew she was going to check on her room and then check Trip’s ass when she found out her shit was missing. “I appreciate it.”

“Okay, I gotta go home. I’ma rap to you later.”

“You leaving already.”

“Yeah, girl. I don’t feel too good.”

“You are kinda walking funny.”

“I’ma call you later.”

I moved as quickly as I could with an envelope between my legs. Once at the front door I could see Ebony approaching Trip from of my peripheral vision. I was halfway out the door when I heard Ebony yell, “Trip! I gotta talk to you!”

I closed the door behind me and hot tailed home. I ain’t want to be anywhere near the beef when the shit hit the fan. Bitches stay keeping up shit, thank goodness that ain’t me.

One Week Later

Rick Boss

Jace

The weather was hotter in California than DC ever could’ve been when I stepped off of Rick's private jet. But the wind provided a nice smooth breeze and rustled the leaves on the palm trees around the landing. The sky was an ice cold blue and fluffy white clouds were scattered lightly.

"Jace, you made it," Rick said walking up to me placing a heavy hand on my shoulder. He was wearing cream linen pants suit, with a pair of Louis Vuitton sandals. His head was bald and he covered his eyes with dark shades. Two men were on each side of him and they were conducting heavy surveillance of the area.

My father had the same complexion as me but his eyes were lighter and he was much shorter. I stood at about 6'1 while he only reached a little over 5'4. People said that was one of the reasons he was so ruthless, because he had a short man’s complex but I couldn’t be sure. Rick was mixed with Mexican and black while my mother was straight African-American and his Mexican heritage could be detected in his voice.

“Trust me when I say it was for your own good. I would not have sent you away for so long, if I thought you would be safe here. But from what I’m told, you’ve made quite a life for yourself in DC.”

I nodded and stepped inside the limo, looking around inside. Moments later, the bodyguards piled inside with us. He seemed to have a lot of people around him all the time. Two bottles of Moet sat in buckets and I shared a bottle with my father. It didn’t matter that I was only seventeen and would be eighteen in a month, to him I was now a man. As I sat in my seat, I thought about everything that happened and how I almost was responsible for Harmony’s murder. Shit wasn’t going the way I planned with us but fuck it, it was what it was.

I looked at his bodyguards again and saw that they seemed to be more interested in what was going on outside of the car, than they were with what was going on inside. It made me think at any moment someone would start firing at us.

"Don’t worry, Jace. You're safe here." Rick said.

He must’ve seen it in my face. "I’m not worried." I told him remembering my ordeal a week ago.

We drove for ten minutes before we pulled up to his new house. I hadn't been there since I visited briefly last year. When we pulled up in the driveway, a fence and men in black expensive suits surrounded the large property. All of them were armed and wearing wired ear plugs in one ear. When the limo stopped a young Pakistan man in his early thirties opened the door and Rick got out and follow him.

"Welcome to California, Jace. We have been waiting for you. I am Ahmed, and I am here to see that anything you need is taken care of." He told me.

"Thank you." I nodded grabbing my bag.

As my father spoke to a few of his staff members off to the side, I walked through the large foyer covered in marble and gold. The ceilings had elaborate paintings on them and everything looked larger than life. Two men followed me and I got the impression that they were protecting me and not watching me. Even in the house my life was not safe. I had to find this nigga Massive and I had to find him soon.

To my right was a huge dining room, which could seat about twenty people, and to my left was a large entertainment room filled with large screen TV’s and a huge stereo system. When I walked upstairs and saw six closed cherry wood doors. I stared at all of them wondering which one I would be in while I was here.

“Right this way, sir," Ahmed said walking up behind me before walking ahead of me to lead the way.

I didn’t even know he was following us. If I was gonna run a successful operation, I had to remember to check my surroundings at all times. It didn’t matter where I was since it was evident that for as long as Massive was alive, that he’d be after me. And although the man who kidnapped us was not Massive, but one of his flunkies, I knew I could never afford to let them catch me slipping again. When I walked into my room, I could tell it was recently designed for me. Everything smelled new and a large TV was on my favorite station, MTV.

"Please let me know if you'll be needing anything else." Ahmed said walking to the door. "I am here to serve you."

I walked deeper into my room and sat on the edge of the bed. It was the first time I had been alone since I’d been kidnapped. I made a call to Tony Wop to be sure my plans for my operation were in motion. When Tony told me that both Herb Dayo and Sick Sense were missing I got noid.

“Aight…I know you got a lot to deal with, but call the girl Brittany when you get a chance. I ran into her at Karen’s house, and she said she gotta talk to you. Said it was important.”

“Aight.” I said ending the call.

Then I called Brittany, a chick I fucked on the side every now and again. As a matter of fact, we had gotten together right before my trip to L.A.

“Jace, I been trying to reach you! We gotta talk!” She said hyped.

“What’s up? Why you sound all extra?”

“Jace, are you still fuckin’ Harmony?” I hated when she asked me that shit because before we broke up, she knew I was. “I need you to tell me right now.”

I don’t know what shit she was on but it was a mistake calling her ass anyway. I was here for business, not to be rapping to no bitch. When I got downstairs, I saw a few men inside the large dining room. They all stood when they saw me enter, before sitting back down.

One man stood up. His skin was real light and his nose was so crooked it looked broke. "The name's Russ Gamber." He said pointing to himself.

“Well it’s true. I don’t miss a thing, son. If there's a problem, I smell it miles away." He continued. “Trust me, around me your father is beyond safe.”

Someone else stood up and said, "Anyway, son, I’m Sammy Batters. I run distribution." Sammy was shorter than my father and his skin was very dark.

"Sammy's the man who will have everything set up for you in DC.” He paused. “You need anything for the business, you call on him first." Rick added.

As Sammy sat down, another man stood up." And I’m Leo Lips. I help Sammy with distro in California and I am in charge of meeting our connect."

Leo looked Spanish and judging by the tattoos all over his arms, I could tell he was either involved in gangs in the past, or still active. He also had a lot of tattoos of babies over his arms and I could tell he had a lot of children. Leo also seemed nervous and out of place and that made me uneasy.

"Other than me, Leo's the only one who has direct access to our connect. We are dealing with some Arabians who’ve found their way into the industry. But we may be moving over to the Russians soon. Right now, the Russians have lower prices.” Rick said.

“So why not drop the Arabians and do what we have to do?” I questioned.

Rick smiled. “Look at my son, thinking outside the box already.” He paused. “Let’s just say that for now, I’m doing what’s best for our operations. Sometimes rocking the boat unnecessarily can cause more problems than it’s worth. You should run your operation the same way." He said leveling a serious look at me.

"That's right.” He paused. “Massive...Well...That brings us to business at hand." Rick said preparing to take a seat. “So let’s get right to it. We have a lot to discuss.”

"Massive is planning something now and I don’t know what."

“You may be right. Two members of my crew have gone unaccounted for and we can’t get in contact with them.” I paused. "The only thing is, I figured he’d leave DC, after the failed kidnap attempt."

"He'll do whatever he can to get at you. So it’s quite possible." He paused. "Okay, these are the issues at hand. The DC market is growing rapidly. Crack is the drug of choice now and we are in every position to provide the choice. The problem is, Massive won’t allow us to move smoothly. We've already lost five good men by his hands and although we've taken out his entire crew that doesn't make him more vulnerable. It makes him invincible."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because unlike me, son, he doesn't have anything else to lose. And if he hurts you, I don’t know what I’m going to do." he took a deep breath and said, "So, I don’t intend on letting him catch you.”

The men moved around in their seats because Rick’s show of emotion made them uncomfortable.

“Tony Wop is staying in DC to help you get things off the ground. I've taught him everything I know, Jace. When you're really ready to stand on your own, he'll release you to run things. Now the reason why I asked these men here today is because over the next few months, before you go back to DC, they will give you a few skills necessary to be the best in the drug game. But with my guidance you'll be even better than me."