Rayqelle's Revenge ---Book 1--- Special Holiday Edition (Ratchet) (8 page)

The next morning I was awakened by the sound of a ring tone playing. It was me and Chance’s favorite song on my cell-phone, (
Bruno Mars, Locked Out of Heaven). It was Chance. He said he had been trying to get through all night. He wanted to know how everything was going, and that he missed me. He also wanted to know why I hadn’t called. I told him that with everything that was going on I hadn’t had time. I wanted to tell him about what happened with Tico so badly, but I knew better.  I wanted to tell him what I had learned about Davis too; but, if Chance had any idea what the fuck was going on here, he would be on a plane faster than I could even finish telling him. I also knew that this would be a real fucked up way for him find out about my past. So I decided to wait, even though I knew there would never be a good time to tell him. I just knew that the time wasn’t right now. I had enough shit to deal with!

Chance asked if I had talked to Iesha. He said that she stopped by a few times already, ringing the doorbell.  He said that he didn’t answer… he never answered the door even if I was there. He wasn’t really much of a people person anyway, and he really didn’t like to be bothered. He just wanted to know why she would keep coming by knowing that I was away. I had a pretty good idea about why, I’m just glad he didn’t open that door. There’s no telling what that skank was up to.

Chance said that he was just about ready for the gallery opening and that he had been driving himself crazy thinking about me! It was so nice to hear his voice. I guess I didn’t realize how much I would miss him either, but it was really hard to think of anything except this mess with Davis. I told Chance that I still had to go downstairs to his room and pick out a suit to bury him in then take it over to the funeral home. Chance said that he would be here tomorrow night about eleven o’clock. I could not wait! I needed my man to hold me.

Just then the other line on the phone beeped in, it was the hospital. I quickly told Chance that I loved him and I’d call him back later.

It was Lynn’s doctor, he said that she was doing better but couldn’t be moved from the I.C.U. for another few days. That would mean that she’d miss her father’s funeral. He said that there was no way she would be able to make it. He said that we could come visit but only briefly, because she still needed her rest. I thanked the doctor for everything and got off the phone.

Just then the doorbell rang. Letah answered and yelled up the stairs for me to come down to the door. It was a police detective from the San Diego County Sheriff’s department. He said he had come by to ask Lynn a few questions about Davis’s death. He said that the toxicology report from the autopsy showed a high level of arsenic that suggested he had been poisoned either accidentally or on purpose. I explained to him that Lynn was in the hospital in intensive care and we didn’t know when she would be home.

The detective had a team of crime scene investigators waiting outside with a warrant to come in and search the premises. They came in, looked around for about an hour, put a few things in some bags and boxes and left. The detective said that he would be in touch. I stood puzzled.

“Why would Lynn wanna kill her own father? There had to be some logical explanation for all this shit!” I thought.

Letah sat quietly on the sofa, gazing into the ashes of the empty fireplace.

The next day Chance’s flight was delayed so he arrived to the house just as we were leaving for the funeral. He parked his car and jumped into the limousine with me and Letah. We got to the funeral home at about 11 o’clock that morning and Lynn was still in intensive care. The funeral home looked like a policeman’s ball. The place was jam-packed. It seemed like every cop in the city had come to pay their respects. I’m almost ashamed to say that I hardly knew anybody there, except the detective that had come by the house yesterday. He stood off to the side and just watched us as we accepted the condolences of Davis’s friends and colleagues. It was amazing to see how many people’s lives he touched. Even more amazing to see how many people he had fooled. 

It still didn’t seem real. It was like I was stuck in a badass nightmare, but it was all too real. The comfort of all my step dad’s friends warmed my heart and sickened me all at the same time. Then all of a sudden I got that just much sicker! An ice-cold chill crept down my spine and I froze. Chance asked me what was wrong; he said “Baby you look sick. Are you ok?” I thought I was about to swallow my tongue. It was Iesha and right behind her was Tico. Everyone kept coming up hugging me and saying how sorry they were but I couldn’t hear a word they said. I was in a complete daze. You coulda’ knocked me over with a feather! I began to sweat like I was wearing a full-length fur coat in 120-degree heat. Chance looked back over his shoulder. “Oh, hey Iesha, you made it. Good to see you,” he said to Iesha as she walked over to me with Tico at her side. He was wearing a tacky ass orange suit. I almost threw up.

“Hey girl?” ”Hey Letah...” Iesha said hugging the  both of us as Tico stood to the side grinning like Chester Cheetah.

“Hey Letah, hey Rayqelle. I’m sorry about y’all father. He was a great man. We will all miss him,” Tico said as I started to tremble all over. “What’s up man? How you doin’? I’m Tico Vega, a real good friend of the family. We all go way back. You must be Chance. I’ve heard alotta’ about ‘chu.Yeah, a whole lot! Ha-ha,” Tico snickered as he reached out to shake Chances hand.

“Good to meet you Tico,” Chance said as he gave Tico the brother shake.

I was about to faint. What the fuck was this nigga’ doin’ here and what the fuck was he doing with Iesha?

Tico forced a fake casual conversation with Letah. Her facial expression told me that she was just about to go off. I mean this nigga gonna prance up in here like ain’t shit happen two days ago? Like he ain’t just tell me that he was fuckin’ my seventeen year old baby sister, or like she ain’t HIV positive (probably cuz’ of his ass), and like he was just some old friend of the family… I wanted to hark somethin’ up from the back of my throat and spit it right in his face! I had to be cool and he knew it. If I had flipped out Chance was going to find out the whole truth today for sure. Tico would make certain of that! I couldn’t wait to talk to Iesha alone! She had alotta’ nerve bringin’ that piece of trash nigga’ in here. What the fuck was she up to now?

As the funeral service came to close, everybody started heading back to their cars, making their way to the cemetery for the burial. Me, Chance and Letah walked back to the limo. As we were about to get in, a big black Escalade with tinted windows pulled up next to us and came to a stop. The driver’s side window rolled down. It was Tico “We just gon’ follow behind y’all, wouldn’t get lost, it’s a long ways away, and we new in town. Ha-ha-ha!” He said through his big gold fronts. Iesha sat in the passenger’s seat staring at me over the rim of her dark Chanel shades. The three of us got in to the limo and left for the graveyard.  By the time we got there I was a complete nervous wreck trying to figure out what Tico and Iesha could possibly have up their sleeves. My hands were shaking like two autumn leaves. Chance touched me and held my hand, I instantly stopped shaking and for a moment everything was okay.

Letah and I walked over to the grave. It had been raining all morning, so our heels wedged themselves down inside the soft grass. We stood next to the casket as raindrops formed tiny pools on its surface and the preacher led us in prayer. “From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust.” He said as Letah and I held hands, but we did not weep! Neither one of us could shed another tear.

Tico walked over and stood next to Chance, I was sickened and my stomach was doing flip-flops. I felt like I was about to shit on myself. Tico touched Chance’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Chance looked over at me. I was frozen again! “What the fuck did he just say to him?” I thought. Iesha stood next to Tico, looking, hiding behind her shades. “Take those goddamn glasses off and look at me!” I thought, hoping without hope that she could read my mind. Everything went completely silent as the crank lowered Davis into the ground. Everything went black as if it were me being dropped into that burial vault. My heart broke all over again as I looked at Letah. She and I held on to each other like two lost children. Chance walked up and stood behind me with his hand on my shoulder, he was my strength and just knowing that he was near made the pain a little easier to deal with.

We shook as many hands as we could before we got back into the limo to go home. Chance put his arm around me. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even speak. The only thing I can remember after that is waking up back at the house, stretched out on the couch, Chance was sitting on the floor next me. I guess he must have carried me in from the car, cuz I sure as hell couldn’t remember walking! Letah was curled up in an old lazy-boy recliner, underneath an old cashmere blanket. Chance brought me over a sandwich and warm cup of tea, but I was too sick to eat. I was flooded with too many mixed emotions. Chance sat next to me all night and held my hand until the next morning.

I spent most of the next four or five days doped up on tranquilizers and the only time I got up was to pee. I couldn’t eat or keep anything down. I just wanted to sleep, sleep the pain away. That was the only peace I could seem to get. I don’t remember much about those few days, other than Chance being by my side every time I woke up. I was a mess, I hadn’t showered in days, finally Chance did insist on giving me a bath and thank God, cuz I must have smelled like the rear end of an ox.

By the sixth day, it was time for Chance to head back to Chicago and get ready for his art show, but I was in no condition to travel, so he made me stay on in San Diego, plus Lynn had just gotten home from the hospital and needed my help. So, I drove Chance to the airport. He didn’t wanna leave, I could see the worry all over his face, but I managed to pull it together enough to convince him that I’d be alright without him, for a few more days anyway. We kissed goodbye and Chance ran to make his flight. I wanted to cry as his plane took off, but I didn’t have any tears left.

When I got back from the airport, I pulled in next to an expensive Jag that somebody had parked in the driveway and Letah’s car was gone. When I got out and I walked into the house I almost lost my mind! There was Iesha sitting on the sofa in the living room. My purse fell to the floor.

“You bitch! What the fuck are you doin’ in my house? And where the fuck is that nigga Tico? How the hell could you bring that mutha’fucka’ to Davis’s funeral?” I asked in outrage, surprised as hell that she would even have the nerve to show her face. Letah was gone out to run some errands and Lynn was in the down stairs bedroom with her nurse.

“Hey Rayqelle, girl, I hope you don’t mind, the nurse let me in, how you been? I’ve been calling you all week long! Didn’t Chance tell you?” Iesha asked anxiously and as if nothing had ever happened.

“I’ve been sleepin’ almost 24/7. Still tryin’ to pull myself together, I guess. Still tryin’ to cope, you know? My stepfather’s death, missing my man, and my girl stabbing me in the back!” I said, walking over to the mantle-piece, looking at an old family photograph.

“Look, I might as well get to the point. I know that you’ve been through a lot this week, but I need a huge favor” Iesha said as she walked up on me and stared into my eyes intensely.

“What?” I asked still in disbelief at this bitch’s audacity.

“I have an important meeting scheduled for tomorrow in L.A. but I have to go back Chicago right away on an emergency” she said.

“Okay. So, what does that have to do with me”, I asked, almost ready to punch her ass!

“Well, I need you to go to L.A. in my place and meet a client, it’s very important and you are the only person I can trust to handle something like this. Like I said, I know you’ve been through a lot this week, but I really need your help.” Iesha said as she turned slightly away to avoid looking me straight in the eye.

“Wait, what do you mean? What kinda’ meetin’? And why me?” I asked as I began to get nervous.

“Well, it’s more like a date, but it’s super important or else I wouldn’t be bothering you. I swear!” Iesha said.

“A date?” I asked. “What kinda date?” I asked as I already began to answer my own questions in my head. I already knew what kind of date. Suddenly I began to get even more nervous.

“My stepfather just died less than a week ago, and you come here to ask me to go meet with one a’ yo’ tricks? What the fuck? ” I said, as I grew outraged!

“I know, and you know that I wouldn’t even have come here if I didn’t need you! Please, it’ll only be this once! Come on girl, what do you say?” Iesha asked with all the nerve of a ghetto pit-bull.

“Let me get this straight, I’m less than one year away from earning my masters degree, I am in love with the man of my dreams. For the first time in my life things are really lookin’ up for me, and you are askin’ me to do what? Why the fuck would I wanna do some dumb shit like that,” I said. I could not believe what the fuck I was hearing!

“Let me make myself clear about something. I’m trying to be nice, but I’m not askin’ you, I’m tellin’ you!” Iesha said.

“I thought you were my supposed to be my girl! You ain’t my friend. You couldn’t be if you tryin’ to make me do some shit like this! You gotta’ be outta’ yo’ mind. Get out! Just get the fuck outta’ my sister’s house!” I said growing more upset. I was about six seconds from stickin’ my foot in her ass.

“Look. I’m running’ outta’ patience. This is a client that I can’t afford to lose and I told you, it will only be this once. Rayqelle, you know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need you. I’m not tryin’ to fuck up yo’ game wit’ that nigga! Please. I’m all for a bitch comin’ up. I respect the game, shit, I was the one who schooled yo’ lil prissy ass! Remember?” Iesha shouted.

“What game? First of all, I ain’t runnin’ no goddamn game! Those days are over! What I got wit’ Chance is real, and for the first time, I ain’t gamin’ anybody and ain’t nobody gamin’ me. I ain’t about to fuck that up!” I shouted back.

“Do you even realize what would happen if Chance found out? I’m not doin’ that shit! That might work out just fine for you, but that ain’t even how I roll no more” I added.

“Rayqelle, Rayqelle, never kiss, never tell”, she smiled and paused. “So, what ‘chu sayin’ Bitch? You better than me now? You musta’ forgot who you was, but I ain’t forgot! You better remember where you came from! I seem to recall a time when yo’ ass woulda’ been more than happy to lay on yo’ back fa’ twenty or thirty minutes to get broke off a quick stack! But, now you got cho’ self a rich nigga and suddenly you Miss Goody Goody! You ain’t nothin’ but a ho’! An expensive piece of pussy and I’m finna’ prove it to you!” Iesha said as she quickly stomped over to the table in the corner of the living room and grabbed her Prada purse. She hastily opened it, reached in and pulled out a business card. When she walked back over toward me, my heart started to pound out of control!

“Be at the Airport Sheraton Hotel by LAX. tomorrow! You remember where that is don’t you? You should, you turned enough tricks there” she said sarcastically.

“That’s all the way in L.A.” I said.

“That’s right, very good. You do remember. Make sure yo’ ass is there by four o’clock, and don’t be late! I promise you. It’s gonna be some drama if you are! I would hate to have to call Chance lookin’ for you, and end up sayin’ some shit that’ll break his heart. Feel me? Oh, and fix yo’ self up and do something wit’ cha’ hair. I can’t have you makin’ me look bad.” Said Iesha smugly as she threw the business card in my face, “Oh and here’s little something for your nerves in case you get jittery,” she said as she tossed me a small vile of white powder, before she turned walking away toward the door, cracking it open just a bit. The card belonged to a Dr. Sadaaf Deepak, a neurologist from L.A.

“Who the fuck is this?” I asked.

“It’s the client I was tellin’ you about. Don’t fuck this up, I’m dependin’ on you!” Iesha said as she turned her head slightly, looking at me from the corner of her eye.

“Sadaaf Deepak? What? Is he an Arab or somethin’?” I asked as if it really made any difference.

“No, Indian” She responded coldly as she walked out of the door, leaving it standing wide open behind her. I immediately dropped to my knees and began to cry. I cried so hard that I started to gag and vomit. And since I hadn’t eaten in days, the only that came up was bitter acid from the very pit of my stomach. I was shakin’ like a leaf, scared to death of what this bitch was about to drag me into.

I thought to myself. “Why would she want to pull me back into this shit? All we ever talked about was how one day we would get as far away from that life as possible.

Iesha knew where I came from and why I even started hustlin’. She knew it really didn’t have a whole lot to do with the money, not necessarily. It was really a sickness, a twisted desire inside me to control somebody who thought they were controlling me. You see, what we used to do was find a guy with a lot of money, usually a hustla’ that thought he was the shit and had money to burn or sometimes a doctor or a lawyer. Usually it was just about sex, other times they would really want a date, but the night almost always ended with sex, it was already set to go down that way.

Tico would hook it up. He had a team of ho’s workin’ for him, at first I was just one of ‘em. I didn’t actually become his woman until later. And even though I was his woman, I still had to pull my weight, just like the other ho’s and I was so in love with the nigga that I woulda’ did anything he told me to. And he use to always say “Pussy ain’t shit! These mutha’fucka’s can have yo’ pussy, cuz I got’ cho heart!” What he really meant to say was that he had my mind, and he knew that once he got control of a bitch’s mind, the gamin’ was easy.

The game was to meet mutha’fucka’s wit money, get inside their of heads and then get inside of their wallets. My job was to meet ‘em, impress ‘em, then feed ‘em some bullshit story about how hard it is out here, and how I would not even be doin’ this if I had a man to take care of me. Then that’s when they usually turned into “Captain Save a Ho” and started talkin’ ‘bout how they could rescue you from yo’ misery. The shit makes me sick on the stomach to think about it! 

I tried to think of anything I could to get out of this fucked up predicament that Iesha had put me in, but I also knew Iesha’s potential for treachery, so I knew she wasn’t bluffing about what she would say to Chance.