dead.”
The more she talked about me and Freeze and the way we used to roll, the madder I got. I tried to calm myself down by changing the subject. “So with JR being sick, and you keepin’ shit from him, who runs things? Jeff Ritchie?”
“No. Jeff Ritchie is a bullet. You load him in a gun and pull the trigger. Jeff Ritchie ain’t got the mind for shit like that.”
“The question still stands.”
“I run shit.”
“You?”
“Yeah, me. Somethin’ wrong with that?”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-two. And in case you didn’t hear me the first time, I’ll ask you again: Is somethin’ wrong with that?”
“No. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, as long as you can handle it.”
“And you don’t think I do?”
“I don’t know you. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t give a fuck. How y’all run your business don’t matter to me.”
“Okay, Nick. Chill out. I wasn’t tryin’ to make you mad or nothing. I got mad respect for you. And if what I hear in the wind is true-then you ain’t the one to be fuckin’ wit’,” Rain said.
I took a breath. “So, why don’t you tell me how you run your thing?”
“Well, Pops still pretty much runs the gambling and shit. And I run everything else.”
“What is everything else?”
“Little of this, little of that. I usually got something goin’. Sell a little dope, you know.”
“I thought JR wasn’t involved in the dope game?”
“He ain’t, and he don’t know that I am. And I hope that you ain’t plannin’ on tellin’ him. Like I said, shit like that will just send his blood pressure through the roof, and I ain’t havin’ that.”
“You don’t have worry about me bein’ a snitch. But I seem to remember JR havin’ a son. What’s up with him?”
“My brother Miles. He’s playin’ the family man role. You know, he married, a got a couple of kids. He runs the club and keeps the books. He ain’t got no heart for this other shit.”
“Okay, Rain, why don’t you tell me who we’re goin’ to see?”
“His name is Rodney Baker, but they call him Shake.”
“You know why he robbed our joint or why he killed those people?”
“I ain’t heard nothin’ ’bout that. I just heard it was him and his crew. I was gonna see ’bout it, but me and Shake don’t usually see eye-to-eye on shit. That’s what I was gonna talk to Pop about. Get some advice on how to settle our beef.”
“I thought you didn’t wanna bother him with shit like that?”
“I don’t. But that nigga is all out of control.”
Chapter 16
We pulled up in front of the place and went inside. It was a neighborhood joint, long bar and a few tables. Loud rap music pumped from two huge speakers at the back of the room. “You see them?” I asked and Rain took a quick look around.
“No.”
I looked the place over for other exits. Always a good idea to know how we were gonna get out in case shit gets wild. “You know if that door leads to the street?”
“I think it goes to the back door that leads to the alley. But I ain’t sure.”
“Why don’t you get us a table by that door? I’m goin’ to get us a drink.”
I went to the bar and ordered while Rain went to find us a table. The bartender had just put our drinks on the bar when three men came through the front door. I looked over at Rain. She nodded her head and started moving through the crowd to get to them.
“That’s fifteen,” the bartender said.
I peeled off a twenty. “Keep the change.” I shot my drink and started for them. As I made my way, I saw Rain get up in the face of a big Jabba the Hut lookin’ muthafucka. I assumed that he was Shake by the size of his belly. By the time I got to them I heard Shake say, “You beat me outta ten grand, bitch!”
“Who the fuck you callin’ bitch, you fat muthafucka? I ain’t beat you outta shit!” And with that, Rain reached back and slapped the shit outta him.
Jabba the Hut came out with his gun. I already had mine out. Rain was a little slow with hers, so were Jabba’s crew. They were still trippin’ off Rain bitch-slappin’ Jabba.
Since I wasn’t tryin’ to kill him, I hit Jabba in the arm with my first shot, but that didn’t stop him from shooting at Rain. The people in the place all scattered at the sound of the shots.
Rain turned over a table and took cover. Then she sprang up quickly and fired a few rounds at Jabba. He was a big muthafucka, so there was no way she could miss his big ass. She caught him with one to the gut and one to the head. Jabba went down hard.
While the crowd forced their way out the front door, I grabbed Rain by the hand and headed out the back. We made it back to my car in time to hear the police sirens in the distance.
Rain was hyped as we drove away from there. “That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout! Did you see the way I slapped the fuck out that nigga, the way I put two in his bitch ass?”
“Yeah, Rain, I saw it.” Maybe it was her first time, I don’t know, but she definitely was more excited about it than I was.
“When we do catch up with the niggas that robbed you, I’ma do the same shit.”
“What you mean? That wasn’t them?”
“Na. I asked him ’bout that before we got into it ’bout our shit.”
I was mad as hell, but I tried not to show it. “You believe him?”
“No reason for him to lie ’bout it.”
“I heard him say that you beat him outta ten grand.”
“The muthafucka say the package I sold him had so much cut on it that he couldn’t do nothing wit’ it.”
“Was it?”
“Why you wanna know all that?”
“Why you think?”
“Damn. Sorry I got you up in that shit.” Rain laughed. “He was right, the shit was stepped on. But that’s not how I usually roll. He just caught me at a bad time.”
“So instead of making it right, you killed him for it.” This was exactly the kind of shit her father was just complaining about. If JR knew his daughter was out here, not only dealin’, which he is dead set against, but doing shit like this. .
“Hey, I tried to make it right. When he came at me ’bout it I offered to make it right on the next package. But he said he wanted his ten Gs back. I said give me back the dope. Nigga says he cooked it up and sold it. Now what am I supposed to do?” Rain asked and I didn’t bother answering her. She wouldn’t have liked my answer anyway. There was silence until we pulled up in front of her father’s spot. “What we doin’ here?”
“What you think we doin’ here? I’m droppin’ you off.”
“Why?”
“You got anymore ideas?”
Rain folded her arms across her chest and her lower lip eased out a little. She had just shot somebody and now she was pouting like a spoiled child.
“I didn’t think so.”
“Well, where you goin’?”
