Rain walked slowly toward me.
“You all right?” I asked and Rain stopped right in front of me.
She was breathing hard.
So was I.
I could feel my heart pumping blood through my body and for the first time since Freeze died, I felt good. Felt alive.
“Yeah.” I could tell that Rain felt it too. I should see it, it was written all over her. She was practically glowing.
“Any more back there?”
“No. I got his ass.”
“We should go. Come on.”
Rain and I left the building the same way we came in, down the stairs, and out the front door with a group of residents. We took our time walking to my car; neither of us said a word until we were out of Co-op and on I- 95.
Rain let out a deep breath; it was more like a moan. “Hmmm.” Like the experience was almost sexual to her. It wasn’t that good for me, but I did need to get some of the rage that I was feeling off of me.
I was starting to like Rain.
I didn’t trust her, but I was definitely starting to like her. But I wasn’t about to tell her that.
I was more interested in finding out why we just wiped out Nacho and his crew. “You wanna tell me what just happened.”
“Family business, Nick. Nacho was a snitch and had to be dealt with.”
“You need to come a little better than that, Rain.”
“You mind if I smoke?”
“Go ahead. Just tell me why we-and I do mean we-why we just killed Nacho.”
Rain lit a cigarette and rolled down the window. “I had to take care of him for my father.”
“What does JR have to do with this?”
“A couple of days ago, my father told me that he was worried about Nacho.”
“Why?”
“He said that Nacho called and wanted to come by to talk ’bout the money he owed him. Only Nacho don’t owe Pops no dough.”
“What did JR think he really wanted?”
“He thought Nacho was tryin’ to set him up.” Rain took a deep drag from her cigarette. “You see, my father is a silent partner in a porno flick company with a guy named Paul Gaggiano. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Nacho was there to see one of the chicks in the movie. The cops raided the set and Nacho gets arrested along with everybody else.”
“Was your father there?”
“No. But Jeff Ritchie was. Jeff Ritchie is a freaky fuck. He goes there all the time to watch. He was arrested too. But Nacho was back on the street before Jeff Ritchie even got his one fuckin’ call. You know what I’m sayin’?”
“Nacho gave the cops something.”
“What he gave up was my father. That’s why I had to do this and not him. Jeff Ritchie is hot now.”
“Go on.”
“Pops began to suspect that Nacho had folded under pressure. Nacho’s a weak-ass bitch, you know the type, can’t do the time. So he told the cops that both my father and Jeff Ritchie were involved in gambling and were extorting money from him.”
“How do you know this?”
“Pops may be a step or two slower, but he still got his sources. They was tellin’ Pops that Nacho hadn’t signed anything official, but he had more than one meeting with the cops. Bottom line, the bitch needed to be dealt with.”
I didn’t know if I believed her or not, and I wasn’t sure if I really cared. If I really needed to know if she was lyin’ or not, I could check her story with Tamia Adams or even her father. “I’m sure that JR will be relieved that you took care of that for him.”
“He would, but he don’t know and I got no plans of tellin’ him. Both him and Jeff Ritchie are at the club with plenty of witnesses. They don’t need to know nothin’ ’bout this. All they need to know is that the bitch nigga is dead and he ain’t no threat no more. End of story.”
“That the way you want it?”
“That’s the way it’s gonna be. ’Cause I hope you ain’t plannin’ on tellin’ him nothin’ ’bout what happened in these streets tonight. This between you and me. Cool?”
“You askin’ me or tellin’ me?”
“Honestly, Nick, it’s both.”
“Don’t worry, Rain. Your secret is safe with me. You don’t need to tell anybody, and I mean anybody, that I was involved in any of this in any way. This between you and me. Cool?”
“Cool.”
“I don’t need any of this coming back on me and it lookin’ like Black had anything to do with this.”
We drove for awhile in silence. I needed Rain to think about how me backin’ her up on settlin’ her business, could drag Black and our whole organization into a place where none of us needed to be. We were supposedly moving toward getting out, not backin’ Rain in whatever plan she had to consolidate her position. Me ridin’ with her and backin’ her play makes it look like that was exactly what we were doin’.
I looked over at Rain; the way the street lights hit her face. I really hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that Rain was kinda cute. The fact that she was all gangsta wit’ it made her sexy.
“Look, Rain, I understand that you had to handle your business, but why involve me?”
“My dog got cracked a couple of days ago, and the way it’s lookin’, he’s goin’ down for a long time. I knew I couldn’t do this alone, so I needed a road dog to ride with me. Then you walked into my life and I knew that there wasn’t nobody better at this shit than you.”
“You coulda asked me.”
“Nigga, please. You woulda asked me if I had lost my mind and told me to go away little girl.”
“You’re right, little girl, I would have.”
“See.”
“You lied to me.”
“That’s not
“Of course.”
“So we good?”
“Don’t ever lie to me again.”
“I don’t like that fact that you keep callin’ me a liar, but under the circumstances, I’ll let it pass for now. Let’s get a drink and talk about it.”
“I told you, I got shit to do.”
“That’s cool, but you still need to know who hit your spot, right?”
“Right.”
“So let me help you.”
“Why, you got somebody else you need to kill?”
“Fair question. But no. I handled all the family business tonight.”
I pulled up in front of her father’s spot and put the car in park. I took out a pen and wrote down my cell number. “If you hear anything that I can use, call me.”
“I will, you can count on that.” Rain got out of the car and leaned in the window. “I might call you; even if I don’t have nothin’ but some sweet talk for you.”
Rain walked away from the car and I watched her swing that big ass until she went in the club. I thought for a second about having more than a drink with her. Then I put the car in drive and drove away.
