“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 exactly true. I didn’t lie to you. I’m for real ’bout that. Yeah, I used you to get my shit done, but I did hear that Shake was in on the robbery, and Nacho. Since Shake say he didn’
t have nothin’ to do wit’ it I thought he could really put you on to the right people; for a price of course.”
“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.”