by K'wan
The night of the grand opening was going to be a special one. Not just because it was Jonas’s birthday, but because it would signal the end of summer and Alex’s time in New York. She was done with Spellman, and it was time for her to leave for the exchange program in London. He had known for a long time that it was coming, but now that the moment was almost on them, it had started to become real. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that they would be apart for months. Of course, there was a standing invitation for Jonas to come and visit, but this wasn’t like the short flight to Atlanta. London was on the other side of the world. It was going to be tough on him, and he still wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through the coming nights without her.
In the meantime, he had thrown himself into his work. Jonas had recently discovered a trade where he could make as much for a few hours of work as he could playing the block all week. Murder for Hire. It was Detective Ceaver who had planted the idea in his head. When he’d first approached Jonas with the idea, he had been against it. He was trying to master one hustle at a time, and right then, all his energy was going into keeping the drug business going. Lou was able to sway him by running through the list of people he had killed and never received a dime for. “If you’re going to be out here killing anyhow, you may as well get paid for it,” the detective had pointed out. He was right. On Jonas’s first job, he had been paid $5,000 and ten on the next. With each hit, the bag went up, and he got better at it.
Jonas had even managed to earn the respect of One-Eye Willie. Jonas had become somewhat of a protégé to him. Willie taught him that killing wasn’t just about shooting things up. There was an art to it. Jonas had proved to be an adapt pupil, and their shared love for death and money had brought them closer together. It had gotten to a point where he was able to confide as much in Willie as he could members of his inner circle. The older man was quite wise and seemed to have a solution to any problem Jonas brought to him. He grew to love Willie because Willie never judged him and had never broken his confidence. He was a good friend.
His drug business was booming as well. With Flair out of the way, the Broadway side of Grant Projects was wide open. There was some opposition at first. Those who had been loyal to Flair hadn’t taken too kindly to the newcomers trying to lay claim to their hood. They didn’t want to give up what they felt was theirs, so Jonas sent Mula and Tavion through there every day with machine guns until they got the message. Thanks to Mula, Tavion had finally popped his cherry. He couldn’t have had a better teacher than Mula when it came to laying down the murder game. As a reward for their hard work, Jonas made a gift of that territory to the two youngest members of his team. It was Mula’s hood, but Tavion was his right hand. Ace didn’t like it, wanting, instead, for the position to go to Cal, but he didn’t have a say in the matter. It was Jonas’s call, and his word was law.
Jonas’s business wasn’t the only thing that was going well. He and Alex had been growing increasingly closer. They spent the entire summer that she was up from school together, and he had even gone to visit her in Atlanta when classes started back that fall. It was Jonas’s first time traveling outside of New York. He was so afraid to get on the plane by himself that he had begged Sweets to go with him. He was surprised that it hadn’t taken much convincing. Sweets had been going out of her way to spend time with all her siblings lately. She had even moved back into the apartment. There was obliviously trouble in paradise between Drew and her, but whenever one of them asked, she would simply say they were taking a break. Jonas knew that there had to be more to it than that, and if he found out Drew had hurt his sister, he planned on killing him. He had become very good at killing.
Visiting Atlanta had been like traveling to another planet for Jonas. He had never in his life seen so many well-to-do black folks gathered in one city. Alex was a gracious hostess. She showed them all around the city and even introduced them to some of the kids she went to school with. Jonas had expected them to be uppity or look down their noses at him due to his lack of a proper education, but Alex’s friends were cool. They were kids, just like him. Jonas had had so much fun that he had even given some thought about going back to school. He had dropped out in the tenth grade, and being around other kids his age that were living the college life made him realize how much he had missed out on. Not just with school, but with life, period. He had been in the streets so long that he didn’t know what it was like to be a teenager. One day, he would take his mother’s advice and stop to smell the flowers . . . one day.
A life filled with joy wasn’t without pain, and Jonas had come to know a great deal of it. He had gained a lot, but also lost a lot, including two people he loved. As it turned out, his mother’s coughing hadn’t come from the lingering effects of a cold. She had lung cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, there wasn’t much the doctors could do but make sure that she was comfortable for the remainder of her time on earth. Jonas made sure that those were the happiest forty-two days of her life. He made sure that his mother was able to tackle everything that she had wanted to do but never had time to when she was chasing drugs. They were even supposed to fly to Africa together because she had always wanted to see the place where they came from, but, unfortunately, she passed before they were scheduled to leave. He missed his mother dearly but took solace in the fact that he was able to give her flowers while she was living.
All of the Rafferty children took Janette’s death hard, but none harder than Yvette. None of the children had been easy to deal with, but Yvette had treated her mother the worst. She was a rotten kid, and her punishment was her mother dying without her ever having a chance to say a proper goodbye because she was out chasing a fix. For a long while, Jonas resented her for that. It would be a long time after his mother had passed before they were able to hold a conversation without him wanting to kill her. In the end, Jonas realized that life was too short to hold grudges. None of them were promised tomorrow, and he would’ve hated for something to happen to him or one of his sisters with bad blood still lingering. He eventually accepted her back into his life and even got her into a treatment program. He had done his part, and the rest would be up to her.
* * *
Jonas sat in the back of the limo, smoking a cigarette and nursing a nip of scotch. There had been five of them stocked in the minibar when he got in. The one in his hand was the last one. Hennessey was his drink of choice, but the scotch had proved to be a more-than-adequate substitute. He needed to numb himself, and it was working.
His eyes drifted out the window to the funeral home. He hadn’t been back there since Doug had passed and hadn’t expected to be back so soon, especially not under those circumstances. Sweets stood outside, chatting with Tavion and Anette. She was wearing shades, but her face was flushed. You could tell she had been crying. Sweets had never taken death well, even less so when it hit that close to home. It seemed like every time Jonas turned around, he was putting someone in the ground. He was tired of burying people he cared about. Tired of death stealing away his joy. It seemed like a tragedy followed every blessing. They’d all hurt, but none quite like this one.
“Are you ready to go inside?” Alex asked. She was sitting on the seat next to him. She had been so quiet that Jonas had forgotten she was there.
“In a minute,” Jonas told her. He was trying to find the strength to say his farewells but couldn’t.
“You can’t hide in the limo forever, Jonas. Let’s go in and get it over with. I’ll be there with you every step of the way,” Alex promised, taking his hand in hers.
Jonas allowed her to help him out of the limo. His legs felt unsteady, like they wouldn’t hold him up. Tavion saw him about to buckle and rushed to his aid, but Jonas waved him off. He would not show signs of weakness, not that day. With his woman and two of his sisters flanking him, Jonas walked inside of the funeral home to say his goodbyes.
The first thing he noticed was how empty the viewing room was. Aside from the stranger sit
ting on the front row, there were only his sisters and a sprinkling of homies in attendance. You would think that for all the people Jonas helped and all the lives the deceased had enriched, there would’ve been a grander showing to see his family off. He wanted to spaz out at the lack of respect. Alex must’ve been reading his mind because she squeezed his hand.
“It’s not important,” she whispered to him. She was right. Those who were important were in attendance, and those who weren’t, Jonas would settle up with at a later date.
It was a closed casket funeral. The body was so damaged that there wasn’t much the mortician could do with it. The casket was made from hickory wood that had been polished to a high shine. Brass handles ran along the side of it. The casket seemed small, but then again, so was the person resting inside of it. The lack of height of the deceased had always been the running joke, but no one was laughing now. It was an incredibly solemn moment. The closer he got, the more his stomach lurched. It was a wonder he didn’t throw up. With Alex’s help, he had finally made it to the front of the aisle. He placed his hand timidly on the casket and felt a wave of sadness wash over him. He couldn’t believe Mula was gone.
When Jonas first received word of Mula’s death, he had been having dinner with Alex’s family. After years of hating Jonas, they were less than pleased to find out that their daughter had been creeping around with him. By this time, the two of them were madly in love, and there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. They hadn’t accepted him with open arms once they realized that he had the best intentions for their daughter, but the Hightowers eventually began to come around, and agreeing to have dinner with him had been a start.
Stacey had been the one to deliver the news. She was so distraught that he had trouble understanding her at first, but he knew right away that something was wrong. He immediately thought that something had gone down with Ace. He had been moving very recklessly lately, and Jonas knew it would only be a matter of time before he got the call that somebody had whacked him. He finally got her to calm down enough to make sense of what she was saying. He couldn’t have heard her right. Mula? Dead? It didn’t even seem possible. Mula was of the toughest sons of bitches Jonas had ever met. He’d been shot three times that Jonas knew of by the time he was 14 and was still running around giving the streets hell. He had refused to believe it until he had to identify the body. It was Mula, at least what was left of him.
The details of his death wouldn’t come out until later. Against Jonas’s warning, Ace had entertained Cal and his offer to plug them in with his people in Richmond. He’d even pulled Mula into it with him. To Cal’s credit, it had been a sweet setup. The drugs they brought down from New York had the fiends on tilt. Smokers were coming from as far as D.C. to sample their wares. They had been bubbling down there for about six months . . . before everything went wrong. With more money came more problems. Some of the locals hadn’t taken kindly to the New Yorkers coming into town and cutting their throats. When they stepped to them, Mula had beaten the brakes off one of the guys. Instead of retaliating like soldiers, they pulled a sucker move and called the police.
The day after the fight, the police rushed the spot. Ace had been off fucking with a chick instead of handling business. Cal went down without a struggle, but not Mula. There were enough guns and drugs in the place to put him away forever, so he went out as he had always lived—by the gun. They put so many holes in Mula that the only way Jonas had been able to identify him was by his tattoos. To Mula’s credit, he took three of the cops with him before he went down.
Jonas blamed Ace for what had happened. Had he listened to Jonas, then Mula would still be alive, and Ace wouldn’t be a fugitive. Word had it that Cal had dropped a dime on Ace. Jonas had planned to murder Cal, but no one had seen him since. He wanted to kill Ace too, but Alex talked him out of it. He and Ace were like brothers and had too much history for Jonas to kill him over something that he hadn’t meant to happen. Ace loved Mula as much as Jonas did, but he was too blinded by the money to see the writing on the wall. They still did business together but from a distance. Whenever Ace was around, Jonas made sure that he wasn’t. When they needed to talk, it was through Tavion. Ace could keep his life, but his relationship with Jonas was damaged, possibly to a point beyond repair.
Jonas hadn’t realized that he was crying until a tear hit the back of his hand. It was crazy because he hadn’t even cried when his mother died. It hadn’t been because he didn’t love her, but he had to be strong for the girls.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked.
“I’m fine; just give me a minute.” Jonas wiped his eyes. Alex lingered for a moment longer before heading to the back of the funeral home to talk to Sweets. Jonas had his head bowed saying a silent prayer over the casket. When he felt someone standing next to him, he looked to see it was the man who had been sitting in the front row. He was an older dude with a salt-and-pepper goatee and a hairline that had begun to abandon him. Jonas didn’t appreciate the man invading his space, and his face said as much.
“Didn’t mean to disturb you. You’re Wrath, right?” The older man extended his hand.
“We know each other?” Jonas asked in an unfriendly tone, not bothering to shake the man’s hand.
“No, but my nephew has told me so much about you that I feel like I do. I’m Mula’s uncle, Fish.” He introduced himself. Fish had been a legend in the streets when he was running with the Red-T boys. He had been locked up during Jonas’s and Mula’s rise to power.
“Sorry about that.” Jonas shook his hand. “My head is elsewhere right now.”
“I can dig it. Mine too.” Fish’s eyes went to the casket. “Fucked me up when I heard what happened to Clyde.”
Clyde? Jonas had been running with Mula for years and never knew his government name.
“I want to thank you for taking care of the service,” Fish continued. “I’ve been trying to get back on my feet since I been home, but it hasn’t been easy.”
“No need to thank me. Mula was my brother. It was the least I could do. Listen, if you ever need anything, all you have to do is reach out. I even got a position for you, if you’re up to it?”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I just did an asshole full of time, and I’m in no great rush to go back. At my age, I ain’t got no more years left in me to give the state of New York,” Fish told him.
“I can respect that. Well, if you need a couple of dollars to fill some of those holes in your pockets, I’ll take care of it,” Jonas told him. He looked toward the front of the funeral home and saw a familiar face walk in. “Excuse me for a second.”
Jonas had almost forgotten how nice Jewels cleaned up when she wasn’t decked out in thug gear. She was wearing a black skirt, white blouse, and a pair of black heels. Her hair was straightened and hanging around her shoulders. Jonas and Jewels hadn’t seen much of each other after that night at the motel. For a while, they would still hook up from time to time for capers or a quick roll in the sack, but those rendezvous had become fewer between as he got in deeper with Alex. After a while, they stopped messing around altogether. Jonas and Jewels were still cool, but not like they had been.
“What it do?” Jonas greeted her.
“Whatever I tell it to,” she replied. There was an awkward pause.
“What’s up? You ain’t got no love for the kid anymore?” Jonas spread his arms.
Jewels smiled and hugged him. It felt good to be in his arms again. It felt like it had been forever since she’d known his touch. The embrace started to feel too good, so Jewels broke it. “You better be careful. I don’t want your girlfriend getting mad at you.”
“Knock it off. Alex knows we have history,” Jonas said and immediately regretted it. That was the same thing he had told Jewels about Alex that night at the motel.
“So, how you holding up?” Jewels asked.
Jonas shrugged. “Fine, I guess. This shit is rough. You know how close me and Mula were.”
“Yeah, besides, Ace tha
t was your closest friend. Speaking of Ace, y’all still beefing?”
“We ain’t beefing; we just ain’t fucking with each other like that right now,” Jonas corrected her.
“Jonas, you need to let that shit go. We both know Ace didn’t mean for that shit to happen to Mula. He loved him.”
“If he really loved him, he wouldn’t have put him in harm’s way,” Jonas shot back. “I ain’t trying to give him no energy right now. How are you doing these days?”
“I’m doing a’ight. Still out here getting this paper,” Jewels told him.
“So I’ve heard. I heard you’re the man out in Queens,” Jonas teased her.
“We moving and shaking a little bit.” Jewels downplayed it. She was actually doing well for herself, selling pills thanks to Prince cutting her in on his pill operation. He had been so busy with putting the London deal together that he hadn’t had time to be in the streets.
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re out here getting it for yourself,” Jonas said.
“Ain’t like anybody was going to do it for me. Ain’t no happy endings in the hood, at least not for all of us,” Jewels said. Jonas knew it was a dig at him.
“Listen, Jewels, I was thinking that one day we could meet up for lunch and talk.”
“About what? I appreciate the offer, but I came here to pay my respects to Mula, and then I’m gone. Let the past stay where it is,” Jewels said. She was nowhere near over Jonas and didn’t want to risk opening a box that she wouldn’t be able to close again.
“I respect that,” Jonas said, feeling slighted. “It was good seeing you, Jewels.” He hugged her. It was a tight, intimate hug. He wanted to let her know that there was a part of him that still cared.
“Take care of yourself, Wrath.” Jewels walked off to pay her respects.