Ride or Die

by Marie, Kay

  25

  Buster

  Tuesday's drive was as uneventful as Monday's, only this time, I was driving alone. Rascal was put in charge of driving the box truck. I drove in front of him while Shade followed behind him at a bit of a distance. The outside of the box truck is disguised as something someone would use to when moving to a new house, so having two other vehicles keeping up with it isn't too suspicious.

  Today, we're meeting with Taras at nine to drop off the shipment and later this afternoon, we'll head to Blaze's dispensary to pick up some product. Right now, we're finishing breakfast at a local diner that's not too far from where we're taking the shipment to. I send Cali a text.

  To Cali: Good morning, Sólnyshka. Finishing breakfast and about to start our day. I'll call you tonight.

  "How are things on the home front," Shade asks.

  "She's still sleeping right now. If it was anything like the night before, she probably didn't sleep well," I tell him. "She tries to be pretty tough over the phone, but it’s hard on her."

  "Y'all were just getting in the groove of things. Of course, it's gonna be hard, but she is tough. Plus, she's surrounded by some of the best people right now," he reminds me.

  "I'm thankful she clicked so well with Minx. She'll be great for her to lean on if needed."

  "Lil Mama," Kicks chuckles. "She'll take care of Cali."

  We pay our tabs and head out to meet Taras. It's a fifteen-minute drive from the diner. I left my car back at the hotel and am riding with Rascal in the box truck following Shade and Kicks in Shade's car. Shade is from Colorado, so he's familiar with how to get around out here. Taras's house is outside of south Denver. I haven't been to Colorado much, but every time I'm amazed by how beautiful it is out here. Like New Orleans, I can't help but consider if Cali has ever been here before. I'd love to go on a cross country road trip with her.

  We arrive ten minutes before our meeting. His house is a fucking mini-mansion. It's fucking huge. Too much house for me. It also sits on at least ten acres of land. The driveway itself is stretched out across an acre and it's a huge circle around the house. Rascal parks the box truck in front of the front door as two bodyguards walk outside. We leave our guns in the glove compartment in the truck to show them they can trust us and we don't want any issues. I hop out of the truck and walk to the back.

  "We're here to deliver Taras's shipment from the Savage Menaces," I tell the bodyguards. One of them nods his head before he turns around to go back inside, more than likely getting Taras. The guard who stays outside pats all four of us down, checking for guns. Once he's done, the other one pops his head out the front door and signals for all of us to come inside.

  We walk in and right away, I'm in awe. There is a dual staircase and a fucking twenty light chandelier. Everything is different shades of warm browns. The floor is tan and white marble checkered. It's not as dark or cold in here as you would expect for a member of the Bratva. Almost as if it has a woman's touch. The guard leads us into the living room.

  "You, come with me. The other three stay here," he commands. I look to the guys and nod my head, telling them it's okay. They all take a seat on the couches. I follow the guard down a hallway. He brings me to Taras's office, where the door is already open. The guard raps his knuckles on the door, announcing our presence. Taras glances up from his desk.

  "Ah, Buster! Come in, come in." His Russian accent is pretty thick. I walk in and the guard closes the door behind me. "I hope your drive here went well."

  "We broke it into two days so it wasn't too bad," I tell him.

  "That's good to hear. And the shipment? There were no issues with it?"

  "No issues. We looked everything over and it's all there," I assure him. "We even brought some extra ammo for you and your men to test them out."

  "Great! I will have my men unload them and I will check them over. After that, I will give you the money," he explains.

  "Sounds good." We stand and shake hands across his desk. We make our way back out to the truck. When we walk through the living room, Rascal and the guys follow us outside where a few of Taras's men are already waiting for us.

  "The first six crates are filler crates. Yours are in the back," I tell Taras. Rascal opens the back of the truck. He and Kicks move the filler crates to make it easier to get to the guns. Once there's a clear path, they jump down and let Taras's men in to get the crates. They have a warehouse trolley they use to load the crates onto to make it easier to transport them to their arsenal. Once they get their crates unloaded, Rascal and Kicks move the remaining crates back and lock the truck.

  I go with Taras and his men to the arsenal. They unload a few guns and take them to their shooting range. As soon as each of them tests out a gun, Taras gives the okay.

  "They look good. We'll be in touch for more soon." He takes a thick envelope out of his jacket and hands it to me. We shake hands. "Always a pleasure doing business with the Menaces. Take care, Buster."

  I walk back to the box truck and signal to the guys to load up. We get in our vehicles and head back to the hotel.

  "I take it he was satisfied with the shipment," Rascal asks.

  "Yup," I respond before I shoot off a text to Bull.

  To Bull: Shipment dropped. Buyer will be in touch.

  We lounge around the hotel room for a couple of hours and grab a late lunch. Now we're headed to Blaze's dispensary, Higher Zen. We park around back so loading the car will be less conspicuous and walk around the front to go inside. It's a good size dispensary. Blaze does well for himself.

  "Welcome to Higher Zen!" a girl calls out from behind the counter. She's a small girl and has long dreadlocks. "How can I help you today?"

  "We're here to see Blaze. Is he around," I ask. Rascal hasn't taken his eyes off the girl since we walked in.

  "Yeah, let me go grab him real quick." She disappears behind a colorful tapestry.

  "They have fucking everything here," Shade announces. I glance around the shop. They have all kinds of edibles and drinks, topicals, tinctures, on top of having flower and cartridges. A couple of minutes later, Blaze walks out from behind the tapestry.

  "Brothas! How are you doing today?" he greets us.

  "Doin' well. Looks like you are too." I gesture around the shop. Blaze chuckles.

  "I make due," he replies.

  "Who's the girl who was out here," Shade asks.

  "That's Marley. She's like my little sister. She moved out here from Cali right after you guys were here last month," Blaze explains. "You ready to check out your order?"

  "Let's do this," I respond. We follow him into the back. He has some mason jars sitting out on one of his tables. He walks around to one side of the table and the four of us line up against the other.

  "So, I picked out five new strains for you. Two sativas, two indicas, and a hybrid," he explains to us. "This first one is Burmese Classic OG. It's the hybrid."

  He passes it to me and I hold it to my nose.

  "It smells kind of citrusy." I pass it to my left to Shade who takes a whiff and passes it down the line.

  "It's a little more sativa than indica. It gives you a nice, clear-headed high yet relaxing," Blaze tells us.

  "Sounds like my kind of flower," Rascal says. Blaze goes over the other four jars with us. The sativas, Sour Haze and Candy Kush, give energizing and active highs while the indicas, Classic Dream and Blue Kough, are what he calls relaxation in a jar and give mellow highs.

  "Everything looks and smells fucking amazing, Blaze," I compliment. "I'm curious to see how well these sell."

  "Definitely keep me updated. I like to give the Menaces the best of the best," he responds. On top of the five pounds of flower, we also get a box of five hundred carts in assorted flavors. The four of us all get a little something for ourselves. I grab some edibles and a couple of carts for myself. One Classic Dream and one Burmese Classic OG.

  Before we load everything into our cars, Blaze puts each strain of weed into a vacuum-sealed pac
kaging. He puts two of them into one large Stashlogix case and the other three in another. We each take a medium case to put our personal purchases in. I take the case of carts and the case of two pounds of flower and put them in a hidden compartment in my trunk. Shade takes the other case of flower and puts it in his car. The medium-sized cases are small enough to fit under our seats and we're good to go.

  We say our goodbyes and head back to our hotel. The plan is to head out somewhat early tomorrow to head back home.

  26

  Cali

  When I wake up the next morning, I’m still exhausted. I slept like absolute crap last night. I got too comfortable sleeping next to Ryan. Now I'm struggling to sleep on my own. I check my phone and have a couple of texts. One from Ryan and one from Minx.

  From Minx: Come to the house when you get up!

  From Ryan: Good morning, Sólnyshka. Finishing breakfast and about to start our day. I'll call you tonight.

  I check the time. His last text was from an hour ago. I decide to text him back even though he won’t see it right away.

  To Ryan: Good morning! Just woke up. Can’t wait to talk to you later.

  I lay in bed for another ten minutes before I get up and go about getting ready. When I walk out to the main room, there's a few cut bunnies and Mouse, who is sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone. Lexus walks toward me and Mouse jumps up off the couch.

  "Hey, Cali. You ready to go to the house?" He walks over to me.

  "Yeah, let's go." I don't even glance in Lexus's direction, which probably pisses her off. Mouse and I don't talk until we get outside.

  "I saw her walking your way and didn't want her starting shit," Mouse explains.

  "I appreciate it. Thank you." I smile at him.

  "Are you doing alright? Is there anything I can do or get for you?"

  "I'm alright, and no, not right now," I tell him. He nods.

  "Let me know if there's anything you need."

  "We are having a girls' night tonight, so I may need you to go grab some stuff at the grocery store later," I say.

  "That, I can definitely do," he replies. We get to Minx's house and he sits in one of the chairs on the porch while I go inside.

  "They're in the kitchen," Sketch says from the couch as soon as I walk in.

  "Thanks, Sketch," I laugh. I walk into the kitchen and the girls are all sitting around the table drinking coffee.

  "She lives!" Emma laughs.

  "Barely," I chuckle.

  "Are you doin' alright," Minx asks. I move to the counter to make myself a cup of coffee.

  "Yeah, I haven't been sleeping well," I confess.

  "I don't sleep well when Raze is gone. Even if he's only gone for one night," she tells me. "I'd like to say it gets easier, but it doesn't."

  "You have us to keep you company though," Wren says shrugging. I giggle.

  "I am thankful for you ladies. I would probably be a huge mess if I didn't have y'all," I admit.

  "We're here for you whenever you need us," Rivet tells me with a smile on her face.

  "You don't understand how much I truly appreciate that." I sit at the table with them. "So what's on the agenda for today?"

  "We need to make a grocery list to give to a couple of the prospects," Rivet announces.

  "All the junk food!" Wren says. Minx hops up, walks to the counter, and rustles around in one of the drawers. When she comes back to the table, she has a pen and some paper.

  "What kind of junk food do we want?" She prepares herself to write things down.

  "Pizza rolls," Emma tells her. "No wait, let's order pizza!"

  "Ice cream," Wren shouts. We all tell her a different flavor. Chocolate fudge brownie for me. My favorite.

  "Chips! Maybe some Pringles or something," I suggest.

  "Oh, definitely! Those sound amazing," Minx says.

  "Don't forget some peanut M&Ms and buttery popcorn," Rivet tells her.

  "I'm going to need to hit up a gym or something tomorrow." I laugh.

  "There's a gym in the clubhouse. We can all go together!" Minx tells us.

  "That's a hard pass for me," Emma deadpans.

  "Soul sister. It's a pass for me too," Rivet replies. Minx and I glance at our best friends then at each other and she shrugs.

  "I'll be up for a work out too," Wren tells us. "We'll let the two of you sleep."

  "Perfect!" Emma and Rivet say at the same time and we all laugh. Minx finishes writing our grocery list and hands it to me.

  "Will you recruit a couple of prospects to go to the store for us," Minx asks.

  "Sure." I shrug. "I need to get a few things from Buster's room anyway."

  "Thanks, Cali," Minx says as I'm walking out of the kitchen.

  "You're welcome," I call out behind me.

  "Done already?" Mouse says as I walk outside.

  "No, but I need a favor," I tell him.

  "What's up?"

  "Can you and Chains go grocery shopping for us," I ask.

  "Sure, that shouldn't be a problem," he replies.

  "I also need to go back to the clubhouse to get some of my things. I'm staying the night here with the girls tonight," I explain to him. He nods and we head back to the clubhouse. Walking into the clubhouse, Hollywood is standing at the bar talking with Tink.

  "Hey Cali," Tink calls out.

  "Hey!" I smile at her. Mouse nudges me.

  "Do you have a grocery list? I'll grab Chains and we'll head out," he tells me. I hand him Minx's list. "Hollywood, mind keeping an eye on Cali while I run to the store?"

  "Not at all," Hollywood replies.

  "I'm going to go shower and get some things together for tonight," I tell them and head to Buster's room. I check my phone. No new messages. I'm missing Ryan a lot today. It makes me thankful we're having a girls' night tonight. I take my time in the shower and move even slower while packing a backpack for tonight. I grab the necessities, including one of Ryan's shirts to sleep in, one of his hoodies, and a change of clothes for tomorrow.

  I walk back out to the main room with my backpack thrown over my shoulders. Hollywood isn't anywhere in sight right now and Lexus is walking straight toward me. I roll my eyes.

  "Oh, did Buster finally come to his senses and kick you to the curb?" Lexus snickers.

  "Keep dreamin', sweetheart. You'll get booted before I do," I tell her and she scoffs.

  "Yeah-fuckin'-right. You won't last in this lifestyle. You're a plaything for him to pass the time with. An uppity little bitch . . . " I throw a punch, connecting with her nose and it cracks.

  "Holy shit!" Tink laughs from behind the bar. Lexus screams as blood gushes down her face. Porscha comes running to her side.

  "You bitch! You broke my fucking nose," Lexus yells at me. I grin at her. Hollywood and Bull storm into the main room at that exact moment.

  "What the fuck is going on out here?" Bull shouts.

  "Lexus got put in her rightful place," Tink deadpans. Hollywood stifles a laugh.

  "Porscha, get her the fuck out of here and get her cleaned up. I'll deal with you two later," he tells them. Once they're out of the room, his eyes move from Tink to me. "Want to tell me what happened?"

  "She pretty much told me I didn't belong here. I had to prove her wrong." I shrug. He chuckles, shaking his head.

  "I’m pretty sure you got your point across. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again," he tells me and leaves the room.

  "You got a mean right hook," Hollywood laughs.

  "Thanks," I reply, smiling. Thirty minutes later, Hollywood gets a text.

  "Looks like the prospects are back. You ready to go back to the house?" he says.

  I nod, wave to Tink, and follow him to the house. Mouse and Chains are walking out of the house when we walk up.

  "Thank you both for going to the store for us!" I tell them.

  "Anytime," Chains responds.

  "What happened to your hand?" Mouse points at my right hand. I give a nervous laugh.

&
nbsp; "She fucked Lexus up," Hollywood laughs.

  "No shit?" Chains says.

  "She was talking shit. I was over it," I explain, walking inside.

  "Perfect timing!" Emma walks toward me. "I was beginning to think I was gonna have to come after you."

  We walk into the living room. I set my bag down and fall into the couch. The other girls walk in and sit.

  "I ran into a speed bump," I tell Emma.

  "Explain," Rivet demands.

  "Lexus was talking shit. Talking about I don't belong here or with Buster. I had to shut her down," I explain.

  "Holy shit!" Minx is staring at her phone. "Did you break her nose?"

  "It sounded like I did," I laugh. Tink must have sent her a picture of Lexus. Minx passes her phone around so everyone can see.

  "Damn! I never knew you had it in you to do something like that," Emma admits.

  "Yeah, well, she pushed all the right buttons," I say.

  "Buster," Minx guesses. Giving me a knowing smile. "I get like that over Raze."

  "Speaking of Raze. Where's he at," Rivet asks Minx.

  "He was working most of the day. He said he was going to hang out and have a beer or two with Saint and Sketch after work," Minx tells her.

  "You mean Sketch is actually going to let Wren out of his sight?" Rivet feigns shock toward Wren.

  "Ha-ha, hilarious. He's been keeping an eye on me since my brother is away," Wren says.

  "Right," Rivet draws out smirking at her.

  "So, Raze and I had a little talk about the possibility of us getting married someday," Minx tells us. "It got me searching through wedding rings."

  "How exciting! Did you find one you like?" Emma says.

  "I’m in love with the solitaire princess cut," Minx says.

  "My favorite is the cushion style rings," Wren states.

  "I want something big. If I ever find a guy that is." Rivet rolls her eyes and we all laugh.

  "What about you Cali," Minx asks.

  "My dream ring is a rose gold ring with a round morganite with a halo and a pave band," I explain.

  "That sounds gorgeous!" Minx says. She has her nose in her phone, probably texting Raze.