King was sitting behind his desk in the back office of the dealership. King Cars was the most lucrative of King’s legit businesses and he spent a lot of time there going over the financials and overseeing the business like the real owner would.
“What’s up,” Rayshawn greeted his boss. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yeah, have a seat,” King said and Rayshawn sat.
“So, your wifey came to see me,” King stated. “She wants a job. I told her to talk to you. Did she?”
He was going to kill her! Jaicyn had a lot of nerve coming to see King with her bullshit. One day she’d have to learn to keep everybody out of their business.
“Yeah,” Rayshawn answered.
“And?” King pressed. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her hell fucking no! She’s not sellin’ dope!”
King grinned. “I figured you’d say that. That’s why I told her she had to talk to you.”
“Thank you,” Rayshawn said, breathing easier since King was on his side.
“But after she left,” King continued to talk, “I got to thinking. You need more help down there and I’m not talking about more dealers. You’re doing too much. I think I gave you too much too fast.”
“No, I’m good,” Rayshawn protested. “I don’t need any help, especially from my girlfriend.”
“You’re doing a great job down there, Rayshawn. You have a decent crew, but you do need some help and I figured out a way to help both of you.”
Fuck! Rayshawn wanted to scream. He didn’t want Jaicyn working with him.
“Jay-Jay’s good with money, right?” King asked. “And she’s smart, right?”
“Yeah,” Rayshawn answered slowly, not liking where this conversation was going.
“So, put her on the money,” King finally said.
“Derrick’s on the money,” Rayshawn countered.
“Not that money,” King replied. “Let her handle the money the way you handle the money. Put her in charge of the money or the product. You need someone you can trust in that position and who better than Jaicyn?”
“No,” Rayshawn said. It was the first time that he’d ever disagreed with King but he was not going to do it.
“No?” King repeated, surprised. “Did you just say no?”
“Yeah,” Rayshawn said, holding his ground. “I don’t want Jaicyn down in the Park. So, no, I’m not putting her on anything. She’s not working for me.”
“You still work for me, right?” King asked. “Because I wasn’t aware that you were running shit around here.”
“I’m not sayin’ that,” Rayshawn backpedaled and decided to take a different approach. “All I’m saying is that I don’t want my girlfriend doing what we do. Jaicyn can’t be mixed up with us. The people are going to want to know how she can afford her lawyer and start checking shit. None of her paystubs will show the extra money.”
“We’ll put her on King Car’s payroll like you,” King stated.
“Sounds like I don’t have a choice in this,” Rayshawn stated dejectedly.
“Not really,” King said. “You’re doing this because I said so. I want to see how it works out. “Trust me,” King assured his protégé, “this will work. I got something in the works for you and having Jaicyn working for you is going to free up a lot of your time.”
Yeah right, Rayshawn thought.
Having his girlfriend around all the time would be much more of a headache that King realized. He thought that because Sandy was cool and a big part of his come up, Jaicyn would be the same. But Jaicyn was no Sandy. She wasn’t as level headed and open to suggestions. She was loud and feisty and stubborn as hell. She wouldn’t like Rayshawn being the boss of her.
Rayshawn decided not to argue about it and go along with King’s plan, if only to show him that it wasn’t a good idea. The shit wasn’t going to work but obviously King was going to need to see it for himself.
“Whatever you say, man,” Rayshawn answered. “She’s gonna be a royal pain in the ass but whatever. I’ll tell her tonight.”
King laughed at the way Rayshawn was sulking. He might not realize it yet but adding Jaicyn to his crew was going to be the best decision King had made since recruiting Rayshawn.
King liked Jaicyn’s passion and ambition. And after talking with her that day, he liked her even more. Jaicyn was a true hustler. She was ambitious and focused on getting money. She was tough and took care of business. Rayshawn was too caught up in the fact that she was his girlfriend to recognize it.
Jaicyn was the female version of her boyfriend. When she was trying to convince him to allow her to work for him, King flashed back to the day Rayshawn had came into his office and tried to talk him into running the Park. The boy was only fifteen at the time. King recognized his potential back then and he saw the same thing in Jaicyn. Eventually Rayshawn would see the same thing.
Rayshawn was ready to move up. King was confident that in a couple of years he’d be ready to run the whole operation. But for now, while King was making bigger moves for Rayshawn, which he didn’t know about, Rayshawn needed someone like Jaicyn on his team. He was making so much money that he didn’t even realize it.
Every week King and Blaque went over the numbers. Rayshawn’s track record was amazing! Rayshawn was running a crew that was bringing in close to a quarter of a million dollars a month and he didn’t even realize it. He was too busy keeping track of his crew and scaring off potential takeovers. With Jaicyn there to take over the money side it would clear quite a few things off of Rayshawn’s full plate.
Eventually, with Jaicyn monitoring and keeping count of every penny, every vial, and every ounce, Rayshawn would finally be able to see where his strengths and weaknesses were. He’d be able to see where he was making money and how much he was making. Then he’d understand why King made the decision to bring Jaicyn into the fold.
King had a feeling that Jaicyn and Rayshawn were about to do really big things. He knew that Jaicyn thought it was just temporary until she got her sisters back and she was only in it for the money but King had other plans. He needed her on the team, permanently and he always got what he wanted.
King had dominated the drug trade in Washington Heights for more than fifteen years and was ready to expand his organization. With what he was planning, Rayshawn and Jaicyn would be an integral part of his “Dream Team”. They didn’t know it yet, but those two teenagers were about to see money in a way that they’d never seen before.
Chapter 22
Jaicyn glanced out of the window of the small bland room she was working in. The temperature outside was dropping quickly as the sun began to set.
Of course she’d left her coat in the car.
She’d have to run across the courtyard to keep from freezing to death and haul ass downtown if she wanted to make her class on time. The thought of spending another two hours in a cold classroom setting sent a blinding pain through her temples.
Six months ago, King Cars had been the recipient of a surprise tax audit. Even though King’s lawyers had assured him that the FEDS weren’t preparing to bust him, Jaicyn was not convinced. King Car’s was the “legit” second income that she was going to use to pay her lawyer and show the Family Court judge that she could provide for Rickie and Bobbie. She didn’t care what the lawyers, Rayshawn, or King said, she had to figure out something else that would explain her extra income.
She’d considered becoming a Mary Kay consultant and lie about her sales, but Mary Kay required too much time. Besides, even if she was the top consultant, it would take years for her to make the type of money she needed. Everybody knew that. Shit, the judge probably was a Mary Kay customer and knew that the consultants didn’t make that much money.
Her boss, Darius, was the one who suggested that she get her real estate license so he could promote her. He actually said “you don’t want to be my assistant forever, do you?”. Jaicyn cringed at the thought of getting his coffee and answering his phones for more than an
other year so she gave his suggestion some thought.
Real estate agents at Ragman and Associates made a lot of money. If she had her license, she could definitely fake some commission checks. The judge wasn’t going to ask for a list of properties that she sold. They just needed proof of income. Getting her license seemed to be the best plan so she enrolled in the firm’s real estate course, faked a payment agreement between her and her lawyer, and told King to take her off King Car’s payroll.
Learning property laws and foreclosure laws was the single most boring thing Jaicyn had ever been forced to do in her life; even worse than high school. Three days a week she had to work a full eight hour shift, come down to Oak Park and do her job for a few hours then head back to the office for class.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
She was exhausted!
And really didn’t have time to deal with the bullshit sitting across from her. Thank God she only had one more class then she could take the exam, get her license and be done with it all.
“This is unacceptable.” Jaicyn’s voice was flat as she scowled at the teenage boy sitting uncomfortable on the other side her desk.
“But Jay-Jay, that shit wasn’t my fault,” Marquise said. “Some east side stick up boys got us.”
“I do not care.”
“We got robbed,” Marquise whined which irritated Jaicyn even more.
“I do not care,” she repeated. “You got caught slippin’ is what really happened. Why were you on the east side with twenty-five hundred dollars of Rayshawn’s money anyway? You know better than that.”
“It was an emergency,” Marquise explained. “I had to leave the block to go check on my mom.”
Jaicyn shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t care about anything except what Rayshawn would say when the week’s count came up short.
“All I know is that you better have his money by Friday or we’re going to have a serious problem. Get it back, however you can.”
She gathered her messenger bag and stood up. Marquise remained seated.
“Go!” she yelled. “I have shit to do!”
For almost a year Jaicyn had been in charge of Rayshawn’s money and she took her job very seriously. Behind her pretty face was a ruthless business woman that no one knew existed. Jaicyn was on a mission and it had nothing to do with drugs or Rayshawn. She had a custody case to win.
When Rayshawn reluctantly broke the news that she’d be working with him, Jaicyn knew that he didn’t like the idea. The job wasn’t exactly what she had planned either. It was better! She certainly didn’t want to be out on the corner selling dope in the middle of a Washington Heights winter, but she was willing to do it if she had to. Thankfully, King had other plans for her.
King’s set up was so complex that Jaicyn had to spend a few weeks learning the set up. She had to know which dealers reported to King and who reported to Blaque and Slim. She had to know who ran what corners, where everyone got their dope from. It was complicated. Jaicyn couldn’t see how Rayshawn kept track of all the information, but daily he reported accurate numbers to Blaque. That was the main reason King wanted Jaicyn in. The only reason Rayshawn took on so much responsibility was because Rayshawn didn’t trust a soul. King knew that if Rayshawn could relinquish a little bit of the control over his crew he would be more open to pursue expansion, so he hired Jaicyn.
Rayshawn’s crew was sixteen deep and he had a unique way of managing them all. He divided them into four small crews and assigned each crew a different spot in or around the projects to hustle in. He kept his most trusted friends close to him: Johnny, Little Man, and Pete. He also kept a two man crew of shooters close by to be used as necessary and Corey and Marcus were lethal.
Sabrina, like Jaicyn, was new to the crew. She handled the stash. Every ounce of weed, cocaine, and heroine that came through the Park passed through her hands. Sabrina was an expert at keeping the stash off the radar and worked closely with Jaicyn. Rayshawn wasn’t happy with having females in charge of his money and his drugs. Females attracted trouble because people thought they were soft. He had to go along with it because King had put Sabrina and Jaicyn in their positions.
So far, the ship was running as smoothly as King had planned. As long as Rayshawn continued to bring in the big bucks, King couldn’t care less if Rayshawn thought that Jaicyn wasn’t cut out for the job.
Because no matter what anyone thought, Jaicyn was cut out for the game. She kept meticulous records and was a computer whiz. Both King and Rayshawn were impressed at the way she kept information that could cripple King’s entire empire encrypted on her tiny laptop computer.
When she first came on board, Rayshawn was positive that working with his girlfriend would be a huge problem. Even though Jaicyn knew how to boost clothes and hustle them on the street, she didn’t know anything about the drug game. She learned quickly. Now Jaicyn knew every aspect of his business and could run the crew if he needed her to. She told everyone who asked that she worked with Rayshawn, not for him. That didn’t fly well with anyone, especially Rayshawn. He was the boss and expected Jaicyn to act like it. They were not on the same level. No matter how hard he tried to get her to understand that, nothing changed.
Jaicyn watched Marquise walk out of the apartment carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was worried about coming up with the missing money like Jaicyn had ordered. He wished that he could talk to Little Man but he’d probably express the same sentiments as Jaicyn.
After Marquise was out of the apartment, Jaicyn knocked on Rayshawn's door.
“What?” Rayshawn called through the closed door.
“It’s me,” was Jaicyn’s response as she turned the doorknob and slipped into the room where Rayshawn still spent the majority of his day looking out of the window watching his crew.
“Hey baby,” Rayshawn said, turning his attention to his woman. He walked over to Jaicyn and kissed her.
Since Ramel went to jail and Mario turned up dead, everyone in Washington Heights thought that Jaicyn was Rayshawn’s only weakness. The quickest way to a dirt nap was to plot on Jaicyn Jones, especially if your target was Rayshawn. Anyone would be better off trying to go head up with Rayshawn than doing anything to his woman.
Jaicyn was spoiled rotten. Rayshawn made sure of that. He showered her with clothes, jewelry and whatever else she wanted. Even though she was making money and could afford to buy her own stuff, Rayshawn was always one step ahead of her. If they were in the mall and her eyes lingered over a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes or a Prada purse for more than a few seconds, Rayshawn bought it without hesitation. Nothing slipped his mind either. He remembered her favorite colors, her favorite perfumes, her favorite brand names. He knew the look on her face when she was hungry or when she didn’t want to be bothered with anything or anyone. He knew how to make her feel better when it was that time of the month. He was the perfect boyfriend, outside of work.
When it came to his business, Jaicyn wasn’t his girlfriend. Rayshawn made it very clear to her and the rest of the crew that she wouldn’t get special. The crew was skeptical and thought he was just talking. There was no way Rayshawn would cuss Jaicyn out like he did the others when things didn’t go the way he expected them to.
All it took was a slow week right before Christmas for that theory to go up in smoke. Rayshawn was expecting a decent sized profit and when the numbers didn’t match up to what he expected he went off on everyone! Rayshawn pushed his crew hard but didn’t expect them to do anymore than he was willing to do. It hadn’t mattered to him that it was the holidays. He was in the Park at least sixteen hours a day and if he was willing to do it, then he expected the same from his crew. When people started complaining and not showing up for work, Rayshawn threatened to get rid of all of them, including Jaicyn who had opted to spend a few days with her sisters rather than doing her job.
After it was established that no one in the crew received any type of preferential treatment, the crew got used to seeing Jaicyn
and Rayshawn together a lot. Jaicyn had the most important job in the crew, besides Rayshawn, and she was going to be involved more than everyone else. Rayshawn’s crew was a solid unit. They were the only crew that didn’t have beef amongst each other.
“Marquise is short twenty-five hundred,” Jaicyn advised Rayshawn, all business. “I gave him a few days to get it back. He’s claiming he got robbed on the east side but I don’t know.”
Rayshawn nodded, making a mental note to get with Corey and Marcus later and have them check out Marquise’s story.
“So, I have to get back to the office,” Jaicyn finished, “and I have to meet with Douglas tomorrow after work. You know we have a hearing next month, right?”
Rayshawn nodded again. The custody battle that Jaicyn had gotten herself involved in was beginning to take its toll on her. Eight months ago she had won bi-weekly visitation rights and the Judge had given her a checklist of all the things that she required Jaicyn to have completed and documents provided to the court. Some of the stuff was easy, like providing the court with her paystubs, written references, and a copy of her lease agreement. It was the budget plans and schedules and proving that she had adequate childcare that was harder for Jaicyn.
The Family Court judge was a no nonsense woman named Madeline Berkley. She appeared to be receptive to the idea of reuniting the Jones sisters. She was an advocate of keeping families together but she wasn’t stupid either. She wasn’t going to hand over custody of Rickie and Bobbie to Jaicyn just because they were blood relatives.
Jaicyn had been irritable and anxious for the past few days and although Rayshawn understood why, she was still getting on his nerves. It was bad enough that he saw his girlfriend less frequently than he would have liked. She insisted that it was best if they didn’t spend too much time at each other’s apartments until the case was over. They went out, talked on the phone, and saw each other at the Park at least twice a week but they rarely spent the night together. If they did, they usually met up at a hotel in the suburbs.
A Hustler's Promise: Some Promises Won't Be Broken Page 19