A Hustler's Promise: Some Promises Won't Be Broken

by Jackie Chanel

  Rayshawn nodded his head slowly. Jaicyn was talking about starting a war. At least she respected King’s rules, even if she didn’t respect Rayshawn’s. Still, he couldn’t let her do what she was planning on doing.

  “You don’t worry about this shit, Jay-Jay,” Rayshawn told her. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I don’t want you to take care of it, Rayshawn. If King’s own people are trying to take me out, I have to handle this myself or you won’t have the Park when you get back!”

  “You can’t go up against Marcello alone,” Rayshawn yelled.

  “I won’t be alone. Let me handle this.”

  Rayshawn shook his head adamantly. Jaicyn could not do what she thought she wanted to do. It wasn’t her place. She wasn’t the type of girl who could handle drugs and guns. He knew it when King brought her in. Why the fuck didn’t he stand his ground? He should have insisted that he stayed in Washington Heights. She should have never been put in charge of his crew.

  “What did you do to Marcello?” Rayshawn wanted to know. He’d always been cool with Marcello and now he was going to have to kill the man.

  “I haven’t done shit to him,” Jaicyn yelled. “Look what he did to me!”

  Both Rayshawn and Jaicyn were quiet. Jaicyn sipped on her latte, wondering why Rayshawn couldn’t understand what was up. He’d been in the game longer than she had.

  There was a loud knock on the door that broke the uneasy silence.

  “It’s open,” Rayshawn called.

  King walked in the room, dressed in dark blue jeans and a white Polo shirt. He was wearing a white doo-rag under a navy blue Yankee cap. Jaicyn had never seen King so casual. He looked ten years younger but he still walked like he owned the world. Little Man walked in behind him. Jaicyn tightened the sash of her robe and sat her coffee on the table.

  “So I hear you have a problem,” King said to Jaicyn.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” Jaicyn spoke bravely. “That’s why I’m here.”

  “You could’ve called. You didn’t have to come all the way to Atlanta,” King said.

  “I didn’t think that this was a conversation to be had over the phone.”

  “Tell me what happened,” King said, sitting down in a chair.

  Jaicyn told King the story from the beginning. He’d already heard most of it from Blaque but King wanted to see if Jaicyn’s version matched.

  “How’d you know that the heat was coming from inside?” King questioned.

  “It just made sense. I heard that Pete was with Marcello’s crew. Then a few days later my stash gets hit. Then cops start jumping out on us and my two best people on the corner get knocked. With all the south side cops on our payroll, I knew it had to be somebody setting me up. Last night just confirmed it.”

  King was impressed. Jaicyn was definitely smart. Now he needed to see if she had the balls to back up the shit she talked.

  “Why are you here?”

  “This isn’t about business anymore, King,” Jaicyn looked him square in the eye while she talked. “We all have our separate crews but at the end of the day, we’re supposed to be a unit. I’ve done nothing to that man. Pete had no reason to sell me out to Marcello. If they had a problem, they should have come to you. Instead, they tried to kill me. That shit’s personal. They have to be taken care of.”

  “You want me to give you permission to start a war between my crews?”

  Jaicyn shook her head. “No. With all due respect, sir, I’m not the one who started this bullshit. I came down here to get permission to end it.”

  “Hypothetically, if you and Marcello go to war and you win, who’s going to run 129th?” King asked.

  Jaicyn shrugged her shoulders. “That’s not really my problem. If they had taken me out last night, who would be running the Park?”

  Without waiting for an answer, Jaicyn continued to talk.

  “Look, it comes down to this. I’m not talking about gunfights and shit on the streets. I’m not talking about spraying 129th hoping to hit Marcello and Pete. I’m not talking about starting a war. I just want permission to take out Marcello and Pete. All I need to hear is a simple yes or no. I’ll worry about the other stuff later.”

  “You’re asking for permission to end someone’s life?”

  Jaicyn leaned her head to the side and looked at King. Her anger filled eyes gave him the answer he needed.

  “You’re the boss, right? I’m not supposed to even talk to the other dealers without talking to you and Blaque first. I’m just following the rules, that’s all.”

  King grinned but was the only one in the room who found any amusement in what was going on. The situation wasn’t funny but he felt proud that Jaicyn was stepping up to the plate. Everything he thought about her was proving correct. He respected her gangsta. How could he not?

  When Marcello and the other dealers started talking shit to Blaque about Jaicyn, King had ordered everyone to shut the fuck up and take care of their own crew. Jaicyn was one of them, she was part of the family and King wanted her in Oak Park. He made the decisions. What Marcello had done was sign his own death warrant. No one fucked with King’s people or his money.

  Sure, Jaicyn was overstepping her bounds by asking to personally handle Marcello, but at least she came to him first. Marcello was going to get got. King was going to give the man some time to see if he got his act together but he blew it. The order was out. Who better to handle the situation than Jaicyn? King hadn’t planned on testing her heart like this but the situation was perfect. Could she handle it or would she be too scared?

  “Do what you got to do, Jay-Jay,” King finally answered.

  Jaicyn nodded her head, grateful that King agreed with her.

  “What?” Rayshawn yelled. He had been waiting for King to tell Jaicyn to back off and calm down. He was even waiting for him to order Little Man and Rayshawn back to Atlanta. He hadn’t expected King to let Jaicyn go along with her plan.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked King.

  Rayshawn walked into the bedroom of the hotel suite. King and Little Man followed him. Rayshawn was pissed beyond comprehension. King was playing a dangerous game. It was one thing to see how tough Jaicyn was. It was something different to put her life in danger. Things were getting out of hand.

  Rayshawn had reluctantly turned over control to Jaicyn and nothing had gone right since. In Atlanta, they were busy putting together a top notch network of dealers, making connections, and starting to make some dough, but in Washington Heights his crew was in shambles.

  Jaicyn had Joy and Taylor, two greedy bitches he didn’t even like, handling his product. She’d kicked out Pete and replaced him with two west side people that Rayshawn had never even met. Now one of his best friends was shooting at his girlfriend. This situation with Jaicyn had gotten out of control and Rayshawn wanted it to stop. He was going back to Washington Heights and put an end to the bullshit Jaicyn had going on. Atlanta had to wait.

  As soon as King closed the door behind him, Rayshawn started talking.

  “What the hell, man?” Rayshawn said to King. “Am I not in charge of my people anymore?”

  “What are you talking about?” King asked back.

  “That damn conversation you just had with Jaicyn. What are you thinking?”

  “What did you think I was going to say? She brought this shit on herself,” King said. “She wanted the money, the cars, and everything else that comes with being out in the streets. She wanted to be boss. Now she has to act like one.”

  “She’s a girl,” Rayshawn protested. “She’s my girl at that and I should have a say in what the hell she does. I don’t want her getting shot at. Fuck that!”

  “Yell all you want, Rayshawn,” King sighed. “It is what it is. The same rules apply to Jaicyn that apply to everyone else in the game.”

  “But-”

  “Don’t even say it,” King warned. “We’ve all been through this shit. The streets are testing her. If she’s going to
stay in this game, she has to earn some respect. She’s not going to get it by sitting on her ass and looking pretty.”

  “She’s not cut out for this,” Rayshawn argued. “I told you that a long time ago. I managed to run the Park for two years without any real problems. She’s there for three months and niggas are already shooting at her! I have to get back home and handle this shit.”

  “No you don’t,” King shouted angrily. “Separate yourself from your emotions, Rayshawn. That shit is going to get you killed one day! Jaicyn is a big girl. She can handle this. She will handle this.”

  King opened the bedroom door and all three guys walked back into the living room. Jaicyn looked up from her phone when they walked in.

  “Jay-Jay,” King said, “go back home and handle your business.”

  “Okay,” Jaicyn answered and Rayshawn felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  King looked at Rayshawn. “Let it go,” he said quietly. “She’ll be fine. You taught her well.”

  Chapter 29

  Jaicyn tossed the television remote onto the couch and groaned. Two hundred channels and nothing good was playing. She’d only been back from Atlanta for a couple of hours and she was just as anxious as she was on the plane.

  Rayshawn hadn’t even said goodbye when he dropped her off at the airport. He was upset with her and King. He still didn’t realize that he couldn’t fight her battles all the time. Even after all that they’d been through he still wasn’t comfortable with her being so independent.

  He needed to get over it.

  The intercom buzzed. The guys had arrived.

  Blaque, Slim, Corey and Marcus walked into the apartment and sat down. When Jaicyn had called Blaque and told them to come to her apartment, he knew something was wrong. Meetings weren’t held inside the home. Home was sanctuary. It was the one place they could go and not bring the streets with them. Blaque wanted to meet at the Park but Jaicyn insisted that they come here. She felt safe in her apartment and she needed a minute of feeling safe. The shooting had scared the hell out of her.

  “How’s Johnny?” Jaicyn asked.

  “He’ll be alright,” Corey said. “He took one in the shoulder. Nothing too serious. He’ll be back in the Park in a few days.”

  “Probably sooner than that,” Blaque said. “I talked to him and his mother. She’s going to give the hospital bills to me. What about you? How are you holding up?”

  Everyone had been worried about Jaicyn. She’d never been in a shootout and then she disappeared off the radar for two days. They all feared the worst. When Blaque saw her number pop up on his caller ID, the entire crew heaved a sigh of relief.

  Jaicyn wanted to confess that she was scared as hell. She wanted to tell them that even though she knew how to shoot a gun, she didn’t want to do it. Shooting at paper targets and shooting at live people were totally different. She wanted to admit to them that all she could think about while bullets were flying over her head was her sisters. She wanted to admit that she cried all the way to the airport.

  But she couldn’t, not to this group.

  They’d been in the game for years. They were fearless. Drive-bys and shootouts were commonplace. Jaicyn was supposed to be the boss. A few gunshots and some blood shouldn’t have scared her as much as it did.

  “I’m okay,” she lied.

  “Where have you been?” Marcus wanted to know.

  “I went to Atlanta to see King,” Jaicyn answered.

  Jaicyn watched the guys straighten up in their seats. She knew that they were thinking that she wasn’t as strong as they thought if she went running to King the minute something bad happened. She scooted forward on her couch and looked at Blaque.

  “Why’d you go to King? We said we’d handle it. You don’t trust us or something?”

  Jaicyn was taken back at the accusation. Everyone, especially Blaque, knew that they were the only ones she did trust.

  “Considering who the shooters were,” Jaicyn explained, “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You know who they were?” Marcus asked.

  “We all should know,” Jaicyn said. “I know the shit happened fast but I can’t believe you didn’t recognize that car. You’ve seen it plenty of times on 129th.”

  “Marcello!” Corey and Marcus said together, as if someone had flipped the switch in their heads at the same time.

  “Yes,” Jaicyn nodded. “He’s been scheming on me since Rayshawn left. Pete’s been feeding him info.”

  Jaicyn informed them what she had suspected. When she saw the car and recognized Pete, she had all the proof she needed. As she listened to herself explain what had been going on, Jaicyn realized how much of what she was saying sounded like a movie script. Drama, friends turned foes, betrayal. Even though it wasn’t funny, Jaicyn laughed because it seemed like her life had all the elements of a box office hit.

  “Do you understand why I had to see King?”

  The uneasy look on Corey, Marcus, and Slim’s faces switched to rage. Family wasn't supposed to be making moves on other members of the family! That was the code and it needed to be kept to. Pete and Marcello had to go!

  “What did King say?” Blaque asked.

  He knew the answer before Jaicyn confirmed it. He’d been with King since the beginning. King didn’t tolerate disloyalty. He ran his organization so that everyone had money and the harder you worked the more money you made. Everyone should have been happy with what he gave them.

  “He told me to handle it the best way I see fit,” Jaicyn answered. “And the best way is that those two bitches are outta here. They crossed the line.”

  Blaque and Slim stared at Jaicyn, both of them seeing her in a different light. In her black sweatpants, Tweety bird socks, and white scarf tied around her head, Blaque thought she looked like a teenager forced to make a life changing decision. She had the same look on her face that Rayshawn had the night he shot Mario.

  Slim saw something totally different. He didn’t see any fear in Jaicyn’s eyes. He saw a smart girl who was about to come up with a deadly plan. He saw revenge in her eyes.

  Both of them respected her more than they ever had before.

  “We do this soon, okay. It’s already been two days,” Jaicyn said, her tone icy. “Don’t just go down to 129th and shoot up the block like they did. We do this clean; we do this right. Only Pete and Marcello have to go. No one else has to get hurt. This is coming directly from King. Everyone needs to know that or Marcello’s crew is going to end up doing something stupid. I like those boys. I don’t want to see any of them in a box, okay?”

  “So let’s go find them,” Marcus suggested.

  “Yeah, let’s do that,” Jaicyn agreed. “Once we have them then we’ll figure out what to do with them.”

  Finding Pete and Marcello proved to be more challenging than Jaicyn had expected. A week went by and Jaicyn still didn’t have a clue as to where the two cowards were hiding out. It seemed like they just disappeared. Jaicyn put word out on the street that she was offering ten grand for information pertaining to their whereabouts.

  Day after day Jaicyn sat in Oak Park with Johnny and Slim while Corey and Marcus roamed Washington Heights looking for Pete and Marcello. Today wasn’t any different.

  “What the fuck!” Jaicyn yelled, frustrated that another hour had gone by with no word from Marcus and Corey.

  “Jay-Jay, calm down,” Johnny said. “We’re going to find them. They have to come out of hiding sometime.”

  Jaicyn paced the floor. Even in her jeans and tight t-shirt she had a sexy swagger to her that commanded respect. But there was something else that Johnny noticed when she threw her Taco Bell cup against the wall, splashing Mountain Dew everywhere. Jaicyn had a mean streak.

  “I’m not going to calm down. They are making me look soft, not to mention stupid. I’m tired of this. They haven’t left Washington Heights. I know it.”

  Slim looked doubtful. “I don’t think they’re here. No one has seen them since the s
hooting.”

  “Somebody knows something,” Jaicyn muttered. “We’re just not asking the right people.”

  “Hey,” Jaicyn stopped pacing and looked at Marcus. “Doesn’t Marcello have a girl over in Lincoln Park?”

  “He used to mess with this chick over there named Niecy. She’s one of his baby-mamas.”

  Jaicyn smiled. She had the perfect plan to bring the cowards out of hiding. Girlfriends and baby-mamas were casualties of war and got used all the time as bait.

  “Rayshawn is going to fuck you up if you don’t let me go”

  “I want him to try. When he comes over here looking for you, I’m going to blow his mothafuckin’ head off! Don’t worry, I won’t make you watch.”

  The memory of being alone in an abandoned house with Ramel and Mario came rushing back to Jaicyn and nearly brought her to her knees. Ramel had used her but his plan backfired. Hers would not.

  Jaicyn had no intention of hurting Niecy but she was definitely down with using her and her kids, if necessary, to bring Marcello into the light.

  “Strap up,” Jaicyn ordered Slim and Johnny. “We’re going to pay her a visit.”

  Two hours later, Jaicyn, Slim, Johnny, and Marcello’s baby-mama were sitting in a dark, abandoned building two blocks from Lincoln Park projects. Niecy was tied to a chair, ungagged, but unable to move. Jaicyn sat in a rusty folding chair across from her, watching tears roll down her eyes.

  “Stop crying. I haven’t done anything to you.”

  Except knock on her door and have two of Washington Heights meanest felons drag her out of her apartment and throw her into the back of Slim’s Suburban.

  “What do you want?” Niecy cried, fearing for her life.

  Janiece Jenkins wasn’t exactly a round the way girl. She just lived in the projects because that’s what she could afford. She was only nineteen with two little boys. She made a bad decision by getting involved with Marcello. Three years later she had two kids and lived in the projects while he ran all around Washington Heights selling dope and making more babies that he didn’t take care of either. He was ruthless. Because of him Niecy was tied up in an abandoned building with a known killer and Jaicyn Jones.