Real Riders Never Die

by A'zayler

  “So ain’t none of the niggas out here try to break that shit up?” Jacko yelled.

  “Nope! They ain’t have to, I helped her! I wasn’t about to stand there and let my friend get beat up, especially not by a nigga!” Demoto had always known Kia was a real tough chick, but he hadn’t known to what extent until tonight. She hadn’t known Taryn long, but she was already looking out for her. He was happy Taryn had someone as loyal as Kia on her team. Jacko on other hand was in love! Kia was his type of woman. From her size and style, to the way she would ride for her people when it was time. He was going to need Taryn to do some matchmaking on his behalf. Taryn smiled at Kia as she broke from Jeremiah’s embrace and hugged her. The group went on talking for a little longer before deciding it was time to go. Kia retrieved her and Taryn’s things from behind the trash can. She had thrown it back there before engaging in the fight.

  “Dang T, with all this mess going on I forgot to call our ride.”

  “That’s cool, I’ll get Jeremiah to take us home.” Taryn pulled out her phone and called him; he answered on the first ring. The next thing you know, he was pulling around to the front. Taryn really liked Jeremiah; he was so cute and sweet.

  The ride to Kia’s house was pretty quiet, except for the music Jeremiah had playing. All three of them were lost in their own thoughts. Taryn and Kia were so tired from fighting; all they wanted to do was go home and lay down. When they pulled up to Kia’s house, Jeremiah killed the engine and waited for the girls to get out. Kia figured he probably wanted to talk to Taryn alone, so she headed for the house without her. Taryn leaned over the console to give him a kiss before opening the door. She wasn’t out of the car all the way before he grabbed her arm, pausing her.

  “You want to go home with me?”

  “What about you parents?”

  “My mom is out of town and my dad doesn’t care.” Taryn thought about pretending she didn’t want to, but changed her mind. After the night she’d just had, going to sleep in his arms would be heaven. She told him to wait on her while she went to tell Kia. Kia had left the door open, so she walked right in. The living room was empty besides Mr. Buck’s young soldier that had dropped them off. He was asleep on the couch. Taryn walked quietly past him to Kia’s room. When she got in there, Kia had clothes in one arm and body wash in the other. Her hair was already tied up and her shoes were gone. Taryn told her she was going to spend the night with Jeremiah, and she’d be over in the morning.

  “Okay well take my keys so you can let yourself back in when you get here in the morning. Or tonight, you never know how niggas will act.”

  “Jeremiah seem cool.”

  “I hope he stay that way when he realize you ain’t giving up that butt. They start acting brand new once you deny they ass.” Taryn hadn’t thought about that, so she took Kia’s keys. Kia was right; she didn’t know how Jeremiah was going to behave. She hugged Kia real quick before grabbing her things and leaving.

  *****

  The inside of Jeremiah’s house was so nice, and smelled like cinnamon apples. It was spacious, and so elegantly decorated. There were pictures hung all over the walls of his family. His mom had decorative pillows on the couch, with vases filled with flowers on the tables. It felt so warm and inviting. It felt like a home. Taryn wasn’t used to seeing houses as nice as this, so it took her a moment to take it all in. She wanted to stay and look at the family portraits to see what his family looked like, but Jeremiah was pulling her up the stairs.

  The hallway was dark as they passed two rooms with closed doors. Jeremiah’s room was a burnt orange and gray. You could tell his mom had decorated it, because everything matched. It looked nothing like something a boy would pick out. Aside from his clothes and various football and marine posters on the wall, it looked interiorly decorated. He had clothes on his bed, the floor, and a chair in the corner. He tried to pick some of them up and place them in the closet. She caught a glimpse of the shoe-filled closet. There were boxes stacked to the ceiling. Jeremiah always appeared to be spoiled, but she didn’t know it was this bad. She watched him as he stirred around the room trying to clean up. Once he was finished, he turned around to face her. He removed his jacket and shoes, then sat on the floor next to the bed and began taking off hers. With her feet free of her sneakers, he removed her socks and reached for her jacket. He stored all of her things in the chair next to his dresser.

  “You want to take a shower?”

  “What? What if somebody see me?”

  “I already told you my daddy don’t care, and my brothers are already asleep. Come on, I’ll go in with you if you want me to,” Taryn smiled at his last comment. Jeremiah must have thought she was a fool if he thought he was about to watch her take a shower. He must have read her thoughts.

  “I’m not going to watch you, our bathroom has two sides. Get your stuff and come on, I’ll show you.” Taryn was skeptical, but she followed him anyway.

  The restroom was just like he’d said. It had a shower, bathtub, and toilet on one side, with two sinks and a linen closet on the other. It was connected by a small walkway that had a long bench along the wall. Jeremiah turned the water on and gave her a towel and washcloth before retreating to the other side. By the time she had gotten done showering, Jeremiah was dressed in nothing but a towel. He’d removed his clothes and was on the bench waiting for her to finish. His appearance caught her off guard momentarily, but she tried to keep her focus. When he walked past her, she had to take a deep breath. He didn’t even wait on her to leave before he dropped the towel and got into the shower.

  “Jeremiah you ain’t slick!”

  “What you talking about girl?”

  “You just want me to see you naked.”

  “Nah, that’s where you’re wrong. What I want is for you to be in this shower with me,” he smiled devilishly before sliding the glass door closed. Since he was being so bold, she decided to do the same. Instead of walking to the other side, she sat on the side of the tub and watched him. Jeremiah was so silly as he turned towards her, displaying his wet body. Taryn crossed her legs tighter, trying to suppress the feeling in her panties. Their eyes remained connected the entire time he bathed. He motioned for her to come to him, so she did. After she slid the door open again, she stepped back a little to avoid getting wet. He grabbed her hand and guided it to his manhood. Taryn pulled back a little, but he kept going until it rested in her hand. He guided her hand up and down the shaft until his breathing got ragged. Taryn felt her body getting the best of her, so she pulled away and returned to the tub. He laughed at her and closed the door back.

  “I fuck with you Taryn-Lee,” he smiled as he finished washing. Taryn was relieved once they were safely back into his room. She sat on the bed, while he grabbed the lotion. As he kneeled in front of her, he began to rub her feet.

  “You know I like you right?”

  “Yeah I know. I like you too Jeremiah.”

  “I was serious about you being my girlfriend. What you think about that?”

  “I think it’s nice, but let’s just give it a little more time first.”

  “Cool, so tell me about yourself.”

  Taryn hated the direction this conversation was about to take, so she leaned forward and kissed him. No objections came from him as he leaned her back and lay on top of her. They kissed as he rubbed his hands under her shirt. Taryn wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, trying to feel his hard body on hers. He caught on to what she was doing and began pressing his lower body into her, putting pressure on her already throbbing clit. He grunted at the same time a moan left her lips. The more she grinded against him, the harder he got, so he pulled back. Taryn looked at him like she didn’t understand, so he went back to kissing her. This time instead of touching her breasts, he stuck his hands in her shorts and rubbed his hand along the seams of her panties. He rested his hand between her thighs, lightly massaging the wet spot on her panties. Taryn’s face twisted in pleasure until she moaned again. Jeremiah was gro
wing bigger by the second. He pulled his body from hers and grabbed a condom from the drawer on his dresser. In that millisecond, her brain started back functioning properly. She scooted up on the bed and closed her legs.

  “What’s wrong Taryn?”

  “Nothing, I just don’t think I’m ready for this yet.” Jeremiah looked at her and smiled before replacing the condom. Fuck! We too old for this shit, he thought but played it cool anyway. He lay down and pulled her to him. They lay under the covers in the quiet room. Taryn could tell he was a little angry, and the only thing she could hear was Kia’s voice. She snickered a little, because she couldn’t wait to tell her tomorrow.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing. I just thought about something Kia said earlier. I hope you’re not mad Jeremiah. I really like you, I just don’t want us to move too fast.”

  “You good baby. Let’s just get some rest, I know you got to be tired.”

  “I am, and my back hurt.” Jeremiah wanted to offer a massage but he already knew that would leave him with blue balls, so he decided against it and went to sleep.

  *****

  Across town, Demoto was lying in Alicia’s bed with Taryn on his mind. He’d texted her to make sure she was good and found out she was with Jeremiah. He didn’t want to be jealous, but he couldn’t mask it. He just hoped Taryn didn’t let Jeremiah hit. That should have been the last thing on his mind being that he’d just finished running through Alicia, but it wasn’t. All he could think about was Taryn. While inside Alicia, his thoughts were of Taryn. Alicia was on his dick, and Taryn was on his heart. He had given Alicia some of his best work, and she probably thought it was because of her.

  In his mind, he was making love to Taryn. It was her thick thighs and ass he pictured when he was hitting Alicia from the back. The whole time she slid up and down his pole, he wished it was Taryn wrapped around him. He was basically making love to Taryn through Alicia. Frustrated with himself and her, he rolled over with his back to Alicia. She probably thought he was mad about her not helping him, so he wouldn’t let her think any different. In reality, he was trying to protect her feelings; if he talked, he’d probably say the wrong thing. He had to bite his tongue during sex so he didn’t scream out Taryn’s name. Demoto blew out a heated breath and tried to find sleep.

  *****

  6 months later

  It had been months since the fight at the civic center, and Demoto still hadn’t put his hands on the people that attacked him. He and his boys had their ears to the streets, but nothing came up. He sat back in his seat and thought about everything he had going on. He was stressed to the max, but he tried to remain cool. He and his brother Adisa had a meeting with a man named Cayman Rasheed in thirty minutes, and he was nervous. Cayman was an African businessman; he too was from Cameroon. He was in charge of Official Opportunities, also known as Double O. It was one of the most notorious corporations in the south. He did everything from money laundering, drugs, prostitution rings, to murder. He had everybody on the payroll–small businesses, dirty cops, judges, teachers, car salesmen, anything you named he had a piece in it.

  Cayman was a fair guy and worked with everybody, but he wasn’t the one to cross. He was ruthless! Everyone knew it was best to stay on his good side. There had been numerous cases in Columbus alone where people had gone missing, or been found dead due to his wrath. Although all of that was impressive, that wasn’t the reason Demoto was nervous. He was nervous because Cayman had specifically asked for this meeting with him. He had done small transactions with him before, but he’d never seen him face to face. The only people that saw him were his right hand men; everybody else followed the orders that were given to them. Demoto had been racking his brain for the past two days trying to figure out what Cayman could possibly want with him, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

  Checking his red cell phone, he noticed he had a message. It was Cayman’s 2nd in charge, Dank. He was confirming their meeting. He slid the phone back into his armrest and pulled out his iPhone 6. The red phone was for business only. Cayman ran a strict operation, and anybody that had ever worked for him had the same red phone. He’d had them imported directly to him for his workers. They were all prepaid phones that couldn’t be tracked or traced by the government. No matter how big or small the work you did for him was, you could only operate with one of those phones. No one else in the world had those; they were made especially for Double O. Demoto ran his hand over his face and let out a loud sigh. He was scrolling through Instagram when Taryn’s picture popped up and Lil John’s song Ms. Chocolate started playing. He’d given her that ringtone because it fit her perfectly.

  “What’s up T. Lee!”

  “Hey Mr. Youngblood! What you doing?”

  “About to handle some business.”

  “Oh okay, well call me when you done. I need to ask you something.” He told her he would before hanging up. He and Taryn had gotten really close, like siblings. They hung out and talked and texted on the regular. It was innocent for the most part, but deep down they both knew it was something there. They’d decided to ignore it for now. Adisa had just pulled up beside him so he got out, locked his car, and joined his brother on the steps of the building. “You nervous Youngblood?”

  “Nah I’m just ready to see what this is about.”

  The two walked into the office building and took the elevator to the top floor. The doors opened and Adisa walked ahead; he’d been there a few times before, so he knew where he was going. The floor seemed to be empty; only thing you heard was the humming from the air conditioner. The closer they got to the door, the more anxious he got. They turned the corner and walked into a long hallway lined with doors; they went to the second to last one and knocked twice. The door opened immediately.

  Inside there were four men standing on each side of Cayman. Two were white and two were black. One of the white men looked extremely familiar to Demoto; he just couldn’t place his face at the moment. He and Adisa walked in and stood directly in front of the desk he was sitting at, and waited. Cayman wasn’t the arrogant type, so he didn’t make them wait for long. He looked up, gave each of them a friendly smile, and motioned for them to sit down.

  “Hello my friends, thank you for coming.” His accent was so thick it reminded Demoto of a world he once knew. Cameroon was home, but it was a place he definitely wasn’t planning to return to. He and Adisa nodded their heads, still not speaking.

  “Demoto. How are you my young friend?”

  “I’m well, thank you.”

  “I called you here today because I’m impressed with your work. I haven’t had one complaint about anything you’ve done, so I wanted to offer you something a little better. It’s something more imperative to your spot in my organization.” This got Demoto’s attention. Being acknowledged for his work by Cayman was epic, but he remained cool. He had mastered his poker face a long time ago. There weren’t too many times he wanted people to know what was going on in his head. Demoto expressed his gratitude as Cayman turned his attention to Adisa.

  “I asked you to accompany him because it’s a two man job. Most of the things that need to be done, Demoto can do on his own, but it’s always necessary to have backup.” He listened intently as Cayman spoke. Adisa was an older version of Demoto, minus the dreads and green eyes. He wore a low cut and his eyes were hazel. Demoto was eager to ask what the job entailed, but he knew that part was coming. He watched Cayman stand up and whisper to the familiar looking white man before he nodded his head and left. He waited for the man to return before speaking.

  “Demoto, this is Bradley Marks; he’s the Secretary of Double O, and one of my most trusted friends. You will be working with him from here on out; anything you need, no matter what it is, he will see that you get it.” Demoto nodded his head towards Bradley and returned his attention to Cayman. He had come around the desk and was sitting directly in front of him.

  “I chose you for this position because I trust you. I know that you wil
l do an exceptional job. Here’s how this will go. I’m going to present you with this opportunity. You have three days to get back to me with your answer. I’m going to give you all of Bradley’s contact information; if you choose to take the job, simply reply YES to his text. If you choose not to, reply DONE.” Demoto could tell the job was serious. Cayman never gave you the option to refuse his offers.

  “Okay, what is it?” Demoto looked directly at Cayman and waited for an answer. His father had taught him and Adisa to always look a man directly in the eye when speaking. He explained that your eyes were the gate to your soul. You could tell real or fake, lies or truth, sincere or phony all by looking in a person’s eyes. Cayman’s eyes were hard and earnest. He was the real deal. Demoto saw no fear or dishonesty in them.

  “Demoto I would like for you to be my number 2 assassin.” Assassin? That was definitely not what he expected to hear, but yet in still he remained cool.

  “How will that work? What do I have to do?”

  “If you decide to take the job, you’ll be provided with various contracts that have been sent to me by either the government, or personal vengeance. Along with the contract, you will be given the name, address, photo, and schedule of the target. Before starting this job, you will attend a mandatory training for two months to learn the necessary skills.” Demoto sat back taking it all in and nodding every once in a while, but truth be told, the offer had caught him completely off guard.

  “Your payout will vary depending on the person. The minimum for each kill is 20,000, not including your traveling expenses. I will handle everything else; all you do is make the kill.” The meeting went on for another twenty minutes. Cayman answered all of his questions in detail before they left.

  *****

  Taryn had been sitting in her room at the shelter all day. It had been almost six months, and she was ready to go. On top of her having to hide it from all of her friends, she was just ready to move. She was now 18 and old enough to get her own apartment, and that’s what she wanted. The only thing holding her back was a co-signer. She needed someone at least 21 years or older to sign her lease, and she had no one. She knew Janay would do it, but she didn’t want to ask her. Anything she did, she wanted to do it on her own. She lay back on her bed and looked out of the window. All of her thoughts went to Jeremiah. They had been getting pretty serious lately. They spent a lot of time together but never took it further than kissing, but tonight was different.