There stood Blue Claxton, who ran the gambling in the basement of the club. He was one of the few people that Nick allowed to stay after he took over. Rain assured Nick that Blue was a very loyal soldier to JR, and she thought that he could be trusted to represent her interest in the operation. Rain pressed a button to allow him to come in the office. "What up, Blue?"
"Ain’t nothing," Blue said and went straight to the bar.
"Pour me one too."
"Patron?"
"For sure."
Blue poured the drinks and handed the Patron to Rain. "I hear Jay Easy got out," he said and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"I heard that too. So, how’s it goin’ tonight?" she asked and took a sip.
"Mutha fucka hit us for ten grand tonight at the crap table and bounced. Come to find out he was playin’ with loaded dice," Blue informed her and shot his drink.
Rain seemed unconcerned. "Nick will be here in a minute. Make sure you tell him."
"Tell Nick?"
"What; you ain’t hear me? Tell Nick."
"You don’t give a fuck about this shit, do you?"
"We got cameras everywhere so I know we got video on this mutha fucka. If he’s out there to be got, Nick’s people will get him."
"Nick’s people? Damn it, Rain, this is your shit! Your daddy and Jeff Ritchie worked hard buildin’ this business; too hard for you to just give it away to that nigga."
Rain opened her desk drawer and was about to pick up her gun. Then she looked at Blue and closed the drawer. "I ain’t gonna get into this shit with you, Blue. I got too much other shit on my mind to have you fuckin’ wit’ me."
"So I heard."
Rain lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in Blue’s face. "What you heard?"
"I know all about your little dope business. You know your daddy didn’t like that kind of business."
"My father is dead."
"And I know he must be rollin’ over in his grave ’bout the shit you doin’."
"What you know about what I’m doing?"
"You mean other than givin’ away your father’s business? I know that you took that money and used Nick’s connections to get yourself in business with Bruce Stark."
With two of his former partners, Kevin "K Murder" Murdock and Steven "Cash Money" Blake, dead, and Billy "BB" Banner in the wind, Stark was in a rebuilding phase. Rain saw that as an opportunity. She went to Stark with a proposal.
"Look, nigga. I know you tryin’ to recover from your little Commission fallin’ apart."
"What business is that of yours?" he asked her.
"I could help you with that. I got the money and the people in place to step into that void."
"You?"
"Yeah, me, mutha fucka. What, you don’t think I can handle mine?"
"It ain’t that I don’t think you can handle your business. I heard some things about you, so I know you can. But you’re with Nick now."
"What that got to do with this?"
"I know you two are partners in your father’s gambling joints."
"And?"
"And I gave my word to Black that I wouldn’t involve him in any of my thing."
"Come on now, Stark, don’t bullshit me. I know Black got his hand in your business."
"You don’t know shit," Stark told her.
Rain didn’t like the way he said it. It was like he didn’t respect her or her position.
"Black don’t have shit to do with my business and I’m not gonna sit here and explain it to you. If you was all that you play it like you are to Nick, you’d know what the deal is between me and Black."
Rain took a deep breath and picked up the gym bag she had with her. She sat it on the table and opened it. "You mean to tell me that you gonna let this money walk out of here tonight?"
Stark leaned forward and looked in the bag. He got up and went to the bar he had setup in the corner of the room. "You want a drink?"
"Patron if you got it," Rain answered.
While Stark poured he thought about the bag of money sitting on his coffee table. He knew Rain was right; in the position he was in, he couldn’t let that much money walk. He handed Rain her drink and sat down. "What you gonna do when Nick finds out about what you’re doin’?"
"Who gonna tell him? You? I know I ain’t gonna tell him a mutha fuckin’ thing."
"You know word gets around on the street. Sooner or later the nigga is gonna hear that Double R is back. And she out there with product."
Rain sat back in her chair and took a sip of her drink. Stark was right about that, niggas will talk. She thought for a minute. "Niggas won’t know it’s me behind this shit. All they’ll hear ’bout is some nigga named PR."
"PR?"
"That’s right, nigga, PR. They’ll think it’s some Puerto Rican mutha fucka or some shit like that. They won’t even know if it’s a man or a woman."
"This can’t come back on me in any way, Rain."
"Trust me, nigga, it won’t," Rain assured him.
"It better not, because if you fuck up my business with Black, I’ll-"
Rain leaned forward. "What you gonna do, nigga?"
Stark leaned forward and zipped up the bag. He got up and took the bag with him. Rain sat quietly and watched as Stark handed the bag to one of his men.
"See Moon on your way out, he’ll take care of you. From here on, you deal with him. You and I don’t talk anymore. And one more thing-"
"What’s that?" Rain frowned.
"You have no credit here. No money, no product," Stark said and went in another room and closed the door behind him.
Rain stood up. "Nice doin’ business with you." Bitch nigga, she said to herself and went on with Moon that night.
For a while things went smoothly. Money was flowing and she was able to keep any knowledge of her involvement in the game from Nick.
That ended the week before when somebody robbed two of her spots. She had lost five of her people. Murdered; execution style. They were killed on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. Then the killers shot them twice in the head. Rain knew that she would have to deal with that, but not that night.
That night she had smoked a blunt, had a couple of shots of Patron and was waiting on Nick to come knock her back out. She wasn’t in the mood for any shit from Blue.
"Why don’t you worry about runnin’ these spots and makin’ this money and let me do what I do. Unless you tired of makin’ this money," Rain said.
"You don’t get it, do you, Rain?" Blue said and dropped his head. "You never did." Blue finished his drink and stood up. "It ain’t always about the money."
"You sound like a fuckin’ fool. What’s it about, if it ain’t about the money?"
"It’s about honor and loyalty to the people you got history with. Not that mutha fucka Black. We don’t need them niggas. We did just fine without them all these years."
"Don’t make me regret keepin’ you around, Blue," Rain said and put her hand on her gun again.
"Keep me around?" He started walking toward the door. "Maybe when you get a little older you’ll realize that you can’t just use people and throw them away when you’re done with them."
"Whatever, nigga," Rain said. She was startled by a loud banging on her office door. She looked at the big screen and saw Mixson, one of her dealers, leaning against the door.
Rain pressed the button and Mixson fell in the office. Rain jumped up and Blue rushed to him. Blue pulled him in the office while Rain closed the door. Blue helped Mixson into a chair. Rain looked down and saw the trail of blood; then she noticed the cuts on his face and knew that she’d gotten hit again.
"What happened?" she asked.
"There were four of them; caught us by surprise."
"How’d you get away?" Rain wanted to know, since nobody had survived the other two robberies.
"I just started bustin’ shots and when the shit got too thick, I jumped out the window."