No More Tears in the End (21 page)

Watson didn’t answer at first; he just looked at Rain. Mrs. Watson nudged her husband. Rain laughed a little and nodded her head. “We have a deal,” Watson said and dropped his head.

“Smart man. Do what I say and you’ll live a lot longer and you’ll make a lot more money,” I said and got up. “By the way, if you even think about callin’ the cops and sayin’ anything about our deal, I promise you that you will get to watch me kill your wife and those two kids, before I cut your head off. Do we have an understanding?”

Watson looked at Rain again for permission to speak. When she nodded her head, Watson said, “Yes, I understand.”

We left the Watson’s tied up with a dead body in the middle of their living room floor. Once we got back to the car and drove away, Rain turned to me.

“Let’s get a room and fuck.”

Chapter 31

I rolled out of bed and quickly got it the shower. When I was finished I got dressed. While I put my clothes on, I looked at Rain lying naked on the bed.

“I gotta go,” I said and ran my hand along her hip and down her thigh.

“You got a woman, don’t you?” Rain asked without looking up.

“Yes.”

“Go handle your business.” Rain rolled over on her back, spread her legs, and made it just that much harder for me to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will,” I said and rushed out of there.

It was after two in the morning when I unlocked the door to Wanda’s house. On the way there, I ran through several scenarios in my mind. Trying to prepare my answers to whatever questions Wanda was going to throw at me.

The reason men get caught cheating is that they don’t have their story straight and can’t remember what story they told when they did, so the story always changes. Men think of their excuse on the way home, like I had done.

It’s different with a woman. Before a woman leaves the house, she has her story down-pat, her alibi in place, and her answers ready for the few questions we men do ask. And her story never changes. No matter how many holes it may have, that’s her story and she’ll stick to it, sometimes even when there is evidence to the contrary.

Wanda was asleep when I slipped into the bedroom. I looked at her lying there on her side, in a black silk gown and then thought about Rain lying naked in almost the same position. I got undressed quietly and even though I had just taken one, I got in the shower. I always took a shower before I got in bed with Wanda, and that night wasn’t the night I was going to break that tradition.

I stood in the shower and lathered up from head to toe to get the smell and feel of motel soap off of me. As the water rolled off my body, I gave some thought to the fact that this was the first time I had been with another woman since Wanda and I had been together.

Part of that was Wanda, being insanely jealous, went out of her way to keep women away from me. But the other part was that I was, and I guess still am, happy with the relationship and the sex we have. So if that’s the case, why did I spend the last two nights fuckin’ Rain? And why was I thinkin’ about fuckin’ her fine young-ass again tomorrow?

I didn’t have an answer, so I got out of the shower.

When I slid in between the sheets, Wanda began to stir. “Hi, babe,” Wanda said quietly and rolled closer to me.

“Hi. Sorry I woke you.”

“That’s all right. I would have been mad if you didn’t,” Wanda said and started kissing me.

While we made love, thoughts and images of Rain popped in my mind, as they did with Wanda while I was inside Rain. But instead of forcing them out of my mind, I focused on them.

Rain likes to masturbate in front of me, and I gotta admit it sets me the fuck off. If Wanda did masturbate, and I’m sure she does, I’ve never seen it, and doubt seriously if I ever will. And I’m cool with that. There is so much more to Wanda than just her sex.

But I could make the same argument about Rain. Granted, it would be a different argument because they are two completely different women. Wanda was a corporate lawyer with gangster impulses. Rain was all gangster; all the time. And there was definitely more to her then just her fat ass and those juicy nipples. The way she handled the Watson’s was impressive. Rain was impressive.

Handle your business. I’ll see you tomorrow.

When I woke up and looked at the clock it was almost noon. I looked around the room and was surprised to see Wanda sitting in the chair across from the bed.

Now it comes.

“Good morning,” she said as soon as I made eye contact with her.

“Morning, Wanda,” I yawned and closed my eyes.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Very.” I wanted to ask her what she was still doing there, or why hadn’t she gone to the office, but there was no rush. Wanda would get to her purpose for being there soon enough.

“How did it go with Watson?”

“By now Jap and Kenny should be at your office with the papers.”

“That’s good. Controlling that company will put us in a better position to bid on steel contracts.”

“I’m happy when my work makes your job easier.”

“It will also make us more money, so your work pays you back in the long run.”

“Good to know,” I said and rolled over.

“How’d your meeting go with Mike?”

“Fine.”

“Did he talk to you about what Angelo wanted?”

“Did Angelo want something?”

Wanda hesitated. “He came by the club the other night.”

“Which club?”

“Cuisine. Mike said he’s been inviting Angelo to Cuisine since it opened and then he just showed up there.”

“Maybe he was just in the neighborhood.”

“Or it could be something important.”

“I’m sure if it was important he would have mentioned it to you.”

“I don’t think so. Lately he’s been saying that it doesn’t look right for me to be in my position and be advising a criminal organization.”

“He’s right.”

“I know.”

“I mean you’re the one draggin’ him kickin’ and screamin’ to that side of the house.”

“He hasn’t even been kickin’ and screamin’.”

“Black likes to make money, bottom line. You showed him the money and he’s moving that way. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yes. But I still feel so left out.”

“You’ll be all right.”

“That’s what he says.”

“He’s right, you will.”

“So who was that woman with you?”

Now it comes.

My first instinct was to say; what woman? But I know who she’s talkin’ about and she knows I know who she’s talkin’ about. Me asking what woman would only piss her off and send this conversation down the road to perceived denial and deception. No, take it head on. “That was Rain Robinson.”

“Who is she, Nick?”

“She’s JR Robinson’s daughter.”

“What were you doing having dinner with her?”

“She’s helping me find who killed Zakiya Phillips.”

“Who?”

“The woman who was killed at Paradise Fish and Chicken. You remember I told you that Black wanted me to look into it.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure he wasn’t expecting you to waste a lot of time on it.”

“Black told me that he didn’t want people thinkin’ that now that Freeze is dead that they could just hit our spots and we don’t do nothing about it.”

“I understand that, but we’ve got plenty of people that could handle that mess.”

“That’s true. But he wants me to establish myself, handle things personally.”

“What does you handling things personally have to do with you having dinner with her?”

“Nothing. How many men do you have lunch and dinner with?”

“That’s business.”

“So is this.”

“How?”

“I told you, she’s helping me find the guys that murdered Zakiya Phillips.”

“What is she, a private detective?” Wanda asked sarcastically. “How is she helping you?”

“My sources say that some of JR’s people were involved in it.”

“And?”

“I went to see JR Talked to him about it and he assured me that he didn’t know anything about it. But since he doesn’t want any bad blood with Black, he told Rain to help me find who did it.”

Wanda folded her arms across her chest and that pouty look came over her face; which meant that at least for the time being, I had successfully held her off. “I still don’t like you having dinner with her.”

“What’s wrong with it? We were hungry, so we ate. And if you want to get technical about it, we didn’t have dinner together. She ate while I talked to Black and then she sat and watched me eat. But you already know that,” I said and made a mental note to keep Rain out of all of our spots. Wanda had eyes everywhere, and I need to know who they are.

I had to ask myself as Wanda got up and got ready to leave, if that meant I planned on Rain being around for awhile?

The answer was yes.

“When am I gonna see you again?” Wanda asked.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I promised as my cell phone rang.

Wanda looked at me.

I looked at her.

The phone rang again.

“Aren’t you gonna answer it?”

I got out of bed and got the phone from my pants pocket. I looked at the display, but didn’t recognize the number.

I looked at Wanda again and her eyes narrowed.

“Hello.”

“You busy?” Rain asked.

“Yes.”

“Tell your woman I said hello,” Rain suggested.

“No.”

“Yeah, well, I know where we can find the two niggas you looking for. But I don’t know how long they gonna be in play, so if you want them we need to get them now.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the hotel where you left me, nigga. Come get me and let’s go get these niggas.”

“I’m on my way,” I said and ended the call.

“Who was that?”

“That was Rain.”

“What does she want?”

“She’s got a line on the guys I’m lookin’ for,” I said and headed for the shower. The next sound I heard was Wanda slamming the door.

The first round went to me. But I knew as long as I kept seeing Rain that Wanda would be back at me and this fight would continue.

When I picked up Rain, she told me that the bandits were holed up in some apartments in the south Bronx. “How’d you find out where to find them?”

“’Cause niggas talk.”

“What you mean?”

“I mean last night they were talkin’ about it.”

“To who?”

“Damn, why I gotta give up all that?”

“To who?”

“Like I said, last night at a strip club in Manhattan that a friend of mine dances at; she said this guy was braggin’ to her that he was a robber, and this and that, and that he’s robbed everything from banks to fish and chicken joints for small change. He does it for the rush, not the money. But she says he was flashin’ plenty of money. So she asks him if he ever killed anybody. He said if the money is right. Then he said, sometimes the robbin’ is just to cover the hit.”

“That’s all you got?”

“It’s more than you got.”

“They your people?”

“No, but I know some people that know them.”

“I hate to even have to ask you this, but this ain’t more of your personal shit, is it?”

“I hate you gotta ask me that shit too. I thought we were past that; especially after last night. If I needed you to go down with me on some shit, I would tell you. So no,” Rain said with an attitude. “This is not more of my personal shit.”

“Sorry.”

“Accepted.”

When we got to the building we went inside. On the way up the steps Rain asked, “How you wanna do this?”

“I don’t know, but I want them alive. If these are the guys, and the robbery was just to cover the hit, I want to know who hired them.”

 
“Then
we’ll
kill them.” Rain smiled.

When we got to their floor we could hear somebody blastin’ their music. As we got closer to the apartment it was obvious that the music was coming from there.

Rain and I stood off to the side of the door with our guns out and I banged on it a few times, but nobody answered. “Kick it in,” Rain suggested.

I tried the doorknob instead.

The door was unlocked.

“That works too,” she commented as I opened the door and went in carefully. The fact that the door was opened and the music was playing didn’t give me a good feeling. “Stay close to me,” I whispered to Rain as we moved through the apartment.

When we got to the bedroom I opened the door slowly, halfway expecting to catch somebody fuckin’.

“Damn,” I said and walked in the room.