Rapture (21 page)

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23
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Rush

“Cambridge, you’ve made bail…” were the words that brought me back to the present.

When I arrived to the front desk and retrieved my items, the first thing I did was grab my cell phone and flip through the text messages. Of course there were texts and missed calls from Alika, and a few from Jamie. When I looked around and didn’t see either of them, I shot off a text to both letting them know that I was fine. After texting, I looked up to see Quinton standing just outside the precinct against his Suburban.
A big ass car for a big ass man
, I laughed to myself.

“This dude don’ went and took it back to his thuggin’ days!” Quinton laughed, walking around to the driver’s side of the car.

“
Thuggin
’? Nah, man. I wasn’t ever a thug!” I laughed. “Just don’t like bullshit. Things are
always
civil until that shit happens, and well, Bart brought the bullshit. He’s got my knuckles all fucked up and shit,” I said, looking down at the purple bruises forming into an even deeper purple.

Quinton reached to turn down his music to a lower volume, which let me know that he was preparing to say something. “What?” I queried.

“Bart told me what happened, Rush.”

“Oh, he’s still walking around?”

“If he wasn’t you wouldn’t be out here right now.”

I hunched my shoulders, not giving a fuck, and went back to looking at how fucked up my knuckles were.

“Bart told me about all of it, and that bitch ass dude, Curtis, who we paid a visit to a while back, came up.”

“Yeah, I know. That was my trigger point. It’s what set me off. I was already gonna fuck him up. I knew that before I left Temptation last night. So, if I have to be honest, I came to the café for combat. Just too much of it started to make sense. He knows that I don’t fuck around with Jacob. He
knows
that! Yet, he’s behind my back doing illegal shit with the dude?
In my club
! In my shit, Quinton! So, yeah…when my woman’s name came up, it was curtains. I blacked the fuck out and pounced.”

“I got you,” he sighed. “But man, he feels fucked up about it. I know that I don’t go back as far as y’all do, but I’ve gotten to know dude pretty well. He really feels fucked up.”

“How can he feel fucked up about shit that he could’ve avoided. It’s not as easy as that for me, Quin.”

“You go way back with that man though, Rush. He broke your trust, I get that. But think about this. It’s the weekend and you didn’t have to spend it in jail. You know how that shit works. He didn’t want to press charges, so they had nothing to hold you on. He’s tryin’ to right his wrong.”

He had my attention. But not because I was ready to jump up and forgive and forget. I was just semi-interested in hearing what the fuck he had to say.

“He wants to meet up with Jacob and wants you there too.”

“
Oh
,
trust
. I was gonna take a trip to see Jacob on my own. We have business to handle.”

“Well, in that case, I’m glad it’s happenin’ like this, because you don’t need to be going to see dude by yourself. He had a crew with him at the club, so I’m sure they don’t travel too far behind.”

“He had minions with him, Quinton. I’m not worried about that shit.”

“You never are, Rush. But you should be. That’s not your boy anymore.”

“Oh, we haven’t been boys for a long ass time, Quinton. I’m not worried about that motherfucker.”

“I know that. But as somebody who has your back, you’re not walking into a situation with him, solo. Period. So, we’re on our way to him now. Bart already set it up.”

“What?”

“Yep,” he responded, accelerating on the gas and heading to our destination.

“Alright, I’m ready.”

I made a quick call to Alika because I knew how worried she was based on the numerous phone calls, and the text messages she had sent to my phone. I made sure to tell her to call Jamie and let her know that everything was fine. She sent back a one-liner.
“
Glad you’re good. See you in a bit
.

”

After crossing the Bay Bridge, and about twenty minutes into the City, Quinton slid into a parking spot outside of a nice-looking San Francisco high rise. I turned to look at him upon grabbing the door handle to exit. I wasn’t familiar with the place at all, but as long as I was about to get to the bottom of shit, I didn’t care where the fuck we were. I was still amped up, even after spending hours in a cell.

We had to stop at security, and as soon as Quinton told the suited guy…“Quinton Johnson and Hunter Cambridge, to see Jacob Lawson,” my attitude crept in. Jacob’s smug ass face flashed in my mind again, bringing memories of the disrespect of past and present with it. I wanted to do serious harm to him. I wanted to make him hurt, and possibly incapacitate his bitch ass.

The elevator opened up into Jacob’s luxury apartment, and he was right there to greet us, with Bart sitting not too far from him on a large sofa. “I see you brought your muscle with you,” Jacob smirked, nodding his head in the direction of Quinton. “What gives?”

“That’s what the fuck I should be asking you, Jacob.”

“Alright,” he chuckled. “You guys wanna come in and have a seat? You see Bart is over there comfortable and shit.”

Both Quinton and I went to take a seat in the same area, with Jacob coming to join. I looked over at Bart, and was able to see the damage I’d done to his face up close and personal. I was surprised that he was even there after what happened.

“You fucked ya boy’s face up, Rush. I see that temper still ain’t in check after all these years.”

“My temper flares when I’m provoked motherfucker. Shit don’t just happen and it sure as hell ain’t some shit that you grow out of. Disrespect is just that. Disrespect is you running hoes out of my bar? Then bringing dope into my club? So, are you using your own product now, Jacob? I would’ve thought you grew out of being a dope fiend by now,” I spat.

“Muthafucka, look around. Does it look like I’m a muthafuckin dope fiend to you? Hell naw!”

“Looks can be deceiving, dude,” I said, looking around his place. “You know you like to be flashy, but we both know that your stash of cash isn’t always what it seems. I can’t for the life of me figure out why a dude who has
all this
needs to run business out of somebody else’s shit—
especially
if you’re supposed to be so big time.”

“I didn’t need yo’ shit at all. It was just convenient. I mean, how else will deprived ass men like ya boy Bart get quality pussy? I was changin’ lives. I greatly helped business up in there. My girls go where the money is. So, I’ll get paid regardless. Ask Bart. He’s been fuckin’ on one of my best girls for months!
For free
! Ain’t that right, Bart?”

Bart hadn’t spoken a single word since we got there. I shot him a look every now and again, and didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for what I had done to him. The only reason I didn’t want Quinton to put him and Jacob to sleep was because regardless to what happened, I actually didn’t wish Bart harm…at least not fatal harm. He’d just gotten his dumb ass caught up. But Jacob…he was another story. I had visions of him gasping for air, and I couldn’t shake them. I was toggling back and forth between knocking Jacob the fuck out, or calling the police and letting them know about all his illegal shit he had going on. He needed to be put out of his misery—like a rabid dog. He was poison, and people like him who had not a single loyal bone in their bodies, didn’t really deserve life, in my opinion.

“In fact…” he continued. “Speaking of
hoes
…did Bart tell you that I recognized a female that was on her way into your club the other day? I can’t remember her name exactly, but I know my boy Curtis was about to put her to work.”

“I guess she was the one who got away?” I said, sarcastically. “Seems your boy should’ve been more careful about who he tried to recruit. His tactics didn’t go unnoticed.”

“
Hmmm
, is that right? And I haven’t heard from him in a minute, and I’ve been trying to figure out why that was. Been by his place, called him, and can’t reach him. Then it was a trip when I ran into ol’ girl the other day, my mind went to work, and it hit me.” He scooted closer to the edge of the sofa. “Maybe one of y’all know where I can find him? Because it seems awful suspect that this broad that he met…who came out here for a visit to see him…ends up somehow affiliated with your club.”

“Hey Jacob,” I called out. “How about this? How about you don’t refer to her as a hoe, or a broad for the duration of this conversation? How about that?”

“Whoa! Touchy subject, huh? I can do that,” he chuckled. “Luckily, Curtis ain’t a major factor in my operation, or I’d ride this shit harder.”

“Ride it harder and do what, Jacob? Do what motherfucker?”

Jacob and I entered a stare down that lasted several minutes. In all honesty, I wanted him to make a move. I really wanted him to make a move. I just hated that I’d come through the front door of his house because I couldn’t do the shit I wanted to do to him without being ID’d. Once he broke the stare, I did the same. In a perfect world, he’d meet the same fate that his friend Curtis met. Only it would be at my hands and not Quinton’s. I looked over at Bart who was slowly shaking his head left to right, probably in disbelief.

Out of the blue, Quinton spoke. “Jacob, now that you finished staring at my boy, maybe we can find out why you’re insinuating yourself in places you don’t belong.
Rush
don’t fuck with you,
I
don’t fuck with you, and I think Bart knows now that he ain’t to fuck with you either. So, at this point we need to know what position you’re about to take so we can handle shit accordingly. I’ve been sitting her listening to this back and forth bullshit and frankly I’m tired of it.” Quinton was up on his feet and poised for an answer. “So what’s the business?”

“Well, y’all already served your purpose. I made the drop I needed to make, courtesy of Bart, everything else was just convenience and fun. You know a man who works as hard as I do needs to get out and enjoy life sometimes. So y’all don’t have to worry about seeing me there,” he laughed. “But I’ll tell you that business will slow down over at your little sports bar without all that uhh…star potential there to sit on laps, and show a good time. But if that’s the risk you wanna take, that’s on you. As far as the…uhh…other business, I can for sure handle that somewhere else. I didn’t ever need your club, I just figured that since good ol’ Bart was a connect, the more the merrier. Ask him about him pushing enhancers and shit like that inside of your sports bar. Go ‘head; I’ll wait,” he said, smugly.

When Jacob saw the surprise on my face, he dug deeper. “Yeah, see, Bart has been a major connect for a few folks I know. Apparently, he has hookup with that good shit. He was giving muthafuckas new lives up in that bitch. Muthafuckas who couldn’t give it to their women right were all of a sudden able to keep their dicks hard enough to fuck
a few bitches
. And that’s where I came in. So, really, in essence, me and Bart are business partners.”

Bart finally spoke after sitting mute the entire time. “I’m not your business partner, Jacob. That shit was circumstance. I’m not proud of it, and that’s why I wanted Rush here so I could make this shit right and tell him my part. But I was
never
your partner.”

“If you say so, Bart. But the shit seemed like a partnership to me. They buy pussy from me, and they buy stamina from you. You know damn well that pussy and stamina are synonymous. And now that it’s over, I’m afraid that I can’t live up to my part of the deal. I don’t know a woman alive who would stay with a man they know is fuckin’ on prostitutes. Yeah, she took you back after you begged and pleaded and promised to never do it again. But you
did
do it again, and quite regularly.”

I knew Bart’s heart was sinking. He really did love Jillian, but not enough to leave other women out of the equation. I had zero help to give. I warned him many times. And while I was warning him and helping him he was stabbing me in the back.

“I already told her myself, Jake,” Bart shrugged. “I told her when she saw my face! I had to. I was tired of lying, and I was tired of being under your rule.
I told her
. So, there’s nothing left. But what I can do to right it all is prepare to leave and allow the authorities to come in and arrest you.”

“The fuck you talkin’ about?” Jacob yelled, jumping from his seat, and in Bart’s face who stood to look him in the eyes.

“What I’m talking about is that they’ve been listening the whole time. While I was refusing to press charges against Rush, I was making arrangements to help the police clean the streets a little bit. It was the least I could do. I’ve lost my wife, and one of the best friends I ever had. I’ve taken my losses, and now you can too. They have you admitting that you’re a pimp. That’s human trafficking. The sentence ain’t so light anymore. Then they got you talking about drops and drugs and shit like that. And now they have me to tell them the names of the others. I’m done. I’m free. But you won’t be for much longer.”