Free The Last Kings by C.N. Phillips Page B

hesitated, but I picked it up and held it firmly in my hand. It felt natural.
    â€œR-Ray, I don’t know,” Mocha said, staring at her handgun. “This is crazy.”
    â€œYea, Ray,” I had to agree with her. “You ready to go to war with Coopa?”
    Ray nodded his head.
    â€œThe difference between Coopa and me is that I’m not going to have you two on any corner making drops. That’s sloppy and out of date. This is going to be a business; I don’t have time to be hot in these streets with the feds on my ass.”
    â€œWhat happened to loyalty, Ray?” Mocha asked him.
    â€œFuck that, Mocha,” Tyler countered. “I’ve been tellin’ my boy to strike out on his own for years now. Coopa don’t know the first thing about being loyal, shorty.”
    â€œRight,” I agreed with Tyler, eyeing my pistol. “Ray, if you got us, you know I’m down to ride for whatever.”
    â€œSay, I knew you would be down to ride,” Ray smiled at me fondly. “What do you say, Mocha? How about we make this a family affair?”
    â€œYou say that shit like you’re asking me to join a club or something! This is serious; we’re talking about a drug cartel! As in a drug ring . . . as in some C. N. Phelps shit!”
    â€œPhillips,” I corrected.
    â€œYes, her! This is crazy, Say . . . crazy!” Mocha stared at her pistol.
    â€œMocha, what do you want to be in life?” I asked catching her off guard by the question.
    â€œWhat? I don’t know . . . Somebody who makes a lot of money. I don’t know!”
    â€œA boss?” Ray referenced.
    â€œA boss,” I concurred.
    Mocha sighed and eyed all three of us before she finally nodded her head submissively.
    â€œYes, a boss.”
    â€œOK,” I grabbed her hand. “Let’s get this shit then; for the love of money, right?”
    Our eyes met for a moment, seeming to connect us, making us one. Holding silent conversations was something Sadie and I did when we were younger, when she first came to stay with us. The words I spoke to her with my eyes were sincere. I was telling her that everything would be OK. Finally, Mocha blinked, breaking eye contact, and I knew she was in.
    â€œOK, I don’t even give a fuck!” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just worried about getting trigger-happy with this muhfucka!” Mocha aimed her pistol at Ray’s white living-room wall and mouthed “Pow.”
    I laughed, happy that she finally was down with the program.
    â€œCoo,” Ray nodded his approval, eyeing everyone in the room. “We’re a team now, so the only thing left to do is to make shit happen.”
    We did just that. Ray and Tyler already knew the rules of the game, and I was a little tenured in it as well. Ray took us under his wing, and in a matter of weeks, Mocha and I knew everything about the dope game a man could teach us.
    â€œEverything else just comes with the territory,” Ray told us.
    Ray must have had some more change saved up from when he was working with Coopa because he went all out and bought a slew of Laundromats, an apartment complex, an Italian restaurant called Amore, a hair salon named Taste, and a strip club called Lace. Within months, Ray’s work started spreading quickly like the flu bug through Detroit. No one knew who the carrier was, but everyone seemed to be feeling it. The team Ray set us up with was the truth. Besides the four of us, there were four other additions to our fam. They were obedient and ready to ride out whenever or wherever. When it came to distributing and collecting, they always delivered.
    I’d become fond of the little Latina chick named Adrianna. She was a feisty little thing. She always pulled in double her weight and being in the big leagues didn’t scare her. She was older than me by a few years, but she knew that I was the boss. She always made sure the money was counted