Ryder looked out the window of Jab’s car as he drove to J.R.’s. He was going to meet Rain along with Terrance Jackson, Kenard Turner, and Howard’s brother, Richard. He thought that he was going to be named captain after his brother died, but it didn’t happen and Jab just kind of slipped into the spot.
Since Jab had taken over as unnamed captain after Howard was murdered, Ryder had pretty much been running things. She was already planning all the jobs they did, but now Ryder was telling Jab what job to run and began demanding an equal share, whether she was there for the job or not. And Jab let her do it because they were making crazy money and he was in love with her. When Rain said the meeting was about something major, Jab told Ryder that she needed to be there too.
Ryder hadn’t been to J.R.’s since the night Rain asked her how come she didn’t tell her that she knew that some of Howard’s people were dealing and she noticed that Rain’s hand was on her gun. Even though she had a good reason why and Rain let her walk out of the office alive, Ryder was still keeping her distance.
At that same time, Hassan arrived at J.R.’s; he paid the driver and got out of the cab. He stood there and looked at the line around the building. It was a big change from when he used to gamble there back in the day.
“I’m looking for Leo,” Hassan said.
“Who’s asking?” Leo said with a deep growl in his voice.
“My name is Chao Hassan. Carter Garrison told me to ask for you.”
Leo smiled. “Right this way, Mr. Hassan.”
He led Hassan inside the club and signaled for a female member of security. “Mr. Hassan, this is Nayshya; she’ll escort you to the office.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Hassan. Enjoy your evening,” Leo said and returned to his post.
“Right this way, Mr. Hassan,” Nayshya said and started for the office.
As he followed her up the hallway to the club, Hassan couldn’t help but notice how fine Nayshya was and decided that he wanted her. He was thinking about saying something to her until he got in the club and saw all of the women.
Damn!
While Hassan followed Nayshya through the crowd, he was checking out all the fine ass women up in there. But he had been in prison for five years; every woman was fine as hell to him.
Unless she isn’t.
When they got to the office, Nayshya introduced Hassan to Yarissa and she led him to the new lounge. She had a nice round ass, so he enjoyed following her.
Now that Rain was boss, it was getting inconvenient having people waiting in the hallway to talk to her, so she had the lounge built. It was small; two couches, a couple of chairs, a big screen TV with surround sound, and a full bar.
“Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Hassan,” Yarissa said. “Mr. Garrison will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you,” he said and Yarissa handed him the remote for the TV.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“What do you have?”
“We have everything?”
“Vodka neat.”
“Is Van Gogh Blue vodka all right?”
“I haven’t had a drink of real liquor in five years. As long as it's vodka.”
While Hassan flipped channels, he talked to Yarissa while she made his drink and decided that he wanted her too, but at this point, anybody would do.
“Is there anything else that I could get you, Mr. Hassan?” Yarissa asked when she handed him his drink.
“I’m tempted to say yes immediately, but the drink will be fine for now.”
“Well if you think of anything, just press the purple button on the remote and I’ll be right in to take care of you,” Yarissa said and left Hassan alone in the office.
As he sat there, sipping expensive vodka, Hassan wondered what Carter had in mind for him. He could tell by the reception he was getting, that Carter was well connected and thought himself lucky to have run into Carter his first day back in the city.
When he left for Atlanta, Hassan ran a gambling house for Grant and did whatever else Grant needed. He left New York after he took care of one of Grant’s enemies and it was necessary for him to lay low for a while.
Hassan had only planned to stay in the ATL for a week or two before he went on to Miami. But that was when he ran into Fatima. They had kicked it around for a while when they were both in the city. Nothing heavy or committed, they just had fun together from time to time.
Once they hooked up in Atlanta, they began making so much money with the website scam that he stayed and it ended up costing him his freedom.
It really didn’t matter what Carter had in mind for him. Hassan was more than ready to do whatever it took to get back in and earn.
It wasn’t too much longer when Carter came into the lounge. Hassan stood up to shake his hand. Carter looked over what he was wearing. Hassan was dressed in a Thom Browne black classic suit and Burberry leather oxford shoes.
“Much better,” Carter said and told him to have a seat.
“This is nice, Carter. This your spot now?”
“No. The place belongs to Jasper Robinson’s daughter, Rain. She’s the boss of this family now.”
“What family?”
“Black’s family.”
“A woman?”
“That’s the same thing I said. But if Mike trusts her, then I trust her. You got a problem with that?”
“If you trust her, then I trust her.” Hassan shook his head. “What happened to Freeze?”
“Freeze is dead. A lot of people from those days are gone. Howard, Grant, Cynt, Kenny, all dead.”
“Damn. What about Bo, Hank, and them?”
“They’re dead too. After Freeze got murdered, they threw in with Hector Villanueva’s nephew, Cruz, and they made a grab for power.”
“A lot’s changed since I went south.”
“There ain’t a lotta guys around that Mike can trust, that’s why he made me captain of Howard’s crew.”
“Congratulations,” Hassan said and thought about what this all meant to him.
“Thank you. I’m about to step things up and I need a good man that I can trust. So I’m asking you now, am I looking at that man?”
“Just tell me what you want me to do,” Hassan said.
“I knew I had the right man.” Carter nodded his head. “In a minute, Rain will be in here for you to pay your respect to her.”
“I got that.”
“Then some of Howard’s people will be in and Rain’s gonna tell them that I’m captain now.”
“You think any of them are going to take it badly.”
“I’m not even worried about that. These guys are soft.”
“Anybody I might know?”
“Howard’s brother, Richard.”
“Soft as tissue paper. Howard was holding him up. Who else?” Hassan asked.
“Jab Baldwin, Terrance Jackson, Kenard Turner.”
“I never heard of any of those guys.”
“Jab Baldwin’s been running the crew since Howard died, so he might make some noise. But like I said, I ain’t worried about him,” Carter said as Rain came in the lounge with her vest and her guns on. Both men stood up and Hassan's eyes opened wide at the sight of her.
“Rain, this is the man I was telling you about, Chao Hassan. He used to be with Grant,” Carter said.
Hassan bowed in front of her. “You have my respect.”
“Carter said a lot of good things about you. I expect you to live up to all of it.”
“You can depend on me. You have my word and my loyalty,” he said.
“We’ll see,” Rain said and picked up the remote and pressed the button for Yarissa.
Rain looked at Hassan. Since he used to be part of Grant’s crew and she was personally responsible for most of them being dead, she was a little leery about Hassan's loyalties, but Carter vouched for him so she’d wait and see what kind of soldier he’ll be.
“Yes, Rain,” Yarissa said when she came into the room.
“Bring them in.”
A few minutes later, Yarissa escorted Richard Owens, Terrance Jackson, Kenard Turner, Jab, and Ryder into the office. Rain’s eyes narrowed when she saw Ryder.
“Who invited you?”
“I did,” Jab said quickly.
Rain thought about telling her to wait out in the club, but she had known for some time how much power Ryder had over Jab, so Rain decided to let her stay.
Bitch needs to hear this shit anyway.
“Reason I called all of you here tonight is to let you know that Carter Garrison is replacing Howard as captain of this crew,” Rain said and three mouths dropped open.
Jab and Richard because they were both sure that they would be named captain to fill Howard’s spot. And Ryder because she knew exactly how much power and money that she had just lost.
“Anybody got a problem with that?” Rain said.
After a few seconds of silence, Kenard Turner stepped forward. “I ain’t got no problem with it, Rain. I got nothing but respect and admiration for this man.” He looked around the room. “I can’t think of a better choice to get this house in order,” he said and looked at Jab.
“Congratulations, Carter,” Terrance Jackson said and extended his hand. “You always have had my respect and my loyalty.”
“Thank you, Terrance,” Carter said and shook his hand.
Even if he thought Jackson and Turner were soft, he respected them because they always were good earners. After Turner pledged his unwavering loyalty to Carter, Rain looked at Richard Owens.
“What about you Richard? You ain’t got nothing to say?”
“I’m good with this. It’s what Howard would’ve wanted. I think everybody in this room got nothing but respect for Carter, and what he’s done for this family, and for me personally. You have my loyalty, Carter. You always have,” Richard said.
He wanted the captain’s chair and thought he had a right to it, but he knew Carter was the right man to sit in his brother’s chair.
“You always have had my respect and my loyalty,” Jab said and shook Carter’s hand before anybody had to ask him. He was mad and extremely disappointed because he was sure that this meeting was to make him captain, especially since he’d been playing the role since Howard died.
“You got nothing to say, Ryder?” Rain asked.
She paused and considered her response carefully. “With all due respect, Rain, since I wasn’t invited, I didn’t think that I was entitled to say anything.”
“But since you are here…”
“I serve at the pleasure of the captain of this crew,” Ryder said.
She knew that she had never met him before and tried to remember where she had heard the name, Carter Garrison. And then it came to her, he was the man that Mileena had told her about the night she had her last conversation with Rain. Ryder was so shaken when she left the office that night that she’d forgotten all about it. But just knowing that this was the love of her cousin Mileena’s life, Ryder knew that she’d be all right.
After the meeting was over and everybody started to leave the lounge, Carter walked up to Jab. “Let me holla at you for a minute,” Carter said.
“What’s up?”
Carter waited until the only ones that were left were him, Jab, and Rain.
“As of right now, you stay out of Howard's dry cleaners.”
Jab started to say something, but he thought better of it. “No problem.”
“Let’s hope not,” Carter said. “You can go now.”