Chapter Thirty-six
Peaches sat in the back seat, looking out the window and enjoying the scenery as her son drove her to a baby shower. Venus, RJ’s ex-wife, was pregnant, and Pam was having a shower for her. Since welcoming a new member of The Family was, by definition, a family event, Shy insisted that she host the party because her house was bigger. Venus was having a boy, and that day her family and friends had gathered to pay tribute to the new man-child.
“He lives here?” Peaches asked as they turned into the driveway at Black and Shy’s house.
“Yes, Ma,” Baby Chris told his mother.
“Their last house got blown up,” Payton said enthusiastically. The whole “I’m in love with a gangster” thing still excited her.
Peaches shook her head. “He’s come a long way from that tiny apartment he used to live in.”
Baby Chris looked in the rearview at his mother and got out of the car wondering how well she knew the boss of The Family. The reason he invited her was that Black always asked about her.
“Tell Peaches don’t be a stranger. She’s family.”
Inside the house, the soon-to-be grandparents, Bobby and Pam, as well as Venus’s parents were celebrating with the parents-to-be. It was a chance for the grandparents to spend some time getting to know each other before their future grandchild arrived. Since Venus now lived at the house with the Rays, Pam was deeply involved with getting everything prepared for the new bundle of joy.
As had become customary at family events, Chuck was controlling access to the media room, where Black was talking to family members about their issues and concerns, settling disputes, and granting wishes. As host of the party, Shy was wandering around her house, seeing to it that everybody was having a good time.
“Hello, Mrs. Black.”
“Hey, BC, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine, Mrs. Black. I want to introduce you to my mother, Peaches.”
“Peaches.” Shy smiled. “Finally. I have heard so much about you from so many people.”
“Likewise. The famous Shy, the woman who won’t die,” Peaches said and laughed.
Easy heard her say that and he immediately went off in search of Michelle for an explanation.
“It’s nice to meet you, Peaches.”
She turned to Payton. “And this is Payton Cummings.”
“One day you have to tell me what it’s like to jump out of an airplane. I always think about doing stuff like that, but I am just too chicken to actually do it.”
Payton had famously jumped out of an airplane to commit a minor robbery along with three of her friends just for the thrill of it. That didn’t turn out well for her friends, because some risks aren’t worth taking and some thrills you can do without.
“I would be happy to go up with you anytime you wanna try it,” Payton said.
“I just may take you up on that,” Shy said and moved on to speak with other guests.
Wanda had come to the shower with her new fiancé, James Austin. However, since this was Venus’s day, she decided to save her announcement for another day.
They were sitting in the Blacks’ living room along with the soon-to-be grandparents as Venus received gifts. Although RJ and Venus weren’t together, he was totally committed to being a father to his son, so he was sitting next to her.
But then there were members of The Family who did not come bearing gifts. Those members of The Family handed Venus cash-filled envelopes, which she happily placed in a silk floral print bag that Wanda gave her for the occasion, which matched the outfit she was wearing. By the end of the evening, that little silk bag would have close to $100,000 in it.
Chuck stuck his head in the door to the media room. “I got Ryder out here to see you.”
“Send her in.”
“You got her,” Chuck said and swung the door open for Ryder to come in.
Black stood up to greet his wife’s oldest and closest friend. Her real name was Dale, but growing up, she got teased because Dale was a boy’s name. That ended when she got fed up and started kicking ass.
“Thank you for seeing me, Mike.”
“Have a seat, and tell me, what can I do for you?”
“It’s not what you can do. I mean, I don’t want nothing. I just need some advice.”
“On what?”
“It’s just that I don’t feel like I get the respect I think I deserve.”
“Why is that? Everybody I know—and I know everybody in this family—everybody I know respects you and the work you do. I know that I do.”
“Thank you, Mike, but it’s like”—she paused and leaned forward—“when something is going on in The Family and there’s a captains’ meeting, I never hear about it.”
“You’ve been captaining Carter’s crew for years, and you were Jab’s brain before that. That sounds like a captain to me. You should be there.”
“What should I do?”
“Do you remember what I told you after that business with Jab?”
“You said that I needed to surround myself with people who would be loyal to me.”
“Did you do that?”
“Yes.”
“I know. That’s your crew. Sounds like a captain to me. You build on that.”
“Is that ‘Mike Black: businessman’ talking, or ‘Mike Black: boss of this family’?”
“Aren’t they the same person?”
“I guess they are.”
“You never have to worry about your position in this family. My advice is to keep doing what you’re doing. The people who matter see you and respect your work. And you let me worry about your title,” he said, knowing that now that they were done dealing with the Albanians, he was going to have that talk with Rain. He would address it with her then. “Tell me, what’s going on with you and Truck?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Black stood up. “You let me know when you can’t.”
Ryder stood up. “That will never happen.”
* * *
By the time Alwan arrived at the house, the driveway was full of cars, so he parked on the street. Rain got out and waited while Alwan got the Priam stroller she had gotten for the baby shower, and then they walked to the house. As she made her way to the living room to pay tribute and deliver her gift, Rain bumped into Shy.
During the days when Rain was working with Black, she was damn near living at their old house. She had a room of her own and definitely ate there every day. Since both she and Shy loved to eat and neither could cook, and they were both addicted to M’s cooking, a bond was formed. They hadn’t seen each other since Michelle’s party.
“What’s up, Shy?”
“Hey, girl.”
Shy hugged her, and then she stepped back and looked at Rain.
“What?”
Shy’s eyes narrowed as she leaned close to Rain. “Are you pregnant?” she whispered.
Rain’s eyes opened wide. She grabbed Shy’s hand and led her out of the house. “How do you know?” she asked the second she closed the door.
“You look pregnant. Belly a little rounded, breasts a little fuller, and you’re glowing,” Shy said softly as Reeva began coming up the stairs carrying a gift for the baby. “Hi, Reeva. I’m so glad that you could make it.”
“Thank you for inviting me.”
“Reeva, this is my friend Rain Robinson.”
“Nice to meet you, Rain,” Reeva said, a little intimidated because she’d heard the office gossip about Rain Robinson.
Shy opened the door for her guest. “Come on inside, and I’ll introduce you to the soon-to-be mother and father.” She leaned close to Rain. “We’ll talk later,” Shy said and followed Reeva inside.
When Rain went back into the house, Alwan was still standing in the spot where she left him with the big box in his hands. “Let’s get this over with and get outta here.”
She headed for the living room to deliver her gift, but it took a while for her to get there because, as she made her way through the crowd of family members, some shared their issues and concerns with her. Once she delivered her gift to the parents-to-be, Pam introduced Rain to Venus’s parents. Since she knew, she discreetly congratulated Wanda and James on their engagement and was on her way to the door when she ran into Michelle.
“Hi, Aunt Rain.” Michelle hugged her. “Daddy wants to see you before you go.”
“Okay. Where is he.”
“In the media room,” Michelle said and led Rain to the media room, where Chuck was still controlling access.
“What’s up, Chuck? Somebody in there with him?”
“Money’s in there,” he said.
So Rain had to wait, but it wasn’t long before the door opened, and Black walked out with Marvin.
“Thank you, Uncle Mike.”
“No problem. I’ll tell Frank to stop being such a dick about everything,” Black said to Marvin, and that was when he noticed that Savannah Russell had come there with him. She was Frank Sparrow’s assistant and his former lover.
Now I understand why Frank’s being a dick about everything.
Frank had gotten Marvin’s fighter, Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Benton, on the undercard of the middleweight championship fight between Genesis Rodriguez and Jacques Gauthier, and now Frank was trying to renegotiate Marvin’s share of the pay-per-view money.
Black looked at Rain. “Come on in.”
When Black and Rain went into the room, Chuck closed the door, and Michelle walked away, thinking back to the days when she would be in that room with her father.
“What’s up?”
Black sat down. “Tell me what you haven’t told me about you and Gavin Caldwell.”
Rain sat down and told her story.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Honestly?”
“Is there another way?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have done it.”
“That was all the more reason for you to tell me.”
“You’re right. How’d you find out?” she asked because it was important.
“Your captains didn’t betray you if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It is.”
“Angelo told me about the task force having a witness to Gavin and a woman in a blond wig and sunglasses killing Greg Mac.”
“Oh.” Rain held up her hand. “I know. I need a better disguise than a blond wig and sunglasses.”
“Thank you for not making me say it.” He smiled. “I was impressed when Angee said he was murdered while in police custody, but do you think you showed the best judgment when you decided to involve us in Gavin’s business?”
“No.”
“And that’s why you didn’t tell me.” Black paused and Rain nodded. “I have to be honest with you, it made me question the trust that I have in you. I thought that I needed to test your judgment, but the last few days showed me that I neither need to test nor question your judgment. At every turn, you showed good judgment. Even when I was ready to go hard at them, you were the one showing restraint. That’s good judgment.”
“So what happens now?”
“Even though it was suggested, I’m not going to exile you to an island in the Caribbean.”
“Wanda?”
“Yes, but then she pointed out that even though you backed Gavin’s play, you did avoid getting us in the middle of his war with Kojo, and you kept us off the task force’s radar. So what happens now is this can never happen again between you and me.”
“Understood,” she said and left the office.
Rain was on her way to the door with Alwan when she ran into Shy again.
“Don’t leave. We need to talk.”
Damn, she thought and went back into the living room, passing Barbara on the way.
“Hey, Aunt Rain,” Barbara said.
“What’s up?”
Barbara had come to the celebration with her sometime boyfriend, Cole Montgomery. Rain looked him up and down.
“You still around?” Rain asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, somewhat frightened, as he remembered Rain threatening to hunt him down and shoot his dick off.
Rain shook her head and kept it moving. Barbara may have come to the party with Cole, but her eyes were on Marvin. He was getting in the buffet line with Savannah.
He really is kinda fine, she thought.
Her girlfriend, LaSean, who was helping Barbara set up her online gambling operation, had been going on and on about how fine her cousin Marvin was and how she wouldn’t mind getting with him since the day Barbara introduced them.
But Marvin wasn’t her cousin.
“Come on, Cole. I’m hungry,” she said and headed for the buffet line.
Marvin saw her coming, and he thought back to all the times that Sataria used to try to convince him that he was cheating on her with Barbara. Each time he would tell her how ridiculous it was because Barbara was his cousin.
But Barbara wasn’t his cousin.
And Barbara is fine as hell, he thought as she got in line behind them.
“Hey, Barbara. You look nice today.”
“You’re not looking too bad yourself.” She smiled. “You remember my friend Cole?”
“What’s up, man?” Marvin said. He shook his hand and turned to Savannah. “Barbara, this is my friend Savannah Russell. My cousin, Barbara.”
“Nice to meet you, Barbara,” Savannah said politely.
“We met at the fight party at my club,” Barbara reminded her.
“We certainly did,” Savannah said as she got a plate and began getting her food.
It was just about that time that Shy was walking to the door with Reeva, thanking her for coming. “Thank you again for inviting me. I had a nice time, but I promised some people that I’d meet them at Surface.”
“Another date with Richmond?”
“No, just meeting some friends.”
“Well, you have a good time, and I’ll see you Monday,” Shy said as Reeva went down the stairs, and she went back into the house. Rain was standing by the door. “Come on,” Shy said, grabbing Rain by the hand and dragging her into the media room.
“Before you say anything, yes, I am pregnant.”
“Does Michael know?”
“I haven’t told him. But knowing Black, he knows.”
“You gonna have it?”
“No, I’m not.”
“If you need somebody to go with you, I’m here for you.”
“Thank you, Shy. I was going to get it done on Monday.” Thinking Shy would be more supportive than Alwan, she added, “And I would love for you to come with me.”
“Come with you where?” Black asked when he came into the media room.
“Shopping,” Shy said quickly.
“Yeah, I hate to shop,” Rain said.
Black sat down. “You in a hurry?”
“Not really. What’s up?” Rain sat down. Shy sat next to Black.
“You think we’re done with the Albanians?”
“I hope so.”
“The police never did find Daniel, did they?” Shy asked.
“No. Detective Mitchell arrested the guy who shot Jack. Maybe he can tell her where he is.”
“You know what I can’t figure out?” Shy said.
“What’s that, Cassandra?”
“How Reeva Duckworth fits into the story.”