Tone
It was our second day in Arizona, and it was hot as shit out here; it didn’t get hot like this in the Bay. We had our days, but there weren’t many that were just all out scorching, like the weather out here. I didn’t know what was going on with Jaeda; she hadn’t really seemed like herself since we touched down, and I was worried about her. I didn’t know if she was dealing with the fact that she killed Mess or what, but soon as I got back to her, I was determined to find out.
I was headed with B to go meet this Russian cat named Andrei, who had these exclusive bank flats that we were looking for; the profiles that we had were big money, so we definitely needed the exclusive bankcards that fit the part. Andrei also had these exclusive MasterCard travelers’ checks, and we needed them; the line was official, and we had a few broads that would pass them. Andrei was efficient with his product; he had the best, and the trip to come get what we needed was well worth it. B and I were also talking about copping some of his counterfeit hundred dollar bills, but I had to see them in the flesh before I just cashed out for them.
Andrei was originally from New Jersey, but he had come to the West Coast after he served 5 years in the Penitentiary for federal fraud and identity theft charges. At 25, his name was hot on the east side of the country, but he was paid and had amassed a few million before he went down, so he picked up his game and brought it this way. Now he only worked behind the scenes and pulled in millions monthly. In order to get in touch with him, you had to have some big connections that were close to him to even have a conversation with him; if you wanted to find him, it would seem as if he didn’t exist. It had taken a few months, but we were able to set up this meeting with him through B’s cousin Tracy that used to run with his people back east; she still did jobs for him, and also referred reputable buyers to him.
It took about 30 minutes for us to get from our hotel to Andrei’s home in Paradise Valley; when we pulled up to his home, we were astounded by the size of this home. It was a 25,000 square foot mansion, and I didn’t want to even ask the price on this shit. Guards guided us up the driveway and around the side of the large home to park, and once we stepped out our cars we were frisked and relieved of our weapons.
“Follow me,” one of the beefy muscle head guards instructed. We were led through a side entrance that seemed to be a house in itself that was built into the rest of the mansion. We were seated in a sitting room that had been decorated gold and black; it was modernly decorated with large Italian imported leather furniture, and glass gold-trimmed accessories.
A middle-aged black woman came in and offered us beverages; B and I both declined. Soon as she had left out, a young light-skinned guy entered into the sitting room from a door to the right of where we were seated. I figured it was one of Andrei’s associates.
“Good evening gentlemen, I’m Andrei how was your trip?” I looked up and stood to my feet.
“My bad, I’m Tony and I know that you have already spoken to my business associate here,” I extended my hand and shook Andrei’s hand as we both took a seat.
“Yea, how are you Brayden? So I got everything you asked for, but I understand you want to take a look at the bills that I have as well?” he asked while landing his gaze on me.
“Yea, before I purchase any I want to see how legit they are. I want to make sure that they could pass all points of detection before I spend any money. If I purchase them and all goes well, I will be back to purchase a bigger bulk,” I responded while wiping my forehead.
“Understandable, you and your team are very smart. I did a little homework on your squad, and I have to say I like what I see. I hope that our business ventures will prove to be successful; fuck with me I can make you a lot of money.”
Andrei led us to a table where he had stacks of one hundred dollar bills laid out. He opened a case that held different safe scan machines, as well as the Uline pens. Andrei showed us the bills, and I was impressed; we were able to see that all the bills passed detection, but he also showed us the flaws that were very minute that the average cashier would overlook. B and I decided to purchase $5,000 worth of bills each to test run. Andrei’s men retrieved the money from the duffle bags out of the rental car, and had his men replace them with custom-made Hardcase Louis Vuitton luggage that had a base built into the bottom that would hold our merchandise. Once our transactions were complete, we were ushered out to our car and sent on our way; now that the most important task of this trip had been handled, we could have some fun.
Once we reached our hotel, B and I retrieved the luggage from the trunk and carried it upstairs to our suites, where we put one suitcase in the large closet safe in each of the three suites. I was relieved to have gotten this out of the way; now, making sure that all of our work arrived back safely with us to the Town was our priority, but we could worry about that when it was time to leave. We still had two more days, and tonight we were headed to see Rozay in concert. I went into the bedroom to find Jaeda, but she wasn’t there. I had planned to do an early dinner, just me and her. I pulled my phone from my pocket and realized I had never turned my phone back on after our meeting with Andrei. I powered on my phone and saw that I had a message from Jaeda.
Jaeda:
Went out to do a little shopping, Meet me at Flemings 5pm
I looked at the time and saw that it was 3:30, so I had a little time to get ready before it would be time to meet her. I sat back on the couch with B as we rolled up a few blunts and chilled before I got dressed. The Squad was going to go to dinner at BJ’s before the concert, but Jaeda and I were going to do our own personal thing.
“Aye, I know it may be none of my business, but are you and Jaeda aite?” B asked as he passed me a cookie rolled philly.
“Yea man, why you ask that?” I hit the blunt and tilted my head, exhaling the smoke towards the ceiling.
“I’m just saying, she been seeming kind of off since we been here; not as social as usual, and I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to try and kill you in your sleep or nothing.” I laughed at B’s statement; Jaeda was a little psycho, but I hadn’t given her a reason to knock me down and I didn’t plan on it anytime soon.
“You know you and Jah are thick as thieves, so I just wanted to make sure you weren’t dogging her out like he did Laela.” We all were a little bothered about Jah and Laela’s breakup, and although we knew that Jah had a thing for random hoes, none of us wanted their relationship to take a turn for the worst; but Laela was a rider, and she deserved better than what Jah was giving her. I couldn’t sweat it though; as long as the money stayed straight, I was happy. They would work out their issues, whether they ended up back together or not.
“Nah man, I’m focused on this money. We been hustling together for damn near a year, and we only have a year left. I ain’t gonna play my bitch behind none of these dusted ass bitches; it ain’t even worth the hassle,” I said, checking the time. I dapped up B and told him I was about to get dressed; the concert started at 9, and we planned to meet in the hotel lobby at 8.
I got to Flemings Steakhouse around 4:45, and I spotted Jaeda out front in a white dress that stopped mid-thigh, and a nude-colored blazer. I didn’t know what designer she was rocking, but my bitch was looking like a bag of money with some bad ass nude-colored heels on, and shining like new money with her jewelry. I smiled slightly as I approached her; I embraced her and buried my nose into the crook of her neck. Jaeda knew I loved how the Flash fragrance from Jimmy Choo smelled on her skin, and I barely wanted to let her go.
“Come on crazy, before we lose our reservation,” Jaeda said, giggling and grabbing my hand. I had planned to take her to dinner but I didn’t think of making any reservations, so Jaeda beat me to the punch. That’s what I loved about her; she was always one-step ahead of me, or on the same page. We just vibed perfectly, and that’s why I refused to play myself or her by dealing with a bitch that wasn’t about shit.
Once we were seated, I stared at Jaeda for a second and just admired her beauty; inside and out, she was just the shit. We were young, and people expected us to not know what we wanted. They felt as if we were just going through a phase, and that we would eventually phase each other out and move on but honestly, I didn’t want shit else. If the future held something different for us, then I wanted to freeze time so that we could stay in this moment, in this place, concealed in the love that we shared. The waitress came over and took our drink orders; Jaeda and I both ordered waters with lemon and light ice. Once the waitress had left, I decided to find out what was bothering my girl.
“Jae Money, how you feeling? You know I know when something is bothering you, so spill it,” I said as I took a drink of the water that the waitress had just came and sat on the table.
“I’m straight babe, just been having these weird feelings, that’s all.” She began to finger her hair, and that’s how I knew that whatever it was had really began to bother her. Jaeda had a habit of always twisting her hair when she was bothered; whenever she was uncomfortable, she fidgeted with her hands.
“So is it because of the Mess situation? Them niggas is dead and gone, you ain’t gotta worry about none of that, and if you tripping over doing the deed, I’m here to talk,” I said, staring into her eyes. Jaeda looked at me, and I could see her battling with her emotions.
“It ain’t even that, babe. I don’t even think about that Mess shit. That nigga was outta pocket and he had to go. Fuck him and his niggas,” Jaeda said, raising her voice a little. I looked around out of habit, but the rest of the patrons hadn’t even budged at the quick volume change of our conversation. I nodded my head.
“Okay then if not that, then what? What was that dream all about on the plane?” I knew Jaeda had occasional reoccurring nightmares, but I thought they had subsided recently. I just wanted to be there for her, and reassure her that the demons of her past could no longer hurt her. The waitress returned and took our food order, interrupting Jaeda before she could speak.
Jaeda’s eyes began to water, but she didn’t let a tear fall. Jaeda had let me in on a lot of things about her past, so I knew that there were things that were just touchy for her, like how she always held back when we had sex, scared to let her body relax and have natural orgasms. It had a lot to do with what her sick ass cousin put her through, and although I didn’t mind her timid nature in the bedroom, I knew she was hella self-conscious about it. Jaeda had two sides to her though, and where at times she would hold back, some days she was a totally different person. She was aggressive and outspoken at times, and other times she was withdrawn and closed off, I was willing to take the good with the bad, because all of these things are what made me love her.
“The dreams have been different now bae; they have been more constant during sleep, and I don’t know how to feel about them,” Jaeda said. “It’s like the same thing, but then when I look up it’s not my parents, it’s you and Jah.” I shook my head and stared at her; the waitress placed our food in front of us, and left just as quick as she had come.
“Bae, ain’t shit gonna happen to none of us. I won’t let nothing happen to myself because I don’t want to ever not be here for you.” I reached for her hand, “I love yo’ ass Jae Money, now cut all this sensitive shit out, we can’t eat with tears in our plate.”
Dinner went by smoothly and after we finished eating, I still had about 30 minutes before I had to meet the guys for the concert.
“So what y’all hoes gonna get into while we out?” I asked Jaeda as we walked hand in hand towards the parking lot. Jaeda released my hand and punched my arm; I grabbed my arm laughing.
“You better watch that shit girl, before you find yourself screaming uncle.” I took a boxer’s stance and threw a couple phantom punches. She stopped and laughed.
“Don’t call us no hoes then nigga.”
As we reached the rental car that Jaeda was driving, I pushed her body up against the driver door and leaned into her giving her a sloppy kiss on the lips. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a box that I had been carrying since dinner. I handed her the box as she looked up at me with her eyes sparkling in wonder. Jaeda opened the box and pulled out a five stone diamond ring in platinum; she looked at me and smiled.
“Figured I would buy you something nice since I ain’t have no other hoes to trick on,” I gave her my most serious face as she hit me in my chest.
“Really nigga?” we laughed together.
“But nah, you my little rider and like I always say, I would give you the world, so this ring is just a little piece of it.” I grabbed her waist and hugged her. “Jae Money, this ring is just a token of my promises to you, and as long as I’m living, you can bet that whatever you desire I will provide.” Jaeda now had tears running down her face; I kissed each cheek and winked at her.
“Ol sucka for love ass nigga,” I laughed, and so did she. “Hush my nigga, it ain’t everyday a thug ass nigga gets to being mushy.” She smushed me in the face, and then put the ring on her finger. Yeah, a nigga was in his feelings, but if you couldn’t show your girl that you loved and appreciated her, then you needed to reevaluate your relationship. Niggas loved to play hard around their patnas about the love they had for their girl but shit, that’s who you supposed to show love to.
Jaeda
It was our last day in Arizona, and honestly I was well beyond ready to go home. We had been out here for 5 days already, it was hot and dry, and I was over it. We had fun, handled business, and Tone and I had gotten some well-deserved quality time. Now the ladies and I were out by the pool relaxing, while the guys had went and took Raj and Alex to some stores. They had been hitting big the whole trip, so they were out trying to hit a little more before we headed back to Cali. They had hit for alcohol, TVs, Ipads and tablets, laptops, purses, belts, and gift cards. There was so much stuff that we had to rent a U-Haul to drive it all back. Gio and China had flew out here yesterday and agreed to drive the truck back to the Town.
I had been having butterflies all day, but I didn’t know why. First I just thought that my stomach was recovering from the tequila we were drinking last night, but after hitting the bathroom and taking a gangsta, I still had them. I guess I was really just anxious about going home; the trip was very profitable, and everything had gone smoothly. Our new connections with Andrei were guaranteed to place our young crew in a top position money wise, and we couldn’t ask for anything more.
“Lae, what the hell are you over there cheesing about?” I asked, lifting my Burberry shades up on top of my head. She had been sitting there texting since we had come outside, and she had been smiling and giggling for the past 20 minutes straight. Her and Jah had barely said two words to each other this whole trip; the tension wasn’t as thick, but that vibe that they once had was missing. I could see the hurt in my sister’s eyes when she looked at him, or if somebody had brought him up. I would let their little separation play out, but I hoped that Jah got his shit together so that my stubborn ass sister would take him back. Those two were made for each other, kind of like me and Tone.
“Huh?” Laela asked, not taking her eyes off her phone. I snatched the phone out of her hands and began to read some of her texts.
“Eew, you nasty little slut bag,” I said, handing her phone back.
Laela and Ricky had been talking a lot during this trip; she never really just flaunted it in the open, I guess being respectful to Jah, but shit if it was me, I would have been giggle central all on the phone in front of that nigga, just to make his ass mad. Niggas always lacked respect when it came to females and their feelings, but we were always so ready to show them some respect when what they really could use was a dose of their own medicine. Thing is, some females would take it too far and make themselves look like a hoe, trying to make a nigga mad.
“Bitch I ain’t being nasty,” she rolled her eyes with a slight smirk on her face. “He asked a question and I answered it; I ain’t even tryna take it there with blood.” We sat out at the pool a little longer before Lexis’ phone went off. I looked over as Lexis jumped up off her beach chair with a panicked expression on her face, I sat up and looked at her as she motioned that we needed to get up. Jumping up, I grabbed my things and followed her back to her suite as she talked on the phone.
“Okay, we’re doing it now,” she said into the phone before hanging up.
We rushed around our suites, gathering the last of our belongings and getting rid of anything that could link us to the rooms. All of our rooms were paid for under the names on our fake identification, so we were good. Raj had gotten caught slipping in one of the stores, and they had her in a police car trying to question her. They were definitely going to take her to jail. Due to the fact that she was over 21, and had been arrested before for prostitution, she would be booked and have to await her court date.
Thing is, the store security had told the officers what kind of car she had gotten out of, and the police were pressing her for accomplices. Because she and Alex were never together, they didn’t catch her and she was staying close by, playing the role of an onlooker as she tried to ear hustle for information. I shot Alex a text from the burnout phone and told her to get out of there. I then called a cab and had it go to pick up Alex from the store, and take her straight to the airport.
The girls and I hit all three rooms, grabbing all of our things and packing them in the rental as we headed to the airport. Laela was on the phone with the airline getting all of us flights out immediately. The guys had gone to Alex and Raj’s room and grabbed whatever was over there. Luckily, we had all been packed since last night so that when we woke up the next day, we could head out. There were three flights going out in the next hour, so everybody was booked and it was three of us on each flight.
As we were approaching the airport, we passed a couple squad cars heading in the direction of our hotel. I called Tone to see what their location was and text Alex her flight information, because it was apparent that Raj had given us up.
“Pull into the 8
th
floor garage where it says rental car return,” Tone said, then hung up. We pulled the car into the parking stall and grabbed all of our bags out; we had about 45 minutes before our flights were scheduled to board. Once we had checked in to our flights, I relaxed a little. I guess this was why I had butterflies all day, because those same butterflies that I woke up with were fluttering like crazy while we were headed to the airport. I’m glad that we had a plan already set in motion in case anything happened, because this situation could have gotten extremely messy. Knowing that my crew was good, I sent a simple text to Gio and Uncle Ken “7:50” was all that I had to say; they would both know that we had come in early, and to pick us up from the airport at that time.
Once we all had boarded our flights, I was able to relax; we hadn’t taken a loss, but it was unfortunate that Raj had cracked under pressure. The money that we would have put up for her bail, I would give to Alex once we got back home. I appreciated her for moving smart and keeping it solid. I leaned my head back as Tone placed his hand on my leg and rubbed it, giving it a slight squeeze as we began to take off down the runway. I could breathe easy knowing that he was with me, and he would never let me down. I wiggled my finger that held the ring that he had given me a couple nights ago; I smiled and leaned over to kiss his lips. Once we got back to Oakland, it would be back to our routine. It was July and the guys would be starting their summer classes before fall camp at Cal Berkeley for their freshman year. They would be gone most of the day due to classes and practice schedules, so it was up to the rest of the Squad to pick up the slack.
I was proud of Tone and Jah because no matter what, they were not letting these streets distract them from the bigger picture. Although we had more than enough money to just quit and not look back, Laela and I were stuck in this–at least until we graduated and were out from under Uncle Ken’s jurisdiction. I had talked to Tone about he and Jah just leaving these streets alone, and focusing on school and football. We had enough money put away to keep us cool until we were able to up and leave, but Tone wasn’t ready to leave the streets alone. Although he swore he was only in it because I was still in it, I knew that he just loved the rush that he got knowing that he was the man in the streets, knowing that he was touching money every day. I got that same rush, but I wanted to walk away. I wanted the normalcy of not having to watch my back and look over my shoulder, having to watch for the police or from these niggas in the streets.
Oakland was a city like no other; it was one of those places that taught you everything if you just opened your eyes and paid attention. It was the city of the hustler. The streets were rough, because you could have all the love in the world out here, but there was just as much hate lurking. The body count rose higher every year, and it was sad when every time you turned on the news or logged onto your social media accounts, you were bombarded with RIP posts and “Free such and such” posts. There were only two places guaranteed out here in the streets, and that was jail and a casket. I didn’t want that for any of us. We would play out this final year as planned, and then we were gone. We could make a new start somewhere else. I loved Oakland, but I definitely wanted more than what it had to offer.