Birthright, p.4
Birthright, page 4
“I know you must have some other ideas about ways we can make this money. And I respect that, I do. But this here shit, this about what we gonna do to build this empire. It will make that other shit easier to get done when we’re stronger,” Nikki said.
Barlowe knew it was Eddie who had run everything, and he just went along for the ride. “Okay, Nikki. We’ll try it your way. But I need to know what you’re doing every step of the way. You need to talk to me every day and let me know what you’re doing. Understand?”
“Understood.” Nikki stood up. “I’m gonna show you, Uncle Pete.” Some part of her felt like the young girl who was anxious to impress her Uncle Pete. This was her time now, and Nikki planned to make the most of it.
The Palace was another nightclub owned by Barlowe. It was the jewel of his entertainment enterprises. It was the largest of the clubs they owned, and it featured live performances and a four-star restaurant. According to their mother, the Palace was her father’s pride and joy. While Pete ran the construction company, Eddie spearheaded their entry into the entertainment business because the clubs were a natural front for their gambling and drug operations. Now that she had the green light for her plan, it was only natural that Nikki would begin her rise to power there.
The Palace was run by Garrett Wilson. When Eddie was murdered, he was the one Barlowe put in place to run the spot. He had been there ever since. He didn’t like Nikki, and he never had. He thought that she was a spoiled brat who needed a good beating. He thought that J.R. was out of control and irresponsible, and he was dangerous because of it. Now, he feared them both because they were a threat to his power. In addition to running the Palace, Wilson had his hands in everything, and his O.G. status caused him to ignore Nikki.
Those days were over.
That night, the Palace was also the destination for Shekira Albertson and Rasheda Saint James as well. Shekira heard that J.R. liked to hang out there, and she had decided that this would be the night she would make him notice her.
It was after one in the morning, and Shekira was starting to think that J.R. wasn’t gonna show up there that night. She and Rah-Rah had been there since happy hour and sat through the first show, and there was no sign of J.R. She was excited earlier in the evening when she saw Sharonda Braelin, J.R.’s girlfriend, come into the Palace to be seated at a reserved table, but she left when the show was over.
Shekira was about to tell Rah-Rah that she was ready to go when J.R. walked in with Nikki, Cairo, and Butch. “There he is,” Shekira said excitedly.
“Okay, he’s here now. What are you gonna do?”
She sat there watching—craving, actually—as the four walked through the crowded club to the office. Cairo knocked on the office door, and she watched them go in.
“What’s up, Mr. Wilson?” J.R. asked when he walked into the office.
“J.R., Nikki.” Wilson sat up straight in his chair. “What can I do for you two?”
“Today, it’s what I can do for you,” Nikki said and sat on the edge of the desk.
“What’s that?” J.R. sat in the chair in front of the desk and put his feet up.
“Boy, if you don’t get your feet off my muthafuckin’ desk.”
“What you gonna do?”
“You need to check your brother, Nikki.”
“I ain’t here for that. I’m here to tell you that I’m giving you a chance to spend more time with …” Nikki snapped her fingers. “What’s her name?”
“Mykisha Mystelle,” Butch said.
“Right.” Nikki laughed. “What kind of fuckin’ name is that anyway?”
“The kind you make up.” J.R. laughed.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Nikki?” Wilson demanded to know.
“You’re out. I run this place now,” she said boldly.
There was silence in the room. Wilson nodded his head as if he were resolved to his fate, and then he started laughing, loud and hardy.
“I heard about the stunt you pulled at Vee’s the other night. That shit may have worked on Paddington’s weak muthafuckin’ ass, but I’m muthafuckin’ Garrett Wilson!” he said, pounding his chest. “I was running shit in this town when you two were still sucking milk from your mama’s titty. You got a lot of nerve thinking you can just walk in here and push me out.”
“Who’s gonna stop me?”
Once again, there was silence in the room.
“We’ll see what Barlowe got to say about this,” he said.
“I’m in a good mood tonight, so go ahead, call him. Because at this point, right here, right now, you got two choices. Either you get up from that chair and go home safe and happy, or you disappear. Your choice.”
Wilson confidently picked up the phone, and with the call on speaker, he dialed Barlowe’s number. “Put a stop to this shit right fuckin’ now.”
“G-Man! What’s up?” Barlowe answered.
“Listen. I got Nikki here, talking out her ass about me being out.” Wilson looked at Nikki. She had her gun out and pointed at his head.
“She’s not talking outta her ass. If she says you’re out, then you’re out. Simple as that.”
“But—”
“I’m in the middle of something, G-Man, so if that’s all you wanted, I’ll talk to you later,” Barlowe said and hung up the phone.
“What’s it gonna be?” Nikki cocked the hammer.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” J.R. said.
Wilson looked at the four people in front of him and wondered if he could get his gun out of the drawer and shoot them before they killed him.
Probably not.
He thought for a second about whether that was how he wanted to go out. In a blaze of glory!
Probably not.
“I worked too hard to just walk outta here empty-handed,” Wilson said humbly.
“So,” J.R. said.
“I tell you what. You had a good night here tonight. I’m gonna let you walk away with all the money they made on the door tonight. That sound fair to you?”
“Yeah, Nikki.” Wilson stood up and raised his hands. “I’m gonna get my gun from the drawer.”
“Get his gun, Cairo. Then you escort him to the cash room to get his money, and then you can escort him to his car. You can give him back his gun then.”
“Let’s go,” Cairo said once he had Wilson’s gun.
“Go with him, Butchie,” Nikki said and went behind the desk. She sat down in the chair.
“How does it feel?” J.R. asked.
“Like I need to get a new chair.”
Meanwhile, out in the club, Shekira watched the office door like a hawk and saw Cairo and Butch come out with Wilson. She figured that it wouldn’t be long before he came out.
“Come on,” she said to Rah-Rah.
“Where we going?”
“To the bar.” Shekira stood up. “Now, come on.”
Dressed in Christian Louboutin duvette spikes leather and suede pumps and an Area halter-neck minidress with spaghetti straps and a star cut-out in the front that exposed her abundant cleavage, Shekira posted up at the bar, where she was sure that he would see her when he came out of the office.
“What can I get you ladies?”
“Henessy and Coke,” Shekira said.
“Jose Cuervo gold Tequila Sunrise,” Rah-Rah ordered, and that was when she saw Tion.
He was at the bar, standing next to Levine Thatcher. She waved when she saw him. Tion nodded to acknowledge her, and then Rah-Rah watched as Thatcher pointed to her and asked Tion something. Thatcher nodded, and before she knew it, they were coming her way.
“Here they come,” Rah-Rah said breathlessly.
“What’s up, Rah-Rah?”
“How you doing, Tion?”
“This is the woman I’ve been telling you about, Thatch. This is Rasheda Saint James. This is Levine Thatcher.”
When Rah-Rah held out her hand, Thatcher bowed at the waist and kissed her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Saint James.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. And please call me Rah-Rah.”
“Okay, Rah-Rah. May I sit?”
“Please.”
“Thank you.” Thatcher sat down and leaned close to Rah-Rah. “Tion tells me that you’re interested in being in one of my music videos.”
“Yes. Very interested.”
“Well, let’s talk about that,” Thatcher said, holding out his hand.
Rah-Rah accepted his hand, stood up, and looked at Shekira. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said and left the Palace with Tion and Thatcher.
Shekira watched Rah-Rah until she was out the door, hoping that she’d be all right and wondering if she should have gone with her. When she turned back to the bar, J.R. was standing next to her.
“Hi.”
He turned and looked at her, and his eyes focused on her exposed cleavage. “How are you doing?”
“You’re J.R. Marx, right?”
“That’s me.”
“I heard a lot about you.”
“What have you heard?”
“I heard a lot of good stuff about you.” Shekita had been drinking Hennessy since happy hour, and by that time, all of her inhibitions were long gone. “And I wanted to know if there was any left for a sister like me?”
J.R. shot his drink, and then he looked her up and down from the tips of her Christian Louboutin pumps up to her thick thighs, to her abundant cleavage, to her pouty lips.
“Let’s get outta here and go somewhere you can get all you want.”
Chapter Six
It started out simple—but it always does—a couple of bumps of cocaine with champagne in the back of the limousine with Thatcher. He was listening to the new track from Dramatic, whose video he was casting dancers for. With the champagne glass in hand, Rah-Rah showed Thatcher a little of what she could do as they rode to his hotel. He had the penthouse and terrace suite at the Roxy hotel.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Thatcher said, taking off his jacket and loosening his tie when they got to the suite.
“Thank you.”
Rah-Rah walked into the room and looked around. The first things she noticed were the floor-to-ceiling windows and the rooftop terrace. She immediately went out onto the terrace and looked out at the spectacular view of the city below.
Thatcher walked up behind her. He liked bringing women there because the view always made them wet. “What are you drinking?” he asked.
“Tequila Sunrise.”
“How about Tequila and orange juice?” He chuckled as he went to the mini bar. “Ain’t no grenadine.”
“That’s fine.”
Thatcher took his phone out of his pocket and put on another of Dramatic’s songs. “Let me see what you got.”
Rah-Rah started to dance. Thatcher handed her the drink and sat down to watch. He sipped his drink and nodded while he watched. She was good, and more importantly to Thatcher, Rah-Rah looked good in the Lilac Liv Foster asymmetric-hem studded dress that she got on sale to wear for the night. He couldn’t wait to get her out of it. When the song ended, Rah-Rah started to come to sit down, but Thatcher had other ideas.
“Keep dancing.”
She giggled. “There’s no music.”
“Right. Close your eyes and dance to the music in your mind,” he said, getting up. He went to the bar and started another song on his phone. Then he went to get his jacket and got the bag of cocaine from his pocket before he returned to the couch. He emptied the bag and made a few lines.
“You wanna hit this?”
“Yeah.”
Rah-Rah danced her way to the couch. She crouched at the table to the music, did the line, and came back up dancing.
“You got some skills.”
“Thank you.”
“I may just be able to use you.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Thatcher did a line. “Really.”
“That’s great.”
“Yeah.” He nodded greedily. “Now, show me sexy and seductive,” he said just as there was a knock at the door. “You keep dancing,” Thatcher said, getting up to answer the door. “What’s up?”
“I got two rocky sacks just for you.”
“Just what the doctor ordered,” Thatcher said and paid the man for the two eightballs of rocks.
He saw Rah-Rah dancing. “She’s gonna be fun.”
“They always are,” Thatcher said and closed the door.
While Rah-Rah continued to dance, he walked into the bedroom. Thatcher got a box from the drawer and returned to the living area. He opened the box that contained two handheld glass pipes. Rah-Rah stopped dancing and stood over the coffee table in the suite.
“I’ve never seen a pipe like that before.”
“It’s called the Steamroller.” Thatcher emptied the bag of rocks into the pipe box and got the lighter. He put a piece on and lit the pipe.
“You wanna hit?”
“Sure,” Rah-Rah said, even though she had never smoked cocaine before. She coughed.
Thatcher laughed. “Let me get you another drink,” he said, getting up to go to the bar.
“Thank you.” Rah-Rah fanned herself. “It’s getting hot in here.”
He handed her the drink. “Why don’t you show me your best combination move?”
While Rah-Rah did what she thought were her best dance moves, Thatcher returned to the couch and put another piece on the pipe. He lit up.
“You’re right. It is getting hot in here.” He unbuttoned his shirt.
“It’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes.” Rah-Rah sang the words to Nelly’s song.
“If you want to.”
Rah-Rah laughed and finished her drink. She danced to the bar. “You mind?” she asked, pointing to the mini bar in the room.
“Help yourself.” While Rah-Rah danced, shook her ass, and fixed a drink, Thatcher got another hit ready. “You want another hit?”
“Sure.”
Rah-Rah danced to the couch and sat down next to Thatcher. She shot her drink, and he handed her the pipe.
“Whew,” she said and got up.
“This the song for the video coming on. Let me set the scene. All the dancers have on sexy lingerie, and Dramatic is looking over them, and then he gets to you, and you dance for him. Can you do that?”
“I sure can,” Rah-Rah said and was about to start dancing.
“Wait.” Thatcher looked her up and down. “What do you have on under that dress?”
Rah-Rah froze. “Just my bra and panties. Why?”
“Do you mind?”
“Mind what?”
“Taking off your dress. You’re not shy, are you? This ain’t no business for no shy girls.”
“No, I’m not shy,” she said and stripped down to her Le Mystere lace allure bra and panties.
“Good.” Thatcher returned to the couch. “Show me what you got.”
While Thatcher looked on, Rah-Rah danced to that and two more songs before he let her stop. He handed her the pipe, and Rah-Rah took a hit.
“You’re burning it too hot.”
“I’m sorry,” Rah-Rah said and handed Thatcher back the pipe.
“You’ve never done this before, have you?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“That’s all right.” Thatcher picked up a cool pipe and put another piece on. “Close your eyes.” He got it started, and while still holding the smoke in, he said, “Listen to the sound of my voice and pull it the way I tell you.”
“Okay.”
He put the tip of the pipe against Rah-Rah’s lips. “Pull lightly.”
Rah-Rah began to inhale the smoke.
“Good.”
She took in some more smoke.
“Pull even,” he said while he held the lighter to the stem. “Pull harder.”
Those were the only words Rah-Rah heard until Thatcher moved the pipe away from her lips.
“You’re right. That did make the high more intense,” Rah-Rah said.
After a while, clothes came off, and they spent the rest of the night smoking until there was no more. Thatcher called for more; however, while they waited, they had sex. There was no passion involved. At least, not for Rah-Rah. But one thing was certain: by the end of the night, Rah-Rah was hooked. She was going to be in a music video, but she was hooked.
J.R. and Shekira went to Moxy on West 28th Street. When they got to the room, she offered to make their drinks. J.R. made himself comfortable on the bed.
“Go ahead.”
She went to the mini bar and got two bottles of Hennessy. She was nervous, so she poured one and drank it straight down before making another drink with ice and Coke and making a drink for him. Shekira brought them the drinks and got comfortable on the bed next to him. They were lying on the bed, staring into each other’s eyes, when his phone rang.
J.R. took out his phone and glanced at the display. “I have to take this.” He got up and left the room.
“I’ll be waiting, so don’t be long.”
“I won’t be.”
J.R. went and took his call, but when he came back to the room, she was asleep.
“Oh, no, she didn’t. Ain’t that a bitch.” He shook his head and began to get undressed, then got in the shower. Then he covered her up, got into the bed, and went to sleep.
In the morning, she was still asleep when he woke up. He got out of bed and went out on the balcony to make some calls. He was considering ordering room service when Shekira came out onto the balcony.
“Good morning,” she said and sat in the chair beside him.
J.R. looked over at her, shook his head, and chuckled. “Morning.”
“Sorry about last night. I guess I fell asleep on you.”
J.R. nodded. “Yeah, you did.”
Shekira moved closer. “Let me make it up to you.” She stroked J.R.’s hard dick. “My pussy is so swollen and dripping wet. I need you to fuck me.” Shekira squatted down in front of him, hurrying to reveal his dick.
“Huh,” he groaned out as if he were in pain when she freed him.
Shekira took him into her hot mouth and began slobbering all over it. He palmed her head as Shekira worked back and forth, squeezing his balls before placing them into her mouth. She sucked gently on them as her hand continued to jerk him off. Shekira took J.R. into her mouth. He pumped in and out of her mouth, grabbing her head with both hands. When he felt like he was about to cum in her mouth, J.R. pulled her up.
