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“They ordered drinks.”
When the waitress brought them their drinks and asked for the money, Rain looked at her like she was stupid. Then she looked over and saw Cynt standing there with Dwayne. “Ain’t no check for this table. You tell Cynt that Rain Robinson is drinkin’ on the house tonight. Now go on and get outta here.”
“And send some women over here,” Memphis said.
The waitress walked away from the table and went straight to Cynt to deliver Rain’s message. Cynt told the waitress it was all right. For the next two hours they got drunk on Cynt’s liquor and Rain’s men enjoyed being entertained by the dancers and ordering drinks for the other men who were sitting nearby.
By that time, Cynt had had enough. She called Dwayne over. “Get some men and go over there and see what she wants.” Dwayne got four of his men and went to the table.
“Here they come,” Donavan said to Rain as they approached.
“Get rid of the women,” Rain said and eased her weapon out of her purse.
Donavan stood up and took a roll of money out of his pocket. “Okay, ladies. That’s enough,” he said and started passing out the money to each of the dancers that were gathered around the table.
Once all of the women were gone, Rain’s men stood up as Dwayne and his men walked up. “Can I help you, gentlemen?” Brandon asked and unbuttoned his jacket so they could see that Brandon was carrying two guns.
“Just came to see what y’all was doin’ here?” Dwayne asked and kept his eyes on Rain.
“What it look like we was doin’, nigga. We was havin’ a good time watchin’ these ho’s ’til your bitch ass showed up,” Memphis said and got in Dwayne’s face.
Dwayne took a step back. “You need to back up off me.”
Memphis took a step closer and got back in Dwayne’s face. “What you gonna do if I don’t?”
Dwayne glanced at Cynt and she nodded her head. With that Dwayne pushed Memphis off him. Chris Toney stepped up quickly. He grabbed Dwayne, picked him up and threw him down on a table. The table broke on impact. Everybody drew their weapons and the customers scattered. Mercedes dropped to the floor, took out her phone and made another call.
Rain laughed and held up her hands. She got up and looked down at Dwayne, laying there on the floor with Memphis’s gun pointed at his head. She walked up to Cynt. “You tell that bitch Wanda that I know what she up to,” Rain said calmly and headed for the door.
Her men followed her out with their weapons still pointed at Cynt’s men.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nick didn’t go back to JR’s after he dropped Rain off at her apartment. Instead, he decided that he needed to go around to see some people. If what he heard was true and Wanda was getting ready to move against him, something that he still didn’t want to believe, then he needed to see who was with him. His first spot was to see Howard Owens. He was a bookie and a loan shark. Howard had been with Black since the days when Black first separated from André. He was a good earner and more importantly, Howard controlled or had influence over the type of people Nick would need. The collectors, the leg breakers, the people you didn’t want to see if you owed money and couldn’t pay.
Nick was there for Howard when a man named Charles Watson borrowed fifty thousand dollars to expand his construction business and had been ducking him for two months. Then he sent a man named Clay Barksdale to kidnap and beat Howard’s brother and then tried to kill Howard.
Nick and Rain went to Watson’s house and forced his wife to lure Watson and Barksdale to the house. Rain tied up both men and then Nick beat Barksdale and burned him with acid until he passed out. “Wake him up,” Nick ordered and Rain backhanded Barksdale. His head snapped back and his eyes jerked open.
“Now kill him.”
When Rain put the gun to his head, you could see the fear in his eyes and terror in the Watsons’. She fired once. The impact knocked the chair over. “Do you know who I am?” Nick asked Watson.
“No.”
“My name is Nick Simmons. Howard Owens works for me.”
“I was goin’ to pay him his money. I just need a little more time.”
“You had your chance to pay Howard. You had your chance to pay the two gentlemen I sent to talk to you last week, but you ducked out on them and then you sent that asshole to rough-up Howard’s brother and take a shot at him. That’s why he’s layin’ there dead now. You don’t owe that money to Howard anymore. Now you owe me. So here’s what’s gonna happen. I own ten percent of your business. Tomorrow morning I’m gonna send the same two men around to your office at ten o’clock and you’re gonna be there to meet them. You’re gonna give them the money you owe, including the interest and they’re gonna give you some papers to sign. Sign them. The next morning another man will be there. He is my representative, he’ll explain how things are gonna work. The good news is you still run the company, but you don’t do shit unless you talk to him first. Do we have a deal or do I have to kill your wife?”
“We have a deal,” Watson said and dropped his head.
“Smart man. Do what I say and you’ll live a lot longer and you’ll make a lot more money,” Nick said and got up. “By the way, if you even think about callin’ the cops and sayin’ anything about our deal, I promise you that you will get to watch me kill your wife and those two kids, before I cut your head off. Do we have an understanding?”
Now Nick needed Howard to be there for him.
Howard operated out of a dry cleaning store, but at night he could be found at home with his family. When he got to Howard’s house, his wife, Evelyn let Nick in and told him that he could find Howard in the living room watching TV. “Hello, Howard.”
