CHAPTER 19
RASIM
In three days Rasim would violate his probation to return to prison and save his son’s life. And although he was having second thoughts, the choice did not belong to him anymore. It was a must. If Rasim didn’t help him, his son would perish.
He was standing in the middle of a hotel room at the W holding Queen in his arms because she was crying like the slut baby she was. This would be the last time he’d see her for a year and she was butt naked and beside herself with grief.
He had broken so many codes when it came to Queen that it was impossible to find the proper place to start. For one, he allowed himself to spend too much time without getting the necessary intel on her background. Was she really married? Was she happy? And did she have ulterior motives?
The tragedy was that Rasim was astute. He knew things didn’t add up but he still kept her around. He realized that Queen didn’t move in the world like a woman who had a husband. Whenever he wanted to see her, no matter the hour, she was available. He even brought up her flexibility one day and asked how her husband felt.
“He’s fine,” she would say dismissing the matter. “He trusts me.”
Rasim believed what he wanted. Besides, it was cool having two women.
But just picturing Snow leaving their home anytime she wanted without him being with her was hard to fathom. He demanded too much of her time and relied on her for his existence. Snow had to prepare dinner every night. Snow washed his clothes and dropped to her knees to fulfill every sexual desire. That didn’t include the things she did for the drug operation. She was in charge of making sure the mules who ran dope up and down the coast were paid. And she was in charge of getting them attorneys if they were arrested so they wouldn’t cave. She was good at it too so there was never any free time.
What did her husband require?
Rasim wondered, although Queen wore a beautiful ring, did her husband really fuck with her at all?
“I’m going to miss you so much,” she said looking up at him, her face wet with tears. “My pussy too,” she cooed. “And I know you aren’t mine, and I know this isn’t right but I’ll still be worried when you go inside.”
“Come on, Queen,” he said wiping the water off of her face with the back of his hand. “I know you dealt with a dude in prison before. You know a year is a cakewalk. Why you so uptight?”
“No I haven’t,” she admitted. “This is the first time this has ever happened to me, Rasim. My husband is a white collar type dude so it ain’t the same.”
“Well don’t worry, sexy. I’ll be in contact every day. We won’t miss a beat.” He ran his cool hand down her back. “Trust me.”
“You saying that but I don’t believe you,” she pouted. “You probably got a rack of bitches who’ll be taking up your time. I need to feel special, Rasim. That’s how this shit works between you and me. I just hope you’re not collecting hearts like you did mine.”
That’s the only thing that frustrated him about Queen. For some reason in the back of her mind she assumed he bedded a lot of women. It probably had more to do with the fact that he was cheating period. Lately he spent more time than he wanted explaining that although he loved being inside of her, he wasn’t a whore off the street. He was a man with money and too much to lose to fuck with chicken heads. It just wasn’t his thing.
He reminded her repeatedly that he chose her because he had a second place position available and he wanted to fill it with the right one. That’s where she came in. She applied and was hired the day she sucked his nut down her throat.
Didn’t she see that?
“Queen, I will be in contact.” He rubbed her shoulders. He kissed her on the cheek and his beard tickled her lips. “That’s my word.”
She stroked his large bicep. “Why can’t I see you right before you go in? Like the day of?”
Not this shit again
, he thought as he exhaled.
All night Queen had been begging to see him the day before he went into prison and each time he said no. She could ask in any language around the world if she desired and the answer would always be the same.
Those last moments belong to Snow and he would never deny her. Not for a bitch in second place.
All Queen was trying to do was pull rank and see where she stood. And it was still behind his wife.
“I can’t do that,” he said walking away from her to slide on his watch. “This was our time together and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.” When he was dressed he moved toward the door. “Goodbye, sexy. I’ll see you in a year.” He strutted out.
Queen remained planted in the middle of the floor with her drizzling pussy. “Naw, nigga.” She hugged herself like a lunatic. “You gonna see me before that. I guarantee it.”
She got on the phone and called a friend to help with her plan.
****
The stench of gunpowder twirled through the air in the warehouse as Rasim stood over Navy’s body. Thanks to Snow, he was able to close some loose ends before returning to prison later that week. Since he already had Navy wearing his signature, it was time to put him out of his misery. Now he wore two bullets to the clavicle.
With Navy dead, he moved over to Vance who sat in a chair in the center of the floor. His arms were tied behind his back and a tire was draped around his neck. For an hour the tire was doused in gasoline and it was ready for his plan.
Rasim stared down at Vance with a hard smile resting on his face. To him, a man who snitched after obtaining money and success from the dope game that fed him was disposable. And the plan was to teach him a painful and final lesson.
Brooklyn and Chance stood behind the chief but both kept their eyes on the floor, each afraid to see the new limits Rasim would journey to today. Over the years Rasim’s passion for maltreatment had reached astounding levels and they feared it would only get worse.
After 9/11, and losing his parents and Donald on the same day, Rasim didn’t just grow stronger and richer, he also grew bitter. He blamed many Americans, the citizens and even Al-Qaeda for his suffering and he took his soreness out on people who owed him money.
“Rasim, I’m begging you, please don’t do this,” Vance begged as he inhaled the strong fumes. His goggle eyes peered up at Rasim who was so enraged he was steaming.
“Do what?” he responded cocking his head slightly to the side. “Punish you for getting in bed with the FBI? Or for stacking your pockets with cash, setting the empire on fire and then running out to save your own life? Which part are you asking mercy for?”
“I promise you, Rasim.” His breaths were rapid and the gasoline was causing his eyes to burn. “All I was going to do was give them the information that wouldn’t hurt you.” He blinked a few times. “Light block shit, you know, a foot soldier here, a foot soldier there but I never mentioned you.”
“That brings me to my next question. What did you tell them?”
Now Brooklyn and Chance were looking in his direction.
“Like I said, nothing really. They don’t know nothing about you. Think about it, Rasim. If they did, do you think you’d be free right now?”
“It takes years to build a RICO case, mothafucka,” Brooklyn added because he couldn’t find credence in his eyes.
“I swear I don’t know shit about that, Brooklyn,” he said looking around Rasim to see him. If he did a good enough job, he figured he could call Rasim off. “The only thing I signed up for was a few low level cats who aren’t worth nothing. They would’ve never been linked to you guys.”
Since he denounced the dope game to save himself, Rasim lit a match and threw it. A shock wave of heat pushed toward Rasim, Brooklyn and Chance and they moved back. The flames missed their flesh by inches.
Vance screamed loudly as the inferno blanketed his body. Necklacing was one of the most torturous things that could be done to a human being and Rasim loved every bit of it.
It took fifteen minutes for Vance to die and Rasim didn’t take his eyes off the blaze one time. The smell of burnt flesh did nothing but make him covet power.
When the show was over, Rasim turned around and faced Brooklyn and Chance. “Put the fire out and have somebody pick up the remains.”
In the moment, he reminded his friends of Donald and they hoped he wouldn’t suffer his same fate.
“Are you aight, man?” Brooklyn frowned after witnessed the crime.
A sly grin situated on Rasim’s face. “Come on, homie. It’s a little too late to ask me that now. Don’t you think?”
****
Rasim positioned himself in the front of Minnesota Avenue with Selena who had her arms crossed over her chest in anger. He called earlier to talk to her but once again refused to meet anywhere private. “I see you standing over there with an attitude but you better hear what I’m saying.”
She looked over his shoulders as if he weren’t there. “I said I’m listening, Rasim. You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a kid. I’m not one of your little dope boys, you know?”
She was as salty as a sweaty dick in a box of popcorn for many reasons. First and foremost, she didn’t appreciate Snow getting out on her at their home awhile back when she slapped and punched her. But the real source of her annoyance was that after all this time, Rasim still refused to give her any more dick.
The man was mad!
He knew they should’ve been fucking by now.
She hoped that since they had a son it would rekindle his sexual appetite and they would explore each other again. She was wrong. Rasim never got over how Selena pulled off on Snow when she caught them at Hains Point, almost destroying his relationship in the process, and he never would.
“Do you remember what I said to you when we were on the bus a long time ago?”
He stepped away from her, snatched the Kufi off his head before slapping it back on and stepping up to her again. “Fuck are you talking about, Selena? Why you bringing up shit from when we were kids? Shit is serious now.”
“Do you remember or not?” she frowned.
“No.”
“I said that we would forever be connected. You didn’t believe me then.” She slid a thick strand of hair behind her ear. “But you do now.” She said slyly. “Don’t you?”
Rasim stepped back and his eyes rolled up and he glanced at the darkening sky. He pinched his nose, crossed his arms over his chest and focused back on her. Basically he was doing all he could to prevent from snuffing out her life. “Selena, those memories are yours not mine. What I’m telling you is specific and related to our son. You cannot tell Stanley that I’m his father or I’m going inside for nothing.”
“It’s too late for that, Rasim,” she snapped. “I had to tell him because of how you approached me the day you came to his job. He knows you’re his father.”
“Fuck!” Rasim yelled walking a few steps away before rushing back. He didn’t want Stanley to know he was his father because in order for his plan to work, Rasim couldn’t be associated with a known snitch.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.
“What’s wrong with me?” he repeated sarcastically. “Bitch, everything!” He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. The only reason she was alive was because he didn’t want to kill his son’s mother. “Selena, I told you not to tell him so when were you going to tell me that you already did? Once I was inside?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Because of you, I’m gonna have to treat him like a third world nigga. He’s not going to like it and you won’t either.”
She slapped his hands off and he backed up. “It won’t be hard, Rasim Nami. Because he doesn’t know you anyway.” She stormed off switching the entire way.
“’Ole stupid ass bitch,” he mumbled as he watched her stomp off.
He regretted the day he went home on a pass and fucked that skank and now it was too late.
****
With Vance and Selena out of the way, it was time to thank Snow properly. For the next few days he and Snow indulged in blissful sex. The way they did when they were first married. Although the escapade was meant to put Snow at ease and to express how much Rasim cared for her, in the end it caused her to resent his decision to bounce even more.
On the day before Rasim was going to violate his probation, he and Snow were lying in bed. Her head rested on his left bicep while he stroked her silky skin.
“I’m going to miss you, Rasim,” she whimpered kissing his chest before resting her head again. “So much.”
“I hope so, baby,” he chuckled to lighten the mood. “If not, I’m not doing my job right.”
“I’m serious, Rasim. A year is a long time and for some reason I feel like you’ve been gone already. I know it’s part my fault, because of the fighting we’ve been doing and all, but it doesn’t stop it from hurting so bad. I’m not the kind of woman who can survive without her husband. I feel like I’m dying already.”