“We okay?” I asked, getting out.
He seemed a little dazed. “Um, yeah, we okay.”
Chapter 15
The Thief
When I kissed Kev I knew it was the end of Jason and me. Never had I ever crossed the line before in either of my relationships. I was always loyal to Jason in spite of his blatant disrespect for me. Regardless of what feelings I had for Kev, I never let it go past friendship . . . until now.
I held back from my feelings for Kev that were now spilling over and were displayed by a forbidden kiss.
I often wondered what Kev thought about the kiss. Did he think about my lips touching his as often as I did, or did he think I was just saying good-bye?
I got fed up with what could have been. I, of course, was fed up with Jason. It wasn’t only Jason who I was fed up with, but my whole attitude had been infected by the things I had experienced in life. I no longer called home for advice from my grandparents, and more often than not I dodged their calls and ignored their concern for me. I had become some of what I had seen in Jason. Really, I was no better than him because, regardless of what I had seen him do or what he did to me, I knew right from wrong. Ultimately I knew that I could call on God and He would come to my rescue. However, my anger had the best of me and I decided I would deal with my situations on my own. First things first, I had to convince Jason that I could be useful for him in his business.
“Jay, I’m just saying, I can help. You keep saying it’s you and me. Well, let me prove it.”
I watched to see what he would say. He didn’t respond so I added, “It will give you time to relax a little with me helping out. After all, Kev is leaving soon and you need somebody you can trust.”
He sat there smoking a cigar and watching the news. “That might work.” He looked up and smiled, then went back to watching the news.
I knew that reasoning would do it because all he wanted to do was chill, spend money, and give orders. I had him!
It started off simple, with me collecting all the money from their crew from drug sales. After that I made sure he trusted me enough to pick up the big money; not just the $2,000 and $3,000, but also the $200,000 and $300,000 that was ready for pickup. Eventually I was taking a little of it at a time, picking off a couple thousand here and there. No one noticed.
Kev wasn’t feeling the fact that I was involved, but he stayed out of it. I looked at it like he had to still care. He even came to me and tried talking to me about what I was getting myself wrapped up in.
We all met up one day before I was scheduled to make a pickup. Jason wasn’t there yet; it was just Kev and I.
“Reese, what you thinkin’ ’bout?” Kev asked. He put his hand on his head and leaned back in his chair. “I mean, why are you doin’ this? You got so much to lose. You don’t need to be wrapped up in this life. What you tryin’a prove?”
I sat there listening to him. I wanted to tell him what my plan was and how much I hated his best friend, but I knew I couldn’t. I played stupid. “What? I’m just trying to help my man.” I couldn’t keep a straight face telling him that, so I walked over to the window and watched Jason get out his truck and walk toward the door.
Kev blew out a loud breath. “Oh okay, thought you was smarter than that.” He rolled his eyes and got up, looked out the window at Jay walking to the door, then sat back down and continued. “That’s why I’m out of here soon. No time for this, and you know he’s usin’ you,” he huffed.
I didn’t say anything. I continued to look at Jason walking; then I walked past Kev and sat on the couch. “Yeah, what do you care? You out of here, right?”
Jason opened the door. “Hey, what’s good?” I could feel the cold air when Jason walked in. “It’s cold out there! Sorry I’m late. I had to handle some business.”
He came over to me, bent down, and kissed me. I didn’t even care where he had been. My mind was on one thing and one thing only: taking his money.
Kev watched Jason kiss me, and then he looked away.
“All right y’all, let’s get this done so I can go. I got other things to do.”
Jason and Kev talked and agreed that with me hiring and picking up the women, there would be less attention. Kev and Jason had been to the airport so many times, they knew they were hot and the police could possibly notice their activity. It made more sense if someone they both trusted would do it; only thing was, the person they both trusted wasn’t the one to trust.
They let me hire females to travel back and forth from New York to Columbus. I would pay the females $1,000 each but get $5,000 from Jason for their trips. That right there was a $4,000 come up every thirty days. Not to mention before they reached Jason, I would have the females get undressed and take dope off of one, then take the other girl and split her dope between them. Then I’d give the chicks another $1,000 apiece.
One time he noticed that one bag was a little short. “No big deal,” he said.
I thought I was slick. I’d laugh behind his back knowing I got over on him.
I would then sell the dope I took in Dayton, Ohio to some high school friends who’d turned into drug dealers. In my mind everything I did was justified by what he had done to me and Shy. I knew that the one thing men loved was their money, and I promised myself to take it away from Jason little by little.
It was crazy, since our relationship had started off grand, with Jason buying everything I could have imagined: furs, cars, brand new furniture, and all the trips around the country I wanted. Jason had spoiled me, but now we were at the end of this relationship and Jason’s true colors had shown. Not only was he a womanizer and drug lord, he was a woman beater and more than all of that a murderer.
But I had underestimated Jason. I had never thought about how he and Kev stayed in business for so long and never got caught or why they kept their crew so tight. I only saw Jason for what he did to me and how reckless he was; and that was my downfall. I forgot that Jason knew the drug business well and I hadn’t counted on that, but still I had to do what I had to do.
Jason had been in the game for years, so when money came up missing, he knew something wasn’t right. He just didn’t know who was taking it, but he knew it was missing.
I was at home one day chillin’, watching some movies and relaxing, when I got a call from him.
“Reese, get dressed. I’ll be there in a minute to get you,” he demanded, then hung up.
I worried and wanted to know what was going on. I could tell by his tone he was angry.
By the time I got myself dressed he was outside the house blowing the horn. I hurried out, shut the door, and got in his truck. “What’s up, Jay? What’s goin’ on?”
He didn’t answer, just pulled off fast. He got halfway down the street before he started talking. “We need to meet up wit’ Kev before I go out of town.” Jason had a look in his eye I had seen before. It was the same look he had when he murdered Shy. I was nervous.
“Somebody been taking money,” he blurted out. He turned the music up in his car and kept driving until he stopped at a restaurant.
Man, what did I do? I knew it was me. I knew for sure they were going to kill me. I thought about running when the car stopped. But where to? I reasoned with myself.
Jason had set up a meeting with Kev at a restaurant downtown after he noticed. We got there before Kev showed up. I hadn’t seen him in a while but through all of what they suspected I wanted to see Kev.
Kev came in looking at his watch. He knew he was running late. He walked up and started talking to one of the waitress and using his hands to describe what Jason looked like. I watched his every move while Jason sat there at the table on his cell, fussing at someone. It sounded as if he was speaking to one of the fellows in the crew, asking them about some business. The waitress knew exactly who Kev was talking about and pointed to Jason and me. All the females in the place had their eyes fixed on Kev. They watched him like he was a piece of meat as he walked toward us.
