Chanell’s loud ass mouth finally appeared. She and Rayna embraced like they’d been friends for years. I could relax now. Hell, I couldn’t go into the ladies’ room with her. I began to look for Petey. Chucky, another goon of mine, told me he was back stage. Not too long after, Petey appeared with Kim and her family who had come in from out of town. I greeted Kim and gave her a little birthday gift. It’s unusual for a man to give a gift to his man’s woman but this was different. Although Petey didn’t discuss the details of our hustle with Kim, she knew. There were many of late nights and extended days that Petey was riding with me, getting money and she never got out of pocket. Maybe it was because it was outside of her personality—I don’t know but she always held him down and played it cool. I always said if I had a woman like that I’d be married.
Kim’s family greatly resembled her. All the women even had the same snowman shape. She got it honestly. I laughed to myself. I know that’s how Petey liked them. Later on Petey took the stage and called Kim up. He presented her with a Chinchilla and the crowd went nuts, after which he got on one knee and hit her with a five-carat diamond ring. He proposed to her for the second time. I cheered him on from the back of the room. “My nigga!” I shouted repeatedly. Everybody in the room seemed to be cheering. Kim cried like a baby. It was hilarious.
Rayna sat in between Chanell and me. For most of the evening, she played her seat but when the D.J. played Biggie’s “Fucking You Tonite” she and Chanell jumped out of their seats simultaneously and hit the dance floor hard as hell. It was like something out of a movie. I’ve seen Chanell on the dance floor plenty of times but that Rayna was something else. I got a bone just looking at her dance sensually. She had a little hip-hop in her. She sang along with the song and bounced her ass to the beat. This was definitely a far cry from the woman in my boardroom presenting a proposal that day.
This one cat from around the way named Mikey tried to grab her. I saw Rayna nicely gesture no but he couldn’t take the hint. He grabbed her with a little force. She began to base at him. The youngin’ put his hands in her face like he was threatening her. Chanell jumped in and said something while pointing in his face. Lil’ Mikey brushed her off by pushing her hand out of his face. By that time Wop, Chucky, Dookie, Dee, and R.G. were all over Mikey. Big Dee picked him up off his feet by his hood and carried him outside. I was heated!
Petey came over and asked me about the ordeal. I told him what I had seen and he told me he’d go check on the situation. Before he left me he said, “I see you tight, yo. Just let it ride. Rayna ain’t glass. She can hold it down.” I knew he was trying to calm me and the truth of the matter was she was okay. It’s just that since I’ve met her there seemed to be drama everywhere we went.
Minutes after Petey disappeared, Rayna comes charging my way. She looked mortified as if she’d seen a ghost. I could immediately tell something was wrong and when she reached me, she hit me with some shit. She initially told me that little Mikey got disrespectful with her at Colbalt the night I saw her for the first time. That’s nothing. Goons are always at odds with dignified women. They don’t know how to communicate and always find themselves trying to save face in front of their boys or even when alone. What did blow my mind was her story about him and his boys date raping her and her girl, Michelle. I didn’t know how to process that. My first thought was how the fuck did two women of her and Michelle’s nature encounter these block-huggers from around the way? I fucking hate surprises.