Page 2 of Ride or Die
“After lunch we have Social Studies. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it’s Science,” I explain to her. “This week, we’re learning about oceans and continents.”
“Thank you for being such a good friend to me,” she says as we get closer to our class. “It means a lot to me.”
I smile at her. “Anytime, Cali.”
She tries to hide a smile at my nickname for her.
1
Buster
The Riders areon our first club gun run. Thor and Rascal are also with us. We’re meeting with the Bratva’s Sovietnik, Nikolay, in New Orleans. The Pakhan is in Russia on business and Nikolay is his right-hand man. They need a small batch of guns delivered while Nikolay is close by. I mean, it was only an eight-hour drive for us to get here. I’m not sure why they need such a small batch, but it’s not my job to ask questions. I only do what Bull tells me to do.
We arrived at our hotel, the Royal Sonesta— compliments of Nikolay, around three this afternoon. He got three rooms for the six of us, all with balconies overlooking Bourbon Street. We don’t meet with him until tomorrow, so tonight, we’re going to have some fun. We decide to check out a restaurant called Olde Nola Cookery. It’s within walking distance of the hotel in case we decide to get some drinks. We leave our cuts in our hotel rooms so we don’t draw attention to ourselves. It takes under five minutes for us to get to the restaurant and it’s early enough before dinner time, we’re able to get a table pretty quick.
Observing the interior of this place, I can’t stop the thoughts ofher. I’m curious if she’s been to New Orleans before. It’s a pretty colorful city. I bet out of everything here, she’d be most interested in Cafe Du Monde. The older we got, her love of baking also turned into a love of coffee. Cafe Du Monde is famous for its cafe au lait and beignets. I plan to check it out tomorrow morning. We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do tonight when our waitress walks over to take our order.
“Can I get you fellas something to drink? Maybe an appetizer?”
“I’ll take a sweet tea and can we get some crabmeat cakes and some fried gator tail bites, please?” Rascal says.
We all take turns ordering our drinks and she goes to get them.
“You think they have a race scene out here?” Of course Clutch would ask about racing.
“Did I hear one of y’all ask about a race scene?” a guy sitting next to us says. “You wouldn’t happen to mean street racin’, would ya?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s talkin’ about,” Rascal replies.
“We happen to race too. Name’s Gator,” he says. Gator takes out a pen and writes something on a napkin and hands it to Clutch. “Be at this address at nine tonight. That’s when shit goes down.”
“We’ll be there,” I say as our waitress is back to give us our drinks and take our order. Right after she leaves to put in our food order, we get our appetizers. Gator and the guy with him left already. It’ll be interesting to see the racing scene here. Maybe we’ll make another trip out here for more racing. We make small talk until our food arrives.
After we all finish eating, we still have some time to kill. We walk back to the hotel and Rascal, Thor, Shade, and I decide to check out Jazz Playhouse, while Clutch and Diesel run to their room to get their car keys. I keep mine on me at all times, out of habit. Shade wasn’t in the mood for racing tonight, so we’re only taking three of our cars. Thor and Rascal are riding along to watch. They aren’t riding their bikes so they don’t draw any unwanted attention.
It’s a quarter to nine when we’re loading into our cars to head out to the races. According to the GPS, it should only take us fifteen minutes to get there. I turn the key, letting my car roar to life.
“That sounds almost as sexy as my bike,” Rascal laughs.
I shake my head. “It’s much sexier,” I tell him.
“Agree to disagree. They’re different kinds of love,” he says.
I chuckle and put the car in gear, pulling out of my parking spot and heading toward the address Gator gave us. The GPS takes us out of the city to some abandoned buildings with long strips of roads. I know we’re in the right place because of all the cars lined up on the side of the road. We might be in a different city, but the race scene is pretty much the same anywhere you go. I park my car and Rascal and I get out at the same time.
“Hey! Y’all made it!Ça va? How are you,” Gator asks, walking toward us.
“Ready to race,” I respond. “We couldn’t pass up racing in a new city.”
“You won’t be disappointed. There’s some good competition around here,” Gator’s friend says. “I’m Biggie.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Buster, this is Rascal.” I point to Rascal beside me.
“The four idiots behind us are with us too.” Rascal hooks his thumb over his shoulder gesturing to the guys with a smug grin. Gator’s eyes light up with a trace of humor.
“Laissez les bon temps rouler! Come, I’ll introduce you to the rest of my crew,” Gator says. I give him a confused look as he turns and walks away. Biggie chuckles.
“It means, let the good times roll,” Biggie explains and I nod. We follow them to their cars.
