Page 41 of Ride or Die
To Cali:Good morning,Sólnyshka. Finishing breakfast and about to start our day. I'll call you tonight.
"How are things on the home front," Shade asks.
"She's still sleeping right now. If it was anything like the night before, she probably didn't sleep well," I tell him. "She tries to be pretty tough over the phone, but it’s hard on her."
"Y'all were just getting in the groove of things. Of course, it's gonna be hard, but she is tough. Plus, she's surrounded by some of the best people right now," he reminds me.
"I'm thankful she clicked so well with Minx. She'll be great for her to lean on if needed."
"Lil Mama," Kicks chuckles. "She'll take care of Cali."
We pay our tabs and head out to meet Taras. It's a fifteen-minute drive from the diner. I left my car back at the hotel and am riding with Rascal in the box truck following Shade and Kicks in Shade's car. Shade is from Colorado, so he's familiar with how to get around out here. Taras's house is outside of south Denver. I haven't been to Colorado much, but every time I'm amazed by how beautiful it is out here. Like New Orleans, I can't help but consider if Cali has ever been here before. I'd love to go on a cross country road trip with her.
We arrive ten minutes before our meeting. His house is a fucking mini-mansion. It's fucking huge. Too much house for me. It also sits on at least ten acres of land. The driveway itself is stretched out across an acre and it's a huge circle around the house. Rascal parks the box truck in front of the front door as two bodyguards walk outside. We leave our guns in the glove compartment in the truck to show them they can trust us and we don't want any issues. I hop out of the truck and walk to the back.
"We're here to deliver Taras's shipment from the Savage Menaces," I tell the bodyguards. One of them nods his head before he turns around to go back inside, more than likely getting Taras. The guard who stays outside pats all four of us down, checking for guns. Once he's done, the other one pops his head out the front door and signals for all of us to come inside.
We walk in and right away, I'm in awe. There is a dual staircase and a fucking twenty light chandelier. Everything is different shades of warm browns. The floor is tan and white marble checkered. It's not as dark or cold in here as you would expect for a member of the Bratva. Almost as if it has a woman's touch. The guard leads us into the living room.
"You, come with me. The other three stay here," he commands. I look to the guys and nod my head, telling them it's okay. They all take a seat on the couches. I follow the guard down a hallway. He brings me to Taras's office, where the door is already open. The guard raps his knuckles on the door, announcing our presence. Taras glances up from his desk.
"Ah, Buster! Come in, come in." His Russian accent is pretty thick. I walk in and the guard closes the door behind me. "I hope your drive here went well."
"We broke it into two days so it wasn't too bad," I tell him.
"That's good to hear. And the shipment? There were no issues with it?"
"No issues. We looked everything over and it's all there," I assure him. "We even brought some extra ammo for you and your men to test them out."
"Great! I will have my men unload them and I will check them over. After that, I will give you the money," he explains.
"Sounds good." We stand and shake hands across his desk. We make our way back out to the truck. When we walk through the living room, Rascal and the guys follow us outside where a few of Taras's men are already waiting for us.
"The first six crates are filler crates. Yours are in the back," I tell Taras. Rascal opens the back of the truck. He and Kicks move the filler crates to make it easier to get to the guns. Once there's a clear path, they jump down and let Taras's men in to get the crates. They have a warehouse trolley they use to load the crates onto to make it easier to transport them to their arsenal. Once they get their crates unloaded, Rascal and Kicks move the remaining crates back and lock the truck.
I go with Taras and his men to the arsenal. They unload a few guns and take them to their shooting range. As soon as each of them tests out a gun, Taras gives the okay.
"They look good. We'll be in touch for more soon." He takes a thick envelope out of his jacket and hands it to me. We shake hands. "Always a pleasure doing business with the Menaces. Take care, Buster."
I walk back to the box truck and signal to the guys to load up. We get in our vehicles and head back to the hotel.
"I take it he was satisfied with the shipment," Rascal asks.
"Yup," I respond before I shoot off a text to Bull.
To Bull:Shipment dropped. Buyer will be in touch.
We lounge around the hotel room for a couple of hours and grab a late lunch. Now we're headed to Blaze's dispensary, Higher Zen. We park around back so loading the car will be less conspicuous and walk around the front to go inside. It's a good size dispensary. Blaze does well for himself.
"Welcome to Higher Zen!" a girl calls out from behind the counter. She's a small girl and has long dreadlocks. "How can I help you today?"
"We're here to see Blaze. Is he around," I ask. Rascal hasn't taken his eyes off the girl since we walked in.
"Yeah, let me go grab him real quick." She disappears behind a colorful tapestry.
"They have fucking everything here," Shade announces. I glance around the shop. They have all kinds of edibles and drinks, topicals, tinctures, on top of having flower and cartridges. A couple of minutes later, Blaze walks out from behind the tapestry.
"Brothas! How are you doing today?" he greets us.
