“Sounds good.”
“Alright. Then, I’ll see you then.”
“Alright.”
I climbed to my feet unsure what to do next whether that was offering him a hand to shake or circling the damn desk to hug him. I did neither. I slipped one hand in my pocket and pushed my glasses up my face with the other one.
“Should I bring something?” I asked as an afterthought.
“Nah. You’re good.”
“Alright.” I licked my lips and nodded. “Have a good night then, Asante.”
“Have a good night, Barron.”
To sayI was nervous about meeting up with Asante for drinks was a fucking understatement. I flirted and fucked, usually with people I met in the club or at parties that were made up of other people who dealt with the underside of Crescent Falls and Miller’s Pointe. This was uncharted territory for me and I found myself mentally repeating that this shit wasn’t that deep. No matter how shit went, this was a three year contract at best.
I parked outside of the club at 6:45 PM anyway. I smoked a cigarette and listened to some music while I waited. I tried to think of other shit for us to do to hang out so we didn’t have to just fuck our livers up to spend time trying to get to know each other.
I took note of a few different events we could probably check out before the alarm I’d set went off at 6:59 PM. I sent Asante a text letting him know I was outside the club, locked my car up and hopped out.
When I made it to the front door, Asante was already out there waiting for me. He grinned and waved as I closed in on him. When I was close enough he dapped me up and yanked me so we could hit each other on the back.
“What’s up?” He greeted me.
“What’s up?”
Asante yanked the door open and moved to the side so I could walk in ahead of him. I looked around the empty space as we walked further inside.
I paused the second I saw the set up. The club had pretty much been cleared out. There was a simple table in the middle of the area with two spots made up. I looked back at Asante who brushed past me and continued his trek to the table. I didn’t comment. I just trailed behind him so we could sit together. There was already a pitcher of water on the table and Asante plucked it up immediately.
“I don’t drink on weekdays but you’re more than welcome to have whatever you want.” He poured some water into his glass.
“Nah. I’m good.” I picked my glass up and he filled mine up too.
My head jerked to the side and my eyes immediately went to a woman who was peeking from behind a wall near the bar. Asante shook his head and she nodded and slipped back behind the wall.
“You got us a private chef?” I looked back at him.
“It made the most sense to me,” he said. “I figured you weren’t the kind of man that was going to be going on public dinner dates and shit with another man so this seemed like a good enough first date.”
“A date,” I repeated after him, slightly astonished that I was actually on a date with a man, a man that was out here hiring private chefs and making up his work space for us to spend time together out of the public eye.
“That’s what you wanted this to be, right?” Asante teased.
“Yeah. That’s what I said.”
“Then, welcome to our first date, Bishop.”
“Glad to be here.” I looked down at the menu in front of me, letting my eyes trail over each selection carefully even though I was aware of the way Asante’s eyes were burning into me.
Once I made a selection, I met his eyes.
“You just going to stare at me?”
“As long as it takes to figure you out,” he said.
“I pride myself on being hard to read. It comes with being a part of my family’s security.”
