“Fort Lauderdale. It’s a new brand called House of Henry. I saw the position being advertised online, so I went ahead and applied for it. She called me back this morning, asking me if I could come in tomorrow morning for the interview. I need money, so I can get my son and I back into a spot of our own. I don’t care if I have to clean toilets, and sweep floors, I’ll do anything,” she replied.
All I was stuck on was hearing her say, ‘House of Henry’. I’d heard that brand name before. I saw it somewhere, but I couldn’t remember where. I sat quietly for a little bit, just trying to think. That’s when it hit me that a couple of weeks ago at the club, when Rico, Tank, and all of them had been in the section, bottles kept getting delivered to their sections, with the signs that had the LED lights, and the name, ‘House of Henry’ kept being advertised. The DJ even shouted the brand out a couple of times on the mic. It’s no way that was a fuckin coincidence that two brands might have had the same name. Was she about to start working for Tank’s bitch?
“What type of shit is the brand selling? Who’s running it?” I asked, sounding like I was interested, but I really was just trying to be sneaky, and seeing if we might have been talking about the same brand.
“It’s a brand that sells luxury bedding. It’s a new brand. Her warehouse just opened a couple of weeks ago, and she’ll launch the items sometime this month, I believe. I don’t know if you know her, but her name is Dionne. I’ve heard of her, but I don’t know that much about her. I just know that she has sisters. You know her?” she asked me.
Hearing her question me about that, I had to think quick on my feet and see if I wanted to answer her question with the truth or lie to her. Technically, I didn’t know her. I just knew of her, and I wanted to kill her nigga. I wasn’t going to rest until I put him down in the ground.
“Nah. I don’t know who that is,” I decided to just lie about it. She nodded her head.
“Well, she seems nice. I hope I get the job. The hours will be from nine to five, so that leaves me with enough time to get Bash to school on time, and head over to the warehouse. I’ll let him continue going to aftercare, just like he’s always been doing, and once I get off, I’ll pick him up from school. If everything goeswell, just give me a couple of months, and we’ll be out of here, and you can go back to your bachelors pad,” she said.
“I told you that I’m not in a rush for you to leave, Kalani. Ya’ll can stay with me however long that ya’ll need to. You, and Bash aren’t in the way. I like having the lil nigga around. I like having you here with me too. You’re making this house a home,” I was honest with her.
“I feel like I’m putting my life in danger by living here with you. You don’t have to tell me what you’re out here doing Toby. I already know. I know the lifestyle that you’re out here living is a dangerous one, and I’m praying every day that this shit doesn’t backfire on me, where me and Bash get harmed while staying here with you,” she finished, and I sucked my teeth because I hated when she would say that shit.
“You always talking about something might happen to you and Bash while ya’ll are with me, and that shit isn’t true. Motha fuckas don’t even know where I lay my head. People also don’t know that we’re fuckin around with each other. I keep us low key, and it’s not like you have social media and shit, so you not posting that you’re with me. They not going to harm ya’ll to get to me because they don’t know about us. Stop saying that negative ass shit,” I had to get on her because that was something that she constantly said to me.
She dropped it and finished straightening up the room. As she was picking the dining room chair up, so that she could take it back out front, my phone started ringing. I had it sitting down on the bed. It was my cousin Jax hitting me on a facetime call. I went ahead and answered the call for him.
From his background, I could tell that he wasn’t home. His background was a little noisy, but I couldn’t make out where he was at the moment.
“Yo. Nigga, you not going to believe this shit,” is the way he answered the phone.
“Hold on. Let me go on the porch,” I replied, as Kalani was walking back into the room because I didn’t want her to hear the conversation.
I had to cut past the front room to get out the door, and I spotted Bash lying in his bed, down on his back, and he was fighting his sleep. I slowly creeped out of the apartment, and I closed the door behind me.
Instead of standing directly in front of the door, I decided to walk down, and I stood over by the staircase.
“What’s good?” I asked.
“I wanted some soul food, so I pulled up to this spot called ‘Sunday Table’. I been trying to get in this spot for the longest because they been hyping it up, making it out to be the best soul food spot in Maimi. I finally was able to get in here, and put an order in. I’m just waiting for them to call my number, so I can get my food. It’s pictures and shit hung up on the wall, and look who I see,” he said, and I waited for him to flip the camera.
He flipped it, and zoomed in, and right there, my eyes landed on a picture of Tank. There was one of him on the wall as a little boy, and then there was another one of him as a grown man. The picture of him as a grown man, he had his arm around a woman’s shoulder, and he was kissing her on her cheek. She was dressed in a custom chef outfit, that had a ‘Sunday Table’ logo right in the middle. I’m going to assume that she was Tank’s mother, and that she was the owner of the restaurant that Jax was right now.
“Wow. Small fuckin world, man. That’s his mama shit?” I asked, just needing clarification on whether it was his mom’s restaurant or not.
“Yeah man. She was just out here not too long ago. Mannnnn, she finer than a motha fucka too. I know you want it to be lights out for any, and everybody around that nigga, but can we keep the mama alive? Nigga, I’ll sell my right kidney toget with her. She so damn fine. God damn!” he spat, and I just shook my head because just like a nigga, his ass was thinking with the wrong head.
“Aight man. Calm down. You do too fuckin much. I was about to hit you up anyways. I was just in the room with Kalani, and she was telling me about this interview that she has coming up tomorrow. Why is the interview with Tank’s bitch?” I asked him, and you could tell by how wide his eyes had grown that he was shocked.
“Damn, so that’s all that ‘House of Henry’ bullshit that they kept hollering about in the club with the other? What she selling? Clothes, and shit?” he asked.
“Nah man. She said something about a luxury bedding line. I hope she gets that job though. I gotta manipulate some shit with that,” I let him know, and he nodded.
“I feel like you all over the place with what you wanna do. You going for everybody, but Rico. Somehow along the way, the plot has shifted. I feel like you gunning harder for Tank, and his circle, compared to handling Rico’s ass. That nigga out here playing with you,” he snapped, keeping his voice low though, just in case people in the restaurant were around him, and could hear what we were talking about.
“I got some special shit for Rico. Trust me, I didn’t lose the plot. I just really want to get to that nigga Tank right now because of what he did. Nigga, I’m walking around this bitch with these big ass teeth in my fuckin mouth. Trust me, I’m going to handle both of them. You should already know what the fuck is going on, and how I’m coming about my respect,” I shot, and he nodded his head, knowing me.
We talked about it for a little while longer, and Jax let me know that he would hit me later because they were calling his number to get his food.
Now that we were off the phone, I had time to myself, so I stood out here for a little while, with my hands in my pocket, just trying to see what my next move was going to be. The same way that I was out here scouting, trying to come up with a master plan to get to those niggas before they got to me, I’m sure that they were sitting around plotting as well, so whatever I did, I had to make sure that it was smart, and fast.
Chapter 16
Dionne Henry
