“Nah, they got it. I just came to check in and to see if you handled that for me.”
“Did you really just ask me that after you were talking shit?” Numbers peered at East with his left brow hiked slightly above the right. East only grinned and nodded.
“Hell yeah, so is it done?”
“Bruh, you ain’t shit.” Reaching into his pocket, Numbers removed a set of keys and tossed them at East, who caught them in the air with one hand.
“’Preciate that.”
“Fuck appreciation. You owe me.”
“Trust me, I know.”
Numbers laughed at the thought before lifting and repositioning his hat on his head. “Pia handled all the extra shit. I made sure security was set and the locks were changed. She should be straight. I sent everything to you.”
East nodded just as Joi walked in the shop. All eyes were on her, including East’s, who unsuccessfully tried to hide the smile that surfaced. “Your grinning ass. She know?”
“Nah, so don’t say shit.”
“Hey.” Joi stepped right between East’s legs and leaned down to kiss him. He kept it simple before tugging at her waist until she was in his lap.
“What’s good, shawty?”
Numbers watched the entire thing unfold, hardly believing this was his boy.
“What the hell you do to my man? This shit right here got my mind twisted. I bet he be eating pussy and shit on the regular now too?”
Joi’s eyes stretched widely before she covered her mouth with her hand to hold in her laugh. The fact that Numbers was looking so serious didn’t help.
“Ay, what the fuck?” East gave him a hard look and Numbers grinned.
“My bad, Joi. No disrespect but I swear I don’t even know who his ass is anymore.”
“None taken.” Joi wasn’t bothered by Numbers. He was always saying something crazy and she was used to it and him.
“Bruh, you gon’ make me knock you on your ass.”
Unbothered, Numbers grinned. He really meant no disrespect, which East knew, but he really was thrown by the changes in East.
“Ay, we’re out of here.” East tapped Joi’s thigh, signaling for her to get up. When both were standing, East dapped his boy who filled the chair he had been in.
“I’ll hang out here for a while to make sure they’re getting that money.”
“Nah, you can go back next door is what you can do,” Chuck said, prompting Numbers to grin but not move.
East laughed at his people as he left the shop with Joi beside him. “Come take a ride with me.”
“Where? I really need to get to my shop. I’ve been avoiding it all day.”
“That’s where we’re going. I need to see what’s going on with it so you can tell me what you need to fix it.”
Instead of arguing like she wanted, Joi followed East to his car and slipped into the passenger side. When they pulled up at her shop, she pushed out an exaggerated sigh before getting out and East laughed at her overly dramatic ass. He was glad his people hooked her up because he wasn’t sure he would have the patience to deal with her if he had to be the one to do it. His money paid for everything, but he wanted it done while they were gone so he put Numbers in charge.
After watching Joi fumble with her keys unsuccessfully a few times, he decided to ease her frustration from her keys not working.
“Let me try.” She huffed and extended the keys to East, but he reached into his pocket and got the set Numbers had given him instead. Joi narrowed her eyes at him until they stepped inside and her mouth dropped open. She looked around the small space damn near in tears as she admired the renovations. The walls that used to be cream were now painted black and gold with her company name on a black marble plaque engraved in gold centered on one of the walls. The counters were replaced and there was now a small sitting area with oversized, sleek leather chairs with gold accents.
“How…you did this?”
