“Aight, but when you lose again, don’t be crying like a little bitch,” he tossed out and headed over to the table.
“You see what you left me with?” Dix shook his head then started toward the bar.
Vega followed, and as soon as they were seated, Nika smiled big.
“Boss man is home.” She leaned down and lifted a bottle of his favorite, D’usse, followed by two glasses and pushed all three items between the two men. “It’s good to see you, Vega. We all missed you.”
Nika spoke from the heart. Vega was the life of the party. He was always happy and made people feel like there wasn’t a worry in the world. Money was good and he was generous with it. That came from his need to party. Vega wanted everyone around him to share in the love, but things were different now. He had a lot of shit to figure out, so popping bottles and chasing ass wasn’t gonna be the move for him.
“I missed you too, Nik. I appreciate you holding shit down for me.” He winked at her and she smiled bigger.
“You know I always got you.” Nik walked away and Dix filled both glasses.
“So, if she was holding shit down, then what the fuck was I doing?” He grinned and pushed a glass toward Vega.
“What the fuck I pay you to do.”
“Yeah, aight. You’re always hyping these women’s egos. It’s how you got caught up in the first place. I hope you learned your damn lesson.”
Vega nodded, lifting his glass with one hand and smoothing his waves with the other.
“Yeah, I learned some shit. Y’all still haven’t heard anything about her?”
“Not a single damn word. It’s like she just fell off the face of the earth. We didn’t really have shit to go on besides her name, and Blaze isn’t her real name, so that didn’t get us far.”
“I wasn’t really in the habit of asking to see ID before I shoved my dick down her throat, so I don’t know who the fuckshe is or where she could have gone. It’s really fucking with me, though. Feels off.”
“You know what that means, right?”
Vega emptied his glass and then refilled it.
“Someone sent her.”
Dix nodded and emptied his glass. “Shit was too convenient. You never carry product like that, but the one night you did, you got knocked. It doesn’t add up. She’s the only one outside the circle who knew you had it.”
“True, but what I don’t get is why. It isn’t like anybody tried to take over while I was down, unless you’re not telling me something, so why set me up?”
“Dudes be on some hoe shit. You made a lot of enemies behind women like her. It might not be about business. It might be about another bitch. Maybe you fucked the wrong one. There’s no revenge like taking a man’s freedom, Vega. You know that.”
Vega had considered it. He played out every scenario in his head over and over again while he was locked down. All he had was time, so it wasn’t like he could escape the thought. It could have just been a simple fuck up, or what Dix was saying could be true as well. Either way, he didn’t have time to worry about it. He couldn’t change the past, but he could ensure he never slipped like that again.
“I’m investing in Micah’s club.”
“Why the fuck you wanna do that?”
“’Cause he needs the money. I’ma give it a few months then open some shit of my own or buy him out. It’s a good start. I have a few more ideas too.”
Dix knew Vega was trying to come from under his brother’s shadow, but he didn’t see the purpose in not using his resources. Ace had plenty of shit Vega could invest in.
“Why won’t you just talk to Ace?”
“Because I’m a grown ass man who needs to do his own thing. I appreciate everything he’s ever done, but I need my own, same as you needed your own. This could have been yours years ago, but you chose to get dirty with me instead.”
“You’re right.”
“Aight then, so are we gonna do this shit? I’ma buy some properties, and so are you. The money we bring in needs to go legit one way or another. We’ll both do that.”
Dix grinned. “I can run it through here.”
