“He’s not trying to put you in a box. He wants to be in your pockets. He’s dirty. Patterson is using the streets as a side hustle. All he wants is money.”
East laughed angrily under his breath. “I’ll put him in the ground before I give him one gotdamn penny. You know how I function.”
“I do, but it’s not necessary. He can’t touch what he doesn’t know exists.” Ace gave East a look of understanding.
Ace was well aware that East was still moving a little weight. He had long since separated from him, but it was mutual and no hard feelings. East had made Ace enough money in the years he worked for him that Ace would never have issue with East doing his own thing.
“I’m careful, but a man with a mission can still cause problems. I don’t want problems, so if I have to, I’ll handle it.”
“That would do us both a favor, but…it’s a detective, Young G.” Ace wasn’t a killer. He paid people to get their hands dirty. East had played that role for him on several occasions. The risks were too high and not worth taking, in Ace’s opinion, but East didn’t care. If it were necessary, it was done.
East’s attention went to his phone again. He got four more texts from Nae back to back, but this time picture messages, so he unlocked his phone and checked them out, assuming it was her trying to entice him. It was nothing for her to send naked pics, but it had been awhile. Being that he cut her off, heassumed she was putting in extra work to get back in his bed. Unfortunately that wasn’t the visual he got. East’s face tightened and his brows knitted together at the visual of Joi looking extremely intimate with Vega. He was heated instantly.
“I don’t give a fuck if he has a shield. If he’s a problem for me, then I’ll get rid of him. I’m almost done. I need a little more time to close out and if he’s going to get in the way of that…”
The look East delivered had Ace offering a nod of understanding.
“Give it a minute. Let me see what I can do on my end first. If I can’t handle it…”
“Then I will.” East finished the sentence with assurance that he meant what he said. “I have some shit to do. I’ll holla at you soon.”
East opened Ace’s door and neither spoke another word as he got out. East was annoyed. After all this time surviving the bullshit, he gets to the finish line and things get complicated. He wasn’t about to let one man fuck things up for him. That was a promise, but right now, he needed to deal with Joi. True enough he hadn’t really handled things with her the right way after the night they had sex, but it was all about him. Joi had him in a fucked up position.
She caused him to cross lines he never had issues staying away from before. She was forcing his hand. It was a struggle for him not to call or text, but he needed the separation to figure out what the hell he was doing with her. East didn’t know if he could handle a woman like Joi. She was the type who demanded control, the one thing he never wanted anyone to have over him. But the second he looked at the pictures that came through from Nae, he already knew it was too late. His chest grew tight and he felt something he wasn’t familiar with. East recognized exactly what it was but never had a woman caused those feelings to settle in his mind.Jealousy. Possessiveness. He was pissed andready to fuck shit up at the thought of Joi being with another man.
She and her girl were tight, so he was positive the pictures of her and Vega weren’t anything, but why the fuck she was around him was what he had an issue with. Had she moved on, maybe with someone Vega hooked her up with as a favor to her girl?Nah, that wasn’t happening.
When East left Ace, he was on his way to Joi. He knew the spot, didn’t go often, but had been there enough times to recognize it. It wasn’t the type of place where she needed to be and that rubbed him the wrong way too. East wondered why she was there and why Vega was okay with Joi being there. The spot was basically a hangout for dope boys and women who were familiar with or built for that life. With what little East knew about Joi, that wasn’t her.
The drive was less than fifteen minutes from where East had met with Ace and the entire drive he processed how to handle the situation. If he had to guess, Joi wasn’t fucking with him too tough after the way he went ghost on her. She had texted a few times and his responses were simple. It didn’t take long for her to get the hint and not try again, so he wasn’t sure how she would react not only to seeing him, but East demanding that she leave with him.
After parking, East pulled out his phone and texted Joi. The message was simple, and he had a feeling she wouldn’t respond, but he sent it anyway.
Where you at?
He waited, and as expected there was nothing. Joi, on the other hand, was inside sitting at the bar watching Dix lose a game of pool to Vega while Ria stood guarded by Dix because of all the dirty looks she received from women who obviously didn’t appreciate the fact that she had Dixon’s attention. It took Joi a minute to check her phone and when she noticed the text fromEast she smiled briefly before remembering the reason why they hadn’t talked.He played me.
Not in the mood to waste energy on a pointless situation, Joi rolled her eyes and cleared the message even though a part of her wanted to see him. It didn’t matter, she wasn’t about to be that girl. The one so into a man that he could blow her off and pop up on his terms.
“You’re cheating.” She lifted her eyes to find Dixon pointing at Vega. They were both smiling, so she assumed Dixon had actually lost. “Double or nothing.”
“Shit… rack ’em. If you want to give me all your money just to impress her, I’m with it. She already knows your ass can’t play though. Isn’t that right, shorty?” Vega looked at Ria whose eyes went right to Dix. She smiled, causing Vega to laugh.
“See, she feels bad and doesn’t want to hurt your feelings like that. Good looking out for my boy, baby girl.” Vega smirked and waited for Dix to pull Ria into his arms followed by a kiss before he let her go to rack the balls again. “Nah, she knows I’m the gotdamn truth. You’re just cheating.”
Joi smiled at the three. Ria seemed happy, back to her old self and not the shell of a person she used to see in photos Ria would take with Lue. She was only pulled away by her phone vibrating in her hand with a call and she rolled her eyes at the name, ignoring it. It vibrated again right after and she hit ignore one more time before turning her attention back to the pool table. That only lasted for a brief moment because East walked up on her, scaring the shit out of Joi when she felt his body behind hers and smelled his cologne.
“You can’t talk to me?” The deep tenor and rasp in his voice caused Joi’s body to betray her. Her pulse quickened and she felt a wave of warmth rise beneath her skin.
“I could ask the same thing.” Joi’s tone was sharp, which East expected, so he wasn’t moved by it.
“Who are you here with, Vega?”
Joi frowned at him before angling her head back just enough to be blessed with a visual of his handsome face. East was still behind her with his body pressed to hers and didn’t move when he had her attention. The sad thing was that as angry as she was, she didn’t want him to. Joi missed him. The way he looked, the way he smelled, the way he made her feel.
“Why would you think I was here with Vega?”
East’s expression was neutral. He didn’t seem bothered by the question even if Joi delivered it with venom on her tongue. Instead, he stepped from behind her only to wedge his body between her legs, pushing her thighs open enough to cause his dick to jump from the memory of the last time he was in the same position. Shaking the thought, East folded his arms across his chest, bringing Joi’s attention to the muscles and ink that covered them before she was able to look at his face.
