“They went to get Jasmine’s stuff from Marcus’s condo,” Slim replied, loading food onto a plate.
“Wait a minute.” Jasmine’s voice cut in as she entered the kitchen. “Jelani cooks? Since when?”
“Don’t let the handsome face fool you, nurse. I’m full of surprises.” He winked and turned back to the stove.
“Does Monica know you can cook?” she asked, swiping a piece of bacon.
Jelani’s smile faltered before he masked it with a smirk. He placed the home fries on the island. “She’s still learning about me,” he said lightly.
Jasmine frowned. “That’s very vague, but okay.”
I shot Lani a look, but he shrugged and went back to cooking.
“Aww shit!” Nairobi walked into the kitchen, rubbing her hands together. “Lani blessing us with breakfast?”
Fontaine followed behind with two suitcases in tow. He set them down, then looked at me. “Damn, Money, you look like shit.”
I rolled my eyes and took a sip of juice. “I’m aware. Y’all ain’t gotta keep telling me.”
Nairobi walked over to Jasmine and handed her a phone.
Jasmine’s face lit up.“My phone! Thank you!” She threw her arms around Nairobi, who stiffened before awkwardly patting her back.
“The hospital probably fired me, but at least I can call Monica and Amber,” she said.
Fontaine cut her enthusiasm short. “I’d hold off on calling your people until we get back to Atlanta. Your name was on the guest list, and you were Marcus’s date. There’s some chatter on the police lines about them wanting to bring you in for questioning.”
Jasmine’s smile faded. “What?” Her eyes darted anxiously between Fontaine and me.
“Can’t you just scrub her from the system?” I asked Fontaine.
He grabbed a plate and sighed. “Theoretically, yeah. But I’ve been busy cleaning up the shit show from the Reapers. They had fucking rocket launchers, remember?”
“We’ll rap about it after breakfast,” I said, glancing at Jasmine. I still wasn’t ready to talk business in front of her.
Thankfully, the mood lightened as we settled into our meal. Jasmine held her own—she was cracking jokes like she hadn’t just been holed up with her psycho ex for nearly a week. Her bright energy was contagious, and even Nairobi’s hard-ass demeanor seemed to soften around her.
After breakfast, Jasmine volunteered to clean up so I could talk with the others privately.
“Get a fucking room,” Jelani grumbled as Jasmine went to kiss me. It was a quick peck, but since he wanted to talk shit, I reached around and grabbed her ass.
“Cash!” she fussed, swatting at my chest. Her brown cheeks flushed as she turned toward the sink.
In the office, Slim was already stretched out in one of the armchairs. He got straight to it. “Marcus’s whole shit is a mess now that he's dead,” he said. “CJ said the Reapers started hitting up his stash houses, and they’re finna sell off his shit. They promised to keep it out of Atlanta, though.”
I leaned back in my chair. “I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming.”
Slim nodded. “But CJ wants the Reapers to be our only weapons supplier from now on.”
I mulled it over. We’d always gotten our guns from the Cubans in Miami, but the Reapers had come through in a major way last night. If my pops trusted Big Creed in the past, that had to count for something.
“Whatchu think, Lani?” I asked.
“I don’t see why not. If what they pulled out last night is any indication of what they’re working with, we already up,” he said.
“True,” I nodded. “Talk to CJ and see what the prices look like. Let’s make sure it’s worth our while before we lock anything in.” It was time my brother had more responsibility, and there was no better time than now.
Fontaine leaned forward. “We can probably get out of here in another day or two. There’s a small private airport in White Plains we can fly out of. I’ll change the names on the flight logs so everything’s clean. West can meet us there.”
