“Row, I know for sure I paid you enough, but I’m not going to argue with you about it.” I sighed before turning to go to my office. “Sit here, and I’ll be back.”
As I made my way back to my workspace, I could feel daggers at my back. The thing was, I didn’t know if they were from himor Stacy. I didn’t have it in me to argue with either one of them, so I kept walking. Going into my desk, I found my company’s checkbook and filled out a slip for an extra ten thousand dollars. Being that I’d already given him damn near one hundred thousand dollars, he’d better make this enough.
“Here you go. Hey!” I kicked his feet, causing his eyes to snap open. “This is all I’m giving you. Do you need me to drive you home? I’m about to shut down shop, and you don’t look like you’re in any shape to drive.”
Frowning, he mugged me before snatching the check. Eyeing the amount, his eyes turned to slits, but he said nothing. Standing from the couch, he mumbled under his breath as he stumbled back out the same way he stumbled in.
“Your brother is a piece of work,” Stacy called out behind me as I walked over and flipped our sign to “Closed”. Peering across the lot, I watched as Rowan slid into his truck and left on two wheels. “I wouldn’t have given him shit.”
“I know, friend…”
I spun on my heels and locked eyes with her. The disdain on her face was evident. In the same way, she didn’t like TJ, she equally hated my brother. Even with that, I loved how she didn’t play about me.
“I pick and choose my battles with him, just like I do everything,” I said. “Let’s shut down and go have drinks. I need the biggest one on the menu.”
“Name and identification.”The security guard mugged me as I approached the gate. “State your reasons for being here.”
“Nigga, who the fuck are you talking to?” I raised my brow as I leaned out of my driver’s window. “You better hope I don’t ram into this muthafuckin’ gate with you in front of it. Tell that nigga Marshall that Slash is here and get the fuck out of my way.”
The city of Milly Grove has its share of crime, so after a long night of performing autopsies and writing reports, the last thing I wanted to do was play with this top-flight-security-of-the-world-looking muthafucka. Marshall wanted me to stop by his house to holler at him, so the least he could have done was tell his people I was on the way.
“If you don’t comply, I’m going to have to ask you to leave?—”
“I tell you what…” I threw my truck in park, grabbing Kimbo from the front seat. “You got about ten seconds to open that fuckin’ gate, or I’m going to cut your balls off and hang them from my rearview mirror like dice. Open this goddamn gate!”
As he scrambled to do exactly what I asked, I got back into my truck and waited for him to unlock it. It wasn’t even open good before I pressed down on the gas and sped down the driveway. That nigga had officially pissed me off.
Marshall lived on the outskirts of the city, and if you didn’t know where exactly his home was, you’d never find it. Speeding down the mile-long dirt road, I finally pulled up to the eight-bedroom mansion. I often wondered why in the hell he needed so much space when it was just him.
“Nigga, you think I’m going to have my kids sleeping in a sandbox?”
I chuckled under my breath, thinking about how he would always respond because he hadn’t conceived a child yet, and like me, he didn’t appear to be having children any time soon.
“You know, I watched you act a damn fool on my camera with my security guard.” He leaned against the column of his porch, pulling from his blunt as I stepped out of my truck. “Now I got to kill the nigga because you refused to follow protocol.”
“May the hoe-ass nigga rest in peace.” I shrugged, dapping him up. “A nigga still out here in scrubs and shit while he wants to play. Had he looked on the fucking wall, he would have seen my picture and known I had automatic clearance.” I followed him into his home, and the fresh smell of baked chicken hit me immediately. “Sue cooked?”
“Bring your hungry ass on.” He shook his head and led me through his house. “You can eat while I fill you in on some shit.”
Seeing that we were headed to his office, my mood worsened. I had just told this man I wanted some food, so the first stop should have been his kitchen. As we stepped inside the openspace, I was on the verge of cussing him out until I saw the tray of food in the middle of the room.
“My man!” I smiled, rubbing my hands together as I headed to the small sink in the corner. “I just knew I was going to have to cuss you out.”
“I cuss back, nigga.” He sneered, taking a seat at his desk. “How’s everything going with you and the family? I spoke to your dad the other day, and that is one loony-ass nigga.”
I nodded my head and agreed as I sat down and immediately began to eat. Something as simple as baked chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, and green beans looked and tasted like a five-star meal. Sue, his housekeeper, could cook me out of my fucking drawers.
“He’s expecting a shipment in soon,” Marshall continued.
“That nigga needs to sit his old ass down,” I mumbled as I bit into the freshly baked dinner roll. “I hope you didn’t call me over here to talk about Jaseon because this could have been a text.”
Marshall was as close to me as my twin, Jaxson. His father was my dad’s plug for years before he succumbed to heart failure about five years ago, leaving Marshall to take over the family business. In that line of work, there would always be someone who would try to knock him off since he was now the boss. He approached me one day and asked if I wanted to be a permanent enforcer on his team. It wasn’t that he needed me to handle every problem he had, just the ones that had proven to be trickier than others.
“It could’ve been, but I figured since I had some information you might want to see, I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to ask about the family. Speaking of….” He grinned as he leaned back in his chair. “How’s Karlie?”
Pausing my fork mid-air, green beans fell back onto my plate as I squinted and glared at Marshall. “Say what the fuck youcalled me over here for nigga before I gouge your eyes out in your own house.”
Sitting back up, he waved me off as he pulled a manila folder out of his top desk drawer. Joking or not, he knew I was not about to play with him regarding Karlie on any day. I had seen firsthand how he dogged out women, and even though it would never happen, I was not going to entertain any conversation about my sister with him.
