“That’s not what?—”
“Really? Because, from my math, you got pregnant with me at fifteen. So what if I got a tattoo? I make good grades, I’m on the basketball team, and I want to do something with my life. I ain’t nothing like that nigga, but sometimes I think you look at me and see that.”
“Dane.” Inari choked and took a breath.
Eyes misting, she could feel Moose’s eyes all over her. She hated that her son chose now to voice his faults with her in front of a stranger.
“You made your point. Can we leave now?” He reached for the passenger door.
More embarrassed than anything, Inari marched around the front of her car to her driver’s door. Moose remained on the curb, eyes on her and Dane as she started her car and pulled off. She’d just blown him with that whole scene, but he made a mental note to be more diligent when it came to checking for consent. The last thing he wanted to do was to have his shop shut down behind some legal technicalities.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Blackmoor,” Natalie, the most recent nanny to Kong Blackmoor’s two children, said with empathy, yet weariness clouding her eyes.
Her hair was wet because she had to rinse out the oatmeal his seven-year-old son, Kyro, threw at her. He’d given her a t-shirt to change into because she was covered in it.
“I just can’t do this anymore. I know you’ve been counting on me to pull double duty around here with cooking and taking care of the kids, but… I just can’t. Do you know I go home and kill almost an entire bottle of wine every single night now? I used to barely be able to get through a glass.”
With his hands in the pockets of his Nike sweats, he listened and nodded. Natalie was the fourth nanny they’d had this year, and it was only June. Kara was a spoiled crybaby, and Kyro was a little Tasmanian Devil. Wherever he went, destruction followed. Kong couldn’t blame anyone for leaving, and he paid them all handsomely for their services. His children were just too much to handle, and he couldn’t be present to wrangle them in all the time.
“No, it’s fine. Thank you for your time and your service. I’ll forward you your last payment.”
Natalie paused with the front door to his family home open and looked Kong over. He was a very somber, brooding man. There was something so sad behind his eyes that made her take this job, but his kids were terrors. She thought she would be able to hang, given she came from a big, chaotic family herself, but that wasn’t the case.
“I appreciate that. Good luck!” She rushed out, and Kong stepped forward to close the door behind her.
“And another one bites the dust.” Mozzi chuckled, coming from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in hand like he was five.
He could eat it any time of day, and Kong didn’t understand it. They’d eaten so much of that shit growing up, he thought for sure it would be burnt out on him too. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he bowed his head.
“The fuck am I supposed to do?”
“Submit another request to the agency.” Mozzi brought a spoonful of Cocoa Puffs to his mouth.
“This is ridiculous,” Kong muttered.
“Look, if you need me to watch ’em, you know I got you. Just give me some kind of warning. I’ll take they asses to the park and wear ’em the fuck out. Pull Moose in too. At least until you get somebody.” Mozzi shrugged.
“At this point, it’s not about finding somebody. It’s about if they can thug it out around this muhfucka.”
Kong strolled past his brother to the home office beyond the entry and past the overly decorated formal living room. All the French style furniture in there was to be looked at and not touched. Nobody had so much as gotten comfortable in that room since their mom, Jane, died over five years ago. Kong pushed the door open to the room he spent the most time in. His dark pine desk extended from the built-in bookshelves facing the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the front of the estate.On the opposite wall, a series of monitors were aligned, giving a visual of every inch of their grounds.
“You want me to send Roni over? She can cook.” Mozzi strolled over to the corner near the windows and peered out at the grounds.
Kong dropped into his chair and cracked his laptop open. Sad part was, the agency website was already up. Sighing, he updated his file and hit submit but also scrolled through one of those on demand websites somebody had told him about to see if he could find someone. It was the weekend, so the agency probably wouldn’t get back to him until next week.
“Nah. I’ll figure something out.” Kong shook his head and squinted at a new resume that popped up on his screen.
He was able to set up virtual and in person interviews, all with the click of his mouse. After locking in with three different candidates, he closed the window and reached for the blunt in the ashtray on his desk. Mozzi finished his cereal and tipped the bowl to his mouth to swallow the almond milk.
“What’d you do last night?” Kong took a pull off the blunt and studied his brother.
“Minded my fucking business.”
“I know you was on some bullshit.”
“That bullshit is what I need to hear about.” Audiemar’s gruff voice sounded off from the doorway, causing both sons to look his way.
Although in his early sixties, their father took care of himself. He had a stylist and personal shopper who kept him in the latest fashion. In black slacks and a silk maroon shirt, he strolled inside with his hands in his pockets and his head slightly bowed. Mozzi leaned on the edge of Kong’s desk near him and passed him the blunt.
