“This is JV,” Allur explained to her cousin. “And these are his best friends, Rob and Kaleo.”
“Nice to meet you.” She waved awkwardly.
“Nice to meet you too.” Rob and I answered at the same time and he cast a glance at me and chuckled.
“I need to meet up with my people but I’ll catch y’all this weekend.” He slid out of the chair and dapped me up. “Stay out of trouble.” He walked over and dapped JV up, “It was nice seeing you again, Allur. Nice meeting you, Novi.” He saluted then slid by them to get out of the building.
“Come see something real quick.” JV licked his lips and then held a hand out to Allur. She took it with a smile and he started to lead her towards the back of the shop.
“Keep an eye on my baby please,” she called over her shoulder.
“Yes ma’am.” I scoffed.“You can just sit wherever.” I gestured around and Novi nodded. I looked her up and down up close and noted that she had some of the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen. “So, what are you in town for?” I watched her sit and collected my water bottle before I hopped into the seat across from hers.
“I just wanted to spend some time with my favorite cousin.” She shrugged.
“And that’s it?” I wasn’t the type of dude to beat around the bush. That wasn’t me and would never be me.
“My boyfriend dumped me.” She gave me a tight smile and shrugged. “That’s it.”
“You looking for a rebound?”
“You offering?”
“Maybe,” I shrugged.
“Yeah okay.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. She was wearing a pair of white shorts and a yellow tank top that looked amazing against her skin tone.
“So why did you and dude break up?”
“We wanted different things.” She shrugged.
“He broke your heart.” It was partially a statement and partially a question, “You’ll bounce back,” I offered. “Feelings are temporary.”
“So, how long have you been working here?” She was uncomfortable and trying to change the subject. That amused me, but I let her have it.
“If you count sweeping up hair, as long as I can remember.”
“It’s a family business?”
“Yeah, my pops…” I let my sentence trail off. I looked back at the sound of the door opening.”We’re closed.”
“Good. Then you should be free for us to chop it up.”
I sighed but climbed to my feet. I was used to bullshit and people trying to pull my card. The shop was supposed to be a safe zone for both the gangs that ran these streets, but thanks to Rob it wasn’t always seen that way. It didn’t help that whoever controlled the shop got control of the basement which happened to be central for a lot of work and connected to three other shops, both on either side and the one across the street. Each of the other three were only connected to us. Both gangs had been trying to lock the shop down ever since word had gotten out about it.
Since it was a neutral zone I hadn’t exactly been threatened for it and no vandalism had gone on, but I had gang members try to intimidate me and push the line on threatening in public and away from the shop. I also got pretty good financial offers, enough for the average person to sell for sure. Unfortunately this shop wasn’t just a means for financial security. It was my father’slegacy and luckily for Rob, that alone was enough for me to stand ten toes down on keeping it.
If it wasn’t for our father, I would have taken the cash and ran off long ago and left the building to Rob and his own devices. If ownership went to him, the whole neutral zone shit would cease to exist though and I was sure war would break out.
There was apparently a strong line between being a member and just being affiliated and I kept my head down just enough to be able to not bear my brother’s brand.
“What’s up?” I adjusted the gun tucked into my pants and walked closer.
“You know Lily?”
“Nigga, what?” I chuckled without even thinking about it. “Man, I don’t know who that is and checking me about yo’ bitch at my place of work is real immature.”
“Well the word on the street is-”
