“Good. Call me and let me know you made it in.” I kissed her forehead before letting her go. Ever since I’d met this woman, I was concerned about her wellbeing. It was strange because usually I stayed away from folks with baggage, but here I didn’t. I couldn’t help but approach her in the store when I saw her, considering she’d dipped on me that morning at The Oak. I understood why though, so I didn’t ask her about it. I didn’t even bring it up. I let the vibe be the vibe and went with the flow, letting her talk. Well, we both talked but I looked to hear her voice.
“Yo, I can’t wait to tell Jordyn ’bout this shit,” Bigs said from the front seat as we watched her pull off.
“Big mouthed ass.” I laughed seconds before my phone began to ring.
I glanced down at the screen and saw it was Remy calling.
“Yo,” I answered, half expecting him to be in my business.
“You might have a fight on the horizon. I’ve been saying this for a few weeks, but word around town is ol’ boy has no choice but to challenge you and they let his people know that. From what I hear, they were given a deadline to make that call too.”
“Straight up?” I asked.
“Yup. Seeing as how a call will be coming through any day now, I already called your uncle and everybody. I hope you’ve rested because training starts tomorrow.”
“Damn. No extra time?”
He chuckled. “I was gonna give you the rest of the week, but Big Joe vetoed that shit. He said you already have some foreseen days off with your brother’s wedding and that trip.”
I laughed. My father’s brother lived on the city line between Briar and Chicago for most of the year, but by him being my head coach amongst other things, he moved to wherever I was during training time. I was usually here, but last year I trained in Chicago and he cursed my ass out the entire time. He hated the city, claiming there was too much going on every time he looked up. I always laughed because Briar was the same way, but Unc lived on the border of each city in an area that could be seen as a rural space.
“Where are you coming from anyway?” Remy asked, on some nosy shit as always.
“Minding mine.”
He chuckled. “Must’ve been a woman. You know you’re on that fake secretive shit.”
I laughed, not even offering a response. If it wasn’t him, it was his sister. Shit, lowkey it was Bigs’s ass too. The nigga was their eyes and ears.
“Yeah, that’s it right there. But I’ma let you keep that. I’ll be on your line in the morning. You know the normal motion. Stay up, champ.”
When he and I got off the phone, I closed my eyes and sat back in my seat. I was lowkey tired as hell and hadn’t done anything today besides workout and pick up small things I needed for the house. All of that was before I saw Selah.
My phone was vibrating again, prompting me to lift it and stare at the screen. Of course it was Jordyn. She didn’t close her eyes unless she knew my business.
“Yo,” I answered on speaker, holding it close to my ear.
“Watertown, Indiri, really?”
“How did you know that?”
“Because I’m all knowing. Who is she?” she asked about fifteen seconds later.
“Fuck outta here. Y’all got Bigs out here spying on me?” I sat up and looked at Bigs.
He had his eyes on the road but his hands up in surrender. “Wasn’t me, Indi. I planned on it, but that shit right there was super-fast.”
“Nah. You’re on that hoe’s blog. Well known boxer creeping in Watertown. Indiri Jones spotted going up to the rooftop with a mystery woman. Security sat in front of the door the entire night.”
I laughed. “Pictures?”
“Hell nah. You know Rhune doesn’t play with phones in his establishment,” she countered, which also had me laughing.
“Now what the hell were you doing on the blogs at this time of night?”
“Not me, Journee. She literally has notifications on for any time Rocket’s, Orlo’s, or your name’s mentioned in the media. Now can you please tell me who she is, so I can tell my sister-in-law to calm the fuck down?”
“Nope. I was minding mine and you already know who she is.”
