“Let’s get this shit going. I gotta an after party to get to.” Taiwan did a two-step, and I laughed at his stupid ass. This nigga was always ready for the club or a party.
The doors shut, and the show began. Pops did his opening welcome.
“Les, we’re proud of you, boy,” Uncle Tommy said, standing to shake my hand. “You hear me, Lesley?”
“Yeah, my bad. Thanks, unc.”
But my head wasn’t all the way in the room. Every time she slid through, directing service like she’d trained the whole staff herself, my focus slipped. She never cracked, never flinched, not even with twelve of the most dangerous men in Tennessee and Kentucky talking business that carried life sentences. Her poker face was flawless.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was me. Either way, I couldn’t stop tracking her.
“The Coupeville territory has been in the Grimson’s hands for twenty-five years,” my father said. “Under Lesley’s leadership, I expect it to remain that way for the next twenty-five.”
Polite applause erupted as my father finished. I stood, shook hands, and received congratulations. My eyes followed her as she cued the main course.
“Gentlemen,” Uncle Tommy raised his glass, “to the next generation. To continuity and prosperity.”
Big Mike started mapping new routes, dropping names and locations, and there she was again, right behind his chair, close enough to hear everything. Too close. Details that could kill us if she were listening.
Maybe I was looking for a reason to be suspicious. Or maybe we were too comfortable talking shop in front of people who weren’t family. Either way, I watched her face. Nothing. That intrigued me.
“Who is she?” I asked my pops when he caught me staring too long.
“Icy Co Events,” he said. “My baby Karyn hired her, apparently, she’s the best in the city. Our last coordinator retired.”
I rolled my eyes. The man always had a new woman. Karyn was the current favorite. I didn’t trust her — too old to be thatnaive about my father. But that was his life. I was taking over. She’d be his problem, not mine.
“Name?”
“Colleci… something,” he said, snapping in hopes of jogging his memory. “Hell if I know. You’re the head now. Surely you ain’t scared of one woman. Harmless as she looks, she’d probably fall at your feet if you smiled at her long enough.”
“This is why you’re gonna die lonely with a rotation of old hoes,” I said, disgust plain. “If she falls at my feet, I don’t want her. A woman worth having ain’t easy and impressed with a smile.”
“You always been too self-righteous when it came to women,” he muttered. “You got it all, son, and you still think happily ever after is for you. Besides your momma, they're all the same.”
“What the fuck is that to say?”
“It’s to say you don’t have time for a woman right now. Look around you; these men are now under your command. Get some pussy but worry about yourself.”
I looked at him for a minute because this man worked my nerves so damn bad with his bullshit about relationships.
“Son, it was just a different time.”
“I got it, dawg. Work. Work. Work. Speaking of...” I checked my watch, “We need to go handle that problem downstairs before I head out.”
She turned just then and sent a clean, professional smile across the room — nothing flirtatious — and my jaw still twitched. I straightened my tie and locked back into business.
“Ladies,” my father announced, “the patio is open. Karyn had it set for your comfort. Gentlemen, one last matter.”
The wives and companions drifted toward the well-lit patio, Karyn overdid with flowers and string lights. During these dinners, the women always handled their own business — gossip, disputes between wives, and showing off jewelry. Thesetup had Karyn all over it. I still couldn’t help the smile that crept in when I thought about who really made tonight come together so beautifully.
I shook my head and decided to get this over with. I wanted to hit the club later, celebrate the ascension, not hang around a bunch of old niggas all night. The men followed me toward the basement stairs, our footsteps loud on the steps. I hit the basement stairs and met them around the man tied to a chair in the center of the concrete floor. Blood had already dried on his face from earlier.
I slipped off my jacket and hung it on the hook. I wasn’t ruining a five-thousand-dollar suit for anyone.
“Cyrus, I’m disappointed in you, my nigga.”
“Grim, man, look, I got jammed up. They got to talking about they knew this and that.”
