My father looked at Davis. Looked at the armored SUV. Looked back at me. Then he nodded once, slow and deliberate, and there was something in that nod that told me he hadn’t forgotten me and he hadn’t forgiven me and if he still had the power he used to have, he’d drag me back inside by my hair.
But he didn’t have that power anymore. Prime took it from him with a fist to the throat and a straw from his own desk. And I took the rest of it when I walked out of this city and built a life he couldn’t touch.
I got in the truck. Davis pulled away from the curb and I watched the rowhouse shrink in the side mirror until it disappeared. I sat in the backseat of that bulletproof SUV dry-eyed and steady and thought about how strange it was to come from people who hated you and you still turn out capable of love.
Then I pulled out my phone and texted Quest.I’m done. I’ll see you soon.
Can’t wait to taste you.A smile erupted on my face but it was interrupted when I received another text message from an unidentifiable number.
Dame CoCo stop ignoring me. - MateoMy heart leapt to my throat. Why won’t he leave me the fuck alone?
20
Quest
The renovations of the casino were going as planned and we would be reopening soon. Though liquor sales had been down the last two years, we were seeing it bounce back the last month or so, which was great news because I was sick of the underworld. I was ready to move on.
“You really reversing that vasectomy?” Justice asked me as we walked the premises.
“Yeah and I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Nigga, I never thought I’d see the day. But you ain’t gotta do that. If you want kids, take mine. They are driving me crazy.”
“Not with that mouth Storie has on her.” That little girl had been poppin’ off lately since she started smelling herself. I felt for my brother because it was only going to get crazier as she made her way through her teens. If I were in his shoes, I would lock her lil ass downstairs in the basement until she was 18 years old. Maybe 21. Shit, maybe 33. That’s when Jesus became the Christ. Perhaps 33 is the magical age of maturity. Yeah, she’d be locked away until then. And then I’d be arranging her marriage to a respectable nerd.
But she ain’t my daughter, so I had to keep my mouth shut and let my brother handle this in his own way. Whenever she starts dating, I’ll be there on standby to chaperone all her dates though.
“I know. I thought she would fix her lil attitude after I took her phone but she’s been worse. Is there a military school for girls?” He joked.
“We can send her to scared straight and traumatize her into actin’ right.”
“Send her in there with yo’ mama. If she don’t get her act together some bitch named Big Ruby gon try to munch,” he laughed.
“Nigga that’s yo mama! That bitch is dead to me.” I shook my head. I thought about what Rita said the other day about healing and really addressing it. The truth was, I hadn’t. One thing after another kept popping up and those things needed my attention. The betrayal I felt would have to wait. For now, it hid in my chest groaning like a volcano on the verge of rupturing. And when it did, I’d make sure she felt it.
“She’s dead to me too. That bitch calls but I haven’t answered. You still ain’t confronted her about that Rashid shit?” he asked as we moved through the building, making our way to our offices.
“Got other things to focus on. She is the last of my worries but I’m def going to deal with her soon. Her trial is coming up. I’ll keep my ears to the streets.”
“What about Mega? Serenity hear anything back?”
“Nothing. That nigga ain’t called her back and it’s been almost a week. Either he ditched his phone or he’s too paranoid to answer.” I shook my head.
“He’ll surface. They always do. Especially when they’re on coke. He’ll run out of supply and come up for air.”
“Yeah. I just wish it was sooner than later because I got other shit to deal with.”
Justice dapped me up and headed to his office. I went to mine, sat behind the desk, and started going through three days of emails I’d been neglecting. Contracts, insurance adjusters, the construction foreman asking me to approve a change order on the VIP lounge. Normal shit. Business shit. Work that reminded me why I built all of this in the first place. Not for the streets. For the legacy.
My assistant, Krystal, buzzed in about twenty minutes later. “Mr. Banks, a Mr. Rios is here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment.”
“Send him in.”
Mateo Rios walked through my office door in a tailored navy suit with no tie and his hair slicked back. He sat down without being invited, crossed his legs, and gave me an overconfident look. He looked as if I owed him something and he was going to walk away with it.
“I was hoping you’d had some time to reconsider my proposal,” he said.
I laughed in his face. I couldn’t help it. This was genuinely funny to me. “Mateo, how many times are you gonna come in here and ask me the same question expecting a different answer? That’s literally the definition of insanity.”
