Vega laughed, telling Wise. “You way too bothered by a woman you swear you not attracted to.”
Wise scoffed. “I could never want a woman that bougie. She act like her shit don’t stink.”
A few minutes later, Prodigy stepped away to take a call. Everybody kept eating, drinking, and joking while the Street Kings somehow felt folded into the family and still separate enough to feel like the next big thing.
Then the event planner, Tiana, came up to Saint and Zahra with her clipboard. “It’s time to open gifts.”
Saint looked over at the mountain of presents and groaned. “That shit gon’ take hours.”
Tiana smiled. “You guys only have to open the biggest ones and the specialty gifts. You all can open the rest at home.”
As Saint and Zahra got up with her, Prodigy came back to the table looking too serious.
Reek and Sincere noticed it first.
“What’s up?” Sincere asked.
“Still looking into my father,” he answered as he sat down.
Big A frowned. “You still trying to find him?”
Prodigy shook his head once. “I’m not looking for him. I’m looking for what made him hide.”
That quieted the table.
Sincere leaned in asking, “What happened?”
“My father vanished when I was ten. He just disappeared. My mother told me he left because he didn’t want to be a family anymore. They were arguing a lot then, and he got caught with a few women. I didn’t believe that, though. Even if he didn’t want my mother, he was a great father to me. His brother—” Then heangled his head toward Wise and Vega. “—who is their father spent years looking before the family gave up and assumed he was dead. My mother still thinks he just dipped on his responsibilities. But his brother and family thinks he got caught up with the game and was killed.”
Icon chuckled. “Y’all mamas must’ve really loved Italian men. How both of them manage to meet Italian brothers?”
Wise laughed. “Our mothers were best friends in college. Then they moved to Italy teaching English before Prodigy was born. Both of them met our fathers over there. Then they came back to the States with us and my pops when I was five.”
Sincere nodded and then Rhythm started to ask Prodigy about growing up in Italy since he was sitting closest to her.
That was when Wise turned his attention to me, wearing this sexy smirk. “Good to see you back in the States, Ava.”
Smiling, I replied, “Thanks.”
“Thailand looked good on you,” he said. “I was watching your stories on Instagram. You was over there glowing.”
Before I could answer, Reek cut in. “How much y’all move last quarter on the west side?”
Wise looked over at him, then answered. “Enough to make niggas uncomfortable.”
Reek continued to probe him, so I lowered my eyes to my plate so nobody could see the little smirk trying to pull at my lips.
A few minutes later, Wise looked back at me. “I want to know about Thailand. I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“You should. It was amazing—”
“What that new route looking like through Cicero?” Reek interrupted again.
I held back my smirk, as Wise reluctantly gave his attention to Reek.
On the inside, I was tickled.
Reek was hating.
