“It’s nobody more important than you are right now. If it was an emergency, my cousins know how to get my attention.”
I stared at him skeptically. “Is everything all right?Is everything okay at the casino?”
“Yeah,” he answered, too fast for me to believe.
“Tell me the truth, Neptune.”
“The only thing you need to worry about is how you’re going to tell your family you love a Sinner.”
I snickered at the loaded statement. “I don’t need their approval. They dictate enough of what I do. They don’t get to choose who I love.”
Neptune’s tongue swept over his teeth. “That’s how you feel, Kitty?”
“I do, and that’s why I separated myself from you.We’ve been around each other for less than three months, butI know what’s happening. I can feel it, and I couldn’t stand to go further if I wasn’t going far with you.”
His gold grill shined when he smiled so hard that his eyes got low. “It sounds like you finally accepted your fate.”
“Gladly. Besides, something tells me I wouldn’t have been able to get away from youanyway.”
Neptune smooched at my lips. “As long as you know it. Now, let’s go pay for your new pieces so you can take me to your spot. I want to see where you mix your potions.”
Chapter 8
Neptune
Tonight was supposed to be a celebration for Echo and Pluto’s birthday, but an urgent matter led us into a private cigar lounge in the casino. My father and unclessat quietlyaroundthe room as we walked in, but it was obvious they had been talking about something serious.
“About time y’allgot here.” My uncle Luke grimaced at his sons.
Echo flopped down on a leather couch beside him. “I’ve been here. You must be talking about Pluto’s drunk ass.”
“You’re a fucking snitch,” Pluto replied. “It’s my birthday, and this meeting came out of nowhere. What’s the problem?”
My dad opened his mouth to speak, but a violent cough replaced his words. I charged across the room to grab him a bottle of water while my uncles moved to comfort him. As usual, he waved us off and downplayed whatever had him moving slower.
“Give me some space, and let’s get back to business,” the bullheaded man declared. “We got a call from a member of the Denver family. They want to do business.”
My top lip sharpened on the end. “First, it was Kilo, and now, it’s the Denver family. Why are we considering a partnership? We haven’t fucked with them since I was a kid.”
An unreadable expression passed between the old Sinner men. The look was one I had seen when I was a kid, walking in while they werediscussing something they didn’t want me to know.
Pluto grumbled as he moved to the center of the room. “Stop with all the secretive shit, and tell us what’s going on. If y’all were going to keep shit below the surface, there wasn’t no point in this meeting.”
Uncle Lester nodded as he went to sit beside Echo. “We have never made it a secret that we don’t fuck with the Denvers, because they sell hard drugs and pussy. God knows I don’t have the patience to tame no hos.”
“Then what are we talking about?” Pluto asked.
“When we first started The Sinner’s Spot, Lee Denver helped us with a deal that could’ve went bad. He set up connections that allowed us to thrive the way we do, but now, his family is in a bind.”
“So the casino is in debt because of a favor,” I concluded, lighting my blunt. “Ain’t that someshit? Now that y’all are retiring, we owe niggas.”
“Don’t make it sound like we’re on the nextfamily’spayroll.” Levi’s daddy mugged me.
“That’s what it sounds like to me.It sounds like a crewwe haven’t fucked with in years can now dictate how we move because they gave us a helping hand.”
Echo lifted his hand, garnering everyone’s attention. “What are they asking us to do?”
“To push a little work through the casino.”
