I cleared my throat. “Close to two mil.”
Khalil laughed. “Damn. Her virginity come with that?”
I chuckled. “Oh, you know about that?”
“All of L.A. know about that,” CK said.
“I took her on a date a few years back. She ain’t coming up off that,” Kadeem added.
I already knew. Didn’t speak on it. I knew all the niggas she so-called dated.
“Man, my bro ain’t thinking ’bout her like that,” CK said. “But check them numbers. Sounds overpriced.”
I chuckled. “Don’t stress me out, my nigga. I got this.”
My boys didn’t know I had a thing for Sade, only Vanessa. That wasn’t their business.
$$$$$
I left the bar a little after seven in the evening. The liquor did what it was supposed to do, but my head wasn’t all the way there. I drove straight to my father’s house.
The lights were on in the living room when I walked in. I could hear my mother upstairs on the phone, laughing. He was sitting in his chair, blanket over his legs, TV playingCopson low. He looked up when I stepped in.
“You just getting off?” he asked, voice raspy.
“Yeah.” I walked over and sat across from him.
He studied me for a second. “You look tired.”
“I’m straight.”
“You don’t look straight.”
I leaned back in the chair. “Long day.”
“That’s every day for you,” he said.
I nodded. He wasn’t wrong.
“You worked on Crown Heights today?” he asked.
“Yeah. Interior designer locked in today.”
He nodded slowly. “You check the contract?”
“Yeah, I wrote it.”
“Check it again with our lawyer.”
“Don’t need to.”
He leaned back, breathing a little heavier than usual. I watched him longer than I meant to. He wasn’t getting better. He was fading away from me. He had lung disease for a long time. Years of smoking cigarettes.
“You eating?” I asked.
“Yeah. Ya momma made beef stew.”
“You sure you ate it?”
