She made her way from behind the bar, looking over her shoulder once more to make sure no one was looking for her to refill their drink, before leading Lorenzo toward the hall where the bathrooms were. They made their way through other patrons like their bodies were a maze, with blue and red lighting bouncing off them.
“Wassup witchu?” Lorenzo asked once they were in the bright, empty hallway. “You good?”
“I don’t really know how to answer that,” she admitted. “I need to make some extra money. Can I make some deliveries for you?”
His brows wrinkled and mouth twisted to the side before he shook his head. “Nah, Dru. I know I’on really know you like that, but I know you a good girl. I ain’t letting you ride around with my shit on you.”
“Look.” Her hands lifted, and she chuckled in an attempt to calm herself. “I don’t really care about being a good girl, Zo. I need to make damn near a hundred K in thirty days. Less actually.”
His eyes widened, and he turned her slightly when three women walked down the hall.
“The fuck have you gotten yourself into? Or is this your mama?”
“Kind of both. I don’t really have a lot of time to talk now. I just need to know if you can put me on or not. I’m not asking you for the money. I don’t need a handout. I’m more than willing to work.”
“How? You work two jobs, right? How in the fuck can you do that plus make deliveries for me?”
“Dru!” Mike called. “You got orders flying in, girl.”
Groaning, Dru pushed herself off the wall. “Just think about it; let me know before you leave . . . please.”
After giving his arm a squeeze, she quickly made her way back to the bar. Dru didn’t know exactly how much her mother got paid making deliveries for Lorenzo, but at that point, any amount she could get would help.
“Aye,let me tell you this before I get too fucked up to remember,” Lorenzo said, easing his way back onto the black leather couch in the VIP section.
When he’d excused himself earlier, Caden took the time to check a few emails. It wasn’t that he wasn’t enjoying himself at the lounge, but he would have preferred to be at home. His clubbing days were over, but he wouldn’t dare not show up to celebrate Lorenzo’s birthday.
Most people didn’t suspect Lorenzo worked for Caden in The Syndicate, because they’d grown up together. They lived in the same hood until Caden left for college. During their youth, they sold drugs to make money. While Caden used his money to pay for college, Lorenzo splurged with his.
Eventually, Caden opened his pharmacies and used them to clean his money, but Lorenzo had other plans. Everything he made, he spent, either on himself, his family, or women. His logic was he only had one life to live, and it could be taken at any time, so there was no point in him saving his money. As much as they were together, and as close as they were, the differences between the duo were distinct. Most people would have never believed Caden was the brain behind the multi-million dollar drug organization that Lorenzo was the face of.
“Wassup?” Caden asked, pouring himself another glass of tequila. He refused to touch the Hennessy since it appeared he was going home alone that night.
“Dru, the bartender, is looking for work. That’s Tina’s daughter. I don’t know all the details, but I know she’s a good girl. She works two jobs to help take care of her sister.”
“Wait.” Caden chuckled and turned slightly to the left to face Lorenzo, as if his ear needed to get closer to hear what he was saying. “Tina is the one that just asked for a loan, right?”
“Right,” Lorenzo confirmed with a smile.
“And now her daughter is asking for work?”
“Correct.”
“What the hell they got going on?”
“I don’t kn?—”
“Hol’ up. You said her daughter’s name is Dru?”
Dru was too uncommon of a name for a woman for Caden to believe it was anyone buthisDru from the grocery store. And if it was her, that changedeverything.
“Yep.”
“Pretty brown-skinned woman with freckles and locs?”
“You know her?”
“Met her at the grocery store earlier.”
