I listened as he rambled on about some bullshit items about shelving units not being properly secured against the wall, handwashing signs for employees weren’t posted, empty soap and paper towel dispensers, and the counters having debris on them.
I mugged the shit out of that nigga like I wanted to rip his glasses off his face, stomp them under my boot, and rip his head off.
He cringed underneath my glare.
“Man, that’s petty shit. Not worth the time to keep her from getting her permit and serving the community.”
Evan shrugged. “Well, she could wait three weeks.”
“That ain’t gon’ work, G. Between you and me, we both know all this can be handled in a matter of hours. I can see if there were some real hazardous issues going on or some situation that could create health issues, but it’s not.”
“I’m just doing my job. If I pass her and something goes wrong, it could not only open her up to lawsuits, but the county as well. I could lose my job,” Evan replied with another shrug.
“Nigga, ain’t shit in here that serious that’s gonna lead to a lawsuit or the loss of your job. What’s it gonna take to make this right?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You and me about to have beef over this shit. If you don’t hurry up and figure out how we can squash it, I can assure you that it won’t end well for you, Evan.”
Evan lowered his head as I pulled out my wallet.
“Well, I could mention that I didn’t have time to stop by here today.”
I removed two stacks and handed them to him. “You do whatever you need to do; but I’m telling you, she needs to pass the inspection today. If she doesn’t, there’s gonna be a lot of problems rising for the county, and I don’t know how they’re gonna take to your name being the one constantly floated before them. Do you understand that?” I asked, gripping his shoulder tightly and mugging him.
“Yeah. That’s clear,” he answered, buckling under the pressure of my hand on his shoulder. He nodded and shoved his glasses up his nose again.
That Poindexter-ass nigga always wanted to be cool and with the “in-crowd” in school. He hadn’t changed one bit, which was how I knew I could pay his ass off.
He turned and headed back to where Tegan was standing just out of sight and pulled out his iPad. I listened absently as he explained that she had passed inspection, and that she just needed to finalize her business license now that she had procured all her permits. He told her that he would be back in two weeks to make sure the minor details had been attended to.
I narrowed my eyes at him while Tegan replied, “Two weeks? But I thought you said you didn’t have an opening for three weeks.”
The minute that nigga started stammering, I stepped in. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is that you can move forward with the plans for your launch party. You know everyone around here is excited about your shop.”
“I uhm, . . . I have another appointment,” Evan declared nervously as his gaze shot between the two of us.
“What was that all about?” Tegan asked after Evan left.
“What?”
“You pulling him to the side, talking to him, me getting passed when he’d clearly tried to fail me before? Why are you here?” she asked with her arms crossed and watching me intently with suspicion.
“We’re trying to change this area around. The last thing that we want is Evan’s goofy, overeager ass trying to make it impossible for good businesspeople with good intentions to come into our community and help us to build it stronger and attract more positive attention and jobs. That clown-ass nigga is quicker to do things for his white constituents than he is for his own people.”
“So, you what—intervened and threatened him? Offered a bribe?”
I smirked as I slowly assessed her pretty little ass from head to toe. Today she wore a pair of tight black leather pants, a blue cropped sweater, and some blue stiletto boots with black tips.
I could tell that she was a girly girl who took damn good care of herself. That was something that I appreciated in a woman.
“You always do that?”
“Do what?” she asked, smirking at me with renewed interest.
“Judge a nigga before you get to know him? You just judge the cover and don’t open the book? Can’t even give me chapter one before you summarize that the rest of that shit ain’t no good, one-star it, and you’re certain it’ll end with a cliffhanger.”
She giggled the prettiest little sound that reached straight in my chest and yoked up a nigga’s heart. “I take it that you enjoy reading.”
