Page 72 of Finessed By A Hood White Boy

I had to keep my guard up at all times. It was rare that some shit like this could be put together without any underlying bullshit.

“His name is Christian. He’s my nephew, which makes the two of you cousins. You both are pretty much into the same shit. He and his wife, Ariane, own a casino out in Vegas. They’ve been doing this for a few years, and not once have they been on the feds’ radar. They’re good at that street shit. When you came to me about the papers for the club, I knew it would take some time to clean all that money. I had to make a call first before making a suggestion to set something up.”

“So, you have other siblings besides Blake?” I asked.

“Yes, we had another brother, Ezra. And our sister, Christina. Christian is Christina's son. She was killed nearly twenty years ago. It’s been about four years since Ezra was killed as well.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, needless to say, Ezra was into the drug world and became a pretty big deal. He got our sister caught up in the lifestyle, which cost her life. Ezra is the reason I became a lawyer. Blake was always the one who played by the book and politics. Anyway, after Christina died, Blake never wanted to associate himself with Ezra.”

“Some tough shit,” I said, but I couldn’t care less about their family history.

“So, back to business. How long will it take to set something up?”

“Actually, it’s already done, I just needed you to agree. We’ll take the private jet and fly out in the morning.”

It was already two in the afternoon, but I was down for the trip, although it was last minute. I had to send a text to Duke letting him know that we were flying out. I informed Charles that when it came to my personal business, I didn’t leave Duke out of anything. We were partners, so we handled shit and made decisions together.

We chopped it up for another hour or so while he gave me the full run down on my cousin, whom I’d never met. After our conversation was over, I hopped in my ride and went over to Zenobia’s. She had texted me earlier, asking if I wanted to come over for lunch. Zoie had the day off from school, so she wanted to do a little something. At the time, I told her I wasn’t sure if I would make it, but there I was, sitting in the driveway.

I got out of the car, then went to the door and let myself in, using my key. Whatever Zenobia had cooked smelled good as hell. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I walked in.

“Hey, baby daddy.” She smiled upon seeing me.

“What’s up? Where's Zoie?”

“In her room, changing clothes. You look nice.” She grinned.

“’Preciate it.” I glanced at her.

The way Zenobia was acting had me looking at her sideways.

“Um, I’ve been thinking about some things, and I wanted to sit down and talk to you about it.”

“Like what?” I asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

My phone was in my face, and I didn’t notice what Zenobia had on until she stood right in front of me, slightly between my legs. I set my phone on the table and stared up at her with a blank face.

“I’ve been thinking about us a lot lately. We’ve been in a very good space for so long, and I wanted to see if we could step it up a notch.” She caressed the back of my neck with her fingers.

“In other words, you’re tryin’ to be in a relationship?”

“How do you feel about that?” she asked.

I ran my hand down my face, letting out a deep breath. “I mean, I’m cool with it. But, right now, I have other stuff going on.”

She silently took a step back. “Like what? Hooking up with ol’ girl who works for you?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just know that I’m not in the right headspace to be in a committed relationship.”

“With me or in general?” she questioned.

“What’s up with you? Where is all this shit coming from? Last time I checked, I thought you were talking to someone anyway. Ever since you saw Ava and me together, you've been on some other shit.”

“As long as we’ve known each other, I’ve never known you to bring someone over to Big Momma’s outside of me.” She smacked her lips and folded her arms.

“Yo, you buggin’.” I stood up. “You jealous, Ze? You think you’re supposed to be the only special person I bring around my family?”