CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
NEWDY
One month later...
Newdy knew the night was over the second the first snow alert hit his phone.
His personal security came straight from Brother Amin’s team, and he was allowed to move freely through the underground because of his affiliation with the Toussaint family.
Jamir was from the city, so Newdy didn’t tax him the same way he did other athletes and rappers who came through.
Jamir was a future hall of famer, with real motion and a great head on his shoulders.
Which was why Newdy couldn’t figure out why he was creeping with Jamillah’s scandalous ass.
Apparently, the game night was all her idea, and Jamir was so green, his dumb ass went for it.
And now he had unknowingly invited the wolves into his home.
Newdy leaned back on the sectional and scanned the room again.
The two men Jamir had called him about were still posted on the far end of the sofa, laughing too loud, using trick dice at the card table, and casing the room.
Newdy recognized them, right away. They were two of Marcus’s capos.
Men who were supposed to be dead or long gone.
When the men saw Newdy and his crew, they immediately copped pleas, returned all their winnings, and begged to be spared.
Newdy listened without saying much. Then he told them to get the fuck out.
They left thinking they got lucky. Little did they know Cash and his people were already waiting downstairs.
Newdy watched the elevator doors close on them, then turned and walked back toward the living room.
He was reaching for his keys when he heard Jamillah’s voice cut through the noise.
“Ooooh y’all, let’s play this new card game bae got me.”
“Nah,” Jamir cut her off.
“That game is messy as hell and should only be reserved for your day ones.”
“Jamir, I took all the messy cards out the deck,” Malaya said, coming from the kitchen.
Her eyes met Newdy’s, and she rolled them.
He just shook his head. It was clear she was still in her feelings.
Newdy hadn’t seen or spoken to Malaya in almost a month.
Malaya approached him about investing in her mobile I.V.
hydration business. She had come correct with a business plan, data, and real numbers.
Really, she sold the concept to his mother first when she was her nurse, and that was actually what convinced him.
Before she was diagnosed with cancer, Tru Toussaint was the ultimate businesswoman.
She had expanded the family’s legitimate business interests tenfold, invested wisely and cleaned all the family’s dirty money.
Once his mother gave him her blessing, Newdy gave Malaya over a hundred bands in seed money.
He used his connections in the city and linked her with some of his associates who owned private health clubs and med spas, and the business took off almost overnight.
Malaya had done so well in the first two months that she was already trying to expand into a brick-and-mortar spot.
Newdy told her it was too early and to start with a suite first. She did not listen, instead she went behind his back and approached one of Jamillah’s latest flavors of the month, Montrel Jeffries, for the money.
Montrell was a wide receiver for Pittsburgh who spent most of his time in Miami.
Mont was cool, just loud, and flashy. He was originally from Delaware and Newdy could tell Jamillah must’ve been his first bad bitch, because she had him wide open.
He had her set up in a condo in Miami, bought her a pink McLaren 560S, and was funding her entire lifestyle.
Newdy had even sat courtside with Malaya, Jamillah, and Montrel on some double date shit.
It was that night Newdy saw Malaya’s true colors.
She was a money-grabbing, social-climbing dragon.
After that, Newdy distanced himself, and now she was pissed.
She even tried to offer him sex on a late night, and he passed.
Which only made her angrier. Jamillah held up a bright pink card, smiling like she knew she was about to start some shit.
“Not to be messy… but who wouldn’t you let make the potato salad? ” She didn’t even hesitate.
“Oh my God, Kormia.” Jamillah kept going, “No shade, I know she ain’t here, but my good girl cannot cook.
” It was light. Playful. The kind of fun shade friends threw when they actually liked each other.
Newdy was about to check his phone again when Malaya reached for a card.
Something in her face made him pause. She read it slow, like she was savoring it.
“So, I’m gon’ choose a different category,” she said.
“I thought you said you took all the real messy cards out,” Jamillah said while pouring Jamir a drink.
“Damn bae, that’s a lot of Henny,” Jamir said, slapping Jamillah’s ass.
“Stop bitching,” she laughed as she kept mixing brown liquor with clear.
“She making that nigga a headache on the rocks,” Cal joked as Malaya pulled two cards.
“Ooh, I got a double or nothing,” Malaya said, looking at Newdy.
“The first card says, Not to be messy…but who wouldn’t you trust around your man.”
Jamillah was too busy pouring drinks to notice all the eyes in the room drift toward her. Malaya quickly pulled another card. “Ooh, this is good,” she said, smirking. “Jamillah, this one’s for you.”
“Okay, okay, I’m ready,” Jamillah said, sitting next to Jamir and handing him a big solo cup before pouring herself a shot of Casamigos.
“Now you can take a shot if you don’t wanna answer the question,” Malaya said, still smirking.
“I think it’s fitting since you brought her up already, and the city is curious.
Word on the curb is Wheezy got his new girl pregnant, cut Kormia loose, and now she living in her salon.
Confirm or deny… is that tea or piss?” The room went dead.
Newdy’s eyes narrowed. Living in her shop?
Jamillah didn’t say anything at first. She just grabbed the shot sitting in front of her and tossed it back in one motion.
Then she stood up. Malaya smiled. “Oh? So, you denying it?” Before Newdy could even blink, Jamillah snatched the solo cup out of Jamir’s hand and threw the entire drink into Malaya’s face.
Then she snatched her over the table by her hair.
“Bitch, you got me fucked up. That’s my family, don’t you ever mention her name! You hear me hoe?” The room exploded.
Jamillah was yelling while Jamir tried to pry her hands from Malaya’s wig. Malaya was screaming and wiping Hennessy out of her eyes. One of the girls was recording. Cal was laughing his ass off. Newdy still hadn’t moved. He was stuck on what Malaya said. Kormia living in her shop.
He looked over at Jamillah, who was still going off.
The way she told him everything he needed to know.
It was true. Newdy waited until Jamillah calmed down a little, then nodded toward the hallway.
She followed him without asking why. When they were far enough from the noise, he spoke.
“She really staying in the shop?” Jamillah wiped her hand across her mouth and nodded.
“Yeah,” she said, voice still tight. “She been there for a minute now. And it’s not because of no fucking Wheezy either.
Contrary to popular belief, Kormia Brown is not a kept bitch.
She has a home. It is just…” She paused, then stopped herself.
“I already said too much.” Newdy didn’t push.
He just stood there, jaw tight. All the small shit he’d been noticing over the past month started adding up.
The lights on in the shop late at night.
Her car still parked outside every time he drove past. How tired she looked the last few times he saw her.
He thought she was choosing to stay there.
Kormia was hardheaded enough to do some shit like that just because she felt like it.
But now it was starting to make sense in a different way.
He had been getting new HVAC units installed in all the businesses along the strip.
Koi’s people were supposed to finish the job this week, but they paused everything because of the storm.
Which meant Kormia’s shop was still running off the old, fucked-up system… if it was even running at all.
Newdy looked toward the window. Snow was already coming down harder than it was when he first got here.
The wind had picked up too. He pulled his phone out and checked the time.
8:42 p.m. He still had to stop by his mother’s house and find her home girl.
But now there was something else sitting heavy on his chest. Kormia.
She was in that shop with no heat, and this snowstorm was about to shut the city down for days.
Newdy slid his phone back into his pocket wishing he could be done with this night but knowing he wasn’t.
Not even close. First order of business. Go to Kormia’s.