Chapter 3 Asante Njoroge #2
There were two men standing along the side of the building, one of them smoking a cigarette and just staring forward. I felt one of my fingers twitch just thinking about the nicotine.
“Hey.” I closed in on them. “Can I uh, bum a cigarette?”
The man that wasn’t smoking looked me up and down and now that I was up close, I realized that they were twins.
The nonsmoker had slightly longer hair and was chewing on a piece of gun while the one holding the cigarette had a pair of glasses on his face.
They were slightly shorter than me, nothing more than an inch honestly.
“We know you?” The further twin asked..
I shook my head. “Nah.”
The one actively smoking took his own chance to look me up and down and I noticed immediately that it wasn’t in the same way that his brother had done it. It was different or at least, I thought it was different.
I did my best not to try to clock people’s sexuality, especially men.
There were some of the most dominant, womanizing men to ever walk this Earth who were interested in men and there were men who were outwardly softer, more sensitive and what society considered feminine who would knock a nigga on their back for even looking at them too long.
How someone carried themselves didn’t determine their sexuality.
Shit. The only thing that did was being attracted to someone…
but I had to admit he seemed to be looking at me the way that I was looking at him and I knew without a doubt I was looking at him like someone I thought was attractive.
I was bisexual and I had been for my entire life.
I was out about it. My family and friends knew.
I’d never done the secretive shit. It had caused problems in my life, sure, especially going to the military but I was who I was and who I fucked or let fuck me didn’t do anything to my work ethic.
I was still one of the best at what I did and I had the track record and decorated background to reflect that.
The twin nearest to me didn’t respond to what his brother or I said.
He just scoffed and tapped a cigarette out of his pack.
He held it out toward me and I grabbed the cigarette and placed it in my mouth.
He didn’t ask if I needed a light, he just pulled his lighter from his pocket.
I decided to try my luck. I leaned in to him instead of taking the lighter from his hand.
The corners of his mouth tilted up slightly and he lit the cigarette for me, his eyes trained on mine.
I took a long draft.
“Asante,” I offered him my hand.
He looked at it and stared for a second before looking up at my face. I gave him a soft smile and didn’t withdraw my hand even though he gave me ample amount of time to do so.
“Bishop.” He blew some smoke out and shook it.
“Rook,” the other twin introduced himself and dapped me up too.
“Nice to meet y’all, and thanks for the cig.”
“Don’t mention it,” Bishop said simply.
We stood in silence while we smoked and when the twins headed toward the front door of the club, I followed behind them.
“So uh, since I bummed a cig, how about I get y’all a beer in exchange?” I offered.
“You’re good.” Bishop scoffed. “Have a good night.” He hit me on the back and Rook snickered.
They took a few steps away before I called after them.
“Ay!” I yelled over the music and they paused and looked back at me. I grabbed three beer bottles from a waitress’s tray and offered one to each of them. “No trip to the bar necessary.”
“Thanks.” Bishop took it from my outstretched hand and tapped our bottles against each other.
Rook took the one offered to him and lifted it toward me. “Have a good night, man.”
They turned around again and this time, I let them go.
I headed back to the bar and checked in on the bartenders. Thankfully none of them seemed like they were burnt out and I made a note to check and see how much they made because I was almost positive that it wasn’t enough and I’d need to give them at least a two dollar raise.
“Asante,” Layla called my name.
“What’s up?” I took a drink from my beer bottle and walked over to her.
“Up there.” She nudged her head toward a section. “That’s the Barron family. That’s the oldest brother, King.”
I followed her gaze. There was a man near the railing, a woman pressed up against the front of him. He had an arm over the front of her body and was whispering in her ear while she giggled.
I’d told Layla and Kate specifically to let me know when the Barron family showed up but honestly I hadn’t expected it to be on my first night.
I leaned my head back and finished my beer off. Then, I handed over the empty bottle and exhaled.
“Thanks. Good looking out.”
I knew that they were good customers and brought a lot of money into the club whether it was from them renting it out for their own personal events or them just bringing a crowd in because of their popularity.
I’d asked a few of the bartenders and bouncers about them but I hadn’t found out much except for the fact that they were a close knit family that all ran a business together.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that business was but I hadn’t looked too far into it. It didn’t affect me.
I slid through the crowd and took the stairs up quickly, making a beeline for the section.
I gave a little wave to get King’s attention when I reached the railing and he kissed the side of his woman’s head then walked over to me. He looked both ways like he figured I’d have someone with me to approach him. I chuckled at that.
“What’s up?” He leaned down so that he didn’t have to yell over the music. The first thing I noticed was the snake tattoo going up his neck. It was an exact replica of the one Rook had.
“What’s up? I’m Asante. I just bought this place and the old owner told me I should make myself known to you guys when I got the chance.”
“That’s what he said, huh?” he asked. I nodded. He chuckled. “I’m King.” He offered me a hand. “Nice to meet you, Asante.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
King Barron was an average height man with a fade and clean cut beard and some of the deepest brown eyes I’d ever seen. He looked at his section then back at me.
“Come on up. Let me introduce you to my family.” He nudged his head to the side and I walked around the railing to close in on him.
“Aye, this is Asante,” King addressed the group and hit me on the back.
“He just moved out here and brought this place so we’re going to be seeing him around,” he explained.
“Asante, this is my wife, Xavia. That’s my second and younger brother, Knight and his wives Casmi and Nova,” he pointed out each person, “and these are my youngest brothers, the twins, Rook and Bishop.”
My eyes snapped to Rook and Bishop at the mention of their names and a smile crossed Rook’s face slowly letting me know he’d caught the knee jerk reaction. I gave the group a half nod as I took them in.
Knight seemed to be the only one of the four siblings to have light brown eyes even though all four of them had the same deep brown skin.
He was sitting with his wives, apparently plural and he had an arm around each of them as the three of them talked to each other.
He turned to speak into one of their ears and I noted that he also had a snake tattoo.
It had to be some kind of calling card and the fact that Bishop didn’t have one had alarm bells ringing in my head.
I shook the hands of each of the main players in front of me anyway.
“Look, the first thing I was told when I started talking to the past owner about buying this place, was that sometimes people,” I looked around the section, “have meetings and shit here and that it’s supposed to be a safe and neutral spot.
I’m cool with that. I don’t expect anything to change.
Shit can stay business as usual. I just wanted to introduce myself and ask if I can be notified when these meetings are going to be taking place so I can make sure security is staffed appropriately and so that my guys at the door know not to let as many people in. ”
“Yeah. That’s not going to be a problem.” King nodded. “I’ll have Bishop get with you in advance. He heads our security.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” Bishop stood up and closed in on King and me. “I’ll make sure you have at least a three day notice if possible. If you’re still with the same security company, I have the contact for them already.”
“Yeah. Well, I’d rather you contact me directly if possible.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and offered it to him.
The corners of Bishop’s mouth tilted upward but he didn’t comment. He just took my phone, typed his number in and handed it back to me.
“Cool.” King nudged his head toward Bishop. “Bishop is your point of contact then. You need me, you go through him now.”
“Done.” I nodded once.
King hit me on the back and walked over to Rook, Knight and the women.
Once we were alone, I looked Bishop up and down and shook my head.
“You good, my nigga?” Bishop checked.
“Yeah. I just can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together about you being one of the Barrons.” I chuckled. “Bishop Barron,” I said his name slowly, seeing if I liked the way it tasted falling from my lips. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Good. Believe all of it.”
“And what if I’d rather find shit out for myself?”
Bishop lifted an eyebrow and I chuckled.
“We’ll see, I guess.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I licked my lips. “I’ll see you around then, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded once, gave a brief nod to everyone in the section and turned around to leave them to their partying.