Chapter 8
“Thank you for doing that for me last night.”
I dapped Daze up and sat beside him on the worn-out leather couch. We were at the clubhouse, with ass bouncing in front of us before lunch. At twenty-three years old, I could get used to this shit.
Tonnie, one of the dancers from the club, ass shook in smooth ripples as she danced to Megan Thee Stallion and Juvenile’s new song. Daze threw a big ass stack of ones, causing her to go crazier. She grabbed the pole and flipped her whole fucking body upside down.
“No doubt. You may have put me on to something. I always thought Liyah was fine as fuck.”
“Nigga, I wasn’t trying to make no damn love connection. Maeve wanted her friend to get home safely.”
“And I made sure of that. Now, I’ma make her my girl.”
“The boss wants to see you two.”
Guard interrupted our conversation, causing both of us to look up at him. I expected word to get back to Bishop that Maeve left the club with me last night. Now I had to face however he felt about it.
“I told you to stay away from that girl,” Daze whispered as soon as Guard walked away.
“What was I supposed to do? Let her get shot?”
“Now we about to get shot. I got it on me in case we need to air it out.”
He laughed as I shook my head at him as we both got up. Daze always had jokes, but I knew there was a hint of seriousness behind it. If nobody else here had my back, he did for sure.
We made quick steps toward Bishop’s office.
I wasn’t worried about what he had to say, because what I had told Maeve last night was the truth.
I didn’t really give a fuck how he felt.
Getting her out of there was my only concern.
Now that I knew she was safe, I didn’t care how her father handled it.
“They tell me you’re the one who saved my daughter’s life last night. And you saved her best friend.”
Bishop sat at his desk with both palms in each other and his fingers intertwined.
He looked from me to Daze and then settled on me.
No one was in his office but me, him, Daze, and Guard.
Guard stood at his side, but Daze and I stood only a few feet apart on the opposite side of the desk.
I had just walked in, and that was the first thing he said to me, that I’d saved his daughter’s life.
I wasn’t thinking about Bishop or my mission when I saved Maeve. The only thing that ran through my mind when those bullets started flying was to save the girl who had occupied every thought since the first moment I’d seen her.
Yes, I knew Maeve was Bishop’s daughter and the apple of his eye. I even knew getting close to her would bring me closer to him, inadvertently, but something about me getting close to her was more about us than it was about this case.
“Yeah, I had to get her out of there. I didn’t want anything to happen to her, boss.”
I gave the appropriate response because that was what I always did in moments like this one. I always gave the appropriate response. I always did what I was supposed to do, completed every mission, checked every box.
I was the person that got things done, but when it came to Maeve, she blurred my vision. She blurred my mission. She took my mind off everything that wasn’t her.
“Good. I appreciate that. I want to invite you two deeper into the fold. I need men like you looking out for my baby girl. As you can imagine, the man who is supposed to be guarding her is no longer with us. Neither is the one who started shooting with Maeve in proximity. That’s two spots I need to fill. ”
“I can understand that.”
My wheels should have been turning at the mention of two men no longer being with us. As a Fed, I should have at least cared about their whereabouts, but I didn’t. The only thing I heard was I would get to see Maeve more. That was the best thing I had heard all day.
“With you two being responsible for getting my daughter and her best friend out of that club untouched and making sure I can wake up to her one more day, that tells me that you’re ready for what we have going on here.”
“No doubt, we most definitely ready.”
Daze spoke first. He had been waiting on this moment for a long time, and I was happy it finally came for him. Still, I needed Bishop to know I didn’t save his daughter for street cred.
“Thank you, boss. I appreciate that, but that’s not why I saved her. I know how much she means to you, but I wasn’t trying to get a leg up or nothing. I would never use your daughter like that.”
Maeve made me forget the whole world when she was near. I had wanted to get away from Jackson my whole life, but now that I knew she was here, I didn’t know anymore.
“Something tells me that’s true.”
Bishop looked down at his desk, then back up at me. He was deciding if he wanted to trust me or not. Trusting me with his business was one thing, but trusting me with Maeve was something totally different.
“Guard, take Daze to get fitted for his new vest. Give me a minute with Dima.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Won’t be long.”
Guard glanced between the two of us twice before he moved. That last look he gave me dared me to try something. I could tell that the overprotectiveness that Guard had for Bishop wasn’t about him doing his job.
They were brothers. They had a bond that nobody else understood, but I did. I longed for that type of bond for most of my life. I imagined there was nothing like having a brother who would always stand by your side.
So many nights I wished I wasn’t an only child, but I was. Bishop and Guard’s relationship reminded me of what I could have had if my father wouldn’t have ran my mother off. My father robbed me of a lot in this life, but that was some shit I could never forgive him for.
“Sit down, son.”
Bishop calling me son pulled me from my thoughts of my own father.
“I want to make it clear that Maeve will always come first in my life. She’s the most important thing to me—more than this club, more than this business, more than my own damn life.
You getting her out of there last night shows me the type of man you are.
That shows me your character, and I want you to know that I appreciate that. ”
“I’m glad I was there to get her out. She didn’t deserve to be caught between bullets flying.”
“You right. I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to her.”
I didn’t say anything, but I could see how much even the thought of losing her pained him. The way Bishop loved his daughter drew more than respect from me. It drew admiration. I admired how dedicated he was to her, how much he loved her.
I could see myself trusting a man like that. If a man put his family above himself, that showed me that he was trustworthy. That was something I always wanted with my own dad. But now all I felt was guilty.
When I learned that Bishop treated the men around him better than my real father ever did, looking at the way he interacted with everybody showed me that Bishop cared about his whole crew. I was able to see the brotherhood for what it really was rather than what I had read in the file.