5. Creed
Chapter 5
Creed
“ I know that’s not Mr. Moneybags gracing us with his presence,” Dylan, my best friend, joked, standing from his seat with a grin on his face.
“Ha-ha. Fuck you.” I slapped hands with him before pulling him into a brotherly hug.
Pulling away I looked around the seating area in the back of Bank Shot, his pool hall in East Ridge, where him and the rest of his crew typically hung out. Dylan was the leader of the Drift Kings. Bank Shot was considered the homebase for him and his people, but it also was a popular spot in East Ridge.
East Ridge was the rougher part of West Pier. It had been cleaned up and somewhat reformed a lot over the years since I first started coming around, but it still was known as “the hood” if you asked my parents and people like them. I nodded at a couple members of his crew while taking one of the empty seats adjacent from him.
Removing my jacket, I placed it behind me on the back of the leather, L-shaped couch and adjusted the yellow-gold De Ville Trésor on my wrist. I brought the glass of Hollow Oak I had ordered at the bar before coming back here to my mouth. I had just left the warehouse and home office after making sure everything was running smoothly and now had the rest of the day to myself. I debated if I was going to stop by the hospital to see about my brother, but I had no desire to run into my parents again so soon.
Dylan spoke after a while. “I didn’t expect you to come out this way any time soon. When you dippin’ out again?”
“I’ll be here for a while.”
A look of surprise appeared on his face. “For real? Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
Nodding, I took another sip of my drink. “Yeah.” Revealing what brought me here in the first place, I kept it short and to the point.
“Damn. So they don’t know if he’s gonna make it?”
My shoulders lifted and my eyes traveled forward. The pool hall wasn’t too packed at the moment. There were five tables scattered around the front room and three were occupied. A few people were at the bar. A couple were playing darts. Mostly it was Dylan’s people. It didn’t start filling with everyone else until later into the day.
“Don’t know. From what I can tell it’s a waiting game.”
“Still, I’m surprised that brought you home and got you to stay.” One corner of his mouth lifted and I repeated the motion. “Unless you have another reason you stayed.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took another drink of the brown liquor in my glass.
Dylan chuckled and shook his head. One of his guys came over and nodded toward me before leaning down and speaking lowly to him.
“Fuck! Give me a minute,” Dylan said a couple minutes later and stood, walking off with the guy by his side.
Dylan’s crew was involved in street racing and some more things they didn’t go into full detail about. When I first started hanging around him, I was aware of the illegal dealings they were caught up in, but learning about them never turned me off to our friendship. My parents, on the other hand, damn near had a stroke when they learned I had been hanging around such a crowd, which only prompted me to keep being around them.
Vibration from my jacket pocket gained my attention. Digging into my pocket, I pulled it out, seeing I had a text from Nakyra. My thoughts shifted to this morning before I left. She might not have meant to expose herself to me, but I could understand why my brother was attracted to her. Nakyra was not only a looker, but she also had a petite frame—short torso, jutting breasts, and a narrow waist. She was average height for a woman with long, slender legs. Her shape fit her and was well proportioned. Maybe it was wrong to notice these things about her, but it couldn’t be helped. I was still a man and couldn’t help but admire beauty when I saw it.
Nakyra
Hey. Just giving you an update. Rome’s still not awake, but his brain activity is good. Your parents are here too and demanded they do updated scans to see if he’s healing. Hopefully those turn out good. I’ll keep you updated in case you didn’t plan on coming today.
I read over the text a couple more times. Nakyra seemed to care a great amount for my brother. How someone like my brother managed to get her was a surprise to me.
“A’right my bad. Muthafuckas act like they can’t handle shit on their own,” Dylan said, taking a seat, this time with a fresh glass of clear liquor in hand.
I chuckled. “You ain’t gotta explain anything to me. I deal with bullshit on the daily.”
“Shit I can only imagine. Running a big time shipping company can’t be easy.”
“Most days are good, but there are times that give me a run for my money. What about you? Got any races coming up?”
He grinned and took a sip of the liquor. “Shit’s great. The bets are getting bigger, money’s growing, police off our asses, couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“When’s your next one? It’s been a minute since I’ve been to one.”
The first time I went to one of the street races, it amazed me. I was used to people being competitive over lacrosse, golf tournaments, and tennis. But the adrenaline that rushed through the body just standing on the sidelines watching the cars was a brand-new experience for me. The scene was fast paced and aggressive. It was also electrifying not knowing if the cops might raid it or if a fight would break out.
“The end of the month. We already got a big pot in the works; so it’s gon’ be a show.” His grin grew mischievous.
For as long as I’d known him, Dylan had been involved in street racing. From what I knew, his older brother introduced him to it, and instead of standing on the sidelines, he became a part of the action.
“You ready to get behind the wheel?”
I scoffed. “You got jokes I see.”
He laughed. “As long as you know how to control the wheel you’re good.”
I shook my head. “I’ll stick to being on the sidelines.”
The conversation eventually shifted and before long I realized I had been here for over an hour.
“Let’s run a table,” Dylan suggested, standing and nodding toward the pool tables. He leaned down and picked up a black carrying case, which I knew was his cue.
Nodding, I stood and followed him.
“Hundred dollars a ball?” he asked once I grabbed a pool cue off the wall while he set the table.
I chuckled. “If you’re down for money, just say that. I don’t mind loaning some out,” I joked.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “If I was gonna take a loan from you, damn sure would be more than eight hundred dollars.”
“Good to know. I’m going first,” I let him know, grabbing the cue ball and heading to the top of the table.
It wasn’t too often I was able to just be and not have to worry about shit. The past year I had been on constant go, expanding Steel Freight, adding more trucks and businesses to the routes. It’s been stressful and needed a lot of leg work. I planned on treating my current stay in West Pier as a mini-vacation. While there were times I might have to handle business, I planned to relax more than anything.
____
Stepping into the house I wasn’t expecting a delectable aroma to hit my nose instantly. Removing my jacket then my boots I headed deeper into the house until I got to the kitchen. Bella greeted me at the entrance, nudging her nose against my leg with her tail wagging wildly.
“Hey, girl.” I reached down to pet her.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Nakyra called out with her back to me. She was stirring something on the stove top. She seemed lost in her own world. Her braids were pulled up in a high ponytail. Moving past Bella I walked further into the kitchen until I was behind Nakyra. She came to my shoulders, making it easy to glance over her shoulder to look into the pot.
“Whatchu in here cooking up?” I asked.
“Rasta pasta. I hope you haven’t eaten yet?” She glanced over at me. The moment we made eye contact her eyes widened for a second then quickly diverted back to the stove. Being this close to her, I inhaled a sweet, vanilla, sugary smell. Whatever she wore was soft enough to not be overbearing, but still strong enough to grab my attention.
My stomach rumbled, gaining both of our attention.
“I guess that means you’re hungry then.” A smile played on her face.
Chuckling, I stepped back and moved toward the sink to wash my hands. “Don’t pay that any mind. I’m used to snacking during the day and waiting until late in the day to eat.”
She glanced over at me with a frown. “That’s not healthy.” Her medium-sized nose twitched.
“I’m too busy during the day to remember to eat.” I shrugged and grabbed the dry towel near the sink.
“Still… you should take better care of yourself.”
I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest, focusing on her. She wore a pair of black leggings and a sweater that hugged her top half.
“So I’ve been told.” I shifted my eyes to the stove. “You know what you’re doing over there?” One of my brows rose.
“Of course! I love to cook.” Her smile broadened and her face lit up. “Your brother often works late, so I eat alone a lot of the time. It’ll be nice to eat with someone again.”
I sniffed the air. “Shit, if your food tastes as good as it smells then he’s out of his mind to not make sure he’s here to enjoy it.” I rubbed my stomach.
“It’s fine. He ends up eating when he gets home. I always make sure I put him a plate up.” She turned back to the stove. My head tilted, watching her. Nakyra was somewhat of a mystery to me. I couldn’t get a clear read on her. She reached up and messed with her ear briefly. I didn’t know much about her disability, but I was sure she had been born deaf. She seemed well-adjusted to her surroundings though. I had never met anyone else who was deaf or hard of hearing but Nakyra didn’t seem like a person to let it get in her way.
Pushing away from the counter, I stepped closer to her again. “Anything I can do to help?”
“What? Oh no, I got it. The pasta’s finishing up now.”
“You sure? I don’t mind.” I pushed the sleeves of my shirt up.
“Oh, well… if you want to get the cheesy bread out of the freezer so I can put it in the oven then.”
I nodded. “I can do that.”
“You mind if I ask you a question?” I asked once the bread was in the oven and the stovetop was off. I leaned on the counter again, turning my body toward her.
“Sure. What’s up?” She gave me her full attention.
“I ain’t tryna be in your business or offend you or anything either but…”
“You wanna know about my hearing?” She cut me off with a small smile on her face.
My brows shot up in surprise. “Yeah, how you know?”
A small giggle left her mouth. “Most of the time, when people start a sentence like that, that’s where it’s heading.” She brushed her hands over her leggings then folded them in front of her. “I was hearing up until I turned four when I caught meningitis. After getting sick and losing my hearing, I eventually got fitted for hearing aids, which worked, thankfully. At first, they thought I might have needed to get cochlear implants.” She must have seen the confusion on my face because she snickered and continued, “Basically, I would have had to get surgery and they would have attached a device to my head that would help me hear and talk better. I had a lot of inflammation around my ears at first and my doctors were worried. Once they got everything under control, and I got the hearing aids, it took a while for me to get used to them, especially because I had grown accustomed to silence. I had to relearn how to function as a hearing person again after being forced into silence for a year.”
“Damn. Was it hard to readjust?”
For a second she looked to be in deep thought. “I guess you can say that. There was a lot of therapy, occupational and speech. Not to mention, I didn’t take to the hearing aids right away. So they thought I might not even be able to live with them, but my parents were determined to ‘make me normal’, and well… here I am.” This time the smile that formed on her face was forced and didn’t reach her eyes.
“Make you normal?” My brows bunched and my mouth turned upside down. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”
Her eyes diverted from mine. “It’s just—” Before she could finish the stove beeped, indicating the bread was finished.
That seemed to be the out she needed. Nakyra quickly turned and grabbed the oven mitts from the side of the oven and opened it.
I stayed silent, watching her. It had to be hard going from hearing to not hearing back to hearing. I didn’t know much about her hearing aids but from what I saw this morning, when she first woke up, it seemed like when she didn’t have them in, she couldn’t hear at all. My attention went to her ears. The aids weren’t too noticeable. If they didn’t contrast with her skin color, I probably wouldn’t have noticed them.
The conversation didn’t come back up, mainly because I sensed Nakyra no longer wanted to discuss it.
She ended up directing me to where the eating trays were, and once I set them up in the living room, she brought the food and we got comfortable. When we first sat down, she gave me an update on my brother, which wasn’t much different from yesterday.
“I think this is the first time we’ve ever hung out, just the two of us,” Nakyra mentioned after a while.
The TV was playing Criminal Minds in the background while we ate.
“I think these past two days are the most we’ve spoken to each other the whole time you’ve been with my brother.”
Nakyra’s teeth scraped over her bottom lip. “You’re right. Honestly I was always kind of intimidated by you, so I never really knew how to talk to you.”
Chuckling, I looked at her, confused. “You thought I was intimidating?’
“Well maybe that’s not the right word, but I don’t know… You always gave off a standoffish mood, like you never wanted to be bothered whenever you came around. I think this is the first time I didn’t get that from you, making it easier to talk to you.”
I glanced down at my now empty plate. “Understandable. As you know I don’t fuck with my family like that. I guess I always assumed you were, excuse my language and don’t take offense, but a stuck up bitch, like his exes.”
Nakyra looked shocked by my words at first before bursting out into a fit of giggles. I smirked, enjoying the sound of her laugh.
“Were they that bad?”
“Let’s just say I never knew who the bigger diva in the relationship was, my brother or the girlfriend.”
Her mouth dropped. I winked at her just as Bella came and nudged Nakyra’s knee with her nose.
She glanced down at Bella. “You gotta go outside, girl?” Bella grew excited and turned toward the back of the house. “I’ll be back.” She stood and followed the excited dog.
While she was gone I pulled out my phone to check my notifications. After I left the warehouse and checked in with Ken, I detached myself from work for the day. Most of the day I spent at Bank Shot, catching up with Dylan and playing a few rounds of pool with him and the rest of his guys.
There were a few texts from a couple of girls I dealt with from time to time. One of them was a girl I frequently played with when I wasn’t at Scorpion.
I hadn’t bothered setting anything up with her before I left. I did some research. Since I didn’t know how long I was gonna be here, I needed to find a temporary club to attend. I had one in mind that was like Scorpion, but since I never stayed here longer than a couple of days I’d never bothered to join. Now it may be time to make it happen.