Chapter 4 #2
“What’s going on with you, son? Is everything okay?” Papi asked.
“Yeah, I’m cool,” I replied.
“You’re not. What’s wrong?”
“Jalea rocking my fucking nerves, talking about she can’t pick up MJ from school today. Then I thought niggas was stealing from us, and I got a ton of fucking orders to fill. Shits annoying, but I’ll be good.”
“What FTS do now?” Moses asked.
“Her thot-ass sister is homeless, and she’s trying to be Captain Save-A-Ho when her ass barely got a place to call home.”
“Wouldn’t you do the same for your sisters?” Papi asked.
“Not if they’re out here opening their legs for every bum they meet and popping out thirty damn kids with no help!” I seethed.
I didn’t judge people based on their situations, but a woman with six kids by niggas who couldn’t care less if they had a roof over their kids’ heads was a problem for me. Maybe if Malea were a little nicer, I’d help her out. But, nope. Her ass wasn’t getting a pot to piss in from me.
“Set her up in the house on Greenview—” Papi started, but I cut him off.
“No… No way.”
“Listen, that wasn’t a request, Messiah. I don’t give a damn if you don’t want to help her. This is about those children.”
“They don’t respect shit, Papi. If you let them stay there, that house will be destroyed in a month. Then, what? We have to pay our contractors to fix whatever they fuck up?”
“Just get it done. We’ll figure out the logistics later.
It’s almost Mother’s Day. Now, if you don’t want Ashlyn involved, then you better take heed to what I’m saying,” he warned.
“I have a wife to get home to. You gentlemen enjoy the rest of your day.” Papi stood and left the conference room as I looked at my brothers’ smirking faces.
“I’m glad y’all think this is funny.”
“Aye, you’re the one who had a kid with her. We were smart enough to strap up.” Mike chuckled.
“Shut the fuck up! I did strap up. The broad trapped me because she knows I was the better brother out of you both. You niggas would have ghosted her as soon as she told y’all she was pregnant.”
“And you didn’t? Could have sworn you denied my nephew for a whole year before you finally came to your senses,” Moses recalled.
“I may have denied him, but I didn’t run, so fuck you! Mike, you better let me know the next time you want to steal some shit. If something else disappears, I’m coming straight for yo’ ass.”
He waved me off. “Whatever, nigga. Are we still going to Club Lucid tonight? Harvey’s back in town. It’s his birthday, and he says he has something to tell us.”
Harvey was our best friend, but he and I were closer since we were older than Moses and Mike.
We all grew up together when his mother and father, Mrs. Linda and Mr. Louis, used to live on our block.
Once we graduated high school, they moved to South Carolina, and he’s been living there ever since.
We kept in touch, and he would fly out a couple of times a year for occasional purposes or we’d go to him, but that bum didn’t even tell me he was coming to town, so fuck him.
“I’m straight. I don’t go places I’m not invited to.”
“Nigga, he told us to tell you. Get out ya funky-ass feelings. And I’ll pick up my neph; I gotta go that way anyway,” Mike said as they stood.
We all headed out of the conference room while I made my way back to my office to start this long-ass day.
“Si!” Moses called after me.
“’Sup?”
“You should really come out tonight, bruh. I know this shit is stressing you, and you ain’t been out in almost a year. It’s Harvey’s birthday, man. Let’s go out and have some fun. We miss you on the scene.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that, but if you say no, I’m coming over and putting my feet all over that nice-ass Italian furniture with my Cheetos and breadsticks, watching Marvel with neph.” He smirked.
“And be carried out in a body bag. Leave me alone, nigga. I said I’ll think about it.”
He chuckled as we slapped palms and departed. I pulled out my cell and dialed Jalea’s line. She picked up on the first ring.
“What, Messiah?”
“Aye, chill with the pissy attitude, a’ight?”
“You do me so wrong, Messiah. I try to be nice to you, but all you do is give me your ass to kiss. I’m over it. I’ll be moving out soon. We can work on arrangements for MJ after I find me a place.”
I sighed deeply. “You don’t listen, nor do you respect my space, Lea.
The same sister you riding so hard for was the same sister that was begging to neck me from the back.
But if that’s what you want to do, by all means, go for it.
As a matter of fact, you can stay at one of our properties, and y’all can live there in misery.
Call the realty company and drop my name. They’ll take care of you from there.”
“Are you serious?”
“Nah, I’m unserious,” I replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, okay, Messiah.”
“We’ll work out the rent after you sign the paperwork.”
“Rent? You know I don’t make enough to pay the rent right now, Si.”
“You and your troll of a sister better get on the pole then. And don’t even think about taking my son with you. He ain’t living in no ho house.”
“I hate you so much. Don’t even think about asking me to suck your dick or fuck you ever again. You’re an evil-ass monster.”
I chuckled. “If I’m a monster, then why are you still fucking with me?”
“Because you won’t let me take my son!”
“Why would you want to take my son from his comfortable life to go to the slums with you? Make that make sense.”
“Go to hell, Messiah.”
“Are you serious about not giving me none no more? I mean… I could find somebody else to handle that for me.”
She was silent for a moment before she finally spoke. “What time are you coming home?”
I laughed as I hung up the phone. Jalea played tough all the time, but as soon as I said I’d get it from somewhere else, she would fold.
I couldn’t be nice to her because anytime I tried to, she did stupid shit to piss me off.
It’s why I remained single. Women gave me headaches, and I refused to add a woman to the other list of headaches I had to deal with on a daily basis.
I loved being single. The only thing I truly gave a fuck about was my family, making money, and taking care of my son.
My eyes scanned the restaurant. Mayor Clifton Duncan was sitting in the booth waiting for me. Honor Thy Food was an upscale restaurant owned by Jaxson Santana, the president of the Motor City Rebels —a biker crew that did community work on the West and East sides of Detroit.
Last year, our company had a gala and had Jaxson’s restaurant cater the event.
Needless to say, but the food was so damn good, I had to get his information so that I could make it my mission to come check him out.
We talked for a while, and he told me about his and his brother’s club.
I wasn’t into bikes, but the more we talked, the more commonalities surfaced, and we formed a friendship.
When Jaxson found out that I was in the buying and selling trade, he started explaining the condition of the neighborhoods he frequented and wanted to make a change in the community.
Although we were a realty company, we bought houses, apartments, and businesses, fixed them up, then sold them or rented them out.
Jaxson wanted me to buy the lofts and apartments downtown, but I needed a permit to start the building process.
Enter Mayor Duncan.
Jaxson was able to get me a sit-down with him so that I could get the permit once I bought the buildings.
It was backward to me, but Jaxson felt as if I should get a written agreement showing they were bought.
Duncan would then sign over the permits to start the building process seeing that I was ready.
“Mayor,” I acknowledged as I walked over to the booth.
He looked up at me as I extended my hand to him that he accepted. “Mr. Crawford. How are you?”
“Can’t complain. I know you’re wondering why I summoned you.”
“Yes. Jax didn’t tell me why I was needed, but his father was a good friend of mine, so I agreed to take the meeting.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Jessie, and I’ll be your server for today. Are you guys ready to order?” the server asked, approaching the table.
“I’ll take the brunch special with the Cajun shrimp and grits, my steak medium-well, orange juice, and wheat toast.”
Every time I came for brunch, I ordered the same thing. Homie had to be putting crack in his food because I never thought I’d meet someone who could top Ashlyn in the kitchen.
“Okay. And for you, sir?”
“I’ll take the same, but with white toast and an apple juice instead,” Duncan replied.
“Alrighty. I’ll be back with your orders as soon as they are ready.”
“Thanks, Jessie.”
She smiled politely and walked away. Duncan and I watched her round ass before we looked at each other and laughed.
“Well, to what do I owe this meeting?” he asked.
“The lofts on 23rd Street and the apartments on Mansfield, a few miles away from the lofts... I’m looking into buying them and rebuilding them.”
“And you need a permit to start the rebuilding process?”
“Precisely.”
“Well, you do know that I don’t sign permits. The Building, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department, also known as BSEED, handles that.”
“But you oversee them. A good word would make this much simpler to handle.”
“Don’t you have to buy them first?”
“I do, and I will. Just wanted to secure the back end of things first before I can move on to the next phase.”
“I honestly don’t think it’s worth the sacrifice. That neighborhood is full of crime, and it’s littered with the unfortunate. Building luxurious lofts and apartments over that way will be detrimental to you. I was already setting things in place to have those torn down.”
“Which is why I’m here. That is Mekai and Jaxson Santana’s territory. They want to build better homes in their neighborhood?—”
“But you’re a realtor, not a builder.”
And you’re a loser, not a mayor.
That left us at an impasse. I didn’t know if he was trying to shut me down, but I was determined to walk out of here with his agreement to get me the permits.
“I buy homes and businesses, fix them up, and sell them. So, I think I’m more than qualified to help the city out with their problem.”
“Like I said… that neighborhood isn’t a good place to put quality homes. Those drug dealers and addicts won’t hesitate to destroy what you reconstruct.”
“Why do you think that is, Mayor Duncan? It’s because those folks don’t have a place to call home. You do your job by pushing out the drug dealers and cleaning up the area, and I’ll do my job by building better homes for the elderly citizens who’re paying their tax dollars to have a better living.”
He stared at me as if he wanted to say something slick. He knew I was telling the truth.
While the people in that community were working and getting money taken out of their paychecks to pour into a city, his ass wasn’t doing a very good job of using the money to do what needed to be done.
For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how some of these politicians even got into office.
They lie to the people and take their money, but they never see any results of where their money is being spent.
We already witnessed how Mayor Tory St. James crooked-ass ran this city, and Duncan wasn’t too far behind him.
The waitress brought out our drinks and food as the table remained quiet. I honestly wasn’t even hungry anymore because I thought this would be an easier conversation. However, I could see the fake in this man and would be sure to alert Jaxson of this error.
“Those people voted for you because you told them that you could make a change. You’ve been in office for four years, and nothing has been done aside from continuing to pour into the Downtown area.
We have enough casinos and attractions down there.
It’s time to stop thinking about the rich and give back to the, as you put it, less fortunate . ”
“That takes time. There’s a lot of contracts to be signed, and a great deal of things the last mayor neglected to do that I have to fix,” he replied, digging into his food.
Nigga didn’t even pray over his shit.
“I understand, and while you’re doing something to change that, allow me to take those properties off your hands.
It’ll be one less problem you have to fix, and it’ll help these people believe in everything you told them.
” I bowed my head and said grace because I refused not to eat my favorite meal, even though his ass was making me lose my appetite.
Moments passed by before he nodded. “Alright, fine. I’ll talk with the BSEED, but if this little project you’re doing turns to shit, I won’t hesitate to shut it down and do as I planned to do.”
I smirked and extended my hand across the table. “Agreed.”
He hesitantly took my hand and gave a firm shake. Jaxson’s ass owed me, and I was going to make sure his ass paid up too.