Chapter 10 #3
For the first time since being released, I had an abundance of time to myself, and I was looking forward to it before I scooped Ever up at seven. With her file in front of me, I leaned against the larger island with a bowl of mixed fruit in front of me.
Ever Sinclair , I read the first line of the first page.
Ever Einsenberg , I corrected in my head. Yeah. Fitting .
I scanned page by page, getting a bit more acquainted with the family of three that I wanted to pursue.
The final page was the one that I was most interested in.
I’d find out all that I needed to know about Ever, Essence, and Emorey with time.
Nothing that I actually cared to know could be explained on paper – only with time spent.
Dewayne Stark.
His mugshot was stapled to the file, something I was sure my mother had added so that if she ever encountered him she’d know exactly who he was and who she was dealing with.
His rap sheet was included along with his registration information and last known address.
I snapped two pictures, one of his photo and the other of his information.
I exited the camera app and opened my messages.
Send me Boo’s contact , I texted Laike.
Without paying much attention to the number he’d sent, I simply tapped it and waited for the call to connect.
Boo, the techie of our operation, was a trusted employee who could find out the last dish an opponent ate from if that’s how far I wanted him to dig.
He’d been on the team for over a decade and was easily one of the most useful.
“Yeah?” he answered his cell.
I could imagine him pushing his glasses up on his face as he always did. What was insane was the nigga didn’t even need glasses. He just used them to lessen the damage from the computer’s screen. He sat in front of it at least fourteen hours of each day.
“Boo, what’s up?”
“Luca?” he exclaimed.
“Yeah. It’s Luca, dog.”
“When did you get home?” astounded, he questioned.
“Yesterday. Did you not see that coming?” It was hard to believe that he hadn’t.
“I did,” he admitted.
“Then why you acting dumb as fuck?”
“I’m alerted when any changes are made to your file, but I thought the release was an error.
I was expecting a new update soon. They’re always fucking up the system and then fixing it a few days later.
One time, they’d listed you as a handicapped inmate who needed to be transferred to a new unit,” he explained.
“Alerted,” I sneered. “You really need fucking help, bro. Anyway, I need you to find out everything you can on Dewayne Stark. Birthday December third.”
“On it.”
“Bet.”
I ended the call and closed the file while making a mental note to return it to my mother’s office when I got the chance.
For the time being, it would be safe in my office.
I headed in that direction with my bowl and cell.
It didn’t take long for me to get settled behind the mahogany desk.
The cushion on the chair made it effortless.
An iMac sat on the desk in front of me. I powered it on and began following the prompts to get it set up. As I did so, my cell chimed, notifying me of a text. Laike’s name appeared on the screen, lacing my movements with urgency.
There weren’t any words in the thread, but he’d shared a picture with a link beneath it.
The imagery that was attached to it stopped me in my tracks.
Ever’s famous black bodysuit from the night before hugged her body as she posed for the camera – Lyric’s camera I could only assume. Without a second thought, I clicked it.
The image led me to the Safari browser where I was asked if I wanted to download the Instagram app.
Hesitantly, I hovered over the colorful icon but eventually ended up clicking it.
As the app began its install, I reopened my messages.
I wasn’t a fan of social media; the allure of Ever was a powerful drug.
How you work this Instagram shit? What’s my password?
Einsenberg18. Download the app. Log in using NoIGLuca and the password. You can figure it out from there. It’s simple, Lyric responded.
She’d made me a page a little before I’d gone in that I’d never signed into or cared anything about, but that was all changing. Not the shit that I didn’t have to give for the platform – or any for the matter – but me signing in.
I did exactly as I’d been told and was logged in instantly.
An orange tab appeared with the number seven beside a heart, the number two beside a chat bubble, and one hundred beside a contact icon.
I tapped it and soon realized what the numbers meant.
However, they were inaccurate. There were over one hundred requests for connections in my notifications, but there was one in particular that piqued my interest. It was the last one. It was her . My Ever.
SincerelyyEvv
I accepted the request she’d sent and left the others where they were.
I clicked her picture and was led to her profile.
Aside from the picture she’d posted a few hours ago, her feed was almost empty.
She’d obviously created the profile recently.
I quickly read her profile, learning that she was a baker.
The image of her in the kitchen with desserts surrounding her in a chef’s hat flashed in my head, bringing a smile to my face.
After staring at her perfect figure in the jumpsuit for an eternity, I finally double tapped it. Right underneath it was that bubble again. I pressed it and was led to the comment section.
Seven . There wasn’t anything else to be said. I simply wanted to remind her of our plans.
I didn’t wait for a response knowing that she was at work and probably not on her phone. When I got ready to shut off my cell phone’s screen, another message from Laike appeared. I opened it and laughed out loud at his foolishness.
Seven. Nigga, you sound like a bitch.
Stay off her page, stalking ass nigga. I blackened the screen and tossed my cell aside to finish setting my new computer up.
An hour later, and I was still searching the web for the perfect gift for Ever. Time wasn’t on my side, but I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. My goal was to keep Ever smiling all day, long before I even showed up to the door.
Another hour passed, and I’d placed a rush order with a small embroidery company for one of the gifts I needed by seven.
I searched the Farmer’s Fresh website while configuring a thorough grocery list for everything I’d be needing to make dinner for the night.
With lobster, steak, potatoes, and broccoli on the menu, I wouldn’t be a full hour in the kitchen while Ever sipped wine and waited for dinner to be served.
By eight-thirty, I wanted us seated and blessing our food.
During my browsing, I continued to run across the fifteen-dollar delivery option.
After realizing how long a grocery store run would take, I dug a little deeper to find out exactly how delivery worked.
In less than thirty minutes, I’d put in a full order and would have everything I was missing within two hours.
It wasn’t much. My fridge and cabinets were stocked, but there were a few things that I couldn’t substitute – like fresh broccoli and fresh lobster.