Chapter 2
CHAPTER
TWO
TAURUS
I was an only child to a woman who slowly died to a disease she didn’t even know was present in her body.
By the age of ten, I was considered a ward of the state until my grandfather found me.
The old man was estranged to my mother because of who my father was, but when he heard that his only daughter had died and left a boy, he flew to Atlanta from Chicago and picked me up that first day.
From that day forward, shit was what it was.
Pops raised me as if I were his son and gave me all the tools to survive this cold ass world.
And there I was, out there surviving and making sure to be the taker before someone took from me.
To me, it was just that simple, and there wasn’t a damn thing that could change my mind.
Pulling up to the red light, I glanced out at the live city that never slept and shook my head.
Chicago was so much more than that for a nigga like me.
It was my fucking palace, and I intended to keep it that way, conquering one thing at a time.
It didn’t take me long to reach my destination.
I was meeting Lane. Too bad she didn’t know that she was meeting me.
I had called in a few favors for her location, and I was doing as I promised.
What she didn’t know was the day I saw her at her girl’s bar wasn’t the first time we’d been in the same room.
The last time we were in the same room, I watched her tear the state’s attorney to shreds and then cross her arms with the most-satisfied smirk.
She represented one of my young bulls on some bullshit ass charges.
I didn’t know how he obtained her, because I looked up her numbers, and shorty was worth a few bucks.
He claimed she was a friend of the family.
I never inquired what type of friend because I’d find that out from her.
She was a pit bull and quick as fuck on her feet.
The moment I walked in the door, I spotted her sitting at the table alone with her eyes buried in a book. She looked like the type that thought she loved her own space. I walked over and took a seat across from her.
She never looked up from her book, but she spoke. “I think it’s considered stalking, Mr—”
“White. Taurus White.” I admired her beauty as she finally looked up from her book.
“Hmm. What can I do for you, Mr. White?” she questioned.
“Exactly what I asked last time. Come get a meal with me.” I nodded.
She set the book on the table and looked over at me with a questioning expression. “Why?”
“Because I wanna get to know you,” I responded simply.
“I’m engaged, so getting to know me would be pointless.”
I laughed. “Nah. Your engagement is pointless. You don’t wanna be with that man no more than you want to tell me no.
So for once, do some shit that you actually wanna do, love.
” I stood to my feet and looked her over.
I half expected her to give me more trouble, but she didn’t.
Instead, she agreed to dinner with a nod.
I had gone through a lot to make sure she was at the right place at the right time so I could get to know her.
She thought we were exiting, but we weren’t.
I grabbed her hand, and she looked at me as I nodded my head in the direction of the elevator that led up to a nice private dining spot that I ordered tuna rolls from.
They were the only place that I’d eat my sushi from.
Once we stepped on the elevator, she glanced in my direction before looking straight ahead.
The ride to the top floor was quiet, and I could tell she was nervous.
She tapped her foot the entire time. When the elevator doors opened, I grabbed her free hand and led her toward the hostess’s spot.
“Reservation for White.”
Within seconds. we were seated in the back. The waitress dropped our menus on the table before closing the wooden doors and leaving us alone.
“How did you know that I’d be here?” she questioned, gazing in my direction.
I glanced up from my menu with a smirk. “It wasn’t cheap. How about that?”
She giggled. “I guess the thought counts most. What do you do besides extortion, Mr. White?”
“Damn, it’s like that, bae? No small talk or none of that?” I questioned.
“I’ve never liked, nor have I ever been good at small talk.”
I nodded my head. “Fair enough, and ain’t nobody extorting. It’s protection for small businesses, and from what I hear, ya girl ain’t going.” I chuckled. Her girl was a bull too, per Savior.
“Well, Regancy is Regancy, so she isn’t paying.”
“So tell me about you, baby girl.”
She nodded and looked me over. “What is it you don’t already know, Taurus?”
“Why you chose criminal law when ya boy plays with the numbers and your father is an environmental lawyer.” That alone intrigued me.
“Because my mother was a criminal lawyer before she got pregnant with my brother. I guess since I’ve always looked up to her, I was drawn to the dance.”
I nodded. “Then why live life on training wheels?”
She giggled a little to herself. “And how am I doing that, Mr. White?”
“It’s simple, shorty. You live on the sidewalk, and you’re wasting your time with a nigga who ain’t gonna do shit but sit on the sidewalk with you.”
“Well, you just know my life, don’t you?” she questioned.
“I know what I see, but correct me if I’m wrong.”
“And what about yourself? Don’t you find it the least bit odd that you know so much about me and my situation, but I know nothing about you?” She pursed her lips.
“Nah, because I was taught to go for what I want.”
“Even if it’s unavailable?” she questioned.
“Nothing is unavailable to me.” I maintained my eye contact with her when I said that. I needed her to understand exactly what I was saying because I wouldn’t be repeating myself.
She smirked, and for the rest of dinner, she tried to avoid eye contact with me. It wasn’t possible, because she was sitting right across from me, and I couldn’t help but hold the gaze of her beautiful orbs.
“I told you that you didn’t have to walk me to my car, Taurus.” She kept trying to convince me that she didn’t want me to walk her to her car.
“Yeah, okay. C’mon, baby girl.” I held my hand out for her to take it.
She shook her head. “Are you always this forward with your women?”
I watched her throw her purse on her shoulder before walking ahead of me toward the elevator. “I don’t have women, Lane. I’m just me, and I can’t help how you make a nigga act.”
She nodded and stepped on the now open elevator. “I guess.”
I put my back to the elevator and watched her stand awkwardly in the middle of it. I could tell she was uncomfortable with my gaze on her.
“Why stare?” Her voice was barely audible.
“Because you won’t let me touch.” I tucked my bottom lips between my teeth.
She giggled. “You really do say whatever is on your mind, no matter how uncomfortable it makes a person.”
“One day, you’ll find comfort in my gaze and solace in my words. Give us time, ma.”
“I’m en—”
“Stop bringing up irrelevant shit.” I grabbed her hand and led her off the elevator as it opened fully on the ground level parking garage. “Where’s your car, Lane?” I asked.
Without another word, she used her freehand to point toward the front of the garage. Once we reached her car, I did just what I did the first time I walked her to her car.
“You gonna give me a kiss before I let you pull off.”
She had a goofy grin on her face. “Now, why would I do that?”
“Because we already started the routine, and I damn sure ain’t moving until you do.”
REGANCY
The day started out good until I had two burly men in my face asking about a payment of some sort.
I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but after I gave them a piece of my mind, they made a call, and they were suddenly on their way.
It was that fucking simple for me because I refused to allow somebody to muscle into anything that I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into.
My daughter begged me to let her spend the night with her grandmother, so I was kid free and on the way home to a glass of wine and marathon of Blue Bloods.
That had become my favorite show when I moved back here because not only did it have an abundance of episodes, but it reminded me of home.
I gathered all of my things and put them in my purse before standing to my feet. It was time to get my night started. The ringing of my phone pulled me from my thoughts on leaving. I fetched my phone from my junky tote and put it to my ear.
“Hello?” I answered. I didn’t bother looking at the caller ID.
“Are you still at the bar, Regancy?” My mother’s voice came barreling through the phone.
It was becoming routine for her to call me when I worked late nights.
She’d make me talk to her the entire time I locked up because she said it wasn’t safe for me to be there alone.
She was probably right, but my job didn’t stop with the normal nine-to-five, because it was my business. I worked all day, every day.
“Yes, Mom, I am. I’m leaving now though.” I was making sure I didn’t leave anything on my desk. I cut the lights out and exited my office.
“We talked about this. Why don’t you call your brother, and he—”
“I’m going to try to do fewer long nights, so that won’t be necessary because…
” My sentence trailed off when I spotted old boy from the other night taking what looked like a suit jacket off and sitting it on the back of one of my bar chairs.
“Mama, let me call you back when I get to the car.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond before I hung up.
“Come take a seat, shorty.” His voice was commanding, but it didn’t move me.
I crossed my arms across my chest and threw knives at that nigga with my glare. “What the hell are you doing in here? We’re closed.”
“I asked you to come take a seat.” He never looked up at me.
I stood right where I was and looked at him.