Chapter 26
I sat at the head of the table, fingers tapping on the wood, leg kicked out, face set in stone while my team ran down the numbers to me.
Shipments. Routes. Percentages. Product moving in and out.
All routine shit that we discussed monthly.
Shit I usually had locked in before we even started.
But I wasn't present like I usually was.
This shit was getting on my nerves. Honestly—everything had been irritating the fuck out of me lately. Business. Traffic. Muhfucka's talking to me. Looking at me. My mind kept drifting—pulling me somewhere else. Somewhere I wasn't supposed to be.
To her—
I clenched my jaw, dragging my hand down my face as one of my guys, Mitch, kept talking.
"…We can move the load through the west route and cut about six hour—"
"What?" I cut in sharply, sitting up and lifting my head to look at him.
The room went quiet.
Mitch cleared his throat." If we move through the west route there's less traffic and checkpoints."
"And more eyes," I replied tightly. "You just said last month that route was hot."
"It cooled down," he responded.
"When?" I countered.
He hesitated.
I leaned forward slowly, my fingers pressing into the table. "When did it cool down, Mitch?"
"We heard—"
"You heard—?" I repeated, tone dropping. "You running operations off of hearsay now, nigga?"
Silence. A couple of them shifted in their seats.
"Stick to what works," I stated. "I'm not risking losing product 'cause you wanna experiment."
"For sure, Boss." He nodded quickly.
I waved my hand slightly. "Continue."
They did, but I could feel the tension in the air. They were watching me now. Measuring my mood, trying to figure out where I was at. And I didn’t like that. I didn’t like feeling…off.
Syrus kept glancing over at me but I ignored his ass too.
I picked up the spreadsheet in front of me. Numbers blurred together, my focus slipping in and out. Her face crossed my mind again. The thickness of her thighs. The glisten of her inner lips. My groin tightened.
I clenched my jaw, tossing the paper back on the table harder than I meant to. “Who approved this?” I asked sharply.
Syrus leaned forward. “That was me.”
I looked at him. “You double check this?”
“You know I did,” He gave me a look.
“Then why the numbers off?” I challenged.
“They not off—”
“They’re off,” I cut in, tapping the paper. “Right here. That count don’t match the last shipment.”
He leaned in, scanning it again, slower this time.” … it might be a miscount.”
“Might be?” I repeated, my voice low. “You telling me you not sure? You supposed to be my right hand.”
“Nah, I—”
“Figure it out before it becomes a problem,” I said, cutting him off again. “I don’t deal in ‘might be.’”
He cut his eyes at me, jaw locked. I could tell he wanted to swing on me, but instead he just nodded. "Heard you," he gritted out.
I leaned back again, my fingers drumming once against the table before going still.
This wasn’t me. I knew it. They knew it. I never had to press this hard for basic shit, especially not with Sy. Never had to second guess every little detail 'cause I trusted my team.
My phone buzzed against the table. My eyes dropped to it automatically. Eva.
I stared at it, chest tightening. Then I snatched it up, silenced it, and tossed it back down. “Wrap it up,” I said, circling my finger in the air.
They paused.
“We still got—” Mitch began
“I said wrap it up.” That edge in my voice made it clear I wasn’t repeating myself. Chairs moved. No one argued. They started filing out one by one, quieter than they came in.
Syrus hung back, foot tapping, jaw working overtime. As soon as the last man left, he leaned up, eyes hard. "You ever disrespect me in front of the team again, we gon' have a real fucking problem, Boss," he spat out.
My brows raised. "What kind of problem?" I challenged. "You know I ain't never been the kind of nigga to walk away from a problem, Sy."
His nostrils flared. "The kind of problem where this business relationship is gonna be compromised if you don't get it the fuck together, nigga," he retorted.
Letting out a deep breath, he ran both hands down his face before continuing in a more even tone.
"Look…you my man's and all, and I don't know if you got some shit going on at home, but you need to go fix that shit before we have our next meeting. " With that, he stood and walked out.
The door closed behind him leaving quiet behind. I leaned forward, elbows on the table, staring at nothing for a second. This shit was starting to bleed into everything, and I was struggling to get a grasp of the hold this damn woman had on me.
Standing, I snatched up my phone just as it rang again. Eva again. Taking a deep breath I answered. "What's up?"
A pause. "What's up?" she echoed voice laced with annoyance. "That’s how you answer your wife's call—like I'm one of your homeboys?"
Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I exhaled sharply. "My bad," I replied, voice softer. "What's going on, baby?"
I heard her sigh, "Have you forgotten we're having dinner with Shelby and Devon tonight?"
"Fuck—"I dragged out, heading to my truck.
Shelby and Devon. Married couple. Eva was closer to Shelby than I was Devon, but the nigga was cool. A square—but he was good people.
"Can we reschedule, Eva? I had a long day." I slid into the driver's side.
"No. We can't Bishop," she replied evenly. "We’ve already rescheduled and the reservations have already been made."
Dropping my head against the headrest I rubbed my eyes.
"You know I shouldn't have to drag my fucking husband on a date," she snapped.
"Chill—" I started the car, placing the call on speaker. "Before you launch into a tirade…I got you. I'm on my way home, aight?"
"Mmhm," she said before hanging up.
Taking another deep breath I made my way home. When I got to the crib, the twins were already at her moms for the night. Eva was at her vanity applying her make-up. She cut her eyes at me when I walked in, lips pursed, but she didn't say anything.
Bending down, I kissed the back of her neck. "I'm sorry, aight? Don’t beat me up. I'll take you shopping this weekend to make up for it."
A smile tugged at her lips, although I could see her trying to fight it.
"Dior." I planted another kiss on her neck. "Prada." Another kiss. "Valentino." My lips pressed to her ear. "Hermes," I whispered.
Eva gasped before finally smiling. She elbowed me lightly. "You're such an asshole sometimes." She looked at me through the mirror.
"I know. I'm sorry, love." Kissing her temple I straightened. "What time are our reservations?"
"Seven. And we can't be late because they only have a five-minute grace period."
I glanced at the time on my phone. "Alright. Let me go shower and get ready." Dropping another kiss on top of her head, I headed to the bathroom. Once I was showered with a towel slung around my waist, Eva was stepping into her dress.
"Come zip me up, baby." She turned her back to face me.
Padding over, I carefully zipped the little black dress, kissing her shoulder when I was done. "You look beautiful, baby."
"Thank you," she turned to face me with a smile, placing her hands on my chest. "I laid out your clothes."
Turning my head I saw the black slacks and dress shirt placed neatly on the bed. "Thank you," I smirked.
"Hurry." She patted my chest and walked out.
I dressed quickly, sprayed on cologne, brushed my waves and beard and then we were off. Tapping the address in the GPS I read the name out loud. "Simmer I forced myself to enjoy this moment.
Our food arrived and I ain't gon' hold you—the meal was one of the best I had ever had. I was already planning to add Simmer & Soul to the rotation on a weekly basis.
Eva watched me playfully. "This shit is amazing." She shook her head in awe.
"Hell yeah." I shoveled another bite of loaded potatoes in my mouth. "We gotta run this back next weekend."
"And the weekend after that," she laughed.
"Oh, there he is," Devon spoke up. "My frat and the owner." He stood slightly and waved his hand.