Nathaniel
I KNEW CHARMY was in good hands with Yzzy but part of me didn’t want to leave her to talk to my brother.
I’m sure he felt the same way about his wife but duty called.
I wanted to be on the fuck duty type of time and make good on eating Charmy like I’d promised her before dinner started.
She’d fucked up letting me kiss her again.
Made it even worse when she sat in the dining room and fit right in.
She was all big smiles and good manners.
That charm that had me mesmerized had the women that I valued most already including her in family shit because she fit in that naturally.
It was no longer a question of if but when I was going to get her to drop that nigga from back home so we could be official.
Hell, in my head we already go together.
I followed Samp into my daddy’s study that he rarely used anymore.
If he wasn’t walking the property with mama he would’ve been right in here having a drink with us talking about business.
Instead, we were handling it and that felt…
symbolic. Sampson had made him aware of the issues but he didn’t feel the need to jump in and take over.
He trusted us enough to make it right. I’m sure Samp was used to that feeling but I hadn’t always gotten that response from either of them.
It still made me poke my chest out that my daddy and my big brother both saw me as a man and not a little kid. Even when my ass acted like one.
“I like her.”
That was as much of a stamp of approval that I would get from him and it brought a smile to my face.
Samp was by the bar pouring out the Merrick Reserve, which was part of the thank you gift that Prince Xerxes had sent for the use of one of our facilities.
He apparently hadn’t been joking about sending Yzzy a pallet of gold either, since we didn’t have to come out of pocket to upgrade said facility once we ripped out all the old equipment. And helped dispose of a few bodies.
My brother strolled toward me with the ease of a man who’d always been confident before handing me the glass. “I do, too.”
He huffed a laugh as he brought the highball to his lips. “I think that was painfully clear to everyone when you tried to devour her instead of daddy’s ribs before dinner started.”
I grinned cause I wasn’t going to apologize for a damn thing that happened between the two of us. My intentions were obvious, like I kept reminding Charmy, her ass needed to keep up.
“I know I ain’t talk to you about girls or shit like that since I was a kid.”
“And I didn’t have any advice for you then. I probably have a better handle on it now.”
His words gave me pause because I really had to respect this nigga a lot to go to his ass for advice. I’d never seen him date anybody growing up yet he was still the first person I turned to when I had questions.
“Gotdamn, my ass was over here asking you about liking girls and I probably knew more than you did.”
“Shut the fuck up, Bucky. I got my fucking girl. You over here kissing her but are you claiming her?” He held up his hand smug as fuck, demonstrating that he had indeed locked his woman down. That gold band had me feeling real fucking jealous of my brother.
“Took your stupid ass two years too long but yeah, you did that. Finally. So kudos and better late than never or whatever they say.”
“Nigga, I will—”
I ran around the room ‘cause he hopped up from where he’d been leaning like he was coming after me.
“C’mon now, bruh. We both got better things we could be doing than to sit here fucking around with each other.
I, like you, would much rather be playing around with my fucking girl and making moves toward locking her down. ”
He paused his chase and sat down his glass on the desk. I swore reminding that nigga he had a wife and free use of his dick was always the key to his compliance.
“You right. I ain’t got time to waste on you. So, tell me what you found.”
I tossed back the rest of the drink and gave him the rundown on what Hamish relayed. “I don’t know if it’s the data center shit that’s going on, but there are a lot of new folks asking questions about business in the Valley.”
“You think it has something to do with the cattle that was stolen?”
“Maybe not directly. I think there’s somebody trying to test what they can get away with and how we and the folks around here will respond. I don’t think they planned on the community being as tight as it is or us having the kind of technology we do.”
“Yeah, they tried that shit a second time and we were able to pick them up on camera. They got spooked and must have noticed the new surveillance because they didn’t drive far enough onto the property for it to be a justified shooting.”
I loved this new side of my brother. It was always there but he was more free with letting his goon come out to play.
“You act like we couldn’t have staged that shit properly.”
He smiled and I was sure he was reminiscing on our last brotherly project. “Too messy and we got to save up our goodwill. Besides, I can’t question dead men and if they’re here doing the actual work then they aren’t the major players.”
“Jacoby’s people seen anything?” Having his land and the land his piece of shit grandfather used to own surrounding ours was coming in clutch for keeping an eye on things.
“Nah, but you know he has his workers ready for whatever. Adam’s technology was all through both of his properties so they wouldn’t have gotten through for shit.”
“Not us being behind.”
“Not anymore.” We shared a grin and I was glad that we were on the same page with the urgency of this situation.
“What’s our plan?”
“I thought gang shit was your area of expertise since you the one with the balaclava.” Samp eased down in one of the chairs in front of the desk like he was truly waiting on me to give him ideas.
“You deadass?”
“This is the shit you’re good at. Making mayhem. What should we do to find them?” He leaned back and waited for me to give him ideas.
“The girls at the bar are reporting back and it’s only a matter of time.”
“Is that good enough for you?”
“Nah. That nigga that rolled up on Charmy is going to have to see me. Violently.”
“I knew he was trespassing but did he put his hands on her?” The way he was sitting forward ready to get active made me happy. That meant he accepted her as part of the family the way I did Yzzy.
“He didn’t touch her. We would’ve been covering up another murder if that had happened. But he scared her. And I can’t lie, I keep rolling up on this girl when folks are trying to fuck with her. I don’t appreciate that.”
“Is it your heart or your ego fucking with you when you see her in danger?”
“I feel like if I don’t fix it I won’t be able to live with myself. That if something happened to her I’d lose a part of my mind.”
Sampson’s nod was curt. An outward expression of something he already believed. “Definitely your heart then. I’m happy that you’ve found your person—”
“She says she got a boyfriend.”
“With the way you kissed her I wouldn’t say that was true unless his name is Bucky Chisholm-Love.”
“There’s something up with that, too. I’m not sure what it’s about but she talks about dude like he’s her boss or something. It’s throwing me.”
“I doubt if you’re gonna let some man who ain’t doing her right stand in your way. My only advice is to keep doing what you’re doing. She feels the same way about you that you do about her.”
“Look at you. Coming in clutch with relationship advice. Shit is like twenty-five years later but it was clearly right on time.”
Samp looked like he wanted to Hulk Smash my Black ass through the floor. “This is what I get for giving you good advice.”
“I hear you and I hear you. If this is how you felt about Yzabel in the slightest then you’re a much stronger man and a better man than me. I’m not just impatient but my whole body is screaming at me that she’s ours. I’m not trying to fight that.”
“Then don’t. Figure out what’s wrong with her dude back home and then solidify your spot in her life. Easy.”
“So you say.”
“So I did. I overcame a lot to get with Black and every step was worth it.”
“I’ve called some of the other families and they’re good with keeping an eye out for strangers.
They’re reporting back if they see new cars or new faces.
So far the girls at the bar say it’s two or three of them that they’ve seen.
One that was on my land, another that bothered Charmy at the bar and a third they could’ve give me a good description on. ”
Samp nodded again taking in what I’d reported. “We running their info yet?”
“Nah. I’m waiting until I have all three names before I give it to them. Piecing together information means we won’t have the big picture. I’d rather be thorough and deliberate than rush and miss something. We got too much riding on this: family, legacy—”
“And love if the look on your face says anything.”
I patted him on the shoulder as he rolled his eyes at me. I’m sure he thought I was going to deny it but there was no need. “You always were the smartest one in the family, big brother.”