TEN
“I DON’T HAVE NO TIME FOR THESE BITCHES, I’M HANDLING BUSINESS.” JOHNNY CINCO
“Tonight, we’re expecting a lot of big names, so it’s on y’all to make sure they’re having a good time. I don’t want to see an empty glass in sight. Every time they take a sip, top that mother fucker off.”
“What if they don’t want the complimentary champagne?”
“That’s all we offering. Let ’em know that we have bottles for sale,” Kadeer answered.
“Koko and Meilani, y’all are in sections four through eight.
Split the tips at the end of the night. If you work together and be cohesive when it comes to anticipating their needs the more y’all make.
” It sounded simple but to these young, money-hungry hoes, the word teamwork didn’t exist. Kadeer knew what he was doing.
This was their last chance to get it together or he would be firing the both of them.
He now understood that in the entertainment/nightlife industry, a pretty face didn’t always equate to dollars.
They were easily looking for a come-up and it irritated him so bad.
He needed girls who were hustlers and who knew how to get the money.
“What’s the word for tonight?” he posed a question for the staff.
“UPSELL!” they said in unison.
“One more time, what are we going to do tonight?”
“UPSELL!”
He clapped his hands, happily. “Exactly, so that means I should see bottle sparklers in the air from the time we open to the time we close. Whoever sells the most bottles gets a thousand dollars.”
“Do we get it tonight or when we get our tip-out?” The main one who didn’t upsell had the nerve to ask.
“Tonight,” Kadeer said in a snippy tone. She got on his damn nerves.
“That’s all I got. Make sure you re-applying lipstick and perfume please. Y’all can’t be smelling like you just left the gym.” He hated to be the one to have to reiterate this but their mamas clearly didn’t teach them shit.
“Yo, DJ Smurf hang back for me, bro,” Jio said.
He never spoke in these meetings. He was rarely available for them since this was more Kadeer’s lane anyway.
The staff filed out of the room in a rush to get to family meal. They were fed every night after Kadeer realized that the customer service was better when the staff wasn’t starving or stealing food off of people’s plates at the expo window.
“Wassup boss?” Smurf said after the room cleared.
“I made this lil’ list for you. Tape it to your table, pin it to your memory… whatever you need to do, make it happen.”
Kadeer didn’t know what he was talking about, but he would wait to ask him when they were alone.
“Who is Nina?”
Jio stood and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He flipped through a few photos before handing it over to Smurf.
“That’s Nina, and whenever you see her or you’re notified that she’s in the building, you play that song on the paper.”
“Gotcha, and what do you mean by 911 for this song?”
“If you see the police or you’re notified that an undercover may possibly be in the club.”
“To remind you, you signed an NDA so I won’t hear this from any of the girls, will I?” Kadeer threatened in his own way.
“Not at all.”
“Appreciate it man. Go crazy tonight!” Jio dapped him up and Smurf was out of their sight in no time.
“Nigga you made a cheat code? Literally?”
Jio chuckled, “Call it what you want. Nina won’t pop up on me no more without me knowing.”
“Why did she do that anyway?”
“No idea. She’s mad about something though because she ignoring a nigga calls.”
Jio was used to the hot and cold behavior from her.
He was to blame because she’d only begun to move this way after he did it first. Due to his ever-changing schedule, he decided to give her some air and let her cool off.
Once this next shipment was picked up, he would have the mental capacity to kiss her ass and get them back on the same page.
“Relationships are work,” Kadeer said in an exhausted tone.
He agreed, “Tell me about it! Like damn, we was just cool, now you back mad.”
Jio shook his head.
Kadeer studied the cameras. “We should do two mill by Sunday.”
“Good… I’m trying so hard not to use this shit to do what I do, but damn it’s getting hard.”
He made a promise that this would remain a legit business not tied into any of his illegal dealings with the Mob, but he was so tempted to launder money through the business account.
He’d even thought about storing bricks in the basement since the mother fucker was damn near empty.
It was a whole gold mine down there just waiting to be loaded with packs of cocaine and heroin.
“Stay focused cus this is our retirement money.”
Kadeer spoke for himself because Jio didn’t have all his eggs in the basket that was labeled VIBES.
“We got a long way to go, bro,” Jio said slowly.
Vibes was doing good but the club income wasn’t steady enough for him to walk away from the streets and not look back.
Drug money was consistent. It rarely slowed up and right now Jio was making more money than he’d ever had, and it was through his own connections and nothing at all to do with his weird ass daddy.
He was pretty fuckin’ proud of himself. Breaking away from his old ways and traditional methods wasn’t easy, but the reward was right in front of his eyes.
Jio’s head would forever remain on a swivel all because he trusted no one, but these new cats hadn’t shown him no funny business yet.
Everyone had the same motive in mind and that was to get money and take their asses back in the crib.
His new partners were husbands and proud fathers.
They didn’t do late night calls. Their meetings were at steak houses and coffee shops.
Real corporate type shit. Jio was transforming into a man that he didn’t recognize, but that’s what he wanted.
The way Nina’s mother looked at him with disgust in her eyes stuck with him, and he hated that he cared about what her family thought of him, but deep down it bothered him greatly.
Regardless of how they felt, Jio knew that he was more than some drug dealer.
He was a made man who handled real business, fuck what they thought about him.
Vibes was on its way to becoming the #1 place to have a good time and that didn’t have shit to do with The Gottis.
He was determined to be successful in both lanes though, which is why he loved his baby so much because she was with him either way it went…
or so he thought. Jio pushed the bullshit to the back of his mind as he untucked his button down.
“Let’s have a good time tonight, we deserve it,” he decided.
η
Nina returned to her loft four days later feeling different.
Not like a new woman or anything, but her mind was clear and she had a better understanding of the direction she planned to go on this journey called life.
The concierge in her building would be getting a hefty Christmas gift in the form of crispy blue notes for the extra care and attentiveness that they paid to her all the time.
She couldn’t be convinced that she wasn’t their favorite resident.
They happily looked after Nino in Nina’s absence and she was beyond grateful. After a long, hot shower in her own tub, Nina began to unpack the few things that she’d grabbed during a quick pop over. She cracked one of the windows to get some fresh air in and lit her favorite rosewater candle.
Nina and Danyelle decided to make vision boards, which was something she wasn’t too familiar with, but her artsy, well-traveled, and very cultured friend Danyelle knew all about them.
Nina leaned her carefully curated vision board against the wall near her bedroom window, a place where she knew without a doubt she would see it every morning.
For the first time in months, Nina felt excited about getting her life back.
What she did not know was that Jio knew exactly where she had been the entire time because Roberto had kept him in the loop. He was giving her space because it sounded like the mature and healthy thing to do, but he was Jio and Jio was a nigga…
The whole space thing felt noble until he ran into shorty from the bank.
She looked pleased to see him…but was a little too thirsty for his liking. However, it could’ve been because he’d been dodging her calls. She stepped into his path like she had been waiting for the chance to catch up with him.
“Jio.”
“What’s up stranger?” He beat her to the punch of acting as if it was her that’d been missing in action and not the other way around.
She tried to look sexy, although he barely glanced at her.
“Not much. I finally met the mystery woman.”
“Who would that be?”
“I didn’t know you were messing with Nina Marcelle. She came through my line at the bank and didn’t even have a clue about the gold G’s,” she laughed, although she knew that he wouldn’t find anything she said humorous.
His expression went cold. “Oh yeah, what you say to her?”
“Nothing crazy…” she said playfully. “I just told her she didn’t know everything.”
Jio stepped closer. “Like what?”
“You know…about the G’s on the money and stuff. I had to school her.”
Jio could’ve yolked her up but he was working on being a better man so instead he told her, “Lose my number shorty.”
Her smile disappeared. “Because I met your girlfriend? I don’t give a fuck about her.”
Jio didn’t need her to because that was his job. “That’s cool, just don’t hit my line no more.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very,” he nodded and proceeded to walk away.
She grabbed his arm to halt his steps. “What is that young hoe doing for you that I’m not?”
Jio stroked his beard. “Actually, she’s older than me, and she don’t have to do nothing. That’s the difference between her and all of y’all but stay blessed, sweetheart.” He gave her the real before walking away.