Chapter 10
“The fuck,” he muttered, zooming in on the positive sign. “Congratulations, daddy,” he read her text aloud.
That bitch was trying to be funny. He didn’t think she could even conceive kids, which was why they didn’t always use protection.
What the fuck is going on? He frowned, eyes falling on the building in front of him.
He tucked his phone, deciding he was going to ignore her ass for now until he dealt with everything with Minx.
Rose climbed out of the truck and pulled his pants up on his hips, crossing the lot to the entry.
The bell above the door rang, and Max’s voice carried into the lobby from the back office.
There was an older lady, Miss Jane, at the front desk taking calls and filing.
“Hello, handsome,” she greeted him with a warm smile. “You here to see Max?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rose bobbed his head.
“Rose, come on back!” Max bellowed.
Seated behind his big, U-shaped desk, smoking a cigar with his feet kicked up, Max waved him in.
“Max, I’m telling you now, we have gone over these numbers three times. Something is off. At least a hundred thousand,” his accountant, Vladimir, explained to him.
Exasperated, Rose could feel his frustration through the speakerphone on Max’s desk. He slipped into the chair across from him and folded his arms across his stomach, leaning back. Max nodded, taking a pull from the Cuban cigar between his fingers.
“OK, Vlad. I’ll get back with you after I find out a few things. Send me that report,” Max ordered before he hit the button to hang up.
When he finished, he planted his feet on the ground and spun in his chair to face Rose. Leaning forward on his elbows, Max’s expression resembled stone.
“You hear that shit?” He nodded to the phone.
“I heard. What you thinking?” Rose queried.
Max hated to voice his true concerns because he didn’t want it to be true.
Everything in him told him Gannon had something to do with the missing funds.
He put him in a position to do so when Rose left a year ago.
Max trusted him, and he never thought that Gannon would violate that.
Dating Minx now seemed like a violation, leaving Max questioning everything.
Rubbing his beard, he leaned back in his chair with a pensive glare.
“He’s sending the report over now.” Max stood tall.
He was a big, towering man with broad shoulders.
Hair sleeked back into a ponytail, dressed in dark denim jeans with a gray button-up shirt and his motorcycle vest, Max was sharp yet rugged.
A rider, and a rock star, that’s who Max was and always would be.
He’d come a long way over the years. Every day, he joked with his wife about them growing old and riding on his motorcycle through the city.
He wanted them to own their own bar and grill.
She would cook, he would run the bar, and their grandkids would run around the back like a bunch of wild banshees.
“What you thinking?” Rose prompted.
Max gave him his back and stood at his fully stocked bar, mixing a glass of bourbon. Taking a gulp, he puffed his cigar, then exhaled. When he spun to face Rose, trouble clouded his face. Both of his thick brows knitted above his gaze.
“When you left, I had to fill a void. At first, shit was good. Gannon stepped in and took care of everything. There were no hiccups.” Max took another sip of his drink.
“But recently, the numbers have fluctuated. I don’t like the direction their going.
I had Vlad give me a quarterly report of everything coming in.
He and his team went through it with a fine-tooth comb. Shit ain’t adding up.”
“You think Gannon is behind this?” Rose asked, surprised.
“He is the only change I have made in anything in the last year. I gave him a chance after you left because I needed him, and now I’m wondering what his motives are.
” Max’s voice trailed off as he peered into the glass he gripped in his hand.
“I’m gonna have somebody dig a little deeper into his background. ”
Rose couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Max remained on his feet.
“Mila called. She said Mille got suspended and you picked him up?” Max asked, changing the subject to some shit he could do something about.
“Yeah, he got into a fight with some kid. They say he’s suspended for three days.
I ran into Minx. I guess they called her too.
” Rose stared off. “I took him to get something to eat and bought him a new game for his PlayStation. From what he told me, sounds like the little nigga swung first. Mil was just defending himself.”
“So you moved out, got a new place, and you avoiding my daughter. What’s going on, Rose?” Max queried, taking position behind his desk to stare him down.
“What you want me to say to you, Max? I already gotta deal with Minx’s ass.”
“Tell me the real. This is my daughter, and you are like a son. Over the years… I have watched y’all.” Max lowered himself back into his chair. “So you tell me what it is you feel.”
Rose abruptly stood, rounding the back of his chair.
“You want me to talk to you about my feelings?” he repeated. “That ain’t even me, Max.”
“Maybe you should try it on me first. Since whatever it is, you can’t seem to talk to Minx about.”
Rose gripped the back of the chair and lowered his eyes to the ground, slightly bowing his head.
“You know… after all the shit my mama did to me… I never thought about a relationship with a woman. Aside from fucking, I ain’t got shit to offer a bitch.
Minx been there for me in some of my darkest days, and she always takes care of me and puts me back together when I feel like I ain’t shit and don’t deserve shit.
I never want to hurt her or take her for granted.
You know I’d give a fucking arm or anything she needs. As long as she’s happy, I’m good.”
“What if what she needs is you?” Max asked, testing him.
“How would you feel if something else popped off between us? I gotta look over my shoulder and shit?” Rose kidded, sticking his chest out.
Max didn’t answer right away. He lit his cigar again and puffed a few times.
“That depends on what your intentions for her will be. Are you going to be there for her and take care of her, even when you don’t like each other or aren’t getting along? Are you going to run at the first sign of trouble between you?”
“You know I ain’t even built like that, Max. If I go all in, that’s what it is. Ain’t no looking back,” Rose spoke with confidence.
“Is that what I’m hearing from you?” Max pressed, exhaling a thick cloud around him.
“Minx is a part of a nigga. She is the only mothafucka that makes me want to be better, be the best caliber of a man that I can be. If I’m going there with her, that’s what she deserves,” Rose articulated.
“Have you told her any of this?” Max questioned, taking another puff.
“Nah.” Rose shook his head and dropped his chin to his chest briefly. “But I told her I want to meet her tonight and talk about some shit. I know she and Luna had plans to go out. I got an idea though. Minx is big on action, so I got something for her.”
“You have to take care of the woman that holds your heart, Rose. If you don’t, her reflex will be to bruise yours. You don’t want that. Always be honest with her, no matter how small the shit is,” Max advised.
Rose took his words to heart. Max giving him his blessing to pursue things with Minx, wasn’t something he expected. His approval meant something.
“So… you okay with this?” Rose had to be sure if he was going to take that leap.
“As long as you put her first, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“I gotta go take care of some shit before I see her. You need anything else from me? How you want to handle this with Gannon?”
“Let me worry about that. I need to get some facts before I approach him.”
“A’ight, I’ll be on standby.” Rose headed for the door.
Max sat, taking hits of his cigar as murderous thoughts danced around his head.
A thief was one thing, but a disloyal motherfucker made him see red.
Gannon was pushing it, and the nigga was bold with the shit like Max would never pick up on it.
His time was up. Based off the evidence alone, Max considered confronting him to get his reaction.
A snake motherfucker always hid their hand after throwing rocks though.
So he knew he had to be careful with how he moved.
Dressed in their best, Minx and Luna stepped in three-inch heels with perfectly beat faces.
The music blasted through the speakers of Dynamite.
Minx didn’t know why she even agreed to come.
It was the hottest spot in town though, so it wasn’t like they had anywhere else to go.
She was hoping she didn’t run into Gannon.
“Aye, check out the crowd.” Luna threw her ass back and cut through the crowd with her friend.
“It is wall-to-wall. Can’t even breathe around here.” She fanned herself as they stopped at the bar.
Luna waved to the bartender and ordered martinis for them.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” she told Minx as she climbed on a stool.
“I’ll be here,” Minx replied with little enthusiasm.
Mind all over the place, she was still spiraling from her encounter with Rose earlier that day. Since she hadn’t heard from him yet, part of her wondered if she would or if he was playing games with her. If he was, she was done, done with his ass. There was going to be no turning back.
“Mmm, they don’t make ’em like you no more. What’s good with you, ma? What you want in life? A nigga will rob, steal, and kill to get it for you.” Eirian’s voice sent a shudder up Minx’s back as he slid up beside her on a stool.