Chapter 7 #4
He smirked and shook his head. “Nah, I’m on some new shit, but I appreciate the offer.”
Dix chuckled again as Nene glanced at her sister then headed to the door. What she thought would be a happy reunion with Vega turned out to be a total embarrassment on her part. She was crushed but had no reason to be, and she knew it.
“Why you do her like that?”
“Like what?” Vega glanced at Tim, who had just snatched up the five hundred dollars on the end of the table after beating Brink.
“Like the hoe she is.” Dix grinned. “We fucked last night,” he offered with a shrug. “Right after I told her you were coming through today. She was pissed that she didn’t know about your party at Presidential and said she’d get up with you today. I guess things didn’t go as planned.”
Dix and Brink laughed hard, and Vega chuckled, glancing at the door again and thinking about Nene.
She was cool, but she really wasn’t shit.
He didn’t care about her smashing the homies because they weren’t exclusive, but the few times he did hit her up when he was away, she acted like she was too busy.
Being inside was hard some days, and all Vega wanted was a conversation to keep his mind off the bullshit he was going through.
She couldn’t even do that, so his logic was, fuck her.
“I’m not trying to revisit anything that I’ve been through. I’m on some new shit. Nene will be fine, or maybe she won’t, but that’s not my problem.”
“This muthafucker went in and came out born again.” Brink chuckled “But I’m glad you’re back. Dix be too fucking serious all the time. We need you around to lighten shit up.”
“I handle business, muhfucka. You could learn a few things about that.”
Brink shot him a bird then racked up the balls on the table. “Bring your ass so I can win my money back,” he yelled to Timmy, who was now at the bar.
Timmy looked over his shoulder before he wrapped his large hand around his beer.
“Aight, but when you lose again, don’t be crying like a little bitch,” he tossed out and headed over to the table.
“You see what you left me with?” Dix shook his head then started toward the bar.
Vega followed, and as soon as they were seated, Nika smiled big.
“Boss man is home.” She leaned down and lifted a bottle of his favorite, D’usse, followed by two glasses and pushed all three items between the two men. “It’s good to see you, Vega. We all missed you.”
Nika spoke from the heart. Vega was the life of the party.
He was always happy and made people feel like there wasn’t a worry in the world.
Money was good and he was generous with it.
That came from his need to party. Vega wanted everyone around him to share in the love, but things were different now.
He had a lot of shit to figure out, so popping bottles and chasing ass wasn’t gonna be the move for him.
“I missed you too, Nik. I appreciate you holding shit down for me.” He winked at her and she smiled bigger.
“You know I always got you.” Nik walked away and Dix filled both glasses.
“So, if she was holding shit down, then what the fuck was I doing?” He grinned and pushed a glass toward Vega.
“What the fuck I pay you to do.”
“Yeah, aight. You’re always hyping these women’s egos. It’s how you got caught up in the first place. I hope you learned your damn lesson.”
Vega nodded, lifting his glass with one hand and smoothing his waves with the other.
“Yeah, I learned some shit. Y’all still haven’t heard anything about her?”
“Not a single damn word. It’s like she just fell off the face of the earth. We didn’t really have shit to go on besides her name, and Blaze isn’t her real name, so that didn’t get us far.”
“I wasn’t really in the habit of asking to see ID before I shoved my dick down her throat, so I don’t know who the fuck she is or where she could have gone. It’s really fucking with me, though. Feels off.”
“You know what that means, right?”
Vega emptied his glass and then refilled it.
“Someone sent her.”
Dix nodded and emptied his glass. “Shit was too convenient. You never carry product like that, but the one night you did, you got knocked. It doesn’t add up. She’s the only one outside the circle who knew you had it.”
“True, but what I don’t get is why. It isn’t like anybody tried to take over while I was down, unless you’re not telling me something, so why set me up?”
“Dudes be on some hoe shit. You made a lot of enemies behind women like her. It might not be about business. It might be about another bitch. Maybe you fucked the wrong one. There’s no revenge like taking a man’s freedom, Vega. You know that.”
Vega had considered it. He played out every scenario in his head over and over again while he was locked down.
All he had was time, so it wasn’t like he could escape the thought.
It could have just been a simple fuck up, or what Dix was saying could be true as well.
Either way, he didn’t have time to worry about it.
He couldn’t change the past, but he could ensure he never slipped like that again.
“I’m investing in Micah’s club.”
“Why the fuck you wanna do that?”
“’Cause he needs the money. I’ma give it a few months then open some shit of my own or buy him out. It’s a good start. I have a few more ideas too.”
Dix knew Vega was trying to come from under his brother’s shadow, but he didn’t see the purpose in not using his resources. Ace had plenty of shit Vega could invest in.
“Why won’t you just talk to Ace?”
“Because I’m a grown ass man who needs to do his own thing. I appreciate everything he’s ever done, but I need my own, same as you needed your own. This could have been yours years ago, but you chose to get dirty with me instead.”
“You’re right.”
“Aight then, so are we gonna do this shit? I’ma buy some properties, and so are you. The money we bring in needs to go legit one way or another. We’ll both do that.”
Dix grinned. “I can run it through here.”
“Hell nah. You’re really trying to have the feds on our ass. This place costs money. It doesn’t make money.”
Dix laughed and nodded. “You right. Shit, we’re the only ones who come through. It’s basically our hang out spot.”
“Exactly, so when you start turning six-figure profits, the fuck you think the feds gon’ do.”
“Be up my ass like I be up in pussy.”
Vega turned up his glass and emptied it for a second time. “Aight, so I’ll figure some shit out and get back to you. You down?”
“Like panties falling to the floor when we step in the building.” Dix grinned, and Vega laughed at his dumb ass.
“You’re corny as fuck.”
“Shit, I know, but you’ve been gone. Somebody had to keep those hoes smiling so the pussy didn’t stop.”
“Well, kill that shit because I’m back now. If you were fucking with women like Nene, it wasn’t working for you anyway.”
The two men relaxed into their conversation, shooting the shit about everything Vega had missed then moving on to what they planned to accomplish now that he was home.
Some things never changed, and others did, but with the right timing.
Vega understood his current position and would work on changing it, but for now, he was going to have drinks with a trusted friend, hit the club, then hopefully see the woman who had all of his attention right now.