Chapter 16 #3
Fuck, she called the cops when I’m sitting on four crates of cocaine. The woman kept her hand on Joi’s back while she looked back and forth between East and Joi, sensing their familiarity but still wanting to be protective of Joi.
East’s eyes rolled over to Joi so quickly that he felt as if his head literally jerked from the motion.
With more intent, he inspected Joi once more, this time noticing the bruising on her forehead and around her neck that her small hand wasn’t able to hide.
His face grew tight with every second that his eyes moved across the discoloration.
“What the fuck happened?” East’s voice was a lot more aggressive than he meant for it to be, but there was no way to mask what was already brewing.
“Reg followed me here, and—”
“Your ex did that shit?” Once again, his tone was a lot stronger than intended, but it was out of his control. East was already processing how much pain he could inflict before he actually ended her ex’s life.
East shook the thought and moved to Joi, inspecting her once more before he guided her into his chest. The second he wrapped her into a hug, careful not to apply too much pressure, unaware of what other parts of her body might be bruised, Joi broke down.
“Shawty…” He sucked in a deep breath and brought her closer. “Don’t cry. You’re gonna be good. That’s my word, but this looks bad. We probably need to—”
“East, I’m going to go. That is, if we’re done here.”
Navi felt a tinge of jealousy as she watched him comfort another woman after he had basically just shut her down.
She could have slipped away unnoticed by East had she chosen to.
Their business was handled, but for some reason, watching the way he handled Joi had Navi in her feelings.
There was no way to miss the rage he felt from seeing this woman bruised and emotionally upset.
The tender way he handled her let Navi know she was important to him.
At the sound of a woman’s voice calling out East’s name, Joi lifted her head and pulled away from him. Her heated gaze landed on Navi then moved up to East as she created more space between the two.
“Who the fuck is she?”
East pushed out an annoyed breath, sensing the bullshit that was about to pop off. “Not important.”
East noticed the shift in Joi and it didn’t look good. He wasn’t even sure why she was there, which should have been addressed, but he knew better than to play that card. Instead, he attempted to defuse the situation by giving a more detailed explanation, something he wasn’t used to.
“Business. She made a late delivery , so I had to move some shit around, but you don’t need to worry about that right now.”
“Wow…” Joi shook her head, backing away from East as her eyes moved back over to the woman who had called his name.
“Shawty, chill. I can already see what you’re thinking and it’s not that.”
Navi still hadn’t moved and Joi wasn’t falling for it. Joi kept her eyes on the woman, and when East noticed she wasn’t letting up, his voice made them both jump.
“The fuck you still standing here for?”
Navi’s face tightened, but she knew better than to say a word. She dropped her eyes and started walking, only to stop when she heard him speak again.
“And tell Cabo not to send you again, ever.”
The demand had Navi’s spine straight and her feet moving fast. East was a valued customer and it wasn’t going to sit well that he had banned her from deliveries.
East watched her for a minute longer before he turned back to Joi.
The woman next to her was whispering something in her ear, too low for East to pick up on, but he assumed she was questioning Joi’s safety with him.
After Joi nodded and offered her a forced smile, the woman glanced at East then hesitantly walked away, checking over her shoulder as she distanced herself.
“Let’s go.”
“Go? Nah, I’m good. You can go. My apologies for cutting your time short with—”
Not in the mood for a fight, East barked her name to really get her attention and to shut her up.
“Joi!” The look he offered was deadly since his patience had left a while ago. East was more concerned with what was going on with Joi than he was about her thinking he was fucking with Navi.
“What?”
“I said, let’s go. Bring your ass on, so that—”
“No, I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going home.”
“What you’re gonna do is stop fucking cutting me off and take your ass in there.
” He pointed to his shop and the two had a stare down, with Joi refusing to move.
East’s teeth gritted as he dragged his hand down his face.
“It’s late as hell, your neck is all fucked up, and to be honest, I don’t even know why the fuck you’re down here in the first place. I told you to go home.”
“So you could creep with that hoe…” Joi pointed toward the direction Navi had just gone.
If I wanted her, I would have fucked her after I made sure my product was good.
East walked up on Joi, only stopping when their bodies made contact. His voice was calm and deceptive, considering that at the moment, he could send his fist through a brick wall with ease.
“Fuck her, and fuck what you think you know or are building in your head about me and her right now because you aren’t even close. Bring your ass on, so I can lock up the shop and we can figure out what I need to do about that before I go put a gotdamn bullet in the muthafucker who did it.”
The two had a stare down until Joi stepped around him and pushed through the door of the shop. East shut his eyes briefly, allowing his head to fall back before he walked in a few paces behind, hitting the lights right after the door closed.
“Now, you want to tell me why you’re here and how that shit happened?”
“You want to tell me why you’re here supposedly doing inventory with a woman who I know for sure doesn’t work at this shop?”
“Shawty…” East released it slowly and as calmly as he could. His patience was failing him, but before he could finish, he heard another male voice.
“Mr. Joseph, what do we have here?” Patterson’s eyes moved from Joi to East.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” East mumbled under his breath before he gave Patterson his attention.
“Unless you have a warrant, get the fuck out of my shop.”
Patterson smirked and looked at Joi again. “Ma’am, are you okay? Looks to me like you’ve been assaulted. Did Mr. Joseph here put his hands on you? Those are some nasty bruises and I think you need medical attention.”
Patterson was already removing his cuffs, which had Joi talking fast.
“No, absolutely not.”
No matter how annoyed she was with East, Joi wasn’t about to play those types of games with his livelihood or freedom.
“She said no. We’re good, now get the fuck out.”
Patterson grinned and shook his head. His cuffs were now in hand and he used his other to unsnap the latch that covered his gun and rested his fingers there when he was done.
“Sorry, can’t do that. She looks visibly afraid. It’s my duty to make sure she’s not answering under duress.”
Joi’s panicked eyes moved from Patterson to East. “Wait, no, he didn’t do this. I don’t have a reason to be afraid of him.”
“On the contrary. You do, miss. You’re just not aware of who he really is.
” Patterson shrugged and looked right at East. “We can sort this out down at the station. The caller who reported the attack gave a clear description of a tall, black male wearing dark clothes. Seems to me that you fit that description perfectly, Mr. Joseph.”
“You are really trying my fucking patience,” East gritted with dark eyes focused on Patterson.
“I just told you it wasn’t him.” Joi rushed Patterson and got in his face, which only fueled his agitation.
“Sweetheart, I suggest you get out of the way before I have you in handcuffs too.”
“Mr. Joseph. I need you to turn around. You’re under arrest for suspicion of assault.”
“You can’t do that.” Joi’s voice was unsteady, lacking confidence. It appeared that was exactly what was about to happen. This detective was taking East into custody.
“Joi, chill. He doesn’t give a fuck about the truth or what you have to say. I’m straight. Just move out the way before you make it worse.” He kept his gaze on Joi to make sure she understood his position, but then addressed Patterson. “I need her to lock up. The keys are in my pocket.”
Joi’s eyes shot over to Patterson, who now grinned. “Move slow. I’d hate for things to go bad.”
He could shoot him and pretend like he had just cause.
East gritted his teeth but slowly reached into his pocket and removed a set of keys, which he held out to Joi.
She took an uneasy step forward and received them with a shaky hand.
Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she watched East turn his back to them both, with his arms behind him and his wrists close together.
East was positive he would be out in a few hours at most. There was no reason for him to fight Patterson.
With four crates of cocaine in the storeroom, East wasn’t about to risk anyone searching his property.
Cooperating was a small price to pay. However, one thing was for certain, Patterson had just signed his death certificate and moved himself to the top of that list, pushing Reg into second place.
“What should I do?” Joi questioned as Patterson walked East to the door.
“Lock up and go home, Joi. I’ll get with you.”
Joi, that’s the third time he called me by name. No Grinch or shawty.
“Yeah, lock up like your little boyfriend here needs you to and go home, sweetheart. Get yourself some rest. He’s gonna be with me for a while. It appears Mr. Joseph and I have future business arrangements to discuss based on his current dilemma.”
Joi watched as Patterson and East passed through the door and it closed behind them.
She looked around in a moment of confusion before she removed her phone from her pocket and made a call.
Her hands were tied and she didn’t know what else to do, but she wasn’t about to let East sit in jail for something Reg had done.
So she requested assistance from the one person she knew she could count on.
“Hey, it’s me. I need your help.”