2. Shake Down #2
“Your mama is one of a kind, kid. I told your auntie I would bring her home, and we were gonna chill for a minute until she got sleepy. Been a long night, and sometimes after traumatic events, it’s hard to go right to bed.”
“Come on, Ma. You want me to make you some coffee?” Dane offered, leading her toward the front door where Danilo had stepped out.
“I’m heading out, son. Glad you’re good, Nari. I’ll hit you up a little later.” Danilo moved past them to the stairs, but Inari spun on her heel to face him.
“Danilo, wait.”
He paused on the second step, and her attention swayed to Moose. “Can you go inside with Dane for a minute? I need to talk to him real quick, and I’ll be right in.”
Moose side eyed Danilo but nodded at Inari’s request. To say he was jealous would have been an understatement. He also didn’t like her baby daddy’s energy, but he relaxed so she could handle her business. Once the two of them were inside, she faced Danilo.
“What’s up? Something wrong?”
“You could say that. The detective leading this investigation at my job, it’s Tulla,” she revealed.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Danilo hissed. “The fuck she doing back here?”
“She’s not just some nosy detective. She’s the Chief now.”
“Mothafucka,” he grumbled, shaking his head and swiping his beard.
“I don’t know what you plan on doing around here, if you’re stepping back into things with Mira… but I thought you should know.”
He studied her for a minute. To him, she would always be that thick, foul mouthed teenage girl on the block with her little friends talking shit and twerking to some ratchet shit.
He knew it was more to her than that. Inari was strong-willed and resilient.
She could adapt to any situation and usually somehow spin that shit to her advantage.
Any time life threw her a curveball, she knocked that shit out the park.
It amazed him to think about all the shit she had overcome.
Her loyalty and devotion to someone she loved was unmatched.
Even with him. She could have easily said fuck him over the years, but she rode with him the best way she could, given her own situation.
“You straight?” Danilo checked with her, causing her eyes to snap to his from the wooden porch.
She pinched the tip of her nose and nodded before taking a breath.
“Been a long night.”
“I’m talking about Tulla. I know what seeing her means for you.”
“It was a long time ago, Danilo.” Inari’s hard stare was his cue not to press too much on the issue. “The last thing I need is this bitch coming around here, stirring shit up for me and not for Ayla either. My sister is in a good place right now.”
“Anything for the family,” he recited, finishing his descent down the stairs.
“Thank you… for checking on Dane.” She called after him.
“Be careful, Nari. I see who you keeping company with, and I know it ain’t my place—”
“You’re right, it’s not,” she agreed, watching him stop at a black old school Monte Carlo.
She remembered that car and was surprised he still had it.
Danilo didn’t have to be extra flashy; he was already handsome and charismatic.
Problem was, he liked that flamboyant shit and couldn’t help himself.
He grew up without shit. His parents never gave a damn, and he wasn’t tight with any of his siblings.
Inari was underage when they met, but he fucked with her because she kept it real with him and was smarter than a lot of grown ass women he knew.
“Aight.” He threw his arms up in surrender before disappearing inside his whip.
She waited until he pulled off to go inside and join Dane and Moose.
After closing and locking the front door behind her, Inari pressed her back against it and took in her home.
It was nice to be encompassed in these walls again.
Last night had rocked her. She’d left that street shit alone a long time ago, but there was a time when a motherfucker pulling a gun on her was a regular occurrence.
She’d fought too hard and hustled too fucking hard to get away from that and to keep her son away from it.
Somehow, she kind of always wondered if the past would indeed spin the block.
In a dark, secluded space somewhere inside her, she lowkey was waiting for it.
Dane and Moose’s voices carried from the kitchen, and when she arrived in the doorway, she found her son seated at the kitchen table and Moose at the counter with eggs, bacon, onions and peppers scattered on a cutting board.
“Everything good?” Moose glanced her way.
“Yeah. I’m going to run upstairs and take a shower.” She took note of how comfortable he was in her home, right along with Dane at the table like this was some everyday occurrence.
Inari never had a relationship after Danilo. Sure, she dated around and got her rocks off, but she’d never introduced Dane to anyone she was entertaining. None of them were serious enough in her eyes. Moose was just… Moose. It was obvious her son looked up to him.
She didn’t know how long she’d been upstairs, but by the time she stepped out of her shower into her steam-filled bathroom, her head was slightly clearer.
Since waking up, she’d felt so out of it.
Stepping over to her sink, she brushed, flossed, and rinsed her mouth before doing a quick facial cleanse and swiping some toner over her skin.
As she stood there with her towel wrapped around her moisturizing, there was a tap at her bedroom door.
Inari grabbed her silk robe off the back of her door and slipped it around her naked frame.
Barefoot, she padded out of her private bathroom to answer.
Moose stood on the other side with a tray of food.
He’d prepared an omelet with fresh sliced fruit on the side in a bowl along with a cup of coffee and orange juice.
With everything arranged neatly, he stepped past her into her bedroom.
“You didn’t have to do all this.” She watched him carry the tray to her dresser and set it on top.
“You need to eat. How you feeling after that shower?”
“Like a whole new person.” She picked up a couple slices of strawberry and popped them into her mouth. “So… Tulla.” She lifted her gaze to meet his as he surveyed her room.
The earth tones gave it a bright aura as the sun poked through her sheer curtains. Moose paused at her bed with the tan, brown, and white comforter set and matching pillows, and perched himself on the edge.
“What about her?”
“Seems like there was something there.” Inari half shrugged and turned, pressing her back against her dresser.
Moose’s perceptive stare roamed her curves, lingering on her thighs where the robe had opened, showing off her soft skin. Before he spoke, his eyes bore into hers.
“There was something there. It was a long time ago, and I was young as fuck.” Scoffing, he shook his head as he recalled how all the shit unraveled with her.
Things were hot and heavy for a minute there, and he couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t developing some real feelings for Tulla the more time he spent with her. Finding out she was the fucking law shifted his whole perspective on them in the long run.
“Something like what? A relationship, a few hit and miss moments? What we talking about here, Moose?” Inari pried.
She hated that this bothered her so much, but it wasn’t just about Tulla.
Her feelings for Moose had swooped in strong and hard.
The idea of him with any woman, let alone a viper like Tulla, had her ready to claw somebody’s fucking eyes out.
That type of possessive feeling scared the shit out of her.
“It was a fling. It didn’t last long. A few months. Nothing serious. When I found out who she was and what she did… shit was a wrap.”
Inari grabbed her fork and cut into her omelet.
She was starving. Knowing that Moose had a past with a woman she loathed on a level that only existed for a bitch like Tulla, she couldn’t deny the red flag.
She didn’t believe that friend of my enemy is my friend shit.
It was more birds of a feather flock together where she came from.
Moose didn’t explain himself to people. He’d never been in a position where he felt the need to.
Things with Inari were different. He liked being able to share things with her.
She related in a way other women never had.
“Okay.” After swallowing her first bite, Inari sighed.
She was impressed that his cooking skills were decent too. Pulling out a nearby drawer, she searched for something comfy to change into before getting in bed.
“How do you know her?” Moose’s question stiffened Inari’s spine, and her back remained to him.
She sifted through her clothes until she came across her favorite silk camisole and short set.
“Just a pain in my ass from back in the day,” she answered in a low tone, slowly closing her drawer.
Moose kicked off his shoes and eased into the mountain of pillows piled on her California King poster bed. He snatched her remote to the mounted TV and clicked it on.
“Let me check out your Netflix playlist and see what you on.” He tapped the button on her remote and propped a hand behind his head. “Oh, Dane said he was heading out. Going to meet some of the homies to shoot some hoops at the park.”
Inari slipped back into the bathroom to get dressed and tie her hair down with her silk bonnet before reemerging into her bedroom. Moose had selected the show Good Girls. Grabbing the rest of her omelet, she joined him in bed with her legs crossed Indian style.
“What you know about this show?” she asked, leaning into the pillow and forking another bite to bring to her mouth.
“These bitches wild. I be tuned in, trying to see how they gon’ get out of some crazy shit.”
Inari ate and brushed her teeth again before climbing in bed.
“You mind if I roll up and take a shower? I been on go since last night.” Moose sat up and removed the t-shirt from his head.