Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
THIS IS HOW WE ROLL
By the time Coast arrived back at the table with Bee, she was joined by Inari and the brown skinned girl she’d seen with Mozzi’s brother earlier in the parking lot.
She’d demolished all her potato salad and was working on the baked beans and her second rib.
Inari lifted her head, which was shielded by the snapback with Vintage Vault’s logo on the front.
She’d changed into completely casual attire since Coast had last seen her.
“Hey!” Inari greeted her with a smile when she approached. “We were just talking about you.”
“Mmm, imagine that,” Coast muttered.
“Isn’t she just a ray of sunshine?” Bee kidded.
“Don’t tell me you’re bidding on one of these baskets,” Coast addressed Inari and took a bite of her rib.
“I am. So is my sister. Ayla, this is Coast. Coast, this is Ayla,” she introduced them.
Although Ayla hid behind those thin framed glasses, Coast acknowledged her pretty face. She was a couple of shades darker than Inari, but they had a familial resemblance that couldn’t be denied, mainly the lips and nose region.
“It’s for a good cause.” Inari shrugged and slid ten dollars across the table. “Usually, a bunch of old men participate in this thing, and they’re usually happy as long as they got something pretty to look at and talk to all night long.”
“Yeah, give me a sugar daddy, hold the sugar,” Coast jested. “Didn’t I see you earlier?” She squinted at Ayla.
“Yeah.” She nodded and pushed her glasses back onto the top of her nose. “I showed up with Kong and his kids. I’m selling dessert at my table.” She pointed to a table where Kong’s two kids were seated, eating popcorn from carnival bags and kicking their legs.
“Kong? So, Mozzi is his brother?” Coast questioned.
“Yeah.” Ayla nodded.
“Your sister said you were in college, but those aren’t your kids, are they?”
“No.” Ayla giggled and shook her head. “I’m their chef. Right now, I’m also the nanny until they can find someone to fill the position, though. Aht, Kara, don’t even think about walking off,” Ayla warned.
Coast studied her. When she got out of the car with Kong and his kids, she could have sworn the two were a couple.
Kara froze with wide eyes as she lingered near the edge of their table.
Inari shook her head. Ayla had been with the Blackmoor family for nearly a week now, and although she missed coming home to her sister and her home cooked meals, it was obvious she was fitting right in at the estate.
Turning her attention to Coast, Inari squinted, examining her stuffing her face like it was her last meal. She barely took a breath between bites.
“You going to watch the game when it starts?” Inari questioned. “I was going to go scope out some seats.”
“I’ve been recruited to hold this table down.”
“Not anymore.” Bee shuffled some papers together. “Christy’s niece just got here. She’s going to work the table. You are bound to keep people away with your pessimism.”
Coast and Inari locked eyes and both tittered. A ray of sunshine she was not.
“Go watch the game. Maybe having a little fun will shift your attitude a bit,” she huffed, standing upright and resting her hands on her hips.
Coast turned her nose up, but she wasn’t about to argue with her. She didn’t want to stand in the direct heat anyway. At least around the basketball court there were tents being set up along with the bleacher seats and a few benches under shade trees.
“We’ll be over here until the game starts,” Ayla told them while Coast and Inari sauntered off together.
Coast was finishing her plate and dumped the bones into a trash can on their way over to find somewhere to sit. Now, she was thirsty and starting to sweat.
“Need something to wash that down?” Inari went into her purse and pulled out a flask.
While Coast was a frequent alcohol drinker, lately, the fragrance alone left her stomach flipping. When Inari twisted the cap off, and she caught a whiff of tequila, she gagged.
“No. Water. You shouldn’t be drinking in this heat either,” she pointed out.
“True.” Inari shrugged and tipped it to her lips anyway. “So, how far along are you?”
“Huh?”
“Girl, if you can huh, you can hear,” Inari teased. “My son might be damn near grown, but I know the signs. There’s a cooler over there with water.” She pointed straight ahead.
Coast shook her head and squinted at the bright sun shining down on them.
“Is it that obvious?” she asked, looking down at herself in the romper hugging her hips and ass specifically.
“Not unless someone is really paying attention.”
Mozzi must have been clairvoyant then. He’d been looking at her like he knew something about her since that first night.
“I haven’t gone to the doctor.” Coast sighed. “I took a test the other day and just been sitting with it. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“What about the daddy?” Inari prodded, stopping with her at one of the big coolers with the clear lid over it.
Coast lifted the top and reached in for a cold bottle of water.
“Bitch ass nigga. I didn’t tell him, and I don’t want to. He can’t even raise himself. I’m not letting him around my baby.” She twisted the cap and brought the bottle to her lips.
Inari smiled. “It sounds like you already know what you want to do.”
“It’s just starting to hit me that I’m carrying life.
You know?” Her tone lowered, and she studied the cap to the bottle in her hand as she toyed with it between her fingers.
“In a few months, I’ll be big as hell, and there will be something moving around in there.
Growing. Then it’s going to come out and expect me to take care of it.
That’s the part I can’t see past.” She took another gulp of the beverage.
“Girl, let me tell you, that’s any real mother. I was fifteen when I had Dane.”
“Fifteen!” Coast shrieked. “How did you do it? How did you find the time to become what you are now? You damn sure don’t look like you got a son that old.”
“Trust me, I’ve been through it. I just don’t look like it.
I had to keep it moving. My parents died the year before I got pregnant.
I had Ayla to also take care of, so my nineteen-year-old boyfriend moved in and started to help pay bills.
He was a hustler, and our home became the spot.
” Coast fell in stride with Inari again.
A path had been carved through the grass to get to the basketball court across the way, where it was starting to get packed. She was enthralled by her story, though, as she spotted Mozzi, Moose, and Kong all gathered off on the sidelines.
“There’s more where that came from, but not here. You want to have lunch this week?”
“Yeah, that sounds cool. Maybe Wednesday after my visit to the college,” Coast insinuated with a half-smile donning her pouty lips.
“Oh, so you’re going to see what’s up?” Inari nudged her with her shoulder and beamed before taking another chug from her flask.
“Yeah. Maybe I can turn this art thing into something.” Coast shrugged.
“You never know. You’ll have to show me some of your stuff.”
“Well, I’m working on my portfolio now.” Coast stopped at a bench with the Blackmoor men mere steps away.
Surprisingly, it was empty, and under a big tree, so she figured they could post up there.
To her left, there was a table set up with merch.
Pins, flags to wave with the Ree Heights logo on it, and underneath, in smaller letters, community day.
It had the year 2026 established, and there were t-shirts plus little tumblers to match.
Two women stood near the table, chatting low to one another, and both looked out of place.
Coast could clock the designer immediately, right along with the diamond accessories and red bottom heels.
She’d done a lot of people watching in her life, often using it as a tool to survival when it came to looking for a mark.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Inari bobbed her head and squinted out at the basketball court where some other guys were already shooting around.
Moose, Kong, and Mozzi stood on the sidelines, smoking like they weren’t about to be going up and down the court soon.
The park filled with more arrivals. When the two glanced toward the table with the two women, an older lady approached with a very tall, dark, dangerous looking man at her side.
He didn’t blink or flinch. Only took in the surroundings with his arms crossed in front of his pelvic region.
He remained a gracious distance from the well-dressed woman in the tailored summer Chanel suit and matching heels.
Her nails were almond shaped and in a simple French design as she tugged at the diamond earring in her ear while approaching the table.
“Well, have you two made an effort to sell anything, or you just sitting around as usual, waiting for something to come to you?”
“Good afternoon, Desiree!”
“Phoebe, don’t start that ass kissing. If it ain’t worked in over twenty years, it ain’t gonna work now.”
Coast snickered and nudged Inari in her side.
“Check her out.”
“Oh, that’s Desiree Blackmoor. Mother to Audiemar Blackmoor.
I’ve heard she’s a piece of work. I’ve never really had a conversation with her, though.
She travels a lot, all over the world. The only time she usually comes around is during summer visits or holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Inari broke down.
Phoebe sighed and cut her eyes at the young woman beside her.
“Nayelli, why don’t you take some of these shirts and walk around with them. Try to get us some sales.”
“Don’t come back to this table until you get rid of all of these,” Desiree ordered, slapping a pile of t-shirts in Nayelli’s arms.
“Yes, Mrs. Blackmoor.” The girl rushed off like someone had lit a fire behind her.