Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Dice
I’m happy to take an L.
Imade the jump. Scared shitless, heart hammering, adrenaline on ten. No safety net. Just free-falling into I’m in love with you. I want this. Take a shot on me. Every second of that drop was terrifying.
But then her yes came like a parachute snapping open.
I love you too. And just like that, the fall shifted from panic to thrill.
The air rushed past, everything sharp and alive.
I could breathe. And as we kissed, leveling out midair, I felt that rare kind of calm that only comes when you’ve risked everything and landed somewhere better.
It wasn’t a promise of smooth skies. But it was a promise to give it our all.
And part of that is me standing up to Maurice and stating my intentions.
I could wait. We just locked this down a couple hours ago. I could let Lot tell him first. But that doesn’t sit right. Not given our history and bad blood. He should hear it from me before the news gets out.
I pull up to Dock’s, cut the engine, and grip the wheel, letting the nerves crawl around before I shove them off. Can’t show up shaky when I’m about to tell the man who hates me that I love his daughter.
No parachute for this one. No safety net.
I pull out my phone and watch Lot’s video again. That’s all I need. Her Lot smile. Her voice. The whole truth in her eyes. If she’s willing to put her faith in me, then I can’t start this off by avoiding the hard parts.
I unlock the side door and head inside the quiet bar. It’s just past two, a couple hours before opening. I find Maurice in his office, reading glasses low on his nose, reviewing the paperwork spread out on his desk.
When I knock on the open door, he glances up with that sharp look he always has. Lot’s got the same one. The kind that lives somewhere between suspicion and irritation, whether they are or not. In this case, he’s squarely on the suspicion side.
“Aren’t you off on Tuesdays?” he asks.
“I’m not here to work. You got a few minutes?”
“For what?”
I step inside, walking off the nervous energy, trying to keep my tone even. “I came to talk. Man to man. About Lot.”
He leans back slowly. Doesn’t offer me a chair. Doesn’t speak. Just waits.
Shit, okay. We doing it like this.
“I’m in love with your daughter.”
His eyes narrow, but still he says nothing.
“I have been for a while,” I continue. “But it’s only when she came back that I realized how much.
I’ve thought about this on a deep level.
The last thing I wanted was to pursue something with Lot just off impulse.
I didn’t come to ask for your permission.
But knowing how you feel about me, I thought it was only right that you hear it directly from me.
I love Lot. I asked her to be with me, and she said yes. ”
He tightens his grip on the pen like he’s trying to strangle it. “After all these years of bouncing around women like a pinball machine… using my business as your playground… you think you can just add my daughter to your roster, and I’ll bless it?”
His judgment is like a hot poker, but I let it burn slow and keep my temper in check.
“I’ve always prioritized Docks and have never let my personal life interfere with business.
But you’re right that I haven’t been serious about relationships.
That’s changed. I’m choosing something meaningful with Lot. ”
He sets the pen down and removes his glasses. “You talk a good game. Always have. But pretty words don’t make them true. Your mama was a con artist. A thief. That’s where you come from.”
And there it is. Exactly what he thinks of me. Hits like a body blow, being compared to Jasinder. I pull in a breath and push it out.
“You think you know me, but you don’t. You’ve judged me by my mother’s actions and what I did when I was twelve.
You never got past that. Me stealing from your car.
I don’t excuse it. You had every right to be angry.
Every right to demand I repay you… with interest. Every right to question me being around your daughter.
But believe it or not, that moment shaped me.
It might’ve only been coins, but they weren’t mine to take.
I learned something from you. Ownership.
Accountability. Respect. I learned who I didn’t want to be.
“I grew up around someone who never thought twice about robbing anybody. But I did. I made mistakes in my youth. Big ones. Things that still haunt me. But I’m not that kid anymore.
I’ve worked hard to become someone I can be proud of.
Everything I have, I earned honestly. I don’t steal.
I don’t run cons. And I for damn sure wouldn’t play games with Lot. ”
“Hmph,” he snorts, still unmoved. “Even if that’s true… doesn’t mean I’ll ever trust you with her.”
“That’s your call. But do you trust your daughter?”
That gives him pause. Not enough to back down, but enough to shift. They’ve been rebuilding something, small steps that are still fragile. And he knows that.
Sitting forward, he steeples his fingers and looks me dead in the eye.
“Charlotte and I don’t always agree. She’s stubborn.
Smart. Independent. She’s got her own mind.
If she’s decided on you, I know damn well there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
But she’s also got a soft heart, especially when it comes to you. If you break it…”
His voice drops real low, cold enough to freeze fire. “I swear on everything that I hold dear, I’ll make it my mission to end you.”
I don’t flinch. “Your threat is unnecessary. I’m going to do everything in my power to be the man she deserves.”
His stare is like a vise, holding me in its grip. Then finally—finally—he gives me a single nod. Not approval. Not support. Disgruntled acceptance that he can’t prevent this from happening. “I’ll be watching you,” he warns.
“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
C’s place is already hopping when I roll through the front door. Wings, beer, and smack talk on the menu.
I dap up a couple of the guys from back in the day—Tank, Ray V, Jermaine—dudes we went to school with. The vibe’s the same as ever—cutthroat and cocky. But tonight, I’m happy to take an L.
Not dominoes. Something much bigger.
C leaves the table to sidebar me upstairs in the kitchen. I follow, the noise from the basement fading into the background. He’d checked on me earlier, and I told him I’d fill him in later.
He pops the fridge open, grabs two beers, and hands me one. We crack off the tops, and I clink his bottle with a grin.
“You look good,” he says, studying me. “Faking it?”
“Naw.” I reach into the bag I brought and pull out the grail. Uncanny X-Men #118, 1979. Pristine as the day I scored it off eBay. Clear wrapper. Triple sealed, sacred scrolls type treatment.
C’s face lights up. “You deadass?”
“Fair is fair,” I say, handing it over like I’m presenting the crown jewels. “You called it. Said some woman was gonna snatch my ass off the streets and turn me into a househusband with a grocery list. Consider me officially locked down.”
“Shiiit.” He holds the comic with reverence. “This is beautiful. But what happened? I thought Lot left this morning.”
“She did. But I went after her. Got there before she boarded her flight.”
His brows shoot up to his fro. “Hold up. What?”
“I felt it, bro. Couldn’t let her go like that. So I drove my ass to O’Hare and jumped through hurdles to find her. I caught her at the gate, just in time.”
“Damn.” C leans back on the counter, watching me. “That’s movie type shit. What did you say?”
“I told her I loved her. That I wanted to be with her. Not just smash-and-dash. Not just ride it out while she was in town. I told her I wanted to go the distance.”
“And I’m taking it that Lot said yes.”
“She did.” I can’t help the grin stretching across my face. “Took a minute, though. You know Lot, she made me work for it. But I needed that. Needed to show her—and myself—that this wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing. That I meant every word.”
C chuckles, low and proud. “Look at you. A whole damn taken man.”
“You told me if I was willing to be honest, to do the work, and to protect her heart, we had a shot. And I took it. Got that I love you back and a promise to give this our all.”
“You really put yourself out there.”
“Yeah, well… that wasn’t even the scariest part.” I take a long pull from the bottle. “Went to Docks this afternoon. Told Maurice.”
C nearly chokes on his beer.
“I had to do it right. Face the man who thinks I’m the worst possible choice for his daughter.”
He coughs, clearing his throat. “Major respect, bro. What’d he say?”
“Hit me with all the classics—my past, my mother, the stolen money, the body count…” I shrug. “But I stood on ten. I wasn’t there to ask permission. I was there to show him my heart. To give him a promise that I’ll do right by Lot.”
C watches me, like he’s seeing me differently. “So… did Maurice come around?”
“I’m still breathing. That’s a win.” I smirk. “But no, he’s not on board. He said he’d be watching. I can live with that.”
C tips his bottle toward mine again. “You’re really off the market.”
“Yep. None of those women can hold a candle to Lot. She’s not easy. She’ll keep me on my toes. Challenge me at every turn. But she’ll love me hard.”
“Yeah, she will.” He smiles. “You’re good for each other.
Lex and I saw it the night you two were here.
You move in sync, even when you were pretending not to.
When I made that bet, I was half joking.
But the minute Lot came back to town, I knew you were gone.
Taking care of a cat, learning to cook… man, I had this grail locked. ”
“I knew it too. Just had to catch up to it.”
C claps my shoulder. “Welcome to the domesticated club.”
“Thanks.” I laugh.
“So what’s next?” he asks.
“We figure out the long-distance. I’ll go to New York soon as I can, and we keep building.”
He nods. “Sounds good.” He pauses briefly, then hesitantly adds, “Hate to dip the mood, but I heard from Stiles.”
I tense up. “What did he find?”
“Not much yet. All he knows is that the burner only made two calls. Both to you. Said the guy probably bought it just for that. Stiles is looking further into it. He said he’ll call you directly as soon as he has more.”
“What the fuck?” I shake my head. “Why would he need a burner phone just to say his name and hang up?”
“Beats me. Your instinct still saying it’s linked to Jasinder?”
“At this point, I’m just grabbing at straws. Hope Stiles comes through with something concrete to go on.”
The guys call out from downstairs, looking for us.
We head back to the basement where the laughter’s thick and the bones are clacking. Tank’s bragging about a big six play as I sit down and pop my knuckles. Thoughts of Damon fade.
I’m ready to whoop their asses and take their money. But with Lot clear in my mind, I feel like a man who’s already won.