Chapter 27
It started with a toothbrush. And then it was a box of cereal.
Next, on a pretty normal day, she presented me with my own key.
We’d been eating dinner. She’d picked up some stuffed clams and scallops from the store and cooked us some asparagus to go with it.
We were eating in her dining room, talking about her workday when she very casually slid me a key.
We didn’t talk about it, but it felt natural.
The first time I used it was a Saturday evening where I came over after BLVCKJVCK. She was already in bed, and after a quick shower, I joined her.
A key was serious. A key was scary. A key meant something.
But we didn’t make a big deal of it.
No, a few weeks slipped by us and before long, my having a key was normal. Our carefully planned weekends were normal. My nights were hectic, but there was always time during the day.
Nastasia wanted to see a movie one Saturday evening, and after timing everything to a T, I took her to see the latest cop thriller-drama.
I was twenty-eight. Me at twenty-seven would’ve cringed and loathed everything about my relationship. There wouldn’t be a relationship. Now, I was twenty-eight and loved my routine. Having a woman like Nas. Nothing beat those Sunday morning lazy hours.
“Ready to eat?” I asked as we exited the theater after seeing the movie.
We were holding hands and Nas took her other one to tap her chin. “Can we swing by Zaxby’s?”
I shook my head. “You know I don’t like you eating in my car, babe.”
Nastasia wasn’t a sloppy eater, but I still didn’t want to risk having loose fries in my shit.
“Besides,” I went on. “I thought you were gonna air-fry us some wings?”
Nastasia huffed. “I’ll be good. I only want some fries. I’ll wait ’til we get home.”
She wouldn’t, but I obliged her anyway.
We got in my Acura and hit the drive thru. We hadn’t even pulled off before Nastasia was sniffing her fries and salivating in the aroma.
Seeing that my tank was near E, I found the closest gas station, a RaceTrac, and pulled in.
Nastasia put on her best smile as she turned in her seat to face me. “Get me a couple of strawberry shortcake rolls? I feel like being bad.”
I looked out my window to see what pump we were at. Pump 20. “Okay.”
I got out of the car and took off for the entrance. A glance over my shoulder and I saw Nastasia sneaking a couple of French fries. A smile stole my face as my heart warmed.
Inside the RaceTrac I grabbed a bottle of Fiji water and Nas’s strawberry shortcake rolls. At the register I put money on pump 20 and reached into my pocket to grab my—
A hand came down on my shoulder, causing me to whirl around and come face to face with dread.
We weren’t really face to face, because I was an inch or two taller, but turning around to see Tee Money behind me sent trepidation down my spine nonetheless.
He brandished a smile, revealing a gold tooth on one side. Real old school. “E! Long time no see, baby boy.” His heavy hand landed on my back and almost sent me forward. He was around Pops’s age and still kept in pretty good shape.
I faced the cashier and stuck my card in the reader, needing to get the hell out of dodge and quick.
“What’s up, man?” I responded to be polite.
Tee chuckled and adjusted his gold-framed glasses higher up his septum. “You know me, analyzing the game, Eazy E, analyzing the game.”
The cashier forked over my receipt and I took it and swiped up my things. Behind me, Tee wasn’t budging. “I hear you, good to see you.”
He held up a finger, his hand sporting a few thick rings. “Give me a minute. I need to holla at you about something.”
Shit.
Thumbing a finger over my shoulder, I tried to get out of this. “I got someone waitin’ on me in the car.”
“I’ll only rap to you for a second,” Tee assured as he paid for his own gas. “Time is money, and money’s always worth the time.”
Tee paid for his gas with record timing before following me out of the station. On the sidewalk, we stood side by side, and I kept my gaze at the ground. A stray cat wasn’t too far from us down the sidewalk. It was chubby, clearly not missing any meals with its thick gray Tabby body.
“I been trying to reach you,” Tee started off.
I rubbed at my neck. “Yeah, I’ve been busy, man.”
Tee nudged me. “I see. BLVCKJVCK is the talk of the town.”
Pride had me looking him in his eye. “It’s going to stay that way, Tee. I can’t do business with you.”
He angled his head. “You haven’t even heard my offer.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m happy where I’m at.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Tee said. “Seventy/thirty split. In your favor. A whole new club.”
I paused, stunned at that figure. “What’s the catch?”
“Give a few pointers to Chamber,” he went on. “Whatever you come up with will be successful, so I’m all ears on how to step Chamber up. Of course, a new club would need a better location so that the competition can breathe.”
He was offering me seventy percent of a nightclub, all in exchange for tips on improving Chamber?
My head was spinning because I hadn’t seen that coming.
Seventy percent.
Fuck.
Beside me, Tee was chuckling, enjoying my reaction.
“I thought you’d like that. Let’s keep it real, we both know you’re the brains behind BLVCKJVCK.
You’re the reason it makes so much money.
Anything else you touch will be gold, baby boy.
So tell me, are you ready to step out and be your own man? To finally be a boss?”
The Tabby got up and walked away, rounding the building and disappearing.
The night went on around us as the sky turned from a blue to a reddish pink sunset. Cool fall air blew by us, sending chills to my hot body.
Seventy. Percent. Shit.
I shot Tee a look, hating him for what he was doing. Dangling my dream right in front of me. At such a big fucking cost. “I gotta think on that.”
That broad smile made me feel disgusted with myself. “Take some days. It’s a big step when you go from being a boy to a man. When you get your first chest hair.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and tipped his head my way before taking off in a different direction. “Call me.”
I went into autopilot, going and filling up my tank and then slipping into the driver’s seat. I didn’t want to think about Tee Money, but I couldn’t not think about Tee Money.
Nastasia was in her seat, facing me, worried. “Who was that?”
Shit. “A backer.”
“To what?”
I punched my steering wheel. Fuuuck. “Just… Drop it.”
She moved back against her door. “Zeke?”
I could feel her fear prominently in the small space of my front seat area. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten her.
Instead, silently, I pulled out of my space and took off for the street. I didn’t speak the whole way to my condo, and neither did she.
Once there, she went into the kitchen to start with her wings and I paced the floor.
I tried to distract myself, looking for Scorsese and Sadé.
A couple of weeks ago, we’d officially introduced them for a playdate—it had been a disaster.
Shah was a little on the stuck-up, territorial side, and Scorsese was nervous and a little afraid.
Gradually, though, with effort and patience, we got them to a neutral point.
They could be in the same space as each other without Sadé being a total bully.
This was only the second time we’d left them alone together and it was nice to come back to my spot without any casualties.
Still, though, even after catching Scorsese under a side table, I was rattled.
“Zeke?” Nastasia called from the kitchen area. I turned to find her watching me at the island. “Please talk to me.”
At a time like this, I needed to talk to Cesar, but it was still a few hours before I was due at the club.
I went over to the island and took a seat. Nas had rinsed her wings and was seasoning them in a chrome mixing bowl. Watching her douse the wings with just the right amount of this and the right amount of that was calming. Homey.
“That guy back at the station is a longtime rival of my father’s,” I spoke up. “Tee and Pops go back a ways, and in the nightclub business they always had a little competition.”
Nastasia took off her gloves and pitched them before taking her mixing bowl over to the counter where the air fryer was. She put on another set of gloves and put in the wings. She set the time and temp and came back over to me, giving me her full attention.
“A few months back I ran into Tee and he was offering me some stake in a nightclub,” I said. “It was easy to say no at the time, because I was twenty-seven and I thought for my birthday Pops would gift me BLVCKJVCK.”
“But he didn’t,” Nastasia pointed out.
Meewr.
Sadé came out of my bedroom and was making her way through the condo, letting her presence be known.
“I was mad at the time, too,” I got back to my story. “But Cease and…someone else talked me down. I was ducking Tee’s calls after that. Tonight there was no avoiding him.”
Nastasia got quizzical. “Who’s ‘someone else’?”
I had nothing to hide. “An old flame. Regina.”
“Ah.” Nastasia bobbed her head. “You guys talk about stuff like this?”
“It’s not like that,” I tried to let her know.
Nas didn’t hold off. “You said a few months ago, and we’ve known each other for almost four months now.”
I scratched at my chin, telling myself her suspicion came from having a cheating ex. And my reckless mouthing off at Leslie’s that one time. I’d known Nastasia for almost four months as she’d said, and hadn’t entertained or looked at another woman since. Unconsciously, I stayed on my best behavior.
“I talked to her that day we met actually. She runs a gentleman’s lounge where I used to go and do my thinking.
After I met you I stopped going. I saw Regina last month at the club because she was worried about me after not seeing me for a while,” I came clean.
“In the past, if I needed a place to think or someone to talk to that wasn’t Cesar, Regina was cool.
She’s older, smart, and she’s good people. I told her about you.”