Chapter 16-Devon
“Aye, you coming to Crossroads east location tonight?” Levi asked as he stepped into my office.
“I might stop by for a few, but I have plans with my woman tonight.” I responded as my eyes darted across the sales reports I printed out as soon as I walked into my office.
Each number a reminder that regardless of how good you are to a person, it didn’t mean that they would be good to you. I paid my employees more money than what they would make at the next club, yet here they were, trying to play me.
I had a feeling that one bartender was skimming money from the till, and before I shot or fired her, I needed to have proof.
There were two types of people that I didn’t tolerate: one was a liar, and the other was a thief. Diamond was a cool chick and good at her job, but she was going to have to learn the hard way because, thanks to the reports, I had the proof I needed.
There should have been three thousand six hundred and eighty-four dollars in the bar’s register from the night before, but when I counted it, six hundred dollars was missing.
Six hundred dollars wasn’t going to make me or break me.
It was the simple fact that it was unaccounted for. Hell, it could have been ten dollars, and I would have had a problem just off of the principle.
“Damn, my guy, she got you calling her your woman now?” he asked as he took a seat in one of my office chairs, making himself comfortable.
“Hell yeah, ‘cause that’s what the hell she is, but don’t you have something to do besides harass me?
” I asked and waited for his response. “Aye! Man, be careful. I know that there’s a weight limit on them chairs, and I ain’t trying to replace them.
” I warned him as he leaned back in the chair on the other side of my office.
He leaned forward, sitting straight up while shaking his head. “You stay high siding me, trying to crack jokes. I recognize the insecurity, and I could help you get your weight up. It’s nothing for you to meet me at the gym. You ain’t gotta keep the jailhouse body if you don’t want to.”’
“ Jailhouse body . What you mean?” He laughed before he stopped and smirked. That let me know that whatever he was about to say was going to make me want to throw him out of my office.
“Yeah, man, jailhouse body . Like you went hard six days out of the week, but you only focused on yo’ legs. Don’t act like you haven’t done time.”
His answer caught me off guard, and before I could stop myself, I burst out laughing.
After a few seconds, I regained my composure.
“Man, my woman ain’t complaining, so I ain’t tripping.”
“She ain’t complaining because she ain’t seen a real thoroughbred man like me. Bet money she meets me and starts either applying pressure for you to get in the gym, or she leaves you where you’re at, and gets with a Levi lookalike.”
“Get the hell out of here with that mess. Go find something to do. Be productive for a change.”
“I’m always productive, and you know it. But that’s not what I came up here to talk to you ‘bout,” he said, changing his jovial tone to a more serious one.
“What’s wrong? Are you good?”
“Yeah, I’m good, but you know that Cross’s birthday is coming up in a few months.”
“Yeah, man, I know,” I responded and let out a loud sigh. All the joy and laughter I felt moments earlier seemed like a distant memory.
“I’ve been thinking, and I want to throw a party in his honor. I wanted to do it at one of the clubs. How you feel about that?”
“I’m down with anything that has to do with honoring my brother. Just let me know what you need from me. I got you.”
“I appreciate that. You know, I keep waiting for the day to come where him being gone will get easier. It doesn’t seem like that day will ever come, though.
I miss the hell out of that wild ass nigga.
Cross taught me everything I know about being a man.
To be honest, he was way more than a brother.
He was my pops cause that nigga stayed gone, and Cross was my best friend too. ”
“Man, I know what you mean. You know I don’t have a biological brother, but Cross was that to me. My right-hand man. He left me, and now all I have is your overgrown ass,” I joked to lighten the mood. “I wish I could bring him back so I wouldn’t be the only one who had to tolerate you.”
“Cut it out. You’d be lost and miserable without me, and you know it.”
“No, what you meant to say was I wouldn’t be stressed without you, and I’d be happy as hell.”
“I hear your lying ass. When am I going to meet your lady though? I need to see if she’s good enough for you and my nephew.”
“How you figure when I haven’t met the three-eyed monster you introduced my son to?”
“Whatever, man.” The way he waved me off caused me to look at him suspiciously. “What about the chick you’re talking to? Do you think she’s good enough to stay around?”
“Man , she is. I’m telling you straight up, I have never in my life met another woman like Kenya.
I mean, she has a good head on her shoulders, she has a career, and not as an Instagram model, stripper, or the cashier at Citi Trends.
My girl is a whole attorney in these streets.
She’s intelligent, can hold a conversation, beautiful, and has a good heart with the body of a goddess.
She’s the complete package. The type of woman who will make you want to give her your last name.
I’m not saying I want to get married, but if it came to it, and that’s what it would take for me to keep her, then I would be somewhere getting a tailored suit, and that’s real talk. ”
“Damn, let me find out. How the hell did I miss her on the dating app? I need you to help me with my profile ‘cause you must have said something or answered a question on there that I didn’t,” he said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“See, I told your big ass that I didn’t need any help.
Now, look at you trying to take lessons from your boy?
The offer is off the table now. You should have accepted my wisdom when I was trying to put you on game the first time.
What happened to the chick that had you skinning and grinning not too long ago?
You introduced her to Dreux, so she had to be good.
” I trusted Levi with my life, and I knew he wouldn’t have my son around just anybody.
“Man, she was a gold digger. She had me open, but the day after I took her and Dreux to dinner, she asked me for money. I gave it to her, but it became an everyday thing, so I had to cut her off. I got money, so I’m not against providing for my woman, but at the same time, I’m not looking for a project that needs a sponsor either. ”
“Do you know the difference between a gold digger and a woman with standards?” From experience, I knew for a fact that if you weren’t smart about it, you could mistake one for another.
“Yes, fool, I know the difference.” His face contorted in a mask of genuine offense; his eyes narrowed, and his lips twisted.
“I was just checking,” I said as I held my hands up in a mock surrender. “Don’t shoot me for asking the questions that need to be asked.”
“Bruh, she was a gold digger. She started telling me about her bills, and I hit her with the, you need to call to make arrangements on them hoes, so they don’t cut you off talk.
I can pay a few, but you shouldn’t expect me to pay them all right out of the gate.
Some women think that ‘cause a man is single and been single for a while, it means he’s desperate, but that is the furthest thing from the truth.
I’ll be by myself before I let a broad use me for my wallet.
Now, if she wants to use me for what I’m packing, I can get with that, but that wasn’t her conversation.
Hell, when it comes to that , I’ll let her take advantage of me for as long as she wants to. ”
“Man, you are a fool,” I said through laughter.
Sitting back, talking to Levi, reminded me of all the talks that I had with Cross.
Levi was his own person and couldn’t be confused with his brother, but they shared similar personalities, especially when it came to their sense of humor.
Some days Cross would have me damn near in tears from laughing so hard.
What made it worse was that he would be dead ass serious with whatever he said.
It was like he wasn’t capable of finding the humor in his own jokes, because to him he wasn’t joking.
I thought back to one day when this ugly, mud duck looking woman tried to talk to him.
We were at the club, chilling in our private section when she walked up to us like she knew she was about to spit game, and she walked away after Cross proved her wrong.
She had all the confidence in the world for no reason.
Little baby was ugly in the face, badly built, and she was dressed like the lights were out at her house.
He told little mama off so badly that I almost went off on his ass for her, but it was too comical.
She approached him with a simple hey , and his dramatic ass spit out his drink, then asked the girl why she thought that she had a chance with him.
He broke her down literally, starting at the top of her busted, crooked ponytail to the bottom of her ashy feet.
I didn’t think that I could catch my breath because I was laughing so hard.
When I asked him why he felt the need to disrespect the woman like that, he told me sometimes you have to let these females know, and then said he felt disrespected that she even approached him.
Cross was just that type of clown.
He was the type of person that wouldn’t allow you to have a bad day, because he would do or say something that would take your mind off of what you were dealing with.
Even with him having an untouchable sense of humor, people near and far knew that crossing Cross was a death sentence.