Chapter 9 #2
Ten minutes into the drivers being here, I could hear a loud truck roaring from outside.
I peeked out of the window, so that I could see who it was, and it was Free, pulling up in her jeep.
I immediately sucked my teeth, wondering if Tank had ratted me out to my sister, telling her what I was going to be up to today, ruining the surprise.
Free pulled her truck any kind of way into the parking lot, and she rushed to get out.
I saw that she had Tommie with her, who’d gotten out of the passenger seat, and Tommie was moving just as fast to get inside.
Seeing how fast they were moving, and the unreadable looks on their faces, it caused me to rush over to the door, so that I could see what was going on.
“What happened? How the hell did ya’ll know where I was?” I asked, and the second I finished asking them that, that’s when I remembered that I didn’t turn my location off.
Usually, when I come down here, I would turn my location off, so that they weren’t able to find me. Today, I was moving around so quickly that I guess I’d forgotten to do it.
“Your location! Where is your phone? I called you twice, and you didn’t answer.
I looked at your location, and it brought up some warehouses.
Girl, I thought somebody had your ass tied the fuck up.
Fuck, Dionne!” Free snapped, breathing heavy, and with the half tee that she was wearing, I could see her gun that she had on her hip.
I looked over at Tommie, and she looked like she was ready, and on the same kind of bullshit that Free was on.
I knew that it wasn’t a laughing matter, but seeing my sisters react like this, and because I knew that Free was a fast driver anyways, I just knew that she flew her ass over here to get to me.
“I’m okay, ya’ll. My bad. My phone is in my purse, so I didn’t hear it ringing. I’m fine,” I had to let them know, so that they both could calm down.
“Who’s warehouse is this? Tank?” Tommie asked me, as the workers were coming back in, delivering more inventory, sitting everything against the wall.
“No. It’s my warehouse,” I announced, and when I said it, both women looked at me like I was crazy.
“Tank gave you one of his businesses or something? What do you mean this is your warehouse?” Tommie asked me.
Most people would have been offended by the sound of their siblings literally having no kind of faith that they would be running a business, but I wasn’t.
They were only going off what I’d shown them for all these years.
I carried on like I was allergic to work, and that it would be the last thing that I would ever want to be a part of, so I wasn’t offended that they were looking at me the way they were, or asking me the kind of questions that they were.
“Come over here. Open one of the boxes,” I said, leading the way over to one of the big pallets that was filled with inventory, and was sitting against the wall.
My sisters walked into the large warehouse, looking around in confusion, and looking at me as well. The way the boxes were sealed, it would be hard for me to just pull one out, so when the workers came back inside, I stopped him, so that he could take it out for me.
“Can you open this pallet for me? I’ll give you a tip. I’m sorry. I just want to prove to my sisters that I’m a businesswoman now,” I told the driver.
He was a handsome, dark-skinned man, that looked to have been in his twenties. He licked his lips at my question, and when he smiled, you could see the beautiful dimples that were in his cheeks.
“You don’t have to tip me, beautiful. I’ll feel like shit taking money from you. Can you bless me with your phone number though?” he asked me, and the smile that had been on my face was quickly wiped away the second that he asked me for my phone number.
My sisters stood off to the side, and I could hear them snickering.
“The only two options I have is the tip, or a simple ‘thank you’. I have a man,” I told him, and he nodded his head to that.
“I respect it. You still don’t have to tip me though,” he said, and then he turned around, used the box cutter that he had in the back pocket of the shorts that he was wearing, tore through the seal, and he pulled down at least five of the boxes.
He tore through the boxes, and once it was open, I took out what was inside, and when my sisters saw it, they both squealed, rushing over, so that they could see the bedding set. It was the same set that had been in my condo. I just finally had it in bulk.
“Dionne. Girl. What the fuck! When did you do this? Sister, what the fuck!” Free couldn’t believe it, as she walked around the bedding set, seeing my logo… my business… my brand… my picture, and all the items that were inside.
“When I had been in Milan all that time. That’s what I was out there doing,” I announced proudly.
“Dionne, this is niceeee! What the hell. Why didn’t you tell us about this?” Tommie asked, coming over to me, and she wrapped her arms around me, happy for me.
I knew my sisters would be happy for me.
That’s just how we were raised. My mom didn’t raise us to be a bunch of hating ass bitches.
We have always been each other’s personal hype women.
One of us could walk in here with a brand-new hairstyle, and we were going to cheer whoever it was on and make them feel like they were the baddest bitch in the world.
This was never about me keeping it a secret because I felt like they wouldn’t be happy.
I chose to keep it a secret because I wanted to come to them with a brand that was tangible.
I wanted them to see what I had been working on physically, so that the look on their faces would be priceless, just as it was right now.
“I wanted to keep it a secret until it was time for me to start selling,” I let Tommie know, as she pulled away from me.
They were both in awe, going back over to the packaging, telling me how nice everything looked.
“I want to buy a couple of sets. Put one in my bedroom, and the other one in one of the guest bedrooms. How much are you selling the sets for?” Free asked with a smile on her face, as she looked over at me.
“The sets are $200,” I let her know, having it casually fall off my tongue,
“As it fuckin should be! This is good quality shit. I can tell by the packaging that whatever is inside is going to be top tier quality. Well, let me take my two, and I’m going to send you your coin right now.
Oh my God. I’m such a proud little sister right now,” Free beamed, keeping true to her word as well because she pulled two of the packages to the side, so that she could keep them for herself, and Tommie did the same thing.
As we were standing here, it’s almost like I was a damn k-9 because I could smell that all too familiar cologne smell, even though I didn’t see his presence yet.
Before I could even question it, I saw the huge, beautiful, long stem 150 white roses that he was holding in his hands, and it was wrapped in white, and gold wrapping paper. On top of the roses, there was a topper, that read out, ‘House of Henry’.
I smiled big, happy for the roses, but even happier to see him because I woke up to Tank this morning, and I was happy about my inventory delivery that I was going to have, so I asked him if he would be able to swing by and take that moment in with me.
Tank had virtual meetings today with his business out on the west coast, so he had to break the news to me, telling me that he wouldn’t be able to make it.
I knew that he had a business to run, so as much as I wanted to be in my feelings about it, I couldn’t.
To see that he made it, and that he’d come with these beautiful flower arrangements, I quickly moved my feet, and I went over to my man, rushing to him, like I hadn’t seen him in ages.
The roses were so big, that it made it hard to get to him, but Tank was strong, so he was able to juggle holding the roses in one hand, and his other hand wrapped around my waist for a second, and he cuffed my ass, not giving a damn that my sisters were in the room.
I placed both hands on the side of his face, and I continued to kiss his lips.
“I didn’t think you were going to comeeeee,” I whined, doing that thing where I would poke my bottom lip out, as if I was sad.
“I had shit to take care of with the business, but you should know that daddy wasn’t going to miss this shit.
I was hoping that I was going to pull up at the same time as the truck, but I see that they already started.
Free, and Tommie, what’s good? Ya’ll see that your big sister is big dawg now, huh?
This about to be a multi- million-dollar business.
She finally let the cat out the bag, and told ya’ll what she’s been working on, huh?
” Tank asked my sisters, his hand still on my ass, but he had his attention on them.
“I was calling her, and then I checked her location, and I saw that she was at a damn warehouse. My mind went left, thinking that she was somewhere being kidnapped. I was already with Tommie, so we flew over here. We didn’t know about the business, but we’re so happy for her,” Free announced.
“Yeah, your sister secretive as fuck. If I commit a crime, I’m going to tell her because I know that she’ll take that shit to the grave,” he joked, getting my sisters to laugh.
“We need to go out tonight and celebrate my sister. Let’s go to the club, get a section, pop bottles.
The whole nine. Dionne, I know that’s not your definition of a good time.
Your ass would rather step foot into a 5-star restaurant but let us celebrate you tonight.
We’re happy for you, and we want to take you out,” Tommie said, and I groaned at what she said because she of all people knew that I didn’t do the whole clubbing thing.
If I did go with my sisters, I would usually just stay for about an hour.