There was a short, petite woman standing at a podium waiting to seat them. She was pretty and wore her natural hair in two buns at the top of her head. The glasses on her nose suited her heart-shaped face, and she flashed a perfect smile their way. “Only two today?”
“Yeah,” Ollie answered.
“Wow, that’s surprising.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Kiara?” Ollie asked after glancing at her name tag.
“I just assumed that men as handsome as the two of you surely had dates joining them.”
“Nah, we don’t do that datin’ shit. Women are only good for one night around these parts,” Ollie answered with a straight face, and Kiara’s brow furrowed.
“Word?”
“Nah, I’m just fuckin’ with you,” Ollie told her with a grin. “But ay, can we get a booth though?”
“If you’re single, you can get whatever you like,” she said, batting her long eyelashes up at him before having the two men follow her to a booth. She waited for them to sit down across from each other at the booth before she handed them their menus. “Your server will be right over to help you, but if you need me, you know where to find me.”
“Got it,” Ollie said and watched her walk away. “Damn. Short girls be havin’ the biggest booties. I’m getting her number before we leave. I’m tryin’a dive into that tonight.”
“You’re a whole fool, man,” Kidd laughed. “What happened to that girl Shar you were into?”
“Man, that bih was crazy, dog,” Ollie said and shook his head. “Shorty started leaving shit over my house, and at first I wasn’t tripping. A pair of panties here, a shirt there. But then she cleared out a whole drawer for her shit and bought a toothbrush specifically for my house.”
“What’s wrong with that? I thought you were feelin’ her.”
“I was, but I wasn’t tryin’a move her in with me or nothin’ like that. She wasn’t even my girl! I thought we were just havin’ some fun, but she was tryin’a marry a nigga.”
Kidd found himself laughing at the serious expression on Ollie’s face. He couldn’t say that his friend was a womanizer, but he could say that he was definitely a ladies’ man. It was going to take a special woman to make Ollie settle down, and it was safe to say that she hadn’t crossed his path yet.
“Eventually you gon’ find that one who makes you want to leave the game behind you.”
“Sike, nigga. Can’t no bitch stop me from making all this paper.”
“Yeah, yeah. You say that now. But watch, pretty soon one of these girls is gon’ have you wide open.”
“You’re crazy.”
At that moment, their server came over to take their orders. She was much older than Kiara, but she still had smooth golden brown skin and a youthful smile. There was a gray streak in her hair that she wore up in a ponytail, giving her a look of wisdom. She had a beauty mark on her left cheek, and her eyes were the color of coffee.
“My name is Luella, and I’ll be your server while you dine with us. How are you handsome gentlemen doing today?”
“We’re just fine, ma’am, now that you’ve graced us with your presence,” Ollie said with a smile.
“Oh, you better stop it,” Luella told him with a grin. “You look like you’re a hit with the younger ladies, but I’ve been around the block a few times. I know a too-smooth cat when I see one. What can I start you boys with to drink?”
“I’ll take a Pepsi,” Ollie told her.
“You can get me a Sprite,” said Kidd.
“A Pepsi and a Sprite, got it,” she said, jotting it down in her little notebook. She then glanced at the closed menus on the table in front of them. “Do you know what you want to eat, or do you need a few more moments to decide?”
“I’ll take the crab legs platter,” Kidd told her.
“And I’ll have the Seafood Delight with extra shrimp, please, ma’am.”
“Got it,” she said with a smile. “I’ll just take these menus out of your way and go . . .”
Her sudden pause in her sentence made Kidd look up at her, only to see that she was looking back at him too. She had a curious expression on her face, almost as if she suddenly recognized him.
“Is everything okay, ma’am?”
“Yes, yes. Everything is fine. You just remind me of somebody I know, that’s all.”
“He gets that all the time,” Ollie joked. “If you think I’m a smooth cat with the ladies, Kidd here is a smooth criminal.”
“Kidd. . . .” Luella repeated and let her voice trail off. She stared at him for a few more moments before he finally cleared his throat and snapped her out of her trance.
“Are you okay?” Kidd asked again.
“Yes. I’ll go put these orders in for you right now.”
She left without another word. When she was gone, Kidd raised his eyebrow at Ollie, who responded by shrugging his shoulders.
“If that bih poisons our food, I’m blamin’ you,” he said.
“Me? I’ve never seen that woman a day in my life, G. I don’t know where she would know me from.”
“Like I said, if we leave here and I drop dead somewhere, I expect you to pay for my funeral.”
“Shit, if that’s the case, I’ma be dead right along with you,” Kidd retorted just as Luella brought them their drinks without giving either of them eye contact.
“Thank you,” Ollie said to her, and she nodded.
“Anyways, nigga,” Kidd said when she was gone and out of earshot, “tell me about these jobs that Gene has been sending you on while I’ve been away.”
“The first couple were nothin’ major,” Ollie started after taking a gulp of his drink. “Just the standard ‘collect what’s owed’ type of thing. I busted in on one motherfucka getting his dick sucked by three women, man. Some bad bitches, too. I told myself that after I whooped his ass and got Gene’s paper, I gotta see what that feels like. I mean, I’ve had two bitches, but three? Man, I would go crazy. But anyway, at first it was just easy shit.”
“And then?” Kidd asked. Ollie looked at him like he didn’t want to say anything, so Kidd repeated himself. “And then?”
“Man, I didn’t want to bring it up.”
“Bring what up?”
“Gene called me to the house a few weeks ago and told me that he had a new job for me. He said it was a big job and since you were gone on tour that I would need some backup. I was just gon’ grab a few of my own people, but he didn’t want me to do that. He said that he wanted somebody he for sure knew was gon’ get the job done. Said he had someone for me.”
“Who?”
“Percy.”
“Percy as in Perseus?” Kidd asked, and his interest piqued.
“Yeah, G. That Percy.”
“What was the job?”
“This is where it gets strange. Gene told me that the job would be payin’ three times as much as usual.”
“Damn, that’s a lot of bread. Why, though?” Kidd asked, and Ollie sighed.
“Because that time we wouldn’t be recovering what Gene lost. We would be grabbing somethin’ else.”
“So what are you tryin’a say, he sent y’all on a robbery?” Kidd joked and gave a small laugh. When Ollie didn’t laugh with him, his expression grew serious. “Are you sayin’ that Gene sent you on a robbery?”
“Not robbery. A kidnapping, in Nebraska. It was supposed to be a quick grab and go, but shit turned ugly real fast. I was supposed to wait in the car just in case anything popped off outside while Percy and one of his men went in. But apparently ol’ dude inside got the drop on him, and they had to kill everybody in the house.”
“Wait.” Kidd couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Did you say Nebraska?”
“Yeah.”
“A family?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you happen to get a name?”
“Nah, I didn’t ask. And I’m wonderin’ why you’re askin’ me so many questions right now.”
“My bad,” K
idd said, trying to play it off even though his thoughts were going haywire. “You know I like details.”
“You’re good,” Ollie said.
Kidd’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. A part of him hoped it was Belle, and he was pleased to see that it was her. A part of him wished that he hadn’t left. He read her message and sent a reply before placing the phone back in his pocket.
“That was her again, huh?”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, man,” Kidd said and drank his soda.
“Since when do we keep secrets? Now tell me, who is she?”
“You know, you’re really too nosy for your own good,” Kidd said, hoping that Ollie would drop it, but his friend just kept staring at him with a knowing look. “All right, nigga. Yes, it’s a girl.”
“What girl, though? Is she a jump off or is she wifey type?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m still tryin’ to figure all that out.”
“Well, have you hit yet?”
“Nah, not yet. That’s not what I’m on with her. I met her while I was on tour. She had gotten herself in a bad situation, and we brought her on the bus.”
“On the bus? As in the Gene’s Girls bus?”
“Yeah. She was in a little bit of a bind.” Kidd paused himself before he said too much about Belle’s situation. “She was in a bind, and Aria offered her a way to make a little cash.
“Those bitches turned her out, didn’t they?” Ollie asked, and Kidd shrugged.
“I left before I had to see all that. I tried to tell her that she was too good for that life, but she wasn’t tryin’a hear me.”
“Well, you know if they did turn her out, she’s off-limits to you now, don’t you? Gene doesn’t play that shit. He just blew Anthony’s head off for dippin’ his dick in Flare.”
“Anthony?”
“He was a newer security dude. Either way, what I’m tryin’a say is we both know Gene doesn’t like to mix business with pleasure. Nephew or not, I wouldn’t do that shit if I were you, G. You know how he is about his girls. They’re like his property.”
“She’s not his girl until she signs a contract.”
“If she’s already on that bus making money through his clients, she’s already one of his girls,” Ollie said.
Before Kidd could respond, Luella brought the two men their food. She set their dishes down in front of them. The aroma hit Kidd’s nose and instantly made his mouth water. The awkwardness that Kidd had felt radiating from her was gone, and she spoke to them as if nothing strange had happened before.
“How does everything look for you?” she asked.
“Delicious. Y’all did hold the spit, right?” Ollie asked, and she raised her eyebrow in confusion.
“I’m sorry?”
“Nothin’. Everything looks good,” Kidd said and shot Ollie a look, to which he responded with a grin of his own.
“Perfect. Y’all be sure to let me know if you need anything else, all right?”
“Thank you,” Kidd said, and as quickly as she had come, she was gone again.
“Spit or no spit, I’m about to tear this shit down,” Ollie claimed after saying his grace. “A nigga might even lick the plate!”
Kidd sat there watching him dig into his food like a wild animal. He was hungry, but Ollie’s words were ringing in his mind like Christmas bells. He was right. Gene would consider Belle one of his girls off GP. He would look at all the money she’d made like a loan, as if it had come directly from his pockets. Kidd knew what happened to the girls once they became a part of Gene’s world. It looked like sunshine and daisies, but the truth of the matter was that all of those shopping sprees came at a cost. A nightmarish one at that.
It was a fate he didn’t want for Belle. She’d already suffered enough loss, and if she continued down that rabbit hole, it would cost her her soul. Not to mention that Gene was looking for her already. If the job Ollie spoke of was what Kidd thought, Belle being in the presence of Gene wasn’t a good idea anyway. There was no telling what he would do to her. His plan was simple: intercept her before she met with Gene. If he had to pay his uncle out of his own pocket for Belle to keep her freedom, then so be it.
When they were done eating, they wasted no time paying the check and leaving. On his way out, Ollie made good on his word and got Kiara the hostess’s number and told her he was going to hit her up later that night. Kidd hoped that they had killed enough time and Gene was back already. Sure enough, when they pulled back around the circular driveway, Gene’s red Maybach was parked behind Ollie’s car.
“What did he want you to slide over here for anyway?” Ollie asked, shutting the door of the G-Wagen behind him.
“Somethin’ about Percy,” Kidd answered, and the two of them went up the wide-set steps to the front door.
“Percy?”
“Yeah, he ain’t really go into details over the phone,” Kidd said, opening the front door. He went in first and looked around. “Unc!”
“Downstairs!” he heard his uncle’s faraway voice shout.
They went down to the basement and found Gene sitting at his desk. As usual, he was dressed business savvy with a clean-cut head and face. When he saw the two boys enter, he told them both to sit down across from him.
“I expected to find you here when I returned,” he said with a slightly raised eyebrow at Kidd.
“I didn’t expect you to take all day,” Kidd told him. “We got hungry, and since Maria’s gone, we had to step out.”
“Touché, nephew,” Gene chuckled. “Anyhoo, straight to business then. Ollie, I’m glad you’re here, being that you were with Percy the night that job went terribly wrong. I appreciate that you told me exactly what you saw and heard. When I entrusted Percy with assisting you, I thought the money being offered was what piqued his interest. That was foolish of me. I now know that Percy has set a personal vendetta against me. He sabotaged the job on purpose. The man I sent you in to grab wasn’t supposed to die, no matter what. He knew that.”
“Who was the man?” Kidd asked and held his breath.
“Lucas Dubois. He was the owner of a business that I was hoping to, say, do business with. I even allowed him to enjoy the amenities at the Bliss Lounge completely on me. He dabbled with a few house favorites and snorted the finest cocaine in Florida. He enjoyed himself thoroughly and didn’t even know he was being recorded.”
“Blackmail,” Kidd said, stating the obvious. “You were trying to blackmail him into doing business with you? Why? Your client list is vast. You even have the governor on speed dial.”
“Vast is still not big enough. How do large companies survive?”
“Expansion,” Ollie answered.
“And what else?”
“Who you know?” Kidd guessed.
“Exactly. The Bliss Lounge is destined to be more than just a few locations. It should be worldwide. Lucas Dubois had the power to give me just that, and Percy may have tuned in to a conversation or two. So he knew what I was after. He hasn’t gotten over that when the Bliss Lounge became hotter than even I imagined, I turned him away after he came back asking to be my security detail. He didn’t understand how I could let kids—his words, not mine—run the show. Although I kept him in the loop whenever I needed extra hands, he never had a constant money flow again. Because of that, he wants to end me.
“See, the Bliss Lounge has slowed major product sales in the streets. I mean, why would the high flyers pay by the hit when they can pay a monthly fee and get as high as they want every day if they desire? Not to mention the pussy. It’s a no-brainer.”
“What do you want us to do?”
“I want you to take him and any other threat out. While I am expanding my business, I want a clear conscience. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder every ten seconds.”
“But if Lucas Dubois is dead, how do you plan to expand? I’m assuming you were going to use his high-profile client list from his management company to do so.”
“I recognized the name as soon as you said it,” Kidd said, thinking fast on his toes. “They broadcast his death and a few details about the deceased on the news when the bus was passing through the Midwest. And now, I just assumed his client list was what you were after all along.”
“Always paying attention to detail,” Gene said with a slow smile. “That’s exactly why you’re the best for the job. But yes, that was what I was after, and I’m still going to get it.”
“How?”
“Percy thought by killing the entire family, I wouldn’t get what I wanted. He was wrong. Lucas Dubois had a daughter.”
“I thought they said she wasn’t left anything because—”
“Because she isn’t his birth child, I know. But there was something they left out. Something even she may not know. While he was high out of his mind at Bliss, he let something slip to one of my girls. He had an amended will in a safe inside of his house. In it, he stated that if anything should ever happen to him, his brother should take over his company. If ever his brother was not able to fulfill those duties, all ownership and responsibility should go to his children, Luca and Belle Dubois. So now all I have to do is kill the brother and find the daughter.”
“Why not just get the brother to give you what you want?” Kidd asked.
“Because a man given power like that won’t let it go so easily. I’d rather save myself the time. But Belle? That will be too easy.”
Gene grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and Kidd didn’t like the look in his eye. He held his tongue, however, and tried not to let his face show any emotion.
“First, I need you to kill Percy and everyone loyal to him. Next, I’ll be sending you to Nebraska to handle the brother. You will be compensated nicely for your duties, of course. And, Kidd, you can take that month off you want so badly. Any objections?”
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