Page 28 of Saint Baptiste 2

“That’s not enough. Not because we don’t trust your judgment but because of who we are,” I squinted. “You get my drift, Tash? For a second, set your emotions aside. Step outside of your body and really look at what you want us to be okay with. Think ‘bout it, Tasha. Look at us. Look at the family you come from. You knew how this conversation would go; you’ve been nervous since you walked into my house.”

Her eyebrows jumped a little and I smiled.

“Exactly.” I stood up and flicked my wrist to look at my watch again. “When do you leave?”

She sighed. “The 22nd.”

“Alright, bet. That gives us time to look into the nigga before you go.” I told her.

Tasha drew back with offense. “You think I’m going to just walk him into an ambush?—”

“Ambush?” I asked with a frown. “Nah. Fuck you think? We gon’ jump the nigga when he?—”

“Don’t act like y’all haven’t?—”

“We’re grown ass men, baby girl,” Blaise interjected.

She cocked her head to the side. “Are you though?”

Blaise smirked and gave her the middle finger.

“This isn’t up for debate,” I cut in, in all seriousness. “I’ve given you patience. I’ve given you understanding. Now it’s time you did the same for me.”

Natasha and I had our own little wordless eye exchange. Lasted about fifteen seconds before she was grabbing her purse to get her phone out to text me. I was at my wits end with patience.

Blaise, with a smirk, said, “If we happen to like the bitch ass nigga... who knows, maybe I’ll let you bring ‘em to the grand opening.”

I shook my head, scoffed and grabbed my phone from my pocket just as Tasha’s text came through.

She pursed her lips together and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, thank you Blaise. For inviting my friend, someone you don’t know, before your own brother. I appreciate that so much,” she condescendingly replied with a phony ass smile. “Make it make sense.”

With raised brows I shifted my eyes over at Blaise. “What?”

Blaise was opening his own spot. The Inferno Lounge—a speakeasy in downtown Detroit. It would be his very first independently owned entity. Which was crazy, considering Blaise was thirty-one. Samuel kept him on a tight leash. Before Inferno, Everything Blaise owned was attached to him.

“You didn’t tell him, did you? Pussy,” Natasha said with a laugh before grabbing her things again. “He still haven’t spoken to Jahad about The Inferno Lounge. Do you know how fucked up that’ll be if our brother has to find out about Inferno from someone other than him? If Jahad’s not going to be there, neither will I be. If you like ‘the bitch ass nigga’ or not. Have a good day, brothers.”

Once Natasha left the house, the tension in the room heightened and for perfectly good reason. I told him a month ago to make sure he sat down with Jah and told him about Inferno before he sent invites to the grand opening out. He hadn’t, apparently. I got the text two days ago.

What we had going on stayed between us. There was no family gossip. The only thing people knew was that Jahad stepped down for the sake of starting a family. They knew nothing of what transpired between him and Samuel. Not even ma knew the details of the conversation they had. B sending a mass amount of text messages out, telling people about a grand opening that wasn’t scheduled to happen until New Years Eve, posed as a threat to our privacy. If Jah found out from anybody other than B...

“I’ll check in with the nigga when—” he stated, cutting into the awkward silence.

“There is no checking in, B,’ I interrupted. “You were supposed to pull up on him a month ago.”

“I’ve been busy,” He replied with nonchalance.

I shook my head. “What you’ve been is a bitch. Untuck your dick, nigga.”

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t see him as the man he’d grown into. I was thirteen—looking up at sixteen-year-old B. I mean, I always heard him. Bitching, complaining, whining. Shit like that. But never saw him. Today, Blaise let that tough exterior down... just for a second because the minute he saw me see him, he put it right back up.

“Fuck you, bitch,” He said with pinched brows. “I have been busy. You want to discuss why you out, catching bodies over bi?—”

“Easy, nigga,” I interrupted with a smirk as I ran hot water into my mug.

“Yeah, aight. You hear me though, nigga.”

“And you heard me. I see you switched lanes, bitch,” I chastised with a laugh as I stood and extended my hand. “When I pull up on him about the will, I’ll slide to grab you first.”

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