Page 39 of The Smoke Hour

“Oh, it will work out. If you don’t repay my money, then you’ll have problems on your hands.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked.

“I don’t make threats, only promises,” Terry stated as he removed Devorah’s arm from his and walked toward me with a menacing scowl. “I didn’t come here to argue with you, Kaifiya. We’re looking for a space for her new bookstore and coffee shop. And I think this is the perfect location.”

Rage burned in my veins, and I crossed my arms over my chest to stop from punching the shit out of him and yanking her by her nappy weave.

“Why the hell are you in here, Terry? I’ve been repaying you your money.”

“You’ve repaid me forty-five grand. Now, I was nice enough to overlook the interest on the payments. But let’s be honest. There’s no way that you’ll be able to repay me two hundred and five thousand dollars within three and a half months.”

“You have no idea what I have planned, Terry. And until those three and a half months are up, I don’t want you to step another foot in my damn shop! And you can tell your goons to stay away too!”

“Don’t you mean his shop? Honey, I thought the papers said—”

“They do, Devorah,” he replied and patted her on the ass before he kissed her lips when she tipped up on her toes to kiss him.

They were tap dancing on my last nerves, and I swear, I was so close to beating the brakes off that nigga and bitch.

“Like I said, I have three and a half months. You’re gonna stop harassing me, Terry.”

“See what I meant, dear? The language,” Terry stated and clucked his tongue. “What are you going to do? Get your little boyfriend on me?” He laughed and shook his head. “You may have three and a half months, Kaifiya, but I know that you haven’t had that much of an upturn in business since I left you.”

“You left me?”

Terry pulled away from Devorah and stepped close to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and whispered, “You weren’t the woman for me, Kaifiya. But maybe that was a mistake. So, when the Smoke clears, and the dust of your little infatuation with him settles, pun intended, because he will clear out when he grows bored, call me. I might let you in my bed, or maybe you can negotiate your balance down if you can suck my dick really good,” he stated before he pulled back with a wink.

“Nigga, get your ass out of my shop!” I ran behind the counter and grabbed my gun.

Devorah shrieked loudly and threw her arms in the air when Terry jumped behind her. This nigga literally ducked behind her and then peered out at me. Did he honestly think that if I shot her, he would be saved?

“Nigga, you have five seconds to get out of my shop, or I’m going to blow that bitch’s tacky weave off her head and then bust a cap in that country-ass suit you’re wearing!” I threatened.

Devorah shrieked again this time, but she ran her ass out of my shop on those teeny-weeny heels. Terry was right behind her. I ran after them and immediately locked the doors. The way that I felt this evening, I had no patience to work with any more customers.

I headed back to my office and broke down crying. I dropped onto the couch and curled into a little ball as I cried my eyes out. I had worked so hard to build my business. It had been doing well until my cousin was killed. I had taken time off to grieve because I struggled to get out of bed and operate like business was normal.

It had taken me almost three months to get my ass up and back to business again. Then, last year, I fell back into that same depression around Demetrick’s birthday, which was five weeks before his murder. I had stayed away from my business for two months at that time, but I had gone into the shop and opened it intermittently.

I knew that it wasn’t a smart business model, but I struggled with depression. I hadn’t told anyone that I had been going through it either, not Christina or Tamara. When I battled the first round of depression after he was murdered, I lost my apartment. Noel had been kind enough to let me move in with him.

When I went through the second battle, he hadn’t been privy to all that I was going through. He had been on multiple businesstrips, and when he was at home, those were the times that I dragged myself out of bed and into the shop.

Tamara assumed that I had been frivolous and partying my time away. Nothing could have been further from the truth. But I couldn’t tell her that. In fact, I hadn’t spoken to anyone about that except for Smoke, and I hadn’t told him the entire story.

I sat up on the couch and wiped my eyes. I needed to go home and eat because my head was already killing me. I was going to skip going to Smoke’s house tonight. My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it and saw Smoke’s name.

“Hey,” I answered.

I sniffled and reached for tissues to wipe my face and nose.

“Where are you?”

His voice was serious, and it alarmed me.

“I’m at my shop. Why?”

“I’m at the front door. Your shop is closed, and you’re not answering the door. What’s wrong? It sounds like you’ve been crying.”

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