Page 14 of Through Treacherous Weather
Esco was the boss, so when he wanted to take time off to spend with his daughter, he did. But he was her sole parent and her provider. When it was time to work, he got that money. He couldn’t spend every hour of every day with Star. He knew that, and she did too. Esco appreciated the fact that he was able to give her a good life the legal way. There was a time when he couldn’t see past selling drugs. He didn’t have a desire to slave on someone else’s job to only bring home enough money on payday to pay the bills and then be broke all over again.
When Esco first started his security firm, he was nervous. If he didn’t get clients and he didn’t make money, then it was back to the block. Esco got a few jobs at various night clubs, and a fewstrippers pulled him aside to ask him to accompany them to do private parties. At one of the private parties, Esco ran into one of his old classmates that had made it to the NBA. He hired Esco to do a private party, and it was on from there. The party led to him being in a room full of athletes and rappers that requested his business card.
A few years later, Esco had nine employees, and they all stayed booked and busy. He was in the process of starting a luxury car service. There were plenty of people in Diamond Cove that would pay a pretty penny to ride in luxury. People that wanted to be discreet and didn’t want the drivers from regular ride share apps to be privy to their addresses and personal information. Esco was going to start out with three cars and if business was good, he’d get a fourth.
As long as he had eyes on Fatima, he felt it didn’t matter what else he did, but Esco wanted to be as professional as he could. Wise was the kind of client he pulled out all the stops for. That was the main reason he waited until Fatima went into the bathroom to shower before he called to check on Star. The only other time he didn’t have eyes on her was when she went to sleep, and when he went in her guest bathroom to take a quick shower. Even though all he was doing was sitting in her plush home, Esco couldn’t go more than twenty-four hours without washing his ass. He had one more day with Fatima before his employee would take over for twenty-four hours.
Watching out for Fatima was easy money. Her home was nice as hell, but he expected nothing less from the daughter of the infamous Wise. She had rarely been in the living room with him, so she gave him free reign of the remote control. When he was tired of television, he scrolled through Tik Tok on his phone. When it was time for bed, she told him he could sleep in one of her spare rooms, but Esco chose to remain on the couch. Of course, he couldn’t go two days with no sleep, but he wasn’tgoing to get all comfortable. At the end of the day, he was still being paid to do a job. Esco allowed himself to sleep for six hours before he woke up.
Fatima wasn’t the spoiled rich brat he was afraid she might be. Wise’s money was good, and Esco didn’t want to lose him as a customer, but he had mentally prepared himself for the possibility of Fatima getting on his nerves. Wise’s daughters were spoiled as fuck and had been treated like royalty their entire lives. That was cool, but nobody was going to treat Esco like the help. So far, so good though. Fatima had barely said ten words to him the entire time that he’d been there, but she wasn’t rude. Just quiet. That was how he preferred it. Esco was there to do a job, and he was going to keep it real respectful and professional. Fatima was only two years younger than him, but he refused to look at her like that. For one, he didn’t mix business with pleasure.
Plus, she was the daughter of Wise. She probably expected men to show up on the first date with Birkin bags. Esco was focused on adding to the nest egg he had tucked away for his daughter, adding to his own savings account, and adding to his retirement fund. Wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars tricking off on women wasn’t on the agenda. Esco was far from broke, but he was smart. Practical. In order for him to come off anything more than a few hundred dollars, a woman would have to be his girlfriend. And still, that shit wouldn’t happen too frequently.
Less than a minute after his facetime with Star ended, there was a knock at the door, and Fatima entered the room as he sat up. “It’s just Instacart. I got some groceries delivered, so I can cook.”
“I’ll get it,” Esco stood up, and Fatima raised her hands in surrender. Esco could tell she didn’t like the constant surveillance and overprotectiveness, but he was doing whatWise paid him to do. He doubted anyone had a hit out on her or something super serious, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
Through the large window that was tinted so one could see out but not in, he watched the Instacart delivery person walk back to his car. He was a short Asian man that looked to be in his mid to late thirties. Eso was sure he wasn’t a threat but again, he was going to play it safe. Once the man was in his car, he opened the door and grabbed four bags off the porch. Fatima was close on his heels as he took the bags into the kitchen and placed them on the granite countertop.
Fatima’s house was huge for it to be just her. His three-bedroom home wasn’t shabby, but it could damn near fit inside of Fatima’s home. Esco hadn’t thought far enough ahead to think about if he wanted more kids. Only if he grew his family would he need a house that large. He loved Star more than life itself, and having a son or even another daughter wouldn’t be so bad. But Esco had learned the hard way that loving the wrong person could have ever lasting effects.
Watching Sophie deteriorate before his eyes. Losing the woman he loved to the streets. Watching his daughter cry for her mother. It all did something to Esco, and he couldn’t be certain that he’d ever let his guard down again. Of course, he knew he would possibly be shortchanging himself. If he wasn’t open to love, he wouldn’t know if his soulmate was out there but most days, he didn’t care. Esco was tired. He had to be everything to everybody and no matter who didn’t play their part, his world had to keep spinning. No matter how wounded his heart was, he refused to raise Star in a toxic home filled with dysfunction and trauma.
Every time Wise, Justice, or Fatima thanked him for saving her life, it made Esco think of Star. His job was protecting people to a certain point. It had never been his intention to take a bullet for anybody. When he saw a gun being pointed at Fatima, heacted off instincts, but truth be told, he wasn’t trying to leave his daughter fatherless to save Wise’s daughter. A bullet proof vest was a part of his uniform, but he didn’t dodge bullets on a regular basis. A vest wouldn’t be any good if there was a head shot.
When Esco worked for athletes, rappers, rapper baby mamas, influencers, strippers, etc. he was just keeping them protected from jack boys and crazy fans. He’d never been in a situation where any of his people were being shot at. He was definitely licensed to carry, and he’d kill anybody before he let them kill him.
After he set the bags down, Fatima mumbled a thank you, and Esco nodded in return. Taking his place back on the comfortable oversized couch, Esco checked his work email. There were multiple inquiries requesting his services, and that was exactly what he liked to see. He’d been so busy lately that he was considering hiring three more people. Jobs could range from a few hours to a few days.
By the time he went through all of the inquiry forms and assigned employees to each job, the aroma of food filled the air and made his stomach growl. He had no idea whether or not Fatima could cook, but she damn sure had something smelling wonderful. For breakfast, he was going to order food, but she insisted he help himself to anything in her kitchen, so he ate fruit and a bagel. Esco hadn’t even realized he was hungry again until his mouth began to water from the smell of what she was cooking.
Esco could hear the faint sounds of Fatima on the phone, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. She wasn’t speaking loudly, the television was on, and her house was huge. The doorbell rang again and before Fatima could make her way in the living room, Esco was at the door peering out of the window. When he saw that it was Justice at the door, he didn’t hesitate toopen it. The man didn’t look good at all, but he greeted Esco with a homeboy hug.
Justice’s eyes were red, and Esco doubted that it was just because of weed or even alcohol. There were bags underneath his eyes, and his braids were frizzy. Esco felt for Justice when he saw him crying over the body of the young man that was hit.
“Wise told me you got people on that,” he said to Esco as they walked into the living room. “I doubt it had anything to do with an incident in Miami, but I’m looking into that too,” Justice stated as Fatima entered the room.
“I don’t know Caleb and Shawn like that, but I doubt they came all the way here to shoot at me. Or you all. How would they even know where we were anyway?
“How much do you trust your friend, Heiress?” Justice asked with murder in his eyes. He was on one and the way he felt, anyone could get it.
Fatima drew back with a frown. “Heiress? She didn’t know what club I was going to. All I told her was that we were going out. Why would she give Caleb and Shawn any information? They robbed her too.”
Esco looked from Fatima to Justice. “What’s good?” he inquired.
Justice scrubbed one hand down his face. “Some lame ass niggas in Miami stole my sister and her friend’s watches. They got some earrings off my sister too. The friend gave us their info, and me and my people caught them at a club a few weeks back and beat their asses. That’s the only people I can think of that would shoot at us.”
“I mean you can’t count it out. Run me everything you have on them.”
Justice nodded and pulled up the information that Heiress provided on Caleb and Shawn. Esco took note of everything and sent it over to his people. He was lowkey contemplating starting a P.I. firm. Finding out things was what he did. His cousin was a computer wiz, and his nosey ass female cousins knew the business of people they’d never even been in the same room with.
“Do either one of them have locs?” he asked Fatima. Esco couldn’t see a lot of the shooter’s face, but he was certain he saw locs touching the man’s shoulders.
“No. Neither Caleb nor Shawn have locs.”
“I didn’t see the person’s face that shot at you, but I know for a fact he had locs.”
“This is crazy,” Fatima shook her head. “I haven’t done anything to anybody. Like I told my father, I just moved back to Diamond Cove. Why would anyone be shooting at me?”
