Page 93 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio
That was the weakest excuse I could have formulated, but it was all I had as I dashed through the doors of the ballroom. Nearly toppling over a waitress, I apologized but didn’t stop until I made it outside. I inhaled the night air deeply as I bent over to relieve the pressure in my chest.
Married?
“Ma’am. You straight?”
Black sneakers were now obstructing my view of the concrete. I sucked in more air that was so much cleaner tasting than what I was used to back home.
Standing, I straighten my hair.
“You need some help?” he asked with questionable, kind eyes.
The person offering help was the one who had parked Shio’s car, and in the distance, was indeed the man who had driven me to Shio’s home.
“As a matter of fact, I do need some help.”
I didn’t know where Shio had ventured off to, but my night here was over. Then again, depending on how it is viewed, it was only the beginning with what I had planned next.
Chapter 16
Tunan “Tune” Payne
Anigga been married less than twenty-four hours, and even though the shit was ghetto and spontaneous as fuck, it had been one of the best days I’ve had since I’ve been out. Hell, since before I got out when Stella had fucked me over. My stomach was still aching from all the fucking laughing Glow and I did in Memphis. When we left the Haunted House, we sat in the parking lot so long laughing about all she’d seen. Hearing Glow’s narration of our wedding venue had me in tears. Glow, who was well put together and had her shit on point, fit right in with the ignorance of my city. I hadn’t lived in Memphis in years, but every time I was home, it felt exactly like that,home.
Glow had made it clear to me that our marriage was nothing more than contractual, and I let her know that I wasn’t looking for anything outside my role in the mob and stacking my cheese. But after signing our names on the dotted line, it didn’t feel right getting on the plane and going our separate ways. We hadn’t even consummated the marriage outside of the kiss we shared. It had been less than twelve hours since Glow was in my presence, being that she’d flown out this morning. My own flight hadn’t been scheduled to leave until later on in the day, but I felt like Ishould’ve been with her. As soon as the wheels were up on the plane a nigga felt empty or some shit. I almost felt like I was doing this husband shit wrong or something. I’d been taught not to play with marriage, and here I was double dutching that shit.
The papers had been signed, and despite how it had been acquired, she had a ring on her finger and was officially my wife. I had yet to tell Don, because I owed my brother an explanation first. Well, it wasn’t much to explain, but I owed him thenewsfirst. Shio sent me in his place for their date, so that let me know he had some level of interest in Glow. He didn’t want to leave her hanging, and while I was learning that my brother was an upstanding guy, Shio did everything with reason. I hadn’t heard the nigga mention her name since sending me to that fancy-ass restaurant, though. It was probably because he’d been caught up with the girl who got dumped on his porch. I wouldn’t be surprised if his ass had been in his house stressed the fuck out over that girl, but I know he wasn’t going to say shit about it. Shio was a self-solver, like me, and because I was realizing we had more in common than our faces, I knew if I were in his shoes, I’d want to know if my brother had married my potential girl. I’d planned on chopping it up with him before I even married Glow, but the shit just happened so fast. Even though I felt indifferent about the nigga we came from, Shio was still my brother, and I didn’t want to come off as backdooring that nigga. Not only had he broken bread with me, he’d brought me into his world with nothing to gain. I was letting him know what it was first, and then I’d tell the mob.
Opting out of valet parking, I whipped the Infinity into a vacant parking space. My whip stood out like a sore thumb, and even though I could have easily snatched my sister’s keys, I wasn’t worried about what the fuck I was driving right now. As long as I had a set of wheels to get me to and from, that was all that mattered. Soon enough, when I secured this bread, I couldget whatever the fuck I wanted. I’d lost it all and was eager to get it back and some, but losing everything often made you not give a fuck about much shit else.
Stepping out of the car, I pulled my chino pants up and smoothed my hands down my collared shirt. Shio had invited me to what he called a “surprise engagement,” and I nearly forgot about the whole thing until he sent me a reminder this morning. Even with Glow constantly stressing that she had an event to attend, I hadn’t made the connection that it was the engagement. Two hours ago, I found myself at Bayside Shops trying to put some shit together. I’d copped a black Versace shirt with the brand’s signature design embroidered on the collar. Black bottoms and low-top Rick Owens completed my look. This was the most I’d spent on a fit since I’d been out, and that was just on the shirt and bottoms. My sister bought me these shoes as one of my coming-home gifts, part of what she called her “mini haul.” I didn’t plan on being out late because my nephew had come home, as well as Athena, and I owed one a game night and one a spa night. I’d just hoped Tuscany had nail remover because my little step-niece had asked to paint my nails.
Walking up, one of the valet workers was walking away from a good-looking chick with thick, curly hair that had begun to switch into the parking lot toward a car. I was fake married, so I turned to watch her backside as she climbed to the back of the car with the driver closing the door behind her.
“She’s thick as fuck, but she came in with Shio. Off limits, big dawg,” the valet informed.
Shio. His ass was over dur fucked up, fo’ sho’.
A string quartet played as I walked through the doors of the luxurious-ass building. I’d never seen so many drapes all over the walls and shit before in my life. If nothing else, those motherfuckers knew how to throw a party.I couldn’t even phantom how many bands had been dropped on this shithere. I wasn’t pocket watching the next nigga, but if this was the engagement, that nigga was going to come out the ass for the wedding. Mine had only cost me what I’d won in the dice game, and that made me consider the fact that maybe this was what Glow wanted an elaborate-ass celebration with identically dressed servers and candlelit corners.
Oh, well, it’s done now.
Plus, these niggas were in love, for real. Glow and I were two people using each other to get what we wanted, who just so happened to know what each other’s private parts looked and felt like.
No sooner than I had walked inside the crowded-ass room, I spotted Glow. The women all had their eyes on her ring, and that had my stomach clenching. I hadn’t considered the fact that she would tell the ladies before I could tell Shio, but Glow didn’t know shit about what I had going on.
“Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! Baby! Where you at?”
Metavello was at the front of the room, dressed in an all-black tuxedo, speaking into a microphone. His pregnant girlfriend smiled as the women's attention shifted from Glow’s hand to her. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as she made her way to the front. The women were already fanning their perfectly made-up faces, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Glow. Her hair was pressed down her back, and the dress she was rocking did her body good as fuck. The way she looked had my eyes twitching, but the fact thatmyring was on her hand had me ready to take her down. It was as if my mind understood she was just my fucking wife on paper, but my heart didn’t give a fuck about my mind.
“I didn’t think you was gonna make it.” Shio appeared by my side, eyes still on the couple that had everyone’s attention. Discover looked like she was ready to deliver those damn twins at any moment.
“I damn near forgot about the shit,” I honestly spoke.
I’d been so fucking consumed with Glow and marriage that I was forgetting the fucking days of the week and shit. I was aware of what was going on in front of me, but I couldn’t stop looking to the right of me, where my bride was standing with her phone out, recording.
“You straight?”
Breaking my gaze, I turned to Shio’s brow rising as he waited for my response. “Yeah. Nigga, is you straight? I saw ole girl outside. You ain’t tell us she looked good.” I grinned.
