“I bet you need to use the bathroom,” I said, looking down at her. I knew I wouldn’t be going back to sleep so I planned on making a quick breakfast then going into my office and starting my work before I headed to the hospital.
Chapter 5
Creed
“Iknow that’s not Mr. Moneybags gracing us with his presence,” Dylan, my best friend, joked, standing from his seat with a grin on his face.
“Ha-ha. Fuck you.” I slapped hands with him before pulling him into a brotherly hug.
Pulling away I looked around the seating area in the back of Bank Shot, his pool hall in East Ridge, where him and the rest of his crew typically hung out. Dylan was the leader of the Drift Kings. Bank Shot was considered the homebase for him and his people, but it also was a popular spot in East Ridge.
East Ridge was the rougher part of West Pier. It had been cleaned up and somewhat reformed a lot over the years since I first started coming around, but it still was known as “the hood” if you asked my parents and people like them. I nodded at a couple members of his crew while taking one of the empty seats adjacent from him.
Removing my jacket, I placed it behind me on the back of the leather, L-shaped couch and adjusted the yellow-gold De Ville Trésor on my wrist. I brought the glass of Hollow Oak I had ordered at the bar before coming back here to my mouth. I had just left the warehouse and home office after making sureeverything was running smoothly and now had the rest of the day to myself. I debated if I was going to stop by the hospital to see about my brother, but I had no desire to run into my parents again so soon.
Dylan spoke after a while. “I didn’t expect you to come out this way any time soon. When you dippin’ out again?”
“I’ll be here for a while.”
A look of surprise appeared on his face. “For real? Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
Nodding, I took another sip of my drink. “Yeah.” Revealing what brought me here in the first place, I kept it short and to the point.
“Damn. So they don’t know if he’s gonna make it?”
My shoulders lifted and my eyes traveled forward. The pool hall wasn’t too packed at the moment. There were five tables scattered around the front room and three were occupied. A few people were at the bar. A couple were playing darts. Mostly it was Dylan’s people. It didn’t start filling with everyone else until later into the day.
“Don’t know. From what I can tell it’s a waiting game.”
“Still, I’m surprised that brought you home and got you to stay.” One corner of his mouth lifted and I repeated the motion. “Unless you have another reason you stayed.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took another drink of the brown liquor in my glass.
Dylan chuckled and shook his head. One of his guys came over and nodded toward me before leaning down and speaking lowly to him.
“Fuck! Give me a minute,” Dylan said a couple minutes later and stood, walking off with the guy by his side.
Dylan’s crew was involved in street racing and some more things they didn’t go into full detail about. When I first started hanging around him, I was aware of the illegal dealings theywere caught up in, but learning about them never turned me off to our friendship. My parents, on the other hand, damn near had a stroke when they learned I had been hanging around such a crowd, which only prompted me to keep being around them.
Vibration from my jacket pocket gained my attention. Digging into my pocket, I pulled it out, seeing I had a text from Nakyra. My thoughts shifted to this morning before I left. She might not have meant to expose herself to me, but I could understand why my brother was attracted to her. Nakyra was not only a looker, but she also had a petite frame—short torso, jutting breasts, and a narrow waist. She was average height for a woman with long, slender legs. Her shape fit her and was well proportioned. Maybe it was wrong to notice these things about her, but it couldn’t be helped. I was still a man and couldn’t help but admire beauty when I saw it.
Nakyra
Hey. Just giving you an update. Rome’s still not awake, but his brain activity is good. Your parents are here too and demanded they do updated scans to see if he’s healing. Hopefully those turn out good. I’ll keep you updated in case you didn’t plan on coming today.
I read over the text a couple more times. Nakyra seemed to care a great amount for my brother. How someone like my brother managed to get her was a surprise to me.
“A’right my bad. Muthafuckas act like they can’t handle shit on their own,” Dylan said, taking a seat, this time with a fresh glass of clear liquor in hand.
I chuckled. “You ain’t gotta explain anything to me. I deal with bullshit on the daily.”
“Shit I can only imagine. Running a big time shipping company can’t be easy.”
“Most days are good, but there are times that give me a run for my money. What about you? Got any races coming up?”
He grinned and took a sip of the liquor. “Shit’s great. The bets are getting bigger, money’s growing, police off our asses, couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“When’s your next one? It’s been a minute since I’ve been to one.”
