“That silk press wasn’t shit anyway,” Noble jested, grabbing envelopes from the table and sifting through them.
“Nuke, how can you even hang with this imbecile? He’s so damn disgusting.” Kaliste fixed her hair with her fingers.
Nuke took a seat near the door. “You know cuz legit.”
The door opened and his mother, Lyra, exited the back office. Noble glanced at her then went right back to opening envelopes. When he left TLM the first time, he wanted to build something legit. He had been throwing bombs at thepenitentiary and didn’t want to get caught up. So, Noble walked away with a hefty savings, hoping to wash his money. After months of research and meeting the right people, Noble built a logistics company called St. Anthony’s Logistics.
He offered a range of services including warehousing, fulfillment, scale operations, and transportation. Noble had hustled so hard for the company that it no longer required him to be over operations. His mother was over that while Kaliste was head of shipment. A host of other family members worked for the company that had close to 150 employees.
“You finally showed up. How come I gotta send messages to get to you, Noble?”
He stared at his mother who was a Florida girl to the depths of her soul. She even refused to let go of her permanent gold tooth in the front. Her hair was always styled in a twenty-seven-piece pixie with gold highlights.
“What did you need?”
“I wanted my grandson, and I called his mother. Well, she told me I needed to talk to you.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “Why is it that I can’t get my grandson whenever I want?”
This shit again…
Every month, Noble had to stomach through these conversations with his mother when the topic of Kenji arose.
“Ma, I told you to stop calling that broad,” Kaliste chimed in. “She only says that because she really don’t fuck with us. You know she thinks we knew that Noble was gonna divorce her simple ass. I don’t know how she’s made everything our damn fault.”
“It’s complicated,” Noble mumbled, reading over a letter. “You should already know why, Lyra.”
“Well, when are we going to get past this so I can be a grandmother to my grandson?” Lyra grumbled, shaking her head. “I don’t like spending time with my other grands and not him.”
He tossed the envelopes in the garbage before giving her his full attention. “We’ll talk about that at another time.”
“Whatever.” Lyra scoffed. “Oh, and another thing I wanted to ask was… I’m throwing Bernard a sixtieth birthday party, and I wanted to invite you.”
Kaliste snickered right away while Nuke mumbled something under his breath. Noble angled his head at his mother, trying to determine if she had lost her mind.
“Why would you think I would want to come celebrate that nigga?”
Lyra pursed her lips. “Noble, he’s your stepfather.”
“That you put—nope, I’m good.”
He didn’t have the energy to remind Lyra of how much disdain he reserved for her and Bernard.
“You and your brothers know y’all can hold a grudge against someone,” she fussed. “I want my family together, in one place. I hate how divided we are.”
Life had been a wild ride due to Lyra and her choices. Since Noble was a man, he took it on the chin and cut his losses. However, he loathed how she acted as if she wasn’t the reason for the wedge between them.
“Lyra, let it go. How’s everything else, business wise?” He changed the subject.
“You know everything is good on my end. I earn my keep around here.”
He wouldn’t disagree with her. Lyra was a great addition to the company despite their personal issues.
“Where is Wolfe and Zayd? I ain’t heard from them in a couple days?” Lyra inquired, grabbing a folder from the desk.
“Who knows?” Kaliste scoffed. “You know they run the streets just like their big brother.”
Noble simpered. “I don’t run the streets. I get shit done. That’s a big difference.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she muttered and started typing on the keyboard.
