“One thing fasho, you got a type.”
“Really?”
“Fuck you mean, really? Mane… You like ’em dark. You was just wastin’ my wife’s time.”
I laughed at Tunan’s ignorant ass without agreeing or disagreeing.
“You should let Don add her to the lineup. That’s wifey material, for sure.”
Uriah was a divorced mom of two. Don would never let her in. But I held her personal business in.
Tunan slapped my back. “You a smart man, bro. Calculated as fuck. I know you already know who you gonna marry, even if you tellin’ yourself you don’t. Whoever you choose, I’ll be the best brother-in-law since we missed out on our childhood bondin’ and shit.”
“’Preciate that, Tune.”
“No sweat. Now, when can I meet my niece?”
“Soon.”
I wasn’t ready to bring Shya around the family just yet. I still had some shit to sort through. I needed to verify she was mine first, and we’d done the test already, so it was a waiting game now for the results. I was also still processing the fact that I could be a fucking daddy. I always thought that when I had a child, I’d feel like a father. But I felt the same as I did before learning about Bahati and the kid. I felt an urge to protect her, but shit, I felt that way about all kids.
Reaching inside my pocket, I pulled out a wad of cash, tossing two hundred-dollar bills on the counter, and Tunan reached in his pocket and pulled out a fifty to add to it. My card was already on file, so I knew she’d charge the meal, the bottle, Uriah’s tab, and the gratuity to that. The cash was solely for her pockets. If she were smart, she wouldn’t report it to her manager. I knew they liked to cut off the tips to pass out equally among the other staffers, like the cleanup crew and security.
Leaving the bottle, I stood as Tunan pushed his plate away, closer to the edge of the bar top.
“I was gonna pay the tab, but fuck dat. You got dat high-ass, half-drunken bottle of liquor, and I can tell ole Kesha ’bout to be on some petty shit and order errthang up in dis bitch since you turned her down.”
“Nigga, who?”
“Kesha. FromBelly. On God, she comin’ just like her fine ass but thicker. I can't believe you aren't married to her ass off therip. Gotdamn!” Tunan was still looking in the direction Uriah had gone off to.
“You swore you wasn’t studying women, but now you married and still lusting.”
“Shit… I’m still a man dat did a year. I got eyes, and dey 20/20. Dat’s yo’ wife. Call Don up right now.”
“Uriah would never be my wife, Tune.”
“You crazy.”
“One thing you gonna learn ’bout your brother is, I don't do shit without intention.”
“I see dat, cuz Kesha would’ve been somewhere with her ankles hittin’ her ears.”
I laughed off Tunan and his antics as we slapped hands before making our way out of the bar. He still had the Ferrari Don had loaned him, so we met here. I was past my limit of what I preferred for driving, but I’d make it. I’d driven in worse conditions.
“Real shit,” Tunan pointed to the Ferrari. “Y’all keep throwin’ me dese alley-oops, and I’m gonna be indebted to yo’ ass forever.”
Slapping him on the back, I replied, “You’n owe me shit. What's mine is yours, nigga.”
“Excepther,hunh?”
“Andheris?” I watched as traffic zipped by while we both stood at our vehicles.
Tunan snickered, looking just like our fucking daddy. “The one you gonna give yo’ last name when dese thirty days is up. Lemme find out you playin’ the long game, bro.”
Instead of replying, I chucked him a head nod and hopped in my car. My life may have been in disarray, but my brother was officially in the Rinaldi Mafia, and our relationship was solid. I could scratch another thing off my list that was growing by theday. If I kept it up, I’d be checking shit off like I was Nike till I was old and fucking gray.
As I pulledup to my home, the solitude that usually settled over me was missing. I put the truck in park and let my head fall back into the seat. Usually, when I crossed the threshold, I shed all the worries of the world. I twisted the ring on my finger with my thumb as I assessed my house. On the outside, everything was perfect. The beams hanging under the roof overhang cast enough light that I could see the windows, the shutters, the brick, and the landscaping. Everything was in pristine condition. The HOA wouldn’t have it any other way, but even then, I liked my shit to look immaculate. If my home wasn’t in order inside and out, I couldn’t function.
