“Nah, I—”
“Figure it out before it becomes a problem,” I said, cutting him off again. “I don’t deal in ‘might be.’”
He cut his eyes at me, jaw locked. I could tell he wanted to swing on me, but instead he just nodded. "Heard you," he gritted out.
I leaned back again, my fingers drumming once against the table before going still.
This wasn’t me. I knew it. They knew it. I never had to press this hard for basic shit, especially not with Sy. Never had to second guess every little detail 'cause I trusted my team.
My phone buzzed against the table. My eyes dropped to it automatically.Eva.
I stared at it, chest tightening. Then I snatched it up, silenced it, and tossed it back down. “Wrap it up,” I said, circling my finger in the air.
They paused.
“We still got—” Mitch began
“I said wrap it up.” That edge in my voice made it clear I wasn’t repeating myself. Chairs moved. No one argued. They started filing out one by one, quieter than they came in.
Syrus hung back, foot tapping, jaw working overtime. As soon as the last man left, he leaned up, eyes hard. "You everdisrespect me in front of the team again, we gon' have arealfucking problem,Boss," he spat out.
My brows raised. "What kind of problem?" I challenged. "You know I ain't never been the kind of nigga to walk away from a problem, Sy."
His nostrils flared. "The kind of problem where this business relationship is gonna be compromised if you don't get it thefucktogether, nigga," he retorted. Letting out a deep breath, he ran both hands down his face before continuing in a more even tone. "Look…you my man's and all, and I don't know if you got some shit going on at home, but you need to go fix that shit before we have our next meeting." With that, he stood and walked out.
The door closed behind him leaving quiet behind. I leaned forward, elbows on the table, staring at nothing for a second. This shit was starting to bleed into everything, and I was struggling to get a grasp of the hold this damn woman had on me.
Standing, I snatched up my phone just as it rang again. Eva again. Taking a deep breath I answered. "What's up?"
A pause. "What's up?" she echoed voice laced with annoyance. "That’s how you answer your wife's call—like I'm one of your homeboys?"
Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I exhaled sharply. "My bad," I replied, voice softer. "What's going on, baby?"
I heard her sigh, "Have you forgotten we're having dinner with Shelby and Devon tonight?"
"Fuck—"I dragged out, heading to my truck.
Shelby and Devon. Married couple. Eva was closer to Shelby than I was Devon, but the nigga was cool. A square—but he was good people.
"Can we reschedule, Eva? I had a long day." I slid into the driver's side.
"No. We can't Bishop," she replied evenly. "We’ve already rescheduled and the reservations have already been made."
Dropping my head against the headrest I rubbed my eyes.
"You know I shouldn't have to drag my fucking husband on a date," she snapped.
"Chill—" I started the car, placing the call on speaker. "Before you launch into a tirade…I got you. I'm on my way home, aight?"
"Mmhm," she said before hanging up.
Taking another deep breath I made my way home. When I got to the crib, the twins were already at her moms for the night. Eva was at her vanity applying her make-up. She cut her eyes at me when I walked in, lips pursed, but she didn't say anything.
Bending down, I kissed the back of her neck. "I'm sorry, aight? Don’t beat me up. I'll take you shopping this weekend to make up for it."
A smile tugged at her lips, although I could see her trying to fight it.
"Dior." I planted another kiss on her neck. "Prada." Another kiss. "Valentino." My lips pressed to her ear. "Hermes," I whispered.
