Jerking away from him, he pulled his gun out his face. Angrily tucking his bottom lip in between his teeth, he grilled the shit out of him.
“I don’t give a fuck about none of that.” Rose tucked his weapon back into his pants and covered it with his shirt. “I said what the fuck I said.”
Dynamite was a local underground club formerly owned by Gannon Rowland. Friday nights always brought out all the cities hustlers and finest females. Minka Ward was at the top of that list. VIP was like another world, and while Kendrick Lamar blared over the sound system, the crowd went wild. In the middle of the dance floor, Minx wound her body to the beat with her drink in hand and in the air. Tipsy as hell, every instrument played throughout her body when she moved. She was hood royalty, and everyone knew her, so it was no skepticism when they saw her fucking shit up on the floor. From the top level, Gannon tossed back his beverage and watched her put on a show. She ate the crowd up, dropping it low and throwing her ass back.
“Damn, who Minx think she auditioning for?” Finn slid up beside him, guzzling the Ace of Spades in his glass.
The money green suit and black shirt gave him a sharp, sophisticated look. Finn always considered himself a fly nigga, giving young Ice-T vibes in his mannerisms and clever comebacks. He was more than than the gangster rapper, witha low-cut fade that he typically kept covered with a hat. Giving grown man with his beard and mustache, he drove the women crazy when he was around.
Gannon chuckled and shook his head. Minx was carefree, and that wasn’t ever changing. She loved attention, and she loved to party. Her tiny ass dress rode her thighs, and and Gannon licked his lips, devouring her with his gaze. Unlike majority of the men in this building, he knew exactly what rested between her legs. She was sitting on gold, that was for fucking sure.
“She’s in her zone. You know how she is.” He shrugged.
“You one tolerant ass nigga.” Finn shook his head and continued to watch her go.
Gannon and Minx started dating about eight months ago. He worked for her father for years, so they they were always in one another’s orbit. It used to be they would just see each other in passing and go about their shit. One night, Max was having dinner with Gannon and Minx and had to leave. The two ended up sharing a meal and went from there. Gannon hadn’t taken the time to get to know her before then. He always thought she was spoiled and entitled. He couldn’t have been more wrong. There were layers to Minx, and she didn’t show everybody, so they had to dig deep to get to them. Nearly a year later and Gannon was still chipping away at them. He figured with enough time, she would turn to him and learn to confide in him.
“I just ain’t insecure. She ain’t hurting nobody down there.” Gannon used his drink to emphasize the dance area.
“A’ight, if you say so.” Finn spun, and the figure cutting through the crowd made him smile.
With milk-chocolate skin, standing at six feet two, Rose strolled through the velvet rope like he owned everything around him. His presence was strong, regal, and potent. Most of the women immediately took notice when he pushed his waythrough the sea of people and over to Gannon and Finn. He was the kind of nigga to change the cadence in the room without speaking.
“My mothafucking nigga.” Finn slapped hands with him, and they embraced as soon as Rose got within arms reach.
Dressed down in distressed jeans, a button-down Tom Ford shirt, and a pair of St. Laurents on his feet, he was labeled up. He wasn’t interested in the business casual look tonight. After being back in town a few days, he knew he would have to be in grit mode until he felt settled. Two diamond Cuban-link chains hung from his neck against his black shirt, and a Rolex gleamed on his wrist. Gannon paused and faced Rose, sizing him up and vice versa. Wasn’t no love lost between the two of them. Unlike Gannon and Finn, he and Rose weren’t friends. Coming up they both traveled within the same circle, but that was purely association.
“Feels good to be back on home soil.” Rose pulled back and chucked his chin at Gannon. “’Sup, G.”
“What’s good, Rose?” Gannon raised his glass in greeting. “Been MIA almost a year now.”
“Never too far. You keeping tabs on me or something?” Rose replied, balling one fist and pressing it into the palm of his other hand.
Already, there was some awkwardness in the air as Rose checked him vertically with one look. He didn’t let the man answer the question. Gannon was cool, but he wasn’t the kind of nigga Rose considered a friend. If he was in the thick of some shit, the nigga wasn’t on his contact list.
“I knew I’d find you mothafuckas where the bitches were.” He grabbed the bottle of champagne off the table and an empty glass and poured up.
Rose peered around while VIP turned up. Within a few minutes, Minx and her girl Luna made their way up. Sweatingand giggling together about the show they just put on, both were looking for refreshments. Every weekend was a party. With how hard they worked through the week, both felt like they earned it.
“Minx, yo’ ass really should teach choreography, bitch. You got natural moves that some of these directors be looking for,” Luna told her as they cut through the slew of people to get to the section that Gannon kept reserved for them.
Minx laughed, stumbling along beside her. Pausing, something in the air shifted and her eyes darted around. When her eyes landed on her target, a full spread grin carved her face and she stopped in her stride. Luna followed her gaze and both of her thick brows lifted in shock.
“Damn, is that?—”
“Ambrose Westbrook, in the fucking flesh,” Minx said for her, suddenly in a trance.
Skin flushed, heart double crossing her in her chest, her feet wouldn’t move. It was odd, right along with the little flutter that developed in her belly. Rose was the homie. He was family, but every part of her screamed some other shit right now. He was one of those people she latched on to early in life. Even though he was older than her, he looked out for her every day after finding her in that corner store.
It wasn’t hard, since Max basically brought him into her family. It wasn’t some shit they said either. Rose spent holidays with the Wards and went on family trips when they took them. His mother didn’t really pay any attention to him because she was so busy in the streets with her friends. She binged for days, leaving Rose home with no food, sometimes no lights and water.
“How is it this nigga just keeps getting finer? And how is it in all these years you ain’t never touched that?” Luna nudged her, desperate for answers.
Minx on the other hand couldn’t keep one straight thought. That hadn’t happened in a long time. Rose was out of sight, soshe often tried to keep him out of mind. That was going to be quite the task when he was standing right in front of her. She told herself for years that they were just friends, and he said the same thing.
When he skipped town about a year ago, she knew that what she felt was more than that, but she kept it to herself. Rose was a great friend, one of the best. So the thought of their friendship being tainted because of possible additional feelings wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. Minx didn’t have many people in life that she was close to. She cherished her friendship with Rose a hell of a lot more than he knew.
“Come on, let’s go say hi.” Luna tugged on her wrist all the way to the table, and Minx dragged her feet.
