Page 11 of Rich and Rotten

Jonah––Karim’s best friend and Nazira’s godfather––was also an investor in Hush. Since the day we lowered Karim into the ground, he had been there for me. I could count on him to show up with takeout because he knew I didn’t cook, or to send a random text just to check in. Throughout this grieving process, I honestly don’t think I could have managed any of this without my family, my girls, and Jonah.

My phone chimed, breaking my thoughts.

Jonah: What did the fucking chicken say to the duck?

I chuckled at his text message.

Me: What?

Jonah: Answer the fucking phone and take it off DND.

Jonah: The Valora wants to talk about opening a Hush location in their Vegas resort.

I chuckled again, closing the screen to focus on the rest of my workout––though my nerves were getting the best of me. Maybe this was the next chapter God was pushing me toward, whether I was ready or not.

Chapter Four

Yalina ”Yaya” Blackwell

“Damn, Ya. You not even listening. Fuck,” Sav barked into the phone.

I stared at my phone sitting on the counter on speaker, rolling my eyes as I turned my attention back to my laptop.

“Sorry. I was reading this email before my next meeting.”

“Always about fucking work whenever I’m on the phone,” she continued.

I nearly popped my eyeballs out of my sockets from how hard I rolled them before powering off my laptop. Taking a deep breath, I counted down from ten before responding.

“Sav, I don’t know why you think work stops because you called me. I can do both at the same time if you didn’t know.”

“Obviously, you can’t if you didn’t hear what the fuck I just said.”

“What did you say?”

She paused.

I glanced at my watch, packed my laptop into my tote, grabbed an energy drink from the fridge, and slung my bag over my shoulder, holding the can in one hand and my phone in the other.

“Jonah came to visit me the other day––said he wanted to make sure I was straight.”

This wasn’t new news; Jonah had texted me beforehand to let me know he was going to visit her, which is why he missed our virtual meeting with the realtor.

“How’d it go?”

Even without me being in front of her, I could picture her shrugging.

“Shit was regular. He asked if I needed anything, and we talked for a little while. It felt strange seeing him in a suit and acting all proper, like he’s not… never mind.”

I snorted because Jonah was anything but proper. The only reason he probably wore a suit when he went to visit her was because he was going to or coming from a meeting. Jonah is very much the opposite of proper. I’ve lost count of how many times I had to pinch or elbow him during meetings because he would say whatever came to his mind without thinking first.

“He doesn’t act proper. I mean, he wears a suit sometimes, but Jonah is definitely not proper,” I said, biting the corner of my lip as I thought about Jonah Cross.

The line went quiet for a few seconds.

“Why the fuck do you know so much about how he acts, Yalina?”

I rolled my eyes and pressed the elevator button to go down to the parking garage, hoping my signal would weaken so I could end the call.