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“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I responded, not saying too much because I was still following him, trying to see where he was going with this.

He took a few moments before he spoke again. He had that look on his face again, as if he was gathering his thoughts. Searching for the right thing to say.

Lifting his hand, he showed off a beautiful jewelry stack and a bust down Cartier watch. Just on his wrist alone, that was a little over half a million.

“I want in with you,” he eventually threw that shit at me, catching me off guard.

I wasn’t sure what the nigga was referring to, so I laughed. He didn’t follow me with laughter, so that made me believe he might have been serious. This wasn’t a joke.

“Want in how? What you been by that? Elaborate for me,” I said.

“Shit, I want to invest in it. I want to put money behind what you already doing. I know you already have two locations. Let’s expand. You can get you some shit rolling out in Atlanta, Houston, all the other popular cities. I know you want more stores. You got hustle Wolf, so I know you don’t only want your business based out of Miami,” he finished.

“I appreciate that, but I’m good. I don’t need another nigga to invest in my business. I already got some shit lined up. You right, I do plan on expanding, but when I do it, I don’t gotta have a nigga pitch in and help me,” I responded.

You could tell by the way he frowned his face up that it wasn’t the kind of response he wanted. From the face he made, I knew that Oso was the kind of nigga that wasn’t used to getting turned down. I’m sure all his money was able to make the decisions for him. Shit probably came easy to him in life. He probably just had to show someone hundreds, and his wish was granted. You couldn’t bribe me with money. All I knew was money. I was brought into money, so he had to do that bribing with someone else.

“Why though? Your income will be tripled,” he responded.

“If you already have the idea, why you need me? Why you trying to invest in my business? You can invest in your own business, and start your own shit up,” I said, and he nodded.

“Because I would have to start this shit from the ground up. That’s not what I want. I want to jump into something that already has the ball rolling. You have relationships already. With your business already up and running, the vendors out there already know you. Nobody out here got the kind of diamonds you got. I know because I’ve shopped other places for jewelry. I ain’t trying to spend the next five years of my life trying to build that. Why go that route when we can partner together, and build up? All I have is capital, and you have the foundation. Wolf, you a hustling ass nigga just like me. You just get your money doing a different hustle. You mean to tell me you going to turn down an opportunity to make more money?” he asked, and I sucked my teeth at that.

“You say that like I’m pressed for money. Nigga, shit is good over here. At this point in the game, I work because I want to. Not because I need to. I don’t do well working alongside other niggas. Hence the reason I walked away from my pops business. I appreciate you coming down here, but bruh I don’t need an investor. I like to handle my own shit,” I said, standing up because that was basically my way of letting him know that this conversation was over. I was getting ready to see his ass to the door.

“What? You don’t want me to invest because I got drug money? Nigga, you know who your daddy is, right? How the fuck you think he got that Aviation business started? Drug money! His drug money put you and your brothers on. If we going to be real, drug money funded your shit!” he spat, standing up as well.

“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck where the money coming from. I said no to your offer because I wanted to. I ain’t gotta give you a reason! You coming to me, wanting to invest because you don’t want to start from the bottom. You don’t want to build those relationships with vendors, and other manufacturers. You want that shit handed to you. I already did the groundwork. I made the connections, built this shit from the ground up, so I could come out on top⁠—”

“And I’m willing to pay for it!” he snapped.

“Motha fucka, it ain’t for sale! Fuck part of that aren’t you understanding?” that’s when I got loud with him, walked over to him, getting in this nigga’s face because I needed him to see how serious I was being.

We had a stare down with each other for about five seconds. I could tell this was a new feeling for him. Niggas feared Oso. They didn’t talk to him crazy. I wasn’t niggas though. I don’t fear shit. These days, the only thing capable of putting fear in my heart was my girl leaving me. A nigga that had to ride around with wing men in the car with him, just to pull up on me at my shop wasn’t someone that I feared.

He knew I didn’t fear him too. I’m sure it was a shot at his pride. That’s why all he could do was laugh, nod his head, and walk over to the door.

Before he opened it, he turned around to look at me.

“Oh yeah, it was one more thing that I needed to talk to you about. It almost slipped my mind. I heard you fuckin Poison. My nigga got a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. Got a fat ass mansion. He wants strippers, preferably Poison. I mean, what’s a party without the finest stripper in Miami? You ain’t going to let me invest, well can you at least put a word in with your girl, and let her know that we want her? Or, you going to be green, and fuck with her money too?” he asked.

He smiled after he said it, leaving me to believe that he did that on purpose. He was trying to get at me on purpose. Every man knew that if you wanted to disrespect the next man, all you had to do was bring up his girl. I wasn’t going to give him the reaction he wanted out of me though, so I nodded my head.

“I ain’t fuckin with her money. She dance for sport. At this point, it’s a hobby. Whatever weak ass party that ya’ll throwing, count her out. She won’t be there,” I voiced.

I would never be the kind of boyfriend to step in the way of my girl’s money. In this situation though, I no longer trusted this nigga. He was in his feelings because he didn’t get his way with me. Because of that, I now look at him as a threat.

He did that thing again where he smiled at me. Smiled, and reached for the door handle. I cleared my throat, wanting to leave him with something before he walked out of the door.

“One last thing. I ain’t just the jewelry man. I can be on whatever you on,” I had to leave him with that.

I didn’t have to explain what that meant, either. He was smart. He knew fuckin well what I was saying to him. I know Oso killed for a living. About my respect, my family, and my girl, I’ll kill too. Whatever level a nigga wanted to take it to, I’ll meet his ass there.

If he left my shop with anything, I didn’t want him to ever feel like I was this nigga that stood behind a counter, selling jewelry all day. Anything his gun could do, mine could do it too.

He knew what I meant by that, and that’s why the smile dropped. He walked out, leaving me alone. The second I was by myself, I went back over to the couch, taking a seat. I thought about everything that took place, and what could possibly be ahead of me.

Oso walked in here, thinking that he could bribe me with money, and I would agree to allow him to invest. I never even got to the part where he started talking numbers. That’s a hustling ass nigga. It’s no telling the percentage he would have asked for.