Page 7
“Talkin’ to Rah. What’s good?”
“We need to talk business. Too many folks whispering ‘bout the Flush.”
“Aight, give me an hour.”
I ended the call and said my goodbyes to my brother. Honestly, I wasn’t ready to have the talk about who would sit on the throne at Royal Flush. At the same time, I knew the city was watching and waiting to see how we would move on the situation. An hour later, I pulled up to my parents’ estate. My first stop was to see where my mama was. My siblings called me a mama’s boy. It didn’t matter because one thing about Lorraine, she was going to let you know she loved all her children the same. We knew that was a damn lie.
“Hey mama.” I greeted her and kissed her cheek.
“Hey, son. You must be here to talk about Rah’s business.”
“You already know,” I said.
“He’s in his office,” she said.
I could smell his cigar before I even made it to the big oak door. He smoked the finest cigars. Even had me puffing them.
“I know it’s too soon to be even thinking ‘bout this. But…football is about to kick off. You know that’s Rah’s biggest money maker. He still has employees that need to feed their families.”
“I know, but it’s only been a week. Rah paid them muthafuckas good. Nobody should be hurtin’ for no money.”
“I hear all that. But the longer we wait, the longer a nigga thinks they could take over and start their own shit.”
“What you need me to do?”
“I need you to get it back up and running. Let Kyenna go with you so she can show you everything. She taught him how to do it the proper way. Boy, they were a money-makin’ team.” My Pops sat back in his chair. “That nigga thought he knew numbers until Kyenna walked in and tripled that nigga money.”
“Has anyone checked on her?”
“Yo’ mama and Jaharee went down there a few days ago.”
“How is she?”
He pulled from his cigar and blew out circles.
“She needs to get out of the house and be back ‘round the shit that connects her to Rah. That’s where you come in. Get her to Royal Flush and show her she can live again.”
“I’m ‘bouta go check on her. I kinda been avoidin’ her ass. I hate seein’ her like that.”
“Talk to her ‘bout it and come up with a way to get those doors back open.”
“Aight, but I’m not gonna rush her. This shit fresh and I don’t need her ass breakin’ down in front them folks in the Flush.”
“Kyenna’s stronger than you makin’ her out to be.”
I threw my hands up and left him there. Kyenna and Rah’s estate was up the road. We all stayed on the same compound just football fields away from each other. The gate was guarded by security. He put the code in and let me in. One thing Kyenna did was have all the curtains open in the house. All of them were closed.
“Has she come out at all?” I asked the one security guard who was inside the gate.
“Not during my shift. She has a few packages that I’ve sat on the porch.”
“’Preciate it, bruh.”
He said a few packages, but she had flowers and all kinds of shit on the porch that I could barely get to the door. I hit the doorbell and waited for her to answer. After waiting a few minutes, I hit the bell repeatedly. The house was big, but I knew her ass heard the shit. Finally, she snatched the door open with dark circles around her eyes.
“Sis, what the fuck?”
She rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving the door wide open for me to walk in. She was wearing a robe, bonnet, and bedroom slippers. The house was dark besides the light coming through the top window in the foyer. I started grabbing all the packages and flowers and brought them in the house. I walked around until I found her in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal.
