Page 112 of Deuce

She was coming tonight, and I was finally going to meet her little boyfriend. I still wasn’t happy about that, but according to my sources, he was a good guy. A square ass nigga, but a good guy. I guess my mama was done with the criminals. She seemed to be happy and, that was the only reason I held off on approaching that man before now. He was gonna know what was up tonight, though.

Me and Maceo smoked about half the blunt before he started getting impatient.

“Aye! Y’all hurry the hell up, now!” he yelled down the hallway.

“Watch your ass get cursed out.”

We’d been here for at least an hour, and they’d been getting ready for several before that. I heard the door of Salima’s bedroom open before I heard Shar’s mouth.

“Nigga you don’t rush perfection! You want us to walk in that place looking busted or do you want a bad bitch on you your arm? Sit your ass there and wait cause that’s all you’re gonna do anyway.”

I stifled a laugh as she slammed the door. “She’s got a point.”

He waved me off. We sat there for another ten minutes before the door finally opened and we heard heels clicking across the floor. Salima and Shar appeared looking good as hell. My baby wore a long, strapless, black sequin gown that hugged her curves. Her braids were pulled into a bun and jewels glistened on her ears, neck, wrists, and fingers. Her face was free of makeup, but she never needed that shit anyway.

She strolled over to me with a smile.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“You look beautiful.”

I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her into my chest. The scent of her perfume had me burying my nose in her neck to sniff her. She always smelled so damn good.

I looked over at my brother who was eyeing Shar in a way I’d never seen before. He was just staring at her, and she was blushing like hell. I chuckled to myself. The nigga was in awe.

In his defense, she did look beautiful. Her hair was done in loose curls. Her dress was a strapless, all white gown with a deep split up the side. Like Salima’s, it hugged her curves, and she was dripped in diamonds too.

I tapped Salima so she could watch the exchanged. She turned in my arms and giggled as she looked on.

“I’d say somebody is speechless,” she whispered.

“You gon’ say something or not, bruh?” I asked, finally breaking his stare.

He shook his head and looked around at us. He shot me a middle finger before stepping toe to toe with Shar and peering down at her. Much to my surprise, he leaned in and kissed her.

“You look beautiful,” he said, cupping her chin.

Shar smirked. “Thank you, Daddy. I spent your money well, didn’t I?”

Ol’ tricking ass nigga,I thought to myself.

He grinned as he grabbed her hand. “Y’all ready to go?”

“Yes. I hope this isn’t a stuffy ass event. I wanna shake my pretty ass in this dress.”

“Trust me, it’s lit.”

We filed out of the apartment and head downstairs to where our cars were waiting. I hoped they had fun tonight because after this, we had business to attend to.

When we pulled up to the venue, there was already a ton of people filing inside. Maceo and I parked in our reserved spaces up front and hopped out to get the girls. Hand in hand, we headed into the elaborately decorated space.

One thing about my family, we could throw a party. Our charity events always grossed at least a million in revenue. I wasn’t sure if it was because people feared the name, or if they genuinely fucked with the cause, but I didn’t care. The city came out to support the function, and all funds went to a worthy cause.

In light of the recent pedophile ring we took down, tonight’s proceeds were going to the families of the children we found. I was sure we would raise a good bit of money. Every member of the Dillinger clan donated $50,000 so far so it would only go up from there.

Inside was just as packed as I expected it to be. People from all walks of life were in the building looking like money. From mom and pop store owners, to your friendly hood pharmacist, to the mayor, there was a little of everybody.

Maceo and I led the girls to my family’s section of tables. Most everybody was already here dressed in their finest threads. We made our rounds speaking to everybody.

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