Page 64 of Deuce

“He’s just a friend, Ma. A friend and my boss.”

“The way he was all up on you said otherwise.”

“He… likes me.”

“Do you like him?”

“I don’t know. He gets on my nerves, Mama. He’s arrogant, he doesn’t understand no, and he does whatever he wants. But at the same time, I kinda like it. Like he isn’t pushy, but he knows I’m as attracted to him as he is to me and he plays off that all the time.”

She eyed me suspiciously. “Have you two… you know?”

“Mama! I can’t talk about that with you!”

“Girl please! I know you ain’t no virgin. Cut the bullshit.”

“I haven’t slept with him.”

“But you want to.”

“Mama.”

“Salima.”

“I mean… I wouldn’t mind knowing what it’s like. You know what it’s like to have needs, Ma.”

She scoffed. “Don’t remind me that I’m experiencing a drought.”

I laughed out loud. My father had been gone for about seven years now and she’d been single since. At least, to my knowledge, she had been.

“You don’t have to be in a drought, Mama.”

“Chile, the way my heart is set up, I might die if I climbed on top of some man.”

“Don’t say that. You’re gonna be around for a long time. You have to be. What am I gonna do without youandDaddy?”

“When it’s my time to go, it’s just my time to go. You’ll be okay, baby.”

I hated when she talked like that. Her health issues over the last year or so worried me to no end. At one point, it felt like she was accepting her impending death and that I just couldn’t do that.

“I’ll never be okay without you,” I stated.

“You will. I raised you right and you’re a smart girl. Smart enough not to get caught up with a Dillinger. I know about thosepeople. I don’t want you caught up in that lifestyle. I know you’re grown and ultimately, you’re gonna do what you want to do. I’m not saying they’re bad people, but they do questionable things.”

She was right about that. I still hadn’t told her about Deuce’s involvement in Aura getting shut down. Of course, she’d seen the news after it happened. When she asked me where I was when it all went down, I told her I’d been rushed out along with the patrons and I knew nothing. I mean, I couldn’t tell her I’d been detained and taken in for questioning.

I wasn’t sure if she bought it, but she didn’t bring it up again. She’d been worried when I got the job at the Elixir Lounge. She tried to talk me out of it. She couldn’t understand why I liked working in that environment. Many people didn’t know it, but I dreamed of opening my own louge.

It would be an event space, however; something that could be rented out for special occasions. I felt like I was gaining valuable experience. Before my mom got sick, I was in school to earn my degree in hospitality. I’d been enrolled in an online program and for a while, I’d been doing so good. When she got sick, I had to let it go too. Eventually, once I stacked my money, I’d pick it back up.

“How do you know of his father?” I asked changing the subject.

She sighed. “There’s a lot you don’t know about your father, Salima.”

My eyes widened. What did she mean? I knew my father very well.

“What are you talking about?”

“Long before you were born, your father used to deal heavily with the Dillingers.”

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