Page 38 of Deuce

Jaeda giggled. “It’s attention getting. Whenever our father wants order, he snaps his fingers. It’s become a habit with us. Although I can see how an outsider would find it rude and offensive.”

“It is. That taps into a whole other level of crazy.”

I smirked as I made a mental note of that.

“What are you smirking at?” she asked, catching me as I looked away.

“Nothing. I’d just like to see the crazy.”

“You want me to act an ass?”

“Look around you, baby. You’re surrounded by people who nut the fuck up on a regular basis. You’re in the safest and most dangerous place right now.”

She surveyed the space. Within these walls were gang bangers, drug dealers, thieves, contract killers and a host of other menaces to society. Salima swallowed hard.

“Should I be concerned?”

“You Billy Bad Ass, right? You can handle your own, remember? This ain’t the hood, Salima. Niggas and bitches ain’t throwing punches, they poppin’ bullets. This ain’t no corner boy, dime bag selling, wanna be thug ass shit. Everybody in this muthafucka is dangerous.”

“Why would you bring me here, then?”

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Even if you do treat me like shit.”

She folded her arms. “I don’t treat you like shit.”

“You act like a nigga be bothering you.”

“I act accordingly. You don’t know the first thing about boundaries, Deuce. You overstep like a muthafucka.”

Maceo snorted. “She’s got you there.”

Deuce glared at him before his eyes drifted over to me.

“So, you want one of those soft niggas that shares his feelings and shit? One, you have to ask for shit instead of him taking initiative or paying attention when you need something.”

“Who said I wanted a man? I rather enjoy being single. Men are a headache and too many of y’all think with your dick. Not only that, you want us to be submissive when you give nothing to submissive to. You need to bring more to the table than dick.”

“Say that shit again!” Talia said, clapping her hands.

“Amen,” Samir agreed, snapping her fingers. “Somebody said it. Do you know how hard it is to find a worthy man in our line of work? There isn’t one submissive woman at this table. I’m likely to put a bullet in a nigga for trying to boss up on me.”

Salima’s eyes widened. “So… you do what he does?” she asked, pointing at me.

“What is it that you think I do?” I asked curiously.

She shrugged. “Well, the incident at Aura… what was that?”

“A hired task. Ain’t nobody gonna miss a bunch of pedophiles.”

“So you’re what? A bounty hunter or something?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.”

“And Jaeda is a hacker.” She looked around at the rest of my family. “I take it this is a family business?”

Jakobi raised an eyebrow. “You trust this girl, Deuce? Didn’t you say she tried to snitch already?”

I chuckled. “She ain’t gon say shit. Right Salima?”

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