Page 33 of Too Many One Nights

“Some dumb muthafucka. He thinks because that nigga Boom been boxing longer, he can beat Juke. I’m gone gladly take his money and every other nigga that bet against him,” he boasted.

We both hugged our pops and headed out. Stacks rode his bike while I got in my car. No sooner than I got inside, my phone rang.

“Why you ain’t tell me Goldie was your girl’s sister?” I asked as soon as the call connected.

“Shit was a coincidence.”

“You knew it was her sister when you asked me to hire her ass, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, nigga. It ain’t no fuckin’ coincidence.” I wasn’t mad, I just didn’t like being blindsided.

“What’s the problem? You mad you fucked her and got her pregnant or that she works for you and she’s pregnant?” he quizzed.

“Nah. The problem is that sister of hers and that fly ass fuckin’ mouth she has. Bitch act just like a nigga named Mel.” I frowned, taking a pull from my blunt.

“Watch that shit. She ain’t that bad. She’on know you like that. I didn’t intend on y’all meeting her until I touched down,” he explained.

“Well, look how the fuck that turned out. I thought I was tripping when I first saw the car, but it was dark, so I couldn’t really tell. But when she came to my spot to pick Goldie up and I saw it in the daytime, I knew it was her. Crazy shit is, Goldie didn’t know the shit.” He explained why he kept the shit low, but I already knew his reasoning. That was his business, and the shit had nothing to do with me unless it affected Goldie and my kid.

“Yeah. Just make sure you talk to her ass. I’d hate to hog-tie her ass until you get home.” I was talking shit, but I would mush her lil’ ass if she didn’t calm her hostile ass down.

“Yeah aight. What happened at the appointment, though?”

I filled him in on what the doctor told us and how far along Goldie was. When I told him that Goldie requested the DNA test before I could, he told me it didn’t sound like she wasn’t sure or had anything to hide. I let him know for her sake she better not.

“How you feeling about everything, though?” I took a minute to answer him because I didn’t know how I felt. The shit was foreign as fuck for me.

“Man,” I stressed. “I’on even know. It’s like I’m trying to hype myself up to believe this kid ain’t mine, but deep down I know it is. I’on wanna get close to her for that very reason. We be in that muthafucka just existing when we’re there at the same time. You wanna know what’s crazy, though?”

“What’s that?”

“I’on even wanna fuck these bitches, bruh. I’m legit not thinking about these bitches. I had a chick at the spot a few weeks ago and I couldn’t even do the shit because I knew Goldie was upstairs. That shit fucked my head up. I couldn’t even look at her when I got home.” Saying the shit out loud sounded crazy as fuck.

“You know it’s okay to like her, right?” he chided.

“I’ain say I like her,” I protested.

“You ain’t say you didn’t either.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and it was pissing me off.

“Whatever, nigga. Talk to your girl before she goes missing. I gotta go. Love you, bro.”

“Love your ass too, nigga.”

I pulled to Vault as I hung up with Kilo. It wasn’t packed right now, but I knew the closer it got to showtime, the crowd would show up. I went in through the back entrance as usual and made my way through the building. So far, everything looked straight, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I found Tahra. Going further on the floor, I found her at one of the craps table. She was standing back, watching the game. She usually did that to make sure muthafuckas weren’t cheating.

“Wassup, Tahra? What’s good?” I asked once I approached her.

“Hey, Buck. Everything is good. We’re all set for the fight tonight. Let me know if you want me to shut things down up here.” Usually, when we had big fights, I would shut everything down upstairs so I could have the extra security. Tonight, I already had extra muscle, and my Glock never left my side, so I was worried about shit. Even if I didn’t take these precautions, I wouldn’t be worried.

“Nah, we’ll be straight. Don’t let nobody else in this muthafucka, though, unless they’re coming for the fight,” I ordered.

She nodded in agreement, and I went on about my business. I walked through the crowd once again to make sure shit was on point before I headed back downstairs. By the time I got there, Stacks was there with a few of his homies from the bike yard.

“I hope y’all niggas paid admission.” I grimaced.

“I ain’t paid shit, but I made sure they did. The fuck on somewhere,” he laughed.

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