Page 2 of The Road to You
The seriousness in her mother’s voice stopped her thoughts of what to name her new fur baby. For the next hour, Bridget told her daughter the plan, a plan that she started, but Bruqlyn would have to continue. The question was, when would she be ready to take that step?
Chapter 1
Euri Orion Westin
Six Years Later…
Charlotte, North Carolina
“When his secretary called to give me a heads up that a contract was being sent over for consideration, I wanted to yell ‘fuck yeah’ in her ear,” my sister, Karla, said from her seat behind her desk. “I knew it would be a healthy contract, but I just didn’t realize how healthy, Euri.”
My cheeks hurt from my hard smile. The contract was a huge win for Westin Sustainable Energy Company. It was our first multi-million-dollar contract bid that we won. I knew that it would be the beginning of more big contracts to come. “Sis, you were the one who worked the numbers. Thank you for that.”
When I was seventeen, I realized that the future was clean energy. The realization didn’t come until after I was shot over some drug shit that my father, Orion, had me and my two brothers, Aaron and Derrick, involved in. Our father was a street nigga to his core and somewhat of a rolling stone. I was the oldest of his children and the only one from my mother, Marsha. My brothers were born a month apart. Our baby sister came five years later.
After I was shot, my mother threatened that if I didn’t get my ass on the right path, she would disown me. That was a risk I could not take because I was a mama’s boy to the core of me. Not on some toxic, unhealthy shit, but my mother was everything to me. Then it was her and my baby sister.
During a science class my senior year in high school, we learned about sustainable, clean energy. Something about it piqued my interest, and I went down a rabbit hole. I wanted to know everything about it. I was a smart, A-plus student, but I was unfocused at times and, what my principal called, unruly. I begged to differ. I was a solid nigga, but when I was fucked with, I became a whole damn problem. My teacher fed into my interests by setting up tours of clean energy plants as well as allowing me to accompany him to a clean energy conference.
All of that came together when I first attended Central Piedmont Community College to obtain my associate's degree in Sustainability Technology. After that, I continued my education at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, for my Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering. My parents and siblings were proud as hell. The internship that I did in my senior year of undergrad landed me a full-time position.
Although I had a full-time job, I still dabbled in the streets. I made sure to keep that shit from my mother. I had a plan, and I needed capital to do the shit with. While I worked, I made sure I took in as much knowledge as I could, investing heavily in clean energy stock where I was able to, as well as other investments. When I was twenty-five, my brothers and father became silent investors in my sustainable energy company. I joined over two hundred black-owned solar energy companies in the United States. It was the best decision I had made in my life thus far.
“I can’t wait to tell my mama. Her ass is going to go wild. I wanted to wait until the contracts were signed before I told her,” I told Karla.
Karla stopped clacking on her keyboard to look up with a smile. “I need to go see Mama Marsha. She owes me a sweet potato pie.”
“There you go with that sweet potato pie shit. Mama taught you how to make them, so why don’t you?” I asked with a chuckle. Karla would eat them all day if she could.
Our father was with my mother at first, but he couldn’t manage to be faithful. He cheated on my mother with Aaron and Derrick’s mothers. She wasn’t having it and told him to kick rocks, which he did. He may have left, but he used to and continued to make it clear to anyone who would listen that Marsha Turner was his one true love. That was the reason that my siblings’ mothers couldn’t stand her or him. It was also a point of contention that my mama treated my brothers and sisters like her own when they started to come around.
Karla’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “I know she taught me. It doesn’t taste as good as hers when I make it. How about you mind your business and not worry about what me and Mama Marsha got going on? Make sure you let me know whether we need to hire some temps for the new contract.”
I thought about it for a second. “Yeah, we probably will. Also, reach out to CPCC and UNCC to see if any professors want to use the experience as class credit. I’m about to head to Dad’s house.” I told my sister that I’d see her later.
The contract we won the bid on was for a private developer who was in the process of building a townhome community. It was a state-of-the-art community with amenities that went above and beyond any that I’d heard of in Charlotte. One of the amenities was solar energy. Every home would be outfitted with Westin Solar panels and put on our grids. It took a lot of investors, capital, and government grants to maintain a solar grid. The developer planned for over seven hundred units across 7,500 acres. So far, over two hundred units had already beensold, and once the panels were installed, they were ready to be moved into.
My sister and I worked hard to secure the bid. My brothers and father received high dividends from their portion of ownership. They weren’t interested in the ins and outs of it all, but they were supportive. My brothers had a few businesses of their own that brought in nice income for them. Over time, we had all left the streets, but we still had tight connections. My father taught us to know when to bow out gracefully before the streets brought us to our knees.
My father’shouse was on the other side of town from the company’s headquarters. It took me about twenty minutes to get there without traffic. I admired his house as I pulled into his roundabout driveway. He did well for himself from the money that he made when he was in the streets, investments, the businesses that he had, and the dividends from our energy company.
After I put my code into my father’s front door, I made sure to announce my presence. My father had been out of the streets for almost twenty years, but the mentality never left him. He always kept his head on a swivel. “Dad, where you at?”
“I’m in the den, Son. Get some beers out of the refrigerator before you come in here,” he instructed. His ass probably sat there and waited for me to come so that I could get him a beer. I texted him when I was on my way.
After I handed him the beer that I got from his refrigerator, I plopped down on the couch across from him. “Guess what? We got the bid.”
He sat up in his seat. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about, boy! I swear, when you first came to me about this clean energy shit, I thought your ass was off your rockers. Damn, I’m happy I followed my heart and not my mind. My son found a way to make sure our family has generational wealth.”
“Generational wealth was what I aimed for. That’s what it’s all about, old man,” I said with a smirk. I knew he was about to go in.
He sat back, took a sip of his beer, then laughed. “I got your old man, lil’ nigga. Square up, and we’ll see how old I am.”
At fifty-three years old, my father could easily pass for a man in his early forties, possibly late thirties. Everyone who met us said that I was his twin. He took exceptional care of himself, which was like the secret to the fountain of youth for him.
“Yeah, whatever, Dad.” I took a sip of my beer. “What’s been going on with you?”
He let out a sigh.He’s about to hit me with some straight bullshit.My father tended to stay in some bullshit that more than likely had to do with females. The fact that he was in his fifties didn’t stop bitches in their late twenties from running after him. Fortunately, he had a minimum age requirement of thirty-five. I wasn’t sure if that was any better, because my ass wasn’t having much luck in the thirties bracket.
