Page 54 of Tempted By Danger

I waved my hand out. “You have the floor.”

She sighed. “Well,I didn’t interview, so you don’t know much about me, but my family owns an orange and lemon grove.Andalso,a couple of B&Bs.Eventually, I’m going to take it over, andwhooptywoo. Denim shows up from New York, and I’ve always wanted to visit here. She said that she could get me a jobout here, and then Bern, my mother, just took it all in. I was like, ‘Ma, I wanted to visit New York, not live.’ I thought she would have left it alone by the time I got home from the grove, but she hadn’t. AndDenim enticed my mother with the corporate apartment and the pay. I thought about it.And I was, like, what they hell, it’s only six months.I’m sure I could learn something to help my B&Bs thrive.”

I nodded my head.

“So,I managed to get three people to sit with me in thecafé:Darius andToniofrom accounting, and Janice from salesand—”

“We got work to do, Q.”

Shestood and smiled.“See, we can get along just fine.I already have a nickname.”

Before I could respond, she’d left my office and was back at her desk.She’d put herAirPodsback in herear andlogged into the computer.

“Mr. Dymon,” she called out.

“Why are you yelling? That’s what the phone is there for.”

She shook her headand picked up her phone.

“Yeah?” I picked up the phone.

“So, I made a note to ask you if I’m reallysupposed toscreen whoever Tyra is, calls, and um… V. Danger?That was in deep red in your calendar.”

“Yes. Tyra is my publicist. V. Danger is my mother.”

“Why are you screening your—”

“That is beyond your business orobjectives at DHQ,Wenci.”

I ended the call.

She glared at me before rolling her eyes.

* * *

That Night

Itwas a little afterten when I’d met Ryan and Price at this exclusive club calledChokers. The samedamnclub that got my father in trouble. I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble like him because I wasn’tfuckingwith none of the women like that.My friends convinced me to join the club because it was where we couldhave a lot of fun without camerasbeing pushed in our face.Outside the club,ithad the appearance of an unoccupied building, but inside, downstairs in the basement, itwas a lounge that held no more thanseventy-fivepeople.

“Mr. Danger,” the front desk girl greeted me, handing me my phonelockbox.“Will you be here on Sunday?” She winked at me.

“Nah. Probably not. You know I don’t really participate.”I closed the box and put the key in my pocket.

She’dthrown every hint out that she wanted tofuck, but I turned her down politely every time.

Walking through thecurtain, I immediately spotted Ryanand Price sitting in a section on the second floor.When I first learnedthat I was appointed to take over the business, I told them they could go head to Texas, and I’d be behind them in a couple of years. They didn’t want to move without me, so we all moved back to New York full-time.Price had gone to work at his dad’s law firm while Ryan still lived off his stocks and trust fund, but we did createKogNitotogether, so he wasn’t lying around,being a bum.

“What’s up, niggas?” I spoke to them when I made it to the section.

“Not shit,” Ryan said, before pulling on the blunt in his hand.

“Thought you wasn’t going to make it,”Price responded.

I sat on the couch and immediately poured methree shots of Whiskey. After downing all three of themback to back, I reached in my pocket for my own blunt that I’d rolled before I came.After lighting the blunt, I inhaledthat shitdeep in my lungs before blowing it out.

“Goddamn. Bad day, nigga?”Ryan asked.

“Yeah. A bad two days as a matter of fact.”

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