Chapter 15
Some time had passed and Boogie had finally handled Shane. Even though that problem was out of the way, the bigger issue was Shamar. Boogie kept his pole on him at all times just in case there was some sort of retaliation behind it. But so far, the streets had been quiet. Not only that, but it was finally time for the vote to take place. Boogie hadn’t seen too much of Caesar, but he was okay with that, especially with the things that were on his mind. Shane’s last words ran over and over in Boogie’s head. He couldn’t seem to escape them no matter how hard he tried.
“Those close brotherhoods never seem to last, do they?”
There was something about the way Shane had said it. The only brotherhoods Barry had were with Julius and Caesar. And although Boogie could admit that Julius had been acting strange lately, he chalked it up to being under so much pressure. Boogie couldn’t see him crossing his father any more than he could have seen himself doing so. So that left Caesar.
It hadn’t made sense to Boogie that Caesar King, the Caesar King, still didn’t have the slightest clue who was behind it or why. The only reason Boogie could think of for that was if he was the one behind it. It had been in his face the whole time, and he couldn’t believe he had missed it. He was angry at himself for being around him all that time and not seeing it until then. He felt like a fool. Caesar probably was getting a real laugh out of it.
Boogie vowed to hold his peace until after the vote that day. And when he pulled up to the high-rise building the meeting was going to be at, he composed himself. Even though his gut feeling was enough to go on, he wouldn’t seek revenge on Caesar until he had some solid proof. When he stepped out of the Lamborghini, the breeze nipped at his ears. The fall had snuck up on him. In another time he would have been sitting in culinary class preparing to make a dish he never had before. Now he was on his way to find out if he would be deemed worthy to run his Family’s business. He’d come dressed for the occasion, wearing Tom Ford from top to bottom. The black turtleneck protected his neck from the windchill, and the gold chains around his neck gleamed in the sunlight. He checked the time on the Patek on his wrist and handed his keys to the valet.
“Get a scratch on my whip and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” Boogie warned the young kid, whose eyes grew wide.
“You have nothing to worry about, sir,” he stammered.
“Good.”
Boogie left him to park his car and followed the instructions he’d been given to get to the meeting room. He took the elevator, and when the double doors shut, he pressed the number fifteen. When the elevator didn’t budge, he remembered the key card in his pocket. He pulled it out and held it over the card reader by the floor numbers. It turned green, and the elevator began going up. It didn’t take long to get to his destination, and when the elevator doors opened, there were two men in suits there waiting to escort him.
They brought him to a big room that had a beautiful view of Manhattan, and they closed the door behind him. In the middle of the room, there was a big, round wooden table with five cushioned chairs around it. It was funny, really. The room looked exactly how he imagined. He noticed Caesar staring at him when he walked in, but he didn’t budge or say a word. Marco and Li nodded at him when he entered, but Diana stood up and embraced him.
“Boogie, my dear boy,” she said and gripped his hands in hers when she broke the embrace.
“Hi, Diana,” Boogie said.
He was no stranger to her. In fact, she used to babysit him sometimes when he was little. He remembered that causing some huge fights between his parents. Dina swore up and down that Barry was having an affair with her. But as Boogie grew older, he realized that the two were just close friends. However, what Barry did when he was inside of her club was a different story. He knew his father wasn’t a faithful man, but Barry came home every night, and he took care of his family.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stay long for the funeral or come to the repast,” she told him. “I had to say goodbye to my old friend in my own way. Staring at that closed casket just made me think about the horror under it, and I just didn’t want to remember Barry that way.”
“I understand,” Boogie said and kissed her knuckles. “He would have understood too. He loved you.”
“And I him,” she said, smiling fondly at Boogie.
“All right, let’s get down to business,” Caesar said, interrupting their rapport. “Boogie, come stand next to Barry’s seat please.”
Boogie stared at him for a moment. He fought back the rush of emotions coming to him all at once. He didn’t like how he spoke Barry’s name so freely. Caesar’s forehead wrinkled slightly at the glare he was getting.
“Boogie, did you hear him?” Diana asked.
“Yeah, I did,” Boogie said.
He went and stood beside his father’s chair. All eyes were on him, but he kept his on Caesar. He was imagining the different ways he would kill him. So far, shooting him off a tall building was his favorite.
“Let’s begin,” Li said, clasping his hands together and causing Boogie to finally break his gaze. “Caesar told us about how you handled a recent situation in Brooklyn quickly before it got out of control.”
“But there was a huge cleanup,” Marco spoke up. “There were more than ten bodies. Do you know how much it cost to pay off the Families, let alone make sure it didn’t hit the news?”
“Marco, one word: Harlem,” Diana said, cutting her eyes at him as he leaned back into his seat.
“That was years ago. Plus, it was a different time back then,” he grumbled.
“I personally don’t see a difference. And I believe we had to clean up twenty bodies with your trigger-happy ass,” she told him and averted her attention back to Boogie. “You exhibited great leadership skills.”
“But the question at hand is, can you run an entire operation?” Li asked. “The responsibility is higher, and the risks are greater. How do we know that we can trust you?”
“With all due respect, I’ma just put it to you all like this and let you do with it what you’re gon’ do with it,” Boogie started. “You won’t know if I’m ready or right for the job until you put me in the position. I’m gon’ let y’all know right now that I’m not my father. I’m me, and I’m gon’ do things my way. If any of you thought that you were gon’ vote my father’s legacy, my legacy, to someone else, you were wrong. This seat is mine regardless of what you vote.”
“How do you figure that?” Marco scoffed.
“Because my father left everything to me, including the businesses you wash some of your money through. All of you. Yeah, you could find other businesses who will clean your money, but that’s a risk. A risk that would be silly to take when all you have to do is let a nigga sit down.”
The room grew quiet when he was done speaking. Boogie watched them turn and look back and forth among each other. He could tell that they were shocked by the turn of events. He hadn’t planned on saying all of that, but things had changed ever since he’d killed Shane. He wasn’t the same person anymore. He hadn’t grown coldhearted, but he refused to allow anyone else to reshape a destiny that had already been formed for him. Slowly, the four of them at the table began nodding their heads one by one.
“I think we all can agree that you definitely need some more grooming,” Diana said, giving him a small smile, “but I think it’s a unanimous decision. Sit down, Boogie.”
She gestured an open palm to the seat. Boogie looked down at the chair, and although it was just a chair, it held so much importance. He rolled the executive chair out from underneath the table and sat down. He was officially the youngest head of the Five Families. He felt a warm sensation on his face and glanced over the table toward Caesar. Sure enough, he was watching him like a hawk. Boogie gave him his best smile and turned to Diana, who had just started the meeting.
* * *
Later that evening, Boogie pulled up to a nice one-story home in Brooklyn. The neighborhood was quiet, and Boogie smiled when he saw the little Honda in the driveway. With Shane out of the way, Bentley felt that it was time to get himself and his sister a place of their own. And now that he had some free time on his hands, Boogie felt that it was time to take Roz on the date he’d promised her.
He parked behind her in the driveway and got out. Before he reached the door, it swung open. Bentley was standing there holding baby Amber in his arms, but the moment she saw Boogie, she almost jumped out of them. During the time she and Roz had stayed with him, they’d grown accustomed to each other. He didn’t think he had spent enough time with her for her to be so attached, but maybe she sensed that there was some goodness in him.
“What’s poppin’, baby girl?” he said and grabbed her before she fell to the ground with all of her fussing. “You missed me?”
She smiled up at him and patted his face with her chubby little hands. Her innocent face made his heart melt, and he knew right then that she would be able to get whatever she needed out of him.
“I see that I’ma have to teach her early,” Bentley said, shaking her head. “She already got a thing for ugly niggas.”
“You just mad that she likes me more than you, fool!” Boogie laughed and entered the home.
The two men slapped hands, and Bentley led him to the living room. Bentley had outdone himself with his home. He had a gray and white color scheme going on, and everything inside had been babyproofed. They sat down on the couch, and Boogie placed Amber on the floor. She was a fast little thing. As soon as her knees were planted, she crawled away to one of her toys that she spotted on the area rug.
“So, what happened today?” Bentley asked, literally on the edge of his seat. “You in or what?”
“What you think?” Boogie asked with a grin.
“Hell yeah! More money, here we come.” Bentley rubbed his hands together. “Did you get a chance to holler at Marco for Gino?”
“Yeah. He said to have him come to the doc Saturday morning so he can check him out.”
“A’ight, coo’. I’ll tell him,” Bentley said, and then his expression grew serious.
“You straight over there?” Boogie asked, noticing the drastic shift in his mood.
“Yeah. I was just wonderin’ if you talked to Tazz, that’s all.”
“Nah, he good?”
“When he came over yesterday, he was good. He had some interesting shit to say about your uncle though.”
“Who, Julius?”
“Yup. He said he kept meanin’ to bring it up to you, but shit been so crazy lately.”
“What about Julius?”
“I don’t know. Somethin’ about him actin’ weird at your pops’ funeral.”
“His funeral? That was a minute ago,” Boogie said, making a face.
“I know. Didn’t you just hear me say he’s been meanin’ to bring it up to you?”
“Nigga . . .”
“A’ight, chill. My bad. But for real, he said that nigga was actin’ real suspicious. And Tazz said he asked about the hit on Shane’s condo. Did you know he knew about that?”
“Nah.” Boogie shrugged. “But he could have easily found out about it.”
“I don’t know. He said he asked specifically if you had anything to do with it. Tazz always knew. He was in charge of the cleanup. He recognized A-Rod and Kirk off rip. But he didn’t tell Julius that.”
“What am I supposed to do with this information?” Boogie said, slightly amused. “He was in charge at the time. He probably was just crossin’ his t’s and dottin’ his i’s.”
“Hopefully. You don’t . . . you don’t think he would have had anything to do with Barry’s murder, do you?”
“Unc?” Boogie had a look of disbelief on his face. “Hell nah. My pop was like a father to him too. He wouldn’t do any snake shit like that.”
“I don’t know.” Bentley hadn’t been won over. “I think you should go have a talk with him. Especially since you’re the head honcho in town. Make sure he understands that.”
Boogie opened his mouth to say something else, but at that moment Roz came from the back room. Her face was beaten with a flawless makeup look, and she wore an off-shoulder cream sweater dress. Around her waist was a thin Gucci belt that matched the brown thigh-high heeled boots on her feet. Her hair was freshly straightened, and the smile on her face matched Boogie’s.
“You look nice,” she told him. “I love the turtleneck look on men.”
“Thank you,” he said, standing. “You ready to go?”
“Yes, let me just grab my clutch.” She rushed back to her bedroom to grab the small brown bag. When she got back to the living room, she went to pick Amber up and give her kisses. “Bentley, she needs to go to sleep in an hour.”
“A’ight,” Bentley said when Roz handed Amber to him.
“I’m serious! The last time you babysat for me, you had my baby up until one o’clock.”
“Why she worried about what we do?” Bentley asked Amber, who just smiled at him. “Tell her you have fun with Uncle, huh? Tell her to take her fast ass on her date and leave us alone.”
“I’ma kick your ass,” she said, and Boogie grabbed her by the hand before she could hit her brother upside the head.
“Come on, let’s go. Our reservation is for eight thirty,” he told her.
“Mm-hmm. Of course you save your little friend,” she said and shot daggers at Bentley before they left.
He walked her to the passenger side of his vehicle and held the door open for her. He wanted to be chivalrous, but he also wanted to see her face light up the way it did when she saw the bouquet of roses on her seat. She picked them up and smelled them before turning toward Boogie.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome, shorty. I left them in the car as a joke because I just knew you were gon’ say somethin’ about me not havin’ them when I got in the house. I’m surprised you didn’t.”
“Boogie, I’m just happy I finally get some alone time with you,” she said earnestly.
Before he could say anything else, she leaned into him and kissed him with a mixture of passion and longing. Their tongues entangled like they’d known each other before. It was a while before either of them came up for breath.
“I just wanted to get that out of the way,” she whispered with her lips still so close to his that he could smell the mint on her breath. “Honestly, we can skip the date and go straight to your place. I’ve been wanting you so bad. And you’re so good with Amber, and I’m around you all the time anyway. I know you’re a nigga I can fuck with, Boogie. You don’t have to do shit to impress me. I just want to skip all of this. I want to feel you inside of me over and over again.”
Her words were like music to his ears, especially with everything he’d gone through lately. Having a shorty to come home to and help relieve his stress sounded good to him. Especially if it were her. He was tempted to take her up on her offer and skip the date, but he told his dick to shut up.
“Roz, I wanna date you proper, shorty,” he breathed. “I know I’ve been havin’ a lot of shit on my mind lately, but you’re there too. You and Amber. Understand that. And I’m not gon’ cap like I don’t want the pussy. Lord knows I do. But I’m tryin’a fall in love with your mind, too. ’Cause I know I’m gon’ love what’s in between them thighs.”
“Okay,” she said and kissed his lips softly. “I’m with that.”
“Good. Now come on. We can still make our reservation.”
And they did. The restaurant Boogie had chosen to eat at was a steakhouse called Medallion. He’d gotten them a private section because he didn’t want any distractions. The light over their table had been dimmed, and he ordered them one of the restaurant’s finest bottles of champagne.
“I’ve never heard of this restaurant,” Roz said after their waiter took their orders. “It’s so fancy.”
“My pop used to bring me here.” Boogie shrugged like it was no big deal. “If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known about it either.”
“Yeah, right. You’re used to the finer things. You would have made your way here eventually,” she teased.
“Trust, you’re gon’ grow accustomed to these things soon, I promise,” Boogie said.
“Mm-hmm,” she said and tried to hide her smile by turning away from him and grabbing her phone out of her purse. “I need to make sure my brother is putting Amber to sleep. That girl is cranky as hell in the morning if she doesn’t get a full night’s rest.”
“Girl, if you don’t leave them alone . . .”
“No, because I’m the only one who has to deal with it.” She sent a quick text before putting her phone away and giving him her attention again. She shrugged her shoulders and exhaled. “You know, I never thought I would be a single mother. I always had these big plans for myself when I was younger. I would have the husband, the big house, and then the kids. So, when I got pregnant, I thought my life was over. I had to drop out of community college to get a full-time job because back then Bentley wasn’t really making any money.”
“What about Amber’s father?” Boogie asked, realizing that they’d never talked about him before.
“He was a sorry excuse for a man while he was here.”
“He moved?”
“No. He died in a car accident before she was even born. But either way, he didn’t want anything to do with me or the baby. I think sometimes that maybe it worked out for the best. Now she won’t have to grow up with the disappointment of having a father who didn’t love her.”
“That’s tough. But you’re doin’ the damn thing on your own. Like you said, maybe it worked out for the best,” Boogie said and then looked seriously at her. “Why were you talkin’ all that ‘skip this, skip that’ shit outside the house? Everything good?”
“Yes, I’m good. I just . . .”
“You just what?”
“I don’t want to miss out on something good when it comes to you, I guess.” When she spoke, her eyes were on the red velvet tablecloth and not on him.
Boogie cupped her chin and forced her to give him eye contact. “Look at me when you speak your truth, shorty,” he said, and she sighed.
Boogie had never seen Roz’s vulnerable side, and he could tell she wasn’t used to being that way. She was uncomfortable. Still, when it came to him, the only way was through.
“Boogie, seeing you handle your business just does something to me. And the shit you did for me and my brother, you didn’t have to do that. But you did. You’re a good man, Boogie. I’ve never met a man like you. Maybe I don’t want to skip and rush things, but I’m definitely crushing hard. Normally men don’t have me wide open like this. I feel stupid saying all this because I know you can have any woman you want. And who am I?”
“You’re the woman I want,” he said, taking her hand in his.
“For real? It’s not just the champagne talking?”
“Stop playin’ with me. I’m serious. Not even on any corny-nigga time. I fuck with you. With everything that’s happened over the past month, not once did you trip or panic. That shit is sexy. You’re thorough and I need that. Plus, I like that you like me for me. Since the first day I saw you, you did somethin’ to my chest. I don’t wanna call it love. It’s too soon for all that. But if it goes that route, so be it. We can go as fast or slow as you want. But I just want you to know that you don’t have to do nothin’ to keep me. I’m here.”
Roz blinked away the tears in her eyes and let out a happy laugh. “I feel like a simp bitch. Don’t look at me,” she said and dabbed her eyes.
Boogie had to laugh. The Roz he’d come to know was back. By the time their food came, they had finished half the bottle of champagne and were talking and laughing nonstop. The chemistry between them flowed so naturally, their souls might have known each other in another lifetime. He hadn’t felt that happy in a while. Still, there was an underlying thought on his brain. He couldn’t help but to ponder Bentley’s choice words about Julius. It was strange that he had asked Tazz about something he didn’t even mention to Boogie. But then again, if Tazz didn’t say who was behind the hit, why would Julius have brought it up at all? Either way, Bentley was right about one thing.
After he and Roz finished eating, Boogie excused himself to the bathroom. He exited the dining floor and walked down a long hallway lined with dimly lit lamps. He waited for a few patrons to pass him before removing his phone from his pocket. He dialed Julius’s number and waited for him to pick up.
“Nephew. To what do I owe this pleasure?” he said in a pleasant tone when he answered.
“What’s good, Unc? We need to set up a meeting tomorrow to talk business,” Boogie told him.
“Tomorrow? I won’t have time.”
“Make time,” Boogie barked.
It felt a little strange being the one to call the shots. But there was no point going into his new position timid. He could tell that Julius hadn’t expected that response because he grew quiet for a split second.
“When?” he finally asked.
“Seven o’clock. At Big Wheel.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Love you, kid.”
“Love you too.”
They both disconnected the call. He let out a breath and shook the doubtful thoughts out of his head. Julius wasn’t his enemy, and the last thing he wanted to do was make him feel like it. He told himself to ease up and went into the men’s room to relieve himself. When he was done, there was a bathroom attendant inside who handed him a fresh towel to dry his hands on. Before Boogie left to rejoin his date, he tipped the man handsomely. Roz was already waiting by the door when he returned.
“I hope you washed your hands,” Roz said, making a face. “You can’t be holding my hand with piss on yours.”
“Who said I wanted to hold your hand in the first place?” he teased.
“Oop,” she said and opened her mouth in pretend shock. “It’s like that?”
“Nah, girl. Come here.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him as they walked out of the restaurant. For the first time that whole evening they were silent, but it was a silence that spoke volumes. They were full off each other’s vibes, and it felt good for Boogie to just exist in the moment. He held her door open for her, and before she got in, she stroked his cheek tenderly. It was a simple gesture, but it was one that seemed to make all the pain Boogie had endured in the recent events of his life fade a little.