Page 135 of The Need to Know

I paused, stunned at that figure. “What’s the catch?”

“Give a few pointers to Chamber,” he went on. “Whatever you come up with will be successful, so I’m all ears on how to step Chamber up. Of course, a new club would need a better location so that the competition can breathe.”

He was offering me seventy percent of a nightclub, all in exchange for tips on improving Chamber?

My head was spinning because I hadn’t seen that coming.

Seventy percent.

Fuck.

Beside me, Tee was chuckling, enjoying my reaction. “I thought you’d like that. Let’s keep it real, we both know you’re the brains behind BLVCKJVCK. You’re the reason it makes so much money. Anything else you touch will be gold, baby boy. So tell me, are you ready to step out and be your own man? To finally be a boss?”

The Tabby got up and walked away, rounding the building and disappearing.

The night went on around us as the sky turned from a blue to a reddish pink sunset. Cool fall air blew by us, sending chills to my hot body.

Seventy. Percent. Shit.

I shot Tee a look, hating him for what he was doing. Dangling my dream right in front of me. At such a big fucking cost. “I gotta think on that.”

That broad smile made me feel disgusted with myself. “Take some days. It’s a big step when you go from being a boy to a man. When you get your first chest hair.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and tipped his head my way before taking off in a different direction. “Call me.”

I went into autopilot, going and filling up my tank and then slipping into the driver’s seat. I didn’t want to think about Tee Money, but I couldn’t not think about Tee Money.

Nastasia was in her seat, facing me, worried. “Who was that?”

Shit. “A backer.”

“To what?”

I punched my steering wheel. Fuuuck. “Just… Drop it.”

She moved back against her door. “Zeke?”

I could feel her fear prominently in the small space of my front seat area. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten her.

Instead, silently, I pulled out of my space and took off for the street. I didn’t speak the whole way to my condo, and neither did she.

Once there, she went into the kitchen to start with her wings and I paced the floor. I tried to distract myself, looking for Scorsese and Sadé. A couple of weeks ago, we’d officially introduced them for a playdate—it had been a disaster. Shah was a little on the stuck-up, territorial side, and Scorsese was nervous and a little afraid. Gradually, though, with effort and patience, we got them to a neutral point. They could be in the same space as each other without Sadé being a total bully. This was only the second time we’d left them alone together and it was nice to come back to my spot without any casualties.

Still, though, even after catching Scorsese under a side table, I was rattled.

“Zeke?” Nastasia called from the kitchen area. I turned to find her watching me at the island. “Please talk to me.”

At a time like this, I needed to talk to Cesar, but it was still a few hours before I was due at the club.

I went over to the island and took a seat. Nas had rinsed her wings and was seasoning them in a chrome mixing bowl. Watching her douse the wings with just the right amount of this and the right amount of that was calming. Homey.

“That guy back at the station is a longtime rival of my father’s,” I spoke up. “Tee and Pops go back a ways, and in the nightclub business they always had a little competition.”

Nastasia took off her gloves and pitched them before taking her mixing bowl over to the counter where the air fryer was. She put on another set of gloves and put in the wings. She set the time and temp and came back over to me, giving me her full attention.

“A few months back I ran into Tee and he was offering me some stake in a nightclub,” I said. “It was easy to say no at the time, because I was twenty-seven and I thought for my birthday Pops would gift me BLVCKJVCK.”

“But he didn’t,” Nastasia pointed out.

Meewr.