Page 143 of The Need to Know

We hung up and I set my phone aside.

Going and lying on my back, I peered up at the ceiling. Alannah had always been helpful, nurturing, quick to patch a wound or soothe an ache. She worked hard to get into Harvard Med and she was dedicated to getting her degree. Oisin knew the risk of being with a med student, but still he stuck by her and loved her despite her busy schedule.

Ezekiel…

He had worked hard to show his father he was worthy of ownership. BLVCKJVCK was his first taste of creativity, and now PVWN was his first full project. Even though it meant he’d move away and focus on his club, I was happy for him. Perhaps in time I’d even take a flight to see the club open. In a world of callousness and duplicity, Ezekiel Marcuson was a good man and he deserved it all.

It was still early that Monday morning. I was tempted to go to the gym, but I knew where I needed to be. So, I got out of bed, showered, dressed, and took my ass to Shéc. Because I hadn’t been willing to get up and come in, we were opening late as I caught Paisley at the front doors fighting with her key and the lock. The sun was out, and she sported dark oversized Chanel sunglasses. There were chains hanging from the temples. I loved the glasses so much when she first got them, I made sure Shéc sold an affordable knockoff pair. As a result, they were a best-seller during the summer.

My sister knew medicine and care. Ezekiel knew hospitality and parties. Me, I knew fashion and style.

On what seemed like her fourth attempt, Paisley finally unlocked the gate. I circled around her, giving her a quick greeting before helping her lift the security gate.

Paisley eyed me, and because of her opaque lenses, I couldn’t read her gaze, but the scowl on her mouth told me enough. “I am a good girlfriend.”

“I’m sure Sloan wouldn’t disagree,” I responded as I stepped back so she could unlock the front doors.

Paisley let us into Shéc in a loud huff. She marched with a purpose over to the backroom and set her bag aside. The echoes of her heels hitting the tiled floor filled the air as she came from the back toward the main floor. She was in a sour mood, and I wondered why.

“Do we gotta key his car?” I joked as I went over to the checkout station and took a seat at one of the stools behind it.

Once more she was clomping into the main room with attitude. She came over to the counter and pasted her hand to her hip. “I oughta, but I’ma be nice.”

I chuckled as I grabbed the mail from Saturday that was sitting on the counter. “What happened?”

Paisley threw her hands up. “He’s going to New York because Ezekiel and his father are scouting locations for a new nightclub. He took the job to help Eazy design this new place.”

I got why she was upset, but her loyalty could take a back seat for this one. “It’s okay. It’s no big deal, Pay.”

She made a face. “So you’re past it now?”

Was I past it? No. I was hurt, especially by the way Ezekiel had trivialized our relationship. You’re acting like I’m supposed to give up what I worked hard for, for this. I should’ve been more supportive, because I was in full support of his goals, but he shouldn’t have said that.

Roll the dice, Alannah said. I had and it got me where I’d been with Ezekiel. Happy. I wasn’t ready to lose that.

“No, but we need to take time and figure out what we want,” I said. “I’m not about to get in the way of him building something he’s passionate about. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”

“Say the word and I can have Sloan snuff him,” Paisley said.

I held my hand up, holding back a laugh. “Down, girl.”

Yeah, sometimes Paisley was too loyal. I was upset, but not enough to do something I couldn’t take back.

Ali asked me if I loved him and I didn’t need to say it out loud to know that I did. To know that because I did, I was willing to let him follow his dream. Let him create another sanctuary for people to escape to when they’d had a long week or trying day. Ezekiel knew nightlife and I knew fashion. And as my eyes landed on a catalogue that was addressed to the store, I knew exactly what my next move was.

New York was beautiful, but we weren’t here to sightsee. It was all business as Pops, Sloan, and I touched down in NYC. I’d done my research, and linked us with a developer as we toured vacant possible venues.

The first building we saw was in Brooklyn and was too small, not having enough land to expand either for what all I wanted PVWN to be. The second building was also in Brooklyn and had a wiring issue and the foot traffic wasn’t good enough. As we came into Manhattan, this next building saw me tired, but resilient to find the perfect place. It was more than just about finding the right location, I had to feel it too.

“What’s the story?” I asked my developer, Uriah Krane.

He was as tall as me, with skin just as dark. I liked that the second we met up and I set eyes on him. There was a level of comfort to be had with a native New Yorker and a Black one at that.

We were standing in an empty room on the first floor. There was some type of kitchen in the back through a set of chrome double doors. There was a recreational room with a basketball court. Another set of rooms held beds. The distant echo of children’s laughter was faint in the air.

“Used to be a shelter,” Uriah said as he lifted his gaze toward the ceiling and all around us.

My mood sank. “What happened?”