Page 80 of The Need to Know

Pops shook his head. “Sometimes you really gotta learn the true value of a dollar.”

“And what’s that, Pops?” I questioned. “Four quarters? A hundred pennies? Twenty nickels? Ten dimes?”

Nastasia covered her mouth to hide her laughter while my mother simply hung her head as her shoulders shook.

Pops was amused, but the seriousness in his eyes caught me. “You’ll know when you know.”

After that, luckily, they left my love life alone. We moved the conversation back to the Ladies’ Night event so I could give them the rundown on how amazing Paisley had done, and not too long later our meals arrived.

With Nastasia, I was doing things I’d never done before. I never let anyone eat off my plate, nor had I eaten off another woman’s. With Nas, there was a natural bond over food. We split the pancakes as planned, and it wasn’t long before we were trading my omelette for her shrimp and grits to get a taste of what the other had.

Pops eyed my mother’s plate and she was quick to hold up her knife. “Try it and see.”

That got a good-hearted laugh out of us all.

Nastasia looked over at me as we were eating. “Do you want any kids?”

“If it happens it happens,” I answered honestly. Outside of the safeness of condoms, I just enjoyed being selfish, being able to get up and go whenever I wanted. At most, there was Sadé, but cats were more independent than children.

“Would you go biblical with their names?”

I gestured to my parents. “Got to. Luke, Naomi, and Ezekiel Isaiah. It’s a rite of passage. I like Ezra for a boy and Psalm for a girl if it ever happens.”

Nastasia smiled at my parents. “That’s a cute tradition for you guys.”

“Do you have any kids?” my mother asked her.

Nastasia shook her head. “No. I think cats are enough for me.”

Pops chuckled. “You mess with cats, too?”

“One so far, my baby boy, Scorsese,” Nastasia went on. “Don’t get it twisted, though, I grew up with dogs. Someday I’ll probably get one of my own.”

My loyalty to Brasco had me cool on getting a dog of my own, that and my high-rise condo felt a little small for a dog.

We finished our breakfast and I could tell my parents liked Nas by their genuine effort to pick her brain. When it was time to leave after Pops had paid the bill, my mother had commented on checking out Shéc real soon.

All was smooth, but Pops hadn’t forgotten.

Out in the parking lot I handed over my keys to Nastasia as I stood with my father on the front sidewalk to talk. There was no getting around my screwup.

“This is new,” Pops stated.

“It won’t happen again,” I swore.

Pops hummed, peering off at my Acura where he couldn’t see inside because of my tinted windows. Something that came in handy once when I’d been seeing someone else and didn’t have time to pull over. “Did you have to go toe to toe?”

“Nah, he ain’t want those problems,” I assured. “To be honest, it wasn’t that late when that happened. I stayed over and I knew I’d be late, but I did it anyway. Next thing I know I’m asleep and was missing the whole shift, and I’m sorry. It’s all on me.”

Pops regarded me, a look I couldn’t read in his eye. “You don’t usually do things like that, Eazy. I was worried when you didn’t show up. Cesar got to stuttering and I thought it was something else, some…plaything or what have you. Nastasia’s nice, I will say that. Next time just be cautious of the time.”

He cupped my shoulder and offered me a smile. Just like that, it was a thing of the past.

I wanted nothing more than to make my father proud, to show him I was worthy of owning BLVCKJVCK, and hopefully he knew that nothing would get in the way of that.

I hated to admit it, but Ezekiel was right. After getting breakfast with his parents, I felt up and ready to conquer the day.

Ezekiel dropped me off and I got in my own car and hurried over to Shéc. It was almost ten, and we would be running late for the day. Ezekiel had pointed out that I was the boss, and bosses could make their own rules. His easygoing approach made me rush less as I pulled into the South Strip lot and drove for our section.