Risky Business |1|

Four weeks later

“Call me crazy,” Paullina Cole — Desmond’s aunt said. “But, shouldn’t you be a little more upset at the loss of your father, Dez?”

Desmond shrugged. “I miss him, but there’s no bringing him back.” Desmond loaded another stack of money into the safe and started on another. “Besides… he wouldn’t want me to be crying over him. He raised me to never shed a tear.”

Paullina stared at her nephew with a blank expression on her face. This was the third time she had seen him since his father’s death, and each time the subject seemed to go in one of his ears and out of the other. It was as if he was refusing to care, or even worse, he simply didn’t.

Desmond looked up at his aunt and noticed her deep in thought. “Are you alright?” He asked.

“Are you?” She shot back.

After Desmond was finished loading the money into the safe, he closed it. The money he was counting wasn’t drug money, which is the only reason he counted it in front of her. It was the money that was made in his father’s barbershop in the past month. The barbershop was only one of the six businesses his father owned in the city—now of coarse, they were all his to manage.

“Aunt Lina, I’m fine.” Desmond said. He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair in his office and started walking toward the door. “Maybe you should stop worrying so much about me and start figuring out where you’re going to spend that vacation I promised to send you on. You need to get away from here, for at least a week.”

“Don’t try to change the subject, boy!”

Desmond laughed. “I wasn’t… I’m just saying.”

Desmond’s aunt was the one person he felt that he could trust. Maybe not completely, because as he’d always been told, trusting others gets your life taken away; but he did trust her to a certain extent.

They walked into the main part of the barbershop and everyone was engaged in some sort of gossip. Carlos, also known as Loso, was getting his hair cut and he was obviously talking about his girlfriend. The girl was loose though, Desmond didn’t like her. She’d sleep with anyone if there was something in it for her, Desmond would know, he’d slept with her once or twice.

“… and that’s not all, last night she came in a quarter to midnight with her clothes all messed up and all her lip gloss smeared. I just know she’s cheatin’! I’m done with her, man!”

Everyone in the shop tightened their jaws and tried to refrain from telling him the truth that he was obviously in denial about—it wasn’t even worth it.

“Wassup, Dez!” Jimmy called. “I ain’t know you was back there, man.”

“Yeah… had a few things to handle.”

“Dez! Man you got to hear what this girl did last night man,” Loso said shaking his head. “You just won’t believe it!”

“Man, I don’t wanna hear that shit, son.”

Everyone laughed. Desmond was serious.

“C’mon now… always got a bad attitude” Aunt Paullina scolded. Desmond didn’t pay her any attention as he continued outside.

It was cloudy outside as if it was about to rain. The wind was blowing slightly, making it cool. Desmond always liked this type of weather—not too hot, not too cold.

“Aunt Lina, where you park at?”

“Around the corner… you go ahead, I have to go to Shawn’s house to pick up Ciara, anyway.”

Desmond smirked. “I don’t like him… Ciara shouldn’t be going over there unsupervised.”

“I have to work, Dez!” She said putting her hand on her hip. “If you don’t want her there then you pick her up at seven every morning so I can go to work. If not, then let me take care of my daughter the way I choose.”

“Man, I’m late for some business I have to attend to. I don’t got time for you to be talking to me like I’m somebody child or something.”

“You are somebody’s child, Desmond!”

“Not anymore. I’m a grown man Aunt Lina, accept it.” Desmond turned away from his aunt and walked toward his new black Mercedes. It was one of four cars he owned.

It took him less than fifteen minutes to get to his apartment. He needed a shower and a change of clothes, but first he needed to eat. He took two hot pockets out of the freezer and placed them in the microwave; he didn’t even wait for them to cool before he began eating them. He was halfway done with the second hot pocket when his cell phone rang.

Private number?

“Hello?” Desmond answered.

“You shouldn’t pick up private numbers,” Said an unfamiliar voice. “You never know who’s calling to screw with you.”

“Yeah, well, who’s calling to screw with me, then?”

A light chuckle was heard threw the phone, but there was no answer.

“Look man, I don’t have time for this shit, who the fuck is this?” Desmond asked, annoyed.

“Sounds to me like daddies little boy has a little attitude.”

I don’t have a damn attitude! Desmond thought.

“Oh so you knew my father? Well too bad, you just missed him.”

“Knew? What do you mean I missed him?” There was no shock or surprise in the man’s voice at all.

“I think you know what I mean… I don’t have time for games and I certainly don’t want to be on the phone all day with some anonymous man with a disgustingly raspy voice, no offense, but I got shit to do.”

“Oh, yeah I know you’re busy… just, keep in mind that Rick is watching you.”

CLICK.