It was the way his eyebrows stood up, and he leaned up, putting his elbows on the table, wanting to follow me, and see where I was going with this.
“Elaborate on that for me though, baby. Like, I know what a private security company is, but what was it that you had in mind?” he asked me.
“Private security. Think about it, Miami has all these hot spots out here. The clubs, lounges, the who’s who, and all these places needs security. I feel like a lot of these places lack structure though. Even when I went to the club that Ari works at, you can tell that the security that works the door is probably just family of the owner. Basically, these hot spots will hire anybody. You gotta build your own crew. The same way you put niggas on with the drug business that you can trust, you can do that same thing with the security company. They gotta get properly trained, and you have to make this business legit,” I went on, and then took a quick pause.
“And when you really think about it, the business is the only thing that you’ll have to build from the ground up. You already have the connections here, and the popularity. You stay in the clubs, so you know just about all the owners. They fuck with you and MBM so much that they allow ya’ll to bring guns into the club. Come to them, showing them contracts, trained men, and that your serious about this, and I’m sure they’ll work with you. That should be easy money for you, Dolo. If it goes well, then you expand and get another business venture. It’s so many ways out here that you can cover up the drug money,” I shared with him. He nodded his head to that, feeling where I was coming from.
“These businesses won’t just be mine. I want your name on there too, especially since you just gave me this idea. The plan is to eat with you. I don’t want to be the only one eating, and I just give you a little piece of the pie. The goal with you is to share this shit. I know we both said that we aren’t ready for marriage but shit I wanna move like we are. Whatever I make, my girl making it with me,” he replied, reaching his arm back, so that he could wrap it around me, and pull me just a little closer to him.
I loved it when Dolo started talking to me like this. I would melt. It felt good to hear whenever he would reference marriage, but I also loved the part when he would reiterate that it wasn’t something that he wanted right now because Lord knows that I wasn’t ready to be anyone’s wife. Hell, I’m still afraid to fully pack up all my things and move into his home.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was entertaining the idea of getting my own spot, but my man basically said hell no, and that he wanted me to move in with him. It made the most sense for me to make that move, but I was scared to do it. I didn’t want our relationship to go downhill if we decided to do that. Like, what if we get annoyed as hell with each other from being around each other all day? That was literally the only part that scared me.
Dolo switched gears with me, telling me that he didn’t want to talk business the entire night that we were out on our date. He started talking to me about his family, and how his parents wanted to meet me. I was going to have to play fair with that and meet his parents, especially since he came over, and met my entire family. He knew that it wasn’t something that I was ready to fully jump on board with yet, so he was being patient and understanding with me, and I liked that.
Our drinks eventually came along with the seafood tower that he ordered. I could hear my mom’s voice in my head, telling me that everybody wasn’t out to get me, and try and kill me, so I relaxed, and ate with Dolo. The food was actually pretty goodtoo. We put our orders in, where Dolo ordered a big tomahawk steak. This man could eat. It was only a matter of time before he got serious with me learning how to cook because his appetite was through the damn roof.
I opted on the lamb chops with mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts. I really can’t tell you the last time that I actually sat down and ate a full meal. These days, I would only eat just enough so that my ass wouldn’t pass the fuck out. Tonight, I cleared my plate, and I even had a few bites of Dolo’s steak.
“We going to get dessert too?” he asked me, once the waitress had come over, and she removed the plates that were in front of us.
I was so full, that my hand was on my stomach, massaging it, and this man had the nerve to be talking about dessert.
“Messing around with you, I’m definitely going to put on weight. I’m full Dominique,” I let him know, and he laughed.
“Ain’t shit wrong with you putting on a pound or twenty,” he tried to be funny, and I playfully mushed him.
He removed my hand from my belly, so that he could put his there. The second he did that, I quickly moved his hand. It was too many eyes on us, and the way these nosy ass people in Miami liked to snap pictures of us while we weren’t looking, and send them to the blogs, I didn’t need them doing that, sending out fake lies that I was pregnant.
“Nope. You not about to have the whole Miami thinking that I’m pregnant. Move your hand,” I said, moving it, but his ass did what he wanted to do, and placed it back on my stomach.
“You always worried about what motha fuckas got to say about us. Fuck them,” he pried, leaning over to kiss me on my neck.
I didn’t respond back to him because there was a table a little further down, and one of the women that was sitting towards the end had caught my attention. At first, I thought that I wastripping, but I squinted my eyes a little bit, just to see if it was her, and it was. I got an even better view once her, and the rest of the women that she was sitting with stood up.
They were finished with their food, paid their tab, and now they were about to leave. That was definitely her. It was the bitch that I beat up in the restroom at the club and had to do that time in jail.
Marissa. That was her name.
“Who you see over there that you know?” Dolo asked me, following my gaze, seeing that someone had gotten my attention.
“The one in the red dress. That’s the girl that I fought in the club. I haven’t seen her since we had our day in court over a year ago,” I let him know.
“What if she come over here and beat your ass?” he asked, trying to be funny.
“If a bitch come over here and beat my ass while I got a nigga sitting next to me with a gun on his hip, that’ll be the last day that you get to call me your bitch because you obviously wouldn’t serve me any purpose,” I talked shit to him, taking my eyes off her for a second, so that I could look into his eyes.
“Sometimes I just be wanting to knock your ass out,” he shot, and I laughed.
The group of women would have to pass our table for them to make it to the front of the restaurant. Dolo and I had a strong presence, so naturally, they were going to look at us when they passed our table.
Whoever the bitch was in the front, she was the one that spotted me first because I saw the way her jaw dropped when her eyes landed on me. I didn’t know who she was, but she obviously knew who I was. I recognized two of the other women that were with them. They were the same two women that was in the restroom with us when I beat their friend’s ass.
Each of them looked at me, all having eyes that were stunned to see me. I was such a bold bitch that I was staring right back at them. Dolo was looking at them too. Marissa was the one to spot me last. When her mouth opened slightly, I was able to see that she’d gotten her grill fixed because during the fight, I knocked teeth out of her mouth and fucked up her jaw. She looked good though. For a bigger girl, that dress that she was wearing fit her perfectly. Her hair and make-up was tea as well.
“Ooop. That’s Riot, right? Marissa look,” one of the girls probably tried to whisper it, but I heard her.
Literally, as they were getting ready to walk past our table, that’s when each of them laughed.