"About time you showed up, Z," he said, gesturing for me to sit.
"I was beginning to think you got lost or some shit."
I slid into the booth, deliberately choosing the spot furthest from Shaunie. "I had to sort out childcare, I can't just leave my kid whenever I feel like it."
The dig landed exactly where I intended. Shaunie's eyes narrowed, but her smile stayed fixed on her face.
"Still got that smart ass mouth on you," she observed, sipping what looked like cranberry juice but probably wasn't. "it’s a good thing you pretty, 'cause that attitude would've got you popped otherwise."
"You would know all about popping folks, huh?" I shot back before I could stop myself.
"Aight, both of y'all chill," Sosa interjected, motioning for his homies to give us some privacy. They melted away without question, another reminder of my brother's growing influence.
"Zu, you want something to drink. They make a fye ass virgin margarita here. I know you don’t be drinking and shit," I raised an eyebrow. "Since when you know what virgin anything tastes like?" Sosa laughed, the sound warming something inside me. No matter what our differences, my brother had always been my rock. He was the one constant in a life full of disappointments.
"I gotta know the whole menu if I'm gonna run this mufucka," he replied, gesturing around us. "Speaking of which, that's why I called you here."
A waitress appeared with a tray of drinks, setting a margarita in front of me without being asked. Sosa tipped her generously, then leaned forward, his expression shifting from playful to serious.
"I'm buying this mufucka," he announced. "Well, technically already bought it. the papers were signed last week."
"You bought the whole club? How much that set you back?"
"More zeros than your college loans," Shaunie interjected with a smirk. "My boy moving up in the world while your baby daddy still trying to figure out which end of a job applicationto fill out." "Mama, I swear to God, you always…" I started, but Sosa cut me off.
"The price ain't important," he said firmly. "What matters is what I'm gonna do with it. This location is prime real estate, but the management's been slipping. This spot could be making triple what it does now with the right person running it."
I looked around with new eyes, my business degree kicking in automatically. The layout was solid but dated. The VIP section was too small for the clientele they were attracting.
"It needs work," I observed. "And a new concept. The Gold Coast got a dozen clubs just like this one."
Sosa's smile widened. "Exactly what I was thinking. That's why I need you."
"Me?" I blinked, caught off guard. "What you mean?"
"I mean I want you to run it. Be the manager. Help me redesign the whole concept, make it something unique. You got that business degree collecting dust while you filing papers for them white folks downtown. Time to put it to real use."
The offer hit me like a thunderbolt. Part of me….the part that had been dreaming of an opportunity since I was a little girl, immediately started calculating the possibilities. The other part….the part who was a mother who needed stability for her son, saw red flags everywhere.
"Sosa, I don't know the first thing about running a club."
"But you know business," he countered. "Marketing, management, all that shit they taught you in school. The club specifics, I can teach you. Or you can learn as you go. you always been a quick learner."
Shaunie snorted. "Girl, don't act brand new. You been running game since you was twelve, organizing the lil’ neighborhood kids to sell lemonade and keeping sixty percent of the profits for yourself."
"I wonder where I learned that hustle from," I muttered, giving my mother a pointed look. Shaunie had been one of the coldest hustlers on the South Side, and I'd reluctantly admired that shit as a young girl.
"This is different," I said, louder. "This is a whole ass business."
"A legitimate business," Sosa emphasized, his eyes holding mine. "This ain't street money getting laundered, Zu. I got investors, business plans, the whole nine. Everything legal and above board."
I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Since when you care about legal?"
"Since I decided I don't wanna die in these streets or spend my life looking over my shoulder," he replied with unexpected candor. "I'm diversifying. I’m tryna build something that can last."
"Your brother finally growing up," Shaunie added, and for once, there was no sarcasm in her voice, just a mother's pride, It was rich coming from her, acting like she hadn't been the one to school Sosa in the game in the first place.
I took another sip of my drink, buying time to think. The timing was uncanny, with Gizmo's death still fresh on my mind. Which reminded me...