Page 44 of Promised To A Menace

I nodded again, taking that in. I could respect that shit. Shorty had her own goals and was putting in the work to make them happen instead of sitting around waiting on somebody else to do it for her.

“You ain’t ask your parents to help you with it?”

She shook her head. “Nah, I want this to be mine. I wanna know I did it on my own.”

A slight smile pulled at my mouth. “I can respect that.”

And I could. I liked knowing she had her own shit going for herself. She wasn’t looking for a nigga to come along and fund her dreams or make shit happen for her. She had already been working toward what she wanted long before my ass came into the picture.

That told me a little more about her than she probably realized.

“What do you do? Besides run an underground auction with your father?” she asked, switching the conversation over to me.

I stopped chewing and looked at her with a raised brow. “Who said I run an underground auction?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. You were there with him.”

“Okay, and just because I was there don’t mean I help that nigga run the shit.”

I didn’t fuck with half the shit my pops had going on, and I damn sure wasn’t involved in this underground business. What he chose to do was on him, but I made sure a long time ago that his shit stayed separate from mine.

“My bad, damn. You ain’t gotta get an attitude.” She rolled her eyes before taking a bite of her chicken.

“Same way you ain’t have to get one with me earlier and call the damn police.”

Her eyes immediately lifted to mine.

“And you didn’t have to hold me here against my will.”

“Who said I’m holding you?” I cut my eyes at her. “Yo’ ass can leave whenever you want to.”

“Yeah, right.” She sucked her teeth. “I tried that already, remember? You wouldn’t let me.”

A laugh slipped out as I took another bite of my green beans.

I knew she was still pissed about that shit, but seeing her sitting beside me with that little attitude was funny as hell. Sexy too, if I was being real. Shorty had a mouth on her, and instead of getting under my skin like she probably thought it did, half the time that shit just made me want to fuck her.

“But nah, though. I got my own security company.”

Her expression changed. “Security company?”

“Yeah. I train motherfuckers to work security, and I got my own team.”

“Is it something you do for your dad?”

“Hell nah.” I shook my head. “That nigga got his own shit, and I got mine. I don’t mix my business with this.”

I knew better than to do some dumb shit like that. I had worked too fucking hard building my company from the ground up to have my pops’ lifestyle come back and fuck with what I had happening. If the law ever came down on his ass, I didn’t want them looking in my direction and trying to tie my shit into his.

She nodded slowly. “So, what kind of people do you do security for?”

“Big-time clients. Lawyers, politicians, people with money who need somebody watching they back. Shit like that.”

“Hmm.” She nodded and went back to eating.

I watched her for a second before finishing the rest of my food.

Once we were done, I grabbed both of the plates and took them over to the sink. Shorty headed back upstairs while I cleaned the kitchen.