“Nah, boss man. Alise has to do her last set, and my job is to protect her on Thursday and Saturday nights when she’s here. I’m not letting a punk run me away from my job, ” he said sternly and then started to walk off.
“Bruiser?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to have to work on that temper, man. Dammit. We can’t be catching lawsuits because you want to bruise people up,” I said.
“Listen, that guy was disrespectful to your singer that you hired to work at your club and told that you would provide a safe environment. You hired me to provide that safety. If you want me to do my job, you’re going to have to let me do it,” he said indignantly. “Besides, why the hell would you hire a bruiser if you only wanted a scratcher?” he mumbled.
“I’ll get the change out there in a minute, man. Just don’t kill anybody, please.”
“Gotcha, boss man,” he said and walked out.
“He’s totally going to kill someone,” Channing said, laughing as he stood up.
I dropped my head into my hands and shook it. Channing came over to where I was sitting and pat me on the shoulder.
“I’m about to grab the wife and head out,” he said. “Stay safe, cuz.”
“Alright, we’ll catch up with each other soon,” I said and watched him leave out while thinking about how I was going to deal with Bruiser’s temper. He was an old friend from the brotherhood that left because he started to evolve in his way of thinking. He wasn’t quite there yet as far as his belief about races intermixing, but he respected me and Tameka’s relationship, simply because he knew how much I cared about her.
I was about to go back out to the bar area to hang out with Tameka and her friends for a while when Rochelle met me at my office door.
“Hey,” she said, touching my chest and causing me to tense up. “I just got here and wanted to let you know Trey will be here in about an hour.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said, removing her hand and placing it back at her side.
“I heard about a fight earlier tonight. What’s the deal with that?” she asked.
I played the situation down. “It wasn’t a fight. We had a guy harassing the singer and he got put out by security.”
“Oh.” She touched my chest again, but this time slid her hand down to my stomach and started inching lower until I grabbed it firmly in my hand.
I spun her around and said, “Go back up to the front, Rochelle.”
“If that’s what you want,” she said, slowly rubbing her ass up against my crotch.
“Stop that!” I said, pushing her away just as Trey stepped up to the doorway.
“What the hell are you doing here tonight, Ro? I thought I told you to stay your hot ass at home,” Trey said furiously.
“I just stopped by on my way home to make sure—”
“Make sure what? That you got a chance to rub your ass on Jeb before I got here?”
“I—I didn’t—” she started stuttering.
“You think I haven’t noticed how you’re always watching this man? See, you pulled the wool over my eyes for a long time, but when I told you to work here with Jeb, it wasn’t because I think your ass is smart. It’s because I saw the way you lit up when I first mentioned working with him. I just wanted to set you up to see what kinda shit you on.”
“Baby wait, let me explain before you start to—”
“Rochelle, I’m not Mr. Biggs. You have two point five seconds to get out of my face before I strip you out of those clothes I bought you and make you walk home.”
Rochelle put her head down and walked out of the office and up the hallway without looking back.
“And make sure you don’t go to the condo I bought you! I got my boys on the way to change the locks.”
The sounds of her sniffles could be heard as she continued to walk up the hall.