Chapter 2

(Sahm)

Inhaling the smoke from my blunt, I looked between my younger brother Syre and our cousin Maven to see if they had absorbed anything I said. The music blasting throughout the club made it hard for me to focus. I liked music as much as the next person, but I was getting to the age where I understood that it didn’t have to be so damn loud.

The strip club was like the zoo to me. I hated the zoo as a child. Whenever we went to the zoo, I felt sorry for the animals that were locked up in cages instead of being free to roam and live their lives. Essentially, the animals were locked away in a prison where voyeurs paid to see them.

I could relate. Every time my aunt dragged us to church or to one of her functions, I felt like I was a side show act just like the one I was watching. These women were degrading themselves just to make a living.

They were dream sellers. It was crazy because every man in there thought that they were in love with at least one of the women parading around the room. They were only buying the dreams they were being sold. I could have any woman in the room, for the right price. Something about knowing I could buy and sell half the people in the room didn’t sit right with me.

I didn’t get people. I didn’t think I ever would, and that was absolutely fine with me. All I wanted to do was smoke my weed and make something to keep people entertained in this fucked up world I was forced to live in. I passed my blunt to my brother Syre, who distractedly pulled it between his lips before slapping the girl dancing for him on the ass.

“Listen, bro. Have you seen the numbers? This new software is about to take our game to another level,” I explained, looking between my brother and our cousin.

Neither of them gave a damn about what I was saying. I mean, they probably did, to some capacity, but they always left the tech stuff up to me. I was fine with that because it was my specialty. Neither of them possessed the knack for computers that I had.

From an early age, I’d fallen in love with creating something out of thin air by just using a few keystrokes. While everyone in my family thought of me as a computer geek, I was the one they ran to when they needed something hacked into, deleted, or manipulated. I was the one who created the program that would double my family’s wealth over the next five years.

I wasn’t some big-time lawyer. I wasn’t going around kicking asses and taking names. I wasn’t the one making sure none of the crimes that occurred due to our family’s nefarious business deals were linked back to us. I was the glue.

Being the middle child meant that I was born into the job of being the glue. I held shit together. While these bozos were focused on getting their next piece of pussy, I was making sure our family progressed to the next level.

Aside from my cybersecurity and video game development companies, I was responsible for creating software for my family’s brokerage company. When my aunt saw the need for someone to act as a liaison between the common people and the criminal world, she came up with the Dark Reign Dynasty.

We brokered services that ranged from kidnappings to vital organs. Pretty much if there was anything that someone wanted to get their hands on or have done, we could make it happen. Mind you, we drew the line somewhere. Even criminals had morals.

When my aunt came up with the business model, she made it clear that children and sexual assault were off the table. Now if someone wanted their spouse killed or their cheating spouse exposed, they were fair game.

I’d even known someone who’d gotten a kidney. I had no clue how they actually got it transplanted or who the kidney came from, but that wasn’t for me to know. There were surgeons, assassins, and people from all walks of life accessing the site.

For the past six months, we had expanded our website from regional to national. It was still in the testing phase, but I could already see the numbers rising. For every transaction on the website, we took home a percentage. I’d created a portal to which the fees were paid using cryptocurrency and funneled through an untraceable account before it was deposited to the person providing the service.

“I hear you.” Maven nodded as he stuffed a wad of bills in the G-string of the dancer who was sitting in his lap and whispered something in her ear.

My big head brother Syre wasn’t listening to a damn thing I said. The look in his eyes revealed that he was hypnotized by the booty bouncing in his face.

“Bishop should have come. Y’all idiots don’t care about nothing but pussy.” I shook my head.

“You know the only reason Bishop comes this way is if he ain’t already got something lined up for the night. What you think he doing, playing checkers? He’s doing what you need to be doing, sliding up in something warm and wet,” Syre proclaimed.

Right on cue, the cute redbone who had found a temporary seat in Maven’s lap stood and walked in my direction. I watched her thighs jiggle as she strutted across our section. To my surprise, she plopped down on the couch next to me and crossed her legs.

“What’s your name, baby?” she asked.

“Did he not tell you?” I asked her, tilting my head.

“Delicious, this is my rude ass brother Psalm,” Syre interjected.

“Psalm, your friend over there thought you deserved the VIP treatment for all your hard work.”

“He’s thinking. No wonder I smell smoke.” I tittered.

“What’s he saying?” Maven asked with a frown on his ugly mug.

“You’re cute,” Delicious said, ignoring Maven’s comment. “I would fuck with you even if he didn’t pay me to.”

“He paid you? Give that man back his money. I don’t need anyone to buy me a woman.”

“He’s not buying. Let’s just call it renting,” she countered.

“Call it what you want, but I’m good. I just came out to people watch.”

“Well take it or leave it. This shit is nonrefundable,” she said before standing and prancing out of our section.

“Psalm, what did you do?” Maven asked, narrowing his eyes.

“What you think he did? Told her he was a virgin, and he’s saving his self for marriage,” Syre teased.

“Go to hell, and you stop trying to buy pussy for me!” I pointed at Maven before grabbing my discarded blunt from the ashtray.

“I’m just trying to show you that life can be fun. You don’t have to play a game to have fun. It’s good shit going down right here in the real world. It’s real women with real pussy and not none of that computer generated shit you love.”

“Fuck you!” I spat.

“Bro, you should have let that girl take your virginity!” Syre goaded.

“I already told you to go to hell. Why are you still here?”

“Baby, I been in hell. You’re late to the party. Oh, that’s right. You’re so busy on that computer that you don’t know what’s going on around you. This is hell,” Syre explained.

“I see why you always getting your ass whupped.” I shook my head at my baby brother.

Snatching the blunt from my lips, Syre scoffed. “Name one person that’s ever whupped my ass, and I’ll pay you.”

“Ooo, let me go!” Maven raised his hand.

“Nah, both of y’all fuck off. Make sure you’re in that got damn meeting tomorrow,” I said, standing and exiting the section.

“Work, work, work, work, work, work!” They sang in unison to Rhianna’s song.

I fought the urge to laugh as my eyes scanned the crowd for that red G-string. Once I spotted my target, I made a beeline to the bar. I had my eye on something else, but due to the generosity of my dumb ass cousin, things had changed.

“Grab your stuff and let’s go.” I spoke directly in her ear before heading to the door of the club.

Within minutes, I saw Delicious coming out of the building dressed in sweats. I turned and walked to my car.

“Wait up, baby.”

Hell, if it was already paid for, I would be a fool to turn it down. Like my boys said, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.