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> “I saw, that’s why I’m here … to run you up outta here, you’re fucking up me and Ayisha’s night.”
“Is that why she was looking at me like that?” Nick laughed and so did Marvin.
“Yeah, you were in her pocket,” Marvin said laughing and led Nick to the bar. “What are you drinking?” Marvin asked, just as the bartender placed a glass of Johnny Walker Black in front of Nick.
“What can I get you, Money?” the bartender asked.
“Chivas 18 on the rocks,” Marvin said, and the bartender went to pour his drink. It made him feel a little funny that the bartender in his house knew what Nick drank, but not what he drank. It was just another reminder of the big shadow he had to walk in. “So, what brings a high roller like you to a joint like this?”
“Honestly, your mother sent me. She’s worried about you,” Nick said, and Marvin dropped his head. “She said you rarely call, and you never come by to see her.”
“I know.”
“She thinks it’s because we’re getting married.”
“No, Pop, it’s not that.” Marvin paused. “I am happy for you two. You make her happy, and that’s something that I know that she hadn’t been for a long time.”
“So, what is it? Why won’t you come see your mother? You know, to her you’re still her baby.”
“I know that Pop, and that’s the problem. She treats me like I’m still some little boy,” Marvin said.
“And to her, you’ll always be her little boy. It’s just something that you are going to have to accept.”
“I guess so.”
“Try not to think of it as a bad thing. At least you have a mother to worry about you,” Nick said and thought about his parents. “One day, my parents just didn’t come home. No one really knew what happened to them.”
“Really?” Marvin asked, thinking that there was so much that he didn’t know about his father.
“Really. So, my brother and sister went to Mississippi to live with my uncle and aunt.”
“Why didn’t you go live with them?”
“They didn’t want me.”
“Why not?”
“He said I was into too much trouble.”
“So, what happened to you?”
“I went to live with my grandmother,” Nick told his son. “So, cut your mother some slack.”
“I understand, Pop.”
“So, what’s been up with you?”
Marvin laughed, and thought about telling him about Evander. “I got something I’m trying to set in motion.”
“Anything you feel like talking about?”
Marvin thought for a second. If it were anybody else asking that question, his answer would be no, but Nick wasn’t just anybody. Not only was Nick his father, but he was once the boss of The Family.
“Yeah.” Marvin looked around for Serek. “See that guy there?” Marvin asked and discreetly pointed him out for Nick. “He’s in the construction business and needs to borrow fifty grand to buy supplies for a job so he doesn’t have to default on it and I’m gonna lend it to him.”
“You must be doing good if you got fifty G’s to loan.”
“I don’t. Judah’s gonna lend it to me. I’m going to pick it up after we close tonight,” Marvin said, and Nick just looked at him.