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“Okay, what’s up?”
Mileena looked at Rain’s guns on the desk and swallowed hard. It’s not like she’s gonna shoot you for it, she thought before she said, “I’m quitting. Tonight is my last night.”
Rain leaned back in her chair and smiled. “It would probably be more dramatic if I looked all frantic and shit and said, what? Oh my God, why?” she said in a softer voice and they both laughed. “But I’m not surprised, and I know why.”
“I just can’t keep coming here and have to see him every night.” Mileena dropped her head. “It’s too hard for me.”
“I understand.”
Rain remembered how hard it was for her to watch Nick move on and be happy with April. She wanted to be happy for him, tried to be happy for him, but she wasn’t happy for him, at all. Although Rain readily admitted that they shouldn’t be together because Nick was no good and no good for her, Rain loved Nick with everything that she had, so no, she was not happy that he was happy with somebody else. So, Rain understood why Mileena felt that she had to go.
But still.
“I’m gonna miss you,” Rain said.
“I’m gonna miss you too.” Mileena looked at the live feed from the club on the big screen. “I’m gonna miss all of this.” Mileena said and laughed. “I lost my family to the g
ame.”
“I remember you telling me.”
“And I swore that I’d never have anything to do with it.” she laughed. “But here I am. I run a gambling club.”
“And you’re damn good at it.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Mileena said confidently and smiled. “I used to tell myself that I run a dance club and the gambling club is just a part of it. But I had to be honest with myself.” Mileena stood up and picked up Rain’s empty glass. “Demi runs the club and has since the day I hired her.” She went to the bar to pour them both a shot of Patrón. “I am in the gambling room all night and I don’t come out unless something is going on that needs my attention.”
She handed Rain her drink. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and sat down.
“I remember when that was your whole job,” Rain laughed. “Me and Wanda’s personal bartender.”
“And I used to hate it.” Mileena laughed. “You were all right, but Wanda,” she shook her head. “It was like she would wait until I’d be at the door getting ready to walk out and then she’d say, one more thing. She used to get on my nerves.”
“I remember the look on your face.” Rain laughed. “She used to get on my nerves too, but for a number of other reasons. You know, I was fuckin’ her man, then she was fuckin’ my man, but anyway,” she laughed and so did Mileena. “Wanda was just testing you; checking you out. You were about to be fuckin’ with the money, her money, so she needed to see who you were.” Rain paused. “When we brought you over here, it was always to take over the gambling club. Only one who didn’t know that was you.”
“I guess not. Because I thought I was coming her to bartend, so being Wanda’s personal valet didn’t surprise me at all.” She laughed. “Even though Wanda got on my nerves, it was easier than bartending.”
“You see how Yarissa turned it into a job.”
“I know, right? I knew she’d be perfect for it. She had the right temperament to deal with Wanda,” she said but then she thought of something that Rain just said and she had a question that in her heart and mind, she already knew the answer. “Whose idea was it to bring me over here to eventually run the gambling club?”
“Black.”
“Thought so,” Mileena said because who else could it be.
Rain looked at Mileena and wondered if she should tell her that Carter was the reason that she had Black’s attention for him to notice her.
Those days, Mileena was bartending at Cynt’s when Carter went to jail to protect Black. The only request he made was to take care of Mileena. So Black got her the job bartending at Impressions and over the years, he got to know and observe Mileena. Therefore, when Rain was looking for somebody to run the gambling room, Black recommended Mileena.
“You know what's funny?”
“What?”
“I’m mad at Carter for being a part of the same thing I’m a part of,” she laughed, thinking that was the point, but at the same time wasn’t the point. Yes, they were a part of the same business, so she shouldn’t hold that against him. But I do. The truth was that Mileena was afraid. She had lost her family to the game, and she had lost Carter to it once before. She was afraid to lose anybody else that she loved. “But that is exactly why I have to go.”
If she were ever going to be happy and meet somebody that she didn’t have to worry about it being the last time she ever saw them each time she said goodbye, Mileena knew that she had to move on and that meant leaving The Family – her family.