Page 24 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio

She squinted her eyes at me in a scolding manner. Hell, she was the one who’d said it; I was just repeating it.

“Yeah. That. Forget you even heard that. Enjoy a meal on me.” She reached into her purse, and I didn’t know what she thought this was, but I reached over and covered her hands with mine. I didn’t know if it was the linen from the table, but the zap had us both flinching on impact.

“My bad,” I apologized for shocking her. “But Shio had some shit that came up and sent me in his place. There’s no reason for you to waste a perfect-ass outfit for nuttin’. Have a steak witcha boy, and a few of them fruity-ass lime drinks y’all women like to toss back.”

She squinted her eyes again. “You mean Lemon Drops?”

“Yeah, them. Have as many of those as you can take down. But my treat… I appreciate yourgenerosity, but I think I can scrape up enough to feed us both.”

She ran her hand down her braids again while scanning the restaurant.

My eyes couldn’t help but to go back to her cleavage. Her shit was just sitting so perfectly. I could tell that she was about to turn me down, so I spoke up again. “Aye. Whatchu got to lose?”

“Hunh?”

“Havin’ dinner with me. Whatchu got to lose from it?”

“Time. I have work to do that I put off for this date.”

“Cap. He planned this date last week. I was with him when he was textin’ you the details. Whatever work you had to do, youeither already did it or rearranged your schedule because you knew you weren’t gettin' to that shit today.”

Her mouth shut tight, and I knew then I had her. She wouldn’t be getting her pretty ass away from me just yet. At least not before I fed her and had a conversation with her.

“Okay… you got me there. I’ll stay, but under one condition…”

“What’s that?” I ignored my racing heart, trying to play it cool, knowing damn well I was going to agree to whatever she tossed out as long as she would stay with me.

“You don’t mind that I work here.”

Confusion plagued me. I didn’t know what type of work she did, and I knew I wasn’t dressed for the occasion, but I was almost certain she couldn’t break out a laptop over a candlelit dinner. A grin broke out over her face, showing her stark white teeth. I was a sucker for pretty teeth and pretty feet. Those two were my fucking weakness.

“I use my phone for work.” She held her device up. “I’m a food vlogger. I go to different restaurants around the city and give reviews.”

“So you one of dem greedy muthafuckas that be eating seventy pieces of fried chicken, lookin’ like you ’bout to pass out on camera?”

Her head flew back in laughter, and when she snorted like a fucking pig, I chuckled too.

“Yeah, something like that. So I need to order more than usual. This restaurant is fancy, and people are already looking at us due to my embarrassing-ass laugh, so I won’t order too much. That’s why I don’t mind paying. I can swipe it on my business debit card and use it as a tax write-off.”

“Mane, fuck these folks. You laugh as loud as you want to. And I respect the hustle, my baby, but still, you’ll never fork oversome money for anything when with me. I can pay in cash and give you the receipt, though; that way, you can still write it off.”

Cash was the only option, regardless of whether she needed the receipt or not. Stella had run my fucking credit to the ceiling before my brother had a block put on my social security number and a fraud alert on the one bank card and one credit card I had before going in. Shaking that sour bitch from my thoughts, I focused back on the fine-ass woman in my space.

She debated internally just as the waitress arrived.

The ball was in her court, and I locked my eyes on her as she continued to ponder. “What we doing, my baby? You gone fuck witcha boy?”

She cleared her throat and nodded. “We can stay.”

I hadn’t been happier since the day I got out. I ain’t lying. Smiling, I picked up the menu and scanned it as she gave her order to the waiting waitress.

I hadn’t been here before, but all these fancy-ass places were the same. Steak and potatoes with a green veggie were all I needed, and maybe a shot of yak.

“By the way, I’m Glow.”

“Glow, hunh? Well, it’s nice to meet your pretty ass, Glow. I’m Tunan.”

“Oh my God!Those drinks were strong!”