Ain't Nothing To It, Real One Aint Nothing To It, Boss

Urban

"How's the family doing, Nikki? Your aunt took a couple weeks off abruptly. Everyone good?" Koi asked over the rim of his glass.

The smile on Nicole's face slipped slightly. "She had to take off to get my little sister settled in. She'll be back to work as soon as possible; you know Tina gets stir crazy if she's not working."

"Facts."

"How long is your little sis here for? She need a job or something?" I asked. Nicole was like a sister to me, so if her family ever needed anything, I was always sure to look out.

I could tell that Nicole wanted to say something else, but she settled with, "She does need a job, but she needs to get herself together before I risk involving her in anything you've built."

"We have plenty of legit jobs she could do. None of them involve The Trust," I assured her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Or is there something else you're not telling me? Come on, Nicole, spit it out."

Nicole was saved from having to answer by the appearance of her little cousin Trish. I noticed that Koi sat up a little higher at her arrival. His eyes roamed her curvy shape, dwelling just a little too long on her ass. If Nicole was like a sister, then Trish was like a niece; I had known her since we were younger and looked out for her whenever neighborhood niggas would fuck with her because she was different. Not in a bad way, but it was obvious from her spirit that she was better than the hood she was raised in. For that reason, I offered her a scholarship to the school of her choice when she graduated from high school. Imagine my surprise when she chose beauty school. Looking at her hair right now, which was cut in a perfectly blunt bob, I shouldn't have been.

"Wassup, Urban," Trish squealed, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me on the cheek. "Thanks for hooking me up with a job. Trust when I say that even though my tuition is paid, that doesn't stop the bills from piling up. Then I'm saving for my salon, so my pockets are really taking a beating."

"You're welcome, Trish. Don't forget: you can always apply for a small business loan from First United Trust," I told her with a wink.

First United Trust Bank was more than a financial institution; it was where I laundered insane amounts of money for the cartel I headed known as "The Trust." We had our hands in a little bit of everything—many of the small businesses we loaned money to were fronts for our various operations—and having a bank made it easier to evade the attention of the Feds. It was a vision my father had that I was given the privilege to make possible with the help of Koi and the rest of my family. Spreading the wealth had been a dream for him before he was taken away from us. I would do everything in my power to make sure his legacy remained intact, and that involved making sure young kids like Trish were able to be successful without begging banks that wanted nothing more than to prey upon us.

"I plan on holding you to that promise," Trish said, wagging her finger playfully. Her eyes roamed the club for a minute like she was looking for someone. Nicole returned from making a run with drinks in hand. "Nicole, where's Normani?"

"She went home."

"Why would she go home without me? Unless you did something to her..."

Trish stared Nicole down, the bright smile on her face replaced by a pair of thin lips. She might as well have tried staring down a brick wall because Nicole wasn't going to budge; one of the reasons I kept her on payroll was due to her being a human rock, devoid of emotion. Trish knew it too, which was why when staring her cousin down failed, she stomped her feet and started whining.

"Nicole!"

Nicole set down the drink in her hand with more force than she intended, spilling cranberry and vodka down the front of the black tee she wore. "Both you and I know the last place she needed to be was out at a club, Trish! I made sure to tell her as much. It's not my fault she got all emotional and went running out the door."