**Brixton**
I feel Tric's arm come across my chest, stopping me in my tracks. I glance up at him to find Tric honed in on something. Aw shit, I know that look, his eyes just landed on his next piece of ass. I follow the direction he is looking to see Lauryn and Novah getting out of a Black BMW and walk towards the front door of the bar.
"Jesus Christ… you've been holding out on me bro."
"Tric, you better pick your next few words very carefully."
I hear him chuckle next to me.
"You can have the Metallica cutie, but that red leather corset is calling to Daddy."
"Daddy? Gross Bro, I always knew you were a weirdo."
I look over at Tric, he chuckles as he glances over at me.
"Don't knock it till you try it," Tric tells me as he taps my chest with his hand and walks towards the two girls.
Now it was my turn to stop him. He looks down at my arm across his chest and then over at me with an irritated expression on his face.
"What? That chic in the red isn't even your type, you're all about them short, wannabe Rock and Roll chics..."
"That's not… wait what? You know what... never mind. I'm going to lay it out for you, and you better pay attention cause I'm only going to say it once. Those bartenders are mine and your employees. You wanted to be business partners, so you can't hit it and quit it with the employees. I'm not telling you you're not allowed to date any of our employees, you just can't use the bar staff as your personal tender. Plus, you both have to fill out a form that legally covers my ass if shit goes south between y'all. So if you're not looking for a relationship, you can be flirty while you're here all you want... but stick to the bunnies calling you Daddy at home."
Tric is looking at me like I just ran over his new puppy. I laugh and shake my head at him.
"Come on, we have a lot of work to do."
I sling my arm around his shoulders and start walking us towards the front door. Tric pulls the door open, and the sound of a very familiar song, Feed the Streets by Juicy J, filters from inside the bar. I know this song very well, they like to play it in the clubhouse during the parties. What I'm not used to seeing is a particular blonde bombshell having a rap/dance-off with Teddy in the middle of the dance floor, and by the way everyone was acting around them this was a regular occurrence.
I stop and take in the scene in front of me. Lauryn starts moving around the semi-circle that has formed beside them while bouncing her body to the beat. Teddy looks to be winning. Lauryn passes by J's twin brother K, who's wearing a black flat bill hat. She points at the hat and holds her hand out. K takes it off and hands it to her. She sets the hat on her head with the bill slightly to the side; when she turned back to face towards Teddy, the mischievous smile she was wearing made me think he wasn't going to be winning for much longer.
Lauryn grabs the hem of one of her shorts, then starts slowly walking toward Teddy with her knees slightly bent as she starts rapping.
Real players know how hard I go.
I get this cash
I put in work,
Lauryn holds her arms out on either side of her like she's challenging Teddy.
I put players on
So much cash
Lauryn holds her hand out and rubs her fingers together when she raps about cash.
Them mafia days
Mafia!
Lauryn holds her hand up, pointing two fingers at Teddy, still walking towards him and bouncing to the beat. This is the first time I've seen her in our club colors and, hot damn, she looks sexy as sin in that black hat.
My hustle so strong
Mafia!
Real shit, I'm lit like a cigarette lighter.
She brings her fingers to her mouth like she's smoking.
I was doing this shit when you was shitting in diapers.
Lauryn is now right in front of Teddy, looking up at him. She grabs the bill of the hat, quickly flicks her wrist and sends the hat flying through the air toward Tric and I as she raps the last line. She turns quickly and starts rapping the chorus while everyone around them went crazy at what she just did towards Teddy. Even he starts laughing, starts pointing down at her and singing with her.
I look over at Tric, "If she only knew how it really was out there."
He hums as he nods his head and gives me a half-smile. I let them finish having their fun.
"Alright, Eminem & Andre, time for a quick meeting before we open," I yell, holding my hand up motioning everyone to come over to where Tric and I are leaning against the bar.
Lauryn jogs over to where the hat is lying on the floor, dusts it off, and gives it a good look over before handing it back to K.
"Hey, sorry about that, kind of got wrapped up in the moment and threw it without thinking about it. I didn't mean any disrespect. If I need to buy another one just let me know and I'll pick one up tomorrow morning for you. I know how important club colors are."
"No worries, you didn't show any disrespect, you were just showing Teddy up with them rapping skills. Plus, club colors look good on you; you should wear them more often," he tells her, as he lightly bumps her shoulder with his.
"I'll keep that in mind," Lauryn says as she points at K laughing while walking backward, then turns and walks over to stand with Novah.
I stand there glaring at the side of K's head as he watches her walk away. K looks over at me with a big shit-eating grin across his face. He quickly brings his hand up to his face, fake coughs, and removes the grin from his face when he sees how pissed I am. I glare at him for a few more seconds before Tric hits the side of my shoulder. I look over at him and he raises his eyebrows at me, questioning if I was going to start talking or not. I look over at everyone.
"Alright! Good evening, everyone. As you all know, due to health reasons, my Uncle needed to let go of the bar. So he asked me to buy it off at him and continue running it. So I now co-own it with this guy to my right, his name is Tric. We aren't going to come in here, change a bunch of things or clean house within the staff. Tonight I want you to work and run the bar like you would any other night while me and my guys will learn on the fly. This man to my left is Steel. He will oversee the security side, I will be adding some of the club brothers into the security team, just simply to keep our bartenders safe inside the bar and when they are coming and leaving. So Teddy, please get with Steel and discuss how they can help your current team out the best. Who is in charge of the bartenders?"
I look over where the five ladies are standing; Lauryn was standing there with her hands in her back pockets, and looking at me. I stand there waiting for her to say something since the four others immediately pointed at her when I asked. I raise an eyebrow at her letting her know I'm waiting, she does it right back, shaking her head, and that's when she notices they are all pointing at her. Lauryn quickly turns around holds her hands out like she's asking what,
"Oh, come on, man! I'm not in charge of y'all I'm hardly ever here... I'm just the weekender."
"That may be so, but you've been here since you were old enough to sling bottles behind that bar… plus, if it wasn't for you, this place would have closed many times over."
All the girls nod, agreeing with what Dani just told Lauryn. Lauryn groans letting her hands drop to her sides, she turns to face me again, then raises one hand above her head.
"Apparently, I'm in charge of this shyt show."
Everyone starts laughing at her defeated expression and unexpected comment, even I couldn't keep from laughing. She makes it really hard to be business professional around her, she has such a laid back and sarcastic personality it's hard not to laugh when she is around.
"Alright Lauryn, see me in my office after the meeting."
"Great, I'm already getting sent to the principal's office, and my shift hasn't even started yet… this is going to be a long night."
I just shook my head at her while trying to remember what else I need to discuss with them.
"Um, I think that's pretty much it… just remember to protect the bartenders from drunken assholes, if any of you have any issues you personally can't handle, come find me, Tric, Steel, or Teddy, and we will take care of it. Alright... let's get this shyt show started."
I clap my hands together, causing everyone to laugh and disperse. Steel turns, stepping in front of me, looking at me with his famous all business and no play expression.
"Are you really concerned about all the bartenders, or just one in particular?"
"You better be glad I kind of like you, or I would have knocked your teeth down your throat for questioning me like that."
Steel crosses his arm across his chest, "I'd liked to see you try."
I could see him fighting back a smile. I fling my hand out really quick like I'm going to punch him in the stomach, and right before it hits him, I pull my hand back. Steel flinches away, pushing the center of his body away from me, but this causes his face to come towards me, so I reach out my other hand and slightly pop him in the cheek.
"Dammit"
Steel starts laughing and pushes my hand away.
"Dude, it's the oldest trick in the book and it still gets you every time. I thought you would have learned by now, but I guess not."
"Here I am trying to have an adult conversation, and you want to play around like a teenager… I expect that shyt from Tric, not you."
"Alright, the adult version is back. Yeah, I'm worried about all of them, but I'm not blind either, and I can't seem to get past the point that she pulled a gun on me last night."
I pull the bullet out of the inside pocket of my cut, holding it up between my pointer finger and thumb. Nothing ever seems to shock Steel, but the sight of the bullet and what I just said sure as hell did. He looks over at Lauryn, who's standing on the steps messing with her phone waiting on me, and points his thumb at her confirming that's who I was talking about, still not fully believing what I said. I nod my head and place the bullet back in my pocket.
"I was leaving last night, she was parked beside me, and I startled her. She was quick to the draw too, I didn't have time to react, and that's saying something coming from me. There's a story there I could tell I wasn't going to get from her last night, but I will… eventually."
"So that was the incident you were talking about. Alright I'll make sure parking lot security is super tight until they are all gone."
I give him a quick nod, hit the side of his arm, and start walking towards Lauryn. As I got closer, she looked up from her phone and gave me a small smile.
"After you."
I held out my hand, gesturing up the stairs. I was trying to be respectful and not stare at her ass the whole way up the stairs, but those god damn shorts, I couldn't help myself.