Chasing Bliss Read Online Free Page A

callin’ me. You ain’t right, Cyrus. You should do your shit yourself instead of handing me your dirty work.”
    “I can’t do work like that, Chase. I’d be in jail in two days. I’m nowhere near as neat as you.” He paused and chuckled. “Picture that. That’s some real funny shit, Chase.”
    Chase narrowed his eyes and finished his drink. “What if I get caught, Cyrus? What then? Or do you even care?”
    Cyrus gave him his best big-brother look. “Course I do. If that ever happens—which I seriously doubt—you don’t got no worries. You know I got your back, Smoke .”
    Chase looked at him with undiluted skepticism. “You got me, Cyrus? What? You gonna do my bid for me?”
    Cyrus attempted to brush him off like he was tripping. “Why are you always going this route with me, Smoke? Why are you stuck on the subject? It’s like it’s all you ever think about?”
    Chase looked at him coldly. “It takes up a decent part of my day. Look, Cyrus, I got a lot to lose. I’m a businessman. I shook all that illegal shit off a long time ago.”
    Cyrus gave him a dark, satisfied smile. “Not quite, Smoke.”
    Chase’s mouth dropped open just a bit, and he looked away from Cyrus. He wanted very badly to just ask him, right out, what he really had planned for him if he decided he wasn’t going to be his own personal assassin anymore, but something kept him from asking the question. He suspected he was just afraid of the answer he might get.
    Cyrus reached across the table and grabbed his wrist. “You’re my brother, Chase. You and Corey and me gotta stick together. You understand me?”
    Chase pulled his hand away. “I heard what you said.”
    Cyrus smiled. “Yeah, but do you understand me?”
    Chase didn’t look at him. “I said I heard you.”
    Corey returned and sat down. He looked first at Chase, then at Cyrus. “I don’t hear no singin’. Y’all still fightin’?”
    “There’s no fighting—just a difference of opinion. Smoke is stubborn as hell,” Cyrus said.
    “Did you tell him yet?” Corey asked.
    “Tell me what?” Chase really wasn’t interested in whatever Cyrus had to say. He’d shown up like he was supposed to, and now he just wanted to be gone.
    “I was thinking of starting a legitimate business,” Cyrus said.
    This piqued Chase’s interest. “Legit? For real? You gettin’ out of the game?”
    Cyrus laughed. “Come on, Chase. You know me. I’ll probably never get all the way out of the game. There’s too much money to be made in it. I’m just thinking of branching out, that’s all.”
    “What kind of business?” Chase asked, wondering what all of it had to do with him.
    “A club—something like your Cream maybe.”
    “Yeah. And we already got the property,” Corey added. Chase smiled and shook his head. Cyrus wasn’t a complete idiot, but the idea that he would try to make a serious attempt at running a place like that was laughable to him. It would probably go under in six months.
    “What’s funny?” Cyrus asked.
    “Nothing. Good luck with your, uh, business.”
    Cyrus smiled himself and fixed his eyes on him. “I don’t need luck, Chase. I need you.”
    Chase laughed. “Me? What for?”
    “You got experience running something like this. I don’t.”
    Chase’s smile became wry. “So why try?”
    Something glittered in Cyrus’s eyes. “Why not?”
    The waiter came and took their orders, but Chase declined.
    “You’re not eatin’ with us?” Corey asked.
    Chase looked at Cyrus. “No. I don’t have much of an appetite.”
    Cyrus stared at him for a moment and then sighed heavily. “All right, Chase. All right already! I got resentment comin’ off you in waves. Forget I asked you to help me and Corey. I understand.”
    Chase looked away, feeling the heavy hands of guilt and loyalty settling down on his shoulders.
    Cyrus turned to Corey. “Well, we already committed to the lease. We might as well get started. I mean, I was hoping we’d get some help