45th Street

Eshals POV - Rolex

I'm loaded with at least a hundred orders tonight, I have to ship all of them out by tomorrow afternoon too. I'm in my robe with my glasses on and sewing machine on my coffee table along with stacks of Nike and Jordan shoe boxes.
The view of the city is so beautiful. When Bishop stopped by he gave me a sincere apology, he looked like he was about to tear up while saying it, his voice was all shaky, he felt my hurt.
I don't know what Lennox said or did but it sure did work. I never knew how bad I needed that apology until now, or the reassurance that he still cared about me.
   Two knocks come from my door and I get up. I grab the pocket knife under my couch pillow and flick the blade out. Whoever this is I don't know how they even got up here past the receptionist.
I look through the peephole and it's Bishop again.
   "Really Bishop." I say opening the door. He stands there in his comfy clothes while holding a bag of snacks and two slushees.
   "I came to help you." he says walking right past me. Well he just let himself in. He sits on the couch and opens his straw for his slushee. I sit next to him but on the floor so I can reach the Sewing machine.
   "Oh, I bought you some Hot Fries, a blue slushee, anddd peach rings." he says handing me my items from the bag.
   "Thank you." I say smiling.
   "Thought I forgot didnt you." he says smiling.
   "Shouldnt you be with your girl right now?" I ask.
   "I'm with her right now." he says sitting down next to me, he sips his slushy, "Now let's get to work." he says.
   "Ight so I'm going to design the shoes, you can package and pack them." I say getting up for the packaging boxes.
   "Pull over that ass is TOOOOO fat!" he yells, I laugh. I grab my brand boxes named Customs By Shal I hand it over to Bishop and he takes it.
   "Say less." he says taking them, I show him how to package everything up and he begins to do it as well as me. We talk about business and catched up on everything. Bishop's business didn't expand but he's still making a lot of money. I broke down some numbers for him to help him out though, I kind of miss doing that. The money was good too.
   I'm designing a hot pink, light pink, and baby pink Jordan one right now and I'm almost finished.
   "Don't you miss the old crew?" Bishop asks folding a box up.
   "What do you mean?" I ask, focused on the details of this shoe.
   "You know son, Zaric, Chan, Nook, Femi, Me, You we all used to have so much fun." He says, I start to think about the times we all shared together, eating takeout on the floor cracking jokes.
The times we all slept in Bishop's condo after a party or the club because everyone was too fucked up to drive.
   "Yeah, I do. We used to be on some crazy shit." I laugh, he laughs too. Once I finish the last shoe I hand it over to him like I do the rest. It's almost 2 AM now.
   "You sleepy?" I ask him, he rubs his eyes and fixes his posture.
   "Nah...I'm good." he says trying to play it off. I chuckle, "You still obsessed over purses and shit?" he asks,
   "I made sure I got a two bedroom for a second closet...of course I am." I say it like it's normal. I designed the second room as a walk-in closet. Lennox helped me put some shelves and a nice ass chandelier up with a mini couch and a big ass mirror.
   "I'm proud of you... you did all this without me, you're independent as fuck." Bishop admits, I say nothing. I can't let this nigga off that easy.
We work until 5 AM and Bishop is knocked out on my couch. I finished my last shoe and packaged it myself because Bishop is sleeping. When I'm done I wake him up.
   "Let's go, we have to ship these out." I say going to my room, I put on a long white sundress with black Tory Burch sandals. I put my hair in a claw clip and grab my black Gucci shades. I take my Black Chanel bag before heading out.
Bishop grabbed the dooley from the lobby and he's already put all the boxes up. We got in my car and headed straight to the post office. Bishop said he wanted to take the boxes in since he went to sleep towards the end.
When he gets out of the car his phone falls in the seat. A minute goes by and I just look at the phone. It begins to ring and the name Ciara pops up. I let it ring, fuck her.
Bishop comes out of the post office and the phone is still ringing. When he gets to the car he picks up the phone.
   "Yo." he answers as he puts his seatbelt on, I start the car up.
   "Get your shit B and yo shit only, don't touch shit that ain't yours son." Bishop says annoyed, he looks at me and moves the phone from his ear, "you remember all you left at my crib right?" he asks, I nod my head.
   "Shorty knows everything she left and if anything is missing I'm gone let Chantelle slide on yo ass." he says, he moves the phone from his ear and looks at it like she just hung up in his face.
   "Go to my crib real quick this bitch got me fucked up." Bishop sounds pissed, I've never seen him heated but I've seen him when he's extremely mad.
When he used to get mad I usually used to distance myself from him until he cools down. He'd leave sometimes and sometimes he'd stay.
I know he has blood on his hands but I've never even tried to dig deep into it. Bishop is not to be fucked with at all.
   I speed a block away because his condo isn't far from my condo or the post office. When I park the car he gets out.
   "Come on." He says walking off, I lock my car up and do as he says. We walk through the lobby on the elevator and it seems to go so slow. When we get all the way to the top floor he opens the door. This is bringing back a lot of flashbacks.
   "Yo!" He yells. Ciara comes out of the room in a cotton robe and house slippers. This bitch lives here?
   "Why is she here?" Ciara snaps, I place my purse on the counter and take a seat on the bar stool. Minding my damn business. Bishop takes her to the room and they begin to argue for about five minutes. Did they always argue like this? Shit is toxic as fuck. Bishop comes out of the room,
   "Shal go in there and make sure nothing is missing." He says sitting on the couch, he pulls out his phone. I stay seated,
   "Whatever she took she can keep it as long as my Jewelry box still full." I say out of all seriousness, "Bishop why am I even here." I ask, Everything in there Bishop bought for me and I have all of that ten times back home, minus the Rolex.
   "Nah, she doesn't deserve that shit Shal. Trust me." Bishop says going in the room. Ciara then comes out fully clothed and Bishop is following right behind her.
   I look at her wrist and there is my Lady Rolex with the green centerpiece and white diamonds surrounding it.
   "I hope my Rolex is still in that Jewelry box." I say loud for her to hear. She looks at me and gives a sharp glare.
   "Girl fuck you." She snaps.
   "Watch your fucking mouth and give me that damn watch Ci." Bishop goes off. Ciara drops her bag and takes the watch off. Bishop throws it to me and I catch it.
   I put it on my wrist and wiggle it before giving it a kiss.
   "I missed you." I say being petty. Once Ciara is out I get up.
   "I'm about to go to sleep, is it okay if I crash here?" I ask, I'm tired as hell. I haven't had any sleep last night and don't feel like driving.
   "Yeah, just take the bed Shal." Bishop says as he walks over to his computer. 
                                          ____

  "The fuck you mean?!" Bishop yells on the phone. His voice wakes me out of my deep sleep.
   "Look, find who stole my fucking shipment or I'm fuckin this whole city up!"
   I then hear him start to slam things on the floor and hitting the wall. I jump every time I hear the loud bangs.
   He curses and I'm not used to him going off like this. He barges in the room, it's like fire is coming from his nose, and his eyes are red. He goes in the closet and grabs his gun. I say nothing to him.
   The front door slams and I get out of the bed. I see he broke the big vase that was sitting in the corner by the TV and he knocked three pictures down. A hole is in the wall by the couch. Why the hell is he so angry, I mean worse has happened and he didn't do all of this.
   I sweep the vase glass up and throw it away and put the pictures back on the wall. I cover the hole in the wall with a frame sitting on the coffee table. The wood floor where I once laid, lifeless almost catches my eye. I go right back in the room and get back in bed. What am I doing here, I should be at my condo. Not in all this mess with Bishop.
                                            ____
   Hours go by I took a shower, put on clothes, and even did my hair, and Bishop finally comes back to the condo around Twelve in the morning. When he comes in I get up form the barstool, I was only scrolling through Instagram and texting Femi and Chan in the group chat.
   The only reason I'm still here is to make sure he made it back safe. When Bishop sees me he double takes like he expected me to not be here or something.
   "Baby." He says coming towards me. I put my hand in his face. But he begins kissing my neck.
   "Bishop."
   "I'm sorry." He says still kissing my neck.
   "And I'm going home." I say moving him off of me.
   "I'm sorry baby!" He says as I walk out of the door.
   "Goodnight Bishop, I'll be at the pad today afternoon l to help you with your product, I want ten percent." I say walking out.