It's Above Me Now.

10: New Intents

"Okay, normally I support everything you do big dawg. But this some true Pisces shit. Y'all stay acting off emotion. How the hell you gon' even pay for this?" Dylan exasperated.

Rolling my eyes at Dylan's pessimistic approach, I glanced around at the property I was about to purchase. It's been 48 hours since my incident with Mario and my blood was still boiling at the thought of it. Ruben, Tomas and Veronica were out of town on a business trip, and I knew Bud and Lou were itching to spill the beans to my parents about my scuffle with Karin's eldest son. The altercation only lasted a few moments in my mind, and I was still fuming at Lou for ripping me away from the fight. Even after I explained to my new bodyguards what happened, they were more so interested in me tainting my parents' image by acting a fool in a residential area. Bud and Lou have been giving me unwanted, unnecessary lectures since the whole debacle, trying to make me feel bad. I knew it was only a matter of time before my parents found out about everything. So how else to make it all better than to take Veronica's advice and get cracking on forming a business venture.

My phone rang, and I knew it was Chanel without looking at the ID. She's been calling for some time now, and I've been ignoring each one. She was the last person I wanted to hear from. I was so fucking heated with Chanel. She really did it this time and I was through with her. Never have I ever felt so disrespected, so violated by someone before. And the worse part about it was that I loved her. I really did. She was the first woman I ever claimed and now she turns around and do this bullshit. I might have done my share of dumb shit, but I would've never stooped this low to hurt her. She had me fucked up. And she better hope I don't catch her bitch Mario lacking. I was seeing red and I was waiting on him, patiently.

"Nah, but seriously." Dylan said, now standing besides me. "What are we doing here, man? Why are we looking to buy a broken down, busted ass place? Fill me in. Bud and Lou should be circling back any minute now."

"The duo will be back in thirty minutes, they're picking up packages for my parents. That's enough time to sign off on this place. I already texted the realtor and he's on his way." I answered. "And this broken down, busted ass place was our first orphanage. We were only here for three months so you probably won't remember it. But I do. I wanna buy it and recreate it. Turn it into something phenomenal for the next generation. I'm thinking a recreational center."

Dylan nodded, looking around with scrutiny. "I remember vaguely. You know we moved around a lot. It's a great idea man. But back to my first question, how the hell are we gonna pay for this? We've only got one foot in the door with your peoples."

"Bud and Lou gave me one of the Moss cards in case the realtor wanted funds on sight." I replied. "I mentioned this to them when we were leaving. They're sold on this endeavor."

Dylan flung his hands in the air, visibly distressed. "Bro, are you serious? I smell a set up man. They don't even like us. And you talk about me slacking? They're playing you right in your face. They're gonna get us caught up with your folks and then we'll be out the door before we even get in good."

"Maybe that's not the worse idea." I said. "Ain't much been going right since I met them. But this right here, this building could change all of that."

Before Dylan could respond, a Jaguar pulled up and Mr. Bernard Feliz stepped out. Mr. Feliz was a known shady ass realtor, but he was the man I needed to complete this transaction. Dylan gave me a smug look as Mr. Feliz approached, but I ignored him. Time to handle business.

"Ah, Mr. Chance Moss!" Bernard Feliz exclaimed. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Word around town was that the Mosses had a secret child they've been hiding for all of these years. So imagine my surprise when my assistant showed me your text, saying that you were interested in this place. Aren't you one handsome lad? Come come, let's go inside. Let's make this quick and fast so you can seal the deal."

Dylan and I followed Bernard into the cracked, broken building. This building was isolated and left to rot for so long, every time we stepped the tiles creaked and broke. Mr. Feliz turned to my brother and I, smiling delightfully. He cleared his throat, and I could tell he was thinking of his best attempt to fully sell me on this place.

"Well there's not much to say. It's a dump." Feliz proclaimed. "Two hundred grand for the place. Take it or leave it."

Dylan's eyes widen and he immediately dragged me to the other side of the huge building. He glared at me angrily and I knew he was going to try to set me straight. Unfortunately for him, I was already calculating the changes I wanted to make after I bought the place.

"I need you to think about this." Dylan begged. "Your pops is a genius at this kind of thing, maybe we should call him. Look man, I know you're angry about the whole Chanel situation and you wanna put your mind elsewhere. I get it. I wanna roll up on that motherfucker Mario drive by style too. I'm still packing. But let's be smart about this, man. This rash decision could affect us all in the long run. Your head's not on straight right now."

"This is the straightest my head has ever been on." I replied, brushing past Dylan. "Mr. Feliz, I'll take it. Where do I sign?"

Bernard was grinning from ear to ear as he whipped out a contract. Scanning through the documents briefly, everything seemed pretty straight forward. Grabbing onto Feliz's pen, I signed quickly and instantly felt an urge of happiness. This was going to be my version of a baby. I was going to restore this place from the ground up and make it something phenomenal. Chanel had hers, now I had mine. And at least mine wouldn't be crying hysterically and having me up late at night.

"Perfect!" Bernard Feliz shrieked, handing over the keys to the place. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Moss. I'll set up a meeting to discuss payment but until then, the place is all yours. A fifty thousand down payment is expected to be made to my office tomorrow evening around five. Don't be late."

Mr. Feliz waltz off briskly, leaving Dylan and I there to soak in the place. I was officially stuck with this building and I felt damn content. It might have been leaking from the roof and the tiles were cracking as we stepped, but it was mine. I've never owned something this major before so this was a big milestone for me, and I intended to make the outcome of this project just as immense.

"We can still get out of this." Dylan pressed. "You're still an amateur to this. We can argue that we didn't really know what was going on. We can say we didn't do enough background checking, we don't know if this place is legit. Bro, I'm really coming through with the excuses right now. I deserve my props."

I chuckled lightly, tossing the keys up and down. "Let's get outta here man. We don't need any of your excuses. We're keeping this place. Watch and see, we're gonna make this place into something special. Ruben and Veronica either gonna fall back or fall in line."

"Yeah, whatever." Dylan murmured on our way out. "If Ruben beats your ass don't be surprised."

Laughing, we made our way out of our future project to be greeted by Bud and Lou in their duplicate suits. The pair had their shades off, and I finally saw their true faces. Their very irritated, annoyed faces.

"When it's not one thing, it's the next." Lou said, folding his arms.

"What does that mean?" Dylan inquired. "Listen, it's our decision to purchase whatever. You shouldn't have given us access to money if you didn't want us to use it."

"Get in the car and let's go." Bud snapped. "Your parents and Tomas are back. And also, Chance's foster mother Margo is at the house."