The Brothers

CJ's school finally lets out and Colin stands outside by the car to flag him down once he sees him.

"What's up dad."

"Hey...thought I'd surprise you and pick you up from school."

"Cool." He says then walks to the back door.

"How bout you ride up front with me?" CJ smile and nods. "So how was school?" Colin asks as they drive away.

"It was okay."

"That lil punk still bothering you?"

"Nah. Not after I kicked his ass."

Colin chuckles. "Watch your mouth man...wanna stop and get some hot chocolate or something?"

"Yeah...that's fine." They make a quick stop to get hot chocolate then Colin takes CJ home.

"Hang on a minute. I wanna talk to you before you go in the house." CJ looks at him, giving his full and undivided attention. "I'm sorry for what you saw the other day. I know that spooked you a little bit, and I apologize."

"Why do you have that dad?"

"It's just for protection."

"From what?"

"Just in case someone breaks into my place, and especially if you're there, I'll need that to protect you. You're the most important thing to me, I gotta make sure you're okay at all times."

CJ nods. "I understand. I just don't want you to be the bad guy."

"I'm not, son."

"I know that now."

Colin smiles. "You should get in the house...get on that homework."

"You're not coming in?"

"Nah, bubba. I got some business to handle."

"Are you coming later tonight?"

"...Jr"

"You're busy, I know."

"I'll call you later okay." Colin says.

"Okay." CJ says quietly and hops out the car. "Bye dad. Love you." He says before closing the door.

"Love you too." He shuts the door and walks up to the door. After ringing the doorbell, Aaliyah opens the door.

"Hey baby."

"Hey mom."

"Where's your dad?"

"He had to go to work. Like always."

She nods. "You should go get started on your homework." He nods and heads to the kitchen table.

-----------------

The guys are at the club, and Colin heads that way. He walks in to see them all sitting at the bar.

"What's up Kap? Where you been?"

"Picked up CJ from school. Had to give him that talk."

"How'd he take it?" Luke asks.

"He's fine. He took what I said to him and understood....any sign of that mothafucka Stern?"

"Nope." Cam says.

"Good. Everything's brought up to code, there are never any issues during club hours, so there's nothing to worry about there."

"Doesn't this nigga own a ton of clubs already? The fuck he wants with ours?" Odell asks.

"Power; acquisition. He wants to be the head nigga of the club scene. He moves to New York...and we're standing in the way of that." Cam says.

"Fuckin pussy." Odell mumbles.

"Yeah, no doubt about that. So, I don't think everyone's attendance is required tonight. It'll be slow, and I'm sure y'all wanna go home to your ladies."

"Kai would love that."

"Okay." Colin nods. "What about you Dell?"

"Oh yeah, I'll gladly take the night off."

"Luke?"

"I can stick around tonight. That's no problem." He says quickly. Remembering that Carly works tonight.

"Good. I'll join you." Colin says. "Luke you already did the deposits from last night?"

"Yup."

"Good. Well that's pretty much all that needed to be done. You fellas are free to go. Luke I'll see you tonight. Cam, Odell, tell your beautiful ladies I said hello, and that they're welcome for the free drinks." He says with a smile. Odell and Luke head out.

"Saw your bank statements, huh?" Cam asks.

Colin chuckles. "I did. But it's really no problem."

"How much they drop? I'll give you half back."

"That's not important. You know when it comes to them or us, for that matter, I don't mind. So what you about to get into?"

Cam looks at his watch. "Kai won't be home for another few hours, so I guess I'll swing by the grocery store, get some stuff for dinner."

"Just don't burn the house down."

"Ha. Ha. You funny."

"I try. Aye, you know who I ran into a couple weeks ago..."

"Who?"

"Elizabeth Ramirez."

"From high school?"

"Yes. From high school. Never thought I'd see her again, and boom, there see way." Colin smiles to himself.

"She still look good."

"Yes." He sighs.

"She lives here?"

"I guess so."

"Well, all I'm gonna say is stay away from her. Don't need anything coming in between you and Aaliyah." Cam says, giving Colin a pat on the back. "See you tomorrow." He adds then leaves.

Colin sticks around at the club and his phone starts vibrating.

Lizzie: Hey, are you busy?

Collie: Not now. What's up?

Lizzie: Maybe we can move up our lunch date to today.

Collie: Sure. Where ever you pick is fine with me.

She suggests a cafe that's about 20 minutes away but with traffic, add on more time. He locks up the club and leaves. He finally makes it to the cafe and he's there first. He grabs a table and waits.

Ten minutes later, Liz walks through the door, and a smile creeps onto Colin's face.

"I was beginning to think you were standing me up." He says giving her a hug.

"Really?! There was no way I was missing this."

"Hmm. I take it you really wanted to see me then."

"As a matter of fact, yes. Seeing you at the club that night just brought back memories, and I just had to see you again. Ya know. Catch up with each other."

"Well, here we are...so what you been up to?"

"Well...college, law school.."

"Whaaaat? Law school?"

"Yeah...but not that kind of lawyer. I work for the government...but enough about me though. What about you Mr. Big time club owner."

"Well, it's not just me."

"Yeah, but I know you're the mastermind behind it. All throughout high school you talked about owning things."

"Yeah. I never wanted to work under someone. I hated those petty ass minimum wage jobs I had during school. Only reason I had them was to take you out on dates." They both chuckle.

"And I appreciated every one of them. Including this one. Only exception is, this one's on me."

"Now you know I'm not letting you pay for this."

"It's okay. I got it. So what else has been going on. I'm surprised you're not married with kids. That was also something you always talked about. Wanting to be a family man."

He hesitates. "I have a son...CJ."

Her heart sinks because if he has a kid, he must be involved with the mother. "How old is he?"

"He just turned 9."

"And his mother?"

"Alive and well. He lives with her."

"Are you two together...married."

"No, we're not married. We're uh...we have an understanding."

"What does that mean, Colin."

"Exactly that. We have an understanding."

"Soooo there's basically no reason to even try to continue this then." She says standing up and Colin pulls her back down.

"Listen, I can't help that someone else came into my life after you left it."

"I had no other choice."

"No, you had a choice. NYU was your number one option, remember. Then you switched at the last fuckin minute."

"Penn offered me more money. Damn near full ride. You and I both know I needed the money."

"It was suppose to be me and you. Forever." Colin says quietly.

"Well now it can't be, because you're clearly involved with someone and you have a son. Practically a family, and I'm not trying to ruin that." She says before standing up.

"Where you goin?"

"It was really nice seeing you Colin." She says then walks away and he watches her.

--------

Later that night at the club, Colin and Luke make their rounds through VIP. They make sure everything at the bar is well situated and enjoy the night. While Luke is downstairs entertaining, Colin's in the office when he hears a knock. He looks up to see Liz standing there. She closes the door behind her, however, it doesn't close all the way.

Colin stands up and walks from behind the desk. They both stand there and study each other, then next thing you know, papers are being cleared from the desk.

Due to Liz not closing the door all the way, they both didn't know they were being watched through the crack of the door. Carly.