He was letting his pride get to him. Asking for help was not in his nature. Instead of going to Angel about his business problems, he called up Jared under the guise of hanging out with him. They met up for drinks at his place and were going to watch the Cardinals game.

"I must be a lucky guy my bestie's man wants to hang with me."

"I'd like to think we're friends, or we can be friends."

"Mm-hmm. It doesn't bother you that I'm gay? That I used to date your girl?"

"Man, obviously you couldn't handle her crazy ass like I can," he said with a chuckle.

"Got that right!"

"And who you fuck ain't got shit to do with me. My lil cousin gay. She left for college in DC and stayed out there. Her ma ain't like it but she deals with it."

"Then you cool with me." They tapped their beer bottles. "But you ain't come over here to watch no damn game."

"Huh? Man, Cardinals that's my team!"

"I ain't from the Lou, so I don't get all that, but they alright. Just some baseball."

"Just some baseball? Man! You're right, you're not from St. Louis talking like that. Eleven-time World Series champions baby!"

"I like how you deflect."

They watched some of the game. He was not here for the game, but he was hesitant to get into what he wanted to talk about.

"Whenever you ready to tell me what's on your mind Hook-" Jared started.

"Okay, it's like this..."

Jared cut off the game and gave him his full attention.

"I need to make more money."

"O-kay...why are  you telling me-"

"Because...I have my own shop man, but I need to pull in more money. I have a lot going on and...did Angel tell you about-"

"Of course she told me about you getting a baby momma pregnant again."

Hook took a long sip of beer. He did not like how it sounded when he said it. It made him sound like a deadbeat.

"I have another baby coming and I was barely making ends meet now. How can I...what am I supposed to do? Sometimes I feel like slanging is the only way to make real money. I made bank back then when I was only sixteen, seventeen..."

"And didn't that end you up in jail?"

"Look, I ain't saying I would go back to that, but I need to figure out something. And dating a girl like Angel? How long you think she will put up with a broke ass dude?"

"She ain't with you because of what you have or don't have."

"I know...but I still want to be able to afford things simple things, and not have to worry if I can pay all my bills, put gas in my car, feed and clothe my kids...and take care of my woman."

"Angel doesn't need you to-"

"I know she doesn't need me to take care of her, but I'm still the man, and maybe I'm old-fashioned, but how I look having her pay for everything? I can't take her out to a nice dinner, I can't buy her anything nice, I can't even buy the damn wine she likes to drink. That shit fucks up your manhood, having your woman pay all the damn time."

"I get it."

"Do you?"

"I'm gay, but I'm still a man. And I believe in fifty-fifty. I would never pay all the time and I wouldn't want my man to pay all the time."

"What if your man earned twice as much as you or three times as much, he could afford more and higher-end things. Would that take from your manhood?"

Jared sipped his beer. "I get it Hook, I do, but no, it would not. I would pay my share as best as I could and hopefully if we're in a truly committed, loving relationship, we would both adjust to each other's lifestyles. If he's used to traveling all around the world but my ass thinks going to Lake of the Ozarks was a big deal, we'll find a midway point. I ain't going broke because he's used to going to Bora Bora, and I would expect him to understand and vacation on my level."

He had not even thought about things like that.

"I need to make more money." He opened the bag he brought over and pulled out all his accounting reports and laid them out on the table. "Can you go through my records and see either where I need to cut costs or generate more ends or-"

Jared gave him a quizzical look, then glanced over all the papers.

"You're talking to the wrong person."

"Come on, you work with Angel, she knows all this business stuff, she started her business and is doing very well. Can you-"

"She...she...she! You just said the magic word. I work for her, your girlfriend. She started the business, not me. I don't have a business degree, I have a fashion merchandise degree. She has a Master's degree in Business. I help her with fashion, I don't help her run that side of the business."

"Really?'

"Yes. Why don't you bring this all to her, she would know what to do."

"I can't go to her about my money man! That's like telling her I'm broke and don't know what I'm doing."

Jared chuckled. "You are broke...and you don't know what you are doing."

"But I can't-"

"Stop being too proud."

"Do you know anyone else who could help? You're in a fraternity, I know you know some money people. I can't pay them, but-"

"I do know one other person."

"Who? Will they look at everything for free?"

"Elmer, Shay's husband. He works at Edward Jones, he's a financial analyst or something, works with money."

"You think he would help me?"

"Couldn't hurt to ask. Except he might tell Shay and Shay being Shay, will drag Angel into it."

He had to risk that. He told Jared to make the contact with him.

Two days later, Elmer agreed to meet him down at his shop. To say that a white man looked odd at his little shop was the least of his concerns, but Elmer seemed cool about being there. Not uptight like his wife always was.

"Most men your age don't have their own business up and running, and you have done that for how many years now?"

"Almost five years. And thanks, but it's not much, I get by," he said.

"Well, I was at the dinner with my mother-in-law so I heard about your background," he said. "Don't worry, Clarissa did a worse interrogation of me my first dinner over."

"Really? I'm guessing you didn't have a criminal background like me and a sketchy past."

"No, but she grilled me because I was older, white, and never dated out of my race. She assumed things about me. Everyone does," he said. "Thing is, I fell in love with Shay and not because of her skin color. Love is love. I love my wife, I love my kids."

Damn, he thought, there was much more than the nerdy-looking guy he seemed to be. He looked like an old rich guy that got his rocks off from being with a younger sista girl. He was doing what people did when they saw him all muscled and tatted up, assumed he was a thug.

"Let me see some of your financials," he said.

Elmer sat at his desk and went through everything he had, while he went into the shop and worked on a car. After he finished, he went back to see if Elmer was done. Elmer had his laptop out and was typing away on it, and also had his tablet out and was periodically looking at it.

"Hey, sorry, had to get that car in and out," Hook said, headed to his bathroom. "Let me wash up and we can talk."

"Yeah, because you have a mess here."

That was not what he wanted to hear. He washed his hands, ran water over his face, and dried off. He went over to his desk and pulled up a chair beside him.

"Thanks for doing this man, I just need a break."

"I'm shocked you're making enough to keep the place open and running! Hook, why are you basically giving out your services for free?"

"Not free, I give most of my people discounts and-"

"You can't do that. This is a business, and you have employees who need to make fair wages, and you deserve a fair wage. You're cutting into your bottom line because you are charging the absolute minimum. Money in is money out, and you're not making enough. In fact, you'll be in the hole soon if you keep it up this way," he said, turning his attention to his tablet. "I looked up other shops your size and they pull in twice if not three times the amount that you do. And you have a prime location near downtown St. Louis, you should get plenty of business, I see that is not your issue."

"Now, I'm just a money man, if you charge the proper rates, you can pull a bigger profit, and thus give yourself a higher wage. But that's not all," he said, pulling up some more pages on the tablet. "You don't have a website? How do you get new business? Where is your marketing? Do you have any ads? You run specials? I'm totally flabbergasted, it's like, bare minimum here."

"I have business cards."

Elmer chuckled. "No social media? No Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. I may be a lot older than you Hook, but I know the value in all of that."

"I have a Facebook page. My personal page...I don't post about my business that much."

Elmer shook his head. "I can help with your money. Fire the accountants you have. They are sticking you for more money than you should be paying. I can do your books and payroll, no charge until you get this all straightened out."

"Man, you don't need-"

"No, you're a friend of the family, it's okay," he said, going back to his laptop typing in a spreadsheet. "I've already started some things. But who you need to talk to is Angel."

He shook his head. He was not going to go to her.

"Naw, just tell me what else to do."

"Hook, Angel is a social media maven. She built her store from a couple of pictures on Instagram and she's made hundreds of thousands of dollars. I helped her in the beginning with the financials. Shay knew nothing about business either, she's a designer, but Angel...really smart business sense. Go to her."

He shook his head. "No. Wouldn't you feel some kind of way going to your wife asking for help with money?"

"If my wife knew more about something than I did, yes, I would go to her. Even money."

"You can say that because you have a lot of money. Angel doesn't know how much money I make and I don't want her knowing I'm barely getting by."

"Angel...yes, she's a little materialistic...okay, maybe a lot, so is Shay, but I'm pretty sure you figured that out about her quickly and you didn't run scared. She doesn't have to get into the financials if you don't want her to but ask for help on promoting your business. She's a whiz at it, I promise you."

That was going to take a lot for him to come to her with that.

A/N: Now we're getting somewhere! The money was a big elephant in the room. Hook needs to get over it...but I get it. For a man, it has to be tough if they make significantly less like he does.

Question: Is their income difference a big deal in the relationship? Let me know what you think.

XOXO
Kimberly