12. Drix
DRIX
Islapped bacon on a plate and slid it across the kitchen island toward Myome who was drinking one of her green smoothies.
“I cannot eat all of that,” Myome chuckled.
“Which is crazy considering how much you move around all damn day.”
“Shit. She may not be able to eat it, but I can.” Rome reached over and plucked a piece of bacon from Myome’s plate.
“Bitch, put yo’ own fucking food on a plate.”
“Damn. You can’t fix your little brother a plate?”
“My little brother is a grown ass man.”
“I’m not about to eat all of this anyway, Berlin.” Myome slid the plate closer to Rome who stuck his tongue out at me.
“Thank you, sister-in-law,” he said sweetly.
I shook my head but didn’t say anything.
“That smoothie gon’ hold up for real?”
“Yep.” Myome pushed away from the island and hopped up. “Are you going to make it to Radiant Reverie’s show tonight?”
“Maybe. Are you going to file that paperwork to change your last name?” I countered.
Myome laughed immediately and Rome shook his head.
“Is this blackmail?” he asked.
“It’s married people’s business. You wanted that food so bad, shove it in your big mouth and keep quiet,” I said simply, my eyes still focused on Myome.
“I feel like it would be insane to go through the hassle to change my last name on all of my important documents when we may not even stay married.”
“Who said that?” I walked around the island, gripped Myome by her waist, and pulled her in. “Till death do us part, remember?”
“Mhm.” She nodded and I leaned down to kiss her fine ass. My hands trailed down and back and I gripped her ass and pulled her into me even harder. “Who else you want to be with, Yo?”
“Nobody.” She reached up and put a hand to the back of my neck and gently pulled me down so we could kiss again.
“Good answer.” I smacked her ass and let her go. “We’ll be at the show though.”
“Thank you.” She smiled up at me.
“Mhm. Send me y’all lil flyer too and I’ll share it.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“You good.” I let her go and walked back toward the stove when I heard my next set of bacon popping .
“I’ll see y’all later,” she said as she gathered her bag and keys.
“A’ight.” Rome plucked up another piece of bacon and shoved it into his mouth, a forkful of eggs in his other hand.
I turned the stove off and glanced toward the garage door Myome had just headed out of. I listened for the hum of her car starting then faced my brother.
Rome was shoving the eggs into his mouth and pouring syrup over the toast on his plate at the same time.
“You don’t eat when you ain’t here?” I asked.
“I mean, yeah, but nothing beats home cooking,” he said. “This house husband shit fits you.”
“Don’t play with me, bitch.” I chuckled, grabbed my plate, and stacked food on it. “Just because you can’t make a bowl of cereal doesn't mean the rest of us have to starve.”
“Whatever. Just keep cooking like this and Myome may not even file for divorce when this shit is over.”
“You trying to bait me?” I asked.
Rome set his fork down and a huge smile took over his face. He nodded unashamedly.
“Yeah. I am. So tell me what’s up. Y’all look real cozy around here.”
“Myome’s my wife.” I shrugged, grabbed my coffee mug and fork, and walked around the island to take a seat.
“For real?”
“It’s legal, ain’t it?”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking.”
“We haven’t committed to a divorce. That’s all there is to say.” I took a bite of my food.
“So y’all fucking?”
“You want me to beat yo’ ass?” I asked seriously, dropping my fork.
“That means yes.”
“That means worry more about yo’ bitch ass homeboy’s trash ass verse you sent me and less about what me and my wife got going on in our marital bed.”
“You couldn’t wait to get a fucking wife.” Rome laughed hard as hell. “You’ve been ‘my wife, my wife’-ing a mothafucka to death ever since, B.”
I couldn’t stop a smile from crossing my face while I chuckled.
“Shut up, bitch. How about that?”
Rome laughed harder and I joined him, despite not wanting to, and shook my head.
“That man in love. Damn.”
“Chill out. Nobody is in love. We’re just… dating.” I shrugged and picked my fork back up. “But I like her. I can admit that. I’m feeling her and I like knowing she’s wearing my ring and is going to be wearing our last name. It’s… reassuring,” I said. “Like I know we’re locked in.”
“And you actually want to be locked in with her?”
“Yeah. I mean, you’ve met her. She’s cool people. She’s smart and talented and driven and she might like me to share a lil post or shit for promo, but I know for a fact she’s not a gold digger. She checks a lot of my boxes, man.”
“I feel you. I’m happy for you, bro.”
“Thank you.” I took another bite of food and Rome and I drifted into another conversation, discussing what we had planned for our days.
Once we finished eating, I headed upstairs to change while Rome cleaned the kitchen.
By the time I was done taking care of my hygiene and dressed for the day, Dashawn had made it over.
Chandler, Pops and I were going with Rome to a meeting for a music streaming service that wanted to work with him.
In the meantime, Dashawn was going to house sit while the construction people I’d hired for my in-house studio worked.
Rome and I headed straight to the meeting spot and just chopped it up until Pops and Chandler arrived.
Rome ended up not signing anything and we split up, with Chandler and Rome hopping into Chandler’s whip so they could run press before Rome’s album came out and Pops hopping in my car.
I’d gotten a lot of offers in the last year or so for collaboration, but only a few had interested me, and only one had me ready to sign on a dotted line, a popular headphone line. I planned on working with them to design shit that would do what I needed it to do in the booth and outside.
It had been the first collaboration I’d pitched to Chandler myself and of course she’d given her stamp of approval.
Now, we needed to talk about money and numbers.
That meant Pops was on the front line. While Chandler did everything face to face with the public, Pops did everything behind the scenes that dealt with money and contracts.
We were going to finalize our cut and hopefully have me signing on the dotted line today.
I sat back throughout the meeting, just listening to them go back and forth.
Eventually my pops was able to talk them up from twenty-five percent to forty by promising I’d handle the marketing.
Understandable, because while I’d be designing and marketing the product, they’d be footing the bill for everything I needed as well as producing and doing everything customer-facing.
It was more than I’d thought I would get and I wrote my dad a ten-thousand-dollar check as soon as we got back in the truck.
After I dropped him off, I headed back home.
Dashawn and I smoked a bit and chilled while we waited for the work in the at-home studio to wrap up.
Once they were done, Dashawn and I headed downstairs and I fucked around with beats while Dashawn freestyled, reminding me that he was wasting his talent by not getting in the booth more.
I looked at my work phone when it started vibrating, declined the call, and flipped the phone face down without even reading the number. Anyone I’d agreed to work with I’d delivered for and I’d signed all the release forms, so there wasn’t shit for me to discuss with anyone businesswise.
After Dashawn left, I did housekeeping, throwing clothes in the washing machine and taking the trash out before sitting in the studio and fucking around with a few beats.
I moved the clothes to the dryer and collapsed onto the couch for a quick nap.
When I got up, I folded and put everything away then got ready for Radiant Reverie’s concert.
Once dressed, I texted Rome to see if he was still coming and headed to the venue.
Chandler and Rome were already there, the latter holding the five dozen roses I’d requested for Myome. We linked up in the parking lot and headed toward the back entrance, past security who let us in without words exchanged.
The performance was at a midsized club and there was already a DJ on stage in lieu of an opening act.
Myome, Retta, and Charm stood near a door I assumed was their dressing room, each clad in their performance outfits, Myome visibly jittery.
She gripped her microphone in one hand and the other shook beside her.
“Loosen up,” I called out.
Myome’s head flew to the side and she grinned widely as soon as her eyes settled on me. She broke away from her girls and walked over to us.
“Thanks for coming.” Myome hugged Chandler and Rome before turning toward me. I grabbed her waist as soon as she was close. “You made it.”
“I told you I was coming.” I looked down at her. “You good?”
“I’m okay.”
“You sure? You look nervous, Twin.”
Myome rolled her eyes and I grinned. I’d been running with that twin nickname ever since our first interview.
“I mean, I’m a little nervous but I’m excited too.”
“You gon’ kill it,” I assured her.
“You think so?”
“I know that shit.”
She exhaled. “Thank you.”
I nodded once.
“Are those for me?” She looked at the roses in Rome’s grasp.
“Who else would they be for?”
“Better be nobody.” She cut her eyes at me as she reached for them. “But they’re beautiful, Berlin. Thank you.” She leaned in and smelled them.
“You’re welcome.”
“Myome,” Charm called out. “Let’s pray real quick.”
“Okay.” Myome backed out of my grasp. “I appreciate you,” she said.
“I’ve got you.” I leaned down and we kissed quickly.
I lightly tapped her ass and she headed back toward her group.
The women went over to where they’d be walking onto the stage. Rome, Chandler, and I walked over to Allison who looked as nervous as Myome, if not more. She gestured us into the little dressing room.
“Y’all can sit in here if you’d like,” she said.
“I’m good,” I said. “Get me in front of the barrier.”