Chapter Sixteen
Sage’s sixteenth birthday was a month away and he was all over the place.
First, he wanted a big block party, then he wanted to go on a trip, then he wanted a car, and now he wanted to go to a paintball park with a couple of the boys in their neighborhood.
Logic was cool with the paintball park, but he wasn’t ok with Sage wanting to include the neighborhood boys.
He wasn’t trying to be responsible for nobody else's kids but his own. Logic didn’t know where he checked out of the conversation, but it could’ve been when Sage suggested they jumped out of a plane.
Glancing down at his phone, Logic stared at the three dots, patiently waiting for Tyler to text him back.
Since the kickback at Duce’s house, he had been eager to get his hands on her again.
That night, their conversation lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.
They talked, they danced, she grinded on him, and things got a little hot when he started kissing her neck.
Logic had never been the type to cake with a girl, but Tyler had him tweaking.
He couldn’t keep his hands off her body and every song he rapped that night had something to do with her.
When she left, Tyler promised to answer his calls and text messages, but she had a bad habit of leaving him on read, and Logic didn’t like that shit.
“So what do you think?” Sage clasped his hands together after he was done rambling.
“Huh?” Logic glanced up at him, confused.
“Paintball, a car, or a trip?” Sage reminded him. “The helicopter might be a far fetch.”
“Ya think?” Spice cocked her head to the side. “I’m too cute to be jumping out of a helicopter. I don’t even like rollercoasters.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing it’s not your birthday.”
“We can do the paintball thing, but Joey can’t come,” Logic cut in before they could go back and forth.
“Man why? That’s my homie and if he can’t come then we’re not going to have an even number.”
“How? You and Spice against me and Shugg,” Logic reasoned. “That’s even.”
“You know Al gone wanna come,” Sage countered.
“Aht aht, why do she get to be on your team?” Spice scowled at Logic. “Say she’s your favorite without saying she’s your favorite.”
“Girl, don’t hate the game.” Shugg waved her twin off. “You heard what he said.”
“Yall chill,” Logic tittered.
“We need more people,” Sage stressed. “It’s not going to be fun with just us.”
“Not gone lie, more people would be clutch,” Spice agreed.
“Aight, Joey can come and I’ll invite a few more people,” Logic gave in.
“For real?” Sage jumped off the couch. “Can we get a party bus?”
“OMGeeeee!” Shugg clapped her hands. “I always wanted to hang out on a party bus. Can I invite people too? Will it have a pole?”
“No,” Sage cut her off. “It’s not your birthday and why would it have a pole? Don't make me lock you in the closet until you’re twenty-one.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll just wait until my sixteenth birthday. Lo will be rich by then and I’ll get the car, the party, and the bus.”
“That’s right,” Logic promised. “But I’mma have Al look for a party bus. We’ll plan it for the weekend of your birthday. Tell Joey if he gets into any trouble beforehand, he can stay his ass here.”
“He gone be cool,” Sage assured him. “I’m about to go call mama.” He bounced off to the back of the apartment.
“I’m about to go call mama,” Spice mocked. “And yall trying to stick me on his team.” She rolled her eyes. “Could’ve never thought.”
Logic glanced back at his phone and saw that the three dots were gone.
For the second time that week Tyler had left him on read.
Deciding not to text her back, he exited the messages and went back to listening to the twins go back and forth about who was going to be on Sage's team. Logic knew when the day came, they’d both be on his team, and Sage would have Joey and Al. It was the only way to keep the peace.
“Soooo, who else you gone invite?” Shugg wiggled her eyebrows.
“Right, I hope and pray you not thinking about asking Scottie to come along,” Spice added.
“I’m telling you because if she comes, I want to be on Sage’s team just to shoot paintballs at her.”
“Yall gone act like that whenever I bring someone around?” Logic asked, cocking his head to the side.
“No, just her.” Spice shrugged.
“Eh, speak for yourself. I’m not ready to share you.” Shugg tooted her lips. “I don’t want another woman walking around here thinking she runs stuff. Then what if she wants you to leave us? We do good all by ourselves, you don’t need nobody right now.”
Logic didn’t get a chance to respond because Sage bopped back into the living room with a big smile plastered on his face. Taking his seat, Sage folded his arms without saying a word.
“Well, don’t leave us in suspense, what did The Road Runner say?” Shugg snapped her fingers.
“You need to stop being so disrespectful,” Sage gritted. “Mama made a mistake and she’s back to make it right.”
“Mmmm, I beg to differ.” She frowned. “Running a red light could be a mistake, pulling off at a drive-thru and forgetting to pay can possibly be a mistake-
“But leaving your kids while you run around the world with a man is intentional,” Spice finished Shugg’s sentence.
“Shut up.” Sage jumped at her.
“Don’t tell her to shut up,” Logic warned him. “Just like you’re entitled to get to know your mama, the twins are entitled to feel how they want about her.”
“You always taking their side.”
“They’re your little sisters. You’re supposed to take their side too, and yall leave him alone. If he wants to keep in contact with his mama, then let him. Keep the smart ass remarks to yourselves.”
“Thank you,” Sage sneered. “But Mama said her and John was gone take me out. John been doing good, so we probably gone go to Great Lakes. She wanted to take me the Saturday of my birthday, but I told her we had plans. I started to ask if she wanted to come but I already know how yall feel.”
“Good. As long as you know and don’t tell her shit about what we do. Matter fact, don’t even bring us up,” Logic stated.
“I only told her about you signing with Rahlo. She was happy to hear it.”
“This boy.” Spice slapped her forehead. “You just over there with diarrhea at the mouth.”
“Yall give us a minute.” Logic cleared his throat.
Without hesitation, they hopped up from the couch and nearly ran to their rooms. They could tell from the seriousness in his tone that Logic was pissed.
Since Pepper left, Logic had instilled in them that they weren’t supposed to run their mouth about things that happened in their house.
The last thing Logic wanted was for CPS to run in his shit, trying to snatch his siblings from his care.
He was young at the time and didn’t have a pay stub to prove that he could take care of them.
They were older now, but the same rules still applied.
“What else you tell her?” Logic interrogated.
After the first time Sage went with their mother, it became a weekly thing.
He left on Friday and Pepper brought him back on Sunday mornings.
A couple of times she tried to linger around, and other times Pepper tried to chat with the twins, but they paid her no mind.
Logic, however, stayed out the way. He had no interest in spending time with his mother and he was patiently waiting for her to disappear again.
“Nothing really. She just asked if you had a job because we had a lot of nice stuff. I told her you signed with Rah and that was it. I never mentioned the other stuff,” Sage swore.
He wasn’t stupid. He’d never air out his brother’s dirty laundry.
Logic doing what he did in the streets is what kept them from being hungry and he was too grateful to ever let it slip.
“The next time she tries to pump you for information, tell her to call me.” Logic’s jaw clenched.
“I didn’t mean nothing by it, bro. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, Sage. She’s your mother, and I know she’s curious, but our business is not her business. When she’s with you she needs to focus on mending the bridge between yall, not me.”
“Ok.”
“Cool, now go find your bum ass friend and tell him to come here. I wanna talk to him before the party.”
“Man, you gone scare him off.”
“I’mma be nice to the ugly lil nigga,” Logic promised. As long as Joey wasn’t on any bullshit then they had nothing to worry about.
???
Darryl listened to the song Dexter played with his eyes closed.
He didn’t know who was singing, but the shit sounded horrible.
He tried to close his eyes to focus on the lyrics, but the singing was throwing him off.
Carla watched intently as he sat stiffly there.
She was praying he liked the song because this was their last resort, but things weren’t going how she expected.
Darryl wasn’t bobbing his head, he didn’t crack a smile or anything.
When the song ended, he opened his eyes and stared at the duo, trying to figure out which one was dumb and which one was dumber.
“What is this?” Darryl asked, massaging his temples.
He didn’t have time for Carla’s bullshit, but she swore she had something that would turn his shitty day around.
With Tyler leaving the label, Darryl was cashing in every favor he had to get his hands on the best songwriters, and thus far, everyone he encountered was basic at best. None of their music moved him. There was no passion, no pain, no love.
“Who's singing on this?” Darryl questioned.
“Bobbi,” Carla answered.
“Tell her to stick to her day job-whatever that is-because she sounds like a crying cat. She needs her tonsils removed, and even then, she still can’t sing; she’ll just sound less annoying. Who wrote it?”
“Tyler,” Dexter answered.
“She back?” Darryl sat up straight, glancing at Carla. “Why didn’t you say shit? Where she at?”