Chapter 18 Relic #3
She backhanded his chest. “That’s five, you liar! Just because I’m enjoying myself doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention.”
He hummed and linked a finger into her thong chain while sweeping his eyes over her skimpy attire.
Relic had almost sent her ass back to the dressing room when she’d moseyed into their section wearing a long sleeve, cropped shirt held together on the sides by silver chains, the same as her panties.
Her braless breasts were exposed through the openings, and so was her flat stomach, reminding him how his little soldiers weren’t doing their fucking job.
His eyes dipped to the dagger pumps covering her pretty toes before rerouting to her crotch. He frowned.
“I’ve never seen a pair of jeans that start at the pussy area before. That’s new.”
Kennedy cackled. “Relic, stop it. This is the style now. Besides, Lexi picked it out for Aura, but she went with the shorts and boots, so I borrowed this.”
“Now, the outfit makes more sense.”
Relic ran his fingers through her thick head of hair he had watched her layer, bump, and wrap before they’d left the house earlier. It was his favorite style after the braids.
“Y’all better stop touching each other before you end up on social media as a home wrecker, Kenn Dog,” Shabu joked as he dropped into a seat at the table. “Why you got my wife drunk and showing her ass tonight? Whoop is on one, fasho.”
Kennedy smirked before glancing over her shoulder, watching her girls turn up to the label’s performance that had everyone out of their seats since it’d started.
Lexi was shaking her ass in a bubble mini skirt that barely covered her cheeks, while Savvy smacked it, and Nubia recorded while holding her cup in front of the camera.
Tima was on her live beside them, puffing a blunt that was prohibited, and Toot was chilling because if she did too much, Shabu would notice the cup in her hand she wasn’t supposed to have.
A smile bloomed on Kennedy’s face because it was nice seeing her crew outside of grind mode.
“She’s having fun,” she told Shabu. After stealing the cup from Relic to drink the shot he poured, she tacked on, “I like that you don’t try to tame Savvy or steal her shine.
I know Relic jokes you about it, but you let her strive for her goals, and you don’t make her feel trapped by the kids or like she can’t have a life.
You don’t make her feel like she’s nothing without you. ”
“Appreciate ya, but I’m her husband. You’re praising me for shit I’m ‘pose to do, Kenn Dog. Plus, it’s easy when Whoops know I’m the man.”
“Say that shit, folks,” Relic affirmed, making her roll her eyes. Shabu chuckled before breaking it down.
“I’m for real, Kennedy. Hear me out. It don’t matter if Whoop is making bread, runs a business, or none of that shit.
I’m the man of our house, and she knows that.
When shit goes left, she calls me. When she’s having a fucked up day, she expects me to fix it.
Bills? It doesn’t matter what’s in her account, she doesn’t expect to pay shit, and I won’t let her.
Whoop knows how to be independent and how to submit, be my wife, and trust me to lead us.
I don’t trip on her because she doesn’t go around doing shit to stress her dominance or prove I can’t control her. ”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Shabu and Relic leaned against one another in synced laughter, knowing she was guilty of doing both.
Kennedy glanced at Relic, and she caught the pointed look he gave before grabbing a new cup to fill with a shot.
She decided not to badger him since he still seemed below his tolerance level and had spent the last few days running around like a damn chicken with its head cut off.
“That’s your last one, right?” she verified as he sipped it like water. She cringed after imagining the harsh taste.
“Fasho,” Shabu answered for his brother. “Go with ya girls. I got him.”
Kennedy stole another look at Relic before she bobbed her head and, reluctantly, went back over to her crew who immediately grabbed her to take a picture. Relic sipped on the warm liqour and ignored the burn in his stomach as he observed her.
Her third genuine smile of the night exploded on her face as they posed for the camera while holding up bottles over their heads, making his brother chuckle.
Relic tossed the remainder of his drink back and poured another while she was distracted because knowing the night would end with her in shambles fucked with him unlike anything he had done to her thus far.
That skeleton with her name on it that’d been cool, calm, and collected reemerged from its dark corner to antagonize him in the worst way.
Tension built along his spine, and his vision skewed, making him blink while rolling his shoulders to alleviate those issues.
“She cares about you.”
Relic heard his brother but pretended he didn’t and continued to watch Kennedy. She’d pulled out her phone and started recording the concert since Tekken had come on stage.
“I thought so when she told me to watch you the first time, but then I was like nah. Y’all didn’t know each other like that.
Then, I remembered how fast I’d locked in with Whoop.
” Shabu continued talking, and Relic pushed out a breath of exasperation that didn’t shut his brother up.
“It’s clear as day now, though. I know you’ve showed your ass by now, and she’s still here.
She checks up on you but in a way that won’t get on your nerves.
Kenn is taking the time to learn how to handle you. She fucks with you heavy.”
“Looks are deceiving.”
That simple, but bullshit of a reply, made Shabu scoff before yanking the cup out of Relic’s hand to place on the table.
“If she’s faking it, then she’s a good ass actor, nigga. You think she’s going to spazz out tonight once she finds out what you did?”
“Not sure, but we’ll find out soon,” he answered and grabbed his phone out of his pocket to check his messages. After reading the one he’d been waiting for from his folks, he corrected, “We’re about to find out now. That was Los. Let’s go.”
“Nigga is ‘bout to get me cursed out by association.”
Shabu shook his head but stood to have his brother’s back, right, wrong, or indifferent. Relic casually got up as well, like he knew everything moved on his time and not a moment beforehand.
His eyes drifted to Kennedy a final time before he and Shabu snuck out of their section from the opposite end.
He gave a subtle head signal to Rocco in passing, directing his security to watch over the ladies before heading down the stairs and to the door leading backstage.
Shabu pulled out his badge from his pocket to show the guards there before they were given permission to enter the hall leading to the dressing room.
Relic stalled once there, smoothing a hand over his imported, mother-of-pearl button down that he’d untucked to conceal his pistol.
Shabu gripped his shoulder to give it a reassuring squeeze.
“Handle yo scandal, bro. If she doesn’t fuck with you after this, at least we know your intentions were good.”
Relic turned the knob and ambled inside after hearing that since his intentions weren’t good.
They weren’t quite bad in his eyes either.
In the end, Kennedy would have the closure she needed, while he would have one less nigga in his fucking way who could become a bigger distraction for her while he was behind bars.
It didn’t get more intentional than that for Relic.
The chatter in the room ceased at his presence, and he took in the faces around the room.
His labels artists, other than Tekken who was on stage, were lounging about.
Los, and two muthafuckas who didn’t belong there, but were summoned by him, stared as he trained his sights on the man he’d searched online for a visual.
Relic had found an image of the nigga at the lounge he owned and recollected that face to memory.
He had sent the same man a ticket to the event under the guise of it being Kennedy sending him an olive branch from her prepaid phone. Relic knew Ezekiel wouldn’t turn down the offer if it meant getting near the person who had slipped from his grasp.
Kennedy.
“Everyone besides Los and those two niggas, get the hell out,” he instructed with a calm tone that didn’t match the energy brewing inside him.
Ezekiel aimed a glower at Relic as if he knew exactly who the fuck he was the moment he stepped in the room. Like he knew Kennedy, her type, and that she’d fuck with nothing short of the man calling the shots.
“Oh, hell nah! I know I’m not getting put out when I know some shit about to pop off,” Pierre fussed, outraged at being banished.
Relic leered in his direction, and his cousin sucked his teeth like a mad bitch, grabbed a water off the coffee table, and then waved a hand to direct Calm and Aura out of the door. Shabu closed it, and Los stood from the couch where he’d been seated beside a passed out Saucy.
“What the fuck is this supposed to be?”
The guest Relic hadn’t personally invited, but figured Ezekiel would bring along, spoke up first.
“You must be Sarge, right?” he guessed before resting a hand on his chest. “I’m Relic, and I know the nigga next to you with that tired ass suit on is Ezekiel.
Now, since we got that out of the way, let’s cut to the chase.
Kennedy was never texting you, Zekey pal.
That was me. You two seem to have unfinished business, so I decided we’d just clear it up tonight.
She’ll be here once she notices I’m missing, but I think we should have a conversation first.”
Ezekiel chortled and leaned against the dressing table with folded arms, sizing Relic up while tossing his head in pity. If the nigga believed he could check him, he was out of his mind or ready to meet his fucking maker.