Chapter 9
After Samari left last night, Asao stayed up for a few more hours writing.
He revisited old tracks Dom made that he couldn't completely lock down until after Samari was gone.
He could hear her voice before and after his, sometimes layered in the background.
She was meant to be on those tracks, with him.
The late night meant he didn’t get up until noon and only then because someone decided to show up at his place unannounced. Once he dragged his ass off the sofa to the door, he groaned, realizing it was Niles.
As soon as he was inside, Niles’s first stop was Asao’s kitchen where he removed orange juice, which he opened and turned up, bypassing the glass.
"Bruh, can you at least pretend to respect my shit?"
Niles grunted and finished what was left, tossing the empty container.
Asao left him there to take a piss and get cleaned up in the bathroom.
Once the taste of wintermint coated his tongue, he found Niles’s big body with half his sofa caved in.
Asao grabbed one of the kitchen chairs, turned it backward, and got seated, staring at Niles.
If he was here, he wanted to talk business.
"What's up?"
"Did you see the email I sent this morning?" Asao deadpanned his boy and Niles grunted again. He was up before the sun, even if he stayed up all night. Asao didn't function that way. Never had.
"You need to look at it," Niles mumbled.
"What is it?"
"The contract to buy Cap out."
"Damn, that was fast. We just agreed yesterday."
He halfway smiled, which told Asao everything he needed to know. "You already had that shit in the works."
"I know good business. You just needed a reason to agree."
Samari.
"It's not about her," Asao delivered smoothly.
This shit is completely about her.
Niles arched a brow and Asao shrugged coolly, attempting to keep his thoughts hidden. "It's not. It makes sense. Having a handful of artists who make money for us is a good look."
"It was a good look when I first brought it to you but you blew that shit off." Niles locked in on his boy. Asao was moving differently and there was not a damn ounce of uncertainty pushing through his thoughts as to what had caused Asao’s switch up. The thought was disconcerting because his boy locked in on a woman would bring out the killer. Asao loved hard. He’d barely pulled himself out of the pits of hell because of the last woman he handed his heart to.
If Niles was keeping it one hundred, this shit he was witnessing had the potential to be far worse because the last time Asao’s heart transfer had been voluntary.
What he was witnessing with Samari was a straight up heist. The songbird snatched his boy’s shit.
They could see it, even if Asao couldn’t.
"Nah, I didn't. I said I needed time to see how it would work," Asao lied.
Niles made a dismissive sound that wasn't exactly a grunt but dropped the argument. "What's the plan with Cobra?"
"He made money off her. Fifteen cities, twelve thousand tickets sold a night.
That's an easy twenty million, of which she barely saw pennies.
And production was bare minimum. She's a performer and doesn’t need much.
Her voice alone sold out venues. If they paid ten grand a night to pull it all together, I'd be surprised. "
"I'm not seeing how that works in your favor," Niles said.
"He made his money. If she's willing to walk, let him keep everything, then why the fuck would he object? He had no plans of pushing her anymore. That's not his thing. They've already moved on with that Nefatari chick."
"But is she willing to walk? That's her IP."
"If it means having freedom, I don't see why not."
"Would you?"
Fuck no.
"This isn't about me. My situation isn't hers. She can make more music. She can sell ten times what Cobra sold and put that money in her pocket, not his. My tour cleared eight million. We add her to the next one, we can triple that."
Niles stared at Asao, not saying shit but his thoughts were heavy as fuck. "We recorded last night. Some simple shit that turned into something I know is gonna sell. My fans and hers will eat that shit up."
"You want to go on tour with her?" Niles kept his expression neutral while he waited for Asao to respond.
"I want to help her find her space again."
"And you're sure she's gonna be cool with walking away?"
"I have to run it by her, but yeah, I think she'll be cool with it."
“What are you willing to sacrifice to gain control again?”
“Everything.”
She hadn’t hesitated. She’d meant that shit. She would give it all up to get it all back.
"When we pulling up on Cobra?" Niles didn't question Asao further. If this was what Asao was fucking with, then he was fucking with it too.
"I was gonna wait, but the more I think about it, I want to get her before word leaks that we're buying out Cap. I don't want him assuming she’s going to get her career back."
"He won't be assuming, Sao."
He shrugged. "He doesn’t need to know that."
"That all sounds good but he doesn't give a fuck about your girl. He wants you."
"And I'm going to make him think he gets me."
"Nah, we're not fucking around with that. You have too much to lose. I know you're feeling this girl but…"
The men locked into a war of wills. Niles communicated the thoughts already circulating and Asao pushed back with a warning to let that shit ride.
Using his demons to question his movements was out of the fucking question.
This wasn’t about Na’Mya or the way he felt responsible for the shit that had gone down ten years prior.
He spoke that affirmation in his head, no matter how little truth was attached to the words.
"There are no buts. She needs my help and she's getting it."
"Not at the expense of fucking up your career dealing with Cobra."
"I have it figured out," was all Asao offered.
"Care to share? Because right now you're talking stupid."
Niles was pissed, for good reason. They had never experienced an encounter with Cobra that didn't end with one of them wanting to fade that muthafucker.
"We're going to do a music festival. If we lock down the amphitheater, that's sixteen thousand tickets. I sold three times that with my last show within an hour of the tickets going live."
"If you're trying to convince me this is a good idea, you're doing a terrible fucking job, Sao,” Niles muttered, running the idea through his head. “It’s March.”
“And?” Asao stated bluntly, considering the issue. Spring in their city could mean heavy rain, or on the flip side, snow. Music festivals made more sense in summer or fall. They didn’t have that long. He needed to get this done now.
“How the fuck you expect me to pull this together that fast?”
“My name is on it, so sponsors will be breaking their necks to be attached. Use them to pull that shit together. If you play this right, we can make it happen in a couple of weeks. The tickets are gonna sell.”
“I’m not worried about the damn tickets.
I’m worried about a fucking disaster with your name attached if this shit doesn’t play out the way you want.
I’m also not feeling you letting that muthafucker even think he can be in the same headline that has your name on it.
He has ties to shit we walked away from a long time ago.
If the perception is that y’all are cool, they’ll be knocking on our doors with their hands out. You prepared for that?”
Cobra did dirty deals which was why he had endless amounts of cash flow. That cash flow was attached to names in the city who considered a life for a life as an acceptable way of doing business.
"That's just to get his attention. If I go to him, he'll see straight through that shit.
But if we promote that I'm headlining a festival locally, he'll reach out to try and get his people on stage.
Cobra is arrogant but he's also not stupid.
Even with all the artists he has, he can't bring out the numbers I can. "
"I'm still not seeing the fucking point, Sao."
"I'll agree to bring on his artists but he's going to have to let Samari out of her contract."
“What happened to just making him believe you’re fucking her?
I liked that plan a lot better than this shit.
” Niles yanked a hand down his face, feeling annoyed.
Asao was his brother tenfold. Anything that fucked with his boy fucked with him.
Being screwed over by Cobra wasn’t the move and that was always a possibility with the route Asao was trying to take while navigating this.
“He knows me. If I express that I don’t want my girl to be connected to him, Cobra won’t see it as anything other than my ego.
He knows how I move. How I get down. That’s more believable.
Since Samari has been quiet, no moves to free herself from his label, no interactions or pushes to make music, then he will believe she’s done.
That muthafucker likes to believe he breaks people.
Let him think he did that with her and he’s happy.
Plus, if I offer something with Nefatari, he’ll be too eager to gain the opportunity of me putting her on to worry about Samari. ”
“Are we really adding his people?” Niles asked.
“Yeah, but we’re going to work the contracts so they collect the money after we get our cut. We put enough money directly in their hands.”
“Aight, I fuck with that,” Niles said and leaned back to dig his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans.
Once his eyes were on the screen, his expression grew tight.
“I need to handle something. I’ll start working on this and get back to you when I have everything in place.
I need to see if we can secure the amphitheater before we put anything out there. ”
Niles stood and shoved his phone back into his pocket. The way his mood shifted had Asao frowning. “You good?”
“Yeah I’m straight. Just something I need to work out but nothing serious.”