Chapter 24
Verse Twenty-Four
“The fuck happened here?” Nazir asked, walking into the hotel room.
The floor was covered with plates of food, cups, empty bottles, and even a few condom wrappers.
He was once young himself, wasted a lot of time, and had more than his fair share of pussy, but never to the point that it interfered with his money.
Donovan sat up and pushed his locs out of his face. He squinted when Nazir pulled back the curtain, the sun pouring into the hotel room. He looked down and frowned when he tossed a bikini bottom off his thigh.
“Whoever she was ain’t here, but that doesn’t mean shit. You’re fucking up, and you just got started, Dread Man. They line up and will continue to line up, just to say they been with you, or worse, put some shit on you like rape or something.”
Nazir slapped a huge tray of pills on the floor. He had other artists lined up, but Dread Man was supposed to be the face of Gush Records. He’d already had great local success, but he knew he could do more, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were riding on this tour.
“I ain’t rape nobody. We just brought a few bitches back to celebrate our first show.” His plans quickly changed about returning home after he and Scooter got into a physical altercation.
“Why you ain’t tripping about Scooter? That nigga’s not even here,” he snitched.
“Exactly. He’s not, but don’t worry about his ass. Worry about you.”
He whipped out his cell phone, busily pecking away as he mumbled to himself. He needed to get this in front of his wife, CeeCee. Her PR firm proved to be valuable when it came to Gush’s clients that she represented to the point he’d only trust her when it came to his.
“And sit tight. I’m having Gank review footage,” he advised, referring to his business partner and brother-in-law.
A former hitman-turned-security for Gush Records came with a special set of skills, which included handling emergencies like discarding damaging camera footage and any person who chose to hold on to it.
“If I see some shit we need scrubbed, we’ll scrub it, but it’ll cost you. ”
“I ain’t did shit but drink and have a few dancers dance for me before I passed out.”
“Make sure that’s the story they tell when they want to extort your ass. I thought you were in love or something? What happened to that? What if your girl sees this shit?”
“Ain’t nothing to see. I told you that already.”
He stood up to look for his cell. He remembered when Scooter kicked Serita out, even though she cried and pleaded to stay.
He knew he was being petty when he invited her to their hotel room.
He felt Scooter was being real judgmental about Sashay when he said he, too, had old work he was stringing along.
Scooter accused him of being vindictive once Donovan outed that he knew Scooter and Kaleela were a thing.
He never imagined there’d be a time when he and Scooter weren’t on the same side.
In his mind, the bitch who tried to kill had her claws sunken into his cousin, his best friend, and then his bitch had run back to her.
He knew she had when the air tag he’d placed on her truck gave up her location.
“Like I said, I’ll pass that cost down to you. We just started the damn tour. I have to pay on anything they front us and then some before we see a profit. I ain’t broke, though, but I’m not paying for silly shit.”
“I hear you.” Donovan sat in his feelings while Nazir made his way throughout the suite, kicking men and women he didn’t even recognize. “Aye, Nazir, my nigga. I apologize.”
“Apologies are just words, and in your case, costly words.”
“I hear you.”
“Yeah, you better. I’ll see you at that airport in the morning. Spend the rest of the day getting your mind right because I’m getting my money, one way or another.”
“Yo, Dread Man, last night was crazy.”
Gucci scooted up to the table he was eating at.
Once housekeeping came, they all decided to leave.
Luckily for him, he’d showered. Each time he looked at his cellphone, he grew more frustrated.
He even tried calling Scooter, who hadn’t picked up.
The crazy thing was, he thought they both were going to chill out, per Shonasia’s guidance.
Scooter must have pulled a fast one and left him behind.
He knew if Chaney saw him, he was fucked.
“That shit was alright. Bitches have danced for us before. Who found their asses?” He smirked, watching Gucci sit back and grin. “You’re fucking up. Your job is to keep us in line. Ain’t you security?”
“Gank is. I’m just the nigga they put on y’all like a professional babysitter.
The fuck have you ever listened to me? I told you about Shay a long time ago.
You fucked up again and slid her that money.
She’s all on social media, talking about how your side bitch is in her feelings, how you always come back to her.
” He slid a large spoon of shrimp and grits into his mouth, then washed it down with some apple juice.
“My side bitch?” he repeated. “Trust, Chaney ain’t no side bitch. Shay’s tripping. I gotta call Shay to see what she talking about. I knew I shouldn’t have met that bitch before I swung by my girl’s.”
Gucci waved him off. He knew she wasn’t shit when she took advantage of him to get back at Donovan.
Good thing they were locked in and had been since they were old enough to rob and put some money in their pockets.
She dropped something in his liquor, drove him home, and fucked him a few times before she left him naked and confused when he woke up.
That was a few months after her release, and Gucci was still salty behind that. He wanted to put her down like the mutt she was, but Donovan intervened, saying it would hurt Granny Paula if something happened to her granddaughter. The way he saw it, Donovan deserved to lose his woman.
“Man, where’s Lank?”
“Nigga had Naz found a local studio. Said he wanted to lay some tracks.” Gucci lifted his eyes, smiling. “Better remember, someone’s just as hungry as you are, if not hungrier.”
“That nigga the main one that brought those hoes to our room.”
“Naw, they followed all of us. He was smart, though. He left right after that ballerina chick started walking around her on tippy toes.” Gucci tittered. He’d never seen shit like that in his life, especially not in a strip club. Atlanta hoes were different, very different.
“Them other niggas stayed and kicked it. I just stayed to make sure you didn’t get out of control.” Donovan’s brows lifted, leaning toward Gucci.
“So I didn’t fuck anybody?” He wasn’t sure, since he was disrobed, short of his boxers. His head was still slightly pounding, and he had no clue what Gank might find once they reviewed all the footage in their hotel and leading up to their hotel room.
Gucci shrugged, grabbing a piece of bacon and sliding it into his mouth.
“Had a few bitches twerking on you and shit. One pulled your dick out and tried to suck your shit off, but you mushed her in the face.” A grin stretched wide across Gucci’s face.
“That’s when I knew your ass was in love.
That, and you ain’t ate shit since we sat down. Slide me them fucking waffles, nigga.”
“No appetite,” he confessed, pushing out a frustrated breath. “And I’m hiding, to be honest. I did fuck up, giving Shay that bread. I just wanted to keep her from calling my ass while we’re doing this tour. Lank told me not to let that bitch come by before we headed out.”
“Only one way to handle that is to handle it. Scoot got his ass on the plane. I suggest you be like his ass.” Gucci then looked around before he grabbed a silver cup of syrup. He’d never eaten waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and powdered sugar. This was the damn life.
“Aye, is that nigga really with K Smooth?”
He’d heard the streets whispering about him being seen with her, and worse, with two little boys. To his knowledge, she had no children. He couldn’t imagine a nigga wanting to even try to get her pregnant. He looked at Donovan’s ear and winced.
“Fuck I know?” Donovan admitted, but deep down, he knew Mango’s information was true.
What bothered him more was that all his girl cousins were excited about it as if she hadn’t tried to end his life.
He accepted her apology, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t feel betrayed, especially when he knew Chaney ran back to her ass.
He hoped Scooter felt some type of way and handled both of them.
“Naw, you do know, but get this.” He chortled, then grabbed his glass of orange juice since he had multiple glasses of juice, gossiping like a woman.
“She actually is letting that nigga handle her. I mean, not on no dominant shit, like beating her ass, but dating her. I couldn’t believe that shit.
K Smooth is actually being soft, acting like a lady.
” He grinned, his face filled with excitement.
“And she’s pretty as fuck. Always have been.
I wonder how that pussy hitting, though. ”
“Nigga?” Donovan frowned. “You wrong as fuck for that. She ain’t my bitch, but I’d never speak under another nigga’s bitch’s skirt.”
He didn’t even think it was that serious, but it had to be if Scooter was back in Miami, pleading his case. He stood up, deciding he needed to follow Scooter’s lead and get his girl back. As if God heard his intentions, a text notification came in.
Unknown Number: Either fly home or fly me out and fix what the hell you broke or leave me the fuck alone, Donovan. You hurt me but I get it, you ride for those you love. Just don’t make me look like a fool in the process.
“Damn, D. Who got you smiling like that?” Gucci probed, trying to look at his cellphone. Since he knew Gucci liked to chatter like a bitch, he kept it to himself as he quickly locked her number in his cell.
“Mind your damn business, you non-security security ass nigga.” He rushed out of the restaurant, hoping he could get Nazir to call CeeCee, his wife, for him. If anyone could find him a cheap ticket to Miami and then have him flown out to Charlotte on time, it would be her.
“Shit, more food for me,” Gucci mumbled to himself.