Chapter 1 #2
She kissed my cheek, then wiped her lipstick off it. “Hey, Aunt Sonya. What’s up, Sharee? Why y’all flying out of Houston instead of Dallas?”
“Hey, Graham. We were in Beaumont, visiting the family.”
“Oh. What y’all going to LA for?” I asked as I followed them to their area, passing right in front of where SOLA was.
“I have a video shoot with my baby, and you know Aunt Sonya travels with me sometimes.”
I nodded. Exodus had her in nearly all his videos. “He don’t get tired of you being in every video?” I asked to fuck with her.
“Obviously not, jackass. He can’t get enough of all this.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved me. I chuckled as they entered their area. I noticed their cabin was big enough for three people, so I asked, “Who else is joining y’all?”
“Exodus. He wanted to be with me, so instead of flying from New York to Cali, he flew here to meet us.”
I slowly shook my head. “I guess.”
When I turned to walk off to get their shit, I nearly ran into Exodus. He slapped my outstretched hand, and said, “What’s up, yo? You good?”
“Yep. What about you, kinfolk?”
“I’m cool. Glad to be seeing this goddess behind you.”
I faked gagged as Sharee laughed, and said, “Fuck you, Graham.”
I went to get Aunt Sonya’s blanket and hot tea.
They weren’t assigned to me, but since they were my people, I would definitely be taking care of them.
Once I got everything they needed, I noticed SOLA still watching me on my way back to them.
I knew she’d probably heard and seen our interactions.
Knowing I was connected to the industry’s elite would have her dropping those drawers when we got to LA.
When I got back to them, I threw a pillow at Sharee, hitting her in the head, and handed Aunt Sonya her things. “Keep on, and I’m gon’ report yo’ ass,” she joked.
I chuckled. “Y’all holla if you need something. I won’t be mad if you don’t though.”
Exodus chuckled as Aunt Sonya slowly shook her head. When I headed back to the front to see who else had arrived, I caught SOLA’s eyes. She was standing in her doorway looking fine as fuck in her leggings. As I approached, I asked, “Do you need something Miss SOLA?”
She smiled slightly. “Call me Arlie. How do you know Sonya, Sharee, and Exodus?”
I frowned slightly. “That’s my aunt and cousins. Why? You need a hookup?”
“Not to them. I’m looking for a new label. I know they have connections to Noah. Exodus is on his label, but are they still cool?”
“Yeah. They visit for holidays sometimes. My mama is his mentor when it comes to law.”
Her eyebrows lifted. I said that shit to really shock her drawers. I needed to let her know I wasn’t just a random nigga. It wasn’t beneath me to name drop.
“Who’s your mom?”
“Sidney Taylor. She’s Sonya’s sister.”
“She’s a baddie like Sonya. I saw her on TV recently.”
I nodded. “Well, let me get my other guests situated. You need anything?”
She scanned me from head to toe, and said, “Mm-hmm. I’ll tell you about it later though.”
I licked my lips, then bit the bottom one.
Showing her I was down. She was young, but like Juve said, ‘she was gon’ find out fucking with a old nigga’.
I wasn’t that old, but I was at least ten years older than her.
When I dropped this dick in her, she was gon’ realize she fucked up.
She thought she had the upper hand because of her status and reputation, but she didn’t know just who she was fucking with.
My parents had set me up nicely. They gave me enough money to make sure I would be good along with my great-grandchildren if I did right by it.
The only reason I was working here was to meet women.
They didn’t raise a bum-ass nigga though.
They stressed the importance of getting an education and hard work.
They claimed to start at the bottom, and they mostly did, but it wasn’t hard work that afforded them all the riches they obtained.
A lot of that shit came from Uncle Shawn’s days of hustling and from he and Dad’s grandmother’s oil well.
When she died, the royalties went to him and Uncle Shawn.
I believed they gave money to their deceased brother’s kids as well.
They still went to school and earned their degrees.
They worked hard at what they did. It was hard work that got them to the status they were at now.
They could have very well lived on the money coming from the oil well and been fine.
They chose to make something of themselves and taught and expected their kids to do the same.
I walked away from her, slowly scanning her body as I did so, then focused on getting the other passengers situated.
My mind was filtering through all the ways I could take her sexy ass to euphoria.
If her personality was anything like her onstage persona, I had a feeling she would fuck me all the way up too.
I was cool with that. At thirty-four years old, I supposed I was ready for wherever life led me. My career and finances were solid.
I wanted to say that I’d matured quite a bit over the past two years. While I fucked around a lot, I hoped that I would know how to handle it if I ran across something or someone that I couldn’t let go of. Just the fact that I was even thinking about that shit let me know I was changing.
Once all my passengers were situated, I got ready for takeoff. Grabbing my phone, I sent my mama a text. It was a routine she required that I didn’t take lightly these days. She needed to know that I was safe. So, whenever I was moving, I sent her a text.
We’re about to take off for LA. I love y’all.
I buckled up, put in my AirPods, and got ready for the three-and-a-half-hour flight.