14. Rayzor #3
Phillip didn’t seem like an issue, but I barely knew shit about him other than what I researched.
He didn’t mean any good to Eris or Levi.
Dead-end job ass mothafucka. He wanted Levi because it’ll lead to a bag for him.
That was the wrong move because Eris wasn’t ever going back there.
I don’t even know what she saw in the nigga, for real.
“Thank you, Dad,” Levi said.
“Always.”
We exited the shopping center and headed for the car.
I was leaving this behind me until it was brought up.
I didn’t need Levi traumatized when Eris had spent a lot of time making sure to keep this away from their doorstep.
Phillip thought he was about to scar my family after I put in work to get them to see anew, nah.
Not on my watch. It’ll be him before me.
* * *
When we arrived at the house, Eris was in the kitchen cooking.
“How are my special men today?”
“We’re good. How are you, Mommy?” Levi answered.
“I’m better now that you’re here.”
“Daddy told a man who said he was my dad that I was his son.”
Eris looked over at me.
“Are you alright, Levi?”
“He’s good.”
“Yes, security didn’t let him get me.”
She hugged him. “Good. I’m glad you’re alright. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mommy.”
“Go find your auntie and get washed up for dinner.”
Levi took off towards the back.
“Phil? He saw him?”
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned around to her.
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Just what he said. He tried to get to him, and I shut that shit down.”
She rushed into me, wrapping her arms around me.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I wish his ass would go away.”
“It’s cool. I said what I said.”
She exhaled heavily.
I turned her around and grabbed her from behind. “How you and my baby been doing?”
“I’ve been gassy all day. They’ve been active.”
“My baby’s an athlete like his Pops.”
“Another boy? Lord, I need a girl. I’ll do another boy later. We need a baby girl around here.”
“We got lil’ bit.”
“She’s old now,” she joked.
“And don’t think I missed what you said about having another one later. I’m knocking that ass up soon as you drop this one.”
“You gotta give me some time to recover.”
“Why? We got everything we need. Might as well have ‘em back-to-back.”
“A year or two.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Just then my phone started going off crazy. I couldn’t get to it fast enough. I opened my messages first. The headline read “Rising Star Ties the Knot” with pictures of Eris and me from our wedding day.
“What the fuck?”
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“Fuck!”
“Courtland?”
“Somebody leaked our fucking wedding.”
“They what?” She grabbed the phone, scanning the screen. “How? That was private.”
“You can’t put shit past nobody these days.”
Morrison called.
“Can you come to the office?”
“Unless it’s about some money, I’m at the crib right now.”
“It’s about the pictures.”
My blood ran cold.
“It was you, mothafucka!” I barked.
“Rayzor, look…” he began to explain when I ended the call.
“I gotta go handle this shit.”
“Baby, calm down before you go there.”
“I’m good.” I kissed her. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She followed me toward the kids’ room where I stuck my head in. Erin was watching TV and Levi was already about to go to sleep. I roughed his hair up and gave Erin pound.
“You leaving?” Erin asked.
“Look after E for me. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Baby, seriously, don’t do nothing crazy. He’s still your manager.”
“Fuck that nigga.”
I walked into Morrison’s office. He was sitting on the other side of his desk like a guest as the bald mothafucka from Vegas occupied his desk chair.
“Ah, the man of the hour,” he said.
“This nigga keeps popping up. Who the fuck are you?”
“A friend of an old friend.”
“Well. I ain’t got no friends.”
“You have more friends than you realize.”
“Rayzor, take a seat.”
I wasn’t about to sit next to Morrison or across from the nigga I didn’t know. I stood.
“You posted those pictures?”
“First off, congratulations on the new nuptials.”
“How the fuck you get them?”
“They were sent anonymously.”
“And you leaked them to the blogs.”
“It was a payday that I couldn’t refuse. They paid seven figures for this story.”
I jumped up. “And you made my life a payout. My fucking family has been exposed.”
“It’s either today or later. You’re a star. Your life isn’t private, Rayzor, no matter how you make it seem.”
The bald nigga laughed.
“Rayzor, this isn’t as bad as you think.”
“Who the fuck was talking to you, nigga?” I swung on his ass because I still owed that nigga from Vegas.
“Buttermilk told me you’re hard to tame, but I don’t think you are.”
“Who the fuck is Buttermilk?”
A creepy smile showed his big ass veneers.
“Theresa. Didn’t she tell you her nickname?”
I snapped out of it since he wanted to play in my face and shit. This is the second time he’s mentioned my mama in a way that I didn’t like. He knew what he was doing; he wanted a reaction.
Security had to pull me away from his ass. His lip leaked blood. He was helped up from the floor, dusting off his suit jacket and wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.
“Keep my fuckin’ mama’s name out your mouth, nigga.”
“You just like to keep score, so do I.”
“Get the fuck out.”
He slipped his hand into his pocket.
“We’ll be seeing each other again.”
“Next time, it won’t be a third.” I threatened, and he chuckled on the way out.
Morrison sheltered himself behind a chair like that’ll help him.
“You got paid for them pictures. Send me my cut and you’re fired, bitch.”
“You can’t do that. I’ll have you blackballed from every stadium and event.”
“You can’t do shit. I’m the biggest name on your roster, nigga.”
“I can get another you.”
“You can duplicate, but I’m HIM, nigga. That shit won’t go far.”
I left.
There wasn’t shit else for me and Morrison to discuss.
I didn’t need to calm down or none of that.
I needed to get rid of that mothafucka. I’ve been planning it for a while.
If I kept him on payroll, he would’ve sold me out for pennies just to make his cut.
I had to cut that hand off; it wasn’t feeding me.