Chapter 11 Rayzor #2
“I totally understand, Rayzor. We don’t need an answer today, so please go home and sleep on it. I know you have that press tour coming up soon, so if you can, get back with me in a couple of days. No pressure.”
“If it ain’t no pressure, why the fuck you putting it on a timeframe,” I mumbled, grabbing up the folders with the contracts to take.
I walked out knowing he was smiling because he thought he planted a seed.
Seeds don’t grow where the sun don’t shine.
After leaving Morrison, I headed over to Eris.’ She’d been down with a cold, so she hadn’t been to work. I went by every morning to whip up breakfast and chill with her before leaving out and handling business.
She answered the door, bonnet on, wrapped up in a blanket.
Wrapping my arms around her, I tried kissing her.
“Gone now, baby. I’m not trying to get you sick, and the world be mad at me,” she whined.
I leaned in, kissing her anyway.
“If it’s gone make you better, I’ll take all this shit.” I kissed her again. “Let me get you back in bed.”
She didn’t argue. The moment we got to her room, she damn near ran underneath the covers. I tucked her in, hit the TV then I heard Levi. Turning around, he ran up to me, and I picked him up.
“Sup, lil’ man, you at the crib today?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t have the energy to take him to school. And I wanted him to go because he has a field trip to the rink.”
I had some things to do so I couldn’t do the trip, but I’ll send security with him.
I sent off a message to meet me at the school.
“Then, I got him. Let me get you situated then I’ll drop him off. Cool, Levi?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile.
I placed him down and headed to the kitchen where I made her a cup of tea, chopped up some oranges, and boiled soup that I brought her yesterday. She was stacked with everything she needed.
“Anything you want him to wear?”
“Rayzor, he can stay with me. I’m not trying to be a bother.”
“Don’t worry about it. Come on, lil’ man.”
Going into his room, Levi was a blessed kid.
I don’t even remember having half the shit he did at his age.
He had his own room with games, a desk, bed big enough to grow in, and toys everywhere.
Eris loved her son and showed love in all forms. It made me miss my momma.
It also made it a reality that if I had kids, they wouldn’t have grandparents.
That shit always sends pressure to my chest thinking about it.
I got Levi dressed and hygiene ready before we went back to his Eris’s room. She was knocked out. I kissed her and let him give her a kiss that woke her up.
“Okay, Mommy, we’re leaving.”
“Alright, baby. Sorry, baby, you know momma’s sick.”
“It’s okay. Rayzor will take care of you when he gets back, okay?” He rubbed her cheek.
“Okay, momma’s baby.” She smiled.
“I’ll be right back, aiight?”
“Thank you, baby. I really didn’t have the energy.”
“You ain’t gotta apologize. It’s nothing.”
Grabbing her keys instead of taking my truck because of the car seat, I loaded him up with his bookbag and we rode out listening to some kid’s music. I kept stealing glances back at him, smiling, bobbing my head.
“Rayzor,” he called out.
I killed the volume on the music a bit.
“Sup, Levi?”
“Do you like my mommy?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, lil’ man, I do. Is that cool with you?”
He put his lil’ finger up to his chin and looked up like he was thinking. “I think so.”
“Yeah, Levi. I like your mom’s. She’s a good woman, and if it’s cool with you, I just wanna make her happy.”
Then it clicked that I was talking to four-year old about my relationship.
That shit made me feel weird. The women that I’ve talked to in the past, we don’t get to the stage of me chopping it up with their kids.
But with Eris, it came naturally. I didn’t feel like I had to be this perfect person around them.
I made it a mission to be vigilant, tone down some of my mannerisms and always show respect for Eris in their presence.
“Are you going to be my daddy?”
I almost crashed with the swerve of the wheel.
“You already have a dad, Levi.”
“I know, but you’re cool.”
“Thank, you lil’ man. You’re cool too.”
For the remainder of the ride, we shifted the conversation. He was no longer grilling me about my relationship with his momma. Other than that, we chilled with the music.
“Good morning, Levi,” the teachers and administrators greeted him. He smiled like he was the man too. Chin up, chest poked out.
“I hear mom’s sick. You’re Mr. Kirkland? She told us that you’d be bringing him in.” one administrator asked.
“Yes, how you doing?”
“Oh, my God. Are you Rayzor the boxer?” one woman shouted coming out of the office.
Then a small crowd surrounded us, phone’s flashing.
“Yeah, that’s me, but I’m just trying to get Levi to class.”
“We love Levi. You see he’s already racing to his classroom.”
Damn right he was. I didn’t even notice him leaving because of all the people. I had to chase behind his lil’ ass. By the time I made it, the small crowd followed me to the room.
“Levi, aye, don’t run off without me knowing.”
“Yes, Rayzor. I just didn’t want to miss the bus.” He pouted.
I walked over to him, bent down and lifted his chin.
“You ain’t in trouble or nothing so chin up, aiight. I just need to be accountable of your whereabouts.”
“Yes, sir.”
I released him, and he went over to his cubby to put his things up.
“I know you’re in a rush, Mr. Rayzor. Is it possible that you can just take a picture with all of us, and we can send it to each other.”
“That’s cool. Ain’t no disrespect or nothing like that. I just need to make sure Levi’s good.”
“Oh, we understand. I admire you looking after him. It’s crazy that Ms. Eris never mentioned you. We didn’t even know she was in a relationship.”
I didn’t acknowledge that shit. If Eris wanted to tell anyone her private life, I’d let her do that. For now, they could speculate. If linking me with Eris and Levi was going to keep them on Levi during this trip, making sure he got back safe, they could say whatever.
I met with security detail outside and let Levi’s driver and teachers know he’d be following along. Gave Levi dap and made sure to scrap him into the car seat from Eris’s car. I didn’t let them mothafuckas leave until I was satisfied.
After pictures we headed inside. “How much is Levi’s daycare weekly?”
“Oh wow. It’s two-hundred ninety-two, but Ms. Richardson paid for the next two weeks.”
“Y’all take cards?”
“Ummm, yes we do.”
“I’m paying for the rest of the year.”
“Oh yeah, they’re dating,” I heard from behind me.
“It’s–”
“I don’t need to know the price.”
I handed her the card and she put in the system before handing me a pad to sign. Afterwards, she handed me a receipt. The women left behind watched me as I left out the building.
What should’ve taken thirty minutes took an hour after leaving the school. I went to the local flower shop and got Eris a bouquet and a bear before heading back to her. When I got in, she was under the covers, knocked out. I didn’t even bother her as I cleaned up the kitchen.
The more I swept the floor, the more I thought about how this mothafucka had me being domestic and liking it. I was in my own head, music going with a couple things on my mind. By the time I finished, I had hit her kitchen, bathrooms and was inside Levi’s room tightening up a few things.
“Rayzor, what’re you doing?” Eris’ voice grogged behind me.
“Aye, nigga, Ion know what the fuck you thank this is, but I got it on me,” I joked before turning around and seeing her mouth gapped open. I chuckled as I walked over to her.
“You play too much.” She pouted.
“Shit, you play too much. I had to let a nigga know.”
“Do I sound that bad?”
“Yo’ shit deeper than mine, baby.”
She laid her head into my chest. “I hate being sick.”
“I know, and I got you. By tomorrow, you gon’ be back in shape.”
“I can’t drink that concoction you made last night. It smells like motor oil.”
“It makes you worse before better. That means it’s working because you couldn’t smell nothing earlier.”
“You know what? You’re right.”
We headed back to her room where we got in bed, and she laid on me. Laying in silence, listening to the city come alive. Eris’ crib wasn’t in the hood, but not in the burbs; a nice middle. Her crib was big enough for her and the kids, and she took pride in having a place of their own.
“I got hit with a proposition today.”
I pushed the shit Morrison mentioned about having a woman mixed with my brand to the side.
“What’s that?”
I leaned down and grabbed the photos.
She examined them.
“Damn, they really go all out when taking pictures, huh?”
I smirked.
“Hell yeah.” I was reading her energy. “You sho’ you still wanna do this?”
She grazed the side of my face. “No amount of cameras will stop me from being with you.”
I smiled.
I kissed her.
“Good because yo’ ass locked in.”
I removed the photos from her hands, getting to the real issue I was having. Shaking my head at the first one, I wasn’t doing this shit. I hated what it represented.
“Okay, a new you. Well sort of without all the tattoos…” She smirked. “This brand. They’re everywhere. Are they wanting you to model their brand?” she said, elated as best as she could, sitting up from my chest.
“Yeah, but I don’t like what the fuck they wanna do to me. You just said yourself a ‘new me’. I don’t want these folks trying to change me.”
“Rayzor, they’re not trying to change you, baby. I think they cleaned your look.”
“But they knew who I was before coming to me with the proposition.”
“Yes, they did, but that also doesn’t mean they’re changing you. Being a model for them is a big deal. I know you’re stubborn but you sure you wanna miss your blessings by negatively thinking they’re changing you?”
“Okay, cool, so they’re not trying to change me. Then why can’t I do the shoots the way I am.”
“Image. Boxing is one thing, but this is a billion-dollar brand. When we see you on the billboards, it’s not just about you. It’s about the people that the ads attract, and right now, you’re the people’s champ. That includes people from all walks of life, kids included.”
She put it into a new perspective because I was thinking about it in my own terms. But she helped me see the bigger picture. I guess it made sense.
“You think I should do it?”
“What’s your heart telling you?”
“It’s saying do it, but that ego’s a bitch, man.”
“Then sit with it for a few days and you decide from there. Personally, it’s a great opportunity. Stand on your principles but don’t stand so tall that you won’t be able to see the empire you’re building falling from the inside because of your ego.”
I wanted to stand on business with these mothafuckas because once I gave it the first time, it’ll be one opportunity after the next until they turned my ass Hollywood.
Eris’s been the balance away from the street shit, the peace I needed with my professional career. She mirrored everything I needed for a better, overall life. This shit was getting deep.