Chapter 3
His body felt weighted, and the more his phone vibrated next to his head, the more he willed his eyes to open so he could grab it but it wasn't happening.
He was exhausted. According to his body's calculations, he hadn't been asleep for long, which wasn't helping his mental state.
He managed to lift his arm and pat around his pillow in search of the nuisance that had his temple pulsing.
"Yeah?" His naturally deep voice was a few octaves lower than usual and clearly expressed his lack of sleep.
"Asao." His mother's voice was always light but demanding. One word, his name, was enough for him to hear it. "Are you asleep? It’s three in the afternoon.”
"Late night, Ma. I had my last show then I worked on new stuff.
I'm about to get up." At thirty-three years old, he felt like a child.
His mother was the only person who had the ability to make him question his life choices.
Even one as simple as sleeping in because he had worked his ass off through the night and early morning.
His mother didn't give a shit about his music. She was proud of him, appreciated that what he did paid the bills and kept him out of the streets he used to live for, but that was as far as it went. He could record until five in the morning and she would still expect him to be up at a “decent hour”.
Sleeping all day showed a lack of discipline and responsibility in her eyes.
He rolled onto his back, eyes still closed.
His free arm bent at the elbow and covered his face while he considered taking the entire day.
He was positive that once he ended the call with his mother, he could shut down and fall right back into a coma type of sleep within a matter of seconds.
The past three months had been a lot and he needed the rest.
"Come home soon. I need to see you, Asao."
"I will. Give me a few days. You good?"
She scoffed lightly, pausing for an extended period.
This was her way of speaking to him without words.
His mother was always good. She was content with the small, ranch-style house she hardly ever left.
Necessities were provided on his behalf so she didn't have to.
As the only man in her life, he took care of his mother and would give more but she refused.
All she wanted most days was to lay eyes on him.
Put her hands on his face to physically know…
Once her heart was at ease, she would prepare a meal that would have him kicked out on her sofa, lazy and full. Kendra Delane only needed her son.
"Soon, Asao."
"Aight, Ma. I got you. I'll see you soon. Love you.”
"Love you too. Soon and I mean it.”
Her words were clipped and very dry. He smirked from under his arm, knowing his mother was in her feelings. He hadn't seen much of her while he was touring but he made sure to call and check in.
She knew his lifestyle, or his past, and no matter how many times he expressed that things were different, she still felt as if he was walking on the wrong side. Memories of his ill deeds and consequences were ingrained in her pretty little head, so it was hard for his mother not to worry.
As proud of him as she was, she was still disappointed in the course his life took.
Failure on her part, as she always reminded him.
His life choices had nothing to do with her.
He craved a type of recklessness that could only be found walking a path littered with uncertainty.
Still, she blamed herself for not keeping her son from the danger that kept him in the streets.
That hurt but he couldn't change her views.
The values she carried wouldn't allow her to feel otherwise.
It was time for him to get up and try to salvage something out of the day. His stomach was a deciding factor because it was empty as hell. Willing his body to move, he sat up and planted his feet on the floor.
His eyes traveled around the dark room while he recalled parts of the hours leading up to crashing on the sofa that lined one wall in his guest room.
The tracks he laid had already been sent to his phone so he could listen to them in a full run at some point during the day.
But right now he needed to shower and head out to find food.
With a new perspective and clean clothes, he unplugged both of his phones before heading to the door. On the elevator down, he checked messages, noticing he had several on his business line about club appearances, interviews, and folks who wanted him to do features.
Niles handled Asao’s affairs, but with him needing to be hands on, everything that moved or was presented Niles made sure Asao was copied on.
He pretended that was just the flow of things, but Asao knew him, how he thought, and how he moved.
Niles never wanted Asao to feel as if anything he did wasn't on the up and up.
Not that he ever would, but he made sure to keep that solidified by placing Asao in the middle of everything that involved his money.
As soon as he was in his car, Asao hit up Dom.
According to his social media, he had been out all night blowing money and killing brain cells.
The tour was over and he’d worked just as hard as Asao, so last night was his release.
They all needed a minute to unwind. However Asao’s was just a little more structured than Niles and Dom's.
"Ay, yo'. You alive?" Asao grinned as he pulled into traffic in search of something to eat.
"Barely. You missed a wild one last night." He heard the amusement in Dom's voice and chuckled with the assumption of what the hell he and Niles had gotten into. Asao was more than positive it had involved a lot of alcohol and women.
"What we into today?" Asao mumbled, trying to run through what he had already mentally processed his day to look like.
"Shit if I know. Right now I'm about to clean house, wash my ass, then find some food,” Dom said, sounding annoyed.
"Clean house? You still taking randoms to your spot? I told you about that shit. You gon’ end up on the news looking dumb."
Dom laughed lightly. With the pause that followed, Asao assumed he was processing and surveying the aftermath of his wild night. "Nah, I do body searches before they cross the threshold. Thorough shit."
"You’re wild."
"Indeed. But you talked to Niles yet?" Dom asked.
"Nah, I need to?"
"Yeah, hit him up. He has something for us. He ran it by me last night but you know I was blazed so it’s up to your scholarly ass to decide if it’s money or not."
He quickly read between the lines. Dom was down for whatever his boy made the call on.
He was easy when it came to how they moved.
As much of a necessity as Dom was to Asao's career, because of the tracks he created to make the brand relevant in the industry, Asao was the name, the face, and the reason people showed up.
Any decisions about their careers started and ended with him.
"Aight, I'll get with him. Where's he at?" Asao planned on pulling up to see what Niles had on his mind.
"Home, I guess. If that muthafucker made it.
We were both beyond our limit…" Dom paused and yelled at someone in the background.
"Ay, get your girl. I need y'all up out of here.
I got shit to do," he grated before addressing Asao again.
"She just put her nasty bare ass on my sofa like we wasn't fucking all night.
Yo, I'll holla at you. Let me clean house.
Hit up Niles and see what he's talking about.
We let you slide last night and you owe us. "
Asao chuckled at the annoyance. Dom was the nastiest germaphobe he’d ever met.
That shit was a contradiction. His place always looked like a tornado hit it, but the way he explained it, his mess was his mess.
He couldn't tolerate anyone else's chaos or their germs, which explained him seeing red behind a naked woman's bare ass on his sofa.
He was just fucking strange but that was his people.
Aight, he can get that, was Asao’s last thought as he hung up.
After Asao ended the call with Dom, the next one was to Niles.
“Yurrp,” Niles answered, in a much better state than Dom. “You moving?”
“Yeah, on my way to you. You got food?”
“For me. You better pick up something on your way. The fuck I look like?” Niles said, sounding like he was ready to square up.
“Aight, remember that shit,” Asao quipped before ending the call. Right after he ran through his mental rolodex of what was en route to Niles’s place that Asao could pull up on.
By the time Asao reached Niles’s spot his stomach was talking loud as shit. His Jeep smelled of greasy fries and a burger. He was ready to take both down. Niles greeted him at the door with a closed fist which Asao met before they both dipped into Niles’s living room.
His spot was the sofa while Niles took up the loveseat which looked small as shit once he was centered on it.
Niles was a big dude, a few inches taller than Asao hitting about six-two or six-three, but he was easily two hundred and sixty pounds.
Solid as hell and the way he kept that permanent scowl implanted on his face stopped anyone from fucking with him.
“You wanted to run some shit by me?” Asao questioned, mouth full, feeling partially satisfied after the first few bites of his burger.
“Yeah but I know you’re not gonna like it. Just hear me out before you make a decision.”
Asao’s eyes shot over to Niles. His were waiting. With a nod, Asao gave Niles the green light to continue.
“Cap hit me up. They’re not doing well and need to get some money in there quick.”
Asao listened. Didn’t speak or react. He knew good and damn well Niles wasn’t about to put him on performing at Cap’s place.
He still had love because it was one of the local spots where Asao had gotten his start but he also wasn’t about to be a regular on the tiny ass stage just to help Cap bring in money.