26. Wyn #2
Nodding, he continues. “My one and only priority, as your friend, is making sure you maintain your sobriety. I’ll give Rico credit where it’s due; he took you in and gave you the space and opportunity to get yourself together, so he will always have my respect for that.
And if you say that… being with him makes you happy, and he’s not cheating on you, beating you up, or having you any types of messed up, or around any substances you can abuse, then I will support you and this bullshit ass relationship. ”
“Shaddy,” YT admonishes, but Shad keeps his gaze on me.
“And, after speaking with Nutty and Reem at length last night, I see Rico’s perspective on how Fredo passed and the aftermath, and will even give him a pass on threatening my life. Multiple times.”
YT drops her face to her hands and shakes it slowly, groaning.
“But he gets one pass, Wyn. One. That’s my brother, and I love him to death. But if he does you wrong, or threatens my life again, I will beat him. To death. With my bare hands.”
“Shad–”
“And I put that on my Nana. Now, let’s talk venues.” He pulls out his glasses, wiping them with his shirt before putting them on and still squinting at his screen.
I share a glance at YT, but she just sits up and smiles. “Personally, I like seeing you and Rico together. I’d also be right there with Shaddy, caving his head in with my boots if he ever thought about hurting you.”
My hands give hers a gentle squeeze before I stand. “Yeah, I know. I’ma go brush my teeth.”
So apparently, I have a bit of a reputation.
Shad and YT try to censor it, but with each venue passing on me, and each pitying glance, I get the gist. I’m a junkie, a powderhead, a has-been, and no one wants to bet on a has-been that seems to not have the backing of their label.
We’ve been at it for six hours. All of us calling around, emailing, DMing–since that’s the new professional thing now–and either everyone is magically booked up, or they’re rude enough to flat out say no.
I’m on my third piece of menthol gum, courtesy of Shad. The urge to smoke is growing by the hour. What the fuck am I gonna do if I get dropped from my label? Sheisty loves me–they all do, but this is business, not personal. And there’s a reason he’s in charge and not Grime.
I chuck my phone across the plush carpet and cradle my head in my hands. “I’m fucking washed. I might as well go get a job at Fatboys.”
Shad begins to say something but heavy knocks sound off on the door, interrupting him. My head pops up; I don’t need a confrontation between Rico and Shad right now.
That will be the reason I hit up someone for a lil’ eighth.
Shad narrows his eyes and stands, so I stand, too, tripping over my feet to get to the door before him.
“Just one punch, Wyn. I’ll aim for his eye socket since his nose is broke,” he taunts behind me.
“Shaddy,” I whine, bracing my back on the door. “You said–”
“I ain’t got shit to say, Wyn. This is an action item.”
YT snorts from the couch. She doesn’t look up to catch the nasty look I shoot her, but I still curl my lip.
Shad reaches behind me to open the door, so I twirl around, ready to warn Rico to duck.
Only, it’s not Rico on the other side of the threshold.
This guy is way taller than Rico. And dressed in a very expensive, tailored suit. And very handsome. Like, Ginuwine in the nineties, handsome.
He licks his lips as his piercing eyes hold mine hostage. Part of me wants to cower, and I’m thankful when Shad pulls me from the door.
“Wassup Titan?” he says, opening the door wider. It’s a direct contradiction from the hard tone in his voice.
Titan, however, doesn’t care, coming into the suite and closing the door behind him.
“Uh-”
“Titan Farrell. I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Snow.” He sticks out his hand for me to shake.
I stare at it for a second, before tapping Shad on his back.
“He owns the hotel,” he helpfully supplies. I jump from behind him and shake Titan’s hand with both hands.
“Very pleased to meet you. What has you darkening my doorstep? Though, technically, it’s your doorstep, too.” I plaster a fake toothless smile, and pray that my card didn’t decline.
He gestures for us to sit at the small dining table. Shad leans on the back of the couch, while YT leans over it, curious eyes dancing between me and Titan. When we catch each other’s gaze, she flashes the razor she keeps in her mouth, so I promptly turn around.
“My daughter is turning eighteen, and is hosting her birthday party at Delphi. Torreign was supposed to headline the night with a concert, however, after getting caught in a compromising position regarding my sister, he is no longer able to put any weight on his legs for the next six months.”
I blanch, catching his drift. I feel like there’s something else I should be getting from his spiel, but my mind is stuck on this big, fine man breaking an award-winning rapper’s legs over his sister. Hopefully I remember to dive into the blogs to see what excuse his team is giving.
“Gaia’s a huge fan of yours,” Titan continues. “My events manager cc’ed me on an email about you inquiring about a concert this coming weekend, but–”
“Yes!” I shout. My gum almost shoots out of my mouth, but I’m able to calm down enough to suck it back in. “I mean–please continue.”
Titan hoods his eyes, and I immediately look away. This man seems important, and I know Rico is using every ounce of restraint to not go crazy on our friends, so strangers have no leeway.
“Are you available to fill in tonight?”
My eyes snap back to him. “Tonight?” I squawk.
Titan sits up and folds his hands on the table. “May I be frank?”
“Please.”
Titan’s tongue passes across his lower lip.
“While I don’t regret breaking that autotune ass nigga’s legs for fucking with the only sibling I claim, I do regret potentially ruining my only child’s birthday.
And as I’m sitting here, you don’t look like you have that little problem the blogs say you have.
You’d be compensated handsomely since this is so last minute, and to also ensure you, too, won’t ruin my only child’s birthday.
I mean, I’d hate for you to have to learn how to walk again, for the second time. ”
My head twirls to the side so my eyes can find Shad. I’m so glad I’m not the only one in the room, because did this nigga really just–
“Before we agree, let’s talk numbers.” YT leans up so that she’s kneeling on the couch. Her torso stretches until her arms lock into place. “Sixty is her flat fee. Another sixty for a convenience fee since this is less than twenty-four hours. Fifty for hair, make-up, and wardrobe fee.”
“How is the convenience fee different than that other shit?” Titan counters.
“You have a daughter; you can answer that yourself. Now, is that doable?”
My head snaps to Titan again, my ass scooting to the edge of my seat.
He keeps his gaze on YT. “I’ll round it to an even two-hundred.”
My mouth pops open. My gum drops into my lap.
“Done. Now, Miss Snow is completely sober, so please remove all alcoholic beverages from the dressing room and her required section, and please assign one bottle girl and inform her of that. Her set list is forty-five minutes. If you’re requiring her to stay after the set list, that’s an extra twenty. ”
“Nah. The performance is all I need. And a couple pictures to commemorate it. This is a surprise, so I will ask that you and your team keep this off social media. I wanna capture the look on Gaia’s face when you come out.”
Finally, something other than intensity flashes on Titan’s face. My lips spread, but I tamper down the smile once the spark is gone and he’s back being a big meanie.
“Of course. Discretion is key. But before we agree to anything, we need fifty percent up front.”
Damn. YT plays no games. She winks at me, and I turn around to see Titan tapping on his phone.
My neck hurts from going back and forth. I’ve never seen a deal happen like this before.
“Here. Put in your banking info.”
On cue, Shad places my phone on the table. I unlock it and bring up my banking information and type it into the Titan’s phone. When I’m done, I hand his phone back to him.
Two taps. And my phone dings.
A hundred thou. In my account.
Wowza.
I stand when Titan does. Something wet bounces off my leg, and I drop down to grab the gum from the carpet before it can get settled.
“Well, I have gum in my hand, or else I would shake it. But, I mean, um, well… yeah.”
Before I can think better of it, I throw my arms around the tops of his arms. I curl half my fingers around the gum, and link my index and middle fingers together. My lids screw closed to keep the tears at bay, and I breathe in the expensive and clean cologne that’s probably his signature scent.
“You don’t know how badly I needed this,” I whisper so only he could hear. I can’t take anymore pitying glances from Shad and YT, and even though I sound pitiful, Titan Farrell doesn’t seem like the type of person who pities anyone.
“Seems like we both got each other out of some shit,” he rumbles lowly.
After he pats me awkwardly on my waist, I let him go. He shakes Shad and YT’s hands, before taking his leave.
As soon as I think he’s on the elevator, I scream.
YT comes and jumps and screams with me, and I push her away when I realize she’s mocking me.
“See, I told you shit would work out. Go throw that gum away. We got hella work to do before tonight.”
I turn to Shad and match his grin, before composing myself. With a salute, I go do as he says.
There’s hope for me yet.