Tiana was looking around like this was sorority induction when I was the odd one out. The only team my nigga ever ran was a team of goons. I couldn’t and wouldn’t gatekeep this friendship from her.
“Oh, girl you been good. You should’ve known that when I let you stay in my chair. Now, are we making this wig or are we doing something with your hair?”
“It’s not too bad?”
“You got a couple split ends and need a trim. I can still service you today and that will start you on the healthy hair journey. That’ll give me a few days to get the unit together once you determine what color you want.”
Tiana contemplated for a minute before a devious smile came over her face. “You said gag ‘em, right?”
“And did.” Rye was hyping her up and I could see the wheels turning in Tiana’s head.
“Let’s make her ginger and see what they say next.”
I cut on the water and grinned as I eased her hair back into the bowl. “Ohhh you messy with it. I love it. I already know the perfect color combo to use for you.”
COREY
I HAD PLANNED to make my way back home, but of course some shit popped up before I could get on my flight. After hanging with my people the night before, I’d caked it up on the phone with Porsha for a minute. I’d gotten a long distance nut watching her use her rose, which was only the first stop on what I wanted to do with her. We had one more day of interviews and then we’d be good. Until my phone started to blow up.
The Laws had decided that speaking on us to the world was the move they wanted to make. They hopped on live talking a lot of shit, none of which was factual. But it didn’t matter to the people who just wanted to sensationalize what was going on. It was a slow news day in the entertainment world so everyone was talking about it. They tried to throw dirt on Lyric’s reputation but there were plenty of people commenting on the live refuting every word they said. In addition, they were saying that D Mill was being railroaded. But someone linked the footage from the dressing room where Lyric was. Grant was pissed when that information was released because despite it being able to convict D Mill, having a camera in an area that Lyric wasn’t aware of wasn’t okay. Lyric tried to argue that because she got dressed behind a screen and the camera couldn’t see anything that it was fine. But Grant wasn’t having that shit and I was with him. Anyone could walk from behind that screen and not think they’d be caught on camera.
They’d gotten a little money by likes and shit from going live and it only drove them to get even more outlandish. The live wascut short and I wasn’t sure if it was reported or what, but it was long enough for blogs to pick it up. Which of course pissed us off because Travis and I didn’t play about disrespect.
“So what we doing?”
Trav took a pull on his blunt like I had all the answers to this shit. I didn’t, not really. I of course had an idea of how I wanted shit to go: death to our enemies. But that didn’t mean I had it mapped out yet.
“You already know they gotta see about us.” I felt no qualms about voicing how I felt this needed to go.
This impromptu meeting was being held in our offices after hours. The place had been swept already and nobody was allowed in or out but us. Our offices were secured with aD.A.Hsystem which was top of the line so we knew it was secure.
“Yeah, he been taking his sweet time about this shit too.” Lyric shot me a bratty look and I could only wave her off.
Baby girl was a brat, always had been and always would be. I was grateful for that because she deserved to be spoiled because of how her mama and the rest of her family treated her. Her vacation hadn’t been cut short by the news. Grant had their flight rerouted so that we could have this meetup without interruption.
“Forgive me for giving you time to chill out. Be in the limelight. Become anNFL WAGand shit before you had to go back to your old ways.”
She snarled at me and I thought she was going to throw one of the fancy glasses that was on the table at me. She was dressed in the same lounge shit she’d worn on the flight and I wanted this done so that we could get her on the way.
“Shit, I can be aWAGand carry a Glock. Don’t doubt thatFinesseis always right underneath the surface.”
“I know. And nobody doubts you. But forgive me for feeling that we’ve worked too fucking hard to get where we are to movesloppy. That shit with your husband and D Mill just died down. If he would’ve been touched while he was in jail, you don’t think that we would’ve been the prime suspects? Had your husband’s name tainted and shit. We move smarter.”
“He got a cousin that’s the FEDs, I’m sure he would’ve looked out.” She was too happy to throw Ori’s name out there not realizing just how close we were all connected. Some things Lyric knew the extent of but being a part of the Miller umbrella of protection didn’t make everyone privy to the entireConsortium. I wasn’t even sure if her husband knew the depths of his family’s involvement and I wasn’t going to have her holding a secret from him.
“Yeah well my just released from prison ass would’ve been the first person on their list. Real G’s move in silence, rememberFinesse? “
She pouted just like I knew her bite-sized ass would before she sat back in her chair. “Stop using my words against me.”
“Why? You out here talking gibberish now, gotta remind you of when you had some fucking sense.” I couldn’t help but fuss because she knew how I felt about not handling business the right way.
“Y’all two get to arguing and shit I’m bout to go.”
Travis had the nerve to look irritated but I knew he’d seen this play out with us too many times before. He was the lax parent wanting to stay firmly in the big brother role, whereas I had no issue with getting Lyric’s ass in check when she did too damn much.
“You ain’t got nowhere to go nigga.” I tossed one of the Kleenex boxes at him to get him to shut up.
“Right! What business you got to attend to?” Lyric was laughing and teasing Travis right along with me.
