I gave her a half smile trying to keep it lighthearted. “Ain’t you got WAG shit to do?”
“Playing with me, City. I got shit to do that involves the street. Y’all got me out the way a few weeks back, but that ain’tgone fly now.” The determined look on her face meant I was gone have her damn husband on my back because his wife was gone be out here taking penitentiary chances.
“You sure you got it? Cause you been in the soft life for a minute. Ain’t had to box a bitch or bust a gun for a few years. How I know you still down?”
She rolled her eyes and pulled her piece before setting it on my desk. I knew this had to be some shit that Grant got her because it was custom and her favorite color. “What is that supposed to mean, City?”
“You know better than to pull it if you ain’t gone use it.”
“I ain’t shooting this muthafucka up because we own it. But I will shoot your ass for playing with me.”
“I am playing with you. But I need you to sit back. Don’t try to keep proving you’re down for the cause. Let me handle this shit.”
She chuckled as she tucked her gun at her back. “Nah. You got me fucked up. Why you think I need to sit this out? You really think I’m soft?”
“Not soft. I appreciate the fact that you’ve outgrown this shit. We all have let’s be real, baby girl. The street shit is something we did because there were no other options. And then you paved a way for us to eat off a different hustle. Clearing this shit up is a thank you for everything you did for me while I was gone. What kind of man would I be if I took you out of the place of peace you’ve been curating like an art collection and into some street shit?” My stare was one that dared her to refute that this shit no longer served her. I might still be in it but it didn’t serve me either. Hell, even Travis’ ass was rethinking shit, which is how I knew we were good to feel the way we were.
“Uh, one who loves me and knows that just because I got a good heart doesn’t mean I ain’t been waiting to get my lick back. As a wise woman once sang,‘I took some time to live my life but don’t think I’m just his little wife’. They been counting me out foryears. Trying to take their shots where they could. I’m ready to end all that shit now.”
“And then what? What you gone do when there ain’t nobody left to handle?”
She wore a shit-eating grin on her face before sitting back and propping her legs up on my desk.
“Then I’ll be one of them rappers who can turn into old head status and just talk about the shit I used to do. Name the next albumReminisceor some shit.”
“Same old Lyrie.”
I couldn’t keep the affection out of my tone because it was gone be good to get this out of all our systems so we could move on to where we should be: at peace having survived the bullshit that life had thrown at us.
“You’d have lost it if you got back and I had completely switched up. But I promise, this one last thing and I’m retired. Can you say the same?”
“I can, that nigga D-Mill met his end already so once this is cleared up, I guess City is just gonna be memories.” I pat my heart like I was losing an old friend.
She smiled as she shook her head. “Never that. Y’all one and the same. But I’m glad that shit was clean and can’t come back to us.”
“They’ve always been true to their word so I expected nothing less. And because of how he’d put his hands on you, you knew they were gone have that nigga touched. Me and Travis might have loved you first, but we not the only ones.”
She grinned and I saw her eyes get watery. “Y’all will always be my favorites.”
“Fucking right. Them niggas weren’t buyingKotexand dealing with your damn attitude for years.”
She bust out laughing as she stood up with her arms open for a hug. “I love you too, City.”
CITY
“WHY YOU HERE, bruh?”
I sat next to Travis in the office in Texas looking at the rapper from Vine that he’d finally convinced to leave Georgia and come tour our offices. The need to get him out of his normal environment and some of the people who might try to hold him back or sell him out was another reason we wanted him to get on that plane.
“I don’t even know.” His body language was rigid the discomfort he felt at being here was clear. I wasn’t sure if his discomfort was being around us in this setting or being in the setting at all. I understood how coming from where we did being in a boardroom when you were used to being on the block. It was like a nice pair of shoes that you admired, but they weren’t the old familiars that you always reached for. Reaching for something new was hard and it wasn’t something that we were used to being encouraged to do. Which is why his response didn’t surprise me.
Travis was leaning forward with his arms braced on the table. “You don’t know? That’s a problem for me.”
The rapper’s name was Royce Graham and he looked up as though he were offended at Travis’ annoyance.
“A problem? I ain’t even have to come.”
I chuckled at his bravado because I appreciated that the kid had heart. “You right. But you brought your big ass in here for a reason so speak up. You might as well say what it is that you need to say. Do what it is you came to do. Feel me?”
