“Y’all have anything else to say?”
Judge raised his head, and the fear on his face didn’t move me. “I ain’t have nothing to do with setting you up man—”
“You also didn’t stop him. When he was fucking with Lyric y’all were all too happy to keep her under your thumb. When you were gassin’ D Mill up to write that bullshit about my chap, you weren’t innocent. So I don’t want to hear shit about you not setting me up. This is about more than that. I don’t give a fuck if you played a big role or a small one, you played one. And now you gotta go just like your brother.”
“Aye what about that nigga T-Lo? Why ain’t he here?”
“Damn, you going down snitching? You don’t have an ounce of fucking shame do you? Where ya nuts at nigga? Your fucking pride?” Jahmir looked completely disgusted with how Jury wasmoving, which reflected how we all felt. He didn’t have an ounce of pride even in death.
I kissed the side of Porsha’s head before I got down to handle business. As much as I didn’t want her down here, letting her be a witness was proof of how much I trusted her. I stepped in front of her, not wanting to prolong this any more than I already had.
“T-Lo’s ass was picked up before y’all were and is already melting in a vat of acid. He confirmed that he helped y’all find them lames that tried to kill us and let them know when we were leaving the mall. How you think we knew y’all were involved?”
They both dropped their heads and it was as much of an admission of guilt as anything they could’ve said.
“So, how are we ending this? You got the expanse of the murder menagerie. We doing slow and steady so that we here all night?” Yacouba looked like he could go either way but I had better shit to do.
“I been torturing these niggas for the last two years. Having my baby and my girl breathing the same air being polluted by lame niggas for too long is irritating my soul.”
“Not you blaming it on the baby.” Porsha sounded like I was being ridiculous but I was dead ass.
I ignored how she was teasing me but because of her I showed them the only mercy they would receive tonight.
“Any last words?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Int'l Players Anthem
PORSHA
I SHOULD’VE KNOWN better than to think that my girls would’ve given me something normal. Not when Rye, Billy, Yzzy and Lyric were in charge of this gender reveal. I couldn’t even imagine what the damn baby shower was going to look like.
We’d been back from Atlanta for a few weeks and everything had gone right back to normal. Between checking on the baby and putting in work at the salon, I was also working with Royce, soon to be known as Vine, on his professional image. He and Lyric had shot the video forDripand I was less than impressed by his girlfriend. She was pushy, thought she was the talent and never seemed to grasp that he was the one we cared about. His best friend, a girl name Reagan, could tell that we were running out of patience with Shanice, his girlfriend, and tried to run interference. The only reason why we dealt with her was because Grant was in the video with Lyric. We offered the chance for him to let her join him and regretted it instantly. Corey was doing his best to council him, but there was only so much that we could do.
True to his word, Corey had ensured that I wasn’t stretched thin. I had time blocked off in advance for things for Lyrically Sound and still had enough time for my subscription clients. I had a backlist of stylists that wanted to stock my product in their salon and I had plans to hire on more people to help package orders. Life was good and I was now standing beside a man who’d kept every promise to me as we were going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.
Nobody wanted to seem as if they had a preference but it was clear that folks had picked their sides based on what they were wearing. The women hosting the event were all in white as was I, because they already knew what we were having. There were dueling themes depending on if you thought we were having a boy or a girl. The blue side was dubbed ‘A tale of two Citys’ which was a play on not just Corey’s nickname but also our differing hometowns. There were mini slabs all done up and decorated in blue as well as Braves and peach memorabilia on the table. For the girls’ side, there was the Princess theme of course. Little mini crowns placed on quilted royal style pillows. They were done in shades of pink and light purple and I couldn’t believe it when Rye said they were made completely out of sugar and cake.
“This is really too much.”
I wanted them to keep it small and had thought about just doing it at somebody’s house but with the level of fame amongst our peer group it wasn’t the smartest idea. Tiana volunteered theDesperadosballroom where they held the annual gala and I was happy for it to be in a familiar neutral site.
“I don’t understand why you would think so. The way that you have always done everything you could for us, it’s your turn. Of course we’re going to do it big. Despite you hiding that man for so long.” Yzzy rolled her eyes at me and I could only laugh, especially since her bridal shower hadn’t been too long ago. I was sure she had the ability to plan this with ease given how lavish her wedding had been despite technically being a backyard wedding.
Corey walked up in the middle of all the women and gave out hugs to everyone. He was wearing purple because he didn’t care what the baby was. After he spoke he turned to me and I could tell he was confused. “What are we supposed to be doing right now?”
“Exactly what we are what you mean?” I looked around the room and saw how everyone was eating and enjoying themselves. My mama had flown up and stayed in my condo since I was in the process of moving out. Corey wanted me to find a house but I was leaving that up to him. My only request was that we weren’t too far out from our businesses. I knew we’d end up in a neighborhood close to Grant and Lyric, which would put us near Rye and Antwan. Those were the neighborhoods that had been vetted as far as security and we didn’t want land like Billy and Coby’s place.
“I thought we were finding out about the baby.” He looked around and I was trying to understand what he was in a rush for.
“That comes at the end I guess. Why you seem so damn nervous?”
I was watching him and for the first time he looked uncomfortable. Corey was always so self-possessed I wasn’t used to him looking anxious. I’d seen him shoot a gun without a tremor but he looked like he was about to jump out of his skin.
“Cause man I already raised one girl. I would like to have a boy but if this ain’t one her ass gonna be spoiled as fuck just like Lyric.” He was rubbing the back of his waves like this was something that was weighing on him. I frowned up because he was swearing that he didn’t care now he was hollering about a boy.
“Please don’t think you gone have my baby out here shooting guns and shit.”
