Page 4 of Never Want to Love Again

AD was having fun, but he stayed near just in case some shit popped off. I clarified that I wanted him to keep it professional but enjoy himself in this type of scenery. There were hating ass niggas everywhere. Niggas mad ‘cause I’m where they wanna be. AD wasn’t drinking, but he was enjoying lap dances. That didn’t stop him from keeping his head on a swivel.

After smoking a blunt, eating some wings, and enjoying a few more dances from different dancers, it was time for me to head back to the crib. I had a day to myself before flying to Cali for a sweet sixteen party. Trae knew I didn’t like doing those, but he claimed the kid’s father was a millionaire who was paying double just for Crown Heart to put on a mini-concert.

Trae finally emerged from the back with a massive grin on his face as he walked up the few steps to our section. Shaking my head, I tapped the dancer occupying my lap to signal her to move. The cute woman caught an attitude, scoffing as she bent down to scoop up the money I had made rain down on her. Ungrateful ass. The old me would have snatched the cash back from her.

Standing, I fixed my starched Amiri jeans. AD swiftly removed the dancer from his lap and joined me.

“Ready to go, boss?” he asked.

Rubbing my hands together, I nodded while looking around. The club was crowded. It was going on four in the morning and was still lit. I never stayed around when a club closed. No parking lot was pimpin’ for me. That’s when fights started, and guns popped off. All that was bad for my image. I tried never to give the blogs a reason to speak about me. They’ve already tried putting me with women in the industry all because they’vecaught me speaking to them on red carpets. Mothafuckas even made allegations that I was a down low ass nigga ‘cause they ain’t seen me wit’ a female in the industry. They thought, as a rapper, I should be knocking all these bitches down. What they didn’t understand was females in this industry were thirsty as fuck too. Worse than the fans sometimes. They wanted to be seen with the hottest rapper on the charts. They wanted to be chosen. They were some pick-me mothafuckas too. I’m not saying I ain’t fucked one or two before because I have. I ain’t see a long-term relationship with them.

With Trae in front and AD behind, we moved toward the club’s exit as discreetly as possible. It was hard not to be seen since AD was a tall, burly, scary-looking nigga. Nigga had on a wife beater exposing his big ass-tatted muscular arms. AD would knock a nigga to sleep with one hit. He also kept a gat on him just in case.

Once in the car, I slouched down some and closed my eyes. I couldn’t wait to shower, smoke again, eat, and sleep. I was turning my phone off so no distractions would wake me up. It never failed. Either notifications were going off, or my team was hitting me up for something. They didn’t believe in having days off, but tomorrow, I was goin’ to show them.

It was after six in the evening when I finally got up from my bed. The blackout curtains did their job, making my room completely dark. No TV, no sounds except for the gentle whooshing of the fan in my face. Yawning and stretching, I made my way to the bathroom to relieve myself and take care of my hygiene. Before I stepped into the shower, I ordered food from IHOP. I hadn’t even touched my phone yet. When I said today was for me to getsome rest and not to stress about anything, I meant it. I couldn’t keep going and going without my body crashing out.

My phone chimed just as I emerged from the steamed bathroom, notifying me that my food had arrived. I dried off, pulled up my boxer briefs, and wrapped my black Versace robe around my body. After sliding my feet into my matching Versace slides, I made my way downstairs to grab my food before it got cold. My stomach grumbled the moment I picked the bag up from my steps.

I debated retrieving my phone to skim through social media. That could make my day go from good to bad in seconds; right now, I was at peace. So I thought. As soon as I began to cut up my French toast, there were knocks on my front door. Ignoring them, I opened the salt and pepper shakers and sprinkled them on my eggs. The knocks continued. Now aggravated, I tossed my fork down and pushed back from the table. I lived in a predominantly Black gated community. The only person who had access to come to my place was my parents, Nisha and Trae. My parents would have contacted me before just popping up, so it had to be Trae disrupting my day.

Unlocking the door, I swung it open and stood there, annoyed at his goofy ass.

“Fuck you want, Trae? I’m resting, nigga.”

Trae entered, sniffing the air. “You buy me some food, too?”

Shutting my door, I decided not to lock it because he wasn’t staying long anyway. Soon as I heard bullshit come out of his mouth, he had to go. I side-eyed Trae while strolling back to my food.

“Fuck you want?” I questioned, sitting down at the table.

Trae held his hands up. “I know you don’t want to talk business today…”

“Then don’t. Save it for another day,” I snorted through an annoyed laugh, tossing my head back. “I’m already knowing whateva you ‘bout to say could have been sent via text.”

“We need to work on your social media. It’s dry. It’s boring, Crown.”

I pointed at Trae with my fork. “See, you could have sent that shit through an email.”

“And that’s another thing. Your emails are backed up. We need to hire someone to handle all of that for you. I can’t do it all, Crown.” Trae sighed.

I shrugged. “Hire someone then, but I want to meet them. I want to meet whoever will be behind my social media and reading my emails.”

Trae nodded and then slapped the table as he stood up.

“That was easy.” He laughed nervously. “I thought you’d fight me on this.”

I swallowed my French Toast and eggs, then tossed the rest of the bacon in my mouth. I chewed while eyeing Trae and then took a gulp of orange juice to wash it down.

“You know what’s best, right? You have my best interest at heart, right?” I quizzed Trae.

“You know it, Crown. I’ll handle it and see you early tomorrow for the flight to Cali.”

Groaning, I replied, “I need a vacation, Trae. At least a week. Don’t book shit else without my say-so. I’m a fuckin’ human, not a robot.”

He laughed, but I was dead ass.

kupid love

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