Page 8 of Breaking the Rules
EIGHT
“Shit,” Savanhi groaned, rubbing her earlobe, realizing her earring was gone. “Zay is going to kill me.”
She moved through her apartment to the front door.
Every step she took, she could still feel the thickness and length of Noble.
To have a dick like that and charm like that, she knew women were hanging on to his every word.
She chalked him up to being a toxic nigga with good dick.
That was enough to get her mind off him long enough to open the door and let Lawryn ease in.
Lawryn’s eyes were covered in large, black designer sunglasses. Her movements were slow, and she carried coffee and breakfast from a spot up the street. Savanhi took the items out her hand and moved toward the kitchen to unpack everything. Lawryn climbed onto a barstool and groaned.
“Hand me that black coffee. I got you a fruit bowl and egg whites. I know how you get about the nights you have to dance.”
“Got on the stage bloated one time, and that drunk ass nigga asked if I was pregnant. I thought about kicking him in his face,” Savanhi huffed. “Looked like you had a time last night.”
Lawryn grinned as she slowly sipped her coffee. “Tuned up, I can go through the summer without stabbing no one for fuckin’ with me.”
Savanhi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. You keep a man like you keep ink.”
“I can’t help that,” Lawryn replied, tapping her pointer and thumb together. “Must be my charming ways.”
“Mmhmm. It’s something.”
“So, what did you get into when you disappeared?” Lawryn asked, removing her sunglasses.
Coolly, Savanhi poked her lip out, “Nothing. Took a walk on the beach, lost my earring, came home.”
Lawryn squinted her eyes. “You a lying ass liar. And I saw the way you walked around that corner. You got some dick.”
“My walk could be from anything. Stretching. The dance classes.”
“Bitch, shut up. Who was it?”
“How are you going to tell me to shut up and want my business at the same time?” Savanhi asked taking the top off her tea to squeeze honey in it. “It’s nothing to talk about.”
Lawryn winced. “It was bad? You know niggas like bragging on their dick and the shit be trash.”
Savanhi nipped her lip, having flashbacks. Subtly squeezing her thighs together, she hummed and recentered herself. “None of that, just not talking about it. Maybe if it were me pre-Brixx, I would be leaping from wall to wall with possibilities. I’m not doing that again.”
“Well, I didn’t want you falling head over heels. I just wanted you to get over it. Because if you didn’t, you’d take him back again. How many times did you take him back after something he did? You should be parenting right now. Not picking up pieces.”
Savanhi sighed. “Too many times. More times than you know about. I can’t go through that again, Law. I’m not. There’s rules now, I’m sticking to them and that’s just that.”
“Rules, huh?” Lawryn asked with amusement. “The lover made rules. What’s the rules?”
“Rule number one: do these niggas like they do you. Rule number two: keep your heart tucked away. Rule three: get to your money and fuck everything else. I’m just going to live by that. I can’t afford delusion or another mishandled heart. I hate fighting.”
“But you do that shit soooo good,” Lawryn chuckled. “Could you at least amuse me? That party was crawling with ballers. Which one did you choose?”
Savanhi shrugged. “I don’t know if he was a baller or not. Don’t care either. Noble.”
Lawryn slowly drew in a gasp. Sincere was big. Noble, bigger. Noble was safer. Noble was cut from a different cloth. In Lawryn’s mind, Noble was just what her cousin needed.
“Are you dying?” Savanhi asked with true confusion.
“No. You don’t pay attention to anything going on in the world, do you?”
Savanhi shook her head. “Where is the time? Half the time, I’m getting off from the club, sleeping for a couple of hours before running to the studio. And then repeat. Getting cable was honestly a waste of money because it watches me. Why?”
“Ohh no reason.” Lawryn buzzed, giddily. “So, when you let that man slide inside, what rule did you put on that?”
“No vested interest. When you see me, act like you don’t know me. Which, I doubt I’ll ever see him again, so it makes it all the easier.”
“Mm, okay. I’d love to see if that theory works.”
“There’s no choice. It will. I’ll never see that man again. Thank you for the nut, and we can both go back to our lives.”
Lawryn didn’t reply with a comment, just an expressive expression before changing the subject. “Zay really put new furniture in here.”
“And had it deep cleaned. He thinks he’s my daddy. And you know he stole it straight out of someone’s showroom because they were late with his money.”
Lawryn laughed. “Because he is. He’s not playing behind you. I got to ask him what he did to Brixx.”
“I’d rather not know. I don’t want it on my conscience.”
“I feel that. You’re going to let me crash on the couch until my next session. I drank entirely too much last night.”
“Mi casa es su casa.”
“And only tell me that moving forward.”
Savanhi rolled her eyes. “Considering she was my only friend, tag you’re it.”
“Oh, girl, you’ve been my only friend, and I do not like sharing. Almost had me plotting to get the hoe up out of here.”
“The cousin doubling as the best friend is wild.”
“Nah, it’s ideal because if you cross me, I can kill you,” Lawryn spoke with a smile, then laughed.
The women rounded the couch, each taking their respective sides and drifting off to sleep. By four, Savanhi was up and prepping herself for the night. Lawryn was still lazy lounging, pecking away on her phone, and Zayden was rummaging through her fridge as if he owned the place.
“Where you headed to tonight?” Savanhi questioned. She never wanted the details, just to know where he would be so she could keep her ears to the streets. Losing him in any way would flip her world.
“Over on 20 th . Got a café spot as a front. Trying to get that shit set up.”
“Hmm,” Savanhi buzzed in reply to his comment.
“Don’t do that,” Zayden stated, leaning on the counter. “I didn’t hmm when you took your ass to Tempt.”
“No, but you were there every night like security,” Savanhi pointed out.
“I had to be. You’re hard-headed. You want to stand on your own two and I get it. You got to figure out your own way but I’m still your brother and while knowing you shaking your ass for niggas fucks with me, I know your independence means the world to you.”
“It does. Like I know you’ll cover everything, but I also live in the real world. I know what you doing won’t last forever. Not unless you pivot. But you’re in it. You got the CK’s moving how you want it to move. I’m not going to put all my chips in that basket.”
“I taught you too much,” Zayden huffed with laughter. “You too damn smart. You hear me?”
Savanhi nodded.
“So why you keep doing dumb shit like being with a nigga like Brixx?”
“Doesn’t matter anymore, it’s over.”
“Yeah, for now. And then some other nigga comes along and I got fuck up another one. Why?”
Zayden was Savanhi’s safe place. She could talk to Lawryn but she could bare it all to her brother. And he would understand the weight of her comment.
“You know, being the lover, always giving it and never getting it back is exhausting and it’s gutting. I just want someone to love me. At this point, it seems to be too much to ask for, so I’m done.”
“Vanhi,” he buzzed. “Set your sights higher. And remember who the fuck you are. You right, I can get wrapped up, but me being in there don’t stop shit you got going on. That pole ain’t forever, don’t let the wasteland kill you.”
“I hear you. It’s no more distractions for me anyway. I got things to do.”
“Mmhmm, you do. Fuck these bitches and fuck these bitch ass niggas. It’s Vanhi season.”
“Here you go,” she softly giggled, rolling her eyes.
“I’m serious. You about to go up. It’s going to blow your mind. Just stay focused and know, in there or out here, I got you.”
Savanhi hugged his waist. “Love you, big bro.”
“Love you, girl. Go get ready I’m dropping you off and I’ll be there when you get off. The city hot right now.”
“Something I need to know?”
“Nah, I got it.”
By eight, Savanhi was walking through the back door of Tempt in her sweatsuit.
Her hair in big rollers, and her AirPods in, drowning out the unnecessary noise.
Viv had texted her earlier, letting her know she had been requested in the private room.
That gave her four hours to get her mind right.
Private rooms meant patrons with deep pockets.
Deep connections and a sense of privacy.
With that also came a sense of entitlement, niggas wanted to touch and grope.
The private room for Savanhi meant she would, without question, be the midnight ballerina.
She wasn’t coming off the stage or the pole.
She sat in the corner, munching on protein snacks and drinking her water, thinking about Zayden’s speech about setting her sights higher. As she looked around the locker room at the BBL’s, fillers, and women willing to knock each other off to get to the top, the heavier his words weighed.
Her exit needed to come faster than she planned for. With her rent paid up for the next couple of months, she could allocate more money to her studio rental. If she played it smart, she could sign the lease to her own space.
Maneuvering her apps from the music to Lawryn’s text thread, she texted.
Vanhi: off the pole in 3
Lawryn: for real this time?
Vanhi: got to do it. Zay fucked my head up
Lawryn: he loves you is all
Vahni: I know. More than that, I got to love me too
Lawryn: Let’s get off the pole in 3 commence, be safe tonight
Vahni: I will. Zay has Donnie on security tonight
Lawryn: make that money, baby
Vanhi: You too. Love you.
Lawryn: More and always