Page 23 of For the Love of City

“Yeah but we already got that meeting tonight. We’ll address it then.

This feels like the Laws got something to do with it.

Swear you think they’d learn their lesson.

” I knew we hadn’t seen the last of them especially with the company being in the news for holding auditions but to send in a plant was wild.

“If he’s affiliated with them past this demo we’ll know.

I ain’t studdin’ that shit cause everything comes to light when the time is right. ”

He nodded as his phone rang, and by his grin I knew who it was.

“How’s it going up there y’all?” Lyric felt guilty about not joining us, but we knew Grant was about to surprise her with a vacation so we told her we were going to handle this. I was glad she ain’t get in her feelings about being left out, but I knew that brat in her could show up any time.

“These niggas ain’t got no heart, Lyrie. Everybody ain’t gone be you switching up genres and making some hood ass love songs but these muthafuckas walking in here ain’t got it. No heart, lack sense and soul. I’m almost embarrassed to claim the A right now.”

Travis had her on speaker, and he wasn’t holding back his frustration.

I, of course, knew it had more to do with T-Lo than our time overall but Lyric didn’t.

And letting her know that we were having an issue with somebody would trigger her Mighty Mouse instinct to get active.

I needed her out the way how she’d been enjoying her damn life. Not getting sucked back into our shit.

“Say it ain’t so. No talent in the whole city? Can’t be.” Her laughter was a good sign that she didn’t have a clue that anything was wrong. Which is exactly how we needed it to stay.

I had to add my two cents just so she knew it wasn’t just Trav disappointed in the city.

“Got me ready to shut this shit down for the day and it’s eleven twenty.”

She was cackling and I ain’t see shit funny. I’d been without my girl for three days and already the pressure was building. It was building when the wheels went up but was getting worse daily.

“Y’all been gone away from home too long.”

“Not the NFL’s favorite WAG trying to tell us we out of touch, City.

Say it ain’t so.” Travis loved fucking with Lyric that she was Hollywood.

Any time she was touted as couple goals or had them folks at the league office bending over backwards to kiss her ass, he would just laugh at them not realizing they were shaking hands with a menace.

“Don’t get me angry so I gotta be reckless.”

“Reckless about what, L?”

Me and Travis cracked up hearing Grant question Lyric about what she was about to get into.

Knowing that man he wasn’t about to let her do something and he not be right in the thick of it.

Lyric’s husband was as calm as he could be until you thought you were gonna say or do something out the way about her.

Then the square disappeared and the grown ass man named Grant came out.

I called his ass a square thug but really Grant was just a fucking man.

He ain’t need bravado, to raise his voice or anything like that to prove he was a man.

He handled his business; he took care of his people, and made sure a muthafucka suffered the consequences for playing with him. So again, just a man.

Even he was irritated when people heaped praise on him for defending Lyric against her ex because in his head there was no other way to react but to stomp that man out.

“Lord don’t have Grant getting upset behind his wife. She ain’t about to do nothing, bruh. Chill.” The last thing I was going to do was have the two of them at odds before they left the country.

“How y’all gone talk around me like that?”

“Cause when you married him I told him he had to do whatever was necessary to make sure you were good. So if that means doing something crazy, so be it.”

“But it ain’t gone come to that. Everything is good,” Travis chimed in to calm the situation because Grant was the definition of a geek about his. There was nobody better in my eyes for Lyric than him.

“Y’all going out tonight?”

“Yep. Gone see Lil Homie later.”

She knew that meant Yacouba since we never named names especially not over the phone. I ain’t care how high tech these shits were, some habits we’d never change.

“Tell ‘im I said what’s up.”

I nodded cause that was a given but I appreciated the way she still showed respect. “Will do. Y’all be easy.”

“We will. And make sure y’all find somebody.

We can’t be letting Texas show up home like this.

” There were three artists in development that we were working with in the Texas office.

Frankly, I was happy to be working with them because it meant I could go home to Porsha every night.

I understood why Lyric didn’t hesitate to put Atlanta in her rearview when she found her one. I was feeling the same way.

“We’ll do our best, boss.” Travis saluted to her spoiled ass even though she couldn’t see him.

“That’s boss lady .”

I could only laugh because she was still the bratty teenager that had come out of her shell all those years ago. “Some shit never changes.”

“Facts. Anyway, y’all go back to what you were doing. I’ll check in with y’all later.”