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She thought that we might not have had any problems, but we had major problems, but she didn’t leave me with that safe space, where I could speak on how I really felt.

There were so many things that I wanted to say in return to what she’d just said, but I didn’t.

When I didn’t, she started mumbling shit up under her breath, and then she just hung the phone up on me.

There wasn’t many people in the world that could hurt my feelings, but my grandma was one of those that could.

She always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough.

I was a whole rapper out here. The biggest rapper to come out of Miami in years, and she still hadn’t given me her praise for it.

I wasn’t expecting her to get down on her knees, and praise me, but damn, a ‘good job’ or a ‘I’m happy for you’ would go a long way, especially since it wasn’t something that I’ve heard from her before.

I stood out here for a few more minutes, and just when I was getting ready to head back into the studio, the door to get to the back, where all the recording studios were opened.

It was a group of niggas that walked in.

The loud smell of weed could be smelled as they walked to the back.

A lot of the dudes, I’ve probably seen them before in passing, or I knew of them, but one nigga, I actually knew him personally.

It was Kross. I went to high school with Kross.

When I was a freshman, he was a junior. I haven’t seen him in a while though.

I remember when I first started dancing, he would come and watch me perform.

We’ve fucked a few times in the past too.

He was always getting in trouble with the law, so I know that he had been locked up, and he’d just gotten out not too long ago.

I had my eyes on him, and he probably felt me staring him down because he looked up from the niggas that he was with, and he smiled, pulled up his sagging jeans, and he made his way over to me.

Kross would move around like he was mad at the world, so a lot of times, he was always mugging.

To see him smiling this time, showing off the beautiful smile that he had, that let me know that he was genuinely happy to see me.

Because of the smile, you could see the top and bottom grillz that he had in his mouth.

I was still young, and I still had a thing for hood niggas with gold teeth, and tattoos, so the golds that he had in his mouth didn’t bother me. I thought it was very attractive.

Kross was tall. He was probably 6’2 or something around that range.

He was slim though. His body type was the type that I loved.

I loved a tall, skinny nigga because those were usually the ones with big dicks, and they knew how to use it too.

The few times that we had sex; the sex was out of this world.

Kross knew how to fuck. He had brown skin, and because he was in a short sleeve shirt, you could see both sleeves of tattoos that he had.

His eyes were a little red, so I’m sure that he was high.

We used to smoke together and talk about our childhood whenever we got around each other in the past.

“What’s good, superstar? I saw that you had a hosting coming up this weekend at Diamonds, and I swear I was going to pull up on you out there.

I don’t need you thinking that a nigga came home, and I’m acting funny.

You know you going to always hold a special place in my heart,” Kross announced the second he made it over to me.

I smiled at his words, and he extended his hands out, wanting me to walk into his embrace.

I took a couple of steps up, so that I could be right in front of him, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his went for the small of my back.

I could smell the weed on him, with a little bit of the cologne that he probably sprayed on him to drown out the scent of the weed.

You could tell that the two of us missed one another, and that we needed this hug because we stayed wrapped up in each other’s arms for about one minute.

I was the one to pull away, and when I did, I took a couple of steps back, while looking at him.

“You look good. You should have been picking up some weight while you were locked up. You were supposed to come home, full of steel,” I joked, and when I said that, he laughed, while shaking his head.

He pulled up the black shirt that he was wearing, and you could see his jeans that were hanging off his waist, and the gun that sat right there on the side of his waist.

“I don’t need all those muscles and shit.

Not when I got this. Take a nigga head off in a second,” he told me, and I shook my head at him because from the looks of things, he might have just came back home and was going to be on the same shit.

I knew that I wasn’t a saint, and I still fucked up till this day, but Kross was worst. This nigga stayed in trouble, and I really did want better for him.

“You’re a felon. Why you even got that shit on you?” I asked him.

“You know it’s a dirty world, baby. Miami one of the dirtiest cities to live in.

I’ve done some fucked up shit to my share of niggas around the way, so I know it’s plenty of motha fuckas that want me dead.

I can’t get caught lacking, so I gotta always have this shit on me,” he voiced.

I just nodded my head. On one hand, I understood where he came from, as far as him needing the protection, but at the same time, he was putting his freedom at risk each day that he left out of his house with that gun on him.

Besides, the kind of niggas that he ran with were niggas that were always up to no good. One traffic stop, getting pulled over at the wrong time, and having the police search him, and the car, and now he has to take his ass right back to prison.

“You in a session right now?” he asked me.

“Nah. Litty in there. I’m just here supporting her. You know her?” I asked him.

“Yeah. A couple of niggas put me on to her while I was locked up. She hard. I like listening to her. She up there with you,” he complimented me, making me smile.

“Yeah, that’s my girl. I been here for a couple of hours, sitting in her session with her. I don’t plan on staying that much longer,” I said, and he nodded to that.

“Let’s go outside, and chill for a second. You still smoke, or Hollywood made you stop doing that shit? I know when you get big, and famous that motha fuckas be trying to change you and shit, so it’s okay for you to hit the blunt with me?” he asked, and I laughed.

“Yeah. Come on. We can go out back. It’s tables, and shit out there,” I said, and he was cool with that, so I turned, leading the way.

I took the double doors out of the back entrance of the building.

Once we got out here, there were tables out here, just like I knew it would be.

I chose to sit down on the bench at the table, while Kross sat down on the table, and he put his feet on the bench.

He moved fast, going in his pocket, and he pulled out everything that he needed to roll a perfect blunt. My eyes were on him as he did that.

“Ay, I remember they had your shit playing in prison, while we were in the rec room. Niggas had that shit blasting, and they were rapping it word for word. You have a distinct voice. I love that southern Miami drawl on you. You talk like Trina did back in the days. That shit was my weakness when I first met you, so when I heard the song, and somebody spitting like that on the beat, it’s like my mind told me that it might have been you, but I still asked to confirm.

The nigga that was playing it, I asked who it was, and he told me Autumn that used to dance.

Him, and every nigga in that bitch was hollering out about you being up next, and that you were going to represent for the crib.

You used to always tell me that you could rap, but when I would tell you to spit a verse in front of me, you would never do it.

I’m proud of you, yo. If nobody ever told you that shit, just know I’m proud, and you putting on for Miami, making us happy,” his words touched me because this was the only shit that I wanted from my grandma.

Just to tell me that she saw me, and she was happy for me. That would go a long way.

Kross’s words couldn’t have come at a much better time because I’d just gotten off the phone with my grandma, and I hated the way the conversation ended. It put me down a little bit, and that’s why I was happy with what he’d just poured into me.

“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I let him know, and he waved me off with his hand, like the things that he’d just said to me weren’t a big deal for him.

“What made you finally get out there and show the world your talent?” he wanted to know.