“OMG! Is that Tez Loc!” Teagan shouted from behind us, nearly leaping from the golf cart.
“Yes! That’s him.” Jess pointed, her voice loud enough to overshadow the entire audience. I shook my head. These two together were a match made in extra heaven. They hadn’t stopped talking since they’d met back at the house to come here.
“Uncle Quade, look!” Zy pointed his camera toward Tez Loc, one of the rappers performing tonight, with excitement. I nodded, smirking. This was nothing new to me. Yeah, the faces were different, but nothing had changed. Security bands, groupies, walkie-talkies, people yelling over each other—it was organized chaos with the smell of sweat and weed.
“Ron! You see Tez Loc?” Zy hollered. Ron didn’t even glance up. He was trailing somewhere in the back, glued to his phone. The man was a nervous wreck. He was proposing to Jess later tonight in a private, intimate setup when we left here.
“Alright, y’all, chill,” I said, still grinning.
“Boy, please. I might find my husband back here.” Teagan waved me off just as the cart came to a stop in front of my dressing room.
“Quade fucking Lo!” Dru, the CEO of Eight24, greeted me the moment I stepped off the cart. “Finally, bro. I feel like we’ve been texting for decades.” He extended his hand to dap me up. “This is my brother, Blue,” he added, nodding toward the taller nigga on the side of him. “My business partner. He don’t say much, but he still calls the shots. It was his idea to have you pop out tonight.”
“Appreciate y’all inviting me out.” I dapped up Blue, and we exchanged greetings.
“It was nothing. We’ve both been fans of yours for years,” Blue said. “Glad you slid through.”
“Who you got with you?” Dru asked as I helped Noa get settled in her wheelchair.
“This is my girl, Noa.” I gestured to her. “Her sister, my sister, my nephew, and you know Ron.”
Blue and Dru waved at my entourage. “Nice to meet y’all.”
“Damn, y’all fine in real life, huh?” Teagan stepped in front of me and extended her hand to Blue and Dru, making Jess and Noa burst out laughing.
“We appreciate the love, queen, but I’m not allowed to shake other women’s hands.” Dru lifted his left hand, flashing his wedding band.
Blue smirked and did the same. “Respectfully, my wife will fight you.”
Teagan shook her head as she put her hand back down to her side. “I don’t want any smoke with Kay and Marli. I was just saying.” She laughed just as cheers erupted from the stage nearby, and a tall, shirtless nigga with dyed dreads jogged off stage, dripping sweat.
“Set change!” someone yelled as they handed him a towel and a bottle of water.
“Aye, Money!” Dru waved him over. As soon as he saw us, his face lit up.
“Yo!” he called out, jogging over. “Ain’t no way this Quae Lo right here. Respect, fam.” He approached me with a big-ass chain around his neck. “Man, you’re one reason I picked up a mic. Your mixtape era is unmatched. Real talk.”
I laughed, shaking his hand. “That’s love, bro. You doing your fucking thing. Thanks for having me.”
“Of course. Them niggas tryna clown you online, so we’re gonna give them something to talk about. Thanks for popping out.” He looked back at Dru. “You give him the rundown?”
“’Bout to,” Dru said. “When he goes back out, he’s gonna drop the old joint first, then you walk out. The crowd gon’ go crazy. Then we’re gonna run a melody of yo’ hits.” Dru gave me the rundown on how it was going to work. I nodded my head. We’d gone over it already. I was rusty, but I wasn’t new to this.
“Take a minute. Get settled. The team will escort your people front and center. We made sure the route was wheelchair accessible, like you requested,” Blue added.
“Oh, and the payment should hit your account in about five minutes.”
“Got it!” I dapped them all up one last time before they rushed off. Blue and Dru were cool people. They definitely had a different vibe from my former record label, Savage Row.
Somebody from the staff leaned in, head tilted like he was mid-sprint. “We ten minutes out. Quae Lo, I can escort your people to their seats if y’all ready.”
Noa’s fingers slipped into mine, and she looked up at me. “You good?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Just feel like I’m about to walk into the slaughter house.”
She smirked. “Do you need me to give you some backstage coochie to loosen up?”
I smirked at her perfect ass. If we had time, I would take her up on that offer. “Don’t play with me. We can cancel this motherfucker.” I bent down and kissed her, and she kissed me back before tapping her thumb against my mouth.
