“Jaiyanna Latrice Munroe! Are you fucking kidding me?! Kalil?!”
“No, bitch, if you would let me finish my sentence…” Yanna leaned back in to finish whispering her statement. When she was done, Troi sat in the chair, glaring at her with a look of disappointment. “Oh, Troi, don’t look at me like that.”
“Yanna, that shit would fucking crush Kas.”
“I know I’m a terrible person and this was the worst form of getting my lick back, but… my feelings were hurt, I was drunk… like I was drinking A LOT. I was mixing brown with tequila, I even think I popped a pill, and I honestly don’t even remember the shit happening.”
“No ma’am. You not gone stand your ass right here at your big age and blame your poor decisions on liquor and hurt feelings. You should know your fucking limits.”
“Don’t you think I know all that? I already said I fucked up, so trust me, I know full well that what I did was trifling and childish.”
Troi released a deep sigh, stress from Yanna’s revelation consuming her. She reclaimed her seat as her head spun. “Do you want to be with Kas?”
“No.”
“You a damn lie, because if you didn’t, his actions wouldn’t have caused you to get fucked up and do something so unmentionable.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now anyway.”
“That’s not necessarily true. Just keep your knees together and stay the hell away from that Des boy. Kalil, too for that matter.”
“I don’t know how I’ll do that when his ass is always around.”
“Easy, when you see him, you go the other way. I’mma need you to get it together though, cousin. Figure out if you really want to be with Kas or not, and act like you got some sense. If not, you’re both going to lose each other.”
Yanna heard her cousin and knew what she was saying was true. However, she feared that for her and Kas, it was already too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Amixture of dark liquor, weed, and a perc 10 matched perfectly with the hedonistic sound of bass and snares pounding through the studio speakers. Kas’ head nodded up and down, feeling the masterpiece he was creating. His head was spinning, and the only indication he hadn’t succeeded in completely numbing all feelings was the intense swelling of pride from the perfection of his craft. The past few days had been a blur. His brother still wasn’t speaking to their mother, completely ignoring her any time they crossed paths. Then there was his situation with Yanna. Not having her around was the most malevolent form of torture he’d ever experienced. Feeling suffocated at home, he’d escaped to the studio, where he’d practically been living. His beat machines and software, liquor and weed had been his only means of comfort, and he overdosed on them in an effort to drown his woes. Popping pills wasn’t his thing because he’d seen far too many others fall down a destructive path from that addiction. If Onyx knew he’d kick his ass. However, self-medication was necessary at his current station in life, and the more assistance he could get, the better. Listening to his latest beat come to life allowed him to experience more bliss than he had in days. He knew that oncehe came down from his high, his troubles would hurdle their way back to the forefront, but he’d deal with that when the time came. For the moment, he would enjoy the brief exultation.
He remained in the studio for hours, finishing one beat and putting down the foundations for another. The hours spent allowed him to sober up enough to get home since he’d opted to drive his Trackhawk to WCMG that day. After he’d finished packing up his laptop and headphones, he disconnected the electronics that needed to be then turned out all the lights before heading to the parking lot. Just before reaching his truck, he noticed a red Nissan Altima pulling next to him. He’d seen the car before and released a breath of annoyance because he was not in the mood to deal with Zahra.
“Bruh, what you want?” He questioned his tone showing his disinterest.
“Hey, I was hoping I would find you here. I tried calling your phone, but I haven’t been able to get through.
Because I blocked yo’ ass. “If you haven’t been getting an answer, that’s probably a good reason to stop calling me.”
“But I--- I was wondering…”
“Wondering what?”
“If you might be willing to talk to Onyx for me? I mean, he didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself. Him firing me because that girl was losing her mind out there is unfair.”
“Don’t bring her into this.”
“I’m just saying, I’ve done so much work with the label already. We’ve almost perfected the song we’re working on, right?”
“Hell nah.”
“Oh, come on, Kas, please don’t be that way. If Onyx lets me go, it’ll be one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made. The last thing he’ll want is for another label to pick me up and make me a star.”
“How the hell would they do that?” Kas wanted to laugh because shopping at other labels wasn’t going to do shit, but get her feelings hurt. If anything, another label would sign her just to market on the fact that she was pretty. They’d jazz up her sound with studio tricks and auto tune, but her career would be over before it could even get started. Either way, she was fucked because Onyx damn sure wasn’t going to sign her.
“Seriously! Why are you treating me like this all of a sudden? What? Is it that Yanna girl, because trust me, she is not worried about you.”
“Aye, don’t speak on shit when you have no idea what you talking about.”
