"Ay, yo'. You alive?" Asao grinned as he pulled into traffic in search of something to eat.
"Barely. You missed a wild one last night." He heard the amusement in Dom's voice and chuckled with the assumption of what the hell he and Niles had gotten into. Asao was more than positive it had involved a lot of alcohol and women.
"What we into today?" Asao mumbled, trying to run through what he had already mentally processed his day to look like.
"Shit if I know. Right now I'm about to clean house, wash my ass, then find some food,” Dom said, sounding annoyed.
"Clean house? You still taking randoms to your spot? I told you about that shit. You gon’ end up on the news looking dumb."
Dom laughed lightly. With the pause that followed, Asao assumed he was processing and surveying the aftermath of hiswild night. "Nah, I do body searches before they cross the threshold. Thorough shit."
"You’re wild."
"Indeed. But you talked to Niles yet?" Dom asked.
"Nah, I need to?"
"Yeah, hit him up. He has something for us. He ran it by me last night but you know I was blazed so it’s up to your scholarly ass to decide if it’s money or not."
He quickly read between the lines. Dom was down for whatever his boy made the call on. He was easy when it came to how they moved. As much of a necessity as Dom was to Asao's career, because of the tracks he created to make the brand relevant in the industry, Asao was the name, the face, and the reason people showed up. Any decisions about their careers started and ended with him.
"Aight, I'll get with him. Where's he at?" Asao planned on pulling up to see what Niles had on his mind.
"Home, I guess. If that muthafucker made it. We were both beyond our limit…" Dom paused and yelled at someone in the background. "Ay, get your girl. I need y'all up out of here. I got shit to do," he grated before addressing Asao again. "She just put her nasty bare ass on my sofa like we wasn't fucking all night. Yo, I'll holla at you. Let me clean house. Hit up Niles and see what he's talking about. We let you slide last night and you owe us."
Asao chuckled at the annoyance. Dom was the nastiest germaphobe he’d ever met. That shit was a contradiction. His place always looked like a tornado hit it, but the way he explained it, his mess was his mess. He couldn't tolerate anyone else's chaos or their germs, which explained him seeing red behind a naked woman's bare ass on his sofa. He was just fucking strange but that was his people.
Aight, he can get that, was Asao’s last thought as he hung up.
After Asao ended the call with Dom, the next one was to Niles.
“Yurrp,” Niles answered, in a much better state than Dom. “You moving?”
“Yeah, on my way to you. You got food?”
“For me. You better pick up something on your way. The fuck I look like?” Niles said, sounding like he was ready to square up.
“Aight, remember that shit,” Asao quipped before ending the call. Right after he ran through his mental rolodex of what was en route to Niles’s place that Asao could pull up on.
By the time Asao reached Niles’s spot his stomach was talking loud as shit. His Jeep smelled of greasy fries and a burger. He was ready to take both down. Niles greeted him at the door with a closed fist which Asao met before they both dipped into Niles’s living room.
His spot was the sofa while Niles took up the loveseat which looked small as shit once he was centered on it. Niles was a big dude, a few inches taller than Asao hitting about six-two or six-three, but he was easily two hundred and sixty pounds. Solid as hell and the way he kept that permanent scowl implanted on his face stopped anyone from fucking with him.
“You wanted to run some shit by me?” Asao questioned, mouth full, feeling partially satisfied after the first few bites of his burger.
“Yeah but I know you’re not gonna like it. Just hear me out before you make a decision.”
Asao’s eyes shot over to Niles. His were waiting. With a nod, Asao gave Niles the green light to continue.
“Cap hit me up. They’re not doing well and need to get some money in there quick.”
Asao listened. Didn’t speak or react. He knew good and damn well Niles wasn’t about to put him on performing at Cap’s place. He still had love because it was one of the local spots where Asaohad gotten his start but he also wasn’t about to be a regular on the tiny ass stage just to help Cap bring in money.
“I offered up a solution,” Niles stated coolly.
This time he waited for Asao to respond. “Which is?”
“We buy him out.” The words released from Niles so nonchalantly Asao’s face balled up, matching the scowl his boy presented.
