He was gonna let her make it though because she didn’t know shit about the man he was or the values he stood on. Samari had been ruined by little boys so having a man in her life was a new experience that she would have to ease into.
“You think I’m the type of man who’s going to put terms and conditions on anything I do for you…asyourman?”
She read between the lines and felt the intensity of his words. In all honesty, she knew better, but Asao was hard to wrap her brain around, so she chose humor as a diversion.
“You claiming something I didn’t offer?”
He chuckled arrogantly and she added, “You’re not my man.”
Instead of addressing the bullshit lie she was hustling, he circled back to the question she had yet to answer. “You cool letting Niles step in until you decide who you want on your team?”
“If you trust him, I trust him.”
“Aight bet. I’ll let him know you’re in.”
Her mind was spinning again, and based on the frown that eased onto her pretty face, Asao knew she was overthinking again.
“What’s up, Mari?”
“If you get me out of my contract with Cobra.”
“There’s no if. It’s done.”
She wanted to ask how but decided to leave that for another day. She quickly learned Asao demanding her trust meant that was important. For now, she would give him that. “No contract means no label. I can try to do this myself but…”
“You have a label if you want one, and if you don’t, you have me for whatever you need.”
“What label do I have?”
“Mine.”
His sexy smile had her frowning more. “You have a label.”
“Track Killaz.”
“Wait, you’re turning this into a label?”
“Yeah, Niles got that shit in his head and wouldn’t let it go. It’s a good look though. We’re gonna keep it homegrown and I’m not offering you a million dollar advance but you get complete control over what you want to do with your music. I know that’s important to you. If you want a label, you have one.”
“I’ll think about it. Thank you.” She cuffed his face and kissed him.
“You’re welcome, now let’s get these songs recorded so Niles can get them in rotation before you hit the stage. I want them singing that shit with you next week.”
“Wait, you want me to release those?” She panicked. No matter how many times he’d demanded her trust, she still couldn’t process that this was really happening.
“Yeah, man. The fuck you thought we were doing?” He smirked and his hand was at the base of her neck again, bringing her mouth to his. Asao understood he had work to do when it came to Samari, but when he said not a muthafuckin’ thing scared him, he meant not a damn thing. Not even the time he would have to invest to convince her she was now his.
15
Samari pulledthe covers over her head and frowned when she heard someone pounding on the door. A week passed since her first session at Track Killaz and multiple followed. The one last night had her in need of sleep. She wasn’t expecting company and had spent her night with Asao. He’d safely delivered her to her apartment at four a.m. with the promise of seeing her later tonight after demanding she get some sleep. She stripped out of her clothes and climbed into bed with lingering reminders of their night present in his scent on her skin and the ache between her thighs.
She smiled and snuggled deeper into her mattress until the pounding disrupted her peaceful state yet again.
“Oh God, please go away,” she muttered into the pillow. After staying incredibly still like the lack of movement would somehow solve the problem, she gave up when the knocking persisted.
With anger pushing through her veins, she threw the covers back and grabbed a T-shirt before leaving her bedroom, yanking it over her head when she lifted onto her toes to squint through the peephole.
The large body that obscured her view had Samari swinging her head from side to side trying to locate something she could use to defend herself until she heard the rumble of a deep voice creeping through her door.
