30
“Desi, you need to make sure you open up and belt that shit out,” Erys spoke from what was used as the VIP area of Club Genesis. Erys could’ve been away for years but he made sure he invested his money where it mattered. And Waynesville mattered.
“I am,” she huffed.
“You’re not. You need to dig deeper if this is some shit you want. Don’t waste my time, girl,” Erys stated, looking over to Tone. “Didn’t I tell you to leave her alone?”
“Man, I didn’t touch that girl,” Tone said, trying to hide a grin.
“You absolutely did. Again. I watched y’all walk in here all that arguing and shit. I’m fucking serious. You steppin’ all over the product with your bullshit,” Erys grumbled.
“We’re not moving weight right now. This is music,” Tone stated.
“The game is the game and I need her tip-top if she’s going in front of MB,” Erys fired back. “For once in your wayward life, please listen, nigga.”
“Aight, aight, aight. I hear you,” Tone stated with a huff.
“You hear me or are you hearin’ me?” Erys pressed.
“I’m hearing you. If you got the TWGs now, why don’t we just do our own music shit?” Tone posed as Erys swayed his head.
“You don’t give a fuck about your nephew, do you? I’m not funneling gang money through a legitimate business attached to my name. You crazy? This is why we were always in some bullshit, Quientone.”
“Oh, the government name. I thought getting pussy on the regular was going to level you out,” Tone snipped.
Erys pulled in a deep breath and lowly rubbed his chest, something wasn’t right. He could feel it. “Shut your ass up. The goal is to make sure they got a better hand than we did. Everybody ain’t supposed to be a thug and every thug don’t want to be stuck in Trae Way forever. We take the street shit and flipit. Community centers, pouring back into the neighborhood. It’s not going to be the ghetto forever, shit is moving in and we need to be ready for it.”
“What you saying, Erys?” Tone asked, as he watched Erys turn his back to what was happening on the stage.
“I’m saying we’re the gatekeepers. This city isn’t going to move without a nod from me.”
“You’re turning this shit into mafia-type shit,” Tone commented with a smirk and a hand rub. “I like that shit.”
“So keep your hands off of her. I’m serious,” Erys spoke, pulling his phone out. Twenty missed calls from Remedy and a few texts.
Mouth: cme hume
Mouth: ngga u c me calling u
Without question, those texts were from Ernie.
“I have to go. Make sure this shit runs smoothly. No bullshit,” Erys directed before walking out.
In his truck, he barreled to the house finding two angry women standing toe to toe with the aide. Haphazardly throwing the truck in park, he jumped out and quickened out to the duo. “Hey! Hey! Fuck you on my steps for?” Erys barked.
When the older woman spun around, he knew who she was. The younger one turned around sharing the same features as her mother. Remedy looked nothing like them. Their eyes soulless, no matter the labels they wore or the work they had done. Nothing could replace how worn they looked. Erys chalked it up to them being bitter women who delighted in misery.
“Mr. Moore, I’ve told them that Ms. Worthy was unavailable. They won’t leave,” the aide spoke in irritation.
Erys nodded. “Go inside, I got it.”
The aide obliged, closing the door they weren’t granted access through.
“So you’re the fish she hooked,” the older woman Erys learned was Sylvia from his research. “You need to tell her to bring her dumbass out here.”
Erys pushed his hands in his pocket and leaned on the hood of his truck. “Or what?”
“I’ll have your thug ass arrested. You don’t belong in Cashmere Lakes and neither does she. I’ve done everything in my power to keep her ass in the ghetto wasting away where she belonged and now here she is, uprooting my world again. Pack your shit up and leave.”
