We both washed our hands before returning back to the action. Passing the bar, I felt a hand on my wrist.
“Say, lil’ mama. You gon’ walk through here again and not say nothin’ to a nigga?” He spoke loud enough for me to hear him over the music.
I stopped mid walk and grabbed the pocket of Ebone’s shorts to get her to stop as well before turning to the voice. “Iplanned to, but you’re holding my hand hostage, so I guess you gon’ make me talk to you, huh?”
“Oh, fa shit sho,” he replied, smiling.
I returned his smile while slipping my hand from his. “Unfortunately for you, that’s not how this works, superstar.” I tapped Ebone on the butt to get her moving, and we migrated into the crowd.
We went back to post up in our original spot, and I forgot about Trill, but it was obvious he didn’t forget about me. Him and his people made their way over to us, and he introduced himself properly. We talked as much as we could in the loud environment, and I danced around him. The women were on him, but he’d zeroed in on me that night and the days going forward.
“You mind taking this picture for us?” The groupie boldly asked me with her phone out.
I chuckled and reached for my glass of water and took a sip. “The only memory you’ll be able to have is of me splittin’ your forehead when I bust you in ya shit wit’ it.” I spoke calmly, setting my glass back down. “Take ya picture and move around, boo.”
She didn’t need long to think before pulling the phone back and snapping a quick picture. I was sure it wasn’t to her liking, but a subtle threat would have you moving faster than your brain could compute.
Trill leaned back in his chair after she floated away with a smirk on his face.
“Even in your condition, you don’t fuck around.”
“And you somehow get a kick out of that shit, clearly.” I rolled my eyes.
He downed his drink and licked his lips. It was the fourth one he’d consumed since we arrived an hour ago.
“You feel like slidin’ to the studio wit’ me fa a lil’ bit? I got this record I wanna lay dine. The one I told you I been working on.”
Thinking about the message from Pryce, I shook my head. “I’m not up for it tonight. I’m full and tired. I think I’m gonna call it a night.”
“Damn. I’m bout to ha’ dat bitch rockin’ tonight, bae. You sure you don’t wanna pull up fa a minute?”
“I need as much rest as I can get. I’m back to work next week.”
He nodded even though the tightness in his jaw let me know he wasn’t feeling my answer. “Aight. Lemme grab the check, and we can getchu back to the crib.”
“Thank you.”
“Ain’t shit.” He reached for my hand again, this time kissing the back of it.
Waving the waitress over, he let her know that we were ready for the check.
“Lemme get a shot of Reposado too for the road, sweetheart.”
The waitress nodded with a smile and cleared our plates off the table. I waited until she was out of earshot to speak.
“Four drinks and a shot? I hope you remember the lyrics when you get to the studio tonight.”
Trill sucked his teeth and pulled his hand back from mine. Sitting back in his seat, he shook his head. “Why you do dat?”
“Do what? Be concerned?” I countered.
“Naw. Be on a nigga neck. Like I’m a lil’ boy or sum’ shit.”
I started not to reply at first because this wasn’t the time or the place, especially when he had a tendency of doing the most when he was a few drinks in. While the people in his camp refused to call him out on his excessive drinking, I did not. And I spoke on it as soon as I caught onto it. I didn’t care about his status; a problem was a problem. And Trill often didn’t know his limit.
“This is not the place, so forget I even said anything.” I cut the conversation short before it could become a back and forth. I had enough going on than to be monitoring a grown ass man’s alcohol intake.
The waitress returned with the shot and check as he requested. He pulled out his cash, stuffed it in the check book, and threw his shot back with no hesitation.
