He took the glass elevator down to the parking garage as the sun dipped low across the skyline. The trees were dipped in gold, and a quiet pride settled in his chest.
He stepped into his Hellcat, his engine quietly purring as he cranked it and pressed the button on his screen that was connected through Bluetooth to open his garage door. He pulled out into traffic, one hand on the wheel and the other under his chin as his diamond earring shined in the sunlight.
He didn’t rush. He never did. The label could wait. He passed by a billboard with a twenty-something-year-old rapper’s face plastered across it. He recalled what it was like being young, fast, and flashier. He smiled as the memories of his group, his boys, The Ether Division, popped into his mind.
Man, . . . those days.
Late studio nights, early flights to different countries, sleeping in luxury hotels, and all the women throwing themselves at their feet. They felt unstoppable for a while. That was, until the group dismantled.
No one left bitter, there wasn’t any drama. There was Tone, who started a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles and promoted all things health. He kept his head down but still hit up Zay every Christmas. Deuce, unfortunately, never made it out of those Detroit streets. He slipped back in after one bad tour and never slipped back out. Zay had visited him in rehab once. His skin was pale, voice quiet like the beat left his body.
Then, there was Marcellus, the family man now. Married with three kids and a house back home in Southfield, Michigan. Zay’s success was so prominent because he was the only one who never stopped chasing it. He never settled like Tone or lost himself like Deuce. Although he and Marcellus were still the closest—he visited his boy and the family every time he went back home—he never took the time to build a family like him.
The truth was, Zay didn’t knowhowto build a family. His mama died before he could even learn how to love a woman fully. Her death took everything warm with him.
After growing up in a house where fists spoke louder than love, his stepfather taught him early that fatherhood could be violent with a wedding ring on. That man used to tell him “You ain’t even mine” like it was a curse. Like Zay was something anyone could throw away, so he just beat everybody to it.
When he got out of jail for beating his stepfather senseless, he made a promise to himself. No kids. No family. No chance of becoming that man or dying like his mama, leaving behind those who depended on him.
As if on cue, his sister, Kennedy, now grown and with a family herself, called him. He hit the green “Answer Call” button on the screen before merging onto the I-10.
“Big Ken Ken. Waddup doe?” he called out playfully.
“Hey, big brother. What you got goin’ on?” she answered.
“Shit, the same shit, out here just beingthat nigga. Ain’t nothin’ new.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, with your old ass! I swear the ego of a male Leo is unmatched!” she responded playfully.
“Old, male Leo, andstillthat nigga. So what’s the word, bird?”
Kennedy sucked her teeth and ignored her brother’s antics. “I’ll be in L.A. next week. Just wanted to let you know so you can pull up on your baby sister.”
“Oh yeah? L.A. for what?”
“I have a meeting with this black-owned restaurant owner, seeing if we can take it over. They are having management problems but really just want to retire.”
Zay was proud of his little sister. Along with starting her own family, she also had a very successful career in business management. He wasn’t too sure on what exactly she did, but she was always being called across the country to different businesses for her expertise.
“Oh yeah? That’s dope, baby sis,” Zay replied. “How long you gon’ be out here for?”
“From Monday to Wednesday, maybe not that long. You know I hate L.A.”
“It ain’t so bad. You just gotta know where to go and what to do. Can’t move wrong here.”
“Yeah, and you out there all by yourself. No woman, no girlfriend, nothin’!”
She was right. He’d always kept in touch with Kennedy over the years. She was not only his sister but his only tether to who he used to be. Anything beyond that, he cut off before it could grow. Including love.
Especially that love shit.
“Yeah, I hear you.” Zay responded and pulled off the exit into downtown toward the record label.
“But, aye, I’ll get with you next week. I’m pulling into the studio right now.”
He ended the call and wrapped his car around to the front of the tall glass building of his record label. He hopped out the car, threw his keys to valet, and walked into the building.
His thoughts raced as he pressed the elevator button. His sister’s words stung him a bit. No matter how many women came and gone, none of them ever touched the part of him that still remembered a winter night in Detroit. A pretty girl with a ponytail and a smile that could melt the ice beneath them. The only girl who he ever gave his full heart to.
