I sat in the nearest seat. We hadn’t gotten to our gate yet. This was overwhelming, and for once, I wished I didn’t know the tea. This was so fucking sad. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat.
“So is your mom from Beaumont or is Missus Sidney from Houston.”
“Sidney is from Houston. She moved to Beaumont not long after finishing law school.”
“Jesus. I don’t think Graham needs to know that. It won’t change anything.”
“He doesn’t need to know at all.”
We stood from our seats and continued down the corridor to our gate. After knowing the truth, I was just as quiet as she was.
“I’ll probably sleep during the flight. I’m so damn tired. I only got like three hours. I need to be at my best for when we get to Baltimore. You know Noah has a son and so does RJ. They are close to our age. They’re both single too.”
I slightly rolled my eyes as my phone vibrated. Checking it, I saw a message from Graham.I miss you already.
I smiled slightly.I miss you too.
I would have to get my feelings in check, because I could imagine all this shit would come to mind every time I looked at him. If it was a lot for me, I could only imagine how all this affected Ms. K and Mrs. Sidney. Doing my best not to focus on it, I put in my earbuds and cued up Noah’s artist profile on Apple Music and tried to escape.
“Yo! Welcome to Bal’damore!” RJ said as he opened the door to Noah’s office building for YKMN Records.
I chuckled. His deep voice vibrated my insides every time I heard it. Kimaji was blushing as well.
“Thank you! It’s good to be here,” I said.
“Yep. Y’all come on, and I’ll show you where to go. I was just heading out.”
He led us past the receptionist and to a huge conference room. Noah was in there along with some other executive-looking people. When we entered, everyone stood and started clapping. My eyebrows lifted, and my face heated up. If this was how they were welcoming me, I couldn’t wait to see the process. I wasn’t even signed yet. I glanced at Noah, and he was smiling big, then made his way to us.
“What’s up, shorties. Let me introduce y’all to everybody.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and began making introductions. Once that was done, Maj and I sat, but he remained standing. He went to the front of the room, and before he could say a word, everyone’s eyes were on his. I had never seen so much respect in one room amongst so many professionals. There were at least fifteen other people here.
The door opened and another man walked inside. “My apologies, Noah. Exodus and Sharee’s meeting with Nike ran over.”
“No problem, Russell.” He turned his attention to me. “SOLA, this is Russell. He will serve as your temporary management. You can vet him. If you like him, you can sign himon permanently. He was my manager before I was discovered until I hired Jah. Once we divorced, he was back on like he never left.”
Russell chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you, SOLA, and . . .”
Kimaji giggled. “I’m Kimaji.”
He nodded and shook our hands.
“My bad, Maj. I wasn’t overlooking you.”
She waved Noah off, and he began speaking to the room. “We need a big announcement. I mean huge. She came from piss poor business. I want to show SOLA just how professionals are supposed to operate. Not only that, but I want to show her that she is worth just what she think she is, plus some. She has way too much talent to have so much downtime. She should be in demand every time she takes a deep breath. Secondly, I don’t want her in the streets grinding as hard as she is. That’s our job.”
“Noah, why don’t we get a fire track produced, showing the artist lineup . . . everybody spit a bar, Noelle, Kenya, TAZ, Karma do the hook, like a girl group, and have SOLA come through last with about four bars. Almost make it like a cinematic six-to-ten-minute spot. We can hit every social media platform, along with a spot on a couple of major networks.”
“I like that idea. TAZ could come through with her polyharmony at the end. Any other ideas before I move on?”
“I had an idea,” an older gentleman said. “I don’t think it trumps this one though. Secondly, I think you and Jax should spit a bar in it as well.”
Noah slowly shook his head and smiled. “A’ight.”
I frowned slightly as I looked around, then lifted my hand. “Yes, ma’am, SOLA?”
“I umm . . . I’m still signed with another label.”
