“How’s everything?”
Pulling off my shades, I said, “Could be better, but hopefully that will come with time. What’chu got for me?”
He smiled tightly and nodded at the engineer for the playback. When the beat hit the speakers, I made a stank face. This shit was hitting. However, when the vocals for the hook kicked in, my eyebrows lifted. That voice was beautiful. It was light and airy and seemed to complement my voice well.
When he stopped the track, I asked, “Who is that singing?”
“Karma. She’s amazing, huh?”
“Amazing isn’t even the word. Okay. I love this. Give me a second.”
I pulled my iPad out of my bag and looked over some things I’d written to see what lyrics would fit with this mid-tempo track. When I found them, I added a few bars to it, then spit it to the track he’d just restarted. My phone vibrated right before I was about to stand. Seeing Graham’s contact info on the screen sank my heart. I closed my eyes for bit, then stood and said, “I’m ready.”
I’d been in Baltimore for a few days, working my ass off in the studio. I’d even recorded my bars for the big announcement. I was ahead of the game, and Noah said I was on track to be the next big female rapper. If I stuck to the formula for staying ahead, I would surely make it. Being consistent and staying ahead helped when situations out of my control arose. I wouldn’t have to stress about shit if I was already ahead of schedule.
By the time I got to my hotel room, I would shower and crash. Most nights, I ate dinner with Noah and his family. One night, I’d eaten dinner with his mother and her husband. I knew they could all tell something was up with me, and it would only be a matter of time before someone said something.
After eating breakfast, I headed to the studio. Noah had offered me a car, so I could get around, but I refused. I would fuck that man’s car up. There wasn’t a curb in Houston that hadn’t met my back tires. I contributed to the fuckery in H-Town. I couldn’t deny that shit at all. One time, this older lady followed me to the gas station and told me if I didn’t slowmy raggedy muthafucka down, the next time she saw me she was gon’ fuck me up. I was only eighteen at the time, but I remembered that shit like it was yesterday. Scared the shit out of me.
I opened the door and saw Noah standing up front with a security guard. I couldn’t believe he was just up here like that with the door unlocked. The people of Baltimore respected him so much. Honestly, no one would probably even dare fuck with Noah’s studio. All of his artists were lowkey too . . . except my ass.
He smiled at me. “What’s up, shorty?”
“Hey. Ready to work.”
“Mm-hmm. Come on.”
When we got to the hallway, he led me inside a conference room. His parents were inside, along with his daughter, Noelle. I stopped and took a deep breath. I knew exactly what this was.A fucking intervention.
“Shorty, we wanted to talk to you and pray with you before your session, if that’s okay. TAZ wanted to be here, too, but she had to fly out to Chicago this morning.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly.
Noelle stood and came to me, grabbing my trembling hand and leading me to a seat. She didn’t release my hand once we sat. Her gaze was making me so nervous though. She was only a year or so older than me. I swallowed hard. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me. I was so fucking tense, but after a minute or so, I broke out in tears.
“Why are you running from stuff that was done years ago? All God said to me was that you were running from who you used to be,” Noelle said.
I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. “Who I used to be slept with Graham’s brother. He doesn’t know he has a brother yet, but he’s gonna find out. His biological dad is f’ingwith him and called me a ho to him. Graham charged that man like a bull. Graham doesn’t deserve someone like me. My actions have already caused him to get fired.”
Noah chuckled. “Girl, if you only knew what Sonya used to think about Graham, you would blush. That nigga was something else as a teenagerandin his twenties. I can guarantee he won’t think one way or the other about any of that.”
I lowered my head, but Mrs. Raquel lifted it. “What happened was just as much on him as you. Graham is a grown man, honey. He could have said no, especially knowing that the media always looked for a way to exploit you. I’m pretty sure he knew you lived in Houston. He could have waited to get with you if he wanted to.”
“I did some horrible things after my mama died. I left home without telling anyone where I was going. My dad was worried sick. I was in the streets heavy. A lot of the rumors about me aren’t rumors. They’re true. How am I gonna be signed to YKMN being the problem I’ve been. I am the f’ing drama.”
Noah reached across the table and grabbed my hands. “You don’t think I researched you before we met? I already knew all that about you. I also saw how you were trying to change. Everything in the media about you was old news. There was no knew info until the situation with Graham. That’s your boyfriend now. You belong here, Arlie.”
That was the first time he called me by my real name. I took a deep breath and wiped my face.
“God is forgiving. If you asked for forgiveness, then He gave it. No one can judge you, because we have all sinned, baby,” Mrs. Raquel said.
“I talked to Kimaji. She is so worried about you. She relayed a message through JR, so I called her. She said Graham is about to lose his mind without you. He calls her every day to see if she’s heard from you. He isn’t hurting for money. I’m sure he’stold you that already. His hurt about losing his job was simply because he liked it. He’s also being targeted by his supervisor. Most likely, he’ll be getting his job back if he wants it. Premier Wings doesn’t roll like that,” Noah said.
“I don’t know if he’ll be able to handle my past though. It’s a lot. I get sick to my stomach when I think about some of the stuff I did.”
“It’s the past, Arlie. You aren’t the same person. My dad is going to pray for you, if that’s okay, then we will hit this studio. I need a love song out of you.”
I frowned slightly. “A love song?”
