Yeah thanks, p.21
Yeah...Thanks, page 21
I saw him perfectly clear.
Ash gave me hope that everything would work out for us, and it would be fine. Even if it wasn’t, his actions showed me that he would do everything in his power to make sure it was.
I never felt this protected in a relationship and with him, I felt safe.
“Em, please,” I held my hand up, annoyed that she wanted to have this conversation. Astoria had already rained on my parade with her own thesis on marriage, and now I was being subjected to hearing it a second time.
“Har, seriously,” Em paused reaching for my hand. “People focus on the aesthetic of marriage, and the tend to forget that the wedding is for one day, the marriage is forever.”
“Forever doesn’t mean forever anymore,” I scoffed.
The moment the words left my mouth I regretted it. Em removed her hands from mine and focused on stirring her drink that had settled at the bottom.
“I tried everything that I could to make my marriage with Messiah work. Do you think I wanted to be single in my thirties trying to find a damn baby daddy before my eggs shrivel up? Some days I regret not fighting harder than I did.”
There was a mist in Ember’s eyes as she explained marriage to me. “I didn’t mean it like that, Em.”
“Marriage changes people. Some for good and some for bad.”
“And what about you?”
She let out a breathy chuckle. “I’m still trying to figure out what marriage changed me into. Har, I love you like a sister, and I want the best for you. Obviously, you are grown and can do what you want. I just want you to take it serious and not to get too caught up in the hype of marriage. Take it seriously.”
“We plan to take it seriously, Em. I’m not jumping into this blindly, I promise you that.”
Ember accepted her food from the waiter and grabbed a french fry and pointed it at me. “You need to also handle your situation with Cam. It can become messy and that’s the last thing you need with all that is happening for you.”
I knew I needed to have a conversation with Cam. That didn’t mean that I was looking forward to doing it. Cam would paint me out to be some whore who used him and then left him high and dry. I wasn’t in the mental place to hear him play the victim like he was the one who was done so wrong.
“Yeah, I know.”
Ember cut into her chicken. “Where is Ash anyway? I assumed you would probably be under his ass.”
“In Thailand with Quan for Rap Fest.”
“Oh yeah, I heard something about that. Quan is doing some major things with his career.” Ember continued to eat her food while studying my face. “And you’re not there because?”
“I was asked to film a Christmas commercial with Google.”
Ember dropped her fork. “Are you serious? Har, I’m so fucking proud of you and everything that you’re doing. I told you that it was only up for your career and now look at the doors opening.”
When Briana called me squealing on the other end of the line, I didn’t know what she was about to lay on me. Google had a brand-new phone that was launching, and it was the perfect accessory for content creators and influencers, so they wanted to use a bunch for the commercial. After my panel at Beauti-Con, a lot of companies were taking interest in me and my engagement and followers across all my social media accounts had skyrocketed.
Whenever I posted I would get probably five thousand likes at best. Now, I could post and would get anywhere from thirty to forty thousand likes. “Thanks, Em. I’m nervous and excited at the same time.”
“They do know it’s only June, right?”
“Briana says they film these things way in advance, so I’m not questioning a damn thing. The check has been cut, so I’m not worried about it,” I smirked.
As much as I wanted to be in Thailand at Rap Fest supporting Quan and spending time with Ash, I had other responsibilities that I needed to handle. When Ash found out, he was the one who forced me to do the commercial, not that I was considering giving it up in the first place. We made plans to do something once the tour was over since we would both be busy when Quan’s tour started.
“Ash is working Quan’s tour, right?”
I nodded my head. “Yep. I’m excited for the both of them. They’re going to be doing something that some best friends don’t get to experience, and they’re going to be doing it together.”
Ember glazed over my whole friendship spiel. “So that means things between the two of you are going to be long distance for a while?”
“Yes, Ember,” I cut my eyes at her.
“Long distance is tough, Har. That’s all I’m trying to hint at. When Messiah took that job in Phoenix for a couple months, those were the hardest months on us. We were trying for a baby, then he took that job, and it made it ten times harder,” she reminisced.
“We’re still getting to know each other as people, so the distance might not be as bad,” I tried to convince myself.
Ash had been gone for Thailand for a couple of days and I missed him. If I didn’t have this commercial, I probably would have been on the flight with him to Thailand.
“I hope so,” she washed her food down with her drink. “You’re not going to order anything to eat? I’m stuffing my face and noticed you don’t even have anything to eat.”
“All I needed was a drink and convo,” I smiled, hoping that was enough to deter from from wanting to dig deeper on why I didn’t order anything other than a drink.
“We need to do this more often. Astoria is all in lover’s land, so I don’t expect her to want to leave her fortress often, but me and you… we need this.”
“I agree. We do,” I smiled.
“Now, about this baby shower,” she giggled and held up her glass. “To more drinks because this planning is about to stress us out.”
“To more drinks,” we clinked glasses and Ember pulled out her folder filled with everything that had to do with the baby shower.
FOURTEEN
ASHTON WILLSHIRE
I miss you, Pum. I drafted the text message and then quickly deleted, as I shoved my phone back into my pocket. Today was Quan’s last day of taking the festival stage, and I couldn’t wait to touch down back in the states.
I didn’t expect to miss Harlym as much as I was missing her. We were supposed to be here together, and the empty side of the bed was a constant reminder that she had to handle her own business, too. Harlym was used to taking the backseat when it came to her relationship with Cam, and I didn’t want that to happen with us. Her career was just as important as mine, and there were going to be times when she couldn’t be there because her work schedule didn’t align with mine.
Nothing irked me more than a man that got jealous of his lady’s success, and I could tell that was the kind of man that Cam was. With the amount of attention and interviews he had been doing, he should have been plugging Harlym in at every one of them. She not only held him down when most would have run for the hills, but she put up with so much scrutiny from the public and even her own family.
Going through all of that on her own would have made the strongest woman abort the mission.
Not Harlym though.
She was loyal. Almost too loyal, and that was the one thing I admired about her. She would hold you down until the end of time, even when you didn’t deserve the shit. Cam didn’t deserve her loyalty.
The door to the trailer opened and Quan filed in, tossing himself onto the couch. “It’s hot as shit out there,” he groaned.
We had been here for four days, and Quan took the stage every day, despite the heat. While other artists were being divas and refusing to go on stage without a fan or something cool, Quan took the mic and did his set without any complaints. He didn’t need them to roll out the red carpet for him. That was what separated Quan from the others.
Where others wanted the diamond treatment and refused to do their job, Quan understood that this life was a blessing, and he was going to grab it by the horn and ride the wave until he couldn’t anymore.
“I watched you from this air-conditioned trailer. Damn near had a stroke when I stepped out there to watch you do your thing.”
Quan chuckled as he guzzled a bottle of water. “You get a pass… you’ve been up there with me the past three days.”
I watched as he looked down at his phone and smirked. “Who got you over there grinning like that?”
Quan looked up with the same smile. “June. She been staying up to make sure she can wish me good luck.”
Quan and June seemed to have hit it off while we were in Vegas. I wasn’t sure they would since Quan doesn’t tend to like girls who are super fans of him. June was a different kind of fan though. As much as she loved Quan’s music and everything that he stood for, she also understood that he was a person, too.
June didn’t treat Quan like he was an object. The fact that she could hold a conversation, too, probably added into how he felt about her.
“Have you linked with her since Vegas?”
“Nah. Between me doing all these interviews in preparation for the tour, and her schedule, we just catch up when we can.”
“Damn.”
Quan put his phone down and looked over at me. “Same shit is going to happen with you and Harlym. She has her own thing going on, and you’re going to be on tour with me.”
“We’ll figure out how to make it work.”
“I hope so. I like her for you.” The door opened and Farrah strutted in, in something other than her usual fancy pant suits or wide leg slacks.
She wore a pair of denim jean shorts, a crop top, and a pair of designer sneakers. Her hair pulled into two top pig tails, and she had glitter every damn where. “You own something other than pant suits, Oprah?”
She flipped her middle finger in my direction. “Shouldn’t you be taking pictures of the crowd or something?”
“Nah, I did all of that… unlike you, I know how to do my job,” I continued to poke fun at Farrah, who wasn’t even here on business.
She was attending the festival with her friends. “Anyway, you got a minute to chat business?”
“Didn’t you stress to him that this was your vacation, and you weren’t here on business?” I reminded her of the rant she went on when we first arrived.
Ignoring me, she continued to give Quan her full attention. “The label added Cam onto the tour. I wanted to let you know before the roll out and before someone blindsided you on an interview.”
Quan shrugged, not bothered that Cam was on his tour. It wasn’t like they had beef with one another or even shared words in the past. “Cool.”
“You’re good with this? When they presented it to me, I was against it. You don’t need someone to open for you,” Farrah took a seat in the empty makeup chair.
“What’s there to be against? The whole tour has been designed and centered around me. It’s my tour. If they want to add him on to get the people excited about his music again, I don’t see the problem with it.”
“I see the problem.”
Quan and Farrah turned to face me. “For the first time me and this knuckle head is on the same page.”
“What’s the problem?” Quan nodded in my direction.
“Cam is used to being the center of attention in everything that he does. I can see this becoming a problem with him trying to make the tour about him.”
Even before Cam got locked up, I watched how he moved. He was cocky and had about five men with him at all times. Every time he went somewhere he needed an entourage with him, and he loved to talk big shit. The blogs had covered an incident where he disrespected a waiter or a club promoter in the past.
This couldn’t be the same man that would willingly open for Quan. Opening acts were usually smaller talent who were trying to build their names up. Cam already felt like his name was big enough, so he didn’t need to build it up. I could see this tour going all types of wrong.
“After being behind that wall I’m sure he not on that same type of time.” Quan was always used to seeing the best in people, and that was how he ended up hurt. He saw the best in people that he should have been cautious of.
“I’m with Ashton on this one. Cam is a lot… from what I’m hearing he’s already demanding a lot of things.”
“How is he demanding anything when he was shoving a phone up his ass for the past two years?”
Farrah heaved a sigh. “I’m unsure about this. I make it my business not to get involved in business that I don’t get a 10 percent cut of. I can’t ignore the fact that you and Harlym are on every blog site.”
“You’re right. Don’t get involved in business that ain’t yours.”
Quan gave me that simmer down look. “Chill, Ash. She’s right to be unsure about it. You and Cam on the same tour is a recipe for disaster.”
“What the fuck do y’all want me to do? Go and shake his hand to avoid tension? He wasn’t enough for his girl, and I leveled her up. Simple.”
“See, this is the energy that we don’t need on the tour.”
“Ash,” Quan leaned his back on the headrest of the couch.
I leaned forward and locked eyes with Farrah. “I’ve been hired to do a job and I’m always professional. Not only is my reputation on the line, but my business is, too. I don’t have time to go toe to toe with a man who lost his girl to me. If you need to check anybody, you need to check that man and make sure he’s not the problem.”
“Are they even broken up, Ash? There hasn’t been any report of them breaking up anywhere.”
“Everything ain’t always reported in the blogs, Farrah. There are some people who prefer to live their life out of the blogs.”
“Just not you, huh?” she folded her arms with a slick smirk pasted across her goofy ass face.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Is this marriage a publicity stunt for the both of you? Harlym’s career seems to be on the fast track now.”
Farrah was fronting on my wife like she wasn’t pressure before any of this happened. Harlym was known before; she wasn’t as popular as she has been in the last few weeks. All of this new fame had nothing to do with the marriage. She went to Vegas and did what the fuck she was supposed to do on that panel.
“Man, fuck this. I don’t have time to sit and debate with Kris Jenner about my wife’s career,” I pointed at Farrah.
Damn.
Saying wife made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I used to cringe at the thought of ever settling down with someone who wasn’t Alexis. It wasn’t something I ever wanted to do, so I messed around with women who I knew I would never settle down with to make it easier. Harlym wasn’t that kind of woman.
Even before the Maldives trip, I always kept a close eye on Harlym. She wasn’t like other influencer chicks who were always in the mix. You didn’t hear shit about her unless she wanted it to be heard. Other than her rants on social media about her relationship with Cam, she kept to herself. In Miami, I wanted to go over there and let her know that I was a fan, her future baby daddy and all that good shit.
From the crowd of men that gathered and the look of annoyance on her face, I knew to stand down and my opportunity to meet her would happen when I least expected it.
It did.
In the Maldives when I saw her with Ember and Astoria, I just knew my eyes were playing tricks on me. As much as I wanted to run over there and spit game, I was scared, too. She had a man, and I wanted to protect myself from getting hurt.
Harlym J. was the only woman that could hurt a man like me. She had the power in the palm of those dainty little hands.
“This tour is the most important tour for Quan’s care—”
“Why the fuck do you keep talking like I would purposely do something to ruin my best friend’s tour?”
I didn’t like the way she was insinuating that I would ruin Quan’s tour. “I’m not even being dramatic… if my personal shit is too much, do you want me to find my replacement?”
“Hell nah. I already know you don’t put your personal shit out there like that, so I know you won’t let your personal interfere with your business,” Quan confidently replied.
Farrah wanted me off the tour. She was acting like I had been found fucking a dog or something. My marriage to Harlym was announced, and that didn’t seem like the biggest deal.
“I don’t need the tension between you two.”
Farrah scoffed. “There’s always tension between the two of us.”
“Worry about your client and you’ll be fine.”
Farrah looked from me back to Quan and stood up. “We’ll talk when we’re back home without this one.”
“I didn’t want to hear your conversation in the first place,” I called behind her, as she slammed the door behind her.
Quan shook his head and tossed his phone onto the empty spot on the couch. “Why do you always start with her?”
“Farrah wanna fuck… that’s why she always picking with me, and if I wasn’t a married man I probably would have.”
“Fuck being married. She’s my manager and that would be all kinds of fucked up.”
“That, too.”
Farrah knew she wanted the dick, which is why she always felt the need to pick with me. I wouldn’t go as far as to say she thought about me when she was home touching herself, but the thought crossed her mind more than a few times.
“On the real, do you think this shit is going to be a problem?”
“When do I let shit like that get to me? We’re both grown men who have a job to do. Don’t let Farrah’s ass get inside your head.”
“Bet,” he reached over and dapped me up.
Did I want to spend the next few months on tour with Cam? It wasn’t something that I was looking forward to. This tour wasn’t about me, it was Quan’s big moment in the sun, and I would be damned if I allowed Cam to knock me off my game or ruin that for Quan.
FIFTEEN
HARLYM J
I missed Ashton.
The minute I killed my engine in the parking lot of the studio, I regretted making the drive here. Apparently, Cam had been locked in this studio for the past week and hadn’t left. After all my calls and texts went unanswered, I reached out to one of the two people who would have tabs on him. Since I didn’t know who his parole officer was, I reached out to Rylo.
