19. Cemone

FEW WEEKS LATER…

Following behind Khari, Lequay, Shakur, Asif, and the first three's wives, I entered the rooftop of the hotel where Khari was having a day party for his label. It was already live as hell with weed smoke in the air as people danced, drank, ate, and just kicked the shit. I saw a lot of known faces in the building, as we tread to the section Khari's label had set aside for us.

My brother's label had amassed a nice ass roster, and today, we were celebrating his success, so a lot of those artists were in the building, with one on stage performing now.

As soon as the crew sat down, a hostess came by to take drink and food orders. My sisters-in-law, of course, had to get the food going first before any cocktails could be put in.

"Why didn't you bring our fave?" Presley asked as Scotland and Couture looked on like they were wondering the same thing.

"She busy." I chuckled.

"You know these muthafuckas was salty about paying me my bread, right?" Shakur mentioned.

"Wasn't salty. I just said wasn't no proof the nigga got Yolani," Lequay's hating ass commented, making everybody chortle.

"Right. But then she posted that tattoo shit, and we had no choice." Khari shook his head like he was pissed about that measly five grand he lost.

Shakur came up, though, since he was the only one out of the brood that hadn't bet against a nigga.

Yolani's tattoo had gone viral like a muthafucka. I even had niggas in my comments saying I needed to teach a class on Playerism because many niggas had tried and failed with Yolani. It didn't matter that I'd gotten her ass tatted first, and two at that since I had her name on the inside of my forearm.

"Why you ain't invite Yolani?" I asked Khari.

"Tried to, nigga, but found out quick you gotta book or invite her ass places like six months in advance. I only invited muthafuckas a month ago," Khari answered.

"Yeah, my baby a superstar. You can't treat her like she regular," I stated.

"Look at this nigga." Lequay nudged me, grinning. "She don' turned you into a man."

"That's what I was about to say!" Scotland said excitedly before peering up into Lequay's eyes and kissing him.

I was about to comment something smart, but Milaysia walking up switched my train of thought. She looked me over briefly then turned her attention to Khari, who told security it was cool to let her in.

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Khari!" She threw her arms out to hug him, but Couture shook one of her outstretched hands instead, causing the whole section and everyone surrounding to clamor about and laugh, including me.

"I feel you, girl." She tried to laugh it off, but Couture only offered a fake smile as Milaysia spoke to Lequay, Shakur, and Asif, keeping her distance.

Focusing on my phone, I acted like I ain't see her ass.

"Hi, Cemone. You don't have to be rude all the time." She stopped in front of me, her perfume too fucking strong.

"Ain't rude, I just don't like yo' ass. Learn the difference."

Lequay chuckled subtly at my reply.

"You don't like me, why? What have I ever done to you?" she queried, and when I didn't respond, she breathed heavily.

Shakur rose, standing and shielding us from view. I didn't realize what he was doing at first, but then the shit clicked for me. Photographers were everywhere, and all they would need is a picture of Milaysia and me near one another to start some shit up.

Though I knew Yolani would never believe the shit, I didn't like rumors of that nature spreading around and shit, making her look like she was getting played. I wanted it to be very fucking clear that a nigga was serious about Yolani. So, I appreciated my brother's quick ass thinking.

I never gave a fuck about what people thought, so I never cared what people got pictures or videos of. But now that I had a woman beside me, a nigga couldn't move any kind of way. Niggas would come up with all kinds of shit, and I loved and respected my girl too much to allow muthafuckas to even make shit up.

"You can go. He don't wanna talk to you." Presley waved her off.

I didn't have sisters for the majority of my upbringing, but this was one of the reasons I loved having sisters-in-law. It was only so much shit a man could say before he started looking like a bitch, so I appreciated having such feisty ass women on my team.

"Are you Shakur's wife or Cemone's?" She got smart.

"She some shit you'll never be," Shakur retorted, towering over her.

Presley came to stand beside him, beaming and clearly approving of how he'd responded, before they started kissing. I just appreciated that both their asses were blocking a nigga from view at this point.

"Do you want me to make you a plate?" Milaysia declined responding to Shakur as Lequay and I snickered at her stupid ass.

"Nah, I want you to get the fuck on somewhere. I want you to leave me the fuck alone whenever you see me. I want you to stop trying to bait me with that subpar ass head. I want you to realize it's never gon' fucking happen, love. I want you to do any one of those before I have to send you back to yo' muthafuckin' maker. 'Cause I'm gon' tell you right now, if one photo of us from today gets leaked, the next drop from you gon' be posthumous."

I held her eyes for a moment, watching the terror that passed through them before she whipped around and swayed off.

"Not posthumous." Khari laughed. "You over there sounding like Bashar's smart ass."

We all cracked up in response to his stupid ass.

"She know you crazy or nah?" Lequay asked, putting the blunt to his mouth. "She not acting like it, nigga."

"Don't seem like it, but she about to find the fuck out soon." I caught Milaysia as she stared at me from across the party, ignoring the nigga in her face.

Disregarding her, I slapped hands with Shakur, thanking him without saying the shit.

The festivities continued, and thankfully, Milaysia's ass didn't bother me at fucking all. It seemed like she was heeding to my warning, which I was thankful for because I already wasn't the most sane muthafucka, but I was even less so when it came to Yolani Ian.

"How y'all doing?" A familiar voice walked into our now packed-out ass section since the rest of the bros had showed up, along with a few of the ladies Asif and Unique had asked to join us.

I'd made it clear to them bitches to stay clear of me, or I'd clear this muthafucka out, so they left me to myself to kick it with my married brothers and their wives.

Looking up from my device, waiting on Yolani to hit me back with a picture of the dress she had on at the moment that she claimed was my favorite color, I spotted Dwayne Shaw, her ex. Not only was he her ex, he was the one she told me had hit her across the face.

"How you doing, bruh? Congrats on the finals." He stuck his hand out to me smiling as I inhaled on my blunt. I noticed Lequay reading my energy, trying to see what beef I had with this nigga.

"How am I doing?" I blew smoke and stared up at him since I was seated. "I'm wondering if I should slap the shit out you like you do women."

Audible gasps escaped a few people, including my sisters-in-law as my brothers and others around looked on.

Chuckling, Dwayne replied, "I… huh?"

"Nigga, you heard what the fuck I said." I rose to my feet, dwarfing his bitch ass.

I hated everything about this nigga right now. I already didn't fuck with niggas who beat women, but I especially didn't fuck with the nigga who thought he could put his hands on Yolani. He was lucky I didn't put nothing in his chest for that shit, but I was trying not to fuck up my brother's shit by killing a nigga in the midst of it. As far as going to prison, that was a factor, too, but not too much when it came to Yolani. My motto would always and forever be anything for her. The only downside would be me losing her because of the sudden prison stint.

Backing up some out of obvious fear, he threw his hands up. "Look, I don't know what?—"

"Don't say her name."

"I don't know what she told you, but if that's what she said, she's lying." He tried to chuckle and look around, but my brothers only met his goofy ass expression with mugs that matched mine. He was in the wrong area if he was looking for a fucking ally.

Before he could even finish saying the word ‘lying,' my free hand had gone across his face. And before he could recover from that one, I backhanded his ass the other way, making him scurry backward to avoid another hit.

"Hit me across the face, nigga. You tough, right?" I followed his path, backing him all the way to the railing of our section.

He hit the rail so abruptly that it broke, and he fell onto the table of decorations, snapping it in two.

"Damn!" People bellowed, laughed, and commented.

Peering over the now broken edge, I took a toke on the blunt before I said, "Either you get the fuck up out of here, or we gon' fight all muthafuckin' night, nigga."

"He gotta go!" Khari shouted to who I guess was security. I didn't know; I was focused on this nigga.

Security came and began helping Dwayne to his feet as he cupped his face in shock like a battered housewife and began escorting his ass out.

"He hit Yolani?" Analicia frowned, watching Dwayne leave with a disgusted expression.

I simply nodded before she, Presley, Scotland, and Couture began conversing about it and how much they didn't like his ass anymore, amongst a few other things that would've killed that nigga's self-esteem had he heard it.

The rest of the party was cool, no issues, especially when it seemed like Milaysia had left too.

Missing her like always, I decided I would kick it at Yolani's for the night instead of going home. At this point, we rarely spent nights alone, and that was how I preferred it. I wanted us cohabitating and shit, but Yolani didn't wanna do anything until I gave her my last name. And honestly, I wasn't even tripping because I planned to make the shit happen sooner than later. Once her ring was done and I got her fuck ass pops' approval, it was go-time.

"I missed you." Yolani beamed as soon as I stepped into her bedroom.

Like always, she got out of bed and rushed to me. She wore some tiny ass bra and even tinier shorts, an ensemble that she claimed was lounge clothes, but the shit might as well have been lingerie with how hard she got my dick when she wore it.

"I missed you more. Next time my brother reach out, you better go."

"I was booked already, but also, I didn't want to meet your family like that." She sat on the bed Indian style.

"I feel you. You about to meet them soon as we can align our schedules." I sat on the edge of her bed. "I want you to meet my parents separately though. I got too many fucking siblings, and I don't want you overwhelmed and shit."

"I appreciate that because I can already tell I would be." She simpered then said, "So I heard what happen at your brother's party some hours ago."

"Yeah." I ran my hand down my hair, watching to see how she felt about the shit.

"Why did you slap that man like that?" A grin broke out on her face.

"He felt like it was cool to slap a woman, my woman, so I wanted to show him what that shit felt like."

"I appreciate you, baby, but I don't want you losing anything or something to happen to you because of me."

"That'll be the only time it's worth it, love." I leaned back onto the bed, propping myself up with my arm.

"You will be happy to know that I notice I get a lot less negative comments on stuff ever since you came into my life. Mainly from the males in the industry. All positive vibes from them, even in person."

I laughed, and she followed suit.

"That's how it should be, baby. Long as I'm alive, ain't no grown ass man gon' bring you harm or speak on you negatively, not unless he wanna see me."

She came and lay next to me, facing me.

"I love you." She tossed her leg across me, so I brought her body into mine.

"I love you too, lil mama."

P ulling up to the callbox at Yolani's parents' home, I rolled down the window and pressed the call button.

"Hello?" A deep voice poured through.

"Mr. Ian, it's Cemone. I wanna talk to you."

"About what?"

Chuckling, I said, "In person if you don't mind." I mumbled bitch ass nigga once I let the button go. Had he not been Yolani's father, I would've kept hold to the button and said it.

"I'm busy, young man." He finally responded.

"It's important, so I would appreciate it if you gave me like fifteen minutes, Mr. Ian."

Another long ass pause before he said, "Come in."

The gate slid open, so I pulled my Rolls Royce through, shaking my fucking head. We were already off to a bad start, but I was praying I left this muthafucka with what I came for.

As I exited the car, Darrell came to the door, standing there with his face already contorted into a deep ass frown.

"How you doing, Mr. Ian?" I looked down at him as I stepped inside the house.

"I'm fine, Cemone. What is it?" He folded his arms, nostrils flared out of annoyance, and I hadn't even been here for thirty seconds.

"Can we sit somewhere?" I frowned.

He thought for a moment, then waved for me to follow him. We ended up in a bar area where he gestured for me to sit. He made himself a drink, then asked if I wanted one. It looked like it killed him to be polite to a nigga, so I declined.

"Alright." He sat next to me and sipped the brown liquor.

"I came here to talk to you because, ultimately, I would like to have yo' blessing to marry Yolani."

He laughed, laughed so hard he almost choked.

Setting his glass down, he pondered as he watched his glass then said, "Cemone, I can't give you my blessing until I see a side of you that I would approve of. The man I envisioned giving my daughter to, you don't have any of those qualities. What I do know about you, son, I don't like."

"I love Yolani, and I'm gon' do right, give her every fucking thing within and outside of my power. As far as what you know, sir, it ain't much because you ain't never been willing to actually get to know me.

"Yolani is more than a pretty face with a pretty voice. She's smart as hell, tough, and she practices discernment at all times. You raised her to be that way, so you gotta trust her judgment."

"How, when she has chosen badly time and again, Cemone?"

"That was before. She took time off, and she learned from that shit. She ain't no doormat nor is she impressionable. Yolani is a hell of a woman, and only certain niggas can get that experience. So trust me when I tell you she ain't with me because she don't know better. She with me because I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I ain't slipping or missing no marks. She wouldn't accept anything less, and I wouldn't even approach her with less."

"Hm." He scratched his chin hair and gulped down his alcohol, emptying the glass.

"I know I got a temper, and I need to dial that shit back, but it's gon' always be fuck everything and everybody when it comes to Yolani. Ain't no dialing that back. Excuse my French."

Refilling his glass, he took a sip. "Alright, Cemone. I will give you my blessing, not because I believe what you're saying, but because I wanna call your bluff. I don't want you using me as an excuse not to make Yolani your wife."

"I'll take it, but with all due respect, whether you said yes or no, nothing was gon' keep me from making Yolani my wife."

"Let's see then."