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Two days had passed and everyone was celebrating one of the all-time favorite holidays—Thanksgiving. It was early in the afternoon and the sun was hiding behind a few clouds. Gusts of strong winds blew in from the west and the scent of rain was in the air.
Aleesha was ecstatic that she was spending the day with her husband and children. They were all in the backyard with a photographer, getting ready to take family portraits. Savage played with them on the jungle gym while Aleesha sat back on the bench and watched.
“Thank you for coming today, Yoshi,” Aleesha said, looking over at her. She was waiting for her to finish setting her equipment up.
“No problem boss lady, I didn’t have any plans today anyway,” Yoshi nonchalantly replied.
Yoshi’s real name was Jessica, but she got her nickname because she always carried a Yoshi backpack with her. She was a professional photographer who worked on Aleesha’s marketing team who was also responsible for making flyers and promoting events for the lounge.
“I thought you had plans with your boyfriend?” Aleesha nosily asked.
“I did, buuttt ...” she dragged out while she untangled some cords, “the other day before I went to work we got into an argument. And when I got home that night, his things were gone and he was on his way to Wisconsin without me,” she responded indifferently as she toyed with her camera.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Aleesha sympathetically replied.
Aleesha felt bad for Yoshi. She and her boyfriend both worked for Aleesha on her marketing team. Ever since they began working for her, it seemed like they were always having problems. He was a real jerk, always belittling Yoshi and making her feel unworthy. Not to mention he disrespected her by talking and flirting with other females in front of her. And Aleesha could have sworn Yoshi came to work with bruises on her body, but Yoshi blew it off and said it was nothing but an allergic reaction. Aleesha knew there was only a matter of time before the relationship ended, and she feared the outcome.
“It’s fine. He was just mad. I didn’t want to be around his family anyway,” Yoshi joked as she laughed.
“You can have dinner with us,” Aleesha suggested.
“You sure, I don’t want to take up any space.”
“Yes I’m sure, and I wouldn’t have invited you if you were going to be taking up space.”
“Thanks, boss lady.”
“No problem, Yoshi.”
After the family portraits, Aleesha began making the rest of her holiday meal. She had to make two times the normal amount she usually made because many of she and Savage’s family members and friends were coming over.
At around 5 p.m. everyone started showing up. Aleesha’s parents, Savage’s mom, Lala and her girlfriend Kiara, Sensi, Savage’s friend Trey, Milasia, and a few other people arrived in that order. The food was almost ready, and everyone except Aleesha and Lala were gathered in the living room, catching up on each other’s lives.
“So Savage, I heard you’ve been producin’ for some big name artists,” Milasia asserted. She stood by his chair sipping on a mimosa.
“Yeah, I ain’t one to name-drop but I’m workin’ wit’ some of the best,” Savage modestly stated. He laid with his head back in the chair and his eyes closed. “My focus been on this lil’ nigga I started mentoring though. He can speak and sing in Spanish too.”
“Oh really?” she asked, pushing his arm off the armrest. Then she sat down facing him. “That’s different.”
He suspiciously looked up at her with one eye and put his elbow back on the armrest. “Yeah he raw,” he said, closing his eye. “I see a lot of potential in ‘em.”
“How old is he?”
“17.”
“Aww, he’s still a baby.”
“I know, he been through a lot,” he reflectively stated, his arm unknowingly falling around Milasia’s waist. “He got heart though.”
“He gotta show it in his music, that’s what’s gone separate him from the rest.”
“I’m already knowin’.”
“Aleesha told me about some female rapper you were working with. Damn,” Milasia said as she put her head down in deep thought. “What’s her name?” she asked, looking at Savage.
“Oh Havoc,” he said, opening his eyes as a huge grin formed. “Yeah, she dope.”
***
“Best friend, you never told me what happened,” Lala stated. She sat at the counter while Aleesha was stirring a pot of food on the stove. The two hadn’t really talked since the day at the office and she didn’t know how her best friend got through the situation with Savage.
Aleesha stopped what she was doing and sat the cooking spoon she was using on the stove. Then she turned around with an uneasy look on her face. “Best friend, please don’t be mad at me.”
“Why would I be mad at you?” Lala asked with narrow eyes.
Aleesha bit her bottom lip. “I told Savage you were trying to have a baby.”
“WHAT!” Lala yelled.
“Shhh. Lala, please just go along with it.”
“Leelee, that means I have to tell Kiara too. What if Savage brings it up?”
“He won’t.”
“Fuck, Aleesha.” Lala let out a sigh. “You better be glad I love you.”
“Thank you best friend,” Aleesha said with relief as she leaned on the counter. “I told Savage about me and Sensi too.”
Lala looked at her wide eyed. “What did he say?”
“Nothing,” she said with a shoulder shrug and a smile, “he’s cool with it.”
“I knew it. As long as you’re not giving your pussy away to another nigga you all good.”
“I know, I feel guilty about it though.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well when did you start? Bitch because a week ago you didn’t feel shit.” Lala broke into laughter.
“Shut up,” Aleesha said as she giggled. “I started feeling like that after I had this horrible ass nightmare.”
“What happened?” Lala asked curiously.
Aleesha leaned in closer to Lala and began whispering, “Okay, so after y’all left here that night, I went to Sensi’s.”
“Oh lord,” Lala said shaking her head.
***
Sensi was bugging out when she first met Savage because she knew she recognized him from somewhere. Her memory began getting jogged when she saw him and Trey together but where she knew him from didn’t fully hit her until she saw him and Milasia talking to each other.
She remembered the night from a few years back. It was her, Milasia and a couple other girls that worked at The Kings Palace with them at the time. She forgot the guy’s name that had invited them there but she damn sure couldn’t forget how fine he was with his green eyes and curls. Everyone was flirting with each other but she remembered how hard Milasia was trying with Savage. Eventually they ended up going into the back, and Sensi recalled Milasia coming out an hour later with a huge grin on her face and giving the green eyed guy some money.
She knew something was up then and they looked a little too close for comfort now. She couldn’t not tell Aleesha so she headed to the kitchen.
***
Lala looked up and noticed Sensi walking in. “Speaking of the devil,” she said to Aleesha, nodding her head in Sensi’s direction.
“Don’t be in here talking about me,” Sensi said with a smile as she walked up to them.
“What’s up, Sensi?” Aleesha asked.
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay, let me finish talking to Lala.”
“This is important though,” Sensi said with a pout.
“Okay, so is the conversation I’m having right now,” Aleesha replied irritably. “I’ll be in there.”
“Fine.” Sensi turned around and stomped out the room.
“Damn,” Aleesha said with a hint of irritation still in her voice, “she’s so childish sometimes.”
Lala laughed. “She’s starting to catch feelings, that’s why.”
“Ugh,” Aleesha grunted, shaking her head. “I hope not. What were we just talking about again?” she asked, losing her train of thought.
“Damn, with yo high ass,” Lala playfully joked. “You were about to tell me about your nightmare.”
“Shut up. Anyway ...” Aleesha began to tell Lala about the nightmare she had. She made sure she spoke in a low tone so that no one could overhear their conversation.
When she was finished, Lala was beyond shocked. “Damn. Well maybe that was telling you something.”
“Bitch, don’t start.”
“I’m serious, Aleesha,” Lala said with a stern look on her face. “How long do you really plan on dragging Cali along? You need to give that dream up.”
“It’s not a dream,” Aleesha countered.
“Yes it is,” Lala said with a slight chuckle. “You expect to have this perfect family life and stay friends with your ex. I see if you two dated for a couple months, but it was two years. Some relationships are created for a learning experience while others are meant to last a lifetime, and the sooner you realize the difference between the two the faster you will move on with your life.”
Aleesha was offended. “I have moved on, we just have a lot of history together.”
“I know best friend, but just because we are products of our past we don’t have to be prisoners of it. You need to set him free so he can move on too. It’s not just about you, Leelee.”
Aleesha let out a huge sigh as she turned around to check on the food. “All the food is finally done. Can you help me carry these dishes to the dining room?”
“Yeah best friend,” Lala said, disappointed. She will never learn, she thought to herself as she grabbed a pot of greens and headed toward the dining room.
***
“Dinner’s ready!” Aleesha yelled happily once everything was on the table.
Everyone made their way into the dining room and took a seat at the large twelve-seater table. The twins were sat in their high chairs and were given a plate with small servings of all the food on it, and everything looked amazing. Dishes of home-made macaroni and cheese, greens, mashed potatoes, dressing, chitterlings, candied yams, dinner rolls, and cranberry sauce filled the table. There were two trays of everything, and two turkeys and honey glazed hams sat in the middle of it all. After saying grace, everyone dug into the food.
Halfway through the dinner, Savage received a call from his studio. He excused himself from the table and went to his bedroom to take the call. It was his cousin Mac, who was also his studio manager. He was informing him that an artist named Asaru was at the studio and wanted to meet up with him so they could work together. Savage vowed to be on the red eye that night back to New Orleans and ended the call.
Savage was super excited because he knew this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss. Asaru was one of the many sons of the most Notorious Mafia Godfather to ever come from California, Ra’id, formerly known as Cyrus King. Asaru was also one of the best battle rappers/free-stylist in the hip hop world at the moment, so working with him would definitely give a boost to Savage’s career. Just as he was walking toward the door, it opened and Aleesha came rushing in with Aniya on her right hip.
“What’s wrong, babe?” he asked her as she made her way toward their bathroom.
“She wasn’t eating and she has an attitude,” Aleesha said as she walked into the bathroom with Savage following behind her. She went straight to the medicine cabinet and grabbed a thermometer. “And she feels warm, I think she’s sick again.” Aleesha sat on the toilet and sat Aniya in her lap, and began rubbing the thermometer against Aniya’s forehead.
Savage leaned his right side against the doorframe. “Damn, she keeps getting sick.”
“I know,” Aleesha said as the thermometer started beeping. “Yeah, she got a slight fever. Hmph,” she groaned as she stood up and placed her daughter back on her hip. “I’m about to give her some medicine and lay her down for a nap. We can take her to the pediatrician on Monday if she doesn’t get better.”
“Aight,” Savage said as Aleesha brushed past him. He almost forgot about the phone call he just had until he thought about the plans he just made. “Babe,” he said, turning around and walking toward her.
She stopped walking and turned around to face him. “Yeah.”
“I won’t be out here Monday.” He could tell she immediately caught an attitude by the frown that appeared on her face.
“Why?”
“I gotta get back to the studio.”
“What the fuck for?”
“What do you mean what for?” he asked, confused by her question. “For work, babe.”
“It can’t wait until next week?”
“Nah, the nigga I’m working wit’ flyin’ out the states Saturday. And this is an opportunity I can’t miss.”
Aleesha rolled her eyes. “Who is it?”
“Asaru.”
“King?” Aleesha asked as her facial expression became uneasy.
“Yeah, why?” Savage apprehensively asked her.
“Nothing,” Aleesha said shaking her head.
“That nigga is the best right now babe, I need this.”
“Okay,” Aleesha simply said before turning around and walking out the room.
“Okay?” Savage asked as he walked after her.
Aleesha made her way to the twin’s bedroom and sat Aniya in her crib. “Yeah, I understand. Just know you owe me.” She began searching through a few bags until she found some medicine.
“I know babe, and thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Aleesha said as Savage gave her a kiss on the cheek and was out of the room.
No later than a minute after Savage left out the room, Sensi was walking in. “I thought you were going to talk to me?”
Aleesha had just given Aniya her medicine and was putting it back in the bag. “What do you want, Sensi?” she asked, annoyed.
“Why are you acting so mean toward me?” Sensi asked in a saddened tone.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to,” Aleesha said as she picked Aniya up and began to rock her to sleep. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“I understand, mamí.”
“So what did you want to tell me?”
Sensi leaned against the crib. “You need to keep Mila away from your husband.”
Aleesha was stunned. Out of all the things she expected Sensi to say, that wasn’t one of them. “Why?”
“They were just a little to close earlier and because of their past, I wouldn’t leave her 3 feet close to him.”
“What are you talking about their past?”
“They had sex a few years ago at this kick back.”
“What?”
“They went into one of the bedrooms and she—”
“Stop,” Aleesha said, putting her palm up to Sensi’s face. “I don’t want to hear this shit right now, Sensi. Thank you for the advice but at this point I don’t care for it. I trust them around each other and that’s all that matters.”
Aleesha left out the room, leaving Sensi dumbfounded and hurt. She thought she would be doing the right thing by telling Aleesha but it only made Aleesha mad at her. She knew Aleesha would be distant from her for the rest of the night so she decided to go home.
When Aleesha walked into the living room, her brother DJ was walking in with a pretty island-looking woman. She was a few inches shorter than him, and the first thing Aleesha noticed about her was her long toned legs. The form-fitting shirt she wore exposed her flat stomach and if Aleesha had to guess, she would bet money that the woman was a swimmer.
“Hey y’all, this my girl Okalani,” DJ announced to the room.
“Nini for short,” she said with a smile and wave.
Everyone said hey and continued with what they were doing.
Aleesha walked up to the couple. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said as she exchanged one-armed hugs with both of them. “Wow, this must be serious bro. You’ve never brought a girl home.”
“Yeah, she something special. She been ridin’ wit’ a nigga for a cool lil’ minute so I figured why not,” he coolly explained.
“18 years is not a ‘cool lil’ minute’,” Okalani mocked while air quoting with her fingers. “Those are marriage numbers. You just better be glad I don’t believe in that shit or you would’ve been locked down a long time ago.”
“Wow,” Aleesha said wide eyed. “18 years. Really DJ?”
“And you kept her away this long?” Renee asked.
DJ shrugged his shoulders. “It wasn’t that serious to us.”
“So y’all been together since high school?” Aleesha asked after calculating it up, still confused about the situation. She rolled her eyes as she watched Sensi walk out the door.
“Yeah?” Okalani answered, puzzled by Aleesha’s facial expressions. “We’ve been off and on.”
“Oh I’m sorry, don’t mind that,” Aleesha said, waving off her actions. “But y’all weird.”
“Shut yo big head ass up. What’s wrong with Niya loc?” DJ asked, noticing the pale look on his niece’s face.
“She’s sick. I’m about to go lay her down. I just had to rock her to sleep first.”
“Here, give me my grandbaby,” Renee said, taking Aniya away from Aleesha. “I can do it.”
“Dang mom,” Aleesha laughed.
“Where’s my nephew?” DJ asked, looking around for Anthony.
“He’s still in his high chair eating,” Aleesha answered. “That little boy is so greedy,” she said shaking her head.
“Man, I’m tryna be on that same shit, sis,” DJ said, rubbing his stomach.
“There’s still a lot of food in there,” Aleesha said, pointing her thumb in the direction of the dining room.
“Aight, shit I gotta smoke first though.”
“Okay, we might as well get a session in. Let me go get some weed.”
“Don’t even trip, sis,” DJ said just as Aleesha was turning around to walk away. She turned back to face him. “You know I already got a lotta that. Gimme that bag, Nini.”
Okalani reached into her purse, pulled out a quarter pound of Kush and handed it to DJ.
“Okay, I see you,” Aleesha said in approval. “I’ll gather up the smokers and meet y’all in the backyard. Don’t rollup though, I got a little something better that we can use. Mom,” she said, turning her attention toward Renee, “can you keep an eye and ear out for my kids?”
“Of course baby,” Renee answered as she continued rocking Aniya.
After getting everyone who smoked to go to the backyard, Aleesha went and got her new gadget out of her room. She walked outside carrying some type of machine, some type of plastic bags and a medium sized pouch, and made her way over to the bench where she placed the gadget right in the middle. Everyone followed behind her and either took a seat at the bench or stood up by it.
“What is this?” Milasia asked as Aleesha took a seat next to her and handed her a bag.
“A Volcano vaporizer,” Aleesha unenthusiastically answered while handing a bag to Okalani and Lala. She didn’t want to believe what Sensi told her but she knew it was the truth, and at this point she was cool on Milasia. “Where’s the weed at, bro?”
“Here,” DJ said, handing her the weed.
Aleesha opened the bag and took out a nug. “Is this Space Bomb?” she asked, examining the weed.
“Yeah,” DJ replied, impressed at how quick his sister knew the weed strand.
“Okay. I ain’t gone lie, this shit is a process, but I promise the little wait will be worth it because we’re going to be high as fuck,” Aleesha said, looking around at everyone. “First, you turn this vaporizer on,” she said pressing a red button on the machine, “and then you set your temperature. I keep mine at 380°. We gotta wait a few minutes for it to warm up, so I’ll grind some of this weed down while we wait.”
Aleesha took a weed grinder and a small jar out of her pouch and began to break down the weed as everyone began talking and joking with each other. She had about an eighth and a half of weed grinded up inside her jar by the time the vaporizer was ready. “Okay,” she said, getting everyone’s attention, “You put the weed in this bowl and connect it to the top of the vaporizer, then place this nozzle that’s on the bag, onto the bowl,” Aleesha said as she demonstrated. “Then press this green button and the smoke starts to fill up the bag.” Aleesha waited for the bag to get full then finished the rest of her demonstration. “Then hit the green button again, detach the bag and hit the smoke from the bag.” Aleesha took a huge hit from the bag and began coughing really hard so she passed the bag to Savage.
“Damn,” everyone said in unison as Aleesha struggled to breathe again.
“You alright, mommy?” Savage asked.
Aleesha shook her head yes as she finally caught her breath. “That’s some fire. And with this we’re smoking nothing but THC.”
Everyone with a bag took turns filling it up with smoke and took a few puffs before passing it to whoever was closest to them. After a few turns, everyone was high as a kite and had the munchies so they headed inside for dessert. The only ones who stayed outside and continued to smoke were Aleesha, Savage, DJ and Okalani.
“So Okalani, what do you do?” Aleesha asked. It had been puzzling her all night why her brother never even thought to mention her.
“Me and your brother are business partners,” Okalani answered, taking a hit from the bag.
“Business partners doing what?” Aleesha curiously asked.
“So I guess you kept how you made your money a secret too,” Okalani stated, turning her attention toward DJ.
“When we first started she was too young to know about all that,” DJ said as he took a hit from the bag.
“Well she looks pretty grown up to me now,” Okalani sarcastically stated.
“Okay, so you can tell her,” DJ retorted.
Okalani rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Aleesha. “We run an escort service.”
“Wow!” Aleesha exclaimed in shock. “Really? Why?”
“Well, we were already in the sex business before we even graduated from high school. It’s amazing how many girls were willing to sell their pussy for us,” Okalani said as she shook her head and laughed. “But we took a trip to Vegas one weekend for spring break and after a close friend of your brothers showed him the ropes and how much we really could be making, we decided then that once we turned 18 we would move to Vegas and start our own company.”
“That explains why you up and moved there,” Aleesha said to DJ. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asked in a hurt tone.
“Because, I never wanted you to even think about going in the same route I did,” DJ admitted as he took a hit from the bag. “I mean, the money’s cool and all, but if you ain’t got the right state of mind for it, it’ll swallow yo ass up. I seen it happen too many times.”
“I think I could have handled it. I’m not some naïve ass little girl,” Aleesha said as she rolled her neck at him.
“Damn, calm down sis,” DJ said, throwing his hands up in defense. “I didn’t mean it like that. But being in the sex business is different than what you think. You can’t have any type of emotions doing what I do cuz you’ll get caught up. And believe it or not this is a big business dealing with real ass tycoons and shit.”
“Well, selling sex isn’t my forte anyway,” she said with a lackluster smile, “weed is. Speaking of, how is my shop doing?”
“It’s all good, sis.” DJ’s phone started ringing. “You know I’m holdin’ it down for you,” he said before taking his cell phone out of his pocket and answering the call.
“Alright,” Aleesha said, waving him off. “Babe, can you go check on the twins?” she asked Savage.
“No problem mommy,” Savage said, handing her the bag before he got up and walked away.
“Here sis, the phone,” DJ said smiling, handing Aleesha his cell phone.
“Who is it?” she asked before looking at the phone screen. Once she saw the name, a huge smile spread across her face. “Hey,” she answered.