The Contradiction {COMPLETED}

❥ | 2

NEON GUTS

BGK
DECEMBER 9
NEW YORK

"You have to be more careful," I patted Chris on his shoulder before sitting down next to him.

"I don't even believe she's a real officer. She can talk fancy, but that don't convince me."

I chuckled and August nodded. "How are your classes going Aug?" I asked.

"They're cool."

There was a certain sting that hung around us when I let him hang with Chris, Artist, and I. He thought the life we lived was cool and fun. As a nineteen-year-old, I didn't blame him, but all I needed him to do was go to school. I would give him everything he needed if he just finished school. He wanted to live the fast, flashy, lavish life when I was trying to protect him from it.

But there was a difference between August and I. Like I said, he thought this life was cool, but I was born into it and it wasn't a walk in the park. I was trying to rebuild an empire, set up connections worldwide, and make sure my children and my children's children were trust fund babies. I wanted August to be able to do the same because I knew he wanted to, but his mind wasn't ready yet. I needed him to wait so he was safe and legal.

It got harder and harder to control his urge for this fast-paced, illegal, 'fun'.

There was a knock on the door that the three of us already knew was Artist. We all had our own calculated knock, even August.

Once he realized the door was unlocked, he walked in. "Y'all waiting on me?"

"I am," I stood up and held my hand out to Chris. "Give me your keys."

"My keys? All the keys in here and you want mine?"

"Your car is the only one that's new. I'm also going to get it wrapped so that officer doesn't get any bright ideas. We good, we don't need any police in our business. We do what we gotta do and we keep it moving."

He nodded and handed me the keys.

"August you do your homework while I'm gone 'cause I know you got some. If I check and it's not done, you and I have a big problem. Chris you wait for Teyana, she's the choreographer I was telling you about. That's your field so you talk to her, pick her brain, and tell me what you think."

I nodded at them both and Artist and I left with me locking the door behind me.

"Studio's first," He said.

I allowed him to lead the way and followed him to the studio in Chris' Lambo. My eyes were surveying every road, every corner, every bridge for officers.

Just stepping into the city without even setting up shop yet and becoming a target for them, was not on my radar. I wanted to go unnoticed and I wanted to leave this place untouched. I didn't come here to start a riot or to start shooting up the city like some vigilante. I simply needed to put my foot in the door with some people in power here, some people that weren't in power but peaked my interest, and some people that would be able to keep my product moving without being detected.

I felt every conversation was a transaction. Whether it was knowledge, money, or a service, there was something going from one person to the other in a conversation. All of that applied to everybody around me, except August. He was an exception to a lot of my rules, actually.