The Unusual Suspects Book 2

Charles

"Influx, huh? I like it." I said to Kev as we were standing outside the restaurant smoking for a moment.
"Yeah it was time for me to shed that name and move onto something new." he said to me. I respected it.
"Of course, you are a grown ass man so that name wasn't suitable, I get it. I'm proud of you my guy." I said as we shook up on that one.
'Thanks C. I appreciate all the help you gave to get me to this point dawg."
"Never necessary, I help those who are helping themselves. Plus the label wouldn't be what it is without you." I told him truthfully.
"Okay let me hit that mild with you." Riek said walking out as Kev passed him the black & mild.
"They cool in there?" I asked Riek.
"Hell yeah, you know how they are." he said and we all laughed for a minute. Then Riek passed it to me. "I'm surprised they ain't in there freestyling."
"Onyx would've started all that." Kev said as I passed it to him.
"That's a nice ass watch." I said as I looked at it. He turned his wrist to show it a little bit.
"Thanks, it was a gift from Dom." he said. Me and Riek looked at each other.
"So yall official?" Riek said and he nodded. "Good shit brody." Riek said.
"Thanks bruh. You know ain't none of us on your status, but you know." We all laughed at that one.
"Well you know, the game is to be sold not told." he said and we carried on the laughs before heading back in. We took our seats back at the table and by this time they were bringing the food to the table. We had a nice little turn out for the dinner even on short notice. It was Me, Iris, Riek, Aries, Araya, Depth, Rodney, Dom, Kev, Keisha, and even Cinco came out. Good vibes for sure.
"Thank yall for coming out to celebrate my birthday with me. I look around this table and see nothing but family. I appreciate this moment, because I never had this growing up. I mean, me and Keish always had each other, but nothing more. I appreciate my brothers and sisters that showed up for the kid."
"Wait a minute, we in here too." Onyx said as he and Paradox rushed over to the table.
"Appreciate that yall. But naw for real 18 been treating me good. So for yall that don't know, I am officially changing my name to Influx. Little Man went away when I became a grown man. Not changing up, just getting better yall. Special thanks to my girl over here for making all of this possible. I appreciate you." he said as he leaned over to kiss her. "So let's eat and enjoy each other's company." he finished as we all clapped after that. Yup my young bull is grown.
"Baby, you want to handle this?" Iris asked me softly referring to the bill for the table for dinner.
"I tried already, the bill been taken care of though." I told her and she raised a brow and nodded at that. I looked down at my phone because Jay had texted me. Damn...guess I gotta get some intel on Suki. I'd have to hip Iris too so she would be eyes wide open at their appointment tomorrow.
"You good?" she asked me.
"We'll discuss it later for sure." I said and she nodded at that. I loved that we always knew how to carry on regardless of what was thrown at us.
"We got something for you bruh." Aries said as she passed the bag to Depth and Depth handed it over to Kev. He opened it and instantly smiled.
"I wasn't expecting shit, but thanks yall." he said as he pulled it out for all of us to see. They blew up the article that was in the paper regarding the listening party and his image was all over that. They framed it nicely too.
"You're welcome. We just wanted to make sure you never forgot who you are." Riek told him.
"We got you something too." Paradox said as he passed him the little box his gift was in. He opened it that one and smiled too.
"Now you know I had to get you right." Onyx said. It was a grill, Onyx did work in a shop, but she definitely killed it with that one. "Plus you know you spit hot fire son." she said as we all laughed.
"Who's your favorite rapper?" Dom said.
"Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, and Dylan." we all said together as we died laughing.
"Okay, my turn." Keisha said. "I had to have Dom help me, but I know you'll love it." Keisha hit play on her phone and it was a video of her rapping to Kev. Not gonna lie, she was nice on the mic too. It was a nice appreciation to her brother on raising her and being there. We all felt that. I had never seen this cat get emotional but dude definitely looked like he was about to cry when he got up and hugged his sister tight as hell. We all just watched that moment.
"You ain't tell me you could do all that." he said as he pulled apart from her.
"Okay cuz I mean you can get in the studio tomorrow, you feel me?" Iris said and we all laughed.
"For real?" Keisha said sounding excited.
"Talk to your brother and if it's cool, we got you." I told her. They looked at each other and smiled at that.
"In true OG fashion, I don't come anywhere empty handed." Rodney said as he passed him a bag too. Kev opened the bag and it yielded a charm that said Influx on it.
"Ever since we had that talk, I knew you'd make that change. Represent yourself." Rodney told him.
"Thank you." he said as he nodded.
"And in true big dog fashion, you know we had to get you one time for the one time." Iris said as I pulled out the chain that goes with the charm.
"Shine on bruh!" I told him.
"Man...thank you to all yall. This means a lot." That moment, realizing he'd have never experienced this without me, I felt like I was where I needed to be.