Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Thirty-Seven

    "I...don't like her," Bri muttered, staring off after Vanessa.

    Drake angled a look down at Bri. "Can I speak to Mia for a moment?"

    Bri nodded. "Sure, yeah." She gave her friend a look before scampering off.

    Drake sat in the lounge chair next to Mia.

    They sat in silence for several moments.

    "When you work with me," Drake said slowly, watching his friends splash around in the pool, "when you are involved with me in any way, you have to always be mindful of what you say and who you say it to."

    "She told me she heard that you and I worked together and I told her that I couldn't talk about that," Mia said.

    He nodded his head. "And that was good. That is what you were supposed to say." He paused. "As a songwriter, when you work with an artist, any artist. You are always a fan. You love their work. You wake up listening to their work and you go to sleep listening to their work."

    "I didn't tell her I wasn't a fan of yours," Mia told him defensively. "I said that I admired you as an artist, but that I wasn't familiar with all of your work."

    "And that's okay. It's okay to say that." He lapsed into silence again, flipping his cell phone around in his hand. "Tonight, your homework is to get familiar with my music."

    She crossed her arms over her chest at the firmness in his voice.

    The look in his eyes was matter-of-fact.

    "Done. She already gave me a few songs to check out."

    His brows furrowed. "Which songs?"

    She tucked hair behind her ears. "'Trust Issues'... 'Marvin's Room'... 'Now & Forever'... and..." She frowned in concentration. "'Company?'"

    He stared at her and a slow smile stretched across his face. He turned his head and called out over his shoulder, "Spoons!"

    The muscular, dark brown-skinned bodyguard sauntered over, dressed in a black t-shirt and dark track pants. Shades covered his eyes. "Yeah?"

    "I want Vanessa escorted off the property. I never want to see her on my property again." Drake continued looking at Mia while speaking to his security guard.

    Spoons nodded. "Got it."

    "Before giving her back her phone, check it. Text messages. Photos. Audio recordings. Everything. Check everything." Drake looked at Spoons over his shoulder.

    "Got it." Spoons backed away.

    Mia sat up straighter in her seat and looked past Drake, over to where Spoons was walking. The security guard approached Vanessa, who was standing near the grill talking to Mark. She looked up as Spoons approached. Spoons leaned close to her and spoke in her ear.

    Vanessa's mouth turned down at the corners. "What?" she shouted. She looked over towards Mia.

    Spoons gently guided her towards the patio door.

    "Really, Drake? Really?" Vanessa screamed at him.

    Drake leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

    Mia shook her head at him. "Why did you do that?"

    "The reason Vanessa suggested those songs to you is because she wanted you to have a bad impression of me," he explained. "She's scheming in my house, on my property. I can't tolerate that."

    "I don't understand why you invite these women to your house in the first place," Mia muttered, glancing around. "I don't understand how having them around benefits you. All they do is walk around trying to look cute, trying to get your attention. It's pathetic."

    His eyebrows shot up. "Tell me how you really feel," he joked, sitting back in the chair.

    She shrugged. "Once in awhile? Throw a party, let your boys blow off some steam? That, I can understand. But she was here yesterday, she's here today, and she's already hinted at having been here over the weekend. What purpose does she serve?"

    "I don't expect you to understand her purpose," he said, draping an arm over his eyes.

    She stared at him for a moment before turning her head and surveying the swimmers in the pool. "Would you rather I not listen to those songs, then?"

    "I want you to listen to them."

    She sputtered in disbelief. "Then why throw her out?"

    He lifted his arm and peered at her out of the corner of his eye. "Because if she's manipulative enough to suggest those songs, there's no telling what else she would try to do," he said, "and I'm not taking that chance. Someone who is going to be that sneaky doesn't need to be in my house or on my property."

    "I understand," Mia said.

    He laughed. "My music is out there. I couldn't stop you from listening to it if I wanted to. It's everywhere. And I weighed that. Before I put words on paper and definitely before recording it or putting it on an album, I always weigh the consequences of releasing it. I know that my family will hear it, my friends will hear it, colleagues will hear it, and potential girlfriends will hear it. I consider all of that. The songs I have released, they are me. They are a part of me, a part of who I am, or who I was. That's not something I would ever deny anyone knowing. I don't have anything to hide. Everything you need to know about me, is in my music."

    "Not everything," she insisted.

    He arched a look over at her. "How could you know? When you're not even familiar with my work?"

    "Everything that I want to know about you can't be on your albums or your mixtapes," she maintained. "I want to know more about you than that."

    "Like?"

    She ran a hand through her hair. "Like...the side of yourself that you don't show people."

    "Not many people get to see that."

    "I want to be one of the ones that do," she said stubbornly, swinging her legs onto the lounge chair and reclining.

    He smiled over at her. "Maybe you will be."