SugarCOAT

67. Before You Walk Away 👟

When I got to my hotel room, Zeke and Monica were sitting on one of the beds and talking.

"And what are y'all fancying about?"

Zeke pointed at me. "That's what makes her different. She sounds like those actors back in the day."

"Her voice or her words? Because I can tell you right now, her choice in words are not by accident. She's been bitten by the love bug."

I open the hotel door just to slam it. "Can y'all not talk about me while I'm standing here. And I thought I wasn't gonna see you until after my performance tomorrow morning..." I looked at Zeke.

He stood up and walked over to me. "I had to make sure your cousin got to the room safely since she arrived before you did."

"Okay, but I didn't get a body guard."

"You're here early," Zeke replied.

Monica lightly laughed.

I cut my eyes at her, and she stopped.

Zeke walked towards me. "Leave your bags here. We gotta talk."

I rolled my luggage to the edge of my bed. I looked at Monica while I placed my purse on top of my bed. "What did you tell him?" I  whispered to her.

Monica quickly got up. "Going to the bathroom."

I growled before following Zeke out the hotel room. Two men stood in the hall. Why am I just now noticing them? I waved at them.

"Miss Jamie," they said in unison.

I forgot I didn't wear my disguise. Otherwise, I might have attracted some unwanted attention.

Zeke's room was right next to ours. He unlocked and opened the door, allowing me to walk in first.

His room had one bed instead of two, making his room more spacious.

"Have a seat anywhere." He opened the mini fridge.

I sat down on his bed and crossed my legs.

Zeke handed me a cold bottle of water.

"Thank you." I opened it and nearly drunk the whole thing. I didn't realized how thirsty I was. I sat the bottle on the night stand.

Zeke remained standing as he faced me. "What did Anaya say to you?"

"I'm going to choke Monica."

Zeke waited for me to answer his question.

I rolled my eyes. "She said she listened to my radio interview and it bored her, because I was being mysterious. She wants me to listen to her and give people more to talk about. When I tried to speak up, she told me that I would be broke as an independent artist and that I was indebted to RiSe Records. Zeke, she was rude to me. She talked to me like I was beneath her."

"Anaya talks like that to everyone. She really wants to control people, but her focus should be RiSe Records as a whole. Ricky is the one you're supposed to listen to, being that he has more experience with artists." He continued, "when I was signed to RiSe, she interfered and my dad stepped in. Ricky tried to keep the peace, but Anaya's mouth got under my dad's skin. Then, my brother started a label under Unlimited Records - the literal rival to RiSe Records."

"That was a bold move," I commented.

Unlimited Records is just as known as RiSe Records, but Unlimited has a longer list of successful artists.

"Yeah, and I wish I would've stopped it. My brother was working on his album, and I did some songs with him. This caused some legalities in my contract to be broken. Before I knew it, Ricky couldn't do anything. I had to leave RiSe."