Fireworks 3 and 4

Fireworks: Forever Chapter Thirty

    "So, you're going to propose to her?"

    Drake frowned and pocketed the box he'd been fidgeting with. 

    Wearing a floor-length robe over a designer pajama set, Nicki walked further into the living room and claimed the couch facing him. "You're really trying to hide a box I've seen three times already?"

    He sniffed and avoided her direct gaze. "Just holding onto it until it's the right time," he said with his hand covering one pocket. 

    "According to these guys, that won't be any time soon," she told him.

   "It feels like that time keeps being pulled farther and farther away from me," he said softly. 

    The soft yellow light from the fireplace cast an ethereal glow across Nicki's face. Nursing a glass of wine, she sat back on the couch. "You. A married man." She chortled, shook her head and sipped from her wine glass. "Never thought I'd live to see the day."

    "I was starting to doubt it myself," he said.

    She held a hand out. "I want to see the ring."

    He shook his head, a small smile on his face. 

    "You're so irritating," she muttered with a roll of her eyes. "How much did it set you back?"

    His eyes lowered as he debated answering her question. "Ten mil," he replied finally, his eyes lifting to meet hers.

    She made a dramatic choking sound and held a hand in front of her mouth. "Excuse you?"

    "Ten mil," he repeated, stretching both arms across the back of the couch. "That's how much the ring set me back."

    Her eyes grew round with shock. "You spent ten mil on a ring?"

    "It's custom."

    "Ten mil?"

    "She's worth it," he said.

    She stared at him for several more minutes. "Wow."

    Words he didn't even need to speak aloud hung in the air. It could've been you. Had she given them a real chance, Nicki could've been the woman he was buying ten million dollar rings for. Once upon a time, that thought would've seen him on a journey through their highlight reel of memories they'd amassed. These days, that thought made him shudder in relief that he'd been freed from that particular obsession. 

    As he looked upon her now, he admitted that she was a beautiful woman. She always would be, that's something no one could dispute or take away from her. But in the past, his mind had attempted to present her as his perfect match. They were similar in so many ways, meant to be a power couple that would take over the world - together. Side by side. King and Queen of the Hip Hop Game. He'd turned a blind eye to all of her faults, to her lack of support when he'd most needed it. That was how much he'd believed that they were meant for each other. Time and time again, life had attempted to show him that she wasn't his perfect match, that the two of them could actually prove to be quite toxic for each other. He ignored all of that until...

    Until Mia. For decades, I held a torch for this woman sitting in front of me. Now, here we are, her married with a child, me with a child hoping to one day... 

    "If you keep waiting for the right time, time will continue slipping away from you," Nicki said wisely, staring into her wine glass. "You described what we're about to do as declaring war. There's no telling how long this war is going to last and whether or not we're going to survive it. If you've got a question on your mind, one that you're wanting to ask her, you should probably ask her that question sooner rather than later."

    "You sound so much more sane when your label isn't positioning you in a rap beef with Megan," he said, smiling wryly.

    She chuckled along with him and raised her glass in a toast. "Here's to making that the last time I obey those wrinkly-balled bastards," she muttered before taking polishing off the remainder of wine in the glass.

~~~~~~

    "Shouldn't you be spending time with your new boyfriend?"

    Half-drunk, SZA swept fluffy curls out of her eyes so she could peer up at the two suited men who'd somehow made their way into her VIP section. Oblivious, her friends still twerked on each other while loud music flooded their section. "Excuse me?"

    "Your new boyfriend, Drake," the other suited man said. "Shouldn't you be spending time with him?"

    She laughed. "We're not attached at the hip."

    "Maybe you should be."

    She gave them a weird look and stumbled while trying to stand from the circular couch she sat on. Half-dancing and half-walking, she made her way to the railing preventing second-floor occupants from tumbling on the dance floor below. She squealed and shot a hand into the air.

    Dancers below screamed back at her.

    When she turned, the two suited men were still invading her personal space.

    "What the fuck is it with you guys, huh?" she asked, trying to make her way around them. "Where is my security when I need them?"

    "Your security knows their place," one of the suited men said. "Whereas it seems you're still learning. Our boss would like to speak with you." He extended his arm and gestured towards a heavyset man seated in a booth by himself.

    SZA froze when she saw the large man. Glancing over her shoulder and self-consciously tugging the hem of her short skirt downward, she followed the two suited men to the booth.

    "Are you going to sit, or have this entire conversation while standing?" the large man with beady eyes asked.

    Grimacing, she lowered onto the seat.

    "Don't you look pretty tonight?" the man asked, waving the two suited men away. He breathed heavily between each word. 

    "You didn't have to come all the way here, we could have had a meeting at your office," she told him, pushing more hair out of her face.

    The man laughed. "And miss out on all of this fun? People dancing to music we've released?"

    "What are you doing here?" she asked. 

    "That's my question to you, actually," the man said, leaning forward while his meaty hands clasped at each other. "Why are you here? The story you have with Drake is the most popular in the media right now. Everyone wants to see more of you, and more of the two of you need to be seen before the Nicki arc of the story. So, what are you doing at a club with Drake nowhere in sight?"

    "You gave us storylines to act out and we're acting them."

    He reached out and used two fingers to snap her mouth shut. "Words you never speak in public."

    Bewildered, she nodded, tears seeping out of the corners of her eyes.

    After snatching his hand back, he adjusted a suit jacket that looked close to bursting at the seams. "I'm not sure any of you are understanding the urgency of all of this. Music acts have been made into examples and still, everyone is taking their sweet time with their assignments. I'm curious to know what the hold up is for everyone..." He gave SZA a thoughtful look. "Lucky for me, the solution to that problem is sitting right in front of me. Who better to keep a watch over everyone else than the pretty doll face that everyone loves?" Another lean forward so he could pinch one of her cheeks.

    Her face screwed up whenever he touched her.

    "Drake is dragging his feet. I want to know why. Understood?"

    Wiping at her cheeks, she nodded.

    "You can leave now...unless you wanted to stay and give me a lap dance."

    She blindly stumbled away from the table, quite literally bumping into a member of her security team. "Get me out of here," she mumbled, shielding a hand over her face.