Backstage: Street Chronicles (7 page)

Having no idea what I was thinking, she said, “Yeah, that’s love.”

“So, what deal you cut, Kai?”

“Every drop off I told ‘em.”

“You what?”

“I told them every time and every person you dropped work off to.”

“Man-Man?”

“Yeah Man-Man. You or Man-Man?” She held up her hands—Man-Man in one hand and me in the other. My hand was higher than Man-Man. Lucky me.

“Man-Man is my cousin, you stupid bitch!”

“See, I knew you wouldn’t understand; that’s why I never told you.”

“Bush?” I had to know.

“Bush, K.D., and Rachid.”

“I grew up with all of them.”

I had tears in my eyes. What had she done? She misinterpreted
my tears and leaned in and kissed me with those same lips that she ran her mouth with.

“See? That’s love, Yummie. Nobody loves you like I do.”

“I don’t want you loving me.”

She backed away.

“That’s that scary love. See, you thought you knew me, but you don’t have a clue who I am. You don’t listen to my music. My fans—well the fans I had before you did what you did—knew me better than you. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I don’t give a damn about going to jail. This is my first charge, bitch! I meet the safety valve.”

“What’s that?”

“You work for them and you don’t know what that is? Less time for first offenders. You so fucking smart. I’m hot at you for not doing your homework. All I give a fuck about is my music and these streets. The streets would be waiting on me. My music was gonna be heard while I laid down. Why you think I’ve been in the studio doing a Tupac? I’ve been meeting with my entertainment lawyer and Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records, and I was getting out of this contract and branching off to start my own label. Thanks to you, Miss Federale”—I let my tongue roll like a Mexican—”I lost that. I lost my fans. I lost my plug. I lost my soldiers.”

“You got me.”

I looked at her. She was beautiful inside and out. She meant well, but not what I stand for. Not representing me and what I’m trying to do. A tear fell from my eye. I thought of all the shit she did without her throwing it up in my face this time. Damn! I was gonna miss her.

“Naw, Kai. I’M GOOD.”

She looked at me. A tear fell from her eye, too. She knew it was officially over. I picked up the nine. The red button was shining, meaning everything we said, and were still saying, was being
recorded. A smile crept onto my face. I thought of my fans coming back to me ‘cause my music was gonna live. I put the nine to my head. Nobody would ever believe Kai did that shit on her own. “I’d rather be dead than labeled a snitch. Here go your payment for fucking off mine.”

BOOM!

Now that’s a muthafuckin song for you.

he clock on the scoreboard read zero, showing proof the game was over. Trey, filled with exhaustion, was jumping for joy knowing he was only one step away from fulfilling his dream. The championship ring he craved was finally within his grasp. He could taste it. This would finally validate his career and silence his critics.

Trey headed back to the locker room, where a team of reporters stood at his locker waiting for him.

“Trey! Trey! What a game tonight. Tonight you played like you had a purpose, were you trying to send the league a message? Thirty-seven points and thirteen assists—what inspired you tonight?” a reporter asked.

“No, it wasn’t about trying to send a message. I just felt real good tonight. I wanted to come out tonight and be aggressive hoping it would put us in a good position to get a win. Thankfully,
I was able to get into a groove and the shots just kept falling and we were able to come away with the victory.”

“You’ve won Rookie of the Year, you are a seven-time All Star, and have been MVP of the league three times, yet you haven’t been able to win a championship. What do you say to the critics who say you don’t have what it takes to win a championship?”

Trey couldn’t help but laugh. Here he was one win away from achieving his ultimate dream and still, somehow, a reporter would try to find a way to diminish that light.

“Susan, you ask what do I say to them? My reply is nothing. I don’t have anything to say to them. I allow my play on the court to do my talking. All I can do is give every ounce of me and play as hard as I can. Thankfully, tonight that was enough for a win. Right now we know that we are close and we can finally see that light over the mountaintop. But we still have a lot of work to do. If we lose the next three games all this talk is for nothing. We still have a task at hand and we don’t want to lose sight of that. That is what happened last year. Last year we put ourselves in a good position to win yet lost in Game seven, so we know this year to take things one game at a time and not to take Dallas lightly.”

“But with that said, up three games to one some might say you are the odds on favorites to win Game five on your home floor.”

“Some might, but we aren’t one of them. You won’t catch me making any predictions, Susan. I’m not about to give Dallas any bulletin-board material. The only thing that I will predict is that both teams will come out and play hard on Saturday and try to get a win. Hopefully, with God willing, that will be us,” Trey said, then winked.

The reporters started to laugh, all but Susan, who kept probing.

“Trey, surely with the next game being at home, you have to have some extra motivation.”

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t. I love the city of D.C. Nothing would make me happier than to bring this city a championship. Of course, we want to do it on our home floor and that is what
we are going to try to do. So if you’ll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I need to take a shower. I’m sure you’ll have more questions during my press conference. Until then, would you please excuse me?”

The crowd started to disperse, all except Susan.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to let you off that easy?” she asked.

“Actually, I was hoping you’d follow me to the shower and finish the interview there,” Trey replied with a devilish grin.

“Boy, you know you aren’t ready for that!”

“I’ll race you there if it’s like that. You and I both know it’s not me. You are the one who is holding out,” Trey replied.

“And you know exactly why there will be none of that so don’t go there! This is your doing, not mine!”

“Okay, let’s not go there. You are right!”

“Excuse me, Mr. Winfield, I’m sorry to interrupt, but there is a gentleman here to see you,” one of the team managers said.

“It’s no problem, Billy. Did he say who he is or what it’s about? I haven’t taken my shower yet.”

Nervous, he replied, “I’m sorry, Mr. Winfield. He said his name is Slim and he is a friend of yours. He said you would know who he is.”

Out of all the names to say and in front of all the people. Luck wasn’t one of Trey’s strong points. He could see the anger on Susan’s face the minute she heard Slim was here. Trey knew he’d have to find a way to explain.

“Billy, do me a favor and escort him back to the lounge. Tell him I’ll be out once I take my shower.”

“No problem, Mr. Winfield.”

The second Billy turned to leave, Susan jumped right in with her rant. “What is Slim doing here? Please tell me you are not still dealing with him?”

Trey didn’t respond.

“I can’t believe you are still dealing with Slim!”

“Susan, please don’t start. I just played a hell of a game and finally can smell the championship I’ve been chasing my whole career. Please don’t ruin this moment for me right now talking about Slim. I really don’t want to argue with you.”

The look on her face said she didn’t care. “Just tell me this then, are you still using?”

Trey grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the trainer’s room where they would have more privacy.

“No, I’m not! I swear! I told you I stopped and I meant it.”

“Then what is he doing here, Trey?”

“Susan, whether you like it or not he is my friend. What do you want me to do, just turn my back on him?”

“Friend? You have to be kidding me. You call that man a friend?”

“Yes, I do.”

“That man is not your friend and you are too blind to see it … You know what, you are right. I’m out of here because I see where this is going and I don’t want to ruin your mood. Great game tonight,” Susan said as she began to walk away.

“Susan, please don’t be like that. You know I miss you. Can we please just put this behind us? Let’s hang out tonight and celebrate. Let’s do something, anything, it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever you want to do is fine. I just want to spend some time with you and try to work this thing out. You know how I feel about you,” Trey pleaded.

“I’m sorry, I’m busy. I have to meet a friend,” Susan said and then turned and walked out of the training room leaving Trey behind. Trey clasped his head in his arms. He knew that regardless of what he said, if he wasn’t telling her that he no longer associated with Slim, it would cause an argument. And that was a battle that he wasn’t going to be able to win. Regardless of their troubled past, he would never turn his back on a friend, and Slim was one of his best friends in his eyes.

Trey walked out of the training room and quickly threw on a team sweatsuit. It made no sense to take a shower now. He might as well go to the lounge to see what Slim wanted and get it out of the way. That way he could use the rest of his time trying to figure out a way to get Susan back.

“There is my man,” Slim greeted Trey when he walked into the room. Slim walked over and gave him a brotherly hug.

“I have someone I want you to meet. This is my new artist, Candi,” Slim said. She quickly caught every bit of Trey’s attention. She was gorgeous and had a body to die for. She stood five foot seven, light skin, and weighed no more than 135 pounds.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. Slim talks about you all the time,” Candi said. She walked over to him and gave Trey a kiss on the cheek. Trey, amazed, stared at Candi. It was as if he was hypnotized by her beauty.

“You okay, homie?”

Slim’s question broke Trey out of his brief dazed state.

“Huh, naw, I’m cool, champ. Susan was in the locker room and we were rappin’,” Trey replied.

Slim broke out in laughter.

“You love playing with fire, don’t you? I thought that was dead and over?”

“It might be now for sure. She knows you were here.”

“Gotdamn! That woman still doesn’t fuck with me? Shit!”

“She is past just not fucking with you, I think she flat-out hates your ass, nigga,” Trey said laughing.

“Whatever, well I have just the cure. I’m having something at the club tonight to celebrate Candi’s welcome to the label and I want you to swing by.”

“Nigga, you must be out of your mind. I’m in the middle of a championship run. I can’t be out partying it up. This is the Finals, I don’t need any distractions. I don’t care if it’s Susan or you! That is the last thing I need.”

“I’m hurt! All I’m saying is, swing back for an hour or two and then bounce. No one is telling you to get blasted or anything. Plus I want to rap to you about something business related.”

“What’s up?”

Slim looked at Candi. “Not here. Tonight! Just meet me at the club. You don’t have to stay long. Just give me a moment to pull your coattail to a couple things and then you can bounce.”

Hesitant, Trey agreed. “Okay, but I’m not staying long.”

“Cool!”

“Now, can I please take a shower? I’ll meet you there in about an hour or so. I have to do this press conference. You know how the league is.”

“That’s what’s up. I’ll see you later tonight,” Slim replied.

It had been awhile since Trey had been in Club Nikki. He looked around and noticed how much things had changed. It had started out as a pool hall, but now was upgraded to a club. Trey walked around searching for Slim. He wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible. He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow and the sooner he could get some rest, the better.