Page 3 of Beautiful Noise

But if you’re going to be crazy, might as well do it in a mansion for the weekend.

CHAPTER TWO

Ezren Shaw.

“Hey, baby.”

At the sound of my mother’s voice, I pictured her smile and it put one on my face. She was forever referring to me as baby when I wasn’t anything close. At thirty-two I’d surpassed the baby stage a long time ago, but in her eyes, I would always be her little boy.

“Ay, Ma, what you up to?”

“About to go check on your house.”

“Oh word, that’s what’s up. Why you sound like you’re irritated?”

I grinned, slouching down further into the soft leather cushions that cradled my lengthy body.

“Because I am irritated.”

My smile expanded at the fake annoyance my mother attempted. She loved me, and loved doing anything for me, no matter how much of a headache she pretended my requests were.

“Word? Because I thought you loved me and nothing was too much for your baby boy.”

“Don’t play with me, Ezren. Today is not the day, little boy.”

“Ouch, not Ezren, Ma. That’s how we’re doing it?”

“That’s your name, isn’t it? If I recall correctly, after pushing your big head out after eighteen long, treacherous hours of labor, I clearly gave you your father’s name. Not Ecstatic or Electric or whatever the hell it is you go by.”

I chuckled. “Yeah you did and it’s Eccentric.”

She was well aware of my stage name but always gave me a hard time about it with her argument being,if you were singing about love instead of sex, maybe you’d use your birth given name. Ezren’s a perfectly fine name and Lord knows your father was a true romantic. Had the voice too. That’s how you got here.

“Is there a reason for this call or did you just want to run my pressure up?”

“Man, stop playing, Ma. There isn’t a damn thing wrong with your pressure. You’re in better shape than me with all that healthy ass food, those month-long vacations, and weekly spa visits I pay for.”

“It’s the least you can do since you seem to think I’m your personal assistant and at your beck and call.”

I decided not to travel down that road because I knew where it would lead, to the argument about why I refused to settle down and give her grandchildren. Instead, I got to the point of my call.

“Yes, I have a reason. I wanted to know if they delivered my living room set and if you were able to get somebody out there to clean the house before I got home.”

“They brought your ugly ass living room set and they’re sending someone to clean the house on Monday.”

“Monday, damn. That won’t work. I’m on my way home now and I’m not trying to deal with a house full of strangers. I’m tired as hell and need to sleep for a few days. Can you change it? Tell them you’ll pay extra.”

“Money doesn’t fix everything. How many times do I have to tell you that? You done turned Hollywood, Ezren. Businesses have schedules and clients who know how to plan ahead,unlikemy son. They can’t go moving things around because you throw money at them. If you wouldn’t have waited until the last minute to let me know you wanted it done, then the house would already be clean.”

I smirked, nodding, fully accepting responsibility for the lapse in memory. “You’re right but you know I’m busy. Twelve cities in two months on an international tour is hell, Ma. It slipped my mind.”

“I’m sure it did but if you would spend more time finding a woman who was worth something instead of sleeping with women with no aspirations and no last names, thenshecould take care of these things for you and I wouldn’t have to.”

Damn, thought I could skip that conversation at least once.

“They have last names and what’s the rush? When the right woman presents herself, then I’ll be more than willing to let her take over so you can retire. But for now? You’re all I have.”

“Summer Love, Candy Cane, Cookie Cream. How stupid is that? What woman thinks any man will respect them with a name like CookieCream? And not one of those damn women have last names, Ezren.”

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