Page 61 of Love's Free Will

“Just her,” I confirmed lowkey shocked that this was going better than I thought it would. “I won’t shop anything else outside of LA Records.”

“Then we got a deal,” Logan said with a grin. “We’ll send the paperwork to your team. Welcome to Death Row… I mean LA Records.”

“This nigga,” Lux chuckled shaking his head. He extended his hand, and I accepted it, shaking on our deal before shaking Logan’s hand as well. “We gon’ make magic together Averi, I hope you’re ready.”

Before I could stand, Lux added, “Your friend Egypt… she looking for a label?”

I shrugged. “I’m sure she is. I know she’s about to start working on some music. That’s why I’ve been writing again.”

Logan pulled out his phone. “Mind sending her assistant’s info?” I nodded and quickly passed it along. Within seconds, Logan was making notes and Lux was nodding to himself.

“Y’all two about to make some real noise,” Lux said. “Glad you came in today.”

As I stood and made my exit, something inside me shifted. The show might be ending. My heart might be bruised and my relationship over before it even really began. But my career? It was just getting started. And this time—I wasn’t letting anything, or anyone, get in the way.

16

ROYAL

I’d been gone for a minute. Not just from the industry, the studio, or the public eye—but from myself. Grief don’t knock. It kicks the fuckin’' door in and drags you out by the throat.

I was spiraling hard. Drowning myself in liquor, fists, and flesh. Picking fights in the middle of nowhere bars. Sleeping with women I couldn’t name if you held a gun to my head. Anything to numb it. Anything to distract me from that voice in my head tellin’ me I should’ve been there. That if I’d stayed ten or fifteen more minutes... King would still be here.

I couldn’t step foot in my apartment. The last time I had been inside of it, it smelled like her, like us. Like dreams I didn’t realize I had until I lost 'em. So, I bounced between hotels and my mama’s house. Told myself it was for her—so she wouldn’t be alone now that Princess was at Spelman for her summer bridge program. But I knew better. I needed to be where love still lived. Even if it looked like a ghost now.

I was sitting in the driver’s seat of my G-Wagon having just made it to Queenie’s crib, head pounding from the Henny I downed that morning, when my phone rang with another call from the Fulton County Correctional Facility.

For days, I’d let the calls go unanswered. Couldn’t bring myself to pick up. Couldn’t stomach the guilt, the disappointment, the rage I knew was waiting on the other end.

But something in me pressed accept anyway. "Yeah."

There was a brief pause. Then that voice—low, aged, filled with weight. “Royal.”

“What.”

“You alright, son?” That word used to mean something. Son. Now it just felt like a reminder of everything he wasn’t around for.

“I’m good.”

“You don’t sound good.” I sighed into the phone, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I wanted to talk about King,” he said quietly. “I’ve been thinkin’ about him nonstop. His laugh. The way he used to sneak out at night and think we ain’t notice…” I didn’t respond. Didn’t want to talk about memories. Not with him. “You remember that time he stole your mama’s car and tried to drive to Miami?” I didn’t even crack a smile. My pops exhaled. “You ain’t got nothin’ to say?”

“I ain’t in the mood to reminisce,” I bit out. “I’m tryna survive the day, Pops. I don’t got it in me to take strolls down memory lane.”

There was a sharp pause.

“I been sittin’ in this cell, losin’ sleep every damn night while my son gets put in the ground—and you ain’t got the time to talk to me?”

“That ain’t what I said?—”

“You act like I ain’t sufferin’ too! My boy died and I ain’t even been able to grieve him with my family! Y’all act like I don’t exist.”

“You ain’t been there, Pops!” I snapped. “Why the fuck you expect hugs and sympathy when you’ve been a ghost our whole lives?!”

“I BEEN CALLIN’—”

“And we BEEN dealin’ with your absence!” I barked back. “Don’t act like you surprised.”

A heavy and dangerous silence fell between us. Then his voice came in like poison. “So where were you when your brother took his last breath, huh?”

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