You can only get this feeling from a thug

I had a free front row seat to a Dave East performance and it was easy to say that he didn't disappoint. The crowd of people in front and behind me matchted the vibes he was putting out. From screaming his name to completing lyrics with him...these people loved him and his art.

It wasn't hard to understand why - because I did too. Even though I mumbled the lyrics and simply swayed side to side with the beat, I was still experiencing all the feels.

I remember my last time watching him perform. It was about a month before I'd left and in the brick New York air, I stood outside with the rest of his fans while he performed Black Roses.

His words instantly warmed me like they did before. Maybe because I lived off of the fact that he was talking about me and the way I made him feel or maybe it was because I felt the same way too.

My gaze cut through the crowd and was on him, like I had tunnel vision.

Shit. Why do I feel this way?

Eva looked at me from her side and tapped my thigh to gain my attention.

"Laya you okay?" She asked with a hint of worry.

"Yup...why?"

"Cause I've been calling you for like two mins and you've been staring at an empty stage. The show is over..."

I snapped back to see hoards of people trying to exit the venue, while a wave of sound entered into my ear drums as they all talked loudly.

I really needed to stop spacing out.

Soon I was up and following behind Eva through the solid steel door backstage.

I stood by her side as she huddled around her team and talked to them about the clean process.

Then I spotted Zora walking down the hall in her costume and platform heels. My face lit up with excitement as I left Eva to congratulate her.

"You were amazinggg!" I hugged her tightly and rocked back and forth. When I pulled away she smiled brightly.

"Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed, but none of this would be possible without your man." I raised my eyebrows awkwardly and hesitated with my next words.

"Dave's not my man...we're just both parents to an amazing little human." I told her.

Zora's left eyebrow arched and she shifted her weight to one foot before a look of pity covered her face. "Oh wow, I didn't know. I just assumed since you were back, that you guys were back together. I mean y'all were literally perfect for each other. What went wrong?"

I sighed deeply. "Well long story short-"

"Laya do you wanna..." Eva looked up at me from her clipboard before turning to Zora with a mug.

"Eva I need you to make arrangements for someone to get my clothes from my apartment for the after party." Zora sighed while studying her nails.

"I'm not your PA, go find your manager." Eva dismissed her with a flick of her hand.

"But your job is literally to make sure-"

"SINCE YOU KNOW what the fuck I'm supposed to be doing, why don't you go do it...Miss.IReadEva'sJobDescriptionSoIKnowHowToDoHerJobAssHoe" Eva matched her attitude.

"Umm..." I said awkwardly.

Eva spun her body around, while Zora stomped off in the opposite direction.

I was about to ask what was going on between the both of them, when Eva spoke first.

"Don't even ask because I can't tell you..." she slapped her forehead like she wasn't supposed to admit what she had just said.

"Can't tell me what?"

"Nope nope nope. I'm a new person...I don't get in other people's business, it ain't my circus and y'all sure ain't my clowns." She said super fast.

"Eva...wait, who's a clown? What were you going to ask?"

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to head out to the after party with us. Since it's the end of the tour...there's a huge event that was planned by yours truly." She flaunted shamelessly.

I shook my head gently. "I think I'm gonna pass...it's late and I wanna call the girls and maybe get a little bit of work done."

Eva rolled her eyes impatiently. "Fuck all that shit!" She exclaimed in her New York accent which caused my to laugh. "I mean except my babies...but you're coming and I ain't gon argue witchu. I only asked you out of courtesy, but now I'm telling you that you are gonna go. You work too hard and you need more fun."

"I said I was good love, so enjoy."

"Laya please don't make go to that shit by myself. The only people there that I'll know is people from the studio and Dave." She pouted.

"Fine I'll go." I sighed through tight lips.

She grinned from ear to ear, like she'd just one a shitty ass prize at a carnival. "Whew that was too easy." She took my hand and dragged me through the crowded hallway. "Now to find a ride for you..." she said under her breath.

"Huh?" I asked.

She stopped right infromt of a door and before she could turn around to answer me it swung open and Dave walked oht.

The first thing to hit me was how good he smelled...always. Then I looked him from the clean Air Forces on his feet to the fresh cut on his head and bit my tongue to prevent it from gliding my tongue across my bottom lip like a horny idiot.

"Dave...can you take Laya to the after party witchu? I got some stuff to handle here before I head up that way."

My eyes widened significantly. I probably looked like a dumbass deer caught in bright headlights.

I hadn't spoken to this man about anything but Lilo and Kairi in weeks, and now I was fumbling over words to make a coherent sentence.

Dave shrugged his shoulders and murmured "Let's go." in my direction before starting to walk off.

My feet hadn't moved from its position so Eva gave me a gentle push until they seemed to work. I turned around to curse at her but all she did was smile sweetly and wave her fingers.

I can't believe I let Eva Cruz set me up.

Outside of the venue, were six huge men with automatic weapons laced in their hands. They all surrounded Dave's black Range Rover and diligently profiled the area while he put his bags in the trunk.

Never had I seen this much security around him before. Even during his previous shows that I attented there were one or two at most stationed around each entrance and exit. But having this many people around his car had me a bit worried.

I was too busy paying attention to them that I didn't notice that he held the door open for me.

"You gon stare at space all night or you getting in."

Ahh he never missed a moment to be a jackass.

I sucked my teeth and yanked the car door from his hands. Then I got in and slammed the it closed before I put on my seatbelt. He got in smoothly then turned to me.

"Yo ass can get out and call a Uber or wait on Eva."

"Well shit, how could I forget that that was an option." I grabbed my purse from the center console and tried to unstrap myself. The damn seatbelt seemed to be stuck in the cartridge and even with all my yanking it wouldn't come out. And of course to add the the dumbassery of all of this, Dave sat back with a smug look on his face while watching me struggle. I refused to ask for help.

"You want help with that?" Like he read my damn mind.

"No."

He shook his head and started the car before pulling off and merging onto the highway. My folded arms sat comfortably under my breast as I watched him drive from the corner of my eyes.

Why did he have to look good doing everything? Literally all he was doing right now was leaning back in the car and turning a wheel.

Time flew pass as he drove down the highway to the exclusive club where the after party was held. Outside, bouncers and bodyguards tried to contain a crowd of leftover fans from the concert. When they spotted Dave in the front seat, they went even wilder, screaming his name and turning on their camera flashes to catch the one and only Dave East.

I tensed up in the seat. Nervousness invaded my stomach from the thought of having to face all those people and what would be said about me following the sighting of both of us arriving at his party together. I knew how reckless his fans and the press could be from when we were actually togther.

He pulled closer to the entrance and parked right in front. Then, looked over at me.

"Laya this the part where you get out the car. Don't tell me you scared of some damn cameras?"

"I'm not." I tried to hide the fact that I was.

He opened his door and walked around to open my door. I put my head down and used my long hair as an effective covering for my face, as the bouncers led us inside. All of his fans seemed to be focused on him, they didn't even notice me stumbling behind I'm him into the club.

Once inside, more fans and people from his label crowded us, to congratulate him on a successful tour. I used this as my chance to fade into the background and find the bar in the VIP lounge. The plan was to sip and chill until Eva came and I could eventually get an Uber home.

I stood at the bar and attempted to get the bartender's attention. His eyes were trained on a woman at the other end of the bar who was shouting the lyrics to Mulatto's Muwop, while she twerked on her friend. When he was finally able to remove his attention from her ass, he took my order.

"Can I get two shots of tequila and a-" he didn't even finish hearing my order when he pushed two crystal shot glasses my way and filled them to the brim with Clase Azul.

Before he could hand me the lime wedges or salt, I already downed both of them and pushed the glasses back towards him.

"Damn that's how you drink tequila? You tryna get lit lit." A deep voice came from beside me from a man wearing a tailored burgundy suit. He was definitely overdressed for a club.

"That's the only way to drink it." I replied and smiled.

His five star grin exposed his white teeth and handsome smile. "That's the only thing you drinking tonight?" He asked smoothly.

"No...well it might be, if I can't get his attention." I referred to the bartender at the other end.

The man called out to the bartender and raised his hand, effectively getting his attention. "Yeah please get the lady a....."

"Mojito"

"And I'll have a glass of Dusse"

"Thank you. All of his attention was on loud ass down there." I joked.

"I don't see why." He looked down at my Tom Ford heels and back up to my face. "Blake Woods, I'm the Talent Director at Roc Nation." He outstretched his hand, exposing the Rolex on his wrist.

"Allaya Daniels. Nice to meet you." I placed my hand into his and shook it lightly.

"Allaya...what a beautiful name." He rubbed the pad of his thumb across the top of my hand.

My cheeks heated and I was pretty sure I was blushing. "Thank you. Were you at the concert as well?"

"No actually. I've been trying to get Dave East to sign with us for months now. So I thought maybe I could speak with him here. That may not be such a good idea now that I think about it." This was definitely a celebration, Dave was on chill mode and I knew for sure that he probably wouldn't want to be bothered with business. "How do you know him?" Blake asked.

"Uhm well...we're friends?"

He laughed at my question. "You're not sure if you're friends with him or are you asking me if you're friends with him?" He sounded amused.

I placed my hand over my face in embarrassment, then followed his laughter. "No, we use to date actually."

His eyes widened followed by a moment of enlightenment. "Oh yes...now I realize why I remember your name. You were his girlfriend for almost a year right? In my job, it pays to keep up with my future client's lives. You're not from the U.S either? There were rumors that he had you deported."

The look on his face told me that he instantly regretted what he just said. At the same time, the bartender arrived with our drinks and I took a sip.

"My apologies...that's probably not proper conversation for someone I've just met."

"No no it's fine." I assured him. "Well those rumors are exactly that...rumors. We broke up and I moved back to my hometown. I actually opened up a luxury hotel there."

"Really? That's amazing, you're so young. Well you look...young. I mean you look good for your age." He tripped up over his words and I giggled in reply. "I can't seem to keep my foot out of my mouth when I speak with you."

"I'm 25, if that makes you feel any better. So I am kind of young to be doing something like that."

"Right...right." He stared at me in a daze. "I'd love to hear more about your hotel, if you would like to sit down and talk." He directed my attention to an empty booth a few feet away. "Dave seems preoccupied at the moment, so I'll probably just email his manager tomorrow morning. But at least talking to you won't make this a wasted trip." He pulled out all of the game, and I was happy to play. Eva still wasn't here yet, and I didn't want to be glued to the bar by myself.

"Sure, lead the way."

About an hour later, the party was in full swing. It was filled with people dancing and vibing, while Dave and his crew threw a bag on the dance floor below. Occasionally, I found him mugging me from afar. I was a bit tipsy while sipping on my third mojito and laughing my ass off with Eva who was now talking about her explosive breakup with Wayno.

Blake left about a half hour ago, because he had an emergency flight back to LA. He was asweet guy, who seemed genuinely interested in my business and life. I told him all about the hotel, the island, and my life as a young hotelier. He just sat there listening eagerly and laughing at my jokes, not once did he pry for information. That's why it was so easy to give him my number.

It's not like I was going to call him or anything, I didn't even want to entertain the thought of another romantic relationship right now.

For the time, my mind was off Dave and what he was doing. I hadn't even glanced over to where he was with Shoota, Freaky, Wayno and their harem of botched BBL victims.

Well now I was looking at them, because one of the women was now giving Dave a lap dance while the others cheered her on.

Eva's voice brought me back to our conversation. Miss. Mamas was definitely fucked up off the bottle of Henny she drank.

"...I'm calling and calling his ass to let me into his fucking apartment. The nigga ain't answer me. So I take the spare key from under the plant pot and opened the bitch up. Laya...tell me WHYYY I hear moaning and groaning coming from his room. At this point...I'm livid, I'm looking in the kitchen for a knife, pot, spoon....sumn for me to fuck this nigga up with when I catch his ass. I get closer to the door praying he's watching porn with the volume on 100. But when I opened the fuckin' door, guess who the bitch was on top of him..." she swayed in her drunken state.

I shook my head and laughed.

"I don't know...who Eva?" I egged her on.

She came closer to me and lowered her lips to my ear. I don't know what she did that for, when she basically shouted it in my ear. "ZORA's TRIFLING NASTY SLACK ASS."

I nearly spit my drink out and my eyelids almost widened enough for my eyes to fall out and roll across the floor.

"Ya lie!"

"Bitch never." Eva fell back across the booth's cushions.

That explained why she couldn't stand Zora. I couldn't believe she'd do something like that.

"Yup it was that hoe. That's why I told you to watch yo back. These bitches out here is snakes!" She shouted the last part across the club.

I put the straw from my drink in my mouth again and took a long sip.

"And that ain't even the most fucked up part about it." Eva continued.

"Tell me why this nigga approached me...weeks later, after I trashed his apartment, keyed his car, and blocked him on everything, talking bout some..." She deepened her voice to mock Wayno's. "Baby I'm sorry. She ain't mean nothing to me, I miss you...alla that shit." She drawled.

"I told him to get the fuck up out my face, 'cause I found out that she was sleeping with somebody else too and gave him sumn."

"Something like what?" I asked.

"What you mean like what, Laya? A fucking STI, his ass got burned and that's good for him too. Should've made his dick fall off."

"I hope you got tested after that. That's really fucked up. I'm sorry that happened to you." I told her seriously.

"It's not your fault. You can't control other people's actions, even if they yo' family. But I did get tested." She lowered her head like it was bad news.

I can't believe we were talking bout this shit in a middle of a club.

"What did it say?" She already reeled me all the way into this story, and now I was curious.

"That shit came back negative!" She shouted. "The only thing I'm positive for is a fat wet pussy, a gorilla grip coochie, and a silky ass throat." She stood up on the velour cushions and twerked to the music.

Oh lord, this girl was long gone. Out of no where, Wayno's ass came stomping towards us. He must've heard parts of our conversation because drunk Eva was not quiet. I instantly got up and tried to get Eva down from the chair.

"Didn't I fucking tell you to stop speaking on my fucking name!" He bellowed at her, before Eva flew in his face. I tried to get between them to stop Eva from hitting him.

In the commotion, Dave, Shoota and Freaky also came our way. But not before Wayno accidentally shoved me across the booth.

Through the corner of my eye, I witnessed Dave deck Wayno in his face while Shoota pulled Eva off of him, while kicking and screaming. Dave shook off his hand and Freaky helped Wayno up from the floor as he held his bleeding nose.

I just managed to steady myself, and Dave came over to help me, when he pushed me back down under the booth's table as gunshots rang out from near us.

Confusion surrounded me for a moment, when the screams of people and more shots followed. I couldn't see anything under this damn table but people's feet moving swiftly across the club, Dave's legs, and parts of his hand. He reached into the band of his pants and pulled out a gun of his own and shot back. He looked to be moving away from me to get better aim, and I instinctively grabbed his shirt to prevent him from leaving - which didn't work.

He moved out of my view and I covered my ears with my hands, then removed them when I noticed Eva shuddering on the side of me.

"Eva...Eva you good?" I asked her over the sound and she nodded frantically in return.