Chanel

 

 

“Awww man! That was amayyzing! I wanna learn how to fight just like that!”

“Rai!” I yelled out as I came rushing back into the living room to finish watching Dario’s fight on Pay-per-view.

“You missed it, Mom! You missed it! Dario just floored that fool!”

I was disappointed, but trying not to let it show. I had run upstairs to make sure that my whole outfit was ready for later. I hadn’t even been gone for that long.

“I thought it went for twelve rounds,” I whined. “It’s only the tenth.”

“Mom, I told you to never leave the TV when Dario’s fighting! Never! Because he’s unpredictable. He took him out early! I knew it! That fool Jaime has been talking crazy for months so Dario had to legit show him who’s boss! Can we call him?!” Rai asked excitedly.

I stared at Dario on the screen in awe. I had never been a fan of boxing and his fight was the first I’d ever seen. But I might as well have been there because whenever Rai watched a Caivano or Mayweather fight, he reported back to me blow-by-blow. I was glad that I got to see as much as I did too because he was a sight to see in all his manliness. He struck with purpose and took no prisoners. I enjoyed watching him do his thing. The man had a body to die for—that chest, those arms, that package. It was everything and nothing short of a turn on seeing him in his element.

“Dang! I wish we could’ve been there, Ma!”

“Yeah; me too, baby. But I have to be at the club tonight. That’s why you’re going to spend the night at Grandma’s house.”

“I know, and I don’t want to. It’s already late, Ma. I can watch myself.”

“Not yet you can’t, mister. And I’ll be gone really late tonight. We have a few celebrities coming and you know I like to be there for that.”

“I know,” he sulked. But then he managed to perk right back up minutes later when Dario began interacting with ringside reporters.

As he talked, he smiled a lot which I liked because his eyes lit up.

“I dedicate every fight to my cousin, Lucas,” he said, through his smile. I watched as he subconsciously rubbed his hand down his tattoo. “It’s all for him.”

I wanted to be able to put my arms around him and hug him as tight as I could manage, kissing his hurt away.

“So, what are you doing tonight?” one reporter asked. “Taking in the Vegas life and celebrating?”

Dario looked directly into the camera, stared for a few seconds and then responded, “Nope, I’m headed back to the Bay Area immediately after this. All the celebrating I need to do is there.”

Anybody on the outside looking in would’ve accused me of blushing like a damn schoolgirl at his words, but I couldn’t help my body’s reaction. Luckily, Rai was too busy waiting for the sportscaster’s commentary to start, to pay attention to me.

Once Dario was off screen and right about eleven-thirty, I headed upstairs to get ready for the club.

 

When I walked into Suite 713, Tupac was blasting throughout, and the dance floor was packed to capacity, as Ambitionz Az A Ridah played in the deepest bass the DJ could find. The beat vibrated through my body, and I couldn’t help but walk to the beat while dancing inside my head. I can’t even lie. A good beat always had me wanting to get on the dance floor bad, but business called.

Jaden, my DJ, spotted me and flashed the bright light on me and waved while I was making my way to greet a few people. I threw both my hands up to acknowledge the gesture and smiled big.  “Boss Lady in the house!” he yelled out over the microphone.

After I made a few rounds to various spots around Suite 713, I headed to the Diamond VIP room to see how my elite customers were doing.

As soon as I walked in I noticed French Montana right away. He looked the same as he did on television—tall, light-skinned and wavy hair with a larger than life smile. Of course he was surrounded by entourage that included, but certainly wasn’t limited to, about five women clinging shamelessly to his personal space. He donned plenty of bling on his wrists, his ears, and around his neck. I could see it all sparkling loudly . . . even from my vantage point.  

From the very first time until now, whenever celebrities frequent my club, the euphoria is something I can’t explain. Going from a college girl with a kid, to a woman with her own club and doing big things in business, was no small feat, but I was always humbled by it. It took a lot to get on the radar of the masses to become a well-known, reputable spot. It took even more to remain on their radar and so far, Suite 713 seemed to have staying power and I couldn’t be more proud of its success.

“What’s up, sis?” I heard before I could make my way across the room to greet French. I quickly jerked around to the familiar voice and was less than excited to come face-to-face with Rochelle. “Hey girl, heyyy!” she said with a slick smile on her face that I wanted to slap to the back of her neck.

I took her in head to toe and was actually impressed with her outfit. Not that she couldn’t dress. If nothing else the girl was always fitted. But it seemed that she was more toned down tonight for some reason. I would expect that she would be all hoochied out with the makeup of the room, which by all accounts were rappers and industry people.

“What’s up?” I asked, nonchalantly, and hoped that those would be the only words I needed to speak to her.

“I saw you look me up and down; what’s that about?” she asked, smiling wickedly. “This dress is fittin’ a sistah right, ain’t it?”

“Let me go and speak to my customers, Rochelle.”

I tried to push past her. I didn’t want to talk to her in my place of business because our conversations always took a sharp left turn. I didn’t even have the urge to ask her how the fuck she managed to get into VIP with this particular crowd. But I had an idea how it happened.

“I’m your customer too,” she spat, stepping into my path.

“Rochelle, move. You’ve already been acknowledged.”

“Why you such a bitch?”

I laughed a little bit and moved close to her face so that she could hear what I was about to say to her. “Rochelle, this ain’t what you want, okay? Mama ain’t here to get in the way and my security acts on my order. So, fall back.”

“Or what, sis?”

“You don’t want to find out, Rochelle. Mainly because if I have to stoop to a hood level up in my establishment, I’m probably gonna beat you within inches of your life just because you put my reputation on the line. So, listen, we can do one of two things. You move the fuck out my way and stay in your lane for the rest of the time you’re here. Or, I can get yo’ ass escorted out right now in front of your friends. It’s your call . . . but it needs to be a quick call.”

She took a few steps back, sucked her teeth and looked me up and down in disgust.

“What’s it gonna be?” I challenged.

We stared each other down. When she didn’t immediately respond, I moved to take a step toward her but stopped when I felt a soft hand rub along my back. Slightly startled, I snatched around and was met with Dario’s mesmerizing glare.