From Infinite to Kamikaze: A Novel

JANUARY 2001 - EM (Part 1)

"A'ight Jeff, we gon' give you somethin' they can blast on the radio waves," Proof assured one half of the Bass Brothers.

"Some watered down bullshit," Biz grumbled begrudgingly.

"No hard feelings Bizzy. That beat is sick, no doubt, and it'll definitely be a hit single but no radio station will play that uncensored version so we gotta change it up just a little bit," Jeff tried to explain. Biz was just butt-hurt cuz it was his verse that was gonna be changed the most.

"C'mon Biz, you can still nut in some bitch's cunt and fuck her in her ass as much as you want on the album," I teased with a laugh. He glared at me like he wanted to punch the fuck outta me.

"Chill dawg," I said more seriously. "We all gotta change our shit to some extent or it ain't gonna get no airplay."

"I don't like censorin' my shit," he declared loudly.

"None of us do Biz," Proof agreed. "But we gotta do what we gotta do to sell shit and make that cheese, naw mean?"

Biz finally shrugged and let it go as we all finished packing up our shit and headed out to the lobby of 54 Sound.

"Oh hey Marshall," Billy said, coming out from his office. "Got a message for you from Lex." He handed me a piece of paper with her number on it. "She said it wasn't an emergency or anything and that I didn't need to interrupt your session but she wanted you to call her when you got done."

"Uh..thanks Billy but...I already have her number. She say anything else?" I asked.

"Oh! Yea," he chuckled to himself. "She said uh...she picked up your kids from school and they're at her place."

"What?" I questioned confusedly.

"Yea. Something about Kim asked if she could help her out today or something. I didn't even know they were friends. Anyway, she said she tried to call your cell but there was no service. I gotta get that checked out..." he said distractedly.

"Okay...thanks man."

"What was that about?" Proof asked. He'd hung back to wait for me while the others were busy tryna hit Biz with the atomic wedgie sneak attack.

"Lex," I answered, showing him the piece of paper with her number on it. "She's got the girls over her place. Picked 'em up from school for God only knows what reason." I whipped my phone out to call her.

"Hey Marshall," she answered. Fuck...that voice. Every time I heard her voice, my stomach did flips and I my head got foggy as fuck. It was really starting to piss me off that I couldn't feel fucking normal around her.

"What up? My bad, I didn't get your message til now. You have the girls?"

"Yea. Kim called me earlier and asked if I could get them. She...sounded like she was in a bind so..."

A bind? Her license had been suspended after yet another DUI charge so she usually had her cousin, her sister, or a driver pick her up to go get the kids if I wasn't able to do it. Why was she not able to do that today?

"Um...okay. I guess I'm on my way to pick them up then," I said, still sounding confused.

"No rush. They're totally fine. We're just chillin; having dinner and a movie, right girls?" she asked them. Their squeals and giggles in the background confirmed that they were having a great time.

I smiled to myself, thinking about how maternal she was even though she really had little to no experience with kids. No Marshall, goddammit....stop thinking about her like that!