I woke up to the sound of a facetime call coming in. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and answered the phone so that the camera faced the ceiling. " Hello?"
"Girl I know you're not still in the bed, it is 2 o'clock!" Tati yelled. "Do you know what today is?! Get up, we got shit to do! I'll be there to get you in 45 minutes."
"Fine. Bye." I hung up. I hated being waken up. I rolled out of my bed and proceeded to the bathroom to take a shower. I stayed in my dorm room last night because Clifford was at the club all night getting ready for the grand opening party today.
I threw on some sweats and a crop top, and put my hair in a bun. Tati wanted me to run around with her to get stuff together for this party. She also suggested that I get Clifford a "congratulations gift" which I thought was a great idea because I literally have not gotten him one gift this entire time we've been together. Even though he was technically still my sugar daddy, and he would technically be funding this gift himself, I still felt like it would show my appreciation if I got him a gift.
Tati picked me up from my dorm and drove us to a shop downtown to pick up the party favors.
"Here is the last box," The girl at the register said as she handed Tati a box full of small gift boxes. Each guest was getting a custom Club Gemini shot glass.
"I do not get paid enough for this shit." Tati huffed as she struggled carrying the box.
"You better not drop them," I laughed. "Tyreek and Clifford gon be on your ass."
"They can both kiss my ass." Tati rolled her eyes as she sat the box in the trunk. I knew she would be so happy when this night was over. She had been running around like crazy for the last two weeks making sure that everything would be perfect for tonight.
"I still don't know what to get a man who has everything." I sighed as as I got in the passenger seat.
"Girl you already know Clifford is going to love anything that comes from you."
"I know but still, he does so much for me and I just want him to feel good tonight."
"Well let's go to the mall then, I know you'll be able to find something for him." She shrugged as she started the car.
We walked around the mall for hours, walking in and out of stores empty handed.
"Girl this is pointless, I don't know what this man likes." I rolled my eyes. We spent a lot of time together but the focus was always on me, so I really had no clue what he would even want.
"Don't ask me, Tyreek ass would be happy with some weed." She giggled. "Ooh you know what, let's ask Imani. She would know what to get since I'm sure she's gotten James some gifts before."
"Wait you're right." I facetimed Imani immediately.
"Helloooo," She sang into the phone.
"Hey girl," I grinned. "First of all, where the hell are you? Please tell me y'all are still coming tonight."
"Of course we're coming," She said as she flipped the camera to show me that they were in the car on the freeway. "We'll be there around 6 tonight." She flipped the camera back around.
"Okay perfect. Second thing, I need help thinking of a gift for Clifford."
"Chey that's easy... cuff links. All old niggas like cuff links, no offense babe." She laughed kissing James on the cheek.
"Wait you're right. You're a life saver." I grinned.
"Look at you getting your boo a little gift," She smirked.
"I said the same thing!" Tati giggled.
"Alright that's enough. See you when you get here. Bye!" I hung up the phone.
"Let's go to Neiman Marcus I know they're gonna have some nice ones." Tati suggested. When we walked into the store I went to the men's accessories section and asked one of the workers to help me. We picked out a pair of square black and gold cuff links with little diamonds in them. Clifford isn't really the flashy type so they weren't too bold, but just enough. They were actually fye, and they were also $400, so he better like them.
"Those are nice," Tati grinned "Makes me want some damn cuff links."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Girl hush," I laughed. "I want to give them to him before he goes to the club so he can wear them tonight. Can you please take me over there to drop them off?"
"Sure, I'll take you over there real quick."
"Alright, your total will be $425.59." The man at the register stated.
"Okay, can you wrap these for me? They're a gift." I requested as I pulled the cash out of my wallet.
I handed him the money in exchange for the gift bag containing the cuff links.
After we finished the transaction, me and Tati went to the food court to get Chick Fil A before going to Cliffords house.
"How are you and Reek doing?" I asked as I dipped my fry in Chick Fil A sauce. I was curious because this was their first time living together & he was pissed at her for going to that house party with me the other week.
"Girl, that nigga thinks he my daddy forreal. He was so mad about the house party situation, but he got over it eventually. I wasn't paying his ass no mind." She shrugged. "We're good though, I'm honestly happy."
"That's good," I sighed with a smile. "I'm happy for y'all."
"Then why do you look so conflicted right now? What's wrong?"
"Well, I don't know. Me and Clifford are great, but like, he doesn't talk to me. When he's stressed it's so hard for me to get him to open up."
"Well you know, they don't want to put their stress on us and they don't want us to worry about them so they just don't say much."
"What would I have to be worried about though?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Chey, there's a lot that you don't know about the business Clifford is involved in. There's a lot that I don't know too. But I just figure it's for my own good, the less I know the better. Plus, plausible deniability protects everybody."
At this point I knew Clifford was into some serious shit, I just didn't know exactly what it was. I figured it was drug shit or gang shit, or both. I didn't know how to bring up the conversation, so I didn't. But I can't lie and say it didn't worry me a little bit.
After we got done eating Tati took me to Cliffords house so I could give him his gift.
"Honey, I'm home!" I yelled as I opened the front door with the key Clifford had given me.
"I'm up here!" I heard him yell from his room.
"Knock, knock." I sang as I opened his bedroom door. Clifford was standing in the mirror with a button up shirt and dress pants on, it looked like he was trying to decide what to wear tonight because he had clothes all over the place.
"Looks like I got here just in time." I laughed kissing him on the cheek.
"Yeah, as you can see, I'm struggling. What are you doing here?" He smiled.
"Well, I wanted to wish you good luck tonight and give you this." I pulled the gift bag from behind my back waving it in his face.
Cliffords face lit up as he kissed me. "What's in here?" He asked grabbing the bag. I just smiled at him waiting to see his reaction.
He pulled the little box that the cuff links came in out the bag and raised his eyebrows. He sat down on the bed before lifting the top of the box off.
"Damn Cheyenne. These are nice as hell." He stated as a smile slowly spread across his face. He pulled me into his lap, "You just made my night."
I cheesed and patted myself on the back. "You know, I tried."
"You know you didn't have to get me anything though, you being there for me is gonna be more than enough."
I shrugged. "I just wanted to show you how proud I am. You're doing big shit. And you do so much for everyone else, you deserve to have something nice done for you."
"Man thank you, Imma put these on tonight." He kissed me on my forehead.
"Well let me go, I gotta go get ready and Tati is waiting for me outside." I kissed his cheek. "I will see you tonight."
————
Tati dropped me back off to my room to get ready for the party. I took another shower and put on the dress me and Tati had picked out weeks ago. It was a black satin scoop neck dress that stopped right above my knees, with clear straps. I used my flat iron and hot comb to make my hair bone straight and then I did a soft glam make up look. I put on a simple diamond necklace that was a gift from Clifford.
Tyreek and Tati picked me up at 8:30 so that we could be to the club an hour before the party was supposed to start.
"I heard you iced my uncle out earlier." Tyreek grinned looking at me through the rear view mirror.
"Man, you know how I do." I smirked. He and Tati busted out laughing.
"You a good one for real, Chey. I ain't seen nobody make him feel this way in a while for real." I blushed wondering how Clifford spoke about me to other people. He never really verbally expressed to me how he felt about me, but his actions showed me that he cared about me.
Tati awwed from the passenger seat. "Y'all are so fuckin cute."
"Y'all stop," I rolled my eyes blushing.
When we arrived at the club, it was decorated almost exactly how Tati had described it to the planner. She had the wildest smile on her face as we walked through and made sure everything was okay.
Imani and James arrived a few minutes after we did. Imani joined me and Tati and James went up to Cliffords office.
Once our walk through was finished we walked upstairs to the section that was reserved for us for the night. It was by the balcony looking over the floor of the club and the stage. Tyreek was already sitting in it scrolling on his phone.
"Tati can you get me a drink from the bar?" I asked. "I want a long island ice tea."
"Of course I got you." Tati smiled. "Just one more week, and then you can get your own!"
"Oh shit, your birthday next week shorty?" Tyreek asked.
"Yeah, I'll finally be legal!" I smirked doing a little twerk while Imani and Tati hyped me up.
"Yeah, you gon stop that shit." Tyreek mugged me playfully. "But how you tryna turn up for your G day?"
I shrugged sitting down in the booth. "I don't know honestly. I could have a small party with my friends or whatever, but I don't want to do anything crazy."
"Yeah whatever, I'm boutta turn that shit up." Tyreek chuckled.
"Who said you was invited?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Damnnnn," He shook his head. "That's crazy about you." He pushed me lightly.
"You know I'm playing. If I do have anything, you definitely have to be there."
"Duh, you ain't have a choice." He grinned. "Let me get up and do some 'manager' shit." He sighed and slid out of the booth as James approached us.
"Nice to see you Cheyenne." James smiled as he sat next to Imani. "Cliff wants to speak to you."
I went to the back to Cliffords office, where he was sitting at his desk.
"You ready?" I asked him as I sat on his desk infront of him.
He nodded his head and grabbed my hand, kissing it.
"I just wanted to say thank you again for earlier. I don't know the last time, someone else did something thoughtful for me. That shit means a lot to me."
"It's really nothing compared to what you do for me. You do so much for me and I just wanted to return even a little bit of how you make me feel."
"It's more where all those little gifts come from. Trust me." He said standing up and kissing my forehead. "Let's go, they're about start letting people in."
We walked out of his office hand in hand and he dropped me off at our section where Tati and my drink were waiting for me. "Thank you," I sighed as I took a sip. "This shit hit."
"Duh, I made sure I got the best bartender I could find." She grinned.
The DJ started playing music as people started to flood in to the club. I finished my drink and just vibed to the music with the girls until Clifford took the stage with Tyreek and James by his side.
"Wassup everybody?" He spoke into the mic causing everyone to clap and cheer. "I want to thank all of y'all for accepting my invitation to celebrate the grand opening of Club Gemini with me. I'm so glad to see every face out there. I'm not going to make a long drawn out speech, but," He reached in his pocket and pulled out a long ass sheet of paper causing everybody to laugh.
"I just wanted to give a special thanks to Tati and Tyreek, who have put in work for the last couple of weeks to make my vision come to life. I know I've been driving y'all crazy, but y'all have really come through for me and I know y'all will continue to do what y'all do best when running this club for me." Tyreek and Clifford dapped each other up.
"Next I want to thank my brother, James. Y'all may know him as the big time business mogul and owner of Truth, the hottest night club in New York. But, I know him as my best friend turned business partner. We went from two little bad ass boys running around the hood, to running the east coast. I want to thank you for believing in me and my goal for this club from the beginning." Clifford and James hugged each other causing another cheer from the crowd.
"Baby girl," He turned his attention to our section, making eye contact with me. "Thank you for being you and supporting me unconditionally. You make every day easy, even when shit gets hard." The crowd awwed and clapped. I could feel my face turning bright red as a smile spread across my lips. Imani and Tati both hugged and gassed me.
"Last, I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues out there for coming out tonight, I know you have plenty of options on a Friday night, but thank you for spending you're night here with me. Club Gemini is about to turn the city up, and I appreciate y'all celebrating this first night with me! Thank you." Everyone clapped as Clifford handed the mic to Tyreek.
"Like my Uncle already said, thank you for all of the support tonight. Without the support of the community, this club is nothing so we really appreciate all the love. We hope y'all turn up and get lit tonight. I'm gonna stop talking so we can get this shit started, DJ, drop that shit."
And we all wanna be something
To help us on our way
Together we can face another day
Everybody 'round me see red
Everybody 'round me got one in the head
Shiesty pulled up shootin', they fled
Shiesty pulled up shootin', they was tryna fake dead
"Girl that shit was so sweet. I almost shed a tear forreal." Tati fake wiped tears from her face.
"Stooopppp!" I pushed her playfully. "That speech was cute though." I grinned.
"Babygirrrlllll," Imani mocked as she laughed.
"Oh my god," I covered my face. "I can't believe he did that!"
"You got that man wrapped around your little finger." Imani smiled as she took a sip of her drink.
"No cap," Tati laughed. "That man is sprung. Them cuff links did something to him."
I could not stop smiling, and maybe it was because of the strong ass drink Tati got me, but I felt so happy.
The guys walked over to us and sat in the booth. Clifford sat next to me and grabbed my hand. I leaned over and kissed him. I could feel him smiling which caused me to smile.
"Alright that's enough love birds. We need a round of shots." Tati grinned. She waved over one of the bottle girls and asked her to bring us a round of shots and a couple bottles. A few minutes later the same girl and some other girls came over dancing to the music with sparklers, bottles, and a tray of shots.
"To Club Gemini," Tyreek held his shot in the air, we all put ours in the air and then took them to the head. The guys started talking about the different people who were in the club tonight which was lowkey boring as hell. Me and Tati made eye contact and I nodded my head towards the opening in the booth.
"Let's go dance!" Tati stood up and grabbed me and Imani and pulled us out of the section.
We eventually made our way to the bar and we all got another round of shots and another drink. About halfway through my drink I was feeling great. The DJ had started his dancehall mix, prompting me to start whining. I knew better than to start dancing on another nigga in here so I just danced on Tati and Imani basically the whole time.
When the DJ dropped Fall by Davido, Tati screamed "This my shit!" and began to dance on me. About half way through the song, Tyreek moved me out the way and got behind her causing me and Imani to laugh. We were both pretty tipsy at this point, just giggling about everything. After a couple more songs we decided to go find Clifford and James.
Clifford wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear, "You good?" I nodded my head yes. "You want another drink?" He asked.
"Oh you tryna get me drunk," I giggled. "So you can take me home and take advantage of me."
He chuckled and rubbed his hand up my thigh. "This is mine anyway."
I bit my lip and turned around to face him. "Behave." I kissed his lips.
"I can't wait to get you home." He whispered in my ear, causing me to blush.
"Mr. Smith," A voice called from behind him. It was a short lightskin man in a suit. "This is quite the club you got here." The man smiled at me. "And who is this lovely lady?"
"Tim, This is Chey." Clifford introduced us. I shook his hand with a smile.
"Nice to meet you." I said quietly. They began to chat about business stuff and I stood there awkwardly. I made eye contact with Imani, and she came and grabbed my arm taking me to the booth where Tati was sitting.
"Uh oh. You okay?" I asked her.
She gave me a weak smile. "Girl my head is spinning. I did not need that last drink!"
"Yeah you know you a light weight." Imani teased.
I checked my phone to see it was 2:30am, but there was an hour left in the party. We had been here for hours and I was definitely ready to go home and go to bed. I texted Clifford and let him know that I was ready to go and Tati was getting ready to be sick.
The guys came back to the booth. Tyreek sat next to Tati and started rubbing her back. "I need to take her home." He said.
"I'm about to take Chey home too, I'll drop off Tati and make sure she's good." Clifford spoke as he stood up and grabbed my hand. We helped Tati get on her feet and walked her out to the truck out back. We let her lay out in the backseat.
When we got to her and Tyreek's house I pulled her keys from her purse and unlocked the door. Clifford carried her to the back room and laid her on the bed.
"Imma get her some water." He said going into their kitchen.
I took off her shoes and dress and put the covers around her. Then I went in the their bathroom and pulled the trash can to the side of the bed just incase.
"Tati, you okay?" I asked her.
"Mhmmm." She groaned.
"Okay the trash can is right here if you need it boo. And here is some water on your night stand."
"Mmmkay." She groaned with her face in the pillow.
"Call me in the morning or if you need something." I said as I tucked her into the bed. She just nodded her head.
Clifford and I left their house and he took me to his. "I gotta go back to the club and make sure everything is good," He said as he helped me out of my shoes. "But I'll be back in an hour or so." He pulled my dress off of me and kissed me on the shoulder.
"You don't have to try to stay up for me, but I'll be home soon." He kissed me on my forehead as he walked out the door. I decided to go in the bathroom and wash this make up off of my face. I tied my hair up and started my skin care routine.
Then I hopped in the shower. It felt so good and relaxing I knew I was going to be in there for a while. The shower was always my favorite place to think. Tonight's thoughts were all about Clifford. I didn't know where our relationship was going, but this man really shouted me out during his speech at his club. That definitely meant something. I didn't want to hit him with the, "what are we" conversation but at this point I needed to know.
I finished up my shower and brushed my teeth, then went back in the room and got under the covers. I went on instagram and the very first thing I saw made me sick to my stomach.
"I've been keeping a little secret. There is a new arrival on the way. Baby boy, you are loved already and mommy and daddy can't wait to meet you." Was the caption underneath the picture of a very pregnant Taylor. The next picture was a picture of two sets of hands holding her pregnant belly. I recognized those hands and rolled my eyes. Then I chuckled at the fact that just last week this dude was in distress about being a dad, but he was doing maternity shoots? I just had to laugh. I, being petty, shared the picture with Kyle on instagram and told him "Congratulations."
Then I rolled over and closed my eyes. I was going to try to stay up for Clifford, but he was taking too long and that picture had just pissed me off. I knew I had no reason to be mad, which pissed me off even more. But the fact that Kyle was in her maternity shoot made me feel like he was playing with me the whole time.