"The Big Payback" Part Three

[CarolinaCutie]

[glow=red,2,300]“Time waits for no man/The streets grow worse/Cufk the whole world kid/My money comes first/’Cause I’m out for the gusto and trust nobody”
— Mobb Deep: Up North Trip[/glow]

"I dunno what's goin' on but we have got to get to the bottom of this!", Russell stated with a shake of his head after noticing more money missing from 112’s account according to their quarterly report. "Have you two come across anything else?"

"Yes and no.", Shanay replied as she looked over at Latonya. Russell gave them both a puzzling look.

Latonya cleared her throat. "We noticed that along with the group’s diminishing account, their manager's funds are also completely wiped out. So we're tryna figure out what money is bein' spent on hotels, food, fuel for their tour bus and things of that nature."

"Well, the manager has to call the accountant who in turn has to approve the request for more money out of the artist's account. But I don't know how this could be when 112's funds are completely gone!", Russell anxiously stated. This wasn't looking good at all and he didn't want to believe that 112 were in on taking money from his label. He just wouldn't believe it.

"We don't have any hard evidence yet, but we feel that this is definitely an inside job. Hopefully, when we dig a little deeper, we'll be able to let'cha know w'sup by the time Meth's release party takes place in a few weeks.", Shanay replied. What she and Latonya didn't bring to Russell's attention was that Daron, who was now a close friend of theirs, had been confiding in the both of them about what had been going on with the group's new manager, Tyrone, and their former manager, David. However, Daron’s band mates didn't care for his new friends one bit. They were afraid that word may somehow get to the girls about what was going on which in turn may mean that Tyrone would find out.

"Okay, well try to find out as much as you can. In the meantime, I have quite a few calls to make to see if I can find out anything else. And remember, I appreciate everything yall are doin'.", Russell smiled as he stood up behind his desk. "I guess I'll let yall go now so you can start work on Jonell's remix. We're on a tight schedule and her video has to be shot by the end of this month. You ladies have a good evenin'."

"Thanks, you do the same.", Latonya smiled as she reached out to shake his hand. He then reached over to shake Shanay's.

"Have a good night!", Shanay waved as she followed Latonya out of his office.

"Girl, I'll be so glad when this is over. With the clues D has been givin' us, I know it has to be somebody in their crew stealin' the money. This doesn't look good for the guys at all!", Latonya quietly stated as they headed down the hall to meet with Jonell and Jazz. However, on their way there, they ran into Kelly, her husband, and Woody as they were leaving. She and Woody had just finished wrapping up their gospel duet entitled, "Keep Goin'".

"Hey, ladies!", Kelly smiled as she hugged them. "I heard some of Meth's songs that yall helped out with and all I can say is that yall are no joke! Russell made a good choice when he brought you two in!", she smiled.

"Thanks!", Shanay grinned.

"Yeah, they're some hard workers!", Woody smiled as he reached out to hug them next. "We know yall gonna be sick on Jo's remix! She was juss talkin' about yall."

"Oh fo' real? Well, we DEFINITELY gotta look out for our girls!", Latonya chuckled. "We gonna step up the game on the real now! Well, we're runnin' a lil' late so we'll see yall around. Take care!"

"You too!", Kelly smiled as she and her hubby headed down the hall.

"See ya lata!", Woody grinned before also heading down the hall.

"W'sup, ma!", Latonya smiled at Jonell as she and Shanay walked into the studio. Jonell, Jazz, Nokio, and Luda were all sitting around the mixing board chatting.

"W'sup, yall! We ready to get this isht started or what?!", Jonell grinned.

"You know it, girl!", Shanay smiled as she went to sit next to Latonya who had taken her usual seat beside Nokio. Everyone immediately began to go to work. However, Luda was there only because he, Jazz, and Nokio planned to work on some stuff with him after Jonell's session.

For the next hour or so, the girls all collaborated on different ideas for the song when Jonell decided that she wanted a female rapper featured on the remix. Latonya and Shanay were only kidding when they wrote a freestyle rap during the musical break in the song.

"So who do we get?", Nokio asked as they all sat around brainstorming.

"I'ono. All I do know is that I want somebody that's fresh and new out the box to kill it!", Jonell replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "And I don't want none of these half-naked ones that are out right now. That's not the image I wanna go for."

"Why don'tchu go with my two hoes right here?", Luda joked as he walked up behind Latonya and Shanay. He threw his arms around their shoulders and proceeded to kiss them on their cheeks.

"Na, get yo' stupid @$$ away from us!", Latonya laughed as she slapped the back of Luda's hand that was resting across her shoulder.

"Oh, he muss don't know what I do to negroes that call me a ho!", Shanay winked as she looked over at Latonya.

"Isht! I fo'got about that. I'm sorry...NOT!", Luda laughed as he stood back up.

"Stupid @$$!", Shanay smiled.

"Yeah, let's hear what'chall got!", Nokio grinned as he rolled his chair around to face the two girls.

"Are yall serious?", Shanay laughed as she and Latonya looked at each other.

"Sure, why not!", Jazz smiled as he looked at them. He had also turned his chair around to look at Latonya and Shanay.

"What are yall waitin' on?", Jonell chuckled while shaking her head.

Shanay and Latonya gave each other a sly look as if they were talking in code without speaking. They both proceeded to roll their chairs away from everyone out into the middle of the floor.

"And 1, and 2...", Shanay began before she started beat boxing as she and Latonya bobbed their head from side to side.

"My name is Tay-Tay/And I'm the best/All the DJ's want/To feel my bress!", Latonya rapped before she and Shanay burst out in non-stop giggles.

"Yall wanna be smart @$$es!", Luda laughed along with the others.

"Okay, okay! We're gonna be serious this time!", Latonya laughed as she put her hands up. "Yo! Let's do the one that you made up that night after we interviewed Kid-N-Play!!!" Latonya told Shanay as she became very excited.

"Oh, aight!", Shanay grinned. "You want me to start or do you wanna start?"

"You start!", Latonya smiled. Either way the girls would be doing every other verse no matter who started.

"We don't have all night'chall!", Nokio laughed while throwing his arms in the air.

"I know right! So c'mon!", Jonell anxiously stated.

"Set it off/1,2,3,4,5/It's time for us girls to bring it to yall live/As we do our dn thang on the dance floor/And have the fellas shoutin' 'Shawties give us some mo'!'/But we don't back it up/Or drop it like it's hot/For some they may be cute/But for us it's not/We'd rather work our thangs like Sid and Sharaine/You know those 2 girls at Play's house partay!"

"Gimme some, girl!", Latonya grinned as she held her fist out to receive a pound from Shanay. However, they noticed how the guys asked "who" when they said Sid and Sharaine even though they figured it out afterwards.

"Yooooooooo, I like that! Yall gotta do that on this remix!", Jonell exclaimed as she jumped up and grabbed their hands. She immediately led them into the recording booth.

"Dn! I taught my employees well, nas!", Luda laughed as he gave Nokio and Jazz a pound.

"You wish!", Latonya laughed as she put her finger up at him. “Why dont'cha go see yo' girl, Dee Dee, until it's time for you to work! Go aggravate her!"

"I would, but I'm lettin' her rest up!", he grinned with a wink.

"Yo, Tay! Why didn't you tell me that you and yo' girl, Sunshine was the ghettofied Salt-N-Pepa?", Nokio laughed as he looked across the studio at them.

"Fo'get you, aight?", Latonya laughed before blowing a kiss at him.

"I don't want that! I want the real kind lata!", he winked.

"I juss had an idea, man. Why don't Luda and I do the background male vocals during the rappin’ part on the 'Shawties give us some mo' and the 'who' part in addition to my background vocals?", Jazz asked Nokio.

"Aight...yeah, that'll work! You up for it Luda?", Nokio asked as he glanced over at him.

"Yeah, man!", Luda agreed with a nod of his head.

In only one recording, the song was wrapped. Everyone was very excited. They were ahead of schedule, so Jonell and the girls decided that they would come up with a concept for her video. But before doing so, everyone decided to take a quick break.

[CarolinaCutie]

"C'mere, girl!", Jonell whispered as she and Shanay approached Latonya out in the hall.

"What is it?", Latonya asked.

"We saw how you and Noke were lookin' at each otha with the lil' gestures and stuff. And we heard the lil' comments yall made. W'sup wit'chu two? Yall togetha or somethin'?", Jonell grinned.

"I know right! That's what I wanna know?", Shanay giggled. She knew that Latonya had went out with Nokio a few times but she didn't know it was "like that" with them.

"Well, I wasn't gonna say anything, but we're DEFINITELY feelin' each otha but the weird part is that Noke and I haven't told each otha how we feel yet. That's crazy, huh?", Latonya shyly smiled.

"Aw, man! Well that's coo'! Noke is good peoples...so why don't yall go ahead and tell each otha how ya feel?", Jonell asked.

"I'ono!", Latonya replied while blushing.

"So, my na...w'sup wit'chu and Tay? Don't act like Jazz and I didn't see the way yall were flirtin' with one anotha!", Luda chuckled as he sat next to Nokio.

"Man! We juss went out on a couple of dates, but I'm really feelin' her now, but I don't know how to tell her. That's crazy, huh?", Nokio grinned as he looked up at Luda and Jazz.

"Nah, my man! That's not crazy. Follow your heart and tell her how you feel. It's obvious she's feelin' the same way about you.", Jazz stated with a nod of his head.

The girls were still chatting amongst each other in the hall when Luda stuck his head out of the door. "Yo, we wanna order in some grub. Yall got any suggestions on what we should get?"

"Whateva is fine with me.", Shanay stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Yeah, me too.", Jonell agreed with a nod of her head.

"What about'chu, Tay-Tay?", Luda asked.

"Ummmmm...well get me anything with vegetables in it like a salad or somethin'.", Latonya replied.

"Oh, you on that vegetarian tip, ma?", he asked in surprise. "Well, all those tomatoes and cucumbers went straight to yo' booty! That's why you and Dee Dee are my prized pupils and workers!", he joked.

"Nas like him can be so dn disgustin'!", Shanay stated with a roll of her eyes.

“Ya know!”, Jonell laughed with a roll of her eyes.

"Girl, be quiet fo' I make you go back out on the ho stroll to make me some more money with your assets! You are an inspiration to big breasteses women everywhere!", Luda laughed as he placed his hands on his hips and stood to the side while poking out his chest.

"See, why he gotta play wit' me?!", Shanay snapped as she looked at Latonya and Jonell while taking her sandal off. "He don't know I'll knock his @$$ out with this shoe!"

"Isht, the smell alone would knock me out! Anyway, I guess we gonna order some pizza.", Luda laughed as he went back inside.

"How Dee Dee puts up with his crazy @$$ is beyond me!", Latonya laughed while shaking her head.

Until the pizzas arrived, the girls all sat together at the mixing board while coming up with a concept for Jo's video while the guys played video games.

"I want somethin' simple, but straight to the point, ya know? But I also wanna keep it on a gangsta tip at the same time. We gotta let nas out here know that the females of now ain't takin' no isht!", Jonell stated as she sat back in her chair.

"Yeah, I feel ya, ma!", Latonya replied.

"Yall know what I juss thought of?", Shanay suddenly asked after being deep in thought for most of the time. "I could make a call to Duane Martin's Uncle Willie Earl who is a friend of the extended family. For an ol' dude, he is so dn coo'! But anyway, the point I'm tryna get at is if I could get in touch with Duane and Tisha, Tisha could get in touch with A.J. Johnson and we could have them as the dancers in the video if they’re up for it. Yall know back in the day that they ripped it in that dance scene battle with Kid-N-Play! While Jo's point is gettin' across in the video that females ain't takin' nothin' no mo', we can also show that no matta what age we are, females will always hold their own!"

"Girl, shut up lyin'! You don't know no dn Uncle Willie Earl.", Luda replied with a wave of his hand as he looked up from the video game.

"Na, do what'chu do best and be quiet! Dn! That won't eva' happen, but anyway...", Shanay replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I'ono yall! Those females are kinda up in age!", Jazz laughed as he looked over at them.

"And your point is what?", Latonya asked a little heated. "We get betta with time juss like fine wine, honey chile!"

"Watch this!", Shanay winked at the guys as she reached for the phone. She proceeded to dial up her former neighbor's granddaughter over in Cali who was the great-niece of Uncle Willie Earl on her father's side. "Hey Shannon! Listen, I need a HUGE favor! Could you give me the number to your Uncle Willie Earl? I need to get in touch with him to ask if he could get me in touch with Duane and Tisha. Because, my girl and I are workin' with one of the hottest and upcomin' artists at Def Jam. Yeah, girl, Tay and I been workin’ here for 'bout 3 months now! I know right! Look, I'll let you talk to Musiq some otha' time, aight?! Dang! Yeah, I know he yo’ baby daddy, but I'm workin' right now! Huh? Oh yeah! Anyway, I need to ask Tisha if she could be in a video that they'll be filmin' soon! Aight. Thanks, hear? Okay, tell yo momma I said hey too. Bye!"

No sooner than Shanay hung the phone up, she called Uncle Willie Earl up and then she got in touch with Tisha. Duane wasn't at home. She gave Tisha the information about the video and Tisha said she would be more than happy to do it. And to prove her point, Shanay had her on speaker phone so the guys could hear.

"Ta-dow, nas! Now what!!!", Shanay grinned after hanging up.

"My dawg!", Latonya laughed as she and Shanay gave each other high fives.

"Thanks, girl! Maybe, juss maybe, I'll be on the 106 and Park countdown with this one!", Jonell grinned.

"Not as long as B2K and Bow-Wow are around!", Luda joked.

When the pizza delivery man arrived, the guys ran to the door nearly knocking the poor man down as they took the pizzas from him.

"Doggish, girl...juss doggish!", Latonya laughed with a shake of her head.

"Here ya go, my man! Keep the change!", Nokio smiled at the delivery man while paying him.

Everybody was laughing and talking about different stuff when Luda brought something to everyone's attention.

"Hell nall! You ain't telling me nuttin! Y'all together man! Look at how y'all acting feedin’ each other food and isht!", Luda laughed while pointing his finger at Latonya and Nokio. They were sitting quite close to one another while eating.

"Man, leave me and my girl alone and tend to yo' own business!", Nokio laughed with a shake of his head. Latonya looked at Nokio and began to blush.

"Awwwwwwwww...look at da liddle lub birds!", Jonell laughed. Shanay and Jazz were also laughing.

"Playa hatas!", Latonya replied back with laughter.

Another hour or so had went by as the girls wrapped up their concept for the video. On their way out, the guys decided to take another break before working with Luda.

Jonell, Shanay, and Latonya were half-way down the hall when Shanay realized she had left her Discman back in the studio.

"I'll catch up wit'chall outside. I left my CD back there.", Shanay stated as she turned to head back down the opposite end of the hall. Upon reaching the studio, she saw Jazz sitting on the sofa watching "The Jeffersons". He was cracking up so hard, he didn't notice when she first walked in.

[CarolinaCutie]

"That Florence is a foo'!", Shanay chuckled as she walked over to the mixing board to see if her Discman was on it. However, it wasn't there.

"Oh hey, girl! I didn't even hear you come in here!", Jazz continued to laugh as he stood up and stretched. "What brings you back?"

"I left my Discman in here somewhere.", she smiled as she walked over to a chair she had been sitting in earlier to see if it was in that area. Sure enough, it was. It was sitting on the floor next to the chair.

"You can't live without that thing!", Jazz joked as he walked over to her. "What'cha got in there this time?"

"Whodini's Greatest Hits. They were da bomb back in the day!", Shanay grinned.

"I hear that! Remember that song...how it go? Oh, 'One love/One love/You lucky juss to have juss one luuuu-u-uv!'", Jazz chuckled as he began to do the wop. Shanay joined in with him.

"Nah, nah, nah! What about this? 'Friends/How many of us have them/Friends/Ones you can depend on!'" In juss those few seconds, Shanay was having a fun time with Jazz.

"Where in the world is Sunshine? Shoo', I'm ret' to go!", Latonya huffed as she and Jonell continued to wait out in the hall.

"What'chall waitin' around for?", Nokio asked as he came up behind them. He had went upstairs for a second to see how things were going with the Def Squad's recording session.

"We waitin' on, Sunshine! I'ono what's keepin' her. I was gettin' ready to go down there to tell her to bring her @$$ though! We ain't got all night to wait on her!", Latonya replied.

"I'll go get her!", Nokio stated.

"Aight, thanks!", Latonya smiled.

"Boo!!!", Luda shouted as he crept up behind Jonell and Latonya. They both screamed before turning around to see him laughing. "I scared yall didn't I?"

"Why don't you quit playin' so much, foo'?!", Jonell snapped as she slapped him on his arm.

"Well, I've held you up long enough. I guess I'd betta let you go.", Jazz warmly smiled as he playfully twirled one of Shanay's curly afro puffs through his fingers.

"Yeah, they prolly wonderin' where the heck I'm at.", Shanay replied while trying her hardest not to blush.

"So, I guess I'll see ya sometime lata on.", Jazz whispered as he slowly leaned forward.

"Oh no! He's not gonna do it is he? Well, actually I want him to but...", Shanay's mind raced with a 1001 questions and comments as she leaned forward to Jazz while closing her eyes.

"Hey, Sun...!", Nokio began before he witnessed what was about to take place.

"Ohhhhhh!!! Yeah, you might wanna get that redness in your eye checked out! It could be your sinuses. I have the same thing happen with my eyes from time-to-time!", Shanay stated while trying to play off what Nokio already knew.

Jazz began to laugh nervously. "Oh, aight! I'll do that...well, ummm...see ya lata! G'night!", he waved while grinning.

"Oh, okay...bye! Bye Noke!", she hurriedly replied as she zoomed past Nokio who was still standing in the doorway.

Nokio began to tease Jazz by singing Joe's "Don't Wanna Be a Playa".

"Man, shut up! It's not what it looked like!", Jazz tried to reason with him as he went back over to the sofa to sit down.

"Yeah, right! Na I ain't blind! You know you been feelin' that girl alllllll along! Man, take your own advice and follow your heart!", Nokio smiled as he went over to flop down on the sofa beside Jazz.

"Maybe, I'll do juss that!", Jazz grinned as he turned to Nokio to give him a pound.
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A couple of days later, Tyrone was making his way down the hall past Russell's office when he overheard him having a hushed conversation with L. Russ' didn't notice that L hadn't completely shut his door when he walked in.

"Yeah, man…our accountant and I have checked and re-checked everybody's accounts for the past 3 days and we only see a discrepancy with 112's account. We also noticed from past printouts that the money that has been disappearing from the company is replenished back into their account before being taken out on the same day. I don't want to do this, but Kevin and I are going to have to have a conference with the fellas and their manager to see what's going on!" Russell looked weary as he sat back in his chair while still glancing at all of the papers, print-outs, and receipts that were scattered about on his desk.

"Dn, man! I'm sorry to hear that, but at least we're getting’ somewhere with this thanks to our…", L began before he looked around to make sure nobody was nearby. He noticed that there was a little crack in the door. He quickly jumped up and slammed it barely missing Tyrone that was standing next to the door. He quickly moved out of the way so that L wouldn't notice him.

"Thanks to our new help.", L finished as he made his way back over to Russell's desk.

"Yeah, man, I know. Those girls have been puttin' in overtime in tryna to solve this case. You know how females are…they're gonna get to the bottom of things if it's the last thing they do!", Russell joked with a shake of his head.

Meanwhile, Tyrone decided that he was going to roundup the guys to have a meeting of his own with them. He wanted to coach them on what to say in their meeting with Russell. Tyrone knew that sooner or later, the ugly truth was going to surface. But he was going to make sure to hold off the truth for as long as he could.

"W'sup!", Slim stated after answering his phone.

"Listen, I don't have much time to talk, but I need for you to gather the rest of the group together to meet me at my place within the next hour! I have somethin' very important to discuss with all of you! Now get on this isht and hurry up!", Tyrone barked before hanging his phone up as he made his way outside to his ride to head home.

"Aw isht! I wonda what's about to happen?", Slim anxiously thought to himself as he began to call the other group members up. However, he wasn't able to get in touch with Daron. "Dn, na! You gotta be the one to make this isht even more difficult!", Slim yelled as he slammed his phone down on its receiver. He immediately sent Daron a 2-way message before heading out.
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"So are you and your girl on the up and up now?", Latonya asked as she and Shanay had lunch with Daron at an outside eatery in the heart of Manhattan.

"Yeah, it's good to get advice from females. Every time I sought advice from my boys it only seemed to make her more upset.", Daron chuckled as he wiped his hands with his napkin.

"Well, ya know…us females know what we like and what we don't like.", Shanay winked as she sat across from him.

"I see! I'm juss happy that we can move on in our relationship. I was lost without her for the past few weeks.", Daron grinned. "I really love her! We've been together a lil' ova 5 years."

Latonya made a cracking sound while pretending to use a whip.

"It ain't even like that, Tay!", he laughed as he looked over at her.

"Oh, could've fooled me!", she teased as she laughed along with Shanay.

"Whateva", Daron laughed as he waved his hand at them. Just then, he received a two-way. After checking his message from Slim that he needed to get over to the manager's place ASAP, he jumped up from the table.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to go. I juss received a message that I have to attend a very important meetin'. I really enjoyed the lunch. Thanks, guys!" He proceeded to kiss them both on the cheek before half-running over to his car.

"I wonda what it could be about?", Shanay sarcastically asked as she looked over at Latonya.
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[CarolinaCutie]

"Didn't I tell ya to get EVERYBODY together?!!", Tyrone barked at Slim when he noticed that Daron was over 15 minutes late.

"Man, I tried his home phone, his cell phone, and I sent him a 2-way. Isht! I did the best that I could do! Now he knows that he's supposed to meet us ova here, so if he's the one late, it's on him!", Slim barked back. He was beginning to agree with Daron that they shouldn't keep being bullied around by their manager.

"He's prolly hangin' out with those 2 girls again.", Q mumbled to Mike. However, Tyrone heard him.

"He's prolly doin' what?", Tyrone angrily asked. At first Q denied that he said anything.

"Na, I heard you with my own cufkin' ears! Now what did you say?!", Tyrone demanded to know as he stomped over to Q who was seated on the sofa next to Mike.

Q huffed, "Dt, I said maybe he's hangin' out with those 2 girls!"

"You mean those 2 new broads at the label now? Why tha' hell is he hangin' out with them all of a sudden? I thought I said that you all were not supposed to get close to anybody at the label?!", Tyrone yelled.

"Hell, don't ask me! Ask Daron when he gets here! I ain't got isht to do with it!", Q yelled back with a shake of his head.

At that exact moment, Daron rang the doorbell.

Tyrone quickly made his way over to the door and flung it open. "You're late! Now you're gonna tell me all about those two females that you've been hangin' out with!"

"Man, I ain't gotta tell you isht! My pops is back in the ATL not up here in NYC!", Daron snapped as he walked inside.

Mike's face cringed up and he let out a low whistle. He knew that Daron was now asking for it.

"Aight! You wanna be all swoll now and isht?! Na, I'll drop you in a heartbeat!", Tyrone threatened as he and Daron stood face to face while glaring at one another.

"Do what'chu gotta do! There’s nothin' but space and opportunity between us!", Daron replied as he stepped back and opened his arms.

"Sit yo' @$$ down! You lucky I have more important things to worry about as far as Russell and this meeting he wants to have with us!", Tyrone chuckled as he walked back over to where the rest of the guys were. Daron decided to stand up during their short conference. He was too heated to sit down and look at his newfound enemy.

And the guys knew it.
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The next morning after a wonderful night of frolicking, Nokio was quietly making his way out of Latonya's apartment.

"Gimme one mo'?", he chuckled as he leaned over to Latonya to get another kiss as they stood in her doorway. "And anotha one? And one last one for real?". They were so busy sharing tiny goodbye kisses that they didn't notice that Shanay’s door to her place was halfway open as she went downstairs to get the morning paper. She had gotten used to waking up early thanks to their new jobs.

"Well, g'mornin' you two!", Shanay slyly grinned as she saw them in the middle of one of their kisses as she made her way back upstairs.

"What are you doin' up so early?", Latonya nervously asked. She thought that Nokio would make a clean get away before Shanay woke up.

However, Shanay didn't answer her. Instead she glanced over at Nokio and smiled. "Sooooo...how are things goin' with ya since the last time we saw each otha?"

"Ummmm...pretty good! Listen, Tay, I gotta go. But I'll see ya at the lab in a few hours, aight?" He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Okay, bye!", she smiled while waving at him.

"See ya, Sunshine!", Nokio waved before making his way downstairs.

When Latonya glanced over at Shanay, she began to chuckle. "Don't even ask, girl!"

"Oh hellz no! You gonna give me details, honey chile!", Shanay giggled as she followed Latonya inside her apartment.

"Yes! We took it there! And your point is what?", Latonya sighed as she flopped down on her sofa.

"Well, I'm juss happy to see yall so happy and gettin' along with each otha!", Shanay grinned as she sat in a chair across from Latonya. "But how long were you gonna keep this from me? You know we been girls since day one!"

"If that's the case, why didn't you tell me about you and Jazz almost lip-locking the otha night?", Latonya grinned while winking at Shanay.

Shanay become embarrassed. She figured that Nokio must've told her what he saw. "Well, because we didn't. But girllllllllll...maybe I'll get the chance to tonight. Jazz and I are goin' to that new supper club up in Harlem to catch Floetry's 9:00 show!"

"Oh, coo'! Well, handle yo' business and let me handle mine!", Latonya joked as she got up to get ready for the day ahead. Shanay went back to her apartment to get ready as well.
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When Latonya and Shanay arrived at work, they ran into 112 as they were heading for their rides in the parking lot. As usual, no one spoke to either of the girls except Daron. He quickly made his way over to them and proceeded to hug them tightly.

"W'sup, D! You aight?", Shanay asked after their embrace. She noticed that he looked a little shaken up.

"Yeah, ummmm, it's juss that we had to have this important meetin' with Russ about somethin'. It's no big thang though. Juss business as usual!", he grinned with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You sure?", Latonya asked while staring into his face. She noticed something strange about him also.

"Yeah, yall! Truss, I'm fine! Well, I thought I'd juss stop to say w'sup. You two take care. See ya around...bye!", he replied before half-running over to his SUV. All the while he and the girls were chatting, Tyrone’s spy, Smooth, was parked in a SUV nearby taking in everything that was said. However, no one noticed him because the windows on his luxury ride were darkly tinted. Meanwhile, Tyrone, was watching everything from his office on the 5th floor.

"I don't have to tell ya what the meetin' was about now do I?", Latonya whispered to Shanay as they made their way inside.

Smooth received a call on his phone from Tyrone.

"He didn't say anything to those two did he?", Tyrone sneered into his phone.

"Nope! Juss the usual w'sup kinda isht. But I do think those girls know that there may be somethin' deeper goin' on with him. You want me to take care of them for ya?", Smooth excitedly asked.

"No! I paid you to watch after Daron...leave those two itchbes to me!", Tyrone snapped before slamming his phone down onto the receiver.

"W'sup my naettes!", Redman grinned as he approached Shanay and Latonya after they stepped off the elevator. He was on his way out to do an interview with the Source magazine after checking on some tracks that he and Def Squad had just finished up. He proceeded to grab the both of them up in a bear hug while kissing their cheeks. "Muah! Muah!"

"Ewwww!!! You got spit on me na, with yo stankin' @$$ self!", Shanay shouted while quickly wiping her face off with the back of her hand.

"Me too! You so nasty!!!", Latonya snapped while pushing him away from her.

"You didn't know!", he laughed.

"I don't know who's worse...you or Luda!", Latonya laughed as she looked at him in disgust.

"Why this foo' is, of course!", Shanay joked while pointing her finger at Red.

"ANY way!!!", he huffed with a roll of his eyes as he stepped onto the elevator. "I'll see yall around...lata!" He had a gigantic grin plastered on his face as the elevator doors slid shut.

"Dn!", Latonya stated with a shake of her head. "But at least, he's not as bad as he was in the beginnin'.", she chuckled.

"I know that's right!", Shanay agreed.

Upon entering the studio, they were met by Sisqo, Jazz, and Woody. Nokio and Scola were upstairs in the other studio putting the finishing touches on Meth's very last song for his upcoming release.

"W'sup, Tay!", Sisqo grinned while waving at Latonya. However, he had to take it there when he saw Shanay. "Hey there, Kissy Face!", he laughed while waving at her. He then proceeded to make smooching sounds. Jazz and Woody couldn't help from laughing. Even Latonya began to quietly giggle. Shanay became angry as she shot Jazz a sour look. She quickly stepped back out into the hall for she was very embarrassed.

"Mannnnnnn...now look what you did?!", Jazz snapped while chuckling as he jumped up from the sofa. He threw one of the throw pillows at Sisqo to hit him, but Sisqo caught it.

"She know I'm juss playin' with her!", Sisqo laughed.

"You know you wrong though, man! Noke promised Jazz that he wouldn't tell anybody and you had to be the one to spill the beans!", Woody laughed even harder.

"Yall are NOT right!", Latonya snapped at them while shaking her finger in their direction.

Shanay was leaning on a wall outside in the hallway with her arms folded while staring into space. And even though she saw Jazz coming out to join her from her peripheral vision, she didn't bother to turn around to look at him.

"A penny for your thoughts.", Jazz quietly stated with a smile as he walked up and stood beside her.

She proceeded to suck her teeth as she deliberately turned her back to him while continuing to lean on the wall. Jazz quickly walked around to stand in front of her. She turned her back on him again as she turned around in the opposite direction.

[CarolinaCutie]

"Girl! Stop it!", Jazz chuckled. He gently took her hand. "Listen! You know how Sisqo is...he was only playin' wit'cha! Now if he knows anything about what happened the otha' night, he didn't get it from me...and...speak of the devil!", Jazz stated as he looked down the hall and saw Nokio and Scola headed in their direction.

When Shanay saw him staring at something, she turned around to see for herself.

"Oh no!", she heavily sighed. She noticed the grins that quickly spreaded across Scola's and Nokio's faces. "Sooooo...I wonda how long it's gonna be before we live this down?!", she weakly smiled.

"Not too long by the time he get his lil' @$$ down here!", Jazz chuckled.

"W'sup yall!", the guys grinned when they approached Jazz and Shanay.

"As if you didn't know!", Scola joked as he headed inside the studio.

"Now is not the time, Sco’!", Shanay shouted after him. Scola chuckled and waved his hand at her.

"Yall 'bout ready to put the last minute touches on Jo's remix?", Nokio grinned while looking from Jazz to Shanay.

"Nah, I'm 'bout ready to put some last minute touches on yo' face!", Shanay replied while pointing her finger on Nokio's forehead. He quickly grabbed her hand.

"Now what's yo' problem?!", he laughed.

"C'mon, now, you two!", Jazz laughed as he came and stood in between them. "There's no need for ANOTHA' almost-match to happen up in here! Howeva, Noke, you got some 'splainin' to do!"

"About what?", Nokio innocently asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You know what!", Jazz replied with a shake of his head. "How Sisqo and the othas find out about what happened almost a week ago?"

"What he talkin' 'bout, Sunshine?", Nokio smiled as he turned to look at her.

"Truss, you do NOT wanna play wit' me at this moment!", she replied as she held her hand up in front of his face without looking at him.

"Yall buggin'!", Nokio chuckled as he began to walk away. By this time, Latonya met them out in the hall.

"Hey, boo!", Nokio grinned as he walked up to her to get a hug.

"No hugs 'til you fess up!", Latonya replied with a wink.

"Aight! I juss thought it was kinda coo' that yall were feelin' each otha like that the otha night! You got me!", Nokio loudly stated as he looked up towards the ceiling while holding his arms out.

"That's betta!", Shanay snapped as she walked past him and pushed him on the forehead with all five of her fingers.

"You betta quit it!", he angrily warned.

"It's yo own fault!", Jazz laughed as he also walked back inside.

"He's got a point.", Latonya agreed with a nod of her head as she began to follow Jazz.

"Dn! Where can a na find some love from?", Nokio chuckled with a shake of his head as he followed them inside.

A couple of hours later, things were completely finished.

"Welllllll...this didn't take as long as we thought!", Jazz smiled while stretching and leaning back in his chair at the mixing board.

"Yeah, I know! Now I get to spend some time with my girl.", Nokio grinned as he looked at Latonya who was in the recording booth with Shanay. They were polishing up their rap without Jo being there who was doing a couple of club dates down south for the rest of the week and weekend.

"Man! I'ono 'bout yall but a sistah is starvin'!", Shanay stated as she walked out of the studio.

"Yeah, so am I.", Latonya stated as she followed behind Shanay.

"Well, yall wanna go out for lunch or do you wanna stay in and have lunch delivered?", Nokio asked.

"As always, it's whateva with me.", Shanay replied with a shrug of her shoulders as she went over to the sofa to take a seat. It wasn't long before Jazz went over to join her.

"I feel like stayin' in too.", Latonya agreed. "But remember, nothin' but veggies for me." As she started to walk past Nokio, he swatted her butt with the back of his hand.

"As long as it continues to go there!", he grinned while winking at her.

"Aw, get a room, why don't'cha!", Shanay joked when she witness what happened.

"See...I'm juss gonna pretend like I didn't hear that.", Nokio slyly grinned as he looked over at Shanay.

They all decided on Chinese food that they thoroughly enjoyed while watching “Enemy of the State”.

When lunch was almost over, Russell came down to the studio to see the girls for a few minutes.

After being seated in front of his desk back in his office, Russell gave them the 411 on his meeting with 112 and their manager.

"Somethin's juss not addin' up with me. Their manager gave me some bullisht about money bein' transferred from a separate account that 112 supposedly still have ova at Bad Boy. I tried to reach Puff and their former manager, David, but I keep gettin' the dn voicemail. Have you two come across anything else in the past few days?"

"No, but we're hopin' to quickly gain ground on what's goin' on.", Latonya replied with a nod of her head.

"Okay. But lemme know as soon as either of you find anything out!", Russell stated. "Now…movin' on to otha matters, Hype Williams who will be the director for Jo's new video is comin' by on next Tuesday to meet with us on the concept for it. Jo presented your ideas to me and I muss say I'm very impressed. You two have really stayed on top of things.", he warmly smiled.

"Thanks!", the girls grinned in unison.

After joining the guys back downstairs in the studio, Latonya and Shanay decided to hang out with them for the rest of the afternoon while they and the rest of the group worked on some upcoming material for their new release.

Shanay read one of the few novels she had picked up from the day before while listening to her Discman and Latonya worked on some ideas for the upcoming issue of their magazine. She had to make some calls to set up some interviews.

When 5:30 rolled around that evening, the guys had completed 8 songs.

"Well, I guess I'd betta go so Sunshine can get ready to see Floetry.", Latonya smiled while hugging and kissing Nokio goodbye.

"Aight, well I'll prolly stop by for a lil' while after I know you've gotten home.", he replied.

"Coo'!", Latonya grinned as she joined Shanay over at the door where she was chatting with Jazz.

"Maybe you could open for Floetry if they're late since you're a mini-Jill Scott. The audience would neva know that you're actually a fake!", Jazz joked while throwing his arm around Shanay's shoulder.

"Okay, should I give you yo' beat down now or lata?!", she chuckled as she balled up her fist and shook it in his face.

"I was only playin' girl, dn!", Jazz laughed.

"Awwwww...ain't they so-weeeeet?!", Scola laughed as he and Woody joined Jazz and Shanay. However, Sisqo was sitting in front of the tv playing a video game.

"Did you hear somethin', Jazz?", Shanay smiled as she rolled her eyes at Scola.

"Yall are neva gonna learn.", Latonya laughed with a shake of her head as she and Shanay said their goodbyes to the fellas.

As soon as they had climbed in Shanay's ride to head home, Tyrone slowly followed them out of the parking lot in an unmarked van.

"I cannot believe that I'm finally gonna see Floetry with a coo' guy!", Shanay grinned as she quickly headed home to get ready.

"Girl, I don't mean no harm...but the way you're actin' ova Floetry right now, one would actually THINK that you were goin' to see Dru for the first time again, like we did back in the day!", Latonya laughed as she looked over at Shanay.

"Nah, its juss that those girls are so dn smooth with theirs! They are deep!", Shanay smiled. For some reason, she decided to take a short cut down a side street to reach home faster so she'd have plenty of time to get ready...big mistake!

No sooner than Shanay turned the corner, she saw a pair of headlights in her rearview mirror quickly approaching the back of her ride. She didn't have time to scream to Latonya. The van bumped the back of her car with enough force for her and Latonya to be thrown forward. They both began to shriek and scream.

"Here he comes again!", Latonya yelled when she turned around to look out the back window. However, just when they thought their ride was gonna be bumped into again, the van quickly pulled around them and sped down the deserted street.

"Oh God!", Shanay cried as she quickly brought her car to a stop beside the curb. Latonya quickly pulled out her phone and called Nokio up.

"Noke! Someone juss tried to run over us! Please get down here quick! Hurry! We're down on the corner of Aqua and Dennis Street!" Latonya was very shaken up by the whole ordeal. In the meantime, Shanay called the police to report the hit and run.

In no time, Nokio showed up. After jumping out of his car to make sure that the girls were okay, he followed them back to their place once the police had questioned them. On the way to their place, Shanay and Latonya didn't notice their hit-and-run driver parked all the way in the back of a dark alley further down the street as they drove by him.

"Next time it will be worse!", Tyrone hissed as he glared at them.

[CarolinaCutie]

As Nokio followed behind the girls, he called Jazz up for Shanay to ask him to come over because she was pretty shaken up and needed to talk to him. Jazz told him to tell Shanay that he would be there as soon as he could.

Once they were inside their building, Latonya, Nokio, and Shanay went inside Shanay's apartment while they waited for Jazz to show up. The girls excused themselves and went into the kitchen to talk in more detail about what had happened to them.

"This has to be the work of someone who knows that we're on to somethin' down at the label.", Latonya whispered as she sat across the table from Shanay.

"You are right on that! Girl, I'm about ready to call it quits for real this time! I didn't know our lives would be jeopardized in the process!", Shanay whispered back with a shake of her head. "I'm scared!" Silent tears began to quickly flow down her face.

"It's gon' be aight, girl!", Latonya sighed as she stood up to go hug Shanay. "But we have come entirely too far to turn back now! We can't let Russ down! Now the sooner we find out who the basttid was that did this, the betta! Okay, girl?" Latonya handed Shanay a napkin from the table to dry her eyes. It was weird that although Shanay was the oldest, Latonya seemed to be the one with the old, sweet, comforting soul.

"Okay.", Shanay replied with a nod of her head while drying her eyes. Just then, they heard her buzzer ringing. It was Jazz.

"We'll be across the hall if you need us, Sunshine.", Latonya smiled as she hugged her friend goodbye.

"You won't be needed now that I'm here!", Jazz slyly grinned as he walked up behind Shanay. He proceeded to playfully wrap his arms around her. Shanay began to giggle non-stop.

"Sunshine, like Tay-Tay said...call us if you need us!", Nokio joked as he shook his head at Jazz.

"Whateva, na!", Jazz laughed while throwing his finger up at Nokio.

"Well, so much for seein' Floetry tonight. And I was so lookin' forward to us seein' them.", Shanay sighed as she and Jazz headed for her sofa.

"It's aight! As long as I know you're aight that's all that mattas. We can see them anotha time.", he smiled as he took her hand after they were seated.

"Gosh! You are so dn sweet! You are nothin' like these otha' nas I have ran into in the past. They only play the sweet role for a hot minute before they're ready to get down to the good part!", Shanay laughed as she looked into Jazz's eyes. "But you're different. You are sincere with yours and I appreciate that." She leaned over and gave Jazz a soft peck on the cheek. "Well I guess I'ma go take a quick shower and get outta these clothes. Make yourself at home."

"Aight, thanks!", he smiled as he watched her get up and walk out of her living room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Somethin' wrong, ma?", Nokio asked after noticing that Latonya had a puzzling look on her face as they sat together on her sofa to watch some tv.

"I can't keep goin' on like this.", she whispered as she turned to look at him. "I have somethin' to tell you, but you gotta promise that you won't mention this to ANYONE...not even your family."

"What?!", he asked in surprise as he moved back to look at her.

Latonya cleared her throat. "Well, ummmm...I think I may know who almost ran me and Sunshine ova and why. See, it's like this...Sunshine and I are helpin' Russ find out who's been takin' money from the label."

"Tha' cufk?!!! So you mean alllllllllll this time, you two have been like some undacova cops or somethin'!", Nokio shouted as he jumped up. "So I guess this game of you bein' into me was a cova up too, huh?!"

"No, it's not like that! I didn't want to blow my and Sunshine's cova for both ours and Russ' sake!", Latonya replied as she stood up to follow Nokio as he headed for her door.

"Man, don't hand me that isht!", he huffed without turning around as he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack.

"Please listen to me!", Latonya pleaded as she grabbed Nokio by the arm to keep him from leaving. "If I didn't care so much about you...about us...I wouldn't be tellin' you the truth!"

There was a few seconds of silence as Nokio continued to face the door. Very slowly, he turned around to face Latonya. "Are you sure you're tellin' me the truth now?"

"Cross my heart.", she whispered with a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They shared one of many passionate kisses for the rest of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now I feel betta after my sho...wer!", Shanay grinned as she walked back into her living room. However, when she only saw the glow from her fireplace as Jazz sat on the floor in front of it, she began to blush.

"C'mon, girl!", he smiled while waving his arm for her to come join him on the floor. "I figgad that since we couldn't see Floetry live, at least we could listen to their CD and pretend like we're there."

"We can't do that!", Shanay chuckled with a shake of her head.

"Why not?", he asked.

"Because I'm bummed out...that's why!", she laughed when she looked down at her oversized t-shirt and sweatpants that had been cut into a pair of knee-length shorts. "I look like I could be the Hulk's lil' sistah or somethin'!"

"You look like a dime piece to me!", Jazz winked. "Now c'mon!"

"Okay!", Shanay giggled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basking in their afterglow in Latonya's bedroom, Nokio began to question Latonya about the case.

"So, do you think that you and your girl will capture the culprit, soon?", Nokio asked while holding Latonya tightly in his arms from the back.

"I hope so because I hate to see 112 go out like a bunch of suckas because of their evil @$$ manager! He makes me so dn sick, ya know?!", Latonya loudly stated.

"Aight, isht! Calm down, girl! I was only askin' a question. I didn't mean to start you up like that!", Nokio laughed.

"Well, I'm juss sayin'!", Latonya chuckled. "Isht! I ain't for all the bullisht! It's time to show that busta what time it is!"

"So am I gonna have to relax you again?", Nokio slyly grinned.

"Do whateva you have to do!", Latonya laughed as she turned her head to look back at him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shanay was leaning back in Jazz's arms as he leaned against the sofa. The only sound that could be heard throughout her living room was the crackling of the fireplace and Floetry softly playing. Jazz tried to lighten the mood by jokingly singing along with the music. However, when that didn't work he asked Shanay to talk to him.

"Are you aight?", he asked as he leaned his head across her shoulder to look at her. He noticed that her face had a look of sadness on it.

"Yeah, I'm coo'!", she tried to smile while nodding her head.

"You still thinkin' about what happened tonight?", he asked.

She responded by nodding her head.

"It's gonna be aight!", he replied as he tightened his arms around her.

"I'ono.", she whispered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What you mean by that? Are you sayin' that you know who did this?", he asked.

This time Shanay didn't answer him at all. Instead she looked downward.

"You know who did this don't'chu?", Jazz anxiously asked.

"Nah, I honestly don't know!", Shanay lied while making sure she didn't look at him. Her voice quivered when she answered him. This always happened to her when she wasn't telling the truth about something.

"Then why is your voice shakin’ so bad?", he calmly asked as he continued to lean forward and look into her face.

"Because I'm scared! Man, I'ono! This whole thing has me shaken up!", Shanay sadly stated as she looked up in his face.

"Ohhhhhhhhh...don't worry 'bout it. I'm gonna protect ya.", he warmly smiled as he kissed her cheek.

"Thanks.", she smiled as she settled back into his arms. They talked for half the night until Shanay fell asleep in his arms. Jazz proceeded to pick her up and take her into her bedroom. After lying her down on her bed, he pulled the covers up over her and proceeded to sit next to her as he watched her peacefully sleeping. Brushing a strand of her from over her eye, he thought to himself that he had to let Shanay know how he truly felt about her and he had to do it soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

On the following Monday, Daron met Shanay for lunch. He had something very important to share with her, but he wanted to do it away from the label’s premises.

He was sitting in a far corner of the restaurant as he waited on Shanay to join him. While waiting, he repeatedly read a note that was left on his porch from yesterday. It read: “Next time it will be you. And I promise that you won’t be around when I’m done.”

“W’sup, D!”, Shanay smiled as she stood in front of his table. He hadn’t seen her coming, so he jumped at the sound of her voice.

“Oh hey, Sunshine! I didn’t see you come in.”, he nervously smiled as he stood up to pull out her chair for her.

“Thanks. I can see somethin’s botherin’ ya. What’s goin’ on?”, she asked after she was seated across from him.

He looked around before handing her the note. “This.”, he whispered.

After reading the note, she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my God! Do you have any idea who may have sent this to you?”

“Yeah, but this is strictly between me and you. It’s our new manager, Tyrone. He’s been threatenin’ me because I’ve been seen talkin’ with you and Tay-Tay. He doesn’t want me nor the rest of the group getting close to anyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some followin’ me now.” Daron proceeded to look around the restaurant to see if someone was watching him. However, he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

Shanay had been thinking about the car incident on Saturday night when it hit her. “So I now know for a fact that that must’ve been him who ran into the back of my car! D, we have to bring this to Russ’ attention!”

“No, I don’t think that’s such a good idea at the moment because like I said this na is on some crazy power trip bullisht now! It’s no tellin’ what he’ll try next and I don’t want anything to happen to you and Tay, the guys, and our families.”, Daron pleaded as he shook his head at her.

“But can you tell me somethin’?”, Shanay asked as she leaned forward so that no one else could hear them. “Is there any reason why he wants to control the group and harm anyone who gets close to yall?”

Daron cleared his throat and looked around. He figured that now was as good a time as any to tell Shanay the truth since he trusted both her and Latonya. “He’s been workin’ with our old manager from Bad Boy and they’ve been usin’ us to extort money from Russ. That’s what our meetin’ was about the otha day. Russ was askin’ how was it that money keeps disappearin’ from our account. I was surprised that he didn’t ask if we knew about the money also bein’ extorted from the label’s main account. But anyway, we were told to tell Russ that we had to use it for all sorts of crazy things like wardrobe changes, bus repairs, the replacement of musical equipment when we were out on tour and isht like that. It’s all lies though! Our old and new managers have been usin’ the money for their own personal uses while our group sits back and take what they’re doin’ to us. It’s gotten to the point that not only were they threatenin’ us, but they were threatenin’ our family as well if we said anything.”

“Isht! D, we cannot let them keep getting away with this though! We have got to think of somethin’!”, Shanay whispered. Just then a waitress came over to take their order.

During the rest of their lunch, they made sure to talk about other things outside of the extortion issue. However, Shanay decided that as soon as she saw Latonya, she was going to let her know what the real deal was.

Meanwhile, Smooth sat in his ride across the street from the restaurant. He called Tyrone as soon as he saw Daron walk out of the restaurant. Shanay followed him out a short time later so that no one would see them together.

“Hey, man! One of those broads juss walked out after D! Should I take care of him now?!”, Smooth asked as he continued to watch Daron who had climbed in his ride and quickly pulled away from the restaurant.

“No, I wanna let him sweat a lil’ bit! But I know the perfect time that you can strike!”, Tyrone replied with an evil chuckle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the studio, Dru, Meth, and Latonya sat around listening to Meth’s new CD that would be released in another month. However, Def Jam was going to hold a listening party for it at the end of the week at the Waldorf Astoria.

“W’sup, yall!”, Shanay smiled as she stepped inside.

“Hey! Come on in and listen to this hotness, ma!”, Meth grinned as she took a seat in between him and Woody.

“Dayuuuuuuuuum! That beat is hot!”, Shanay grinned as she began to bob her head to the music.

“Thanks to yours truly!”, Latonya grinned as she glanced across the room at Shanay.

“That’s all you, Tay?!”, Shanay asked with widened eyes.

“Yup!”, Nokio answered as he threw his arm around Latonya’s shoulder. “She did good!”

“Yall are so dn mushy!”, Sisqo laughed as he rolled his eyes at them.

“Anyway!”, Nokio chuckled while waving his hand at him.

After listening to a few more cuts, Shanay asked Latonya if she could see her out in the hall for a minute.

“W’sup, Sunshine?”, Latonya asked.

“Girlllll, D dropped some isht on me today about where the money has been goin’. It’s juss like we thought from the beginnin’. Their new and old manager have been workin’ together to extort money from Russ by usin’ D and the rest of the group. He doesn’t want me to say anything right now because he knows that it was their new manager that tried to run us ova the otha night. He showed me a note that said somethin’ about D would get it next and that he wouldn’t live. I feel like we need to tell Russ about this though. We can’t let these two bastards get away with this isht!”, Shanay whispered. However, she stopped talking about it for a moment when they saw Mia making her way down the hall. After she walked past them, Latonya began to speak.

“I think we should juss kinda lay low for a few days. It’ll be best to wait to bring this to Russ’ attention. If we say anything too soon, it will be obvious that one of the members leaked some info to one of us.”, Latonya replied.

“Okay. Well, I juss hope nothin’ happens to us or the group because D said he feels like they may have someone followin’ him and the rest of the group around.”, Shanay sighed.

“I know! But juss think, at least this is ALMOST ova now!”, Latonya smiled as she put her arm around Shanay’s shoulder. They went back inside the studio to finish listening to the rest of the CD.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Na what was you thinkin’ when you decided to pull this isht?! Don’t you know that Russell and I go way back and that he’s been my mentor from day one?! Answer me, dt!!!”, P-Diddy shouted as he glared at David who was now Loon’s manager after 112 left the label.

“Diddy, man…I didn’t mean for things to end up like this! I didn’t want to have any part of this money bullisht, but man, yo, after 112’s new manager threatened me and my family, I had no choice but to help him extort money from Russ. I’m sorry!” David broke down and began to weep. However, Diddy had no pity for him.

“Man, you cufked up and now all eyes are gonna be on me like I had somethin’ to do with this isht! Get your isht together and get the cufk outta my office! And if I see you around here after today, I’ll have the law on yo’ @$$ with the quickness!”, Diddy shouted as he jumped up from his desk.

Diddy’s bodyguard escorted David from the premises. Diddy then proceeded to call Russell up to let him know what was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

“Go Tisha! Go AJ! Go Tisha! Go AJ!”, Jonell, Shanay, and Latonya all chanted as they watched Tisha Campbell and AJ Johnson rehearse their dance sequence with Darrin DeWitt Henson for Jonell’s video in the dance studio located on the top floor of Def Jam. The strictly performance video would be filmed on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Luda, Jazz, and Nokio were sitting on the other side of the studio chatting with Hype Williams who would be directing the video. It was agreed that the video would take place inside the Apollo theatre during a makeshift amateur hour and all of the Def Jam artists would be a part of it.

“So what we’re gonna do is have all of you guys down in the very front and when the girls come out to join Jonell onstage durin’ the break, I’m gonna have the camera swoop down on all of you as yall whistle and cheer them on. Then I’m gonna cut an angle to the side of the stage where the girl that yall were cheerin’ for that came on before Jonell will be standin’. She’s gonna be pissed because she’s pretty much bein’ dissed
after doin’ a ghettofied impression of Beyonce. Now by the end of the video, all of yall will join the girls on the stage and that’s when I’m gonna morph it into the ending shot of Krush Groove when everybody’s dancin’ togetha. Then it’ll change into a still shot as graffiti is sprayed across the shot that will read ‘Def Jam 4 Eva!’” Hype was very excited about the vision that he and the girls came up with when they had their meeting with him earlier that morning.

“Dn, man! You’se a genius, fo’ reals!”, Luda grinned as he gave Hype a pound.

“I couldn’t have done it without their help.”, Hype chuckled as he and the guys glanced across the room at the girls clowning with each other as they did the Kid-N-Play together to Jo’s song that was blasting through the speakers.

Nokio smiled to himself when he saw Latonya acting crazy. He was wishing that she could be a permanent part of Def Jam after things were over, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen because she was only there to help solve a crime.

“Okay, yall! Let’s take this from the top!”, Hype announced as he came over to rehearse the whole video performance with Jonell.

During a break, Russell came up to the studio to see Latonya and Shanay for a few minutes.

“I’ll be back shortly.”, Shanay smiled as she looked at Jazz who was sitting beside her on the floor.

“Aight. I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”, he smiled back as he watched her walking out with Russell.

“Don’t take too long.”, Nokio grinned as he winked at Latonya who was standing up from the floor to leave.

“I won’t.”, she giggled as she bent down to give him a quick kiss.

On the elevator ride down to his office, Russell was very quiet and looked uneasy. It wasn’t until they reached his office, that he began to talk.

“I juss received a phone call a few minutes ago from Puffy who gave me some info on the case. It seems that their new manager forced 112 and their former manager into extortin’ money from me. I wanted to share this with yall because I know that we can now bring down both managers since they're the ones responsible for this.” He leaned back in his chair while looking at the girls.

“Well, Russ, I was gonna wait until things died down but I guess I’ll go on and tell you that I spoke with D ova lunch today and he gave me all of the details of what’s been goin’ on. He didn’t want me to say anything right now though because he feels like the new manager is havin’ him and the rest of the guys followed. And as we were talkin’,
we figgad that the new manager was the one who tried to run me and Tay ova the otha night.”, Shanay confessed as she looked at Russ.

“What?! I didn’t know that happened to you two!”, Russ stated in a shocked tone. “How come yall didn’t say anything to me about it?!”

“Well, we needed to make sure of it before comin’ to you. We didn’t want to make any false accusations without some type of proof. But now that D has brought all of this stuff to Sunshine’s attention, we feel like we can wrap up this case. But we wanna do it without havin’ the wrong person find out who has been givin’ us the 411 on this matta.”,
Latonya replied while shaking her head.

“Dn! And I’ve already called both managers to come to my office lata on this evenin’ so we can get to the bottom of this. Listen, I think that for the rest of the week, I need to keep you two and 112 away from here so that no one will try anything crazy with yall. In the meantime, I’m gonna press charges against the managers after I’ve had my meetin’
with them. We have enough evidence to do that now. But I still expect to see yall at Meth’s party on Friday night. And thanks again for all you have done!” Russ stood up and walked from behind his desk to hug the girls goodbye. “And once this is all ova with, I’d love to have you two as permanent employees on my roster. That is if it doesn’t take away your time and energy from the magazine.”

“Oh my goo’ness! Are you serious?!”, Latonya grinned as she looked at him. She was excited to know that she would have the chance of working alongside of her new boo. Shanay was excited too because it meant that she would be working for a legendary man and label.

“Yes! After seein’ what you two have done with some of Meth’s songs and Jo’s remix and video, I would be doin’ myself a disservice if I didn’t try to keep you here!”, Russ smiled as he walked them to his door. “I’ll see yall on Friday night. Oh and when yall go back up, tell Hype to stop by my office before he leaves. I need to let him know that
rehearsals for Jo’s video needs to be moved to anotha location so that you two aren’t at a risk in here. But I’ll make up somethin’ to tell him so he doesn’t catch on to what’s really goin’ on in here.”

“Aight, bye!”, Shanay smiled as she and Latonya headed back upstairs to finish rehearsing for the evening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Thursday morning, Def Jam was in the middle of a media circus. The people that were responsible for extorting money from the label had been charged and booked and it was all over the news. No matter how much Russell pleaded for the television reporters and journalists to stay away from the label, they ignored his pleas.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jazz decided to pay Shanay a visit since she wouldn’t be at work for the rest of the week. Russell and the girls gave everyone at the label a story about how the girls were taking a small break from everything, but that they would be returning on next week.

“Hey, Jazz! What brings you ova this way?”, Shanay smiled as she let him inside. She noticed that he was carrying a pizza box.

“Well, since it’s lunchtime, I thought I’d bring a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ ova for us to eat.”, he grinned as he followed her into the kitchen. “Besides, I had to get away from work. The reporters are crawlin’ all ova the place! Russ announced to us this mornin’ that
he’ll be holdin’ a press conference this evenin’ about the stuff that happened. I still can’t believe that 112’s manager would do somethin’ that dirty and underhanded. No matta how much you think you know a person, you juss neva seem to know enough about them.”

Shanay thought of herself when he made his last comment. Latonya told her that she had come clean with Nokio about why Russell asked them to come to the label although she made him promise not to say anything to anybody. However, Shanay wanted to wait until the right time to share the truth with Jazz.

“Yeah, I hear ya! Say listen, why don’t we have lunch on the balcony.”, she smiled while quickly changing the subject.

During their lunch they talked about how exciting the party was sure to be for Meth on Friday night. But during their conversation, Shanay’s phone began to ring.

“’Scuse me for a sec.”, she stated as she went back inside to answer it.

“Hello.”, she answered.

“W’sup, Sunshine! Do you have a minute?!”, Daron anxiously asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?!”, she nervously replied.

“It’s my girl, Juanita! She’s in the hospital! Her friend told me that when they were walkin’ through the mall parkin’ lot to head inside, someone approached them and demanded money. After they gave him their purses, he juss went crazy and began to beat Juanita until she was unconscious! But he neva touched her friend!” Daron began to uncontrollably sob. “Man, why did this have to happen?! My girl didn’t have anything to do with what was goin’ on! I found out that Puffy is the one who called Russell up the otha’ day after our old manager confessed to Puffy about what he had been doin’ with our new manager!”

“Oh my God, D! I’m so sorry to hear this! Is there anything I can do?!”, Shanay asked as she tightly held onto her cordless phone. She didn’t notice that Jazz had come inside.

“What’s wrong?”, he whispered as he came to stand beside her. He noticed how upset she looked. She placed her hand over the receiver and told Jazz that it was Daron.

“I juss need for you and Latonya to keep me, Juanita, and our families in your prayers. I feel like I’m about to lose my mind behind all this isht! My own boys don’t even want to have anything to do with me right now because they are fearin’ for their lives.” , Daron cried. “Listen, I gotta go now to check on Juanita. I see the doctor comin’. I’ll call
you back lata if anything changes, aight? Bye.”

Shanay continued to hold the phone up to her ear even though all she heard was a dial tone.

“C’mon and sit down.”, Jazz stated as he helped her over to the sofa.

[CarolinaCutie]

After they were seated, she proceeded to tell him about what was going on with Daron.

“I’ve gotta let Tay-Tay know!”, Shanay replied as she jumped up from the sofa with the phone still in her hand. She quickly dialed Latonya up.

When Latonya answered, Shanay didn’t waste anytime in letting her know what had happened. They agreed to meet up at the hospital to be there for Daron. Jazz proceeded to get on his cell phone and dial the rest of Dru up to let them know what happened so they could spread the word to their other label mates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you take care of what I asked you to do?”, Tyrone whispered as Smooth took a seat across from him in the visitation room of the county jail.

“Yup! I beat that itchb unconscious! Now if this doesn’t send a message to D, I don’t know what will!”, he replied while nodding his head.

“Good! Now you know there’s one more person for you to take care of for now right?”, Tyrone hissed as his angered filled eyes glared at his partner in crime.

“Oh yeah! No doubt I’m gonna take care of that snitch for you! But it’s not gonna top what’s gonna happen at the party on Friday. I’ma make you proud!”, Smooth chuckled.

“Glad to hear it! After all, they’re talkin’ about me pullin’ some hard time in this itchb for what I did to Russell. After he wouldn’t make me president of the label, I had to show him the big mistake he made. That’s aight though…they’ll all get dealt with in the end by the time I finish carryin’ out my mission!”, Tyrone huffed.

“Time’s up!”, the correctional officer loudly announced as he looked at the Tyrone and Smooth.

“See ya around, playa!”, Tyrone smiled as he gave Smooth a pound with his handcuffed fist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This is Sway with MTV bringing you a special news report. We juss received word that one of P-Diddy’s staff members, David Jenkins, who was the manager for Bad Boy’s newest artist, Loon, has died in what detectives are ruling as an apparent suicide. His long-time girlfriend, Randy O’Brian, found him a few hours ago. David suffered from a single, fatal gunshot wound to his head. Mr. Jenkins was in the midst of an extortion operation with 112’s new manager, Tyrone Bloom, at Def Jam records. It was reported that more than half a million dollars had been extorted from the legendary record label within the past 3-4 months. We caught up with Russell Simmons who had juss finished having a press conference about this situation.”

“It’s unfortunate when things like this happen, you know? In spite of what he was involved in, David was a good guy that I had known for quite some time. I send my condolences out to his friends and family.”

“P-Diddy had this to say about, David, as well.”, Sway continued.

“Yeah, man, well you know. This is tragic news for the staff here at Bad Boy. He was a hard worker, but unfortunately, he was talked into a situation that he felt he had no control over. The entire staff send out our prayers and sympathy to all of his family and friends.”

“As more news becomes available to us, we’ll keep you posted. This is Sway comin’ to you live from MTV.”

“Oh isht, man! What in tha’ hell is goin’ on?!!”, Nokio shouted as he jumped up from Latonya’s sofa to pace the floor. “Neva in a million years would any of us expect some isht to go down like this at the record label we work for! It’s juss not right!”

“I’m with ya on that, man.”, Jazz quietly stated while shaking his head.

Shanay and Latonya both looked at one another. They knew that this was no suicide. It had to be the work of the new manager because he was put into jail without bond. But the old manager was able to post bail because he had confessed to everything that had been going on between him and the new manager.

Shanay began to cry and proceeded to jump up and run out of Latonya’s apartment. She could tell from the look on Nokio’s face that he was quite upset and she didn’t want to chance Jazz hearing about how she and Latonya were involved with this situation. Latonya had confessed to her earlier in the day at the hospital that Nokio was upset that she and Shanay were putting themselves in danger’s way.

“Sunshine! What’s the matta?!”, Latonya asked as she jumped up to follow her friend out into the hallway.

“This mess is getting too out of hand now! What if that sick cufk comes around here lookin’ for us next?! I’m too through with all this isht, Tay!!!”, Shanay sobbed as she leaned up against her door. When she looked up, she saw Jazz and Nokio making their way over to them.

“C’mere, baby. It’s gonna be aight, okay?”, Jazz whispered as he pulled Shanay into his arms. Before realizing it, Latonya was crying too. Nokio proceeded to hug and console her also. After the girls had had a good cry they hugged each other and went to their own places with Jazz and Nokio.

As soon as Shanay and Jazz went inside her place, she asked if he would stay with her in her room because she was scared of what was going to happen next.

He ended up holding her in his arms for the rest of the night as they slept. However, before she drifted off to sleep, he came clean with how he felt about her. He was glad to know that her feelings for him was mutual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In spite of everything that had been going on in the last few days, Meth’s listening party made everybody forget all about the past events of the week.

“Girl, thanks so much for hookin’ us up with these outfits!”, Latonya grinned as she, Jonell, and Shanay chatted with Kimora who was as beautiful as ever in a designer, electric blue, off the shoulder dress. Kimora had surprised the girls with some Adidas inspired outfits that her friend designed especially for them. Latonya’s outfit consisted of a pair of black nylon pants with white stripes going up both sides of the legs with thigh high slits and her matching jacket had the Adidas emblem on the back. And of course the outfit wouldn’t be complete without a pair of black Manolo Blahnik Timbs. Shanay was wearing a blue, short-sleeved medium-length Adidas dress with white stripes going down both sides of it complete with a pair of blue and white tube socks and a blue pair of Manolo Blahnik Timbs. Jonell was wearing a red two-piece long-skirt set complete with a pair of red Manola Blahnik Timbs. Kimora told them that they would be wearing similar outfits for the video shoot.

When Latonya looked up, she was surprised to see Daron at the party with the rest of 112 in spite of what they had been going through. She quickly made her way over to Daron to say hello. “W’sup, D! I’m glad you decided to come! How’s Juanita doin’?”

“W’sup, Tay-Tay wit’ yo’ fine self! I’m likin’ that outfit, ma! Juanita made a change for the betta! The doctor said that if she continues to improve like she has today, she’ll be ready to go home in anotha 2 weeks!”, Daron grinned as he hugged Latonya.

As they were talking, a man that no one recognized slowly walked up on Daron and Latonya. He purposely bumped into Daron causing him to fall to the floor. The man then quickly made his way to the other side of the room so he could escape. He had stabbed Daron in the side without anyone knowing. That is until Latonya was trying to help him back up and noticed blood on her hands.

[CarolinaCutie]

“Oh my God! Someone call 911!!! D is bleedin’!!!!”, Latonya shrieked to those who were around them. The music stopped and Russell and Mike came over to help her.

Meanwhile, Meth, Luda, and Erick Sermon began to give chase to the man that Latonya identified when she pointed him out in the crowd when she saw him slowly moving closer and closer to the exit. Come to find out, it was Smooth.

“C’mon, Sunshine!”, she commanded as she and Shanay took off running with the guys to chase the assailant.

“What are they doin?!!”, Jazz shouted as he ran out of the room to see why the girls were chasing the culprit.

As soon as he and some more bystanders went outside, they saw Meth and Luda tackle Daron’s attacker. All three of them fell to the pavement and Meth punched him several times to keep him from trying to get away. Meanwhile Latonya and Shanay were flagging down the police and the ambulance.

While Smooth was being taken away in a police car, Daron was being loaded onto the ambulance. Shanay and Latonya walked along either side of the stretcher while holding his hands and assured him that he would be fine. The good news was that the paramedics said that he was only suffering from a flesh wound and he would be okay.

Jazz came up behind Shanay to question her about her actions after the ambulance drove away. “Sunshine! Don’t you know you could’ve gotten yourself killed pullin’ that isht?!”, he shouted as he grabbed her by the hand to make her turn around to look at him.

“No I wouldn’t because, well…Tay and I were helpin’ out with this case all along.”, she nervously replied.

“Yall what?!”, Luda exclaimed while holding on to Dee Dee. Some of the other artists also overheard what Shanay had just told Jazz.

“Yeah, we were asked by Russ to help find out what was goin’ on because we used to be owners of a PI Service that went under which is why we are now owners of our magazine.”, Shanay explained. She then turned around to look at Jazz who had a hurt-filled expression on his face. “I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want our cova to be blown.”

“So, basically, everything was one big LIE!”, Jazz huffed as he snatched his hand away from Shanay’s. She followed him down the block and pleaded for him to talk to her but he wouldn’t. He kept walking until he made his way to his ride and sped away. Shanay stood in shock as she watched him leave and she began to cry. Jonell, Deidre, and Latonya came to her aid to console her.

“Anotha’ cufked up situation with me and men!”, Shanay cried as she leaned her head on Latonya’s shoulder.

The girls stayed outside with her while everyone else went back inside to the party. However, Woody made his way over to them. “Listen, Sunshine…don’t take Jazz’s reaction personal. It’s juss his way of dealin’ with this news right now. He’ll come around before you know it, okay?”, he smiled as he hugged Shanay.

[glow=red,2,300]“Now I’ve searched low/And I’ve searched high/Tryna find myself a cutie pie/But destination leads me to a dead end/Over and over and over again”
— Heavy D: Somebody for Me[/glow]