The tour in the Mid-Atlantic lasted until July 25, with the last city being Philadelphia, in a surprisingly large auditorium.
It continued as they headed towards New York. Since New York was the birthplace of hip-hop and one of the largest music markets in the world, they spent the rest of the month in New York, meeting industry executives, music magazines, giving audio interviews, and performing in packed shows. Ajay realised that it might have been one of the most important stops of the tour.
Of course, the models were pretty awesome as well. He got to enjoy the sensation of an Eastern European wild horse.
Then the tour bus headed straight to Canada, stopping directly in Montreal, performing in Toronto the next day, and heading to the Great Lakes for Detroit.
It was a great show, one of the best of the tour, but oddly enough, as the bus entered Chicago, all the guys, at least most of them in the crew, started to become visibly nervous and strapped themselves.
Ajay knew that being unarmed in some places in America was almost like inviting trouble for oneself, especially if you were with a high-profile person, so he wasn't very surprised when the bodyguards and the crew had strapped themselves up several times during the tour whenever they felt like they were in a sensitive area, but now, it was completely different.
"What is this?" Ajay looked at the colt in his hand and looked at Bryce with a confused expression. Obviously, he knew what the gun was, but he couldn't understand why he was given one. He didn't even have a license.
"Just keep it with you," he insisted, with a stern expression. "You know how I said most gangs are decentralised?"
"Yeah?"
"Gangster disciples are the complete opposite. Especially in Chicago, their area."
Bryce looked around and even lowered his voice as if he were telling some spooky story. "These motherfuckers don't play, man. One wrong move and someone in this bus could be dead."
"So remember, don't fuck with anyone looking for a fight, especially not the ones with a black and blue drip."
"And you should definitely stay the fuck away from anyone tattooed with a Star of David, upright pitchfork, heart with wings, or anyone mentioning Folk or Gangster Disciples anywhere."
Maybe he forgot to add something, so just when he turned around, he turned straight back and stretched out his hands. "Be careful with people throwing this sign." It was the ring finger held by the thumb and the others upright. Ajay quickly memorised it and nodded.
Thankfully, he listened to Bryce because the very night he heard a shootout somewhere in the neighbourhood. Thankfully, none of the people in the crew was involved, but everyone did witness a car filled with gunmen chasing another car through the street.
Looking at that scene, he did want to immediately get out of Chicago, but unfortunately, the record company had scheduled three to four shows in the same city because of the money it generated.
He had no other choice but to stick with the crew and not wander off anywhere. As a result, his entire schedule became extremely routine and robotic. It was either stay in the bus or in the hotel room, hype up Tjay during his concert, and then repeat.
However, as the saying goes, "What has to happen will happen no matter how much you try to avoid it." On the last day, while he was on stage, he noticed something. Several men clearly carrying guns had come to the concert. He knew they were armed because those motherfuckers didn't even try to hide it, which scared him so much that he immediately wanted to drop down, thinking that they were about to spray a tonne of bullets on stage, but they didn't do none of that. Instead they put up their hands and threw up a gang sign. They even started to bop and enjoy the music. He could have sworn that he saw them sing along in the part where Tjay was asking for hand-me-downs.
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He could tell Tjay was startled and panicked when they suddenly showed up as well, but after the men didn't show any intention of causing any trouble, he seemed to visibly relax and perform more naturally, though Ajay suspected that the bulletproof vest he was wearing was contributing to that bravery.
After the performance, they did get to meet the people from the Gangster Disciples backstage. Ajay even got to personally dab them up as well, and after they knew that he was the songwriter, he got a slight nod of approval, which he already understood meant he had earned their respect, just enough to simply beat him up instead of blowing his brains out if he committed an offence.
Fortunately, on the 6th of August, the bus finally left Detroit, and by the 7th, they were in the Midwest, Minneapolis.
It was a smaller crowd in the Midwest, but it was much more relaxing, and there was a lot more time to fuck around, where they drove ridiculously powerful hot rods, sick custom-built choppers, absurdly stupid dragsters, impractically massive tractors hooked up to a train engine, at least that's what he thought, and finally, Ajay even got to sit in a monster truck while a professional was driving.
Those were fun days, but they ended quickly as the tour went through Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, visiting Memphis, Nashville, Birmingham, Jacksonville, and Orlando.
Finally, they stopped in Miami around the 18th for the end of the three-state tour.
Ajay could have sworn with his life that the party Tjay threw was the most degenerate one he had ever seen. Although Ajay had decided to let go of his concerns and simply enjoy his life, not caring about having a stable relationship, at least temporarily, he was not degenerate enough to join a disgusting sex fest mixed with all kinds of hard and soft drugs.
So he simply picked a girl he liked, a big-butt South African beauty, and spent the night with her in his own hotel room.
By the 19th, they had returned to Texas before going west to Arizona and Nevada. Finally, on the 25th of August, they returned to the West Coast with their show performed in the San Francisco Bay Area, then moving on to Portland and finally stopping at Seattle.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Brian Collins, the blonde middle-aged man who had handled the entire tour, got everyone's attention with a clap of his hands.
"I would like to inform you that after two months, from July 7 to August 31st, and after nearly 30 major concerts, 60-plus club appearances, and dozens of record-signing events, the tour has come to its conclusion."
Ajay cheered loudly, feeling happy and relieved all at the same time. Although he enjoyed much of the tour, he still got a little tired from moving around from one city to another and travelling throughout the night. He wanted a few days of rest in his own apartment in his cosy bed.
The others seemed to have the same idea as him, so when the end of the tour was mentioned, they also cheered loudly.
"I have some good news for everyone," Brian showed a sneaky look, whetting everyone's appetite before loudly proclaiming, "The Thrift Shop has finally surpassed sales of 500,000 copies."
"A letter has been received by the company, sent directly by the Recording Industry Association of America. 'Thrift Shop' is now officially a Gold-certified record."
The cheers were much louder, and even as he was clapping, Ajay immediately turned his attention towards Tjay. He looked tired as he leaned back onto the chair, but hearing the news, he stood up with a smile on his face and stretched his hands out, basking in the praise and admiration.
Getting back to his apartment, AJ threw the luggage right in the living room and directly plunged into bed. He didn't even take off his clothes, and before the second hand came full circle, he was already asleep.
Ajay spent the next few days adjusting to normalcy. Going to the grocery store, cooking for himself, studying music theory, directing, watching movies until late at night with a boatload of popcorn, all became part of his life.
However, his normal life was once again disrupted when Henry came for him, saying that the music video had been edited and it was ready to be released.
How could Ajay miss such an event? He ran back to the apartment, came out properly dressed in a business suit that he bought in Texas just in case he needed it, and got in the car. 'I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.' He thought to himself and was feeling smug, anticipating what the music video would be like, and then, Henry suddenly complained. "You should really buy yourself a telephone service, Jay, it's a pain in the ass to contact you, and the one in your building doesn't work half the time."
That did remind him he didn't have a telephone connection. He didn't think that he needed it before because, honestly, he didn't know many people apart from the ones in the orphanage. Money was a problem as well, a big one at that, but now that he had been introduced into the world of music and his first song had become a gold-rated record, he would probably need it shortly
Besides, the problem of money was no longer a huge issue.
Thinking about the money he had made on the tour, he smiled with glee.