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And while a part of me wanted to believe he wouldn’t, I knew Julius was promising me some shit that he couldn’t guarantee. The question was. How long was I willing to stay down for the ride?
nariah
. . .
A Few Years Later
GrabbingLox by the hand I hopped up on the couch and peered out into the crowd. Stax was packed wall to wall thanks to me. Chucky fat ass had booked me for a hosting, and I wanted to say no but the money he was putting down made me change my mind.
“It’s a whole lot of niggas in here.” My lil sister Lariah sang from beside me.
“Too fucking many.” I frowned. “I plan on dipping out after I get my bread.”
“We know.” Her and her best friend Kiara heckled.
It had been a minute since I had blessed Stax with my presence. Shit to be honest I was banned from this piece of shit for like two years after Julius ran down on Chucky for disrespecting me.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. Julius and I had been together for over a year and with the way his rap career had taken off, he felt like it was no longer safe for me to continue working here. I lightweight didn’t disagree with him because with him being who he was naturally I became popular. Julius was real big on showing off his “wifey” which caused people tobe intrigued with our relationship. When my name started to buzz and folks started paying me to come to their club, Chucky decided to I guess you can say, make me the face of Stax.
Julius had mentioned me quitting a few times, because he couldn’t always be here to make sure nothing happened to me, and I wasn’t trying to walk around with security. Chucky promised him he would make sure nobody bothered me while I was at the club and the nigga did everything but that. Things were cool for a lil minute until niggas started to get handsy. Julius pressed Chucky ‘bout it and he said something along the lines of me being half naked on my social media pages so I should’ve known it would happen. Julius beat his ass in the middle of his club which led to Chucky trespassing both of us. I didn’t give a fuck ‘cause I no longer felt safe after that incident so me quitting was inevitable.
“Y’all act like I’m not graduating in a few hours.”
“Girl, everybody know you ‘bout to graduate.” Lariah retorted. “We tryna party before you fly out with Juice. Ain’t no telling the next time I’mma get the chance to come home.”
When Lariah graduated high school, she ended up moving out of state so she could attend Howard University. She had her own shit going on and didn’t get the chance to come home often. So since they had come down for my graduation I was trying to show them a good time, but my ass didn’t plan on being here long.
Julius kept his word and didn’t let what he had going on interfere with me finishing school. Anytime he was booked for a show out of town, and I couldn’t come because of school shit he never got mad about it because anytime I was on break, I traveled with him.
Both of us had demanding schedules so we made sure to prioritize each other any chance we got. Two years into our relationship I found out Julius had stepped out on me whichresulted in me leaving. No lie three months after I left his ass, I found out I was pregnant. He apologized and promised not to do it again and to prove how serious he was, he bought me a house.
Did I think that was the only time he’d been unfaithful? Nawl, I didn’t but without solid proof what could I do. Either the nigga was good at hiding the shit or he really was being faithful. I wanted to believe the latter, but niggas lied a lot and Julius was no exception. In the event that he was fucking off, the nigga was better off hiding it. If I found out he was out here dogging me out I was packing up my shit and leaving him.
Leaning over Lariah pointed. “Here come ya boy.”
Rolling my eyes over to where she was pointing, I frowned my face up. It had been a minute since I’d seen Chucky but clearly nothing had changed. He was still fat as fuck and the way he was casually running his hands over his head, the nigga still thought he was God’s gift.
Trailing behind him was a few bottle girls carrying a sign that saidCongratulations Nariah.The nigga was looking up at me smiling but I didn’t see nothing in his hands. Propping my hands on my hip I waited for him to step into the section.
The bottle girls did their lil routine and when they were done, they sat the bottles on the table and dipped. Chucky fat funky ass was still standing there like this was a reunion or something.
Before he could even open his mouth, I was asking. “Where the fuck the rest of my money at?” Normally when anyone booked me for a hosting, they had to give me twenty percent up front and I got the rest after I fulfilled my contractual obligations. Chucky ass ain’t get the same privileges, I made him give me half of my money before I even posted the club flyer on my page.
“Calm down I got your bread.” He smiled, making my skin crawl. Holding his hand out he cheesed. “It’s been a minute.”
“Not enough.” Holding my hand out I flexed my fingers. “Ain’t no talking until I get the rest of my money.”
“I got you. I was coming to chop it up with you ‘bout hosting my sons twenty-first birthday party.”
“I guess you not hearing what I’m saying. Ain’t no business without my money. Bring me that and I’ll have my agency reach out to you.”
“Aight Nariah.” He huffed before turning to walk off.
“I can’t stand that creep.”
“Me either.” Grabbing the bottle of 1942 out of the bucket, I popped it open and took a shot. I planned on turning up with my sister for a few hours before sliding out. I didn’t want to be too fucked up in the morning ‘cause I didn’t want to hear Julius’s mouth. My family as well as his were staying at the house tonight because he was throwing me a party tomorrow after graduation.
I was standing in the middle of my section twerking when the DJ started playing Julius’s newest single. It seemed like everybody in the club was rapping that shit to the top of their lungs. Seeing them turning up to my man’s music just felt different. I knew Julius was destined for greatness but the way his fans sold out his shows date after date made me proud. My man was living his dream, and I was happy that he’d gotten everything he wanted.