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nariah

. . .

Tucking my phone in my robe pocket I closed my eyes and listened to my assistant Jada run down the check list while I got my face beat.

Today was the day I was unveiling my baby to the world and my ass had been on edge since I woke up this morning.

Everyone around me kept telling me not to be nervous but shit.

..something about putting my baby out there for the world to judge had me scared shitless.

“Who in the room with the models?” I asked.

“Your sister for right now. Shunta has been in and out and so has Stormy.”

“Okay.” I sighed in relief. Stormy was the person who was essential for bringing Jurni to life.

When I expressed my interest in coming out with a swimsuit line Tito had introduced the two of us.

Together the two of us worked around the clock on this collection.

She was the brains behind the entire thing.

“You seen Julius yet?”

“No. No one has heard from him.” Jada mumbled. “Everyone has been trying to call him.”

“It’s cool. He will pop up eventually.”

“Right. I’m going to go check and see how much we have left.” She faltered before ambling out of the room.

“Uh uh bitch.” Devon my make-up artist chastised when a tear rolled down my cheek. Snatching a Kleenex off the counter he forced it into my hand. “You not about to mess up my masterpiece.”

“I need Julius.” I mumbled lowly. When I left home this morning, he promised he would be here before the show started and now his ass was missing in action.

“Girlllllll.” Devon drawled. “Juice ass will be here. He probably got caught up with something. Now hold you head up.”

Tilting my head up I stared at the ceiling. “Today is a big deal, Devon.”

“We know. Just like Juice knows. He will be here Nariah. Trust me he won’t miss something like this.” He alleged.

I heard everything he was saying but Devon didn’t understand how tense shit had been at the house.

Julius and I weren’t necessarily walking around on eggshells but there was some uncertainty looming through the house.

As much as I wanted things between us to be okay my heart wouldn’t allow me to let my guard down.

Did I think Julius would miss my big day? No, I didn’t. but the fact that he wasn’t here right now kind of made me feel a way. My mama had picked Jude up before I left so I knew he wasn’t getting him ready. Grabbing my phone, I decided to text him.

Me: Where are you?

I held my breath and waited for my message to say ‘read’. When it did those infamous three dots danced at the bottom of the screen a few seconds before disappearing. When it happened a second time my heart rate doubled. Grabbing Devon by the wrist I asked, “Can you give me a moment?”

“Chile.” He sighed before giving in. “One moment Nariah.”

I waited until Devon had left the room before dialing Julius’s number.

The phone rang repeatedly in my ear before rolling over to the voice mail.

I was in the process of calling back when I heard the door open behind me.

“Just a moment.” I croaked out. My breath got caught in the back of my throat when I heard a phone ringing behind me.

Spinning around in my chair I gasped when my eyes landed on Julius. Ending the call, I tossed the phone on the counter, dropped my head, and bawled my eyes out.

“I know bad ass Nari ain’t sitting up in here crying.” Julius teased from behind me.

Covering my eyes with my hands I sniffled. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“Nariah.” He chuckled. Stepping in front of me Julius wrapped his hands around my wrist and pulled my hands down. “You ain’t thought I was ‘bout to miss your big day.”

Instead of responding I nodded my head making Julius toss his back and chuckle.

“Girl come here.” He ordered and lifted me out of the chair.

With his arms wrapped around my waist Julius walked us over to the couch in the corner of the room and sat down.

Patting his legs he instructed me to sit as well.

“Now tell me what made you think I was going to miss this shit, Nariah?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “They said you wasn’t answering nobody calls. Then you didn’t respond to my text or answer my calls.” Fishing the balled-up Kleenex out of my pocket I straightened it out as best as I could and used it to wipe my eyes. “I thought you was bailing on me.”

“And it never occurred to you that I was possibly setting something up for you?” He asked and stared me in the face waiting for an answer.”

“No.” I pouted, making him chuckle.

“You so hard but sitting here with your face fucked up from crying.” He teased.

Before I could say anything else soft knocks to the door caught my attention. “Come in.”

“Aye Juice. Where you want these at?” Lox asked as he stepped in the room carrying an arrangement of the most gorgeous red roses that I’d ever seen.

Tossing his head to the other side of the room Julius told him. “You can sit ‘em over there.”

“Aight.” Lox nodded. When he left the room, I thought he was done but he wasn’t.

In fact, when he came back through the door, he was telling somebody behind him the same thing Julius had told him.

For the next few seconds people were in and out of the room delivering not only flowers but a bunch of shopping bags. Leave it to Julius to go all out.

Once everything had been brought in Julius leaned back onto the couch and pondered. “And you were crying for?”

“Shut up.” Playfully rolling my eyes at him I laid my head on his chest. “I’m nervous.”

“Why though?”

“What if they don’t like it?”

“What if they do? He countered.

“Julius.” I groaned. “You’re not helping.”

“You already know this shit gon’ be a hit Nariah.

You been working on it for a minute and everything that could’ve gone wrong has been ironed out.

Them folks gone fuck with it ‘cause it’s you.

Them not liking it is the least of my worries.

” Nipping me on the cheek with his finger Julius grabbed my face and turned it to him.

“You’re Nariah the Great. Everything you touch turns into gold.

Don’t be nervous ‘cause you got this. Besides I’mma be right there in the audience with my pistol in my hand daring a muthafucka to say something negative.

Laughing at his antics I shook my head. “You are insane for real.”

“Bout Nariah I’m grippy socks crazy. You ain’t know.” He affirmed.

“Thank you, Julius.” I breathed.

“Ain’t no need. You already know how I’m coming behind you, love.

Now stop crying and let Devon fix yo face cause whoo—You look like Beyonce did on that video when she had that black shit running down her face.

” He heckled, making me elbow him in the stomach.

Getting serious Julius sat up. “Dead ass Nari. It’s up from here.

You did this shit effortlessly, now it’s time to sit back and watch muthafuckas fall in love with it. ”

A wide smile broke out across my face. “I love you, Julius.”

“Not like I love you.” He avowed. Sucking my bottom lip into his mouth, Julius kissed me so passionately that I almost forgot where we were. When he pulled back, he pushed my hair out of my face. “Do yo shit twin.”

Once I finished getting myself together Julius slipped out of room and let Devon know I was ready. One look at my face and his sassy ass was pissed. The rest of the time was spent with him fussing while he worked overtime to fix the mess I’d made.

After I got dressed it was officially time for my show to start.

With my family sitting in the front row beside me my models hit the runway and did the damn thing.

All of my hard work had come down to this one moment.

When the show wrapped, the immense amount of love I received from the crowd had my heart smiling.

I couldn’t even get through my thank you speech because everyone was up on their feet cheering me on.

First graduation and now dropping my swimwear line.

The one thing I was the happiest about was showing my son that all of the times where I missed putting him to bed at night wasn’t in vain. His mommy was setting up his future. If nothing else I wanted him to be proud of me and the way he was clinging to me, I would say mission accomplished.

Sitting back in the chair I crossed my ankles and stared at the contract in front of me.

It had been a month since I’d unveiled my swimwear line and like Julius predicted it was a hit.

So much so that I had been getting offers for investors.

Of course I’d shot them all down, in the event that I needed some front money my man was more than willing to take care of that.

The less hands you had in the pot the less profit you had to split, or however Tito said it.

What I had done was took a few department stores up on their offer to have my line in their stores.

The contract that I was reviewing was from Nordstrom, Tito had sent it over a couple of hours ago, but I’d been out shopping with Shunta and failed to read over it.

Now that I had a few minutes to spare I decided to take check it out.

Sauntering out of the dressing room, Shunta stood in front of the mirror with her hands perched on her hips. “Nariah, you like these?”

Locking my phone, I tossed it in my bag and glanced at the rhinestone embellished Christian Dior tights and nodded my head. “I do. I got the same ones.”

“Bitch. You damn near have everything in here.” She fake pouted.

“You gotta take that up with Julius.” I teased.

“Can’t stand his ass either.” She laughed and spun around in the mirror. “They look good on my ass.”

“They do.” I confirmed.

“I’mma get em.” She finally said before twirling off. “You getting anything else?”

“Nawl. I think I’m good.”

“Okay.”

Shunta had the sales associate pull a few more pieces and once she had more than enough shit we were checked out and headed to Mariposa at Neiman to eat lunch. After being escorted to our seats the two of us ordered a cocktail.