Page 122 of Rah

As he walked away, my eyes darted towards Moses. “Moses, are you crazy?”

“No,you’recrazy, turning up in this nice ass mansion.”

As he turned to go back into his dressing room, I was on his heels, feeling embarrassed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just saw her coming in here and snapped.”

“I would have handled it. You can trust me to handle that type of shit.” Moses sat back in the styling chair, shaking his head, still wearing that amused grin.

I was pouting. Moses, Solae, and even the hairdresser were laughing at me.

“I don’t know why you’re still standing there,” Moses taunted me as he continued to chuckle. “Go get dressed.”

“I don’t want to be in the video, Moses,” I whined.

“Why not? You done got the girl fired now.”

“Then re-hire her or DM some model chick on Instagram. I am sure she will be here in minutes.”

“Why don’t you want to do it?” Solae asked.

My eyes bucked again, not believing that any of them already saw the reason why. “Because I’m not a model! I don’t know how to act either!”

“You look great to me,” the hairdresser chimed in.

“Exactly,” Solae added. “You stacked, with that little waist and big booty. Gon’ head, girl.”

I just stood there, frozen, with all of their eyes on me encouraging me, but I couldn’t do it.

When I pouted, Moses reached for my hands and pulled me between his legs as the hairdresser started to style his locs.

“Do it for me, baby,” he said, kissing my cheek. “You look great. You’re my leading lady, so it should be easy for you to be that for the cameras.”

With a deep breath, I groaned, pushing away my insecurities and fear, and said, “Okay.”

FABE

I shook my head as I ended the call and put the cell phone on the table.

She was sitting on the couch, taping up a box that she had filled with my plastic dishes. Aaliyah watched me curiously as I sunk into deep thought. It had only taken two days for me to find a new crib, put the deposit down and first month’s rent, and get the keys. In two weeks, we would be moving to an even bigger crib in Naperville, a suburb west of Chicago. It was far as hell, but I was sure that Aaliyah would never bump into Rah out there. I could ensure no more pop ups from him since I hadn’t even planned on telling him or my father that I was moving.

I couldn’t believe that Rah had popped up at my crib that day. But when he came in and immediately started harping on me about getting in touch with Aaliyah, I believed it. He was obsessed and I had decided then that I would move to make sure it never happened again. When I saw how scared she was when he finally left and she was able to come back home, I feltlike less of a man, but was grateful that she had been able to sneak back out of the house. Ever since, I had stepped back from the streets so that I could keep an eye on her until we moved.

“What’s wrong?” Aaliyah asked me as she watched me stare off into space.

“That was my father. Solae’s trial is starting soon. The prosecutor feels like they have an open and shut case.” I shook my head again as I sat on the couch.

I couldn’t believe this shit. I had known Solae since she met Rah. After thirteen years, she was like a sister. I wasn’t on the same shit that my family was on. Since I knew Rah for the real cutthroat nigga that he was, I didn’t fault her at all for what she had done. I didn’t think she at all deserved to spend the rest of her life in jail, but it looked like that was about to happen.

“What?” Aaliyah asked with a gasp. “That’s crazy. I thought she had stabbed him in self-defense.”

“They aren’t believing her story. There isn’t any evidence of him hitting her that day or any other time. And they have no one to testify to him ever abusing her.” Then my eyes got big as something dawned on me. “Hey, maybe you can testify.”

Aaliyah’s eyes bulged as she spat, “What? Are you crazy?”

“Hear me out,” I insisted. “You have proof that he is abusive. You have the pictures.”

Aaliyah continued to look at me like I was out of my mind. “Why would I testify for her?”

“Because she’s never done anything to you.”