Page 53 of Rah

I answered quickly. “Hello?”

“Kahlani,” Rah’s voice rushed through the speaker. “You need to get to the hospital. It’s Moses… He’s been shot.”

The air rushed out of my lungs. “What?!” I shrieked, already throwing the covers off and scrambling out of bed. “What do you mean he’s been shot?!”

“We were riding together. I stopped at the gas station and went inside. When I came back out, some niggas had run up onmy car. They were trying to steal my ride. They shot Moses before I could even get back to him.”

My hands shook as I yanked on the first pair of sweats I could find. His words barely registered. All I could think was that my man’s life was in danger, and I wasn’t there.

“He’s in surgery right now,” Rah added.

My heart sank into my stomach. “Oh my God.” Tears flooded from my eyes before I could stop them. “I’m on my way.”

I hung up, fumbling into a hoodie, my thoughts spinning. All I could see was Moses’ face, all I could hear was our last argument. I hadn’t said much to him since, and now… what if that was the last real conversation we ever had? I started to feel so guilty I thought I would be sick.

I rushed through the house, keys in hand, ready to fly out the door when reality stopped me. Trent was still asleep. I ran into his room, scooping his warm little body up out of the bed, holding him tight even as he stirred. My tears wet his hair.

Fear gripped me with every step. I couldn’t lose Moses. I couldn’t picture Trent growing up without him. I tightened my hold on my son and moved faster, because every second felt like it was taking Moses further away from me.

12

SOLAE

Priest’s hands were on my waist, and his mouth was at my ear saying things that gave me goosebumps. The DJ flipped another holiday classic into something dirty, and I let myself move, let myself want, let myself be a woman in a bar with a fine ass dope boy in her ear, not a brokenhearted woman or a mother fighting fires.

“You better stop throwing all that ass back on me like that,” he murmured against my ear with his hands on my waist.

As I continued to dance on him, I playfully rolled my eyes like I wasn’t melting. “Or what?”

He smirked as his eyes dropped to my mouth. “Want me to show you?”

He let me go, and when he started to unbuckle his pants in the middle of the dance floor, my eyes bulged. “Okay, okay, okay!”

He lustfully bit down on his bottom lip. “Then stop playing with me.”

I playfully lifted my hands in surrender. “I quit.”

He took my hand, saying, “Let’s go see if our wings are ready.”

I allowed him to lead me through the crowd. The bar was hot and loud. It was our third stop of the night; Priest had me party-hopping through a loop of his friends’ holiday get-togethers—ugly sweater parties, trap karaoke, and Friendsmas get-togethers.

At our booth, he slid in beside me instead of across, thigh to thigh. The bartender dropped fresh drinks and a plate of wings within minutes, like she had been waiting on us to return.

Priest didn’t touch either. He was watching me. “I like you.”

I stared at him for a moment, realizing that I didn’t just hear those words, I’d felt them too.

I took a sip of my drink just to stall. “Why?”

His fingers traced the line of my jaw. “You’re loyal. You love your kids out loud. You don’t fake for rooms like this. And you look at me like I’m peace and trouble at the same time.”

Heat crawled up my throat. “You rehearsed that?”

“Nope.” His thumb grazed my bottom lip. “I just pay attention.”

I wished my life wasn’t so loud so I could just sink into this. If it weren’t for everything else, I could give him my whole mind and body and see where we landed. But my life was still so chaotic. Elijah was still just happy to be home. But Essence still had a bad attitude. She was fussing, stank, and didn’t want to be bothered. I could barely get her to come out of her room. I knew she was mad at me for letting her get taken away, especially during the holidays. Any teenager would be pissed at their mom for that. I didn’t know how to explain to her that I had nothing to do with it, despite ridiculously loving her father beyond the expiration date.

I was only out tonight because my mother had been at myhouse to ensure that the kids were okay. Between her constant nagging and Essence’s mood, I needed air.