Page 73 of Rah

“Let’s just take care of it,” I told her as I took off my coat.

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Take care of it? What do you mean?”

“We can dump his body somewhere. Let the police find him.” Though I sounded crazy even to myself as I said it, it sounded way better than calling the police. “Shit, they would think anything could have happened to him. But you should not have to spend the rest of your life in jail for this nigga. Do you want to lose your kids?”

I was so sincere that my eyes began to tear up, pleading with her.

Solae couldn’t answer me. Her eyes looked frantics. They darted back and forth from me, to Rah, and to the cell phone. She was sweating profusely. She kept opening her mouth, but nothing would come out.

So, I answered for her. “Where is the bleach?”

For a few seconds, Solae just stood there. She was confused and lost. I let her stand there as I took off my shoes and socks and threw them into the hallway. I rolled up my jeans. Then I left her standing there as I started to run hot water in the sink and began to search the cabinets for cleaning products.

It was outlandish but letting Rah continue to fuck up her life was even more outlandish. He was an asshole that intentionally fucked up everything in his path. She’d given herself loyally to him, and he rewarded her with hate. He didn’t have any remorse, not even for his children. My own household had suffered because Moses was loyal to this nigga.

Rah had used everyone’s loyalty around him and selfishly never returned it.

He deserved what Solae had done to him.

As Solae finally appeared next to me, wearing a pair of plastic gloves and handing me a bottle of bleach, I knew that she felt the same.

16

AALIYAH

Icouldn’t stop crying. I could barely get my baby dressed. My tears kept falling on Junior as I tried to change him into a wool onesie. This wasn’t supposed to be my life. This wasn’t supposed to be how I started my new year. I just wanted and needed to get the hell out of Chicago fast, but when I realized that I now had very little money to get anywhere, I just sobbed hysterically. Fabe had just taken everything I had. The only person that had ever helped me was Rah, but I couldn’t go back to him. That was not an option. He now knew that I had stolen from him. He had obviously sent Fabe to my room to get his money, and Fabe had played me and played with my feelings in the process.

I did love Fabe. All this time, he had been on my mind and in my heart, and I was too damn young and naive to even know what love was. I thought that Rah loved me. I thought that our relationship was real. But that had all been nothing but a fraud. That wasn’t real love. But shit, obviously I didn’t know if Fabe’slove for me was real either because that nigga had played me too.

“Shit!” I began to freak out as I heard the door of the hotel room opening. I started to tremble as I stared at the door, with large eyes filled with fear.

Whomever it was had a key. I was so petrified that it was Rah on the other side of the door. My heart sank as I figured that Fabe had told him where I was and had even given him the key.

My cries became sobs as the door opened wider. Remembering what Rah had done to me before, I could only imagine the way he would beat me now for stealing from him, possibly even kill me. I remembered that he was the cause of his own best friend’s awful death. If he was so cold to do that to Carlos, there was no telling what he had in mind to do to me.

Then I heard a sweet, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

My eyes darted up towards him. When they rested on Fabe’s concerned face, my cries were now of relief. I left the bed and rushed towards him, wrapping my arms around his large frame. His coat was so icy cold, but I didn’t care. I held him so tight. I was so relieved that he was back, that I wasn’t alone, and that he hadn’t played me.

Maybe thiswasreal love after all.

“What’s wrong?” he asked again.

“You left,” I cried. “I thought you left me.”

His chuckle was so cute as he attempted to hold me with his hands full. “I took your key and went to get breakfast, babe. I was hungry. You wouldn’t wake up. You were knocked out.”

I looked up into his eyes and softly beat his chest with my fists. “Why didn’t you answer the phone?”

“It’s dead. I just realized it when I pulled up.”

Relief was still leaving my body in a rush. I finally left hisspace and sat on the bed next to Junior. “Oh my God,” I sighed as I wiped my face dry.

Fabe watched me with worry as he sat a duffle bag down next to the table. Then he sat a brown bag that smelled of food on the table and took off his coat. The familiar smell of pancakes and sausage filled the room and my stomach suddenly growled.

As he started to take the food out of the bag, he asked, “Why would you think that I left you?”

He sat next to me and picked up Junior. As he placed Junior on his chest, I was suddenly jealous, wanting to take my baby’s place.