Chapter 14
“I hate that he told us to be late. All those people gon’ be staring at us. You used to that, but I don’t like the spotlight that much.”
I rolled my eyes at Maj. “Girl, yo’ ass gon’ be fine,” I said as the driver chuckled.
“I hope you right. I’m glad we met quite a few of them before now. They all seemed pretty down to earth.”
I nodded, then texted Graham. I really wished he was here.
We hadn’t been a couple a whole week yet, but damn if I wasn’t attached at hello.
I pulled at my dress, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious.
It stopped right under my ass. I thought I would be wearing this to a club or something, not knowing Noah was having an entire dinner party for the label while we were here.
This party didn’t require SOLA’s presence, but I supposed that was exactly who I would have to be, since I didn’t have time to go shopping for something else to wear.
My normal personality didn’t typically dress this way . . . at least not this revealing. Arlie was the girl next door. SOLA was this larger-than-life sex symbol.
“Quit fidgeting. Ain’t nobody told you to dress like a slut.”
“Shut up, Maj. I’m nervous.”
“Girl, yo’ ass gon’ be fine,” she said, imitating my voice.
I laughed as the driver pulled up to the venue.
This was nice as hell. There were a lot of cars here.
I took a deep breath as he exited the vehicle and came around to help us out.
As he did, I saw RJ standing to the side, smoking a blunt.
It had to be with the way it smelled. When his eyes met mine, he put it out on the cement and made his way to us.
“Y’all look nice. Nigga had me outside as the lookout, so we would know when y’all got here. He wanted to introduce you as y’all walked in.”
“Great. Now my nerves on ten.”
“Chill out, shorty. You gon’ learn that Noah like surprising people and hyping them up. He’s been doing that shit for years.”
“Yeah. I saw what he did for Nate Guillory at a concert.”
“So you already know,” he said, then shook his head. I laughed as he continued. “Nate is in there too. His wife is signed to the label.”
“Wow. That’s so cool.”
“Yep. Let’s go on in.”
He did some shit on his phone, then I heard the music stop. When we got to the door, the music kicked back up. It was my shit! RJ opened the door, and Noah yelled, “SOOOOLAAAAAAA!”
I giggled as everyone applauded me. Grabbing Kimaji’s hand, I continued inside as he said, “And Kimajiiiiiii!”
Maj fell out laughing as a man directed us to the front to our table. The minute we walked around the side table and the people standing near it, I saw Graham standing in front of our table clapping. My pace picked up tremendously. I couldn’t believe he was here!
“Graham!” I yelled when I got to the table.
He pulled me in his arms and hugged me. “I could barely function. I had to come out here to be with you. Now I’m glad I did, seeing this shit you got on. It’s gon’ be yo’ fault if I gotta fuck somebody up.”
I laughed, then turned my attention to Noah.
Seeing Graham caused me to completely forget about how short this dress was.
I’d lifted my arms and hugged him, probably showing my ass to everybody.
Noah called me to the stage. I made my way to him with a huge smile on my face.
I flipped my blond hair over my shoulder, then grabbed the man’s hand at the stairs.
I’d met him earlier at the meeting. Noah hugged me when I got to him, then turned back to the mic.
“SOLA is our newest artist with YKMN! Man, do I have plans for her. Y’all get ready, because we gon’ fuck the world up with how we announce her.
Plus, I need all the artists signed to the label to get ready to be a part of this production.
Being that SOLA is already established, we need this splash to be big.
A’ight, my bad. Tonight ain’t about business. ”
“Sit yo’ ass down then,” RJ said, causing everybody to laugh.
Noah shot him the finger, then said, “Y’all enjoy yourselves and be sure to welcome SOLA to the crew!”
He escorted me down to our table, and I sat next to Graham, immediately puckering my lips. “I still can’t believe you’re here! This is amazing!”
“Yep. My whole damn family is here. My parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.”
“That’s cool! You gon’ introduce me to everybody?”
“Of course. They’ll probably be coming over to introduce themselves as soon as they’re done eating. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
“Thank you, Graham. I feel like this wouldn’t have happened without you.”
He shook his head. “Naw. It would have happened. Maybe not as quickly, but it would have happened. It was predestined.”
I had to be blushing, since my face was so hot. Confirming that very thing, he asked, “What are you blushing for? You know you the shit. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have thought you had a chance signing with Noah. I could see the hope in your eyes when I introduced you to Sharee and Exodus.”
I nodded and kissed him again. He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek. Before the food came out, a lady came to our table. When she got close to me, I realized who she was. I quickly stood to greet Noah’s mother.
“Hello, Missus Raqui! It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Hello, hun. It’s so nice to meet you also.
Congratulations! You will do big things with my world.
He knows God, and he knows God wants us to win.
He’s gonna always make sure he gives you the tools and opportunities to win.
The rest will be up to you. I know you will do well.
Noah talked about your hustle nonstop the other day. I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
I wanted to cry. The way she encouraged me without even knowing me was beautiful. A man with completely white hair stood next to her, and she smiled. “This is my husband and Noah and RJ’s father, Ryan Charles.”
“Hello, sir. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Hello. It’s nice meeting you also. Congratulations.”
They walked away, and I immediately noticed Sonya practically running toward us. She was so dramatic, and I loved that. She hugged Mrs. Raquel and Mr. Ryan, then continued to us. Graham stood and hugged her, then shook hands with her husband.
“Congratulations! I’m so happy for you! I can’t wait to work with you! Noah said your favorite rapper is Trina and that you have that sort of vibe. I can do 90’s and early 2000’s style. You just wait! Whew! I’m so excited!”
She slightly hopped up and down until Graham said, “You gon’ mess around and break your ankle in those heels, Auntie.”
“Shut up, Graham,” she said and shoved him playfully as Mr. Shawn congratulated me.
Once they left, our food was served. We ate seafood and baked chicken, vegetables, dinner rolls, and mac and cheese.
I didn’t know who made it, but they knew what the fuck they were doing.
For dessert, we had a vanilla cake, decorated with the record label emblem, which was a YKMN and a black silhouette image of Noah.
The icing had gold flakes in it, and the cake was moist and delicious.
After that, it seemed I was greeting people for the rest of the night.
I met Graham’s aunts, Serita, Erica, and Shannon and their husbands, learning that it was three sisters married to three brothers.
I also got to meet Sharee’s twin brother, Shane, and her sister Kyla, along with their spouses and other cousins.
Everyone was extremely nice and most of his cousins questioned what I saw in him.
I could tell they were an extremely loving family.
Graham had said that it hadn’t always been that way, but I didn’t know what he meant.
However, I got an idea when I heard Sharee call his mom’s sister Serita, mama.
That threw me for a loop, because I knew Sonya was married to Sharee’s dad.
That was wild as hell. They’d somehow moved past it though.
Sonya, Erica, Serita, and Shannon were on the dance floor having the best time. I hadn’t seen Mrs. Sidney though.
I frowned slightly and looked around. “Who are you looking for?”
“Your mom. Actually, I don’t think I saw your dad either.”
He licked his lips, then bit his bottom lip. “They left. Umm . . . my mama had somewhat of an emergency.”
I frowned as he avoided my gaze. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed serious. “You wanna go and meet them? Is your dad the only one that left with her?”
“I’m good here with you. He’s the only person she wants to be around right now. She begged her sisters to stay here.”
“Oh . . . umm okay.”
I glanced over at Maj, and she shrugged her shoulders. She looked toward where Noah was, and said, “Jax and JR are here.”
“I know Jax is Noah’s son, but who is JR?”
“JR is RJ’s son. I’m gonna go over and talk to RJ right quick to get a better look and maybe an introduction.”
I slightly rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t blame her. I was no better with the way I threw the pussy at Graham. Glancing over at him, he seemed bothered. I slid my hand to his, and asked, “You wanna dance?”
They were playing Exodus’s cut where he sampled Noah’s song that he’d dedicated to Sonya years ago.
From what my mama had said, that was the beginning of the end of his first marriage when he let Exodus sample that song.
He’d pulled it from the airwaves when he married Jah.
That song was so damn beautiful. Noah had sung on the entire track.
So it was only right that he was featured on the song, singing the hook for Exodus.
“Yeah. I need to clear my mind. Feeling you close to me is bound to do the trick.”
I wished he knew he could confide in me. I knew it was still early in our relationship though. He would learn that eventually. In the meantime, I would be here, showing him that I was all in and would be his confidant whenever he needed me to be.
I supposed being affiliated with a celebrity gave me access to perks.
Graham and I were walking at Canton Waterfront Park.
It was already closed, but we were given access when the guard saw RJ had driven us there.
I believed Graham just needed quiet time with me.
He was probably worried about his mama. Kimaji had stayed at the party and was turning up with JR, RJ’s son.
Surprisingly, RJ didn’t have a word to say about that.
I supposed RJ could see that something was bothering Graham, because he asked if we wanted him to take us somewhere. After I’d talked to Jah, Noah’s ex-wife, and her husband, we left. Graham had been quiet. He apologized over and over again, and I assured him it was okay.
Finally, we sat on a bench. He pulled me in his arms, and said, “My mama is struggling mentally. When I told her I met my bio mom and that she knew her from school, she got nervous. When I questioned her about it, she told me the truth. It triggered the fuck out of her and now, like my bio mom, I hated that I brought it up. I hate seeing her like this.”
“I’m sorry, baby. You sure she only wanted your dad there? I’ll be okay if you wanna be with her.”
“Naw. I’m sure my dad’s way of consoling her ain’t something I wanna be a part of or even near them for.”
He fake gagged, causing me to chuckle. “Okay, baby. If you need to talk, you know I’m here.”
“Yeah. I hate that we’re out here. You should be at the dinner party enjoying your welcome to YKMN. Let’s go back.”
I brought my hands to his face, making him face me.
Before I could say a word, his lips crashed into mine.
At that moment, I knew we wouldn’t be going back to the party.
We would be going to have our own private party.
His hands slid down my back and gripped my peach, causing me to leak juice everywhere.
My eyelids fluttered shut, and my head dropped back, permitting him to bring his lips to my neck.
“Let’s get out of here, baby,” I said softly.
He pulled away from me without a word and helped me stand from the bench to make our way back to the car. RJ was standing there on the phone, looking angry. When he saw us, he ended the call. “Y’all ready to go back to the party?”
“Can you just take us back to the hotel? I’ll let Kimaji know, and she can see if—”
“Apparently, Jacob got her.”
I frowned slightly. “Jacob?” I asked.
“JR. That was who I was on the phone with. He wanted me to let y’all know that he and Kimaji were together.”
“Oh.”
I couldn’t dare talk about her. That was how Graham and I got started. “‘Oh’ nothing. Y’all young niggas wild as fuck. I ain’t never fucked nobody I just me—never mind.”
“Naw, OG. Gone finish what you was saying,” Graham said, causing me to chuckle.
He smirked and shot Graham the finger. I supposed he remembered an instance where he had. I laughed loudly while holding my stomach.
“SOLA, you laughing extra loud. You must have done the shit too.”
I pressed my body into Graham’s, and said, “Mm-hmm.”
RJ slowly shook his head. “Whatever. Let’s go.”
Graham opened my door, and I got inside the car with him right on my heels. Once he closed it, I leaned into him, and he put his arm around me.
“I ain’t no chauffeur. So, y’all get active back there, I’m gon’ put your asses out. Don’t fuck around and find out.”
I giggled again, then kissed Graham’s lips. “We going to a hotel room. I can wait but not too long, so don’t play around.”
RJ glanced at us in the rearview mirror and frowned. “If I felt like hearing Noah’s bullshit, I would put you out for that comment alone.”
I swore, RJ was gonna have my stomach hurting. Graham kept fucking with him, making it worse. I snuggled in his arms, and he forgot all about RJ. He kissed my head and held me close, silently promising to take good care of me. I couldn’t wait.