Chapter 27
KAHLANI
Two weeks after recording that song, Moses and I were in a rented-out mansion surrounded by a videography crew, Eli, Ill One, and a bunch of Instagram model chicks.
Eli had gotten Moses a stylist who had laced Moses in diamonds and Gucci. I cringed as he sat on a plush leather couch with a bottle of Cristal in his hand, these phat booty chicks all over him, rubbing on him, and kissing his cheek as he lip-synched to his own lyrics.
? Man... this shit ain’t for every nigga
Fam ain’t universal you can’t pose for every picture
You can’t save all yo’ money and save every stripper
My only intention is just to dick her, and never miss her
So, miss me with the dumb shit
Begging ass bum shit ?
“Urgh!” I groaned under my breath.
Solae laughed as she stood beside me, watching the scene. “Calm down. They were hired to do it, girl.”
Suddenly, I hated that Solae was even there, but she needed to be.
She had gotten word that her trial would start during her next court date.
Her lawyer had also shared with her that with no evidence of Rah’s abuse, it would be really hard to make the judge believe her self-defense story.
Solae was likely facing many years in prison, but her lawyer was going to try his best to get her as little time as possible.
Hearing that made her feel like all hope was lost on beating this trial altogether.
She needed this to keep her mind off of it.
“Rah is going to fliiiip when he hears this,” Solae said with a satisfied chuckle. “When are they dropping the single?”
“With the video when it’s ready in a week or two.
” My eyes were still on the bitches all over Moses, particularly the brown-skinned one with thirst and lust in her eyes as she rubbed her 34 double D’s all over his back.
That wasn’t an act. That bitch wasn’t putting on for the cameras.
She saw Moses as an up-and-coming rapper and was ready to put her bid in.
I recognized her from Instagram and had already heard the video director when he introduced her to Moses as the leading lady in the video.
She would be front and center all day and even in the one-on-one scenes with him.
“Fix your face,” I heard Solae say.
“That bitch wants my man,” I said through my sneer as I continued to stare on.
“Of course, she does. It’s Moses, and they did a damn good job of making him look like he already made it.”
That made me cringe even more. Was I really ready for this? Just as the music went off, I shook off my insecurities.
“Aw damn. Look at this,” Solae said as she put her phone in my face.
Taking it, I saw that it was showing a post from Facebook that Caine’s mother had made. He was missing.
“Wow. That’s sad,” I told her after reading it.
Handing her back her phone and focusing my eyes back on the video hoe, I said, “I hope he turns up.”
“Me too.”
We both sighed, resting in the eerie feeling that was suddenly over us.
I didn’t really know Caine like that. I had only met him at the hospital.
But, nevertheless, I felt bad for Caine.
Usually when street niggas went missing, it was because they had either been kidnapped or their bodies had yet to be found.
“All right. We got that scene,” the director told them. “Let’s move on to the next. You all can go change.”
As the models and Moses made their way to the bedrooms upstairs that they were using for dressing rooms, I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
I tried to remember the perfect man that I had had for years.
I tried to keep telling myself that I had nothing to worry about, that Moses was a good man.
But as I looked up the staircase and watched that big booty hoe switch towards the room where Moses had gone, I took off!
“Kahlani!”
I could hear Solae calling after me as I ran up the stairs. I could see the crew looking on at me, wondering what the hell was wrong with me and why I was running.
As soon as I landed on the second floor, I had caught that bitch just as she opened the door to Moses’ dressing room.
Before I knew it, my hand was grabbing the back of her bikini top so tight that I was snatching her out of the doorway.
My eyes landed on Moses, who was jumping out of the chair where a hairdresser had just begun to style his dreads into a different updo.
“What the fuck?!” the booty model squealed as she fought to get out of my tight grip.
“You need something?!” I spat. “Your dressing room is the other way!”
“Who the fuck are you?” she sneered.
In those split seconds, Moses made his way between us. He gently put his hand on mine that was holding this hoe in her place. He gave me a warning look, and I let her go. But when the bitch had the nerve to keep standing there, I tried to push through Moses’ to take that bitch’s head off!
“Kahlani!” Moses warned as he grabbed me, stopping my attack.
When I heard him holding back a chuckle, I looked up at him like he was crazy.
Suddenly, the director and Solae appeared next to me out of breath.
“Is everything okay?” the director asked as Solae got behind my back ready to have it.
“No–” the booty model started to say, but Moses interrupted her.
“Yeah,” Moses assured the director. “Everything is okay. Right, baby?” He then looked at me, telling me with his eyes to pipe down.
I was still huffing and puffing, reeling with anger but I forced out, “Yes, everything is fine. I was just redirecting this young lady to her correct room. She seems to be lost.”
“The models’ dressing room is that way. Need me to show you?” Solae spoke up, looking the hoe up and down.
The booty model folded her arms and shifted her weight to one big hip. This bitch really was trying me. “No, I know where it is.”
My eyes tore towards Moses, bucking, and he shook his head, noticing this hoe’s disrespect.
“Then why are you still standing here? Run along!” Solae spat as she waved her hand like she was pushing her away.
As we all stood there staring at her, she finally got the fucking hint and walked away.
“I’m catching that hoe outside and whooping her ass,” I promised Moses.
“Baby, it’s cool.”
“No, it’s not. What was the bitch on her way into your dressing room for?”
“Exactly,” Solae added.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
When I groaned and threw my face into his hands, I heard Moses direct his words to the director. “She was being very disrespectful.”
The director nodded. “I agree, Moses.”
“She’s out.”
Though he had agreed, his eyes bucked at Moses firing her. “Really?”
“Yes,” Moses insisted.
“It may be too late to get another model, and she’s the leading lady.”
“No, she is my leading lady,” Moses said as he gestured towards me.
The director found that admirable. He chuckled, saying, “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant, and I meant what I said,” Moses returned. “Kahlani can be my leading lady in the video. Look at my baby. She got a better body than that chick anyway.”
My eyes bucked dramatically, and Solae laughed.
“That she does,” the director said, looking me up and down.
“Aye, watch it,” Moses warned him. “Don’t get fucked up.”
The director laughed and playfully put his hands up in surrender. Then he told me, “Well, I guess you should go get into hair and makeup, Kahlani. I’ll let the stylist and makeup artist know.”
As he walked away, my eyes darted towards Moses. “Moses, are you crazy?”
“No, you’re crazy, 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.”