Solae
Priest was rubbing my feet as we sat on his couch watching Netflix documentaries. He had this weird obsession with my feet and documentaries of any kind. We had watched documentaries on drug dealers, to murderers, and now Nina Simone.
As he stared intently into the TV while allowing his hands to make love to my big toe, I just looked at him and admired him.
He was such a diverse dude. Besides being handsome and a successful hustler, he would blow my mind by wanting to sit in on a Friday night and watch documentaries.
He was probably doing it because he knew I wasn’t in the mood to go out, but either way, I appreciated his ability to not be the stereotypical hood nigga.
Priest had also been so attentive to me while I went through the worst moments of my life.
He was fine and paid. I knew that he had women at his beck and call, feening for that dick and his attention.
I just knew it. But I never had to fight for his attention.
He was always there, always calling. I never expected a man like him to come into my life, especially at a time like this.
I checked my phone to see if Essence or Elijah had called. I noticed that it was almost after ten o’clock in the evening. Even though it was the weekend, Elijah always fell asleep before nine. He also always made sure to call me from Essence’s phone before going to bed.
“Give me a second, Priest. Let me call the kids before it gets too late.”
He nodded, while still staring into the TV. I took my feet from his lap, stood, and left the living room in order not to disrupt his precious documentary.
Once inside the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and dialed Essence’s number. As I waited for her to answer, I adored Priest’s kitchen. It was so modern, like the rest of his condo. I really admired the fact that he had been so successful at such a young age that he was able to live like this.
“Hello?”
My eyebrows curled as I heard how down Essence sounded. “Hey, Essence. You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?” I pressed as I leaned on the island.
“Yes.”
“You’re lying to me.”
She sighed and finally told me, “I’m just…I’m just ready to come home, Mama.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Daddy brought us over his girlfriend’s house again.”
“Again? What? Wait, what girlfriend?”
“Felicia.”
I bit my bottom lip and cringed. This nigga just refused to stop torturing me. I had stabbed him in the chest but he definitely had a fictitious knife in my heart that he was digging in and twisting over and over again.
“This isn’t your first time there?”
“No, he brought us here before but this is our first time spending the night.”
“I’m sorry, Essence. I thought he had been taking you to his parents’ house all this time. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
Kids, I thought, shaking my head.
“Well, unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about him taking you there. He has the right to. These are the things that are going to happen since we aren’t together anymore. Unless she is hurting your or something…”
“No, she’s not.”
“Okay. Is Elijah sleep?”
“Yeah. He fell asleep watching TV.”
“Okay, baby. Well, call me if you need me.”
“Okay–”
“Essence, I mean it. Call me if you need me.”
“Okay, Ma.”
“Bye, baby. Love you.”
“Love you too, Mommy.”
As I hung up, I couldn’t ignore the gut feeling that something was really wrong with Essence.
But, hell, there was. Even though she always said that the sexual assault incident wasn’t bothering her or making her think any bad thoughts, I knew that it had to be.
I made a mental note to get my baby into some therapy.
Luckily, her first therapy appointment would be in a few weeks.
Before walking out of the kitchen, my cell was ringing again.
I frowned, seeing that it was Fabe. I hadn’t talked to him in a while so I answered, fighting the urge to get back to that soothing foot massage that was taking my mind off of all of my bad thoughts.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Solae. I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”
“No, what’s up?”
Then, I braced myself. So much had been going on with Rah and the people around him. Caine was still missing. Lavell and Nell had been killed. It seemed like everyone around Rah was dropping, except for the main motherfucker that I wished would go away–Rah.
“I wanted to talk to you about something, but I really need you to keep this between me and you. It can’t get back to Rah.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“I’m serious, Solae,” Fabe urged. “It will help your case, but if this gets back to Rah before your trial, she might get too scared to help you.”
“I understand. What’s going on?” I pressed.
He took a deep breath and said, “Rah hit Aaliyah right before you stabbed him. She has pictures and everything. That’s evidence of him being abusive. She’s willing to testify for your defense. You gotta tell your lawyer.”
Of course, I was dumbfounded. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t thought about Aaliyah since the night I got arrested.
But I definitely had thought of her while stabbing Rah.
Thoughts of her and her baby had swam through my mind along with all of the other things he had put me through.
After leaving her house on Christmas day, I had plans to go back to talk to her.
I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know how long she and Rah had been together.
I wanted to know how old her baby was. I then knew that Rah had made me get that abortion because he already had one more mouth to feed, so that anger had tightened my grip on that knife as well.
But now, I was too consumed with wanting my freedom to care about any of that anymore.
“Wait. Why is she willing to do this for me?”
“Because…I talked her into it.”
“Ooookay.” My confusion came out slow and long. I still didn’t get why Rah’s brother and his side bitch were willing to help me.
“But you cannot say shit to anyone except your lawyer, especially that you heard this from me,” Fabe went on.
“Why? What’s the big deal? She and Rah aren’t together anymore?”
I knew that Essence had just said that Felicia was Rah’s girlfriend now, but it was totally possible that both of those women thought they were his woman, just as they had when he and I were together.
“No, and she’s hiding out from him for a good reason. You can give your lawyer my contact info so that he can talk to her.”
“Damn,” I cursed in shock that Aaliyah had obviously finally gotten some sense. “Okay. Well, tell her that I said thank you so much.”
“I will. Keep your head up, Solae.”
“Thank you, Fabe.”