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Maduka was still yelling and cussing in the background, but Solo was locked in on me.

“Don’t let him knock you off of your square. You have too much to lose, and we still have a future to plan.” I snickered. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his. I pecked his lips a few more times and stepped back with my hand out.

“Come on. We need to get you out of here. He might not have anything to lose, but I can’t lose you.” Freedom and Oh’Shun walked next to us and security as they ushered us to our rides. I said my goodbyes to my family and got into the backseat of the all-black SUV with Solo. His driver confirmed the address, then pulled off.

No words were spoken as we held hands and rode to his condo in silence. There were so many thoughts running through my mind, and I knew I was in trouble. I was falling hard for my best friend, and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when this was all over.

THIRTEEN

solomon jackson

“I can’t believe you. All this time, you’ve been holding out on me.” I teased. Honesty and I were in my home studio playing around. At first, it was a joke, but then I realized my best friend had real talent and had been keeping it a secret.

“It’s not that I’ve been holding out; I’ve just never seen myself doing music. You and my brother are naturals on the stage. Whereas I would probably get up there and embarrass myself by forgetting the lyrics. I’ve been in the spotlight to some degree for most of my life, but center stage is so much different, you know?”

I held her around the waist as she sat on my lap. I understood exactly where she was coming from because I felt the same way when I first started. Although I'd always loved music, I doubted I could get in front of a crowd and perform live. I loved being in the background because it felt calm and peaceful, but it wasn’t where I was meant to be, and I was still learning to accept that.

“Your feelings are valid, but you know if I put this song on my album, people are going to want to hear it performed live, right?”

“I honestly hadn’t even considered it because I thought it was just something fun for us to do. I never expected to fall in love with making music with you.”

Honesty peered into my eyes, causing my heart to flutter.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Her cheeks flushed red as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m still processing everything. There were days when I used to dream about what life could have been, and now it feels like I might actually get everything I’ve ever wanted,” I admitted.

“And what do you want?”

“Success, stability…you,” I answered with no hesitation because I wanted my feelings to be abundantly clear.

I tilted her face towards mine and took possession of her tongue. Her soft moans only intensified the moment as she turned her body so that she was straddling my waist. Reluctantly, I pulled back and broke our connection.

Honesty lowered her head in embarrassment, though she had nothing to be ashamed of.

“We gotta chill. The blogs are already saying we show too much PDA.” I teased, leaning forward to kiss her cheek.

“I guess you have a point. I already have enough women who think I stole their man. The last thing I want to do is give them a reason to really hate me.” She giggled even though there was some truth to it.

My fans had been on the fence about whether they wanted to accept my new relationship. On one hand, they were happy, but on the other, some felt jealousy towards her. It made me laugh at times because some of them truly believed I was their man in their heads.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I lifted up to retrieve it. I must not have gotten to it fast enough because the vibrations stopped and then started right back up. Honesty’s phone began to go off too, and when I saw it was Yaya who called me, something inside told me it was about to be some bullshit.

“Aye, what’s going on, sis?”

“Where are you?” Yaya cried frantically. I tapped Honesty on the thigh to signal for her to get up.

“I’m at the studio. What’s going on?”

“Solomon, I need you!”

My heart sank because I knew whatever was going on had to be something terrible.

“Tell me where you are, and I’m on my way.”

“I’m at home, and Messiah is out of town. Malea has lost her fucking mind, and I need your help!”