Page 86 of Own It

“Thanks for the compliment.” I faked a smile, shutting the door once he slipped around me to join my siblings on my couches.

“Y’all could’ve waited until this evening. It’s early, and I need some sleep,” I complained.

I appreciated them, but I was dog tired.

“I told them that, but they said it couldn’t wait, and Dad wanted to get a look at you,” my brother, Cairo Jr., replied, opening the old bag of cashews I’d been munching on before my kidnapping.

I opted out of telling him to check the expiration date because I knew he didn’t care. Growing up, he and my dad ate expired food like we were broke, claiming it tasted fine when it in fact didn’t.

“Inspect me?” I folded my arms.

My father cut his eyes at his son before sighing. “I wanted to ask you if he harmed you.”

“No. He didn’t.” I shook my head. “I told you so.”

“You can be honest, baby. Many women are embarrassed of things like this, but you shouldn’t be. That man is a disgusting monster whomever he is.” Turning to my dad, my mama asked, “You plan to find him, right, Cairo?”

“I do.” My dad nodded curtly, and I could tell he was lying. He knew the danger in trying to report Rakim or seek him out, but like always, he would say whatever to appease my mother.

“Well, Ma, . . . no, he honestly didn’t touch me.” I shrugged, trying to rid my mind of the way Rakim did touch me. The way he pinned my hands above my head while vacuuming my nipples into his perfect mouth or how he stuck his tongue inside me as I came. I had to scratch my head to hopefully clear it. “We um, we only spoke when I had to get on the phone with you.”

“Damn, so what was his point? Just for money?” Serene frowned, making me realize my dad hadn’t revealed Rakim’s reasoning. Made sense because it would make him look terrible.

“Yeah.” My father hopped in, catching my eyes and willing me to keep the true reasoning a secret. “Yeah, he wanted money. It was way too much, though, but eventually I was able to talk him down, so he let baby girl go.” He smiled artificially.

“Right.” I nodded leisurely, offering up a smile just as fraudulent as his. “Yeah, so I’m gonna sleep and then go work⁠—”

“Baby! You need time off to⁠—”

“No. I’ve had enough time off. I have collaborations coming up and a bunch of other things that I am behind on. I love what I do, so I don’t need any more of a hiatus than I’ve had.” I cut my mother off as I opened my front door. “I promise we can all have dinner or something, and I will answer whatever you’d like to know.”

The foursome hesitated but eventually ascended and filed out of the house, each person hugging and kissing me on the way.

I hurried back up the stairs to my room to lie down, but because I was unable to stop thinking about and missing Rakim, I just clambered from the bed and brushed my teeth.

PART ONE

part ii

ONE

rakim

COUPLE DAYS LATER . . .

Initially upon my split with Daylin, I’d been sleeping at my crib, but I felt too damn far away from her. So, I took my ass back to the ranch house, a place she’d actually dwelled, and realized it brought me the tiniest slice of solace.

As soon as I came out of the bathroom from showering and brushing my teeth, I heard my personal cell phone buzzing, making me look to see it was the Godfrey Baking Co. manager, Raquel.

“Raquel,” I answered, dropping the towel I’d had wrapped around my bottom half.

“Hey, Rah. There is a girl here, and she is asking . . . for you.”

“For me?” I frowned.

My first thought was Daylin, but my baby had my number, and that just wasn’t her fucking style.

“Pretty much.”