“What up with you, though? You back in the studio?”
 
 I was surprised when he answered, “Nah.”
 
 I assumed that once he was out of the hospital, he would go to the studio before even going to the crib.
 
 “What? I thought Rah would have been on your ass about that when he got out of the hospital.” Just saying that nigga’s name pissed me off, but for the sake of protecting Aaliyah, I had to act like everything was normal.
 
 But to my surprise, Moses said exactly what I had been feeling. “Fuck Rah.”
 
 Shocked, I asked, “Straight up?”
 
 Moses had been stuck to Rah’s side like glue. He was more like Rah’s little brother than I was.
 
 “Straight up,” Moses answered. “I know that’s your brother. He’s my blood too but fuck that nigga. He don’t act like family. He ain’t no fam of mine.”
 
 “What happened?”
 
 Moses filled me in on how Rah had been lying tohim and selling him a dream. There was so much venom in his voice, however, that I felt like the cause of his anger was deeper than what he was saying. Nevertheless, I wasn’t surprised that Rah’s deception didn’t just involve his women; he was lying to everyone around him.
 
 “So, I’m done with music,” Moses told me. “I’m focusing on the hustle.”
 
 “I feel that.”
 
 Moses and I chopped it up for a few more minutes before he ended the call.
 
 I got out of the car not believing what I had just heard. Rah was a shady motherfucka if Moses was walking away from all his street fame.
 
 Walking into the crib, I could smell the scent of garlic butter and lobster. I smiled, relieved that Aaliyah was still playing the role as my woman after we had gotten into that argument yesterday. But I had done a good job of showing her how sorry I was. I had called off work after we got into it. I was scared that if I had gone to work, I would come back to no Aaliyah and nephew-son. Luckily, after hours of eating her pussy and giving her whatever she wanted, she had forgiven me and there was a smile back on her face.
 
 Aaliyah’s sexy ass was sitting on the couch when I walked into the living room. Nephew-son was lying beside her, looking up at her while blowing bubbles of spit and making a gurgling sound while smiling. Over the last month, Aaliyah had lost her pregnancy weight and Junior had gained it. She was slimming down and he was getting fat.
 
 “Hey, babe.” I greeted her with a kiss on the forehead as I sat the bag in my hand next to her.
 
 “Hey,” she spoke looking down at the bag. “What’s that?”Aaliyah looked at the box with a strange look and then looked back up at me.
 
 “It’s the DNA test.”
 
 Her shoulders shrank.
 
 “I know you don’t wanna know yet, but I need to know,” I told her.
 
 “Whyyyy?” she whined and pouted. “Just keep calling him nephew-son! I won’t tell you not to call him that anymore.”
 
 I laughed and grabbed her, standing her up. I put my arms around her, took her chin into my hand, and made her look up at me.
 
 “I want to know if I am raising my son or Rah’s.”
 
 “Raising?” she asked, looking up at me.
 
 “Yeah. We’re going to be together forever, aren’t we?”
 
 “Even after yesterday?”
 
 I shrugged. “We gon’ fight, but we gon’ get right back.”
 
 Her eyes fluttered with admiration and lust as she stared up at me. Bending down, I sucked her bottom lip and lightly bit it.
 
 “Mmmm,” she moaned.