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“Jade, a word, please.” Narissa motions me over. We’re out of ear shot from most of the group, but I still don’t trust her.
“Is something wrong?” I ask her, while trying to keep my face blank.
“Just because Onyx got you on this label doesn’t mean there aren’t parameters to get you kicked off. In my studio and on my stage, I want only the best. Onyx deserves nothing but the best and if you can’t be bothered to be focused one hundred and ten percent of the time, I’m going to have to say that you are in violation of your contract.” Narissa keeps speaking, but her words feel like sludge in my brain. I can’t focus and my hearing fades. I was given very specific details about what would happen if I lost my contract and I sure as shit can’t afford it.
“Narissa,” I say her name, cutting off her little rant, “I don’t know what I have done to make you think I am not dedicated to this performance. I’m always on time, I stay the latest and I managed to learn and retain every number in less time that I was allotted to learn them. Even if I have other thoughts going on in my brain, which most people do, I have kept up with or still been better than half the people in this room, on a bad day.”
“Listen, little girl. I’ve been in this industry longer than you and I will still be here after you. At Onyx’s side and making his name legendary. He’s The Kid. A rap god. You are no one.”
“I might be no one to you, but he still brought me here.” If looks could kill, I’d be dead and buried under this stage today. Narissa’s eyes blaze with all the hatred she has for me. She’s about to shut me up when another voice joins the party.
“What is so important that practice is being held up?” Onyx asks, as he saunters into the room. He comes to stand next to us as Narissa and I are having our silent battle.
“It’s being handled,” Narissa answers, keeping her eyes on me. I’m not falling for it.
I glance to Onyx and meet his eyes. “She’s threatening my contract.”
Onyx looks from Narissa to me. “What happened?”
“She wasn’t paying attention so I reminded her about the importance of next month’s concert and her contractual obligations.” Narissa shrugs her shoulders and haughtily smiles at me.
“Why weren’t you paying attention?” Onyx glares at me and I feel my heart skip in my chest. What does Narissa have on him to make him so blind to what is going on?
“I was dancing just fine.” I shrug. “I have a lot on my plate right now.”
His brow quirks, but I don’t miss the flash of concern on his face. He sighs and runs a hand over his head. “Let me see what you’ve been working on.”
Narissa smirks as if she's won and I mentally high-five myself for not flipping her off. She calls everyone to their places and we perform for him. I let my body take over, but my heart isn’t in it. I feel like I’m lying to him about how great everything is. I second-guess the contract. I second-guess all the choices that brought me here today. I worry about Ocean. I worry about Mia and the stress she deals with running her new company. Even through it all, I never miss a beat. I lead the dance, even if it feels all wrong.
“Enough.” Onyx holds up a hand and the room stops. The music plays, but everyone is breathlessly staring at him with questions in their eyes.
“Onyx?” Narissa calls his name and starts to walk over to him. Finally, someone has the grand idea to shut the music off and then we’re all sitting in silence.
I glance from Onyx to Narissa and I see the way his jaw clenches. I hope he’s finally going to tell her off and destroy her for ruining his show. What I am not prepared for is the look he gives me when our eyes clash.
“You. Out.” He points at me and then toward the door. My cheeks flame red. Hushed whispers circle the room and I do my best to keep my back straight and my head high, while I exit the room, Onyx hot on my heels.
I break from the room and keep walking far down the hallway before stepping into an abandoned studio. No way will I let him yell at me where everyone can hear. “What is your problem?”
Onyx stands over me glaring. “What is wrong?”
“I have no idea. You are the one who called me out here like a jackass in front of all my peers.” My voice rises and I swear Onyx’s eyes glow.
“I mean what is wrong in your head? I can see you are dancing perfectly, but I have seen you dance with your heart and this is not it. So what the fuck is wrong?”
I scoff. “Since when do you care? Weren’t you just berating me about my past and being pissed off that I used to strip and dance on the Vegas strip. Why, again, because you think I fucked my best friend after you left.” My chest is heaving when I’m done with my rant but I can’t contain it. I will die if I hold in the sourness any longer. “You don’t know anything about me anymore, Onyx. You walk around making songs and instead of taking pride in your craft, you’re letting everyone around you run it into the ground.”
The words barely make it out of my mouth before Onyx’s hand clamps around my throat and my back hits the wall of the practice room. Fear springs in my chest. I did see him kill a man in front of me. His eyes are narrowed on mine, but I feel the heat of his body pressed against me. His heart beats erratically in his chest. I swallow and his hand contracts around the movement at my neck, like he’s trying to control the way I breathe.
“When it comes to this tour, I care about nothing else. You have something to say to me, then say it. If it's about the tour, I want to know.”
A laugh bubbles in my chest, but it sounds more like a gurgle in my throat. “That's all you heard out of everything. Fine, I’ll tell you. Narissa is ruining your image. Have you seen the stage plans? This isn’t you. That setup is not meant for one of the greatest rap stars of all time. Everyone is learning a dance that was practically stolen from an MTV showing of a boyband dance-off almost twenty years ago. Do you like dancing pandas wearing sunglasses? That's what you have for background decoration. And you seem to have such a problem with my past but do you know that all of us women will be wearing sparkler pasties on a blinged out bra and a pair of black bikini bottoms?”
My brain feels sluggish from the lack of oxygen, yet my eyes still search his wanting, needing him to tell me this isn’t his vision for himself. That all the hard work and the endless hours he has spent on each record wasn’t for this. I know him better than that. Our time together might have been short, but I knew him. I saw him. Just like I thought he saw me.
Onyx’s hand loosens and falls away, but his body still presses mine to the wall. “I’ll talk to Narissa. Just do what she says and don't give her any reason to get mad at you or destroy your contract.”
“Would you let her?” I dare to ask. I love watching his eye color deepen further for me.
