Chapter 25

"What...? Nicki what happened? Safaree what's..." T looked between both SB and Nic.

Safaree grabbed Nic by her wrist and rushed with her out to the back where no one was.

They checked to make sure they were the only ones. Nic began to ponder in the little small area they had around them.

"This shit is craaazy yo. I just can't go on like this." her hands rested on her temples.

"Look Nic, I-I dont know what the hell is actually happenin but this shit is getting hectic. Th-they've been after me too now and trust me, they won't stop until they get what they want."

"That's the thing right there! Like what do they even want with us, Safaree!?"

"I'm really not sure yet but I think if we figure this shit out together, we can stop them."

A gloss came over her eyes as she looked into his, reading his face.

"What do we do?"

He checked his phone as the time was nearing 11pm. They had a flight to catch in 30 minutes.

"Well first we need to get the hell out of here and hurry up and catch the G5."

"Safareeeee." she whined. Nic was feeling uncomfortable and really wanted to come up with a plan at the moment before they began making any more moves.

From the corner of his eye he caught a figure move quickly behind a black car. He leaned to the side to capture a better glance of what it was. Sharp nerves jolted through his skin.

"What..." She glanced behind her before searching his face for answers. "SAFAREE WHAT?!"

He tightly gripped Nicki's shoulders and looked down at her.

"Look. We'll talk everything out when we get on the plane. Trust me. But right now we HAVE to hurry up and get up out of here!"

"But-"

He pulled her along and came back inside to her dressing room. T, Manny and Joyce stood frantically looking between the two.

"Manny is the car ready?" Nic said, grabbing her jacket.

"Uhh..Yeah it's right outside."

"Good. You guys got everything?"

T and Joyce nodded, picking up their bags and placing them on their shoulders.

"Great. Now let's go." Safaree frantically said.

They all grabbed their things and rushed out into the cars.

"Oh shoot. My things are at the telly!" she turned around to look out the back window.

"Nic. Nic. We gotta catch the plane. I'll tell Manny to go back and grab everything."

"What if he forgets something and misses the flight??? I need my stuff!" She went to her phone.

Safaree turned to look out his side of the window and suddenly spotted the same chick. She had made it to Philly by herself to come and once again surprise Safaree. This time, she brung the gun with her.

[OH SHIT]

His eyes grew wide at her standing from a distance with the gun slowing aiming his direction.

"NO! Look, Manny can make it. We-We gotta go." he repeated himself to the driver. "LET'S GO!"

The driver quickly sped off as the other two cars followed behind them.

SB glared out the window to see if the girl was still there but she disappeared.

[How she keep finding me???]

"Manny! Manny I really need you to make a left and go back to the telly to grab my things, please!"

"You have alot?"

"No, just a few small bags."

"Okay."

"Quickly, Manny."

"Alright, Nic. See you at the G."

"Okay. Bye."

Putting the phone back into her purse she took a deep breath, trying to stop worrying so much. They were at a stop light.

"Safaree."

"Hm?"

"I'm......sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so stubborn."

He sighed. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Blame yourself. If I would've listened to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this bullshit."

"Safa-"

"No, Nic. It's all good...This what I get. I've been such a dumbass not believin whatchu was tellin me. Now I'm seein the shit for myself." he rolled his eyes.

She lowered her head in silence and adjusted back on her side looking down at her nails.

He took a deep breath, staring out at the streets and thought about how he was gonna explain everything to Nic on the plane.

---

They were now on the plane and 5 minutes til take off to Boston. Manny made it just in time with all of Nic's things. Everyone was now settled in and quiet.

They were in the very back alone sitting across from each other. Nic sat and played with the string of her hoodie, feeling awkward waiting on him to speak first. He was contemplating on what he wanted to say first so it wouldn't come out wrong. Then he finally spoke up.

"How can I expl-"

"HOW about we start with why you began to doubt me." She cut him off.

"With what? The-"

"Pleeease just answer the question, Faree." she slowly closed her eyes and shook her head as it rested against the seat.

"Well...REALLY, kinda after you told me how you started seein these people staring at you."

"I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating...." she slightly chuckled.

"I figured. But then I was beginning to believe it was a cop out. None of it was making sense until..."

"Until what, Safaree?"

"The....Drake thing."

"I knew it."

"I me-"

"That's what's been bothering the fuck outta you, huh?"

"Nic,"

"You really BELIEVED that I actually LIED about the crazy people I saw, only because YOU didn't see the shit for yourself, right? Like EYE pretended to not know who was calling me unknown. But YOU thought I did because YOU believed it was Drake the whole time. Oh and those texts and the REAL reason why I hid them from you, was because I already knew how you would react with that awful of a temper you carry. You act like a fucking dumbass sometimes."

"I d-"

"ANDDD Who did you think was behind those messages???" her nose flared.

"................."

"EXACTLY."

"ALRIGHT! I get it. I was wrong and you were right."

Her body adjusted back straight up in her seat as she looked away from him. It was silent.

"But then I believe I was becoming curious when SOMEONE jumped around the question of what happened after that date..."

Nicki's head flew back to him.

"You wanna know what happened after that muthafuckin date?! Why I didn't I return home that night?! HMM?!"

"YEAH, NICKI. I REALLY DO." he sat up in his chair to raise his voice at her.

"I got DRUNK, Safaree. OKAY?! He didn't want me to drive home like I was so he drove us to his place."

"And I suppose nothing else happened, right?"

"Are you fucking serious right now?! You KNOW me better than that!"

"Onika, don't fuckin sit here and lie to me!"

They heard a loud shush come from Terrence in the front. They were being too loud and had to bring their argument to a whisper.

"Let it go, Safaree!" she whispered loudly.

"Aight. BET." he turned his body the opposite way in his seat.

There was an awkward silence.

"You don't know how I'm feeling inside. Everything has been a living hell ever since that accident."

He took a deep breath and calmed down. ".......You know we're never gonna get anything solved if we keep yelling at each other."

She was silent again.

"We can actually work together to figure this shit out if we listen to each other and stop being so damn stubborn."

"....................I just want them to leave us alone." she crossed her arms.

"I can only help you if you help me....."

There was a long silence again.

"So you know the girl who caught me back in Adelaide?"

"........................."

"Well she followed me to my apartment and almost killed me."

"When?"

"Earlier today."

"What happened???"

"Bitch popped up at my crib and pulled the glock out on me. I was trying to escape her. She begged to come to Philly with me."

"Wow."

"Bitch is crazy."

"Well I got a very unusual voicemail a couple days ago...."

"Of what?"

"Of some guys talking. I couldn't really hear what they were saying but...all I heard at the end was something about them needing to do something."

"Wait...did they say any names?"

"No. I just heard a bunch of yelling and these...deep voices. One guy was like 'Yo you still on the phone with her?' guessing they were referring to........me. The voices didn't even sound familiar."

"Wait..Wait...have you noticed something?"

"What..?"

"Black...bla.." Safaree was repeating the word to himself deeply trying think of what it meant.

"Black? Black what? What are you talking about?"

"Wait, have you noticed some people wearing all black lately??"

"Safaree, EVERYBODY in this industry wears all black! It's new shit. How am I supposed to know any different from these people???" she rolled her eyes.

"Nooooo Nic, you're not gettin it. The crazy bitch that followed me, she wore all black..."

"Ummm...Ohhh...kaaay.." she chuckled.

"No No," he threw his hands over his face. "Ok. Have you noticed anyone STRANGE...wearing all black???"

Nicki bit the side of her lip and really tried to remember.

"Umm...just..the girl I saw outside my window that night....and this weird guy who snuck to me and Drake's table that night....That's who all I can think of right."

"And....Eric, Wait...ERIC."

"Who?"

"NICKI, did any of them wear a gold herringbone with a small infinity piece on it?!"

"Uhhh...Well..I-I.." She shut her eyes tightly and thought back to seeing those very strangers right before, remembering if she noticed any chains attached around them.

"I don't..."

"Come onnnn, Nic!"

"I don't remember!" Nic threw her arms in the air, giving up.

"OH SHIT. That nigga Eric had one on JUST like the crazy bitch did!

"Wha- Who the hell is Eric???"

"Nicki, Eric was the nigga that came up to me this morning! He was apart of a gang my crew was beefin with long time ago back when I used to do that shit."

"How'd he find you???"

"Who knows. Look but I ain't seen the nigga since then and I bet his bitch ass up to something."

It clicked in Nicki's head now.

She gasped and tapped his arm. "SAFAREE! M-Mmaybe he's affiliated with the same gang as the guy, Detroit!"

"Detroit?"

"Yes! The guy I told you caused the plane crash and killed himself tryna get me!

"Oh shit."

"And The two guys who waited for me at the after party at Rozay's crib...." she pointed her finger, recalling the night.

His jaw dropped as he pieced two and two together.

"Oh my god, Safaree," she gasped. "They're out for revenge!!!"

"Niggas must want something from us.."

"This can't be real liiiiiiife yo. What the fuck!!!!" her fist banged against the cup holder next to the window.

"Yo Nic we gotta stop this shit before niggas go any further..."

Nicki sat up and contemplated on a clever plan to rid these forbidden people for good.

"Wait. Lemme see your phones." she stuck her hand out waiting.

"For what?"

"Just give them to me!"

He dug from his pockets to hand her his phones. She received them and turned them off, took the battery out of them and placed them in her purse. Nic did the same thing to her phones.

"Whatchu do that for? How we gon keep in touch with everybody?"

"Manny has a phone. So does T and Joyce. We're good."

"But..."

"LOOK. Its the only way they will stop blowing up our phones right now."

The G5 was now landing in Boston around 1:15am. They were preparing their things to head to a local hotel for the second Summer Jam show later on that night.

"Right now, is business. When we have time, I PROMISE we will stop this shit.....do you trust me?"

A burn of tears rushed to her eyes. She got choked up remembering the last time he asked her that. When she told him she trusted him, he bailed out on her and left. This time she wasn't so sure.

Before answering, she blinked the tears away. "Ye..Yes."

Before the two got up, Nicki pulled her purse up to her shoulder, grabbed her water and her blanket.

"We need to quickly make it to the hotel so we'll go unoticed. These niggas could be around any muhfuckin corner and we'd never know."

Safaree shook his head and stood up, placing his shades in the pocket of his hoodie. They exited the plane, grabbing their bags and loading them into the black 'Lacs.

---

"What time is your set?"

"9:50."

The 2nd show was going on right now and the crew had an hour left. Manny called for back up security requested by Nicki so it would be less complex for her to get through the night. Just to be on the safe side.

"You're gonna do your pop songs tonight?" T was brushing her wig.

"Mmm...Maybe like 3. That's it. Manny, can I see you're phone?"

"Sure. Here."

Nicki had made arrangements for the New York Summer Jam show to be a surprise for her barbz and a special night to remember. She wanted a line up of legendary artists to take the stage with her the next night and perform songs together with them. So far Beenie Man, Foxy Brown and Camron agreed to take the stage with her. Young Money would be there. Now was the wait of confirmation from her Idol that she loved so much, Lauryn Hill along with Nas to join the stage also. Even though it was Manny's responsibility she wanted be sure it was clear.

"Hiiiii, Its Nicki. Yes are they still on for tomorrow's show? Okay thank you." she hung up and gave Manny his phone back.

"What they say?"

"Nas has a set and Lauryn's gonna be apart of his so they'll be on mines!"

"Yay!"

"Oop let's get this show poppin!" T said hi-fiving Nic.

"Say, Nic it's time to roll out." Safaree glanced at his watch.

The team piled out into their cars and headed to the Boston Summer Jam. Out of everything else going on in one's mind, Nicki became frazzled at how the New York was gonna turn out the next night. Hoping there would be no mistakes, no regrets.