Limelight

Chapter Forty

"We can get to start with damage control now, if it helps your blood pressure, Uriah," Blair said rolling eyes, "She can release a statement on Twitter letting everyone know what's going on. And to be honest, if Xavier and Aaliyah ended up at the hospital people may already know parts of the story. Any bad attention would be dampened by that."

"So soon?" Malcolm asked in an anxious voice, looking between Aaliyah and Xavier with concern, "You don't think that they should be given a day to rest. Didn't Xavier mention that Aaliyah had a concussion? She needs to be in bed."

"So did Xavier," Madison added quickly. Aaliyah felt her heart stutter in her chest when she heard Madison defend him. Despite herself and what she now knew, she still couldn't help her frustration towards her. Xavier tightened against Aaliyah, and she wondered if he thought the same, "In fact by the looks of him, he's a poke away from breaking apart."

"I'll live," Xavier replied in a cold voice, not even trying to hide his irritation.

Madison cocked a brow at him, a tiny smirk curling along the end of her mouth that rode Aaliyah's last nerve. Madison opened her mouth to reply when her mother scoffed crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm appalled," She said in a stupor, "My daughter shows concern for you, which is more than what you deserve if I'm being honest, and the only thing you can respond with is disrespect even when you're the reason my daughter's career was on the line tonight because of your own selfish act. This is the problem with people like—"

"Lady, you do not want to finish that sentence." The woman on Uriah's arm warned in a cool voice, side-eyeing Rochelle, who blanched looking at the woman. Aaliyah found herself relieved for her, she knew that if it wasn't for her she would have passed out from her own anger. The room fell quiet as they looked around in shock, but Aaliyah was content in trying to glance at Xavier's demeanor. He seemed to be seething quietly, trying not to explode, and Aaliyah wished she could let him know that she was here for him. "Now I advise you to remember that you are talking to a kid in a house that is not your own. Don't get too comfortable."

Rochelle flushed darkly, refusing to even look in her direction, and Malcolm pursed his lips nodding at the woman firmly. "Thank you, Yolanda," He said in a cool voice. Yolanda didn't respond, only keeping her gaze on Aaliyah and Xavier. She held her gaze for only a moment before she lowered her hand down to his, looping her pinking around his, and squeezing tightly. Xavier squeezed her back after a few beats and she let herself relax only a fraction.

The silence that passed was another awkward one before a chortle was let out by another man Aaliyah only vaguely recognized. Tall and slender with a mop of dark hair, a hooked nose, and slanted cheekbones, and dark, dark eyes like Malcolm's. They shone like obsidian and they haunted her every time she sat in the room that wasn't actually hers. Aaliyah felt her breath stuck in her throat when she looked at him and realized who he was. "This might be the highlight of this whole evening." He said looking around with a mocking smirk, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"William," Willa snapped in a freezing tone, shooting him a glare, to which he ignored, his smile widening like he took pleasure in angering his mother. After everything she had heard about him, she wasn't sure she was so surprised that this was who he was.

"Aaliyah," Malcolm said barrelling through the awkwardness holding her gaze with a reassuring one, "Are you sure you want to deal with this now?"

         Everyone was looking at her now, staring at her like she held the fate of everyone's life in her hands. And for the first time in a while, she felt like she did too. Since she'd been here in New York, she felt like a lot of her decisions was pressured by the people who insisted on claiming her own skyrocketing celebrity status. It was frustrating and something she hadn't spoken much about except to Xavier, who understood more than she thought anyone would.