Riley Goode is an entertainment reporter for Associated Press. Her first big story is to cover the fight of the year in Vegas involving undefeated heavy weight champion, Yasir Belair.
Riley's best friend, Lena convinces her to live just for the nig...
It's been a while and I've decided to go ahead and end this because the passion is gone. This chapter might seem rushed but it was either this or for the story to be completely abandoned. At least there is some form of closure. Happy holidays.
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Omniscient
One year later
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Riley hung up the phone with her assistant and smiled at the news. "Ri, you are now at the top of the New York Times bestseller list." She had really flipped things around for herself after the article. There was so much controversy surrounding the decision to release the expose—if the two page spread could even be called that. Sure she had omitted Yasir's name but it wasn't hard to put the information together. He hadn't unfollowed her on social media for obvious reasons but they were no longer spotted together and rage brewed within his brown orbs whenever her name was brought up in an interview. It had gotten to the point that his team placed her name on the do not mention list.
She had gotten a promotion at work and was a new senior editor for a while, making sure she didn't have to be on any red carpets. The risk of running into him made her anxious and that feeling alone was enough for her to steer clear.
But instead of hiding out, she took all of the newfound clout and wrote a book. It was a twist on her real life; mother abandoning her just to show up later in life sparing a few months before her dying day, practically raising her sister on her own while her father settled in with his new wife, and getting in bed with the biggest drug dealer in the city just to set him up for prison while robbing him blind. That was the type of hood fiction that sold and made thousands of dollars and she was too familiar with the grimey part of the equation to miss out on the opportunity.
Not much was fabricated besides Yasir's career and the stealing. Her mom had passed away five months ago from stage four breast cancer. Rhonda kept the secret until she couldn't anymore. The fact that she could barely walk most days and had thinning hair was more than enough evidence for Riley to call her out on it. She didn't want to hurt her mom's feelings but for her to come back into their lives—Raven's life to disappear for good again just to clear her conscious had Riley pissed for weeks.
"Life is too short for you to hold a grudge. Forgive her or don't but holdin' onto that anger is only damagin' ya self." Lena spoke one night, rubbing her best friend's back. "You missed her. You still miss her and she's here putting in the effort. It might be too late for her to make up for what she did but she's trying and you might regret not giving it a chance. You're better than this Riley."
But that was the thing that kept Riley up most nights. Was she a good person? A good person wouldn't have done a lot of the shit she had done. A good person definitely wouldn't have used Yasir and distracted him around his career defining moment. He had barely won that fight. It was a close call and she couldn't help the gut wrenching feeling that overcame her body as she watched him take hit after hit.
