Read Online GHETTO SUPERSTAR by Nikki Turner - Free Book Online Page A

please, please just let me do this. You've done so much for me and my family already, but if you could allow me to at least come by and check on you, I will feel better about my mom never being able to pay you back.”
    “You don't have to.” He took another deep breath.
    “I really want to. I can read to you, I can talk to you. I can sing you one of my future hits,” she said with a tentative smile. “I can even watch out for the vultures, because you know they are circling the building, right?”
    Casino smiled a little. “I know. They always are.”
    “I just want to know that you are okay. Because quite frankly, from what I've witnessed in the waiting room, some of the people don't love you for you but love what you got.” Fabiola immediatelyfelt that she had overstepped her boundaries and blurted out, “I apologize. I shouldn't have said that.”
    “You ain't lying,” Tonk added.
    “I could give Mr. Tonk here a break so he can go home and take a shower daily.”
    “Looks like she has sold herself—what you think, bro?” Casino asked.
    “Shit, she sold me for sure,” Tonk said.
    “What's all this ruckus about?” the real nurse said as she walked in.
    Casino nodded toward Fabiola and said to the nurse, “My daughter.”
    “She just came up here to check on good ole daddy dearest,” Tonk added.
    “She's so pretty, and you look too young to have a daughter that old,” the nurse flirted as she passed him his pain pills.
    “What can I say?” Casino blushed.
    “He started out young,” Tonk teased.
    The nurse smiled. “Well, keep it down in here and”—she looked at Fabiola—“it is really outside of visiting hours and he needs his rest, so you're going to have to cut your visit short. We've made an exception for Mr. Tonk here, but we can't have another person in this room.”
    “I will,” Fabiola agreed with a smile. “Tonk, what time do you want to go home?”
    “You don't have to do that.”
    “I want to though.”
    “Well, anytime you come is cool but neither Spade nor I will leave his side.”
    “Well, what y'all gone do? Pee in a cup or something?”
    Tonk smiled. “Not exactly, but whatever time you want to come is cool, just let me know.”
    “Okay, tomorrow I have a photo shoot at one. I may be caught up with that for a few hours, but I should be done and able to get up here around seven PM . Is that okay?”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    “I will see you at seven tomorrow. Casino, do you want me to bring you anything when I come?”
    “I think I'll be able to manage, but thanks.”
    Fabiola was overjoyed that Casino was going to let her visit with him. Mission accomplished.
    * * *
    “Click-click-click.”
    “Say ‘superstar,’” the photographer stated before snapping the photo of Fabiola.
    “Wait, wait,” Viola called out. “Fix that one piece of hair,” Viola demanded of Sheena, the hood hair stylist.
    Sheena immediately went over to Fabiola and fixed the one strand of hair that was out of place. And she did so with Viola breathing down her neck to make sure it was done right.
    “All right,” the photographer said, placing his camera up to his eye, “let's try this again.”
    “Wait, wait!” Viola interrupted once again. “I think we need different earrings,” she suggested.
    Adora pulled three different pairs of earrings out of a big trunk that was filled with all kinds of accessories. She ran over and held them up against Fabiola's cheek to see which ones looked best. After choosing some jazzy, medium-sized gold-and-diamond hoops, Adora placed the other pairs back into the trunk and turned her attention to her sister, who looked absolutely stunning.
    The shoot had been going on for more than four hours, but Fabiola never let her exhaustion show. Instead, she did what anysuperstar artist on the come-up would do: She sucked it up and did what she had to do. It didn't hurt that Maymount Park, where they were taking the pictures, was a beautiful spot.
    “Now