Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

October 6, 1996

~DeVanté P.O.V~

"The hell you say under yo breath?" Pops asked and I ignored him and kept walking. The moment I got in the bathroom, I snatch a rag from the shelf, wet it with soap, and scrubbed the hell out of my face.

All this because of these drunk ass niggas. Today was supposed to be MY day. A celebration of ME being my best. Me being sober. Yet, these niggas arrive at my house drunk as fuck. At this point, I don't care who gets caught in or told on. I need new friends because this ain't it. Messing with them will probably end with me relapsing and shit. I don't need that. I'm done with that mess.

After I finished, I went to the kitchen because I'm now pissed at pops and ain't want to be in the same room as him. That's another thing, since I was the oldest, I was ALWAYS held responsible for what the other two did. If he wanted to know where Dalvin was, all his ass had to do was look outside.

"You need some help?" I asked from the other doorway. Gospel music filled the room but it played low.

Mama turned around. "YOU want to help YOUR MOTHER in the kitchen?" She laughed. "I haven't heard you ask me that since you were ten. Come on!" She motioned.

"What you need me to do?" I asked.

"Chop those onions. Do you know how to do that?"

That's one of the only things I learn to do when it comes to cooking. I remember when Tia made me help her cook. I chopped up everything. That day was hilarious, from JoJo, who was not invited, eating up the food, to him noticing my bandaged finger and asking if I had AIDS when he was damn near done eating! I laughed. "Yeah, I can do that?"

"Why are you laughing so hard?" My mama said with a smile.

"I just thought of something from a while back."

"I got nothing else to do. I'm all ears." She asked stirring the pot. "We haven't had a one-on-one conversation in a while."

"We haven't." I nodded and grabbed a knife. "I had a friend stay at me and Dalvin's house. She made me help her cook-"

"A woman? Was it Rolita?" She asked me with a smile. You see, my parents like Rolita WAY more than me. Rolita is just a fling and I only have one interest in her. That is sex.

"Nahh, it's another girl," I replied.

"I never met this 'FRIEND' of yours. What's her name? Do you still talk? Close?" She asked me.

"We not close no more but we speak here and there. This was back in '92 I believe. She made me cook. I had to chopped onions and bell peppers. It was a difficult process and I ended up cutting my fingers all up. JoJo-"

"Hand me the knife son." She said holding her hand out with the other on her

"What? You didn't even let me finish." I said offended.

"Hand me the knife, son." She said in a stern voice.

"WOW!" I said in disbelief. "So you don't want my help?" I asked.

"Help yourself to those green in that sink. The majority of them are already peeled. I need you to peel the rest and clean them with vinegar and cold water." She told me.

"Greens? This takes all day, I thought you said the food was almost done?" I asked walking to the sink.

"It is. All I need to do is chop this up, gravy, cook the greens, and make the cornbread." She told me pointing to everything she named.

"That means it ain't nowhere near done. What is that? Another two to four hours?"

"Don't get smart." She pointed at me. "Finish the story. You cut all your fingers off, then what?"

"Up not off." I held up all ten of my fingers. I chuckled. "JoJo, who was not invited, came and ate a bunch of it. When he saw my fingers all bandaged up, he asked me if I had AIDS through mid-chew and if I bled in the food. It was probably his last nite, and I told him he would've had it by then if I had done both." I said laughing.

"And then?" She asked me still interested.

"That's it..." I said looking through the corners of my eyes.

"That wasn't funny AT ALL." She said with a straight face.

"Yeah, well you had to be there to understand," I told her.

"Well, do you?" She asked me.

"Do I what?" I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

"Have AIDS?"

Wow, I can't believe she just asked me that! That's fucked up. "No" my head jerked back. The fuck? "Why would I have AIDS?"

"You are losing weight and I'm still worried about you. Your clothes don't even fit you like they should." Her tone sounds like a concerned parent.

"My clothes never fit me. That's the style mama." I laughed. "I'm losing weight because I been focused on working. When I'm doing that, I'm in my zone and disregard anything else. You know that."

She sighed in relief. "No, I don't. You would eat when you lived with me."

"I was a kid. When I was kicked out, I ate with K-Ci and them but not too much. They parents already complained about them eating up the food, and I didn't want to add to their complaining. So I didn't without and focused on my craft."

"You never told me that." She frowned.

"Because I was kicked out and wasn't allowed there. That put a strain on our relationship. That hurt."

She turned back to me. "I'm sorry, son. But if you don't abide by your parents or the way of the Lord or you can't stay. You knew what we did and did not allow. You had slip-ups. Girls coming to the house claiming you were the father of their kids."

"I'm not saying that. I was a teenager under strict rules. I was going to rebel. Women are raised differently and people expect the opposite of a man so you don't understand. Y'all told me to do things without explaining much. It was just always don't do this or don't do that. We'd ask why and the answer was the Lord for everything." I said peeling the greens.

"That's because it's true." She raised her eyebrows and pointed at me. "The lord didn't want you high, shackin' up, gettin' drunk, partying every night, or singing the blues. You done did everything I listed. What we failed at is having y'all take accountability. That's what she didn't do. Am I right about everything I listed?"

"Not all the way but that's not the point. I know I did wrong and am learning to take accountability now. My therapist told me the same thing and I'm learning and have been doing it. I've apologized to many people already while being specific on what it is I did." I explained to her.

"You still have yet to apologize to your father and me for all you've done. You have yet to apologize to Dalvin. He found you nearly dead twice. One wasn't your fault but the other was. Dalvin is probably scarred from that. You haven't even apologized to Derek." She stopped chopping the onions.

"Nor have you guys apologized to me," I told her.

"For what? We didn't do anything wrong. We did the Lord's work and have been for years now." She said with her.

Bullshit! "Well, it's hard for children to take accountability when the adults around them or the people raising them don't," I said with furrowed eyebrows.

"We didn't do anything the Lord didn't want us to do while raising y'all. You're just sensitive. You've been the most sensitive out of all of my kids."

"Sensitive? I can't help the way things make me feel. If it hurts me then there was definitely a problem with the situation. I may be sensitive but I'm not ignoring my feelings. I did it all my life which created what I was. Yeah, that break-in had a horrible effect on me. I wasn't expecting it to happen.

"Nobody was but I'm healing from it. Everybody wants to hide behind the Lord but is truly losing their minds wanting to know why. The Lord guides us but it's up to us to make that decision at the end of the day. All of y'all punishments and decisions wasn't so great. The Lord guides y'all but in actuality, y'all did what y'all wanted." I finished picking all the greens. My eyes watered but I blinked them away.

"Well, that's how you feel. I feel otherwise. But I do want you to know that your father and I both love you dearly. We love all of our kids." She told me.

"I love you too." I grabbed the vinegar and turned on the water. I poured some vinegar on a leaf and let the hot water run on it.

"Jr, that is not how you wash the greens. Do it like you supposed to wash dishes but with cold water. Plug the sink, run the cold water then mix in some vinegar." She explained to me stirring the gravy ingredients together.

"Okay." I followed her directions to the T.

A few hours later, we were done cooking. I don't like cooking! I know that for a fact. Shit takes entirely TOO long. Now, eating is what I can do, especially when there's a buffet in front of me.

Pops prayed before we ate. "Father, we have gathered to share a meal in your honor. Thank you for putting us together as a family, and thank you for this food. Bless it to our bodies, Lord. We thank you for all of the gifts you've given to those around this table. Help each member of our family use these gifts to your glory. Guide our mealtime conversations and steer our hearts to Your purpose for our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen."

"Amen!" We all said together.

The food was then passed around and we began to eat and converse. Nobody noticed Dalvin's drunkenness and him being high just yet. Then again, he hasn't said but one word to everybody.
After a while, I got everyone's attention.

"I want to apologize to everybody here and thank you all for nursing me back to health when I needed it. First of all, sorry ma and pops for being rebellious. I'm sorry Derek for belittling you and your looks when I get angry. Don't get me wrong, I will do it when we're playing. We both will, I'm sure." I chuckled. "I'm sorry Dalvin, for putting you through the trauma of finding me unconscious all those times. I'm sorry to Derek and Dalvin for my drunken and drug rage."

"You're sorry for him finding you unconscious. Do you not understand that if he didn't, you wouldn't be here today. You sound stupid." Derek replied shaking his head at me.

"Right. I love yo- y'all." Dalvin said in a slurred voice. Shit should've worn out by now. He must've drunk some more.

That caught pops attention. He snatched Dalvin's shades off his face. "Are you drunk⁉️" He yelled standing up. Pops slammed his hand on my table. Well, damn! I'm happy it ain't glass. "When I'm asking you a question, YOU SPEAK!" He yelled in Dalvin's face.

"N- no sir." Dalvin answered in the same tone.

"You are following in the footsteps of your brother. You show up to a SOBRIETY celebration drunk or whatever you are? Look what he's doin' now!" Pops shifted his eyes to me.

"Me!?" I jerked my head back. "Dalvin is a grown ass man, and I shouldn't still be blamed for their actions."

"Not when you have younger people looking up to you!" He yelled at me. "You gon' stop cursing at me like I'm not your father!"

"You know what? Y'all all can go. I don't have time for this mess. I can't control a grown man!" I got up. "Gon' 'head. I love y'all but y'all can go. This was supposed to be a positive day but it turned into this. It started with them-" I pointed to Dalvin because he was the only one of them down here. "Now it's this. I'm not a child no more. You're my house and now I'm kicking y'all out. You and Dalvin. Bye."

"Jr is right! Dalvin is grown and should know better not to do this. If anything, he should've learned from Jr mistakes. You can't keep doing this. Y'all did this when we was kids but we didn't take notice of it. In fact we joined in too. We are adults and if Dalvin wants to be stupid let him be! He know the difference between right and wrong. It's his choice to follow it." Derek said upset himself.

"Mary, you ready to go?" Pops shook his head not hearing what we had to say.

"Donald, he's right this time. Both jr and Derek. It's not his fault, Jr is sober now. And Jr, you don't kick out your parents!" She said getting up.

"I only kicked out one."

"Well, I'm leaving whether you like it or not. I'll see you at the hotel. I love you, Mary." Pops said walking out.

"WOW!" Dalvin chuckled.

"You shut yo drunk ass up!" I yelled at Dalvin, mad at the entire situation. "Just leave me some food and make sure to lock the door. I'm going to the basement." I told them fed the fuck up.

I went to the studio, sat in the dark played with the buttons. I'm just trying to come up with something. It's pitch black in here. Fuck they tell me I can't kick my parents out but they kicked me out when I was still a teenager. It's whatever man. They ain't going to apologize to me anytime soon.

~Tia's P.O.V~

The night before last, Taimak and I landed in Gran Canaria, Spain. I can't stay long because we both have busy schedules. Taimak can stay for six and I can stay for five, so we'll leave on the fourth day, later will be our third night, and today is our second day. I can't stay long because I have to tend to my studies. We're here because today is our one-year anniversary. This is our third out-of-country trip together.

"Are you ready?" I asked from the bathroom.

"Yes, I been ready for a while now. Show me what you workin' with!" He yelled.

If you're wondering, I haven't worn a bathing suit/ swimsuit since I was like eight or nine. After that I hadn't been to the beach for years after and when I finally went again, I wasn't confident in my body because I had gained a bunch of weight. I ended up wearing shorts, and a t-shirt that day, of course, I had on underwear underneath them. Those things covered my thighs and the whole top part of my body.

Let's just say that I came home with a crotch and bra full of sand... It was neverending and I vowed to myself to never go to a beach or any other public water park again when all I had to do was dress appropriately. I was thirteen at the time with a shot body image.

I'm glad that we're able to have time to ourselves even if it is just a few days. Long distance relationships are hard sometimes. There has to be a WHOLE LOT of trust with both parties. We see each other as much as we can. I would sometimes go to New York on weekends, breaks, or if I'm doing business there I would be sure to spend time with him Taimak on the other hand, would visit me in Atlanta more often since his schedule is more available. Sometimes we'd even visit each other just because.

Then again, long-distance relationships can give you space. We aren't always all underneath each other to where we get tired of one another like many couples tend to do. Luckily, flights are only two hours and some odd minutes away. We really love each other and there aren't any ifs, and, or but about it. It's there, I can feel it.

I'm glad I waited for healing to get involved again because if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have been with someone like him. I would've most likely attracted another broken soul like myself, and trauma bonding would be what held that situation together. I gave myself one last look in the mirror then strutted into the room where Taimak was waiting like I was a runway model. I was confident but nervous since it had been so long. I did a 360 spin for him to get a better look.

"Can you take the cover-up and give me another spin?" He said holding his hand out.

I took the cover-up off, handed it to him, and did another spin. This time I went slower and gave my booty a little shake when my back was to him. The back was thong-like while the front covered me up. "The look on your face says it all." I cheesed.

"I know. You look good enough to- Give me another spin and do what you just did." He intertwined our fingers and held our arms up.

"You tryna make me dizzy?" I joked.

"You aren't going to get dizzy if you go slow. Come on, turn for me? This time even slower, but do what you did before." He told me. I pretended to be irritated and then did an even slower spin. This time when my back was facing him, I backed it up and shook it against him. "Hey, I ain't say do all that now..." He palmed my booty then moved back enough for my booty to barely touch him. "You are so unfair." He shook his head.

I turned my head to the side to look him in the eye. "Just as 'unfair' as yourself? I'll wait..."

He leaned down and kissed me. As I've mentioned before he's palming my cheek and now his other hand is traveling down my stomach with his fingertips at the band of my bikini bottoms. (I'm over here thinking about Spongebob because of the last two words.) "Aht aht, let's go." I shook my head at him and grabbed his traveling hand.

"What happened to what you just said? 'I'll wait', but you talking about let's go." He whispered into my neck and began to travel kisses down it. "You don't want none of this tongue action?" He whispered into my ear. "Huh?"

His lips went back to my neck and his hand went up north to pinch my nipples. Yes! I moaned aloud because my breath was too caught up in my throat to speak. I grabbed his chin and pulled him into a deep kiss. After a while, he pulled away, stopped everything, and walked to the dresser.

He grabbed our room key. "Let's go." He told me with the keyring around his middle finger.

I rolled my eyes at him hard with a stank face. "So you just gon' leave me hangin'?" I leaned on one leg.

"You said let's go, so come on." He laughed.

"That ain't right and you KNOW it!" I pointed at him but walked towards him anyways. I grabbed my cover-up from his arm then grabbed his half-hard private parts a tug. "Hmph! Now we're even!" I said walking away.

"Playing dirty? Okay..." He nodded with his bottom lip lodged between his teeth.

"You damn right..." I rolled my eyes.

"When you do it it's funny but when I do it, it's a problem and an attitude?" He laughed.

I stayed silent and kept it trucking, walked out the room and into the main room of the suite. We walked to our destination in silence, holding hands. Yes, I'm still a little upset but it's diminishing. The sight is beautiful! We didn't come here yesterday because we heard of another place and went there instead. Since there is closer, we would eventually come here anyways.

"You look good in those swim trunks babe and the open button-up. Okay! I see you!" I said hyping him up. His legs are toned and his abs are showing out. He can eat but he stays fit with all the exercising he does.

(Idc, idc, IDC! This guy is FIONE!)

"Tah-hah!" He chuckled. "You know I try!" He joked. "So you finally wanna speak, huh?"

"I was never mad," I told him. "Humans don't get mad. Cows get mad and humans get angry."

"You was never mad but you cursed at me? That doesn't sound like a happy girlfriend. Especially because you only curse when angry and when my head between your-"

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him. "I wasn't angry... Just-" I threw my head back gesturing to my security witnessing what he just said.

"Mad as hell!"

"Frustrated." We both finished at the same time.

"Don't mind us! We just tune you out when we hear you and don't speak about it. We all grown." Redd said laughing.

"See..." I said feeling highly embarrassed.

"Frustrated? Okay... I'll just let you believe that while I know the HONEST truth." He laughed ignoring Redd. "But you look good too. I don't know why you were so scared to wear a bathing suit. You worked for your body. Meanwhile, there are women who bought there and seem confident and hell. You're so beautiful." He stared me in the eyes then pecked my lips.

His words and his stare made me blush hard. "Thank you," I told him.

"I made you blush." He chuckled.

"You two are cute." Redd cooed.

"We complement each other," I said walking backward them turned back around.

"Spain is beautiful! This park is beautiful! Look at the view!" Jax yelled. "And so are the women. There's a lot of beautiful black women in this place. Speaking the language and stuff. I ain't know that." He mumbled.

"Black women are everywhere bro." Redd laughed.

"Right, you just gotta know where to look," I told him.

We paid to get in and looked around. "Let's get on there!" Taimak pointed up.

I looked at him, then in the direction, he was pointing, and back at him again. "You must see the word CRAZY written across my forehead. Because you are out of your darn mind if you think I'm getting on that. I'm not havin' a heart attack for NOBODY." I told him.

"You love to exaggerate. You aren't going to have a heart attack. I got you! Come on. Have some fun. Step out of your comfort zone. Have I ever steered you wrong?" Taimak asked me and I shook my head no. "Come on." He grabbed my hand again.

"If I die young, bury me in satin, and lay me down in a bed of roses." I sang as we walked up the stairs.

We waited in line for a bit. Ten minutes tops! The moment our time came and I looked down and automatically thought, "OH, HELL NAW!" I said fixing to walk away.

"Come on. I promise I got you." Taimak laughed.

"Do you see the steepness of this ride or do I have tunnel vision?" I asked him. "Me and heights don't get along.

"Sit between my legs."

"No, I'm sitting behind you, so your body can stop me. I wanna hold onto your chest and wrap my legs around you. I need to make sure I'm secure." I told him.

"Okay, there are people waiting." He told me sitting down.

I sat down and did exactly what I said I did. I wrapped my arms across his chest, and my legs around his waist. I let go as fast as I held on the minute he moved. I stood up and snapped a picture. He slightly turned and I snapped a picture of him. "See you at the bottom!" I ran down the other steps. How convenient? People much change their minds all the time about this particular slide.

I know he'd make it down before me. All he has to do is lie back and I have to put in work. Just as I made it to the bottom, he was approaching the stairs. "You said you'd go!"

"I also said HELL NAW, it's so steep and YOU KNOW I don't do heights," I told him. "Let's get on something smaller."

"We might as well went to the playground with what you're talking about." He told me.

"I can get on some of the things here and won't be as scared as this one. There are some that aren't as steep. Besides, you KNOW folk done died here of we signin' waivers..."

"Alright, then you choose which one." He said grabbing my hand.

I scanned the water park beach. "There." I pointed.

"The kiddie slide?"

"The kiddie slide is STILL big." I expressed with my hands laughing. "Alright, there." I pointed to another one that was much bigger, but not as big as the one he just got off.

"Alright. That's better..." He trailed off and we walked in the direction I pointed.

We stayed for a while. It was an exciting experience, except for me busting my butt, but we aren't going to talk about that. We went back to our hotel to shower and change our clothes.
I wore my natural hair out in a braided afro AT A WATERPARK. BIG MISTAKE! My hair shrunk like SpongeBob out of water. I didn't want it to shrink, although I knew it would, now that it did I had to do something about it. Detangling was a process that Taimak had to help me with.

"You know, I've always wanted an afro." He said picking out my hair. "You know since my hair is fine, I had to put a shit ton of products in my hair. Even then, by the end of the day, it would droop." He laughed. "If you didn't have an afro back then you weren't cool. I fit more in with the jerry curl era and even then..." Taimak trailed off.

"I forgot you were a teenager in the late seventies." I cracked. "Do NOT start from my roots!" I said moving my head back to prevent my hair from breaking.

"I'm sorry, I forgot." He chuckled. I started cracking up. "What?" He asked me.

"An image of you with a jerry curl just popped into my head. You done ruined many pillows with that hairstyle!" I said laughing even harder.

The detangling process took about fifteen minutes more. "Alright, let me go and get dressed." I went into the bathroom and cleaned all of the hair that fell on me as well as the product off my shoulders and chest. I put on my clothes.

I walked out and he catcalled me with a whistle. "Damn, baby!"

I love how he always hype me up. "Thank you." I kissed his lips then pulled back to look at his attire. "So we copying now?" I asked with my hand on my hip.

"You copied me. I had my clothes out. YOU on the other hand always wait until the last minute in what you'll wear."

"You copied ME. Don't play, nahh!" I began laughing.

"Great minds think alike." He snapped his fingers then pointed at me. Then placed his index finger on his temple.

"Most of those GREAT MINDS just so happen to be thieves." I snapped then pointed at him.

"So, you callin' me a thief? Huh?" He picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, spun us around, and smacked my booty.

I'm starting to get motion sickness. "Put me down, Tai."

He placed me back down on my feet with a stronghold on me trying to make sure I didn't fall back. "You good?" He asked.

"I'm fine now," I told him but he still held onto me to be sure. We went out to dinner and here's where the weirdness of yesterday starts again. "What's wrong with you?" I inquired.

"W-what do you mean?"

"We've been having fun but you've also been acting weird. Yesterday while we were out, during fancy meals, and now. What's up?"

He cleared his throat. "I'm moving."

"To?" I asked with my heart beating out of my chest. Austria? Because that's where his people are.

"Atlanta." He replied.

I exhaled loudly. "Thank God!" I cheesed.

"What'd you think I would say?"

"Austria since your people are there and you visit a lot," I told him.

"No." He shut his eyes.

"Is there something else you want to tell me? You've just been acting weird." I told him.

He gave me a funny look. "Weird, how?"

"At the waterpark, you were a BIT weird, but every time we're out at a place like this, you stumble and stutter over your words. Just acting out of character in general." I shrugged.

"I'm fine and everything good." He wiped his sweaty forehead.

"Are you on drugs?" I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head.

"God, no." He chuckled.

"Good, because if you were, we would have to break up."

"I know." He nodded.

"Can I have some?" I asked eyeing his plate.

"You barely touched your food." He laughed and put his hands back into my eyesight, on the table.

I poked my bottom lip out. "It's because I don't like it. Please?"

"Get some." He gave in and I grabbed my spoon and took a bite of his food. It's seafood paella.

"Mmm. This is good." I mumbled. "It's WAYYYY better than mines." I smiled hinting that I wanted his.

"Give me your plate." He told me and slid his my way.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You're very picky. Let's switch." He slid his to my side and grabbed mines.

"Thank you. But I will remind you who persuaded me on getting something different. I was just going to play it safe and get what I usually get, but nahhh. You know I'm not a big fan of Spanish food."

He took a bite of my turned his food and chewed it. "This ain't bad at all. You're just a picky person."

"Name five things I hate because I'm not that picky." I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Well, let's see. There's
1. Tacos
2. Sausage
3. Eggs
4. Bacon
5. Pancakes
6. Waffles
7. Bacon
8. Chicken nuggets
9. Orange juice
10. Crawfish
11.-"

"I only said five. I'm NOT a picky eater. That's normal." I told him.

"It's not at all. I have never met someone who dislikes as much food as you." He laughed.

"Now you have." I pursed my lips.

"Now I have." He nodded.

After eating we took a walk on the beach and got our feet wet. It was a beautiful night and we could also work off some of those calories before we call it a night. We walked together in silence, just admiring the view.

"What's up with you and DeVanté?" He asked me breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked him confused because it just came out of the blue.

"Did y'all ever have anything going on? As in what we do." He asked me stopping.

"I answered this question before. TWICE.  Why does it matter, though?" I frowned.

"Let's just say hypothetically speaking, if I were to hang out with another woman who I had a past with, whether she and I were together or not, wouldn't you feel hurt?" He asked me. "Maybe you trust me but would you trust the lady?"

"Yes, I would feel some type of way. But why is this coming up all of a sudden? And again?"

"Because sometimes you hear things and when you hear a lot, sometimes you start to believe it." He told me.

"So you don't trust me?" I folded my arms.

"N-YES!" He shook his head. "Yes, I DO trust YOU. It's the people you sometimes hang around that I don't trust." He responded.

"DeVanté?" I asked with my eyebrows raised to the air. "I don't trust him much either these days. He has to earn it back and it's hard when you lost it in the first place. Nor has he tried anything with me since we got cool again. I wouldn't allow such things if I'm committed to you. Plus, I don't hang with him much or the other fellas anymore. 

"I don't go around the others much. They got too much going on for me and have changed. Most for the WORST. They're letting too many people get to their heads. The money, the fame, parties, and the women. But Cole and now DeVanté are the only sane ones.  I hang with my girls, Eej, Cole, baby Masir, or alone. I don't go around the others much." I explained to him. Hoping make him feel better while being truthful about what's been happening these few months.

"I know, baby. It's just a thought." He nodded.

"Is that what's been bothering you and making you act weird towards me?" Taimak shook his head no then yes. "Yes orrrrr no?"

"Y-yes." He nodded.

I gave him a weird look. "Okay..." We continued walking.

When we made it to the hotel, I got back in the shower. I feel icky from being outside. Am I the only one that feels that way after coming back in? It's the bugs and especially those dang on mosquitos. I also was never a fan of transferring outside dirt to my bed. After getting out of the shower and moisturizing my body, I put on some panties and threw on one of his tank tops. There is a cold breeze and I just got out of the shower. I'm a little chilly. I saw Taimak by the mini-fridge and decided to jump on his back but he ended up turning around and catching me.

"It's kind of cold in here," I mumbled into his neck. He supported me by grabbing my butt.

Author's Note:  About attracting another broken souls while you're broken is a true statement. How could you expect to be someone else's happiness when you are unhappy yourself? That would cause a bunch of other problems. Learn and heal yourself first, then you're less likely to be in that situation. Some of y'all didn't catch something. I include a lot of things characters say that will come back and bite them in the butt. If you caught it, GOOD! If not, you'll find out in another chapter.

Word Count: 5,900
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Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of this story. Thank you for staying despite the slacking.💚🖤❤💜💙💛