C H A P T E R
T W E N T Y - O N E

          Phone Jumping by Dave East featuring Wiz Khalifa played throughout Ahmad's shop from his tvs. Today was Wednesday which is always their slow day so they usually take that time to clean the shop, rearrange things if they feel like changing it up a bit or they just chill and talk until a customer comes in.

But since the shop was clean and everyone liked how it was set up, they decided to just talk and catch up on each other's lives.

"Courtney and I been going through somethings, we ain't been having sex, we been real distant towards each other and that ain't like us and the crazy thing is I know it ain't me. I've been trying but she's been pushing away. She comes in hella late from work leaving me to do everything at home like make sure Blessing is fed and bathed and put to sleep by nine .. then she isn't helping me keep the house clean or in order so I'm doing the cooking and cleaning, paying the bills since she acts as if her checks are just too small while all tryna balance my life and what I have going on and making sure my daughter is good but shit is stressful since that helping hand I once had is now gone." Dave expressed tiredly.

He loved his wife more than anything but this shift in their marriage was noticeable and he was confused as to why shit was changing when they were suppose to be good. Last he checked he hadn't done anything wrong so he wasn't sure as to why all of sudden she grew distant.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Hazel asked handing him the soda he asked for.

"Yeah but whenever I do it starts an argument .. she grows defensive whenever I ask why she's coming in so late and I just be like damn it was just a simple question and all I needed in return was a simple ass answer."

Ahmad nodded, "How late do she be coming in?"

"Sometimes twelve in the morning, but the lastest be like three or four in the morning when she gets off at nine at night latest being ten depending on how busy they got at her job."

Everyone assumed she had to be doing something she ain't have no business doing. It sounded like she was cheating but then again you never know what people do these days so they didn't want to fill his head with assumptions and make him look like a fool if she wasn't doing that.

"Bro this what you need to do since you want to get the answers that she's failing to give." Shaun stood up getting ready to put him on game. "Alright so you know when she gets off so I say pull up at her job and just wait and when she leaves follow her and see where she goes that's the only way you can get the answer cause clearly since she's not wanting to discuss it its something serious."

"For the first time in a million years, I actually have to agree with Shaun." Marcus joked.

"Fuck you,"

"I'm just saying sometimes the things that leave your mouth ..I just be like this nigga here retarded."

"Alisha loves it so whatever," He shrugged taking his seat.

"Anyways back to the convo, I agree with Shaun as well. I mean this is your wife and she shouldn't be playing these types of games when you and her have been dealing with each other fifteen plus years." Ahmad told him and he nodded.

"I'll do it cause this shit is really fuckin' with me mentally man. I'm tryna remain positive but I can't help but think the worst." He huffed, "But I'll be back I gotta go pick up Blessing from school and drop her off at her nana's house."

"Alright man, stay up."

Slapping hands with everybody and giving Hazel a goodbye hug he left out of the shop with a heavy heart.

"What y'all think she doing?" Shaun asked curious about the thoughts they didn't want to say with him here.

"Sound like she fucking around on him but I ain't wanna say nothing and be wrong." Marcus spoke up and they all agreed.

"Hopefully whatever the problem may be they can work through it. They been together for a long ass time and its clear he loves her so I pray she isn't cheating." Hazel spoke up.

A moment of silence took over after that since everybody was too into their phones, but last nights events popped up in Shaun's head and he wanted to know if they told their girls yet.

"Aye, did y'all tell the girls what happened last night at the bar?"

Frowning, Hazel looked up. "What happened last night?"

"Some bitch was tryna get at Ahmad and he turned her down so this dumb ass bitch took this nigga wedding ring off his finger. I honestly felt like the girl was tryna think of ways to get murdered cause we all know this retarded nigga here is crazy. But anyways so Ahmad chokes the girl and she starts making a scene and made it seem as if Ahmad was only acting like that because she didn't want him .. shit was crazy." Shaun explained.

"What tha fuck? I really don't understand women like that. Like why lie on a man who has done nothing to you, that's why its so hard for folks to believe actual victims of harrassment and rape now."

Hazel couldn't stand women or men who lied about serious situations like that. Rape or molest isn't a joke and she feels when women or men lie about that she looks at it like that's what they think it is.

She has met and known plenty of women who are victims of rape and sexual harrassment so she has seen the damage that it can do to a person so it pisses her off when women yell it out so carelessly.

"I don't know then her dumb ass friends was tryna side with her, that shit pissed me all the way off. But yeah I told Cali soon as I got home, she was mad at the girl but was thankful for this old man who spoke up since he actually saw what went down."

"Same with Kamry,"

"Alisha was ready to get in the car and find the girls then was like grab Nolan we finna tag team these bitches."

Busting out laughing, they all shook their heads. "I can't stand her, she said the samething last night." Hazel laughed.

"Speaking of last night, what did y'all do?"

"Um we just chilled and talked but then things kinda got awkward and a little crazy last night."

"What happened with y'all last night?" Ahmad asked mostly concerned about Cali hoping nothing happened to her.

"Things were fine at first but then Anari—First let me say this.. Anari is cool, and we all have mad love for her but last night sis was on one. First we were discussing about you and Shaun and I was telling them how faithful you guys were and then like Anari just shits on Shaun and brought up you cheating on your ex Ashley then continued to say once a cheater always a cheater."

Scrunching up his face in confusion, he sat forward. He barely spoke to Anari, and wasn't that close to her for her to be speaking on his name. "What did that even have to do with Alisha and I though? I fucked up in the past and I'm not tryna make that same mistake again. I love Alisha too much to disrespect her in that way so she needs to shut her ass up and speak when needed. She don't know me." He spat.

"I know and Alisha checked her for it, but it doesn't even end there and before I tell you what she did next .. Ahmad I'm just going to let you know that Cali knows you and Anari fooled around in the past.."

Choking on his drink, he looked over at her with wide eyes. "What tha fuck? How?"

Before she could respond, Marcus held his hand up. "You fucked Anari? When was this?"

Sighing, Ahmad shook his head, "It happened a while ago before Cali or even Chris was in the picture. Houston big as hell but its lowkey small at the sametime. I personally didn't even remember fucking her cause for one I slept around a lot but yeah anyways so the day of Armoni's first birthday party we were both in the kitchen just talking like the usual but then she started asking me questions and was like do you remember me? And shit like that .. Of course I was like nah, am I supposed too? Then she proceeded to explain the many times we hooked up but it was around that time when I saw my aunt bitch ass and those memories started coming back so I used sex as an escape so I understood why I didn't remember her but we both agreed to leave it in the past. I didn't see the point in bringing up something like that up when it clearly meant nothing back then." He explained and they all nodded understanding his point.

"But wait .. how did Cali find out if y'all agreed to bury it then?" Shaun questioned wanting to get all the tea on this situation. Ahmad looked over at Hazel curious as well, he hoped Anari didn't go against her word and bring it up after they agreed not too.

"That night we all went to the club we played this confession game and she confessed to all of us about that secret out of all secrets. She didn't say a name she said something similiar like .. I fucked my mans bestfriend before he came in the picture, I don't fully remember word for word but we all know who Chris bestfriend is which is you Ahmad so it didn't take rocket science to figure it out."

Shaking his head, Ahmad sat back pissed. He honestly didn't understand why she felt the need to share that. He wasn't trying to keep secrets from Cali but he felt the incident was an incident that happened when he was losing himself, it was around the time when he was lost and was seeking help in the wrong places.

He slept with a lot of women at the time to try and erase the thoughts of his aunts actions that would appear in his dreams at night or in his mind whenever he was in a room alone. At that low time in his life, he was not Ahmad, he was not himself, he was a broken man who only wanted shit to go right in his life for once.

He was far from being that man today and he wanted to bury that person he once was before. Which was why he didn't want to dwell on what happened between them cause it only brings back memories of everything that caused him to use sex and alcohol as an escape. The sex meant nothing to him and she claimed it meant nothing to her so he wasn't sure as to why she was tryna make it relevant again when it happened a good four years ago.

"What did Cali say? Was she mad?"

"I don't think so, she hasn't said much about it. They aren't as close as they were before and I believe the reason being is because its still a little awkward for her especially knowing that her husband and sister in-law slept together in the past but in my offense she's being very mature about the whole situation she could have came to you and made a scene but she didn't she just dropped it." Hazel said and Ahmad nodded.

"I know Cali, she didn't drop it. She's being mature yes, but Cali ain't dropping something like that she was gonna bring it up eventually. But since I know she knows, I'll address it tonight and talk to her. I don't want her thinking I kept this from her to be sneaky or anything."

"Yeah, I feel since she let the cat out the bag its only right you come to Cali and explain everything because no girl wants to hear another woman say she has had their man .. yes Cali knows it was women before her but who wants to discuss it? Just like how you know it was men before you came into the picture you don't want to sit and discusss the shit. But if it happened while she was in the picture then that's a different story so I feel Anari should have kept her mouth shut cause honestly what did she gain from spilling that secret?" Marcus said expressing his thoughts on the situation.

"Yeah cause it makes it you wonder was she being shady by telling? or held a guilty concious but even if that is the case why would she feel guilty with it being that this happened before you and Cali." Shaun spoke up trying to see her reasoning on why she spilled that confession.

Ahmad just shrugged, "Should I talk to Anari first and find out why she chose to tell her or Cali first?"

"I say Anari just to see why she went against her word in the first place. But what else happened Hazel?"

"Okay so this is when things got real awkward, I'm not sure who asked what the guys were doing but Cali announced that she was texting you and told us how you were talking about how you were bored then she started talking about how you always find things outside of the house boring then Anari speaks up and was like I find it attractive he's like that .."

"Tha fuck? She couldn't say I find it cool he's like that? Why attractive?" Marcus questioned out loud.

Hazel only shrugged, she too wondered why out of all things Anari chose to say that. It made her seem suspect as fuck in her eyes and since the guys were just now hearing about all of this they felt the same way too.

"You can't even really say she meant nothing by that either because for one since she knows that you all know about her and Ahmad she should know making comments like that is out of pocket, and two if she has seen the change and distance between her and Cali due to this secret being out why even fix your mouth to say some shit like that? I like Anari, and I like her for Chris because they do seem happy but this—I don't know makes me wonder." Shaun expressed giving his full opinion on it.

"Fuck it, I'll talk to her cause I don't want her making Cali feel any type of way. She already been stressing about shit lately, the last thing she needs to do is worry about Anari and her weird ass comments so I'll handle it."

          Later that night, Ahmad entered their house to see Cali on the living room floor flipping through their wedding album book.

Taking off his hoodie and shirt underneath it, he walked over towards her placed a kiss on her lips then walked into their bedroom. "How was work baby?" She called out.

Switching from his jeans to a pair of nike sweats, he grabbed his slippers Cali brought him for Father's day last year then walked back into the living taking a seat on the floor next to her. "Work was slow today but good, you?"

"Work was entertaining as always, the guys and girls getting into arguments always make the days better." She laughed a little before focusing back on the pictures of them at their wedding.

Grabbing her hand he motioned for her to sit between his legs, doing as he wanted she leaned back against him as they looked at the pictures together.

Flipping through page after page, Ahmad stopped at the one of them sharing their first kiss as a married couple. "You ever think that there is no way you can love a person more than you already do? After I said my vows and cried in front of you and everybody I didn't think it was possible to fall deeper in love with you but the moment we kissed and he introduced the both of us as Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair .. my love towards you grew. It's hard to explain and to express but it did." He explained speaking straight from the heart.

Smiling small, her eyes began to burn a little. Turning her head slightly she kissed his lips tasting the flavor of strawberry due to the gum he had just before he got home. "I love you too,"

Turning back around, she leaned back against him letting him place small kisses on her shoulder and neck. "We need to talk though," He told her in her ear and she nodded knowing they did it was so many things she needed to explain and to express to him.

"Yeah we do,"

"Well first, I know you know about Anari and I." He started off causing Cali to turn and speak but he stopped her. "Before you say anything I want to apologize, I want to apologize for putting you in this type of position to where you had to hear from another woman rather than from my mouth. So if you're mad at me baby you have every right to be, I was wrong."

"I was never mad Ahmad, more so confused as to why you never said anything and that I had to hear it from her instead of you but I was never mad at her or you." She explained being totally honest.

Cali's problem was never that they had sex, she knew Ahmad had sex with a lot of women before her he admitted to it so she wasn't upset about that, it was more so hearing it from Anari's mouth first and if Cali had to be honest she honestly wished Anari didn't say anything cause now it made things awkward and weird.

"I only kept it a secret because it happened around a time when I was using sex as an escape. After that one night stand we shared a few months later I ran into my Shondra and that day I saw her after not seeing her for so many years just took me back to place to where I was helpless and the images and actions of what she did started to haunt my mind. So stupidly thinking I thought sex was the answer, I thought the more women I slept with the less I would think about it and Anari was one of the girls, but I personally didn't even remember her or having sex with her and she claims we did it more than once so that showed me how bad I was out there to where I wasn't even paying attention to who the hell I was sleeping with. I didn't say anything because that was a time in my life that I'm ashamed of, I've grown so much since then that I just wanted to leave what happened in the past and when she brought it up we both agreed to just keep quiet about it."

Nodding her head, she turned her body completely around and straddled his lap with her arms around his neck. Looking at his watery eyes, she reached her hand back and touched his face knowing how much he hated bringing up what happened in his past.

It always triggered different emotions so she understood now why he chose not to say anything. Using her thumb she wiped his eyes as she stared down at him with nothing but love and admiration in her eyes. "I get it, and I understand now." She told him and he nodded glad that she did.

Grabbing her hands he kissed the back of both of them then her lips then let her get comfortable on his lip. "It's something I need to discuss with you as well."

Ahmad hoped that Cali was finally about to express her emotions and feelings that she has been bottling up for a while now. He was ready for her to give him the chance to be there for her like she was for him.

"What is it?"

Sighing she looked away from him, "My mental state, my feelings and emotions everything I guess.." She started off. "I haven't been truly happy but its not because of you, I'm happy with you and the life we have together but its like outside of our marriage and household things for me aren't great and a lot of that has to do with my mom and our relationship. I love her so much, but I hate the person she is and my fear is becoming her. I just want her to finally get it together so she can be apart of our life and so the kids will know her. Just knowing me and my mom aren't on speaking terms hurts me, I hate it and I don't like that we're at odds but there is literally nothing I can do at this point."

"And I hate showing emotions because I have this stupid belief and thought that I have to be strong all the time for the sake of you and the kids. I don't like worrying you because you already have so much on your mind and plate but being strong is honestly killing me inside and I know this yet I continue to bottle up my emotions. Sometimes I just be wanting to burst out in tears and half the time I don't even be knowing why. I don't be knowing what's wrong with most days and I'm so tired of feeling this way."

Watching Cali breaking down, Ahmad felt a wave of different emotions come over him. Pulling her down he just hugged her letting her cry and get all those built up emotions out for once.

He knows exactly how Cali feels since he used to be the same way. He used to hide behind the fake smile and have folks thinking everything was peaches and cream but in reality he was really a total mess so he understood her problem and he was going to be there for her and lift her up as she did with him.

Rubbing her back in a soothing motion, she held onto him tightly not wanting to ever let go of him. "You don't always have to be strong baby, I'm here for you every step of the way. You just have to give me a chance to be there for you but I promise you I will never let you down and I promise to always build you up whenever you break alright?" He whispered lowly but loud enough for her to hear.

Nodding her head, she stayed in his arms as they sat there in complete silence.

Ahmad wanted to share the news about his dream but after this he knew this was the last thing she needed to hear so he was gonna save that for another day when things were better for her.

But like Cali said Ahmad had so many things on his mind, but none of that even mattered if his baby wasn't good. He did everything for Cali and the kids, and if one was hurting they all were hurting so since Cali was was hurting so was Ahmad and he was gonna do whatever it takes to get her back in good spirits.

          Sitting across from Detective Spencer and Twan, Amira explained to them everything she has been witnessing the past few days. "He believes, I'm on his side. I've been playing my part acting as if I want Twan out of the picture and he's been eating it up."

Over the past month Amira has been meeting up with Tristian and following the plan to take out Twan just like the detective told her to do so it can lead the cops straight to him and so they can lock him up.

"Has he discussed the plan on when he wants to take out Twan so I can alert the police and have them ready?" Detective Spencer asked.

She nodded, "He wants to do it next Friday at that abandoned play ground on fifth around twelve at night. The plan is he wants me to meet up with him an hour early in my car Ahmad gave me and act as if my car broke down there and he wants me to call up Twan and have him meet me there and he said he'll handle the rest."

Twan nodded, "I'm sorry but it can't be this easy. I think he knows something is up. We need to have a second plan cause what if he pulls a fast one on us?"

"The perimeter of the park will be surrounded by officers, there is no way he will be able to escape or do anything we just have to follow the plan, do exactly what he wants so he doesn't suspect anything. Amira continue to meet up with him anytime he calls and like you have been doing alert us and we'll follow behind to make sure nothing goes wrong but listen to any side convos of secret plans he may have that he doesn't want you to know .. we just have to stay on step ahead to catch him. We're this close, as cops it is our job to protect and serve and we are doing exactly that."

          Walking home from Winter's house with a smile on his face, Travis whistled to the beat of Kill Bill in complete awe. He took Winter out on a date and it went perfect. They had a good time together and enjoyed each other's company.

First they went out to eat where they shared an entreé together due to his funds not being the best but she understood and didn't complain. Then he took her to a bowling alley where Meech's older brother works at and hooked them up with shoes and a free lane for two hours.

In the end they enjoyed the small simple date and wanted to go on another when both of their funds were better and this time Winter wanted to be the one to treat instead of him.

Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he pulled it out to see it was text from her saying how she wanted him to call her as soon as he gets home, replying, "Okay," he slipped it back in his pocket and proceeded his journey home so he could hurry up and call her home.

Turning the corner, he looked down when he stepped in a puddle of water pissed that he messed up his shoes but right when he looked up he was met with a fist and was tackled to the ground by another dude as they jumped him.

Using his arms and hands to block the hits, he yelled out in pain as their fists came in contact to different areas of his body.

Hearing someone whistle in the distance the boys immediately stopped and yanked him up so he could see his brother Tristian walking towards him smoking a cigarette dressed in all black. "Sup little brother, you don't look so good." He teased laughing watching as he struggled to stand due to the pain he was feeling.

"W-why are you doing this?" He struggled out causing that smile and laugh to come to a complete stop.

"Why am I doing this? You fucking lied to me! I told your stupid ass to tell me if that nigga talked to the cops and he fucking did! You knew she was alive this whole time and so did he, the shit is all over the fucking news and the streets is hot cause that bitch ass doctor ran his damn mouth and snitched on everybody!" He yelled out in anger.

"My mug shot and a fucking wanted sticker is plastered all over the Houston area to find me and this all could have been prevented if you did what I fucking told you! So you gotta pay,"

Holding up his cigarette he walked closer to Travis who looked at him with scared eyes and pleaded for him to stop but Tristian toned out his pleads and pressed the cigarette to his cheek causing Travis to cry and scream out in pain, covering his mouth with his hand Tristian got low to his level. "Shut tha fuck up! Take it like a man little bro. You brung this on yourself."

Standing back up, he looked over at the two guys before sending a punch to Travis's face. "Please know this hurts me more than it hurts you. Somewhere deep down in my heart I love you and it does kill me a little that I have to do this but you had one job and failed to do it so you have to face the consequences."

Stepping back, he lit another cigarette taking a hit from it then smiled. "Y'all know what to do, I'll be in the car."

Walking away he listened to the guys beat up on his brother with a smile on his face. He didn't feel sorry for Travis because he felt Travis should have kept his word, he had other things to worry about like taking out Twan but now he had a fat target on his back which was making things harder for him but with Amira on his side he felt it was possible for him to kill Twan and then go ghost for a while.

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I have a few announcements I want to make—

but FIRST let's address the QUEEN and her talent .. 👏🏾👏🏾

something she did? THAT! 😭👏🏾
#SomebodyCallForTheQueen? #QueenofQueensIsBACK! #PleaseNOCARDIComments

Also I do not have a problem with Cardi but it just seems like whenever somebody mentions Nicki, somebody gotta mention Cardi when tbh they shouldn't even be in the same bracket of discussions, Cardi is good, I like some of her music, she's beautiful and she does have potential of being so great! but comparing her to Nicki is an insult in so many ways. You can't compare a woman who has been killing the game for 10+ years to a rookie who just came out and is hot now.

That's like comparing these rappers today to Biggie and Tupac, or even to Jay-Z since he still does music but just as stupid as that may sound that's how crazy a lot of these folks be looking when they compare Cardi to Nicki.

#MakeitMakeSenseLord

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Happy 29th Birthday to the ONE man this world will not let be GREAT! #TeamBreezy

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Now onto the next topic of discussion,
I have a new summer book that is coming very soon, chapters are already pre-written for it too cause I like it so muuch and the plot of it all is so beautiful to me but shoutout to MahamiMamiMani for pushing this idea of this book! Also follow her and check out her stories, she's such an amazing author and her talent truly deserves to be seen and read!

The book is called, "Good Intentions,"

Since my summer officially starts the week after this one, updates for this new book and Dedication will be more frequent! I want to aim to finish both books before my sophomore year in college starts, but that's just a goal, this book is almost half way done then there will be a third book and I hope to be starting on that in August or September!

Spoiler for book 3: It is all about the kids and their young lives!

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Now I personally want to thank all of you for the love & support on my books! It truly means so much, I'm just some regular ole' girl from Texas who is just tryna find her way and I personally feel writing is one of my callings, and I love that you guys find my writing entertaining and take time out of y'all busy lives to sit and read my work. if I don't say it enough, I'm saying it now .. I love all of you guys and the love you all show never goes unnoticed!

Again thank you all ❤️
- Denise 💋