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Mid 1984

    "Yes! Harder!"

     The only sounds that could be heard through the breathless moans and heavy panting, was the sound of the headboard smashing against the wall in a sensual rhythm. It encouraged me to pick up the pace for the both of us, since the man hovering above me couldn't complete the job for himself.

     The orgasm that followed was toe-curling and before I screamed in release, my nails found the back of the man and curled down into a red line. He grunted against my ear and I could feel my lips tweak before I clenched around the weekend man, causing his orgasm to follow mine.

     When he slid out of me, my head fell against the mattress in a tired sigh. I could only lay there in peace after such an alarming awakening of him between my thighs as a morning surprise. Although, I shouldn't have been surprised considering this was an everyday occurrence. But it was pleasant enough to keep me on my toes and left me breathless before the sun could even rise.

"I gotta' head out love." Reaching over onto the nightstand beside me, I picked up the small clock and read the time. Then, I collapsed back on the soft pillows and watched Adam's pale back flex.

"Already?" I whined and covered his body that was sitting on the edge with my naked one. "C'mon, stay with me for five more minutes." I taunted, nibbling on his ear with a suggestive undertone.

"I already stayed longer than I should've. I'm sure the guys are already pissed at me." Adam complained before lacing up his shoes and tossing his shirt over his torso.

      I felt myself lips cavort into a pout when his abdomen was hidden.

"Fine, go." I surrendered causing his pink lips to twitch before he brought them to mine. "Your still coming out with my sisters and me tonight though, right?"

From the look of his expression, my thoughts of tonight passing his mind were confirmed. Retreating from the bed, I ambled over to my panties near my closet and slid them back on.

"You forgot." I answered for him.

    "Can I take a rain check? I got a show tonight." At this point, I was well accustomed to Adam's excuses. However, that didn't make me any less bothered when he used them.

     "Go ahead. Although they really wanted to meet you this time. They've gotten a little bit more stricter since. ." I cut my own self off in fear of reminiscing, but it was clear that Adam noticed the hesitance in my voice.

"Prince?" Unfortunately Adam filled in the blanks for me and even the mere sound of his name caused goosebumps to emerge onto my skin.

He was the only man who could be the cause behind such a reaction.

"Yeah," I replied quietly before snatching my plush robe from my closet and swinging it over my naked torso.

"I hear his new movie is coming out. Weren't you with him when he was writing about it?" Adam asked, fixing his collar in the mirror adjacent to the bathroom door.

Memories of Prince scribbling down in the small notebook filled my mind and made me shiver. "Yeah, I was. . . It's mostly his story but he wanted some of my background in there too." It was a shame we never got to finish it, but I didn't dwell on the trip down memory lane too long.

Especially when Adam was standing not that far away from me.

    "But, I don't want to talk about him." I began and stood before Adam with a gentle smile. My arms were locked around his neck and my eyes were glued to his lips. "When are you coming back home?"

     "Eh, a few days." He answered in-between the kisses delivered to my lips. "Why? Are you planning on having company over?"

    I grinned and left his grasp, "Maybe if I get bored. I mean this apartment is so big, I might get cold and need someone to warm me up."

     "Cute love, real cute." I giggled all the way into the bathroom before closing the door. I assumed that Adam would show himself out while I freshened up to go out to the club with my sisters for my birthday. It was a nice relief compared to talking with my manager, James about upcoming projects for me. We had just gotten over the failure of Spike Lee's new movie being put into productions and moved onto accepting a recording contract from Mowtown.

    I had received calls during my time with Prince about the movie but never took his offers seriously. My life was dedicated to Vanity 6 at that time and I didn't and wasn't planning on changing it. However, now that it was behind me and the restraints of Prince weren't holding me down, I was free to do what I pleased.

   And this time, now that I was recording my own records, I was actually receiving pay for my work.

     Even when Prince and I had briefly crossed paths for a photo shoot for his Rolling Stone magazine in Los Angeles, I didn't get paid for starring in it. I tried arguing with Prince's manager, Alan Leeds about the subject but neither him nor Prince was up for a debate. In their eyes, they were doing me a favor. But when the magazine was published and shipped, us being on the cover together got more attention than what was on the inside.

     We had been separated for a good five months before Prince's assistants got in contact with my manager to discuss being on the magazine together. Prince claimed that he couldn't see himself doing the cover with anyone else, but I assumed that it was just his excuse to see me again.

At first, I was stuck on being stubborn about it, but James said that money would be rolling in after the cover, so I did it. I had the urge to tell Prince to let Susanna or Sheila get the job done for him, but money was involved so I kept my thoughts to myself.

    When a few weeks passed after shooting the cover without neither me nor my team receiving money, James and I decided to drop it and let the magazine be what it was. Although, in reality it was all a facade to trick the press about the status of Prince and I's relationship and I wasn't surprised that Prince was up for it.

     It had been a while since we had saw each other, so when we had crossed paths their was obvious tension. Prince didn't speak much during the photo shoot and in one aspect I was happy, but in the other I was cursing his name for being so pathetic.

     Not even having enough courage to mumble a hello.

    However, what mattered was that the magazine cover got done and with my hand teasingly at the waistband of his jeans, and his hand hovering over mine. It didn't appear as if we had ended in an ugly break-up just five months ago. It looked as if we were two sex fiends dangerously in love.

    But, that wasn't the case. The only incentive was the money I would receive from the cover and unfortunately, I didn't even get that. A couple months after the magazine was published the press started to catch on, and realized that we were no longer together. That was in September. Now it's the end of July and James and I still hadn't heard for Prince's camp. Eventually we gave up, but that didn't mean we didn't remain pissed about it.

Jumping back into reality, I realized that I had begun to prune underneath the scalding water and turned the dial down.

     After hopping out of the shower I threw on my attire of a feathered dress with thick gorilla coat covering what shouldn't be seen.

I called it ' The Animal.' I received a lot of hassle about the coat but I never took it to heart and got rid of the thing. It was the only valuable thing I owned. With the little money I had, I was able to scrape up an apartment in sunny Los Angeles and I couldn't had been more happier.

     My sisters were taking me out tonight for a well-deserved night on the town after being away from each other for over three months. The only thing that would be missing would be Adam. But I convinced myself that he would make up missing out on the opportunity to meet my sisters when he got back from the road.

    He always did.

    As I clipped on my jewels and headed out into the night, I clicked the unlock button on my new Cadillac. I had fallen in love with the corvette Prince had gotten me way back when, by I knew I couldn't keep it. So I did one better, and exchanged it for something that wouldn't give me memories of him.  And so far, it was working.

     Before flipping on the radio, I dug around in my glove compartment for the bag filled with my happiness. My eyes widened happily when I found the substance, and since I didn't have a pipe or time to roll it, I swiped it across my tongue and stashed it back into the compartment.

     It was a quick fix that would hold me over for a few hours while at the club, but I knew that I would have to confide in it once again through the night. The only downside to carrying and ingesting my happiness in a bag was the constant insomnia. I knew it annoyed the hell out of Adam, especially when I would be walking around the house and making noise while he was trying to sleep.

     That's why I eventually started staying out later and leaving Adam with the apartment. Some nights I decided to come home, but I mostly spent my time in clubs that went into the early morning then went with a male friend to his home. These short exchanges of kisses never went past anything more  than just that. I wouldn't allow it.

I knew I was betraying Adam during these sweet escapades with other men. But I could bet all of my money that Adam wasn't being faithful to me, he was on the road constantly and their was bound to be groupies. Instead of being paranoid and worried over it, I ignored it and muffled my emotions from caring.

Since breaking things off with Prince I learned to do that a lot lately. Although, I couldn't place the blame of this new found attitude solely on him. Throughout my life I felt unimportant and not enough for people in my life, but now I decided to take action and block out my emotions.

My methods definitely weren't the safest but they were working efficiently, and that's all that mattered.

When I arrived to the club I instantly saw the familiar features of my sisters; Renee and Pattie patiently waiting at the bar for me.

"Happy Birthday!" They both screeched as soon as I was in their view, and with a widened grin I fell into their arms.

"Thank you. I almost couldn't find you two. It's more crowded then usual." I started off before taking a seat at the bar beside Renee.

"That's what I was thinking too but I thought I was just overreacting." Pattie agreed before looking behind her shoulder.

"Anyways, that's not important right now. Where's Adam?" Renee asked.

I sighed and motioned for the bartender to make me a drink before replying. "He has a show tonight so he couldn't come."

"What a shame." Renee sobered, although it was clear that she didn't give a damn. She wasn't too fond of Adam and I never understood why, but I wasn't going to waste my time finding out tonight.

Especially when I felt a tap on my shoulder and the features of an attractive man stole my attention.

"Hi." I began with a polite tone to my voice, although a hint of flirtatious nature was hidden beneath. "Can I help you?"

"Actually I wanted to know if I could help you. Can I buy you a drink?" I looked to my sisters for confirmation, even  I didn't really need it before looking back to the man.

"Before you go buying me things can I at-lease get your name?"

"Single." He answered and I could only scoff and roll my eyes at his sly lines.

"Hi Single, I'm taken and I'm perfectly fine with the drink I have right here." I quipped back only for him to lower his head in embarrassment, and chuckle at himself.

"Alright, alright. Let me start over. I'm Chris, and you're—"

"Vanity."

"Right." He smiled and offered me his hand to which I took. "You were Prince's girl weren't you?"

At his question, I felt my throat grow tight before I cleared it by taking a sip of my drink. Being referred to as his girl after all this time still caused such a negative reaction out of me.

"Not anymore. Why? Are you interested?" I smirked, casually.

"Maybe, but I hear no one goes after Prince's women when he's finished with him."

I scoffed. "And where'd you hear that?"

"Magazines." He replied.

"Well don't believe everything you read honey, because Prince and I are not together and I've been doing just fine in that department without him." After I finished my statement, the music began to get faster and the strobe lights hit across our faces.

"Now that we have that settled." I mumbled, now standing up from my seat and looking back over my shoulder only to see Renee and Pattie gone. I assumed they left me alone to enjoy the brief conversation with Chris. "Let's dance."

Chris led the way to the dance floor but I took control when our bodies met. Our hands were locked together and our waist and chests were glued. From his rapid heart I could feel against my chest, it was clear that I was making him nervous.

     But when I looked over his shoulder, my heart sped up. But for a different reason. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't him and that the woman that was with him wasn't an exact replica of me, but it was hard to convince myself otherwise when they got so close.

     He wasn't that far from me but I wasn't sure if he knew that I was there.

     In my mind, I hoped he didn't but when I saw him smiling up at a woman whose style, hair and features resembled mine I hoped that he would see me so he could be reminded of the original.

     I had to chuckle at what I was witnessing . It was only thing I could do to keep me from feeling any ounce of hurt.But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, Prince's eyes locked with mine.

      Unfortunately for him, my look-a-like wasn't enough to keep his attention. I commended him internally on his efforts, but I wasn't going to end the night feeling jealous over Prince's attempt to get a rise out of me. So with a whisper into Chris' ear, we ended up leaving together and I could just feel his eyes follow me out the door.

     In the end, I left the club with the grin of a confident woman and a heart left untouched and unbroken.

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Next chapter will be a small flashback to the end of '83 in PRINCE'S point of view.