✧

    Hot and sticky with sweat, I giggled to myself in amusement as André continued to whisper effortless jokes into my ear. It was the only way we could hear each other without straining our vocal cords. Someway, somehow his wide hand found it's way playing with my upper thigh but I was too out of it to care were his hands were placed.

     Morris wasn't to be found and neither was Prince, which was relieving and allowed me to fully relax. I knew that if I felt a pair of intense copper eyes gazing into my back, I wouldn't be able to function. But luckily, it didn't occur.

     Until it did.

     I had spent a majority of the night making flirtatious gestures towards André — twirling absentminded curls near his ears around my finger and constantly making sure some part of our bodies were touching. He didn't seem nervous about the gestures, and it made me enjoy him even more.

     But as we finished nursing our beverages and glided back out onto the dance floor, I was unpleasantly surprised to see Prince mingled in with the energetic crowd. His movements were right on the beat to Stevie Wonder's Superstition with an arm snuck behind the back of a woman who's features easily resembled mine from the side.

      I had to shake my head at his efforts.

      Grasping tighter into his hand, André and I found a partially secluded area to dance. Our arms moved. our fingers snapped and our feet shifted but it all came to a halt when Prince seemed to notice us from afar.

      I watched with distracted eyes as he his eyes went from André to mine in a split second. I was shocked to see a hint of a grin upon his features as he lifted himself up slightly to whisper in the woman's ear. With a nod, she walked away leaving Prince all to his lonesome.

     That was until he advanced towards us, the same arrogant and cocky step that caused a pulse to emerge in between my legs. Pathetic.

      André immediately noticed Prince's sudden appearance and the childish and joking man I had grown comfortable with of the course of two hours had vanished.

       Prince held intense eye contact with his jaw clenched towards André before catching my gaze.

      "You're back."

       His simple observation made me slightly nervous and naturally caused me to tense and grow closer into Andre's side.

     Swallowing hardly, I nodded.

      "As you can see, yes."

      Prince stuffs his hands in his pocket, tilting his head at me. "I know I saw you at the show but I didn't get to talk to you after before you left halfway through. When did you come back?" I furrowed my brows. I had a feeling Prince knew I had arrived in Minneapolis on the same day he was performing at First Avenue but I entertained his questioning nonetheless.

      "The night of your show. I got your voicemails so, I came.."

       Prince hummed, nodding his head.

      "You staying with him?"

      Widening my eyes at what Prince was implying from the cock to his head in Andre's direction. Instantly, I shook my head. "Not unless he asks." I grin mischievously, causing Prince to release a short of a laugh as he lets his fingertips pull at his bottom lip.

       "You takin her brotha'?" It's the first time Prince acknowledges Andre's presence but he barely has time to say a word before Prince interjects. "No?" He inquires quickly while in the midst of reaching to take my wrist. "Good."

       "Hold on," André jumps in and grasp my upper arm. "We were in he middle of talking."

      Prince looks at André. "That's a lot of touching and laughing to just be talking." Even though he didn't want to show it, jealousy leaked through his pores.

      "Why should you care – she told me you two were done?" André voiced in confusion then looked to me for confirmation.

       I injected my input. "Which we are — Prince," I acknowledge him. "Leave us alone."

      "I want to talk to you."

      "Not now." I refused in assertiveness.

      His voice was hard, "Now."

     In a blink of an eye, Prince had a tight grasp on my upper arm and ripped me out of André's hold before I had a chance to protest and before André had a chance to do something about it. I hurdled complaints and insults Prince's way, but he only muted me out completely while we headed in Lisa's direction who seemed to nursing a cigarette in her hand.

      "Put that out, we're leaving."

     At Prince's demands, Lisa cocked up an eyebrow before glancing in my direction. I didn't have the energy to work up a kind smile.

       "I'm not getting into the middle of you too." She laughed, drawing smoke into her lungs before puffing out a cloud of smoke.

      I tugged on Prince's arm in attempts to escape but his grip only tightened. "Give me your keys then."

     Lisa chuckled again, "Then who's taking me home? I drove you here."

    "Didn't you say your friend Wendy and her sister was coming? Have them drive you."

     "Prince.." Lisa began and glared at him briefly. It grew uncomfortable for me as they seemed to have a stare off contest for what seemed like minutes before Lisa dug into her purse and tossed Prince the keys.

      Catching them in a hand, Prince mumbled a quick appreciation then swerved on his heel while taking me with him.

     "Where are we going?" I asked rushed, hurriedly and out of breath as I tried to keep up with his quickened steps.

     Prince shushed me quietly, causing me to cock my head back before shaking it in his direction. As we neared the entrance, I already knew this was going to be an issue as I watched flashing begin to take place right outside. Chick was out of sight, but Prince hadn't cared as he pushed through the doors and instantly was bombarded by blinding flashes.

      The crowd was chaotic, so much so that instead of struggling to release from Prince's grip, we both gripped on tighter.

     From the side, he seemed nervous and taken aback from the amount of people pushing to catch a glimpse of him and the multiple camera's capturing his picture without permission. I, remained in a similar state as my eyes flicked form left to right and occasionally squinted to block out the alumintating light.

     "Prince tell us — what is Vanity to you?"

      Shouting out from the seas of the crowd, a voice emerged as our efforts of getting through has turmoiled. In an instance, it was as if the shy and nerve-racked soul I saw for a split second had vanished and his face slipped into one of confidence. 

      Instantly, I hadn't thought it was possible but he gripped my arm, pulled me to his side and replied confidently,

      "This is my wife."

Hysteria began.

✧

       My vocal cords I'm sure were destroyed.

      Flying down the street in accelaration, Prince heaved heavily as I panted quietly to myself and turned my body to catch sight of the hysteric crowd outside of First Avenue.

    "Don't look back," Prince breathlessly ordered causing me to whip my head around to face him. Genuine fear was scrawled across his face.

    I instantly shook my head, "You've lost your mind. Let me out."

    He looked at me as if I had grown three heads, "So they can tear you apart? Just stay in that comfortable leather seat and be quiet."

     "I'm so tired of this." I crossed my arms in anger and closed my eyes so I could comfortably retain my regular breathing pattern. This, was not how I wanted the night to head. The urgent pulling and shoving at First Avenue partially sobered me up, and I was left with nothing but a bad after taste of alcohol in my mouth.

I took the nerve to spare a glance Prince's direction for a clue on where we were headed but only received the side of his face and a blank expression.

"You forcefully take me away from the party only for us to sit in silence?" I scoff, breaking the tenseness as Prince looked down at the steering wheel before meeting my eye.

      "What were you talking about with André?

I met his eye with a conniving smirk, "I think you know."

Prince shook his head, laughing while looking out of the windshield. "You think your cute. I see what you're doing."

"What'm I doing?"

"Using him as a rebound." He concluded just as I blinked twice. "What — am I wrong?" Prince questioned, sidewinding me, knowing that he was correct. Not wanting him to know that, I crossed my arms and nodded.

"Very — André's a nice man and I wouldn't do that to him. Plus, Antonio and I are still figuring things out." I added on as an afterthought.

     Prince scowled, "I'm so tired of hearing his name on your mouth." His displeasement towards it easily presented itself through his clenched jaw and furrowed brows.

      Suddenly, a thought popped. "What was that about me being your wife. We're not even together."

     Prince's expression was placid, "They don't know that."

    "But you do. Your leading them to believe something that isn't true—"

     "Some things I do, I can't explain to you." He trailed off quietly. It only made me more confused but I brushed it off by shaking my head and letting an inaudible scoff past my lips.

"Where are you staying?"

I could feel his eyes on the side of my fave when I refused to speak.

"Denise."

I scowled, "I'm tired of hearing you speak." Prince's eyes zeroed in on me in anger before he let one hand rest on the wheel and the other on the divider.

"You wanna' try that with a little less attitude?"

"No, absolutely not. Who do you think you are Prince? Fuck you!"

Our eyes connected for a long duration of time, and before I knew it Prince had jerked the wheel completely to the left causing me to grip the seat tightly. The speed, the buildings whipping past the mirror at a fast pace and Prince's angered expression all brought back a sense of dejavu.

This time, I didn't bother pleading his name knowing that he would only mute out my voice and accelerate faster. I could only close my eyes. When I reopened them, the car was deaccelrating in speed until it rolled to a stop underneath a bridge.

    The car barely came to halt before I whipped open the door and let my feet hit the ground. I didn't get far, because immediately after I let the door open and stuck a foot out, Prince had hardly pressed on the breaks and shut off the car.

    I was dizzy, and nauseous but I didn't pay any mind as my booted heel's dug into the pebbled rocks and away from Prince's presence. Unfortunately, he was quicker than I as he dashed around the car and grasped my elbow to pull me into him.

    Bodies pressed together, I wiggled against his hold to free myself.

     "Let–" I harshly panted, hitting at his chest causing him to grip my wrist in his hold. I barely had the chance to get my words out before Prince took the liberty of urgently meshing his lips to mine.

    Needing and with urgency, he bit and sucked for any type of reaction from me, but I refused to give him one. Pushing against his chest, I freed myself from his lips and watched as he heaved gently, eyes roaming over my face in a soft and desperate expression.

     "I'm sorry," he breathed. "No sarcasm – I'm sorry," I bite my cheek harshly and watched with dilated eyes as Prince released his vulnerable shield and inched closer to me.

"I ended it with Jill and Susan and if you need confirmation you can ask them or anyone, it's just us." His hand pushed away my hair from my face. In reaction, I stepped away from him and swallowed the lodge stuck in my throat.

     "Isn't that what you want?" He whispered, roaming his eyes across my face. They soon fell to my mouth.

"Don't you love me?"

"It doesn't matter right now." I mumbled, taking a glimpse of his eyes underneath my lashes. "I'm with someone else, someone who appreciates me, and I can't say the same for you."

"Angelo?" Prince scoffed in question, dropping his hand from my face.

I rolled my eyes, "it's Antonio–"

"I don't care, I just want you. If hear you talk about other man to my face, I'm gonna go crazy. Knowing they're able to see you everyday, touch you." his fingertips squeezed my hip causing me to intake a sharp breath.

"You miss me too, don't you?" Prince whispered, looking directly into my eyes, blinking softly in innocence. An innocence I knew wasn't true. I could feel my air cavities closing in as his thumb brushed my bottom lip and I found myself frozen. I needed my pipe.

      "What?"

     Pressing my lips tight, I watched as Prince's once softened and sensible expression switch into one of anger and disbelief. It didn't take long for me figure out that those words had unintentionally spieled for my lips.

     "What–"

     "What're you using a pipe for?" In silence, I answered. "Now all of a sudden you have a problem using your mouth?"

     Eventually, I was sure this would occur. But I never believed it would happen this soon. "I don't want to talk about it."

     Prince shook his head, giving off a humorless laugh. "You don't have a choice." He eyed me in disbelief for a moment longer before cocking his head. "Get in the car."

Deciding not to argue, I turned on my heel and stormed up to the car and slammed the door after I slid inside.

     He was mumbling the entire time, "— lost your goddamn mind." Soon enough, Prince was in not soon after and directed a finger my way, "Slam the door again and see what happens."

"This isn't even your car."

He didn't say a word.

He didn't want to talk.

The atmosphere had completely changed and left me feeling my heart thump harshly against my ribcage in nervousness. The anger radiating off of Prince was so intense that I found myself not wanting to talk either.