if you need a refresher, travis & mario ded. kyra got put out, & bri asked hakeem not to talk to that hood booger maya. dassal, dassihhh.

Raelyn was being the social butterfly she was, floating around the room and speaking to the people she knew, and becoming acquainted with the ones she didn't.

Brielle, on the other hand, was following behind Raelyn and wondering why she let her talk her into coming to a party where she wouldn't know anyone there. Not that it mattered, seeing as the music was too loud to hold a decent conversation.

"Drink it!" Raelyn shouted while pushing a cup towards Bri, "It taste like juice!"

After taking the cup, Bri sniffed it, wondering what type of juice Raelyn drinks, "Bitch this smell like straight liquor!"

"It's juice in there."

She wasn't lying, and there was actually juice in the cup. A splash of juice.

Seeing that Brielle was still looking unsure about accepting the cup, Raelyn sighed and moved by her ear so that Bri could hear the yelling more clearly, "I'm not finna make you drink some you don't want to, but sis you gotta at least try to have a good time. Sober you not doing it, so I thought drunk you would."

The purpose of Raelyn extending an invitation to Bri was because she wanted her to have fun. That was the only outcome that she wanted from this. It hadn't slipped past her how Brielle didn't act her age, and while maturity was fine, when it's more so because you have no choice, it can be overwhelming.

"This my people house so we're fine." Raelyn continued, "But if you not on that, that's cool too."

Brielle stared at the cup for a few more seconds before taking it, "Thanks."

"Period! You ate recently?"

When she nodded, Raelyn returned it, "'Cause it ain't no juice in that cup friend."'

• • •

"My nut don't work, the bitch broke my heart. " Josiah sank deeper into his seat, "I hate it here!"

Hakeem chuckled at his dramatics, "You the same nigga was telling folks you think you love Raelyn the other day?"

It was an unwarranted conversation, one Hakeem didn't partake in, but still listened to Josiah and Corey gossip.

"What that got to do with my heart being broke? Rae won't even give me no pussy and be scooting up under me talking 'bout "ouu let's cuddle". Get the fuck away from me."

Hakeem made a face, "That's childish."

"Who you telling?"

He was sure it was a test, but that still didn't mean he liked or appreciated it. Josiah could be faithful if he wanted to, and right now, he wanted to.

"You do be cheating a lot though." Hakeem thought aloud, "I think you got a problem or some."

"Ian never cheating again. That shit hurt my feelings."

Josiah's statement was genuine. Even though he'd cheated on Kyra multiple times, it still hurt him to find out she was pregnant by his best friend's cousin. She let him talk to that nigga on damn near a daily basis.

At least he went out of his was to make sure he only talked to people she wasn't cool with.

"I been told you to stop that shit and just be single." Hakeem responded dismissively.

"Ion wanna be single."

He didn't get a response because Hakeem didn't think he needed to give him one.

Looking at the time, Josiah sighed and reached for the door handle, "Can we talk about my problems some more later?"

"Nigga every problem you got is because of you! You gotta call your mama or somebody 'cause I'm not listening to that shit today."

Josiah continued to mumble under his breath as they walked towards the entrance of the building.

• • •

Brielle was having the time of her life.

"If they looking for me they know where to find me." Bri rapped while making a gun sign with her fingers, "Bitch I'm cross the track I am not hiding."

Raelyn laughed at her friend, before mirroring her movements and joining in to sing the lyrics, "Hundred dollar line up, I'm in the hood pouring hundred-dollar lines up."

The boy who'd been waiting for the moment to shoot his shot shook his head. He wanted them to throw ass, not throw up gang signs and shit.

It was an innocent attraction, him noticing Bri when Raelyn introduced her to a group of people he happened to be in. He planned on asking for her number and if she said no, then oh well.

"Let's take shots!" Bri shouted over the music, knowing that the two of them would have to leave the room and she could broach the subject that had been on her mind all night.

"Bitches drink two cups now they asking for shots. Come on."

Raelyn grabbed Brielle's hand, making sure she trailed her to the dining room where half-empty bottles decorated the tables that had been set out, "We gone stick with white." Rae stated while reaching for the bottle of Tequila.

"I wanna have sex with Hakeem." Brielle blurted out.

"That liquor going through you quick ain't it?"

Kyser was the only true friend Brielle ever felt like she had, the only one who knew literally everything about her. Sometimes she felt like she didn't allow people to get close to her, but that was because people were snakes who were just waiting to get information and tell it.

She tried to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but look at how that turned out with Travis, Kyra, Grace.

Knowing that she couldn't go through life keeping everyone at a distance, Bri decided she'd just start with small things, waiting to see if anything she said would be repeated and then go from there.

A confidant was what she wanted, someone to talk to instead of constantly making plans and coming to conclusions on her own. Raelyn proved she could be of help when she gave her the idea about working for her mother.

But this was also the same Raelyn who went out of her way to let the public know she was having sex with someone else's boyfriend.

Baby steps.

"I don't wanna have sex if we're not together though." Bri continued, brushing off Raelyn's comment about her being drunk, "I wanna be his girlfriend too."

Raelyn snickered, "I heard he was the girlfriend."

"Forget you and Jo. My baby just sweet."

Once her laughter stopped, Raelyn addressed Bri's first statement, "Gone fuck that nigga get it over with."

"I was lowkey looking for a sign to do it and God just gave it to me. Bet."

They were both joking, their laughter aided by the alcohol that was flowing through their system.

"I think... that if you wanna be in a relationship, don't have sex with him."

The advice Raelyn had just given was some that she was following herself. She wasn't having sex with Josiah because she wanted more than sex. It was complicated, and some might say pointless since they'd slept together before, but the days of being somebody he called when he wanted to fuck were over.

She'd noticed that he acted differently, but men are great actors and she'd fallen for his lies before.

Bri looked down at her pants, "The drought not over yet sis."

"Ma'am please."

"But really," Brielle laughed, "I feel like I like him too much. I just be wanting to sit under his nutsack all day."

Raelyn turned around, "I'm finna go."

"We didn't even take the shots yet!"

Brielle couldn't stop smiling as she watched Raelyn pour alcohol into the small plastic cups. She was happy that she'd taken the advice and begun enjoying herself.

"Cheers!" She shouted drunkenly.

"Let me call Jo and tell him to send Hakeem to come get your ass."

• • •

Hakeem ignored his vibrating phone again, looking down at the floor.

"I can't be with nobody like that. Being unloyal and shit." Josiah shook his head, "Nah."

A soft sound of pain slipped through the t-shirt stuffed in his mouth.

"She got a dog with this nigga too. Bitch took my dog and gave it to another nigga. I fucked with Bella."

"I thought you said Chico used to be pissing everywhere."

"The. Dog. Name. Was. Fucking. Bella." Josiah responded, each pause accompanied by a kick.

Travis rolled on his back, staring at the ceiling and struggling to breathe as he wished this shit would be over with. He tried to speak into the shirt, prompting Josiah to remove it from his mouth, "What nigga?"

"I said." Travis paused to intake air, ignoring the stabbing sensation in his ribs, "Bella don't fuck with you and that's why she pissed in your house."

Hakeem couldn't help but laugh, wondering how the fuck Travis could be in a predicament like this and still find ways to talk shit.

Josiah didn't find it funny at all, "Let me show you some real quick."

When the screaming began, Hakeem finally reached into his pocket, looking at the screen to see who'd been calling him repeatedly.

To his surprise, it was Maya.

Since Bri asked him not to talk to her on that level, it was no point in them conversing. He hadn't been responding to her messages like before Bri went to Jail, and Maya wasn't very persistent, only texting him randomly in the middle of the night.

But now, she was calling and texting him repeatedly while saying it was an emergency.

He didn't particularly want to talk to her, but at one point he fucked the girl on a daily basis so the least he could do was see what was wrong.

Standing up, Hakeem walked outside to answer the call, "Yeah?"

"Hakeem?" Came a tearful voice.

He sighed, repeating himself, "Yeah?"

"I just -" She paused to blow out a breath, "Are you busy?"

"Yeah."

It's like he didn't know any other words.

"Can you call me when you're not busy?"

As previously mentioned, Brielle had asked him not to talk to her, but she left it open-ended, not specifying if she meant at all, or just in a sexual nature.

Sighing, Hakeem looked over his shoulder, "Just tell me what you need."

• • •

"Josiah isn't answering." Raelyn pouted, rolling over to see Brielle staring at her phone.

"Hakeem isn't either."

"That's some shady shit."

Brielle didn't know how she felt about it since she once again didn't know the extent of what she should or shouldn't be able to question.

"Fuckkkk, why do I like this nigga so much?" Raelyn groaned into the pillow.

"I can't tell you to be honest. He's not shit."

And he wasn't. Not in a significant other sense at least.

"He is when he wants to be."

"You might have to beat him. That's what Celie told Harpo to do."

Raelyn sighed and sat up, "And he keeps talking about getting me pregnant again. I don't know why he thinks that's something I want. If you tryna prove some shit, help me and my mama open another daycare, not make me your baby mama that you'll probably get tired of."

"Did you tell him that?" Bri asked, surprised at the sudden change of direction in the conversation.

"I plan on doing it tonight. I don't wanna play these guessing games, like either we're together or we're not, and the first time your dusty ass even think about cheating I'm out the fucking door."

The saying goes, "You lose them how you get them", and Raelyn knew it was a high chance that Josiah would go back to the old him but she wanted to believe that he was a different person for her.

She sounded resolved, like she'd come to that conclusion earlier and was just telling Brielle because Bri was stretched across her bed. 

"I hope everything works out." Brielle offered, hoping her tone of voice would convey what her words couldn't at the moment.

"At this point, whatever happens, happens."

The room went back silent and after about 10 minutes or so, Brielle finally called Hakeem rather than send him another text.

"Wassup?" Hakeem answered almost immediately in a hushed tone, "You straight?"

"I'm with Rae."

"All good. I'ma pull up in a second."

It seemed like he was rushing her off the phone, "Where you at?"

"I'm out, baby. Give me like an hour."

Beeps sounded in her ear indicating the call had been ended, making her look at the phone with her nose turned up.

"What he said?" Raelyn asked sleepily.

"An hour."

How did it go from a second to an hour?

• • •

Rubbing a hand across his face, Hakeem called Bri again, hoping she answered this time. He didn't intend on taking so long, and now it looked like he wouldn't see her at all.

"This some bullshit." He mumbled to himself as the phone began ringing. One hour became two, and now he was sitting in front of Raelyn's house at 2 in the morning.

He was expecting it to go to the voicemail as it had before, so when Bri's voice came through the speaker, he wasted little time in telling her to come outside.

"It's hella disrespectful that you got me sneaking out that lady house this late." Bri grumbled as she positioned herself in the passenger seat.

Hakeem nodded, "I know. My bad."

"Where you was at anyway?"

He was expecting her to ask, but maybe not this soon, "I had to do some shit real quick. None important forreal."

In his experience, women didn't absorb information in the way that sensible people did. If he told her he was helping Maya, she'd find a way to come to the conclusion that he was in some way choosing Maya over her.

Maya was usually good about keeping shit to herself, and even if she did decide to tell people, Hakeem planned on telling Bri in the morning. It just wasn't something he wanted to talk about at this very second.

When Brielle ignored him, he looked over to see her head resting against the window. Rather than try to keep a conversation going, Hakeem quietly drove them to his house. It wasn't until they got there that he remembered Brielle had taken most of her stuff, "You ain't need to stop by your house did it?"

"No."

Is she sleepy or got an attitude? Hakeem wondered.

He figured he'd find out when they went inside, but Brielle went straight into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving him room to do the same thing.

What Hakeem had perceived to be an attitude was actually Brielle trying not to be nervous. She was overthinking everything as she did with most situations when she knew she should just calm down and go with the flow.

"What's the worse that can happen?" Bri whispered to herself while turning off the water, "This the same dumb ass who went in Walmart asking for pussy covers."

A ball of steam followed Brielle as she pulled open the door, and began walking down the hall to find Hakeem. An easy task since he was in the room looking through Netflix titles, "It ain't on here."

"What?" Brielle asked, looking for what he'd typed into the search bar, "Yeah, they took it off. It's on Hulu now."

He nodded and continued to stand in front of the t.v while Bri got under the covers and stared at his back. His phone that was silenced and face down continued to ring and be littered with text messages.

By the time Hakeem joined Bri in bed, a total of 17 missed calls and 12 text messages awaited him.

Brielle had an excuse for not paying any attention to what was going on on-screen since she'd already rewatched the series at least twice. Hakeem didn't pretend to be interested, immediately pulling her to him. The way they were positioned, she could feel his heartbeat beneath her ear. It was calm, again pointing to the fact that she was the only one experiencing nervousness.

The tips of his fingers served as a distraction as they drew a pattern on her legs, making it hard for her to remember that she should stop him before it got to a point where she wouldn't stop him.

It was ironic because Hakeem wasn't necessarily about to try to have sex. If it happened, that was fine, but if it didn't that was fine too.

Taking a deep breath, Brielle held the air before slowly blowing it out, "What are we doing?"

The hand that was following a pattern up and down her thigh paused, "What you mean?"

Brielle hated having to ask, but Hakeem seemed to not ever intend on speaking about it.

"I feel like we do relationship shit but we're not together."

"Hollup." Hakeem stated while sitting up, "What you mean we ain't together? Ain't that why you said you ain't want me to fuck with that girl like that?"

He had made an effort to do what he thought boyfriends did, and cut off his hoes. He was genuinely confused by her not being able to tell they were in a relationship.

"Your communication skills suck." Brielle whispered.

"You just don't be paying attention to shit. I'm not with all that talking when you can just peep game and go from there."

She didn't want to 'peep game'. She wanted his dry head ass to be more vocal.

Hakeem relaxed back into the bed, this time pushing Bri over, "Stay your blind ass on that side of the bed."

"Please. You'd die if I actually did that."

"The same hand I been using every night most definitely gone work again tonight."

He was lying.

Bri scooted closer to him, resting her chin on his chest so that they were looking at one another, "Which hand?"

The decision to not have sex was forgotten. And besides, they were in a relationship now.

Speaking of hands, Brielle's had found the waistband to Hakeem's briefs and were snaking underneath to gently grab his length. He wasn't expecting her to give him head and released a quiet groan when he felt the warmness of her mouth.

She'd left her hair unconfined, and Hakeem noticed the softness as he gathered it away from her face. He didn't understand how every part of her could be this soft.

"Fuck, baby." He muttered, "You sucking that dick so good."

Brielle hummed at his words, fueled by the encouragement that they brought. Her mouth continued to move along his length, accompanied by a hand and steady stream of praise from Hakeem.

A perfect mixture of sloppy and methodical, Hakeem watched in awe as she glanced up at him under her lashes, suddenly instructing her, "Come sit on my face."

There was a time that she would've declined the offer, or even hesitated to consider his request. Those times were behind them though, and once Hakeem had helped her remove every article of clothing, she now looked down at him while her thighs were on either side of his head.

"Oh my God." Brielle breathed loudly, using the hand that wasn't on the headboard to begin rolling one of her nipples between her fingers.

Hakeem's phone continued to ring.

Moans fell from Bri's lips as the speed her hips increased, desperately searching for the feeling she knew was awaiting her.

It was within reach too, teetering on the edge though she couldn't actually get to that point. Or at least that's what she thought until Hakeem made a sucking motion while simultaneously flicking his tongue.

"Fuck!" Bri cried, attempting to rise up only to be hindered by the tight hold Hakeem had on her waist.

Bri's stomach clenched repeatedly as wave after wave of pleasure went through her body until she felt like there was nothing else left.

When Hakeem finally let her move, she looked at the moisture that adorned his face, before finding his eyes that seemed to only be able to focus on her.

While staring at him, Brielle acknowledged that the thought that was going through her head for days now was correct.

Smiling slightly, she moved back so that she was hovering above his dick, her breath catching as she sank down slowly.

Bri surprised Hakeem by being the aggressor. She had acted reserved before, like she was waiting for him to tell her what he wanted her to do.

He liked aggressive Brielle.

It's always a boost to your ego to know that your partner is enjoying the sex they're having with you, and if the loudness of Brielle wasn't enough proof, the increasing pool of wetness that was on his stomach was very convincing.

Her hips moved sensually, pushing towards Hakeem and rising up to where he'd almost leave her, then dropping down to where he was once again filling her completely. A slow, torturous, repetitive circle.

Hakeem had never felt the urge to cum so fast in his life.

He needed to gain some control and that was achieved when he rolled them over, putting Brielle's legs on his shoulders and fucking her until she came, gripping the sheets as her back arched off the bed.

Pulling out, Hakeem placed his hands on the back of her thighs, keeping her in place on the bed as his tongue found her engorged clit. Brielle couldn't move if she wanted to, and had no choice but to reach an orgasm.

Followed immediately by him slipping back inside of her. It was then that she realized he was a demon.

"I missed this pussy so much." Hakeem groaned, gripping her body closer to his, "All them times you cum for me."

Brielle disregarded all previous thoughts of being done, and switched positions, pushing her ass against Hakeem's lower half,  "Make me cum again. Show me how much you missed your pussy."

Hakeem's breathing was becoming erratic as he watched her fuck him back, noises of skin slapping against each other repeatedly growing faster.

"Shit, Bri."

He went deeper, using one of her arms as leverage to achieve the angle he wanted. His pace had slowed again as he tried to prevent himself from cumming before Brielle.

"I'm so close." Brielle whimpered.

Quietly sighing in relief, Hakeem put his thumb in his mouth before applying light pressure at the entrance of her other hole.

Much like he hoped, she began clenching around him almost immediately, "Oh my fucking-" Her hand that wasn't secured pressed on Hakeem's thigh, "Baby."

He simply grabbed that one as well, now allowing his thrusts to become sloppy as he got closer to joining Bri in bliss.

Barely pulling out in time, everything he was saying was unintelligible to Bri, and all she felt was him placing kisses over her back while his hands ran across every inch of skin he could reach.

When both of their breathing had nearly returned to normal, Hakeem walked into the bathroom and started the shower.

"Leave it on when you get out." He stated when he heard Bri walk in behind him.

"Get in with me."

"Hell nah. You ain't finna burn my ass up with that water."

Bri rolled her eyes and stepped into the shower, "You can pick the temperature."

"You just tryna be near me and shit." He teased.

She didn't deny it because it was true, "I'm finna dump you already."

"Ion believe that at all." Hakeem laughed while joining her, "You stuck."

They stood under the water in the shower calmly talking as if it weren't going on 5 am.

• • •

When Grace made the decision to tell Hakeem about Mario, it seemed like just within that short time span her life had improved.

It was a wonder to her now why she ever withheld the information in the first place. Hakeem never spoke about it, and he didn't act like he was in way mad at her about having sex with his friend.

"Well I haven't seen him." Grace heard her mama say on the phone, "And I asked Hakeem but he hasn't seen him either."

Travis' mother was looking for him and her search kept coming up empty. Hence the reason she was repeating the cycle of calling anybody who talked to him.

"He didn't say if he was leaving? Left a note or something?" Monica asked.

There was no way for Grace to hear what the response was, but she was sure her aunt was calling Monica all kinds of stupid for asking that question.

"I don't know what the hell she call me for if all she gone do is get mad." Monica sighed as she turned into the hospital parking lot.

"Probably just frustrated."

"And that's fine, but don't take it out on me. I sit on the phone and tell her every hour that I haven't seen that square head ass boy and not once do I yell."

While, to Grace's knowledge, Hakeem and Travis had mended fences, She still didn't like or care what happened to him.

It wasn't the time to say that though, "I'd ask Hakeem again. Just to be sure."

"Hakeem won't even answer the phone. He has his priorities."

They'd floated to the bottom of the totem pole since Brielle came home. No, Monica wasn't jealous that her son had found someone he enjoyed being with, she only wanted him to learn how to balance his relationships with other people.

"I answered for him when he called me in the middle of the night." Monica continued, getting out of the car, "And now I'm helping him again."

Helping was exactly what Monica was doing. Who she was helping was question that needed to be answered.

• • •

anyway, i lied. i don't feel bad bc y'all should know by now how i am so get widdit. i love my bby TRAVIS.

whew the sex 🥴 the couple is official & the girls are happy.

okay it was two cute chapters inna row, & if you couldn't tell by travis not actually being dead, let me inform y'all that i'm very much back on my bullshit.

hope you enjoyed! thanks for reading 🥳