this shit's 7k+ words.... i expect y'all to V O T E & C O M M E N T

& excuse any errors. bc yeah.

*Earlier that night, 2 am*

Hakeem again called Bri as he stuffed a shirt and joggers in a bookbag. He wasn't even concerned with taking that, but he needed something to occupy his time while he waited until his flight was ready to leave.

He couldn't be still and hated the fact that there was nothing he could do but wait.

"She might be sleep or some," Josiah suggested.

"Just shut the fuck up. How she gone be sleep all day? I knew I should've gone with my first mind and let her stay here."

Hakeem didn't want her to leave at all, but let Corey and Josiah convince him that he was being selfish by keeping Bri and Takayla around because he didn't want to be alone. He felt like they would've been safer with him anyway, but Corey pointed out how Deon was able to approach them at the school.

True he didn't want to be alone, but he also felt better knowing that Bri was in arms reach of him. Now, he couldn't even get in contact with her.

Josiah pushed himself off the wall, "I'm finna go 'cause you ain't finna talk to me crazy. Ion give a fuck about you being mad."

"Bitch Ian ask you to come over here." Hakeem responded dropping the bookbag and turning to look at him, "You always bringing your ass to my shit uninvited ol' homeless ass nigga."

Raelyn sighed and looked between them, "Y'all be arguing like y'all go together or some."

Tensions were high because everyone was on edge. Hakeem neglected to realize that while he was the only person in love with Brielle, he wasn't the only person who loved her and cared about what happened to her.

"He yelling at me like I'm a hoe. Be mad at your trifling ass daddy Ian did shit to you."

"Shut your crybaby ass up. You acting like a pussy so that's how you gone get treated fuck you talking 'bout."

In the time Raelyn had known Josiah, she never heard of him getting mad at, let alone arguing with Hakeem. She was trying to deescalate the situation, "How about I take you to the airport and Josiah can go home? 'Cause y'all tripping."

"I'll ask my mama." Hakeem spoke just as Josiah declined Rae's favor, "He can't ride in my shit."

At least they didn't fight Raeyln thought as she and Josiah started to leave the room.

Hakeem would be way too early for his flight if he left now, but he couldn't sit still. Monica answered the phone with a voice full of sleep, "What's wrong son?"

"Hey ma. Can you drop me off at the airport?" He didn't want to ask her since it was so late, but he knew she'd answer and take him anyway.

Monica pulled the phone from her face to look at the time, "Right now?"

"If you can."

She could, and had she known why he was trying to make his flight, she would've. But she didn't so she told him, "You can't find somebody else? Or get a later flight around the time I have to drop Grace off?"

"Ma if I could find somebody else I would've never called you in the first place," Hakeem sighed, "But don't worry 'bout it I'll figure some out."

Sensing the anger in his voice and assuming it was for her, Monica went on a short rant. "If it were you, you wouldn't have even had the respect to answer the phone and say no. I'm not going out of my way for you when you don't talk to me for days. So like I said, find someone else or get a flight that doesn't leave at the ass crack of dawn."

Monica was being petty, but going with the same mindset as Raelyn and was trying to show Hakeem how it felt since telling him wasn't working. Before he could respond, Monica ended the call and rolled over on her side to return to sleep.

It was like everybody was purposely trying to piss him off.

Taking a deep breath, Hakeem went to his contacts to look for someone else to call. He'd decided on Corey when Bri's contact flashed across his screen.

"Bri what the fuck?" He answered immediately, "You must've went blind or some if you ain't see me calling you all them fucking times."

The line was quiet, "That's how you talk to my future daughter in law?"

Hakeem's stomach dropped through the floor, "You got me fucked up."

"And still cursing." Deon laughed, "Damn that's how you talk to your dad?"

"Where Bri at?"

"Brielle come say hey."

He was talking so calmly as if he weren't potentially tormenting a teenager for no other reason than to show his son that he could.

Hearing him say her name made Hakeem feel sick. This was still supposed to be the honeymoon stage of their relationship and all he was doing was finding ways to fuck up her life more than it already was.

At this point, he was having second thoughts about whether they should even be together.

"Hakeem go get Kayla."

He didn't know whether to be relieved or more worried than when he answered the phone, "Where she at? I'm finna-"

"Stop talking. The phone on speaker." Brielle interrupted, glaring at Deon.

"You act like I don't know where the lil girl at." Deon replied, "Ion see how you deal with her attitude, Keem."

Hakeem was starting to feel something, which he thought was nervousness, but when it persisted, he realized he was scared.

Scared as fuck.

Once he pinpointed that emotion, he sat down on the bed and tried to stop himself from panicking. In the past, he always had someone to bounce ideas off of, gathering opinions before he made a decision.

He cursed Josiah out, Corey was a second choice and he always seemed like he really didn't care either way, Monica would probably try to say Deon was taking them on a vacation, and he couldn't talk to Bri.

So, it was just him.

Running a hand over his face, Hakeem sat on the bed, "So go get Kayla. What about you?"

"I'm bringing her home. Road tripppp." Deon sang.

"I swear on my life-"

"The life I gave you." He reminded him, "And she'd probably go for a lot, but I know you love her so I'll make sure she gets back to you."

Like she was an object rather than a person.

Bri didn't hear a response, and though she didn't want to say it in front of Deon, she did anyway, "I love you, Hakeem."

"Don't say that shit like you ain't coming home."

"Call your mama. She misses you." Deon replied, taking the phone off speaker.

"You not broke so you don't want no money. What the fuck is wrong witchu'?"

He couldn't give him an answer because he didn't know himself.

Deon was fine mentally, meaning he'd never been diagnosed with a mental illness, but he still got the urge to do things like this. He didn't know why, but he did, and it wouldn't stop until he fulfilled whatever it is that he wanted to do.

"If you go look on your kitchen table, you'll see a ticket with your name on it. I hope you didn't already pay for another one? I can at least get my son a flight to go play Superman. Let me ask you a question, you see how fast you answered this phone? Why you can't answer the phone when ya' mama call?"

Hakeem thought he was hallucinating because he couldn't understand why Deon thought he would give a damn about a phone call at that moment, "Nigga are you serious?"

"It hurts her feelings. Go get the ticket." He responded, hanging up the phone.

The plane ticket being in his house was against meant to make Hakeem think he'd been in the home, but the truth was Grace was the one who printed the ticket and put in the envelope for her father.

Deon reached out to Grace over the internet, telling her different accounts of what happened and begging to get to know his daughter. She'd been told not to even look at him let alone talk to him.

But it was her dad, and the reoccurring problem within everyone is the lack of communication for whatever reason they came up with. It was Monica's idea to not explain the depth of what type of person Deon was because she thought knowing he was a human trafficker would have been enough, because it should have been.

However, she underestimated Grace's desire for, not only a father figure since Hakeem wasn't around as much, but the attention Deon was giving her as well.

So she just printed off some tickets, barely paying attention to what they said as she chatted away on the phone with her friend.

• • •

The body uses sleep for a plethora of reasons ranging from organ restoration to memory solidification. There are different stages of sleep, 5 to be exact, that humans cycle through during their resting period.

Stage 1 and 2 are the light sleep stages, and the body is easily disturbed by noises one may not perceive to be loud.

Such as the closing of a door.

Corey opened his eyes when he heard the door shut, and sat up glancing at the bed beside him. He thought Mia was going home because of how irritable he was. Deciding that he should probably do damage control, he wiped his eyes and stood up to go to her house.

It took him a minute since he had to use the bathroom, and when he went outside he was surprised to see she was still in the parking lot.

She was leaving though, backing out of the parking spot after she'd finally given up on getting Hakeem or Brielle to answer their phones.

They weren't far from Hakeem's house but the route was entirely different than if she were going home, and Corey noticed that when she made a left instead of a right when she turned out.

If it wasn't clear where she was going at first, it became apparent when Corey silently watched her reach Hakeem's house from the messaging app.

Mia had forgotten to stop sharing her location when she asked Corey to come get her from a friend's house some weeks ago. It came in handy, so he wasn't going out of his way to remind her.

Taking a deep breath, Mia knocked hard on the door and waited for someone to answer. When no one came she decided being polite was overrated and began simultaneously ringing the doorbell and knocking.

Corey wasn't concerned that she was going there because he knew exactly where Hakeem was, and it wasn't home. Clicking Mia's contact, he put the phone on speaker and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" She answered carefully, wondering how long ago he'd woken up.

"Where you at?"

Mia scrambled to think of a lie, "Walmart. I needed tampons."

If she had told the truth, Corey would've thought she was going over there looking for Bri because Mia didn't know she was in Texas.

The lie pushed his mind in a different direction.

"You'll buy some more juice?" He asked, "The rest gone."

Letting go of the breath she was holding, Mia nodded, "Yeah."

Corey had just walked back inside to sit on the couch and wait for her to come back, "'Preciate that." 

• • •

Brielle stared out of the window, refusing to acknowledge the person in the driver's seat.

"You ate?" Deon asked, glancing at Bri in the rearview mirror.

She ignored him and continued to gaze at the scenery and think about Takayla.

It was no point in answering his question anyway because he knew damn well she hadn't eaten, having sat in the car with him for almost 8 hours. The only stop they made was a gas station and Deon paid for gas at the pump.

"Who raised your disrespectful self?"

"Who raised you?"

Deon laughed, "I raised Hakeem." He made a point to wait for Bri to look at him, "We share a lot of the same qualities."

"Like what?" The man whose name Brielle didn't know asked through a yawn, egging Deon on because there was nothing else to do.

"I taught him how to do all this shit. Well, without getting caught. Anybody can go to jail but you gotta be a smart motherfucka' to stay out."

They'd passed the 'Welcome to Alabama' sign miles ago, and Bri was anxiously waiting for them to get to Mobile so that she could figure out if Hakeem made it to Takayla yet. There wasn't much she could do but try not to pay attention to the ball of dread in her stomach. Bri felt like Kayla was smart, and she'd be fine until Hakeem made it.

At least that's what she told herself to keep from having a full-blown meltdown.

Bri didn't want to be apart of whatever plan Deon had construed, and she just wanted to get back with her sister and hug her and promise she'd never have to do that again. A promise she hoped and prayed she'd be able to keep.

"Brielle look at the deer." Deon pointed.

"Crash the car into it. Hopefully you'll fly out the window."

He laughed, "You think I'm mean? Keep on and you won't make it back to Mobile. 'Hopefully' the man isn't one of the old fat ones that like to pee on you."

"How would you feel if somebody sold Grace to him?" Brielle asked in disgust, "Since you going around doing it to other people's kids."

"I'd kill anybody who tried. Apparently that's a trait I kept to myself 'cause it's no way I'd let anything like this happen to the woman I love..... Maybe he doesn't give a damn about you. I know I wouldn't take you seriously given the fact you used to fuck for coke. How's sober life been treating you?"

Brielle stared at him in the mirror, seeing a smile cross his face, "See? It's not fun when we're rude, is it? Now, are you hungry?"

"I'm fine."

Nodding his head, he returned to his conversation with his passenger.

• • •

Corey dropped the duffle bag in front of Travis, "Get the fuck on. Kyra outside waiting on you."

Travis looked up in shock, "You shitting me?"

"If you come back out here, you on your own man. All this bullshit about pussy when everybody bitch for everybody. But they want smoke behind it so shittt that's your life you playing with at that point."

"You won't see me again. On my son."

He meant it too. Travis hadn't learned a lesson, but he was smart enough to know when life was, and wasn't, in his favor.

"You must ain't hear me say get the fuck on?"

Travis quickly rose to his feet, "I appreciate this. I-"

"Get. The. Fuck. On." Corey repeated slowly, "Ian on that."

He didn't need to say it a fourth time because Travis ran outside like Meek Mill did when he got out of prison.

Corey blew out a breath, turning to look at the now empty spot. He was just trying to fix the situations that Hakeem and Josiah had created.

He didn't want nor need Deon's money and was only trying to get close enough to kill him. Deon was smart though, and wouldn't give a location yet. A series of tests were being done, and while Corey was passing them, it was taking longer than he would've hoped.

Corey had rigged the cameras to play on a loop, making it seem like Travis was still there so he wasn't concerned with Josiah or Hakeem finding out anytime soon. He would tell them himself after he figured everything out with Deon.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent another text to Mia, again apologizing for his actions when she came home from 'Walmart'. He simply wanted to know why she was lying to him and she wouldn't tell him at first.

Still sitting on the couch, Corey turned his head towards the door when he heard a key be put inside. In walked Mia holding a Walmart bag that held a jug of juice and a small box of tampons. He had to smile at her dedication to the lie, and Mia mistook that as him being happy she came back.

"I gotta go at this time all the time." She stated while walking to the kitchen, "The store was so empty."

"So what took you so long?"

"Who goes in Walmart and gets exactly what they went for? I was looking at other stuff."

Mia wasn't going to make it easy to get her location out of her, and Corey decided he wasn't about to play this game, "Keem started calling his house Walmart?"

She paused and tried to come up with a believable lie, "I was looking for Bri."

"Why you lie about it then?" He asked, walking into the kitchen and seeing her by the fridge, "You tell me any other time you looking for Bri."

"Corey you been acting crazy lately I don't know what to tell you."

He kept walking closer until Mia had her back pressed against the wall, "If I'm acting crazy what the fuck make you think you needa lie to me?"

Mia was scared, and wished she'd listened to herself and gone home, "I don't know."

"What you went to Hakeem house for?"

"I just told-" Her sentence was cut short by Corey wrapping his hand around her neck and squeezing until she couldn't breathe.

He ignored her hands pulling on his forearm, "You not finna keep playing with me. What you went to his house for, huh? You tryna set me up or some?"

Mia tried as best she could to speak while shaking her head no, "I wanted to ask what was making you act like this."

"You can't ask me that?" He questioned, his grip loosening, "Don't talk to no other niggas about me. This why I don't tell you shit 'cause you do dumb shit."

Corey finally let go of her neck and stepped back, watching her cough and try to catch her breath. He felt bad now, but Mia couldn't just be going to people talking about what went on in his house.

He got a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to her. Once her breathing returned to normal, Mia walked around him, headed straight for the door.

"My bad Mia." Corey grabbed her arm, "You ain't gotta leave."

"You just choked the shit out of me!" She yelled at him, "What you mean I don't have to leave?!"

"And I'm apologizing. You see I'm going through some shit and you wanna give up on me like everybody else. It's cool though. I'm used to everybody leaving." He opened the door and motioned for her to walk out, "I stayed down when you had your problems but everybody ain't built like me."

By problems, Corey meant the time Mia got put out when her parents found out she'd failed classes at college. They allowed her to stay home and contribute nothing because they wanted her to focus on school and not be concerned with money.

So they weren't happy she was failing classes.

Now she felt guilty, "I just think--."

"If you leaving go."

Mia looked down at the floor, "I'll stay."

• • •

After waiting what felt like forever for an Uber, and then sitting in traffic for ages, Hakeem finally entered the code on the keypad and made it into the house.

He could only assume she was hiding since the house was quiet, but he still checked every room and all of the closets before he decided to just start calling her name.

"Kayla!" Hakeem yelled, "Where you at?!"

Oh shit. That might not be a good idea, Hakeem thought. Kayla wouldn't know who he was, and would likely think someone had come to take her like they did Bri.

"It's Me!" He yelled again.

She still didn't come out, and he realized it was because she didn't know who 'me' was, "It's Bri husband."

Hakeem didn't know which way to expect her to come from, but he heard a cabinet door shut, and saw her poke her head from around the corner. Breathing a sigh of relief, he walked closer, which is when he smelled the fact that she had peed on herself.

Takayla stared at the floor, "I couldn't hold it and I was scared to come out."

It was always certain to Hakeem that Deon was going to die for this, but him standing there listening to Kayla tell him she'd sat in a kitchen cabinet for hours because she was scared for her life just solidified that fact.

"That's cool." Hakeem scratched his head, "Once you get out of the shower we can go home. Bri waiting for us."

Kayla nodded and went down the hall to take a quick shower and change. She knew Bri must've sent Hakeem to get her, and he was always nice to her, so she wasn't nervous. The main thing she wanted to do was get back to wherever Bri was.

The rest of that day was a blur.

It was Takayla's first time on a plane, and Hakeem gave her the window seat, but she couldn't enjoy the scene because of the feeling she had in her stomach. By the time they made it home, Takayla was both mentally and physically exhausted.

She gave Bri a tight hug before pulling away and telling her she was sleepy. Brielle sat there until she fell asleep, and a while after, hoping that she'd Kayla would be able to get at least a few hours of peaceful sleep.

Before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep with Takayla. She was sleeping soundly in the bed, and Hakeem hated the fact that he was about to wake her up. He watched them for a moment before deciding he'd just text her and she'd see it if she woke up.

"What's wrong?" Bri asked quietly as Hakeem made the decision to walk back out.

Hakeem jumped, "Don't do that shit. I thought you was sleep."

"What's wrong?"

"Uh.. Maya needa go to the E.R. and I'm finna go meet her up there. Jo inna living room."

Bri snuggled closer to Kayla, putting her feet between her legs, "Be safe."

Hakeem entered the room then, walking over to place multiple kisses on her face, "I love you too."

He was referring to earlier when she told him and he didn't say it back, but Bri still responded, "I love you. And appreciate you."

"You wanna be like me so bad. Stealing my lines and shit."

"I'ma stop being nice to you, Pooh."

"Don't never get tired of me." Hakeem mumbled into her neck before finally picking his head up, "Ima be right back."

• • •

'Right back' turned into hours, and by the time Hakeem came home, Bri, Kayla, and Josiah were in the dining room eating breakfast.

"I heard you be making kids doodoo on they self." Josiah stated as he put more food in his mouth.

Kayla shrugged, "If they being mean."

"I like that. Ima give you some more so they know you ain't the one to fuck with."

"Jo I'm trying to stop cursing in front of her. Please don't reverse all the work I been doing."

Hakeem sat at the table with a sigh, "Kayla don't even be cursing. Do it?"

She smiled and shook her head no, "Only when the teacher not around."

While Josiah and Hakeeem applauded her for being smart, Bri rolled her eyes, "Don't curse at all. Wait until you're like 10."

Brielle wasn't trying to be her mother, just trying to ensure that she was happy and living a somewhat normal life. Normal siblings don't care if their younger brother or sister curse because the whole house probably cursed when their parents were gone.

"What the doctor say?" Josiah asked.

Hakeem looked at his phone before responding, "Nun. He sent her home."

"So what she wanted you out there for?"

Bri would've asked herself, but it was much easier to let Josiah do it.

"Her lil boy daddy yoked her ass out." Hakeem replied nonchalantly, "I guess he ain't know she was pregnant til my mama posted that picture."

No one paid too much attention to where Maya was, just thinking she'd disappeared. When they saw that she was pregnant, courtesy of Monica, word spread fast.

Jayden's dad, the same one who would ignore her when she asked for money for Jayden, was upset that she got pregnant. Why Maya still talked to him when he didn't care for his child was anyone's guess, but she did.

And of course, she mentioned to Hakeem what happened.

"Dang. You said some to bruh?"

"Not yet."

Brielle stopped pretending to be uninterested, "You gone say some?"

"Why wouldn't I? Don't put your hands on nobody who got my child in them."

"I just really don't see how that's your business."

Things kept escalating.

He went from not wanting kids, to being offended that Bri didn't want his. From not caring about what happened to Maya, to feeling as if it were personal because she was Ivy's mom.

Taking his cue, Josiah stood up, "Well that was good. Y'all be blessed."

Bri waited until the door closed, and looked at Kayla, who then took her cue as well, "I'm.... sleepy? Yeah. Goodnight."

"Why it ain't my business, Brielle? You'll want somebody to say some to a nigga if they was knocking your ass out."

"I also would've wanted you to tell me that my sister was having sex with your dad, but you didn't say anything about that, did you?"

It shouldn't have turned into an argument, but both individuals were incapable of having a normal conversation about the subject at hand.

Bri hated Maya, and that's all there was to it. No matter how much she tried to tell herself she didn't have a reason to, she came to the conclusion that she would probably never like her.

Jealously was a powerful emotion, and while Maya was jealous of Bri for her relationship with Hakeem, Brielle reciprocated that jealousy because Maya was giving Hakeem his first child.

Hakeem laid his head down on the table, "I'm tired of arguing 'bout the same shit. You know the girl pregnant and you know I'm not just finna do her no any kinda way. Ion know what else you want me to do."

"I'm trying to understand when you started caring that much? Because you said you didn't like the girl but now you care about what happen to her."

"You hear how fucking stupid you sound? 'Her' is my baby mama. At the end of the day none of that shit matter until she have Ivy then I don't give a damn. But until then, you fucking right I care."

Bri stared at him, surprised that he responded like that. He never really got mad at her, but he was still sitting in the chair, anger all over his face, and all of it was directed towards her.

"Y'all might as well be together then. I can't compete with that."

"Ain't nobody asking you to compete." Hakeem responded, "I'm asking you to stop acting like it's a competition."

How couldn't he see that it was, in fact, a competition? How did he expect her to act when she could see that Maya was still on her bullshit?

Bri picked up her plate and walked into the kitchen where she began rinsing the leftover food off. She felt irrational, yet thought she had a point. Childish, but still justified in how she was feeling.

As if things couldn't get worse, Monica rang the doorbell and looked down at the bags she was holding, "I'm thinking the guest room closet to his."

"Definitely." Maya agreed, "But it doesn't really matter 'cause I put a baby monitor on the list."

'The list' was items that Hakeem would be paying for soon. Not that he cared since most of the things he needed for his house too.

When no one came to the door, Monica decided to use her key to enter, "Helllloooo?" She called while walking in.

Hakeem was the one who met them in the hallway, unable to keep the frown off his face, "Wassup?"

"We brought the stuff for the nursery. Go get the crib out the car."

He sighed, and looked briefly at Maya, "Just sit it down. Now really ain't no good time."

"That's the thing about having kids. It's never a good time. Go get the crib."

In a way Monica was right. There'd never be a good time for them to come over and turn one of his rooms into a nursery.

Bri came out of the kitchen, heading down the hall to where Takayla was. Monica saw her, and in an effort to be polite, spoke, "Hey Bri."

Brielle kept walking.

Hakeem's shoulders dropped, and he shook his head, "I told you it wasn't a good time."

"Want me to talk to her?" Monica offered.

"That's the exact opposite of what I want you to do, ma. 'Preciate it though."

When he walked outside to get the box from Monica's car, she pulled Maya closer to whisper, "How awkward."

Maya smiled widely, "Very."

By the time Hakeem came back inside, the two of them were still giggling.

"You have a room in mind, Hakeem?"

He led them to the guest room that Bri used to sleep in, pushing the door open so they could put the bags down, "Ima have to move some stuff."

Maya remembered that this was Bri's room, "You didn't wanna use a different room?"

"Bri sleep in our room so it don't matter."

What Hakeem wanted Brielle to understand was that it didn't matter what Maya was on, because he wasn't with it. She should be able to see that he was only concerned with Ivy, and he had to deal with Maya until she had her.

Monica gave him a look but quickly fixed her face. As Maya pointed out, Monica didn't have a reason to dislike Bri. She was upset about something Hakeem was doing, which didn't have anything to do with Bri.

The three of them began arranging the nursery, and at first, Hakeem was trying to rush them out of the house. Once he began listening to them talk about Ivy and all the stuff they wanted to do, he slowly became interested.

"I was looking for a photographer to do the fresh 48. Jayden's gonna be there too so he can be in some."

"The hell is a fresh 48?" Hakeem asked.

"When they take pictures within the first 48 hours after she's born. I wanted to do it with Jayden but it's like $5-600 and wasn't worth it."

Monica patted her shoulder, "Well it'll be worth it this time. We want all the memories!"

Their conversation shifted to bottle brands, and Maya began explaining to Hakeem why they picked the bottles that they did.

Down the hall, Bri was on the phone with Jace. She was trying to get him to tell her what happened with Alisha, and he refused.

"Just say it. The police don't have your phone tapped 'cause those folks don't even know you exist."

Jace shook his head, "No. I told you to meet me somewhere."

"You got that girl with you?"

"My girlfriend, Bri?"

"She rude as fuck." Bri made a face, "And you rude too for not telling nobody you was down here."

"You rude too for not telling nobody you about to be a stepmama. Congrats." Jace laughed.

"Go to hell, okay? I'm not raising nobody kids."

Bri and Jace didn't really get along when he would visit, because he was a snitch, but when he went back with his dad, they'd talk. He was the only sibling who appreciated her dry sense of humor and returned it with more jokes.

A voice in the background asked how much longer he was gonna be on the phone, and Bri shouted, "He'll get off when he ready!"

Jace hurriedly turned the volume down before telling his girlfriend it'd be a minute. She was rude, but Jace didn't care because she was fine and cool too when she wanted to be.

"You let that girl run you."

Jace left the room so he could say exactly what he wanted, "She don't run shit. Where you tryna meet at though?"

They agreed on a place, and while Kayla put her shoes on, Bri went to go tell Hakeem she was leaving. She bumped into Maya before she could make it to Hakeem.

Neither one of said anything at first, but Maya took the initiative to be the bigger person, "You don't like me over some dick I haven't had in months."

"I don't like you 'cause you disrespectful and stay doing messy shit."

"I did say some out the way shit to you." Maya shrugged, "Sorry."

It was a half-hearted apology, but still an apology nonetheless. She realized that as long as Hakeem was with Bri, their child would be around her. She could be one of those people who hurt the child because of misplaced anger.

It'd make her feel better if Brielle wasn't around at all, but that seemed unlikely.

"Okay." Bri felt like Maya was making an effort, so she could at least try as well, "Sorry."

Maya nodded and looked over Bri's shoulder as Hakeem came out of his room to see them standing there. Their body language wasn't aggressive, nor did it indicate either of them were about to fight, so he slowly walked closer.

"I was just apologizing," Maya said before Bri could get a word out.

"Oh."

"I should've thanked her too. I know it's annoying for your man to be with another woman all night, but I think you're doing well. Good job."

Bri laughed, more so at herself for believing that Maya was completely done being petty, "He sat at the hospital with you for a couple of hours because your other baby daddy knocked your lights out. Congrats."

"The hospital?" She looked at Hakeem with a smile, "Monica said she had Grace at home but I don't think that makes her house a hospital."

Maya did go to the hospital, but by the time Hakeem got there, she was leaving. So he technically never spent any time at a hospital and all of the time he was gone was spent at Monica's house, talking to her and Maya.

While he was laughing and kiki'ing with them, he had Josiah sitting in the living room doing something that he was supposed to be doing. He was gone for hours, under the pretense that he was at the hospital.

On top of that, all Bri asked him to do was tell her this kind of stuff so she wouldn't be caught off guard by it like she just was. It seemed to her that he was doing it on purpose like he was still upset about her lying about Travis.

She didn't say anything else besides calling Kayla's name and telling her to come outside.

• • •

Deon splashed water on his face, rinsing the sleep from his eyes in preparation to get a late start to his day. Once he was done patting his face dry, he looked in the mirror.

He'd like to say he was surprised to see Hakeem standing there, but he always told everyone he knew, that family would be his downfall. He'd only brought one other person to this house, and it was Grace.

"Do I get a hug first?" Deon asked as he reached for his toothbrush.

"You know better."

"I see what your mama meant. You'll kill me over a girl who you just met? A girl who'll probably go back to doing what she knows how to do best, and you'll be somewhere crying like a bitch." Deon looked him up and down with contempt, "A damn shame."

"Yep," Hakeem responded calmly.

It was no reason for him to be anything but calm since he knew Deon wouldn't be leaving the room alive. He didn't feel any type of way about what he was about to do because his dad treated him like a nigga on the street, and now he was about to return the favor.

"I heard ya' baby mama a bum, ya' other girl a coke head. Where you get that taste from? I never talked to nobody like that."

"You worried 'bout the wrong shit. I'm tryna let you brush ya' stank ass teeth before I kill you but you making it real hard."

Deon laughed, "Soft. If it was me you-"

He never finished the sentence and brain matter decorated the bathroom walls and mirror.

Hakeem knelt down to feel for his phone in his pockets just as it began ringing. He stared at the number because he knew it from somewhere but couldn't place it. He thought it was Grace at first, but didn't want to answer and be wrong.

Deciding to answer and mute the phone, Hakeem waited to see if the person would talk.

"Keem said he just gone wait it out and see what you do." Corey stated, "I'ma try to get Bri to come to my house, might say Mia wanna hang or some, and you can do whatever from there."

Hakeem didn't say a word, and eventually, Corey hung up. It didn't matter at all because he heard everything he needed to.

• • •

Bri managed to push all of the Hakeem drama to the back of her mind and focus on talking to her brother.

Jace was a year older than Bri, but as previously mentioned, he grew up apart from the rest of his siblings because Alisha made him stay with his dad. The hate he harbored for Alisha was due to that fact.

His father would beat him for the most simple things, and he repeatedly ran away, only to be sent back by Alisha. In fact, the only reason he tried to make Bri come back with Alisha was because of what she was doing, not that he felt like she should live with their mother.

He looked at Kayla and smiled, "Damn you getting tall."

Kayla was too engrossed in her Youtube video to respond so Bri did it for her, "Really really. She wear pants for a week then they ankle beaters."

They talked for a while before Brielle couldn't stop herself from leaning forward to talk in a low voice, "Okay. You killed mama?"

"Damn. How you doing officer?"

She gave him a look that made him glance around to see if anyone was listening before he leaned in as well, "Nah. I hyped myself up to pull it, but when I got there... everything was already done."

The letter indicated that Jace was on the way to do what Darnishia couldn't, but that seemed like it never happened. It was clearly written in advance, preventing Darnishia from editing it. The gap between her writing it and giving it to Deon was unknown, so that left nothing but more uncertainty.

Bri wasn't sure if Jace was lying, but he knew she wouldn't tell on him, so what did he have to gain from that?

There was something else she wanted to talk to him about too, "Why you didn't come to the funeral?"

Jace began looking uncomfortable, "I was mad. She swore she wouldn't kill herself."

"You don't think she did?"

"I think that in order for me to sleep at night, I need to believe that she did."

His statement probably wouldn't have made sense to anyone else, but Bri understood. Even if it meant losing her sister, Darnishia had the final decision over her fate. She'd lived a life dictated by the people in her life, but her last decision was hers.

If she were killed, it'd just be a tragic ending to an already horrid story.

Jace continued to try to catch up on what Bri was doing because he felt bad for not coming around more. Brielle didn't care, being that she didn't make an effort to see her brother either. It was sad to see the remnants of a siblinghood that never was due to a variety of factors.

"We probably just gone be fucked up all our life." Jace stretched while trying to contain a yawn.

"At least we funny. We got something out of it."

It was well into the evening when Bri and Kayla finally bid Jace goodbye with promises to maintain a better relationship. They both were lying, and it was understood in the smile they gave before hugging.

When they made it home, Hakeem was already inside scrubbing his body with soap. Takayla skipped ahead of Bri to the front door, asking what they would be eating for dinner.

Brielle stopped outside of the door when she saw Mia's car pulling up, "Go take a shower." She instructed Takayla.

After she ensured Kayla was doing what she said, Bri walked towards Mia's car to find her distraught. She opened the door to look at her more closely, "What's wrong?"

"Where's Hakeem?"

Something told Brielle to lie, so she did, "I don't know. Wassup?"

"Somebody came and got Corey." She sobbed into her hands, "I don't know who else to go to."

She would've been better off going to the police.

"I'll go call Hakeem and see where he is." Bri continued to lie, "Hold on."

She ran into the house and down the hall where Hakeem was drying off, "Mia said somebody came and took Corey or some."

"I know."

Bri was surprised that he didn't care, "Where he at? And Mia looking for you."

"Tell Mia to go home."

"I told her you wasn't here, but why people taking him out his house?"

Hakeem thought that maybe he was too open, too nice, and that's why people kept plotting on him and crossing him. The plan to put a stop to that shit started in his own house, with the person who he felt made people think he didn't care if people fucked him over, "Tell Mia go home."

"Okay?"

She was waiting for more, and thought after she told Mia to leave she would find out. Bri was in for a rude awakening though, because Hakeem had no intention of telling her anything. She was being demoted to girlfriend, and the 'friend' aspect of their relationship was being put on hold.

In other words, Bri was about to learn how it felt to be in Mia's old position: clueless.

• • •

the honeymoon over chile. hakeem said y'all got him fucked up!

anyway! corey huh lol? he had his reasons but maybe he let it get too far. i like him (besides the mia stuff) but i know y'all don't lmao.

a lot of stuff in this chapter. lmk if you have any questions.

thanks for reading 💕