idk who needs to hear this, but im having a shit night that's prob going to lead into a shit next few days tbvh & if you're in the same boat we got this sis. the storm doesn't last forever.

Brielle dug the heels of her hand into her eyes while trying to calm down.

In reality, this had nothing to do with her and she shouldn't have been bothered at all. But she was, and couldn't do anything to make that feeling go away.

Before Grace came into the house, Brielle was responding to messages from Kyra who asked if she would come over to talk. Had Brielle known what she wanted to talk about, she would've avoided Kyra's mama's house all together.

"Ignore all this shit." Kyra apologized when Brielle walked in, "My sister trifling."

For some reason, Brielle wanted to tell Kyra she was the one who was trifling.

"You wanted to talk?"

They'd reached her room by that point, and Kyra flopped down onto the bed, "I haven't see Josiah in almost a month."

Brielle stayed quiet waiting for her to elaborate, and when she didn't, she asked, "Okay, and?"

It came out harsher than she meant it to.

Kyra shrugged, "I lowkey miss him. I'm just tired of all that extra shit, you know? I feel like I deserve a simple relationship without bitches hating my guts because my nigga won't stop gassing them."

Her words were pointless because Brielle didn't give the tiniest fuck about hearing her talk about Josiah, "That's crazy."

A light laugh came from Kyra, "Yeah I know you don't care. You just here to talk about Travis, right?"

Now, Brielle was surprised. Of course she hadn't said shit about their relationship, so Kyra knowing would mean that Travis had told her, "What you mean?"

"Sis you don't gotta lie to me. He told me you came over there. I know you didn't tell Hakeem 'cause you weren't supposed to be there, but still, I can fuck with that."

Brielle briefly closed her eyes, "Y'all both dumb. And Travis only using you for get back."

Letting that sentence hang in the air, Kyra detected a bit of jealousy in Brielle's words, "I been fucking with Travis back before he went to jail and everybody was cool. I stopped talking to him because I was with Jo, but he talk to hoes who don't like me all the time, so."

With Mobile being such a small city, most people went to the same schools for much of their lives, allowing the four of them, Hakeem, Josiah, Travis, and Kyra, to all attend the same middle, and very briefly, the same high school.

But when she referred to fucking with Travis, she simply meant they were friendly with one another. It didn't escalate past that until recently.

"I still think it's foul to have sex with him."

"Bri you living under Hakeem roof and sneaking around to see Travis." Kyra paused for a second, "And no matter how mad Josiah make me, I'll never let another nigga plot on him."

Again, Brielle was thrown for a loop because she wasn't expecting Kyra to have that information. On top of everything else, Travis was clearly a pillow talking ass nigga.

So why did she still want to be friends with him?

"I'm not letting anybody plot on Hakeem." Brielle defended, "I made what I thought was the right decision. Clearly I should've let him die."

"Or you could've stayed out of it, and minded the business that lets you stay in his house for free."

Brielle snorted, "Is this what you wanna talk about? You're telling Hakeem on me?"

"I can't tell him without him telling him how I know." Kyra replied with a head shake.

The purposeful phrasing of her words caught Brielle's attention. To her, Kyra was saying that had she not been fucking around herself, she wouldn't have hesitated to tell Hakeem. Instead of speculating, Brielle came out and asked, "What happened to people minding their business?"

Kyra ignored her question, "It's crazy how shit play out. Like you could've just told Keem you knew Travis when you figured it out, but instead you let the nigga who hasn't done shit for you have something over him."

"I'm finna go. Ain't nobody come over here to listen to you tell me right from wrong when you basically doing the same shit."

Once again, Kyra went on as if she hadn't heard what Bri said, "The last time I had sex with Josiah was the morning that girl sent that shit to our house."

Turning towards the door, Brielle fully intended on leaving Kyra to finish talking to herself until her next words stopped her, "The next morning, I had sex with Travis."

"Sis on Jesus, Mary and all the little lambs, I don't care."

"Lie again." Kyra laughed, "You hella angry standing over there by the door. Can't even look me in my face right now."

Nothing about the situation was funny, and Kyra honestly couldn't tell you why she was provoking Bri. Well, that's a lie. She was trying to see how close they were, and the way Brielle was reacting, she knew exactly why she didn't tell Hakeem about knowing Travis.

"I'm pregnant." She waited for Bri to look at her, "Almost 4 weeks, and this is the longest I've kept a baby. Maybe it's not Josiah's."

Now it made sense as to why Kyra was telling her the timeline of her sexual escapades, "You had raw sex with two different niggas?" Brielle questioned.

Kyra gave her a pointed glance, "Let's not go there."

"I'm so fucking tired of y'all bringing that shit up every single time!" Brielle yelled, "At least I'm not stupid enough to possibly have a revenge baby!"

"It doesn't matter. Just keep my secret, and I'll keep yours."

Disbelief marred Brielle's face as she tried to comprehend what Kyra was saying, "How is it a secret? You can't hide being pregnant."

"When, or if, Josiah tells you I'm pregnant, just smile and say congrats."

Whether the baby was his or not, Kyra planned on Josiah being the dad. That was something she felt she was owed. She wouldn't tell Travis that she was in doubt about who the dad was because she knew his petty tendicies.

A thought flitted through Brielle's head, and she was surprised at it, but ignored it to finish talking to Kyra.

Alone in her room, the thought returned with a vengance, and Brielle fished out her phone to call Travis.

• • •

The t.v wasn't the only thing keeping Hakeem from falling asleep. He was also hungry, hot, and the dog next door wouldn't stop barking.

Grabbing a pair of pants, he walked to the kitchen and began pulling out the stuff he needed to make a bologna sandwhich. He was half-hoping that Brielle would be in there, but she hadn't left her room since she came in the house earlier.

Hakeem reached to turn on the stove before looking through the cabinets for pots, "She done moved all my shit now I can't even eat." He mumbled to himself.

After opening numerous drawers, Hakeem knelt to open the oven and see if she'd moved the pots there. He didn't see anything except for a small bag taped to the inside of it.

"I mean I got cokes hid in the oven but I ask what she cooking every morning so I can move them hoes." Josiah's voice sounded in his head.

He was more than sure they were talking about two different kids of coke.

Brielle's hiding spot made sense because Hakeem barely knew how to turn on the oven so it'd be no reason for him to use it, he just happened to believe that Bri would put their pots in the oven.

Hakeem snatched the bag from its temporary place, taking it to the bathroom where he watched it swirl into the sewer.

Who the fuck was serving her?

She didn't have money and she wasn't stealing from him, so how she was able to get drugs? A nagging voice in the back of his head told him that he knew exactly how she might have been getting them, but he ignored that voice and decided to get an answer from the horse's mouth.

As he was making his way down the hall, the dog's barks continued, and Hakeem wanted to go choke it to make it stop. A resounding knock on the door made Brielle glance up from her phone and at the door.

She couldn't sleep either, mainly because she'd spent the last few hours arguing with Travis.

Not in the mood to begin another argument, Brielle decided to let Hakeem believe she was sleep. He seemed intent on 'waking her up' though, now making beats on the door.

"What?!" Brielle yelled in exasperation.

"Open the door."

"It's not locked."

She watched as Hakeem pushed open the door, leaning up against the door frame, "On some real shit, you be trying me like I'm a hoe ass nigga. I keep saying the same thing to you, and you just be like fuck me."

Before responding, Brielle took a deep breath, "I'm not trying you like nothing. You said -"

"Who be giving you coke?" Hakeem interrupted, "Ian tryna hear that other shit."

They stared at each other, Hakeem waiting for her to answer his question, and Brielle waiting for him to leave so she could see what Travis was about to show her.

"I know people." Brielle lied easily.

"Ion care who you know. You don't have no fuckin' money Bri. How you getting some shit you can't afford?"

Brielle shifted uncomfortably, "If you wanna know if I'm having sex for it, just ask me."

"If you don't tell me who then I got my answer regardless."

From the way the conversation was going, Brielle couldn't tell if Hakeem was more concerned with the fact that he'd just found coke in his house, or the possiblity that Brielle had returned to her old ways to obtain it.

In any event, Hakeem wasn't about to get the truth about who was giving her drugs.

As Hakeem continued to glare at her, the barking outside grew louder, and three vibrations were felt against her leg where she'd rested her phone when Hakeem came in.

Breaking eye contact, Brielle looked at her home screen:

Of course Hakeem had no way of knowing who was texting her, so all he could do was watch as Brielle tried to keep any sort of emotion off her face, "Does that dog bark like that everynight?"

"You really asking me about a dog right now?"

Rising from the bed, Brielle ignored his questioning gaze and walked to the back where the dog was fenced, propping the door open and peering out.

She went to close it back, only stopping when a low groan reached her ears. There laying in the grass was a barely conscious Josiah.

• • •

"Is you shitting me?" Travis laughed, "You could've just asked mans to beat his ass."

Grace quietly spoke into the phone "Then I would've looked like the bad person. This way is better."

Taking her word for it, Travis looked towards the hospital, "You got it. You know your brother better than me."

"If you listen to me, y'all can be cool again. It just takes a little finesse."

Cars passed by Travis as he leaned against his car, "When you want me to come in there?"

"I'll text you." Grace responded, her voice lowering even further, "Probably in like 15 minutes."

"Bri in there?"

It just so happened that the plan worked out this way. He wasn't expecting to get the news that Kyra was pregnant, but he couldn't help but gloat in an effort to make Brielle feel how he felt at the table on Thanksgiving.

Josiah would've shown up on the porch whether Bri had texted him that bullshit about Hakeem or not.

His question annoyed Grace because she'd told him multiple times he couldn't have both people in this scenario. Either he wanted to be cousins, or fuck with Bri, "Why? Just come in ready to sell Hakeem a sob story or you can be the next person the hospital."

Travis chuckled at her boldness, "iight lil herp."

Before she hung up he heard her say, "Niggas read on a second grade level and questioning me."

With a small smile on his face, Travis began his walk towards the entrance of the hospital.

• • •

🥴 i'm so TIED of everybody lying to hakeem! i feel like if bri just come on out & say it now, it won't be that bad but my sis is dragging it. that man gone be mad when he find out chile.

question: yall want him to realize sooner or later? choose wisely 😅

y'all prob sick of me thanking y'all but sis last week we were at 9k votes now we're at 11k & counting.. i deadass got the best readers on this app bro. gang shit yktv ♥️