"Let us get past you right quick Mama." Josiah told Monica as he and Kyra squeezed by her.

The kitchen was bustling with older women talking loudly and moving aluminum pans across counters. Smells of food wafted throughout the house as guests waited impatiently for the call that dinner was ready.

"You want some to drink?" He asked when they'd successfully made it to the cooler full of sodas, "If you don't want this I can go buy you some from the store."

Same as always, Josiah was kissing ass because he'd gotten caught cheating.

This time, Kyra was doing something he wasn't used to, giving him the silent treatment and acting as nothing had happened.

"Does she have some bleach in there?" Kyra asked quietly.

"In the cooler? Nah, what you need bleach for?"

"So you can drink it." She snatched her hand out of his, "Where's Bri?"

He watched her walk away with a sigh, turning to look down at Hakeem's little cousin, "Life rough out here man. These women will take a nigga through it. I'm scared to eat, I be sleeping onna couch, she threw my phone in the toilet. I'm real life tired."

The 2-year-old just stared up at him, "Bitch."

Josiah nodded his head, "These bitches crazy."

A slap to the back his head made him flinch, "He said it first."

"Don't encourage it Jo." Tamara, his mama scolded, "I swear people would think you was raised in a damn barn."

"I was raised in a shack. Ion know why you had me in that raggedy house."

Monica snorted, "Get out the kitchen. Go out back with Hakeem and everybody else."

Following her instructions, Josiah went in search of Hakeem, finding him standing in the hallway as he did something on his phone.

"Wassup bro?"

"Ain't shit." He smirked, "I'm surprised every day you walk up. I be expecting Kyra to kill you in your sleep."

"The other day she was standing over me and walked away when I opened my eyes. I know it was the Lord who woke me up before she could kill me."

"Praise Jesus."

Josiah placed his hands together, "Hallelujah."

"Y'all going to hell." Corey laughed as he walked towards them, "Playing with my mans' name like that."

"Corey you ugly as fuck. I wouldn't even fuck with God if he made me that ugly."

The girl he was with took it upon herself to introduce herself, "I'm Mia."

"Ain't nobody ask you that baby." Josiah responded, "You being real rude and Ion like that about you."

Corey coughed to hide his laugh, "Bae I think everybody outside."

"It's cold out there," Mia replied with a frown.

He quietly said something, making Mia roll her eyes and walk towards the doors.

"You ain't got no control." Hakeem observed when she was gone, "Ain't no way I'ma tell an ugly girl twice to do some."

"She ain't even ugly."

"My nigga, she deadass is. I wouldn't have even brought her out here 'cause you know they finna jank her ass."

Corey sighed, "I told her she might not have fun, but she be wanting me to show her off so bad. She can't get posted on not one of my pages, so I said fuck it let's go."

"She like a cool 5 though." Josiah paused before his next sentence, "I'll fuck."

"That's why you in the situation you in right now." Hakeem pointed out, "You be tryna fuck everybody."

Josiah didn't respond, thinking about just how fucked up his situation was. Hakeem only knew half of the problem since Josiah was still trying to fix it.

That was another reason Josiah couldn't sleep, his brain refusing to stop thinking about what was wrong just for the smallest amount of time.

"Rae pregnant." Josiah blurted out, interrupting the conversation between Corey and Hakeem, "Fuck, now I feel better."

They stared blankly at him, making him clarify his statement, "The girl I was fucking with? She pregnant. I know it's mine 'cause her nigga locked up, and she real big on loyalty."

"Jo you sound like a damn fool. How she big on loyalty but fucking you while her nigga in jail?"

"Nah like, she only fuck me and him but he in jail so that leave me.

"You really the dumbest nigga I ever met in my life. You fucking off? iight, cool. But you done went and got a whole bitch pregnant."

Like he said before, Hakeem would just be single before he got in a relationship and cheated. It was pointless and unnecessary drama. Josiah and Kyra were the prime examples of a relationship that shouldn't be, but neither of them would leave.

Josiah continued to hurt Kyra, and while he was like Hakeem's brother, Hakeem didn't see what typa love that was.

"How many weeks?" Corey asked.

"6? 7? Man Ion know."

"She gone have it?"

Josiah's answer was louder than he intended, "Fuck no. Ian even gave my baby no baby. Ain't no outside hoe finna have my child."

"Make that drive to Florida my boy. Gone get it over with."

He sighed again, "I gotta come up with some 'cause she won't get one. That hoe in competition with Kyra and I'm like bro my girl don't even know you exist."

Raelyn was in fact in competition with Kyra, that being the reason she asked for the same shoes she saw Kyra wear, the same clothes sometimes, just so she could feel like she was winning, even though Kyra didn't know her or follow her on any socials to see what Rae was doing.

Josiah had finally given her an advantage, and she didn't plan on letting it go.

"Hakeem how you make your hoes get abortions?"

"Ion make them do shit. I ask politely like, "You gone kill it?"."

Brielle came into the hallway, pausing when she saw them standing in a close circle, "Pooh blink twice if they tryna make you do something you don't wanna do."

"You got so many jokes." Josiah stated, "Where my baby at?"

She looked over her shoulder before walking closer and whispering, "Outside, but I can't talk to you today because I was talking shit about you to Kyra and said fuck you and stuff like that."

"What she say about me?"

"Nothing. I just told her to put you out and-"

Hakeem put a hand over her mouth, "We don't do that playing both sides shit."

Brielle smiled weakly under his palm as her mind went to the Travis situation. She wouldn't say what she was doing was playing both sides, she was just trying to keep everybody alive and safe.

That didn't make her a bad person.

As if on cue, Travis' voice could be heard telling Monica he was about to go find everybody else. Hakeem's hand was still over Brielle's mouth, eliciting a smile from Travis, "Wassup family?"

The three men just stared at him while Brielle looked at the floor in silence.

"Why you got your hand over that girl mouth?" He looked directly as Brielle, "You need some help?"

Brielle didn't understand why Travis did things like this. When it was just the two of them he was an entirely different person, but when he was around Hakeem he turned into this messy ass person that Brielle didn't even care to talk to.

It made her wonder which Travis was the actual Travis? Was he putting on a front for her, or was he putting on a front for Hakeem?

"Bitch don't play with me."

"I just be so confused." Travis began slowly, "'Cause you tell the streets she ain't yours, but you be ready to fight if I speak on her?"

"I be ready to shoot, my nigga. Fuck fighting."

For some reason, Hakeem had yet to remove his hand from Brielle's mouth.

Not that she cared. She was holding her breath trying to make herself pass out so she could wake up and the dinner would be over.

"Ain't no nigga shooting over some pussy that ain't his."

Travis wanted Hakeem to confirm what he already thought he knew, that he and Brielle were in a relationship. He didn't know why Bri continued to lie to him about it as if he would care.

The irony in that is that he would care, but he lied to himself just as he felt Bri lied to him.

If Brielle thought Travis was putting on a front, then he thought the same about Hakeem. Everybody in his life served him some purpose because he didn't keep you around if you didn't.

Travis felt like Hakeem didn't deserve Brielle, that he would fuck her over.

They mugged each other until one of the older ladies poked her head out, "The food ready!"

"About fucking time." Josiah said as he walked past Travis, "Niggas be starving for hours waiting on food."

"Ain't nobody gone go tell- mmcht I'll do it." Corey muttered.

Brielle moved Hakeem's hand from her mouth, "Let's go eat."

Eating was the last thing neither Hakeem or Travis were thinking about.

• • •

i still gotta proofread pt 2 & i lowkey might drop it tomorrow so ppl can catch up... thoughtful writer!

thanks for reading 💕