FYI, long chapter.
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Shawnie's POV

It was silent for a couple of minutes before I said anything.

".....babe....." I place my hand on his shoulder.

He just shakes his head as if he doesn't want me to say anything.

What the hell is going on?

"It's okay, babe." I say in a soft voice.

"It's not okay. I'm sorry, baby." He says. "...I'm sorry you had to see that." He puts his arm around my waist and kisses me on my cheek.

"No, it's really okay." I look him in the eyes and I kissed him again.

He looks at me for a couple of seconds. "......What exactly are you saying is okay?"

"Whatever is going on ... I don't like that you put your hands on you cousin, but we can work through it."

He lets out a breath. "Shawnie..."

"Don't do that to your cousin anymore. He didn't deserve that. What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing." He says

Someone starts banging on the door, scaring the shit out of me. Joe tenses up and stands to his feet.

"Stay here." He says

"What the hell is going on?"

"Just stay here. I already know that's Jon." He goes to answer the door.

I wanted to get up and see but I knew Joe would be upset with me. Plus, I'm trying to listen to people and not do what I want to anyway. So I listen intensely from my seat. I've never seen this much action out of the twins, something is going on. And let's not forget the fact that Joe almost killed his own blood a few minutes ago.

I hear Joe open the door.

"Don't bang on this door. What?" He says, clearly pissed off.

"Why you do that?" Jon says. "Why you put your hands Im my brother?"

"Tell your little brother to keep his damn mouth closed. He's talking too much."

"Because he's telling you the right thing to do? You need to talk about your shit. You doing all this shit and you're dancing around the issue. Tell. Her." Jon says

What the fuck? Now Jon is basically saying the same thing Jey said. Joe is lying to me about something? That doesn't even sound right and I don't believe it. Joe wouldn't lie to me. They're really tripping.

I hear Joe say something that I couldn't make out, then I hear shuffling. Did he attack Jon too?

I start to stand up then I hear Joe whispering.

"Let me do this...I—"

I then see Jon walking around the corner and into the living room, with Joe close behind him. Joe looked as if he was pissed.

"Shawnie, I apologize for mine and my brother's behavior. You shouldn't see us this way. I mean this with all respect, no one here is trying to upset you or be malicious but you need to ask him about the night y'all met. Ask him why he was at the hotel to begin with. Jey is only trying to keep you together, not tear you apart."

Joe just shakes his head.

"He hasn't been all the way truthful about his sister. I know because I was there when he found out certain things surrounding her death." He turns to Joe. "Tell the truth..." he says, then leaves.

I sat there in shock. What's he talking about? I'm so confused. Joe lied to me? I just refuse to believe that. After everything, he wouldn't do that. They have to have this all wrong.

Joe just stood there looking at the floor with his hands on his hips, shaking his head. He was mad.

"Joe?" I say

He runs his hands over his face but he doesn't look at me.

"What is he talking about?" I ask

He finally looks at me.

"Alright." He says, then turns and starts slowly pacing the floor.

I anxiously wait for him to say something else but he doesn't.

"Okay?" I say, egging him to go on.

As Joe continues to pace the floor, his agitation is apparent. Maybe he's trying to get his words together. I take a deep breath to steady myself. I was getting irritated with his silence.

"Joe, please talk to me. I need to know what's going on." I plead, my voice tinged with a little concern. Did he actually lie to me about something? How could he? Especially after he did all that about the lie I told him.

He stops and turns to face me, his eyes conflicted. "Shawnie, it's not that simple." He admits, his voice wavering. "It's hard to explain."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it. We're in this together." I assure him, reaching out to him. "Come here."

He hesitates for a moment before stepping closer. He clearly didn't know what was going to happen next and he didn't like it. I'm starting to learn more and more about him and I'm able to read him.

He reaches me and sits down next to me. I sit up on my knees, wrap my arms around him, holding him close as he finally begins to share what this is all about.

"My sister..." he says softly, as he lets go of me. "There are things I've kept hidden, things I didn't want you to know because I was afraid it would change how you see me."

"I love you, and nothing can change that." I say

He takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "When my sister passed away, her boyfriend didn't drive the both of them off of the bridge, she drove herself. He is actually very much alive..."

"So she committed suicide?" He nods his head up and down. "Why did you say he died?"

He shrugs. "There was a lot more to it, and I've been living with the guilt and remorse for not being able to protect her. Things you already know...."

"Right." I rub his back.

He takes a deep breath. "I wasn't trying to keep this from you. I wasn't trying to keep anything from you. It's just that I didn't know how or when to tell you. I wanted to tell you. I tried telling you multiple times but Drake's dumbass kept doing shit to sidetrack me."

I look him in his eyes, he's hurting, he's frustrated.

"Joe, baby, what is it?" I need him to tell me so I can help ease this.

He stares into my eyes.

"Shawnie, I love you. I love you so much. Please don't question it. I know it took me some time to realize it but I had my reasons." He says, his voice hard, his grip tightening around my waist.

"Talk to me." I plead.

"Shawnie, I love you." He says sternly, reiterating himself.

"I love you too, Joe." I respond, hugging him close. "Please tell me what's going on...."

He drops his head, closing his eyes. I place my hand on his face bringing it back to me. I kiss his lips softly, he responds in kind, sighing into me.

We pull apart, and he opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again.

"...it's okay Joe."

".....Shawnie....my sister's ex boyfriend..." He trails off, taking a deep breath. "It's Drake."

Shock washes over me, and my body goes numb. I froze in disbelief fora few seconds, then denial pours out of my mouth.

"...Wh—What? That's not possible." I say. "That doesn't even make sense."

"I know how crazy that may sound to you but it's true. He might not have been officially her boyfriend, but he was very much involved in her life."

I quickly stand to my feet, throwing my hands in the air. "Aubrey couldn't be..." I trail off, pictures and videos of Aubrey flashing in my mind, until I see myself submerged under water.

"No..." I say, then I have another flashback of when Aubrey was tripping about Joe. He said Joe was a stalker fan trying to get to him through me. Was Aubrey right?

"You were using me to get to Aubrey." I say, turning to him, anger in my eyes. "He was right." I say, in disbelief. "You lied to me, Joe." I say, my chest aching.

He watches me, not saying anything.

"I can't believe he was right." I say, my eyes stinging with tears. I feel so stupid. "How could you do this to me?" I ask. I just stare at him for a few seconds. He still doesn't say anything. He knows he's wrong.

I turn around and walk into the bedroom. I takeoff my robe and grab a pair of jeans and put them on, then I throw on a t-shirt and I grab my phone off of the night stand. I walk back into the living room, once he sees me leaving he jumps up.

"No. What are you doing?" He asks, walking towards me.

"I can't stay here with you." I slide past him, walking towards the door. He grabbed my wrist but not tight enough to stop me so I was able to quickly get out of it.  Somehow he was able to beat me to the door. He stood there blocking it with his big frame.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere. Remember what happened last time you ran out of a hotel room here? You ran into me." He says

"I need a minute..." I say

"No." He says firmly, folds his arms, daring me to do something.

"Joe, I don't feel safe." I say almost in a panic and I breakdown.

"That's not my intent. I only want you safe. I don't want a repeat of what happened before. Just have a seat and let's talk." He says.

"I'm second guessing everything right now. I let you into every aspect of my life, even my body.... Now you're telling me this was a plan to get to my ex husband?"

"Shawnie, I just told you that I love you." He states. "I meant that. You know I'm telling the truth when I say that. What we have has nothing to do with that motherfucker. I never want you to feel unsafe around me. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, ever." He says, before extending his hand. "Please, let's sit down and talk about it."

I take a deep breath processing his words. He's right. I love and trust this man. He's never done anything to make me believe he doesn't care about me or my wellbeing. If he was really here for Aubrey he's never done anything to me for me to feel like I was ever in danger. I'm acting a little extreme. I can at least hear him out.

I sigh, finally taking his hand. We walk back over to the sofa and I take a seat next to him.

"Explain." I say

"Okay." He says, shifting in his seat to face me, our hands still locked. "When I met you for the first time, you remember, I didn't know who you were. That night I saw someone who was in need of help, and I helped her. I honestly thought he was married to a white woman, remember?"

"Yes. I remember that..." I say. It's true. That's actually why he stood out to me. I thought it was cool that he didn't know me.

"I was at the hotel to see Drake. I blame him for the demise of my sister, and I was going to end his life. I was at the point where I didn't care about the consequences. I just wanted him gone." He admits. "But then...I saw you, you needed my attention, and I gave it to you. I figured it could wait a few extra minutes..."

"Okay..." I say, waiting for him to continue.

"After you left that night, things were somewhat of a blur, so I went back to my room and said it'll just wait until the next day.....So the next day after you found me and we talked, I found out that he was your husband. I saw my sister in you and I couldn't let him do it to another woman. Not if I could help it. That's why I agreed to be your bodyguard. From then on, you were my priority, you are still my priority and I checked myself and put that shit to the back of my mind." He explains. "I wanted to tell you, because we kept getting closer and closer, and then feelings started to grow, and I became attached to you. I didn't want it to look like I'd been lying to you, and that my feelings for you weren't real." He continues. "You have to believe me when I say I tried to tell you so many times... I felt so guilty."

"That's why you left?" I ask

"Yes and no." He answers. "No, because I do have commitment issues, and I was legit scared of how strongly I felt about you." He explains. "Yes, because he started shit for no reason that night, talking his shit about you to rile me up, and hearing about you and him..." he shakes his game as. "And on top of remembering what he did to my sister made me snap." He adds. "I wanted to end him that night, but I held myself back because of you. So I decided to leave, because I felt guilty about everything and the hate and anger he brings out of me. I had to get away." He expresses. "But you came here, and we talked and I realized it wasn't just me with the feelings. You were willing to sacrifice things for me and I felt I had give us a try. I was so fucking happy you came. I decided to try to let it go and that's what I've been doing all this time. Focusing what we have."

I nod my head. "I believe you." I say softly.

"I just want you to comprehend, that what we have is real, and my hatred for that man has no correlation to my love for you." He says, his voice full of conviction.

I nod my head in understanding.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'll never do it again." He says, honesty. "I'll tell you everything you want to know. Just ask." He says with a serious face. I believe every words he's telling me.

As the weight of the conversation begins to sink in, I take a deep breath, trying to process everything he just shared. My heart feels heavy, torn between the love I have for him and the shock of his past actions.

"I believe you, Joe." I say softly, trying to keep my voice steady. "It's a lot to take in, but I trust that you're being honest with me."

Joe's eyes soften, and he reaches out to hold my hands. "Thank you, Shawnie. Thank you for understanding. I never wanted to hurt you or keep any secrets from you. I know I should have been upfront from the beginning. I was afraid of losing you if you found out that information."

I place my hand on his cheek, my heart aching for him. "I understand why you kept it hidden. I want to work through this together. But we also need to address the issues with Aubrey. We have to deal with it."

"You're right. I won't let him come between us. I'll handle the situation, but I promise not to let it affect us negatively."

"I know what all of this is but he's my son's father and he's been quiet for a while. He hasn't bothered me. I don't want you to hurt him." I say

"I promise I won't. I know how it would affect you and your son." He says. "I need to talk to him about it though. I don't know how well that'll go but I will have that conversation with him. He needs to know that I know and he needs to know who I am."

"Just don't kill him. I don't need you going to prison." I say

He smiles. "That means I would be away from you and I can't have that."

"Are you going to talk to your cousins? They were pretty upset."

"Yes. I'm going to talk to them. They just didn't want that to come between us. I just wanted to tell you when I got ready. In a way, I'm happy they made me address this. I don't know when I would've had the balls to do it."

"Call them right now and apologize." I say

He smiles. "Okay." He goes into the bedroom and picks up his phone.

I watch from the living room as Joe calls his cousins to apologize, trying to keep my emotions in check. It's a lot to process, but I can see the sincerity in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He truly regrets his actions and is determined to make things right.

As he finishes the call, he stands up and walks back to me. He gets on his knees in front of me, taking my hands in his. "Please forgive me."

I cup his face and smile. "I forgive you."

He gives me a smile back and we hug. After that we just decided to go to bed. It was 3 am and I was exhausted. This was a very eventful day. Flying to Vegas, organizing and attending the party, finding out about the Tiffany's collection, and then his sister's situation extremely a lot. I was happy to reset, but after Joe apologized again, in bed.

****************

THE NEXT DAY

We all met for lunch, they were pretty hung over from partying last night so we thought it would be best to get everyone together since we skipped out on them. Joe and I were high off all the love we made this morning and I was in a happy mood because of it. The situation last night was bad but I'm happy we were able to talk about it and get it all out in the open.

After we ate the group were just sitting and talking. The twins seemed to be cool and in a good mood. I know Joe called and spoke with them last night about what happened and he apologized. I guess they're over it. I know Jey probably told Dori his side of the story but I didn't know if Mercedes knew anything. Not that I was trying to share this information but I knew they would bring it up eventually.

"Why don't y'all go...play some poker or something. Give us some time to talk privately."

They give us shit about kicking them out then the twins and Sefa stand up, Joe stays seated. I look at him and after a second he looks at me.

"What?" He asks. "You know I'm not letting you out of my sight."

I laugh. "Joe, you don't work for me anymore, remember."

"I know but that doesn't mean anything." He says

"Ben is over there, he has it. Just give me and the girls some privacy."

He looks at the girls then me. "Right....I'll be over there with Ben."

I laugh. "Go have fun." I say

"Nah, I'm staying within eye distance." He kisses me on the forehead and stands up. "Hurry up, you have to get ready for our date and I know it's going to take you hours to get ready to do all your pounds of hair and makeup...and clothes and makeup..."

I get excited. "You're taking me on a date?" I start jumping up and down in my seat. "We've never been on one of those before."

"I know that's why I'm taking you."

"Where are we going?" I ask

"Ever been on a helicopter?"

"No. You're taking me in a helicopter?" I say excitedly.

"Yeah." He smiles

"When did you have time to plan this?"

"I called Olivia and had her set it up for me." He smiles again. "And you only have a couple of hours to get ready and it's about a four and a half hour tour, so...not too much." He leans down and kisses me, doing what I love for him to do, shoving his tongue down my throat.

After we were done making out for a couple of minutes, he walked away from the table.

The girls watch him leave then they both look at me, I just smile at them.

"Not gonna lie, I get a little hot watching you two." Dori says.

"Something's changed." Mercedes says with a smile.

"We've been talking about being together exclusively."

"That's a big step, do you think you're ready for that? She asks

I nod my head. "I'm happy with where we are. He's everything to me, seriously."

Mercedes rolls her eyes.

"No, Mercedes really." I say. I hate that she doesn't take me seriously most of the time. "Ever since he's been back, we have communicated tremendously. We've applied what we said we were going to do and we've taken our time with each other. He's always put my needs first and always did what he felt would be best regardless of what I said. He didn't give in to me like everyone else has. He wanted me to date, I dated around and I didn't find anyone worth risking losing him for. I'm so in love with him and I feel like I don't want to ever be without him."

"But what about you?" She asks

"I've been doing the work on my own, going to therapy a couple times a week and really taking my mental health seriously. I go to Dr. Jones about everything and he's really helping me. I feel better overall. I love how everything is playing out and I love the place I'm in."

"I mean, I agree you may be in a better place but jumping into another relationship?"

"I'm not jumping. I've been single since before I was divorced, and I've been single single for a while. I was over Drake before things officially ended. I fucked him one last time just to get my dick fix. That was something he was good at, and why not fuck my ex."

"Because you were going through a divorce...and you fucked him one last time like five times, including after y'all got divorced." She laughs

"I did and I also thought I wanted to have another good at the relational then too but it was just sex. Truthfully, I still wish things would've worked out but I've accepted that it didn't. I'm okay with that now." I say. "I just think maybe it wasn't supposed to, and that situation was supposed to lead me to Joe. I don't know why but I'm here now and I'm so happy, Mercedes. I had pieces of everything I wanted in both of them but I never had it all and I have it all with Joe. Never been more sure about any partner in my life. This is completely different and it scares me but I'm willing to sacrifice everything for it. I am one thousand percent in love with Joe, and he's in love with me too."

"Okay...you know I basically support this. If it wasn't for me y'all would still be dancing around the subject and looking stupid." She laughs

"Damn." I laugh. "We would've eventually said something to each other."

"No, y'all would be having moments, and accidentally kissing." She says using air quotes.

"Accidentally?"

"Yeah. You know the first time he kissed you wasn't an accident. He did that shit on purpose. Joe ain't slick." She jokes

"I half agree. He wasn't trying to make things awkward." I say

"Anyway, if this is real like you say it is then I have no choice other than to support it. I support you even if it doesn't seem like I do. I want you to be happy and healthy." She smiles

"Thank you." I say. "So catching up....Drake has a—."

"The fact that you're calling him Drake is hilarious to me." Mercedes says

"Drake has a jewelry line with Tiffany's called From Drake With Love..."

Mercedes rolls her eyes.

"It was for me but he couldn't back out of the deal." I look at Dori and she's smiling.

"Oh my goodness, Dori just say it."

"That's so sweet!" She laughs.

I roll my eyes too.

"Do you think he's trying to make an effort?"

"No and even if it is, I don't care. I will NEVER go back to him. EVER." I say as serious as I can be.

"Good!" Mercedes says

"Apparently this was something he was working on while we were married and the advertisement says it's out of my birthday." I explain

"I wish he would give up!" Mercedes says

"Anyway, moving on, getting into what the twins and Joe got into it about last night...It was because Joe has known that his sister's ex boyfriend or whatever they were doing is none other that the infamous, Drake."

They both look at me shocked but doesn't say anything.

"Yeah..." I say

"But what does that have to do with the twins?"

"They wanted Joe to tell me." I say

"But why hasn't he? That's shady." Dori says

"Maybe a little, but we talked about it and I believed him when he said it wasn't any ill intentions behind him working for me. He said I became priority." I explain

Mercedes takes a sip of her drink. "I knew that nigga was too good to be true. Receiving news like that really let me down. I had high hopes for him."

"I know. I feel a little let down as well...but I can't do anything but believe what he tells me right now. I have all the faith in the world when it comes to him and I don't think he would risk losing me."

"You're pretty confident in that." Mercedes says

"I am. I know what we share. I'm really all in with Joe."

"Aight." She shrugs and sips her drink.

"Mercedes I really do love him so much. I can't see myself without him and I don't even want to imagine it. He isn't a rebound, this is real. Realer than I've ever had." I start to get emotional. "We connect so deeply emotionally and I feel like he's a part of me. When I think about it, I feel overwhelmed with emotion. I've never experienced something like this before. I'm so happy. The kids are happy and let's be honest, that's what matters. I don't want to mess this up. I love how things are right now."

"Why are you crying?" Mercedes looks at me like I'm crazy.

"I don't know. It just makes me emotional." I wipe a tear from my cheek and Dori sits in Joe's seat to hug me.

"Love can make you feel this way. It's okay." She says.

"Sounds like you're hanging by his dick." She jokes and I don't find anything funny. I'm literally explaining how I feel and she's cracking jokes. This is why I don't talk to her.

"Whatever Mercedes." I say pulling away from the hug. I see Joe walking back over to the table.

"Here we go..." Mercedes says

He gets to the table, bends down and puts his arms around me from behind. "What's wrong?" He says in my ear.

"Nothing. Just talking about you."

He kisses my cheek. "I hope it's good."

"Of course." I smile.

He wipes the tears off of my face. "You ready to go?" He asks

I nod my head yes, but my phone goes off.

"Hold on." I start digging in my purse.

"So you just gonna leave us?" Dori asks

"Yeah." I pull my phone out and look at it. "Jason said as soon as we get back to LA he wants to do an interview with me."

"Are you going to?" Dori asks

"I don't see why not. I know this could go either way..."

"Yeah and this is Jason Lee we're talking about here. He's messy." Mercedes says.

"Yeah but I would like to blur the whole Drake thing as best as possible. I know we have a son together but I just don't want to be linked to him in any way." I explain

"Too late for that." Joe says

"I know but I can try. I just want to set the record straight about everything. And I don't want to do it in a messy or malicious way, I just want to clear some things up." I say

"About Drake?" Mercedes asks. "Girl, as soon as you mention his name he's gonna be on your ass."

"That's what I hate about him. But I've gotten over that whole thing, I want him to do the same. I would like to get to a place where we can converse like Chris and I do." I say

"Not gonna happen." Mercedes says. "I believe Drake obsessively loved you, still does, and he can't get over the fact that YOU left him. I don't think he will ever get over this. You might as well throw his ass far away."

"Well, he's going to get over it because I'm here." Joe says. "And I think everyone here knows that I'm not gonna let him destroy anything that I've built. I built this relationship that I have with her and as always if he has a problem with it, he can come see me about it." Joe says then looks at me and I stand up to leave.

"It was nice talking with you guys. I'll text you after I get back from our date." I say then we leave.

What do you think about the news about Joe's sister?
What do you think is going to happy with Drake?