Joe's POV

"What's going on?" I hear Chris say as he approaches the truck.

I shake my head and roll my eyes. This is the last person who needs to be here. I don't say anything. I don't even look his way. I just look out the windshield. He's about to make this situation worse.

"She's hysterically crying. She's saying she hates Drake and she doesn't want to go to the house."

"What happened?" He asks.

I start tapping my finger on the armrest. I'm trying to keep cool because now I'm irritated.

"We were just smoking and she started freaking out." Dori explains

Chris walks over to Shawnie's side of the car and opens the door. I watch him in the rearview mirror.

"How much did she drink?" He asks, sitting her up, pulling her into his arms.

"A lot." Dori says

"Shawnie?" He says her name and she looks up at him.

"Baby..." she says

He holds her as she cries in his chest. "What's wrong?"

"I hate him so much. I don't want to go back there. I don't want to stay another night with him. I didn't want this, but I promised him I would hold off on making a decision but I just want to be done."

"Then be done." He says

"Can I stay here with you?" She pouts at him and he smiles.

"I'm sure you can, but that's not a good idea, baby. Jasmine is here." He says

"Chris?" He looks at her like he's thinking.

If this motherfucker tells her yes, I'm stepping in.

"I want you to stay but...you know...you can't babe." He says. "He's not even there. Just go home and go to sleep. You won't even have to see him when he comes in."

"He wakes me up when he comes in just to tell me he's home."

"Has she done this before, Joe?"

"Nah. This is a first." I say

"I've never seen her like this. She's had little breakdowns but this is new." He says

Chris was quiet for a minute. He was thinking hard about what to do. He looked down at her and kissed the top of her head.

"Aight. Come on.." He steps back, holding her hand for her to get out of the car.

"Nah." I open my car door and get out. "You can't be serious. You're not about to take her in there with you and your girlfriend?"

"What else am I supposed to do? I can't leave her like this." He says

"Watch out." I slide between Chris and the door, pushing him out of the way and stepping between them. She dropped his hand and laid her head on the back of the seat. She was so gone. Her eyes were closed and she was kinda out of it. I didn't think she was drunk like this.

"What you gon do?" Chris says from behind me.

"Not take her in the same house with my fucking girlfriend." I spit back

"Maybe if I take her home and try to talk to her a little more— or go get my shit. I'm not leaving her like this." He says and I just look at him like he's crazy.

"Chris, you can't leave Jasmine." Dori says

"But I can't leave Shawnie either."

"Bro, cut the cord." I say. "You need to back the fuck up and let me handle this." Now I'm getting pissed off. I get that he's worried and doesn't want to leave her side but he has to. Just like she needs to cut the cord, so does he. I actually believe she already has, it's just the situation and openness she has with him.

I turn and look at her for a second. I place my hands on her face holding it steady. "Shawnie, I'm taking you home okay?"

"Nooo."

"I know but you can't stay here with him." I say

"She doesn't want to go with you." I turn around and start walking towards Chris. He's pissing me all the way off.

"WELL I SAID SHE AINT GOING WITH YOU. GO IN THE HOUSE WITH AND BE WITH YOUR GIRL!!" I yell

"YO WHO THE FUCK YOU YELLIN AT?!" He yells back at me.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!! She ain't your responsibility."

"Oh and she's yours?" He says

"YES." I yell

He just stands there.

"GO!" I yell again, pointing back at the house.

I started to turn around and walk back to the car, but this motherfucker decided he was going to come at me. Me, instantly going into security mode, I quickly turned back around, picked him up by his legs, took him down and slammed him on the ground.

"OH MY GOD!" I hear Dori yell.

"Stay down, Chris." I say

"Nigga get yo bitch ass off of me." He tries to push me off. I was almost laying on top of him, my forearm on his chest, pinning all my weight on him so he couldn't move.

"Ima let you up but you can't try to attack me again. I don't want to hurt you." I warn him.

"GET OFF ME." He yells

I get up and try to help him up but he swats my hand away.

"Fuck you!" Chris says

"What are you so mad for? Because I'm not about to let you play both these women?" I ask

"Man, get the fuck out of my face." He starts walking towards Shawnie and I stop him.

I stand in front of her, so he can't get to her. He couldn't see past me.

"You don't have to worry about her. Ima take good care of her, like I've been doing. I got her." I didn't have to say that but this motherfucker just tried to attack me. I'm not forgiving. I don't need to be friends with none of these motherfuckers. Fuck them all. They are going to need me before I need them.

"Chris, just go. I'll make sure she talks to you in the morning." Dori says

"You a bitch!" He says, finger in my face.

"Yeah. Okay, Bitch..." I know he's mad but I'm not about to let him do whatever. We don't need him getting into her head and having her thinking it's okay for him to leave his girlfriend right now. I'm going to take her home and I'm gonna make sure she's safe and he can try calling her tomorrow.

He starts to turn away, but Shawnie says something.

"Joe, will you sleep in the room with me?"

"Yeah, I got you." I say, focusing on her now.

"Oh, I see what this is." Chris says, voice irritated, hurt even.

I look up and see him staring daggers at me.

I look at him, daring him to try me. I'm trying to be cool. He better get away from me.

He shakes his head, and walks away.

I turn to face her. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep. Drake is not going to allow me to sleep in the room with you." I laugh a little thinking about the shit he would try. He will probably try to kill me.

"Okay." She lays down in Dori's lap.

"Um, what did I just hear?" Dori says

"It's nothing like that. Sometimes when she's having trouble sleeping, I sleep in the room with her. I don't sleep in the bed, I sit in the chair or on the couch, but I just stay there until she falls asleep."

"Oh... do you want me to come back to the house with you guys? I could just sleep on the sofa to make sure she's okay."

"No but thank you. I'm just gonna take her home and get her into bed. I'll tell her to give you a call in the morning." I say

"Okay." I watch as she slides out of the backseat, laying her head down on the seat and closes the door. I close the other door and get in the front seat. I wait until she gets into the house and closes the door then I drive off.

I highly doubt Chris and I are cool after tonight. But clearly no one else is going to tell him, so I'll be the enforcer.

Shawnie's POV

Okay, so, I was a little bit more intoxicated, and I thought I was. I was completely wasted. I think I would've been okay after we left the bar but I started smoking and it just took me to another level and I was completely fucked up. I was so high that I was like stuck. I could see and hear everything that was going on around me but I just didn't wanna move.

I cannot believe Mercedes said some of the things she said to me. I understand she was upset with me and I understand that there is a little bit of jealousy when it comes to Joe, but she didn't have to react the way she did. I understand her frustrations though. The only person I've ever had that I talk to like that was Cassidy and when she decided to switch up on me, it was just Mercedes and I. Ever since Mercedes has been in California it's like I'm not a priority to her, even though I've brought her out there to be with me. I love the fact that she and Trey are trying to make something work. I am all here for it, but I feel like she should've been with me.

I felt like at that moment, Dorian was really trying to help me. She didn't care about everything that was going on. She was only trying to make sure I was okay and I will be grateful for that, because if that girl was not next to me telling me everything was okay I don't know what would've happened.

It's just a lot of stuff going on in my head and as usual, I just wanted to stop the thoughts that were going on in my head. I don't want to admit it, but I have been drinking a lot more lately and I have been getting high almost every day. I just like to feel calm and not have to worry about my problems.

I'm happy that Chris and Aubrey have somewhat put their differences aside. We'll see how long that lasts. Aubrey isn't going to stay with this. I hope they do, but I don't see this happening for longer than a couple of months. If he's serious we will see.

Even though Chris and Aubrey seemed to be good, that whole thing was stressful. Aubrey walking away from the table and the whole conversation with Jasmine, I tried to remain calm the whole time, but I was freaking out on the inside. The shit that Jasmine and I talked about could easily have been me hating on their situation, and she could go back to Chris and tell him all of this shit that could have seemed like I was talking about him. I was just happy it turned out to be positive.

I felt like I was thrown into the situation, and even though it turned out good, I still had very high anxiety. Aubrey wanted to do this, so I just went along with it. I'm happy I did, but the anxiety of not knowing what was going to happen going into that had me on edge the whole time. The fact that we could actually sit down and have a couple, many drinks together, says a lot about the maturity between both of us women. I'm not sure I can say the same about the men.

I didn't see everything that happened between Joe and Chris but I heard it. In my mind, Joe whooped Chris's ass, and there was nothing I could do about it. I know Chris was only worried about me and I might have tried to push the situation a little bit further by asking to stay with him. I know it was not something I should've asked, but I did anyway. I'm happy Joe stepped in because that would have been a horrible situation for everybody. I'm happy Joe said something but I don't like that he basically tackled Chris. I know Chris just wanted to make sure I was okay.

When Joe and I got back to the house, he picked me up and carried me in and brought me up to my bedroom. He laid me down on the bed and put a blanket over me.

"I'll be right back, okay?"

I nodded my head and he left the room.

I tried to get comfortable but these jeans were tight as fuck so I decided to get up and change into my sleepwear. I stumble my way into the bathroom and I start stripping out of my clothes. I take everything off except for my panties, and I just throw a robe on.

I walked out of the bathroom as Joe was walking back into my bedroom. My robe was open and he must've seen my breasts because he kinda freaked out, covering his eyes.

"Oh, shit! My bad. I thought you were in bed."

I laugh. "Joe, I'm not shy about shit like that. It's okay." I stop and I tried to tie up my robe but the room was spinning and it was a hard task. "Help me."

He removes his hands and nervously laughs. "I went to get you some water." He sits it down on the dresser and walks over to me. He closed the robe quickly and tied it for me.

I smile. "It's okay to look."

"It's inappropriate." He says, picking up the water again.

"It's fine." I climb on the bed. "Thank you for getting me back safely."

"Do you feel any better?" He walks over and sits in the water on the nightstand.

"Not really." I say as I grab the water and chug it.

"I appreciate you so much. You've gone above and beyond for me. If I didn't have you around I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing." I say

He smiles. "I told you in the beginning, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I was serious. Now lay down and get some rest." He brings the chair up to the bed and takes a seat.

I lay down and just look at him. He picked up his phone and started scrolling. "You deserve a nice thank you gift."

He laughs, "For what?"

"All that you do for me....a nice watch or something." I say getting comfortable. "You like watches?" I ask

"I don't need any of that." He says

"I'm gonna get you something." I say

I close my eyes, then I think of Aubrey. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to be around him but I'm really trying to make this work for these couple of days.

I sigh, "Joe, what am I going to do about this?"

"Well you just have to make the best decision for you. It seems like you've already done that. Just stick with it." He says.

"And Mercedes?"

"Y'all are family. Let her cool off. Everything will be fine. And when it comes to Drake, let's just get through tonight." He says

I see something in his eyes, I can't read it. I feel like he's trying to tell me something without saying it.

"I don't know if I can but okay." I say.

"Get some sleep before Drake comes back." He says

"Okay." I close my eyes and try to get some sleep.

Aubrey POV

I was out with the guys. We had been out for a few hours and I was missing Shawnie. The dinner wasn't really a dinner but it was cool. Turned out better than expected. I was ready to go but they wanted me to stay out drinking with them but I just want to get back to Shawnie and cuddle with her. I'm trying to save my marriage. I needed to save my marriage.

I checked my phone for the hundredth time. She hasn't texted or called me all night. I was fed up, I've been away from her long enough, I needed to see her face.

"Aight!" I stand up from the table.

"You leaving?" Oli asks

"Yeah, I'm leaving. I gotta get back to my baby. I'm trying to get back in her good graces."

"What you do?" He asks and they all laugh.

"Man, shit ain't been good for a while and I'm just trying not to give her a reason to come down on me. I gotta get back to her."

"Man, stay out for another hour. She ain't gonna trip off of a couple of hours." Chubbs says

"Nah, Ima go home and eat my wife's pussy, try to make her love me again. That's more fun than this..."

"Damn! What's going on? Is it that bad?" Chubbs asks

"You know a little of what's been going on."

"But I thought y'all were good now?"

"Nah." I say. "Apparently I've been fucking up ever since we got married."

"That ain't true." Oliver says. "She loves and adores you."

"Same with me. They're just other issues I don't want to talk about."

"Figures. You never want to talk to us about anything anymore."

"Well, that's my wife. I don't need to talk to y'all about everything going on in my life."

"Aight. Is there anything that I need to know?" Oliver asks

"We're good. You don't have to worry about anything."

"Aight." He says

"So ima go." I grab my phone off of the table. "Well, there is one thing...."

"What?"

"Check your ig..." I say then I walk out of the restaurant.

Security escorts me to my awaiting vehicle. I get in and I look at what I posted.

Instagram

Champagnepapi

Champagnepapi On stage is where I love to be but being on stage isn't where I need to be right now. I got married, and had a kid within a year. I'm a family man now and I need to take some time off to be a father and husband. I know this may come as a shock to everyone and you may want answers and explanations but all I ask is that you respect mine and my family's privacy. ✌🏽

*****

Can't believe I'm really doing this. I just announced to the world I'm taking time off from music. I'm retiring for her. This is what she wants me to do. This is also what I need to do to prove to her I'm serious. I never thought I'd do something like this, and for a woman. Granted, it's for my wife but this is something I need to do, for her and for me. I surrender.

I get to the house and I go straight upstairs to the bedroom. The door is open so I just walk in. I see Joe sitting in a chair at the side of the bed, on his phone and I see Shawnie asleep on the bed. She had on a short robe and knowing her, nothing underneath. Her cheeks were almost showing. I was livid.

"Get the fuck out." I say calmly but his face just upsets me and he's in me bedroom I'm sharing with my wife.

"I already put one of you on your ass tonight and I'll do it again. None of that is necessary. She just wanted me to stay with her until she fell asleep." He says standing up and putting the chair back.

"She's sleep. Get out!" I say

He smirks at me then puts his head down. "Have a great night." He says then leaves, closing the door behind him.

I walk over to her side of the bed and lean down next to her. "Baby?"

She starts moving around and her eyes pop open. "Hmm?"

"I'm home."

"Okay?" She says as if I'm bothering her.

I laugh, "You had fun tonight, huh? You're fucked up."

She starts laughing. I stand up and step out of my shoes. I unbuckle my belt, then unbutton my pants and drop them. I sit on the bed next to her and I take off my shirt.

"How much fun did you have?" I start rubbing her thigh.

"Not enough. I'm awake."

"Really?" I untie her robe and open it, exposing her breasts. "You missed Papi?"

"You? No. Your dick, maybe." She smiles

"You want my Dick?"

She looks at me and nods her head. "Your dick makes me happy."

"What about me?"

"You don't." She says

I roll my eyes. "You make me happy though."

"That's tuff..." She says and it kinda pisses me off.

"Why you gotta say some rude shit like that?" I ask climbing up on the bed, positioning myself between her legs.

"Because I don't like you."

I grab her face by her chin, "You don't like me?"

She shakes her head no. I forcefully kiss her, shoving my tongue into her mouth. It surprised her and she instantly tried pushing me away. After a few seconds of fighting me, she finally calmed down and kissed me back. I pulled away and looked at her. She ain't saying shit now.

"I wanna finish what we started earlier." I say

She doesn't say anything but she nods her head up and down.

"We haven't had sex in months..." I say kissing her neck. She been refusing to have sex with me for a while, maybe she won't do it this time.

"I just wanna feel your tongue on me."

I don't say anything else. I sit up and pull her panties off. I don't waste any time giving her what she asks for, like always.

Shawnie's POV

This motherfucker is the devil. He keeps eating it while I'm squirting all over the place. I had to kick him off of me.

"You made a mess." He says with a smile, wiping his face. "I love when you do that."

He comes up and kisses me. I kiss him back because he had me. I was horny as hell and I needed some dick. It's been too long since I had some. I know I said I wasn't going to have sex with him but fuck it, I'm here.

"You want me to put it in?" He says between kisses.

I nod my head yes. I know how I'm going to play this. I don't want him to think this is something it's not.

I let him have sex with me for a few minutes. It was nice. It's always nice. I love having sex with him and I love how good he is at it but like I said, I don't want him to think this is something that it's not.

I flip us over and I get on top. I ride him until I come, and after I came I rode him for a few more seconds, then I got up. I climbed off of the bed and was about to walk into the bathroom but he stopped me.

"What are you doing?" He asks

"I'm done."

"I didn't nut yet."

"Oh okay." I say

"Shawnie?" He says laying there dick standing straight up.

"What? What do you want me to say? Thank you?" I say, then walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me.

I was feeling good, even though I was still feeling drunk. I got what I wanted. I believe he knew what it was before he started. He'll be alright.

I walk over to the tub and turn it on. I get in the tub while the water is filling up. It's a shame that every time I get in the bathtub I have flashbacks of him trying to drown me. I hate it. I'm really dealing with ptsd from events that went on in this relationship.

Once the bathtub is full. I turned the tub filler off and I tried to relax. I know I've said this before but I made my mind up a while ago about moving forward with the divorce. I wanted us to work out our differences and take the steps that were necessary to make our marriage work but as much as he says he wants to he just won't act on making it happen. I know I told him that I was going to wait until this trip is over but I am just not able to do that. I don't even think I'm capable of staying here the full three days, not even until tomorrow. I just want to be home in San Diego where no one bothers me.

I'll lay my head on the back of the tub and close my eyes.

********

When I woke up, it was the next morning. The water was cold, and I could see that the sun was just starting to rise so I've clearly been in here for at least 3 hours.

I let the water out, and I got out of the tub. I wrap myself in a towel and brush my hair up into a tight bun and wash my face and brush my teeth. I just stood there, looking at myself in the mirror for a minute. Did I really want to go through all of the drama surrounding this trip and my marriage? Because that's all this trip is, a way of him prolonging our divorce. I'm not even 100% sure when I say he's trying to work this out on this trip. I'm just over it.

I gather the few things I have in the bathroom and I'll pick them up and I walk out into the bedroom. I see him in the bed, knocked out. Interesting, because he rarely sleeps like that. I walk over to my luggage and I pull out sweat pants and a T-shirt. Luckily, we just got here yesterday, so I haven't unpacked.

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand, and I texted Joe to meet me outside of my door. I knew he was up already because he gets up at the crack of dawn every morning and runs a few miles. Hopefully he's already back from his run so I don't have to wait for him.

I slip on my clothes then I quickly and quietly gather all of my things from around the room and I put them in my suitcase. I'm leaving. I can't do this another minute.

I quietly open the door, and I put my suitcase outside. As I was going into the front pocket, I saw Joe walking up, looking like he just got out of the shower.

"We leaving?" He asks

"Yes."

"Aight. I'll go get my things together."

"I want to leave right now, so can you do that within five minutes?"

"I can do it in three." He smiles

I pull out a manila folder, and I zip my bag back up.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. I am going to leave them for him to sign and just hope he does the right thing. We already talked about it and he agreed so literally all he needs to do is sign the papers and then file and hopefully shortly after that everything can be over."

"I'll take your bag right now so all you have to do is walk out. I'll meet you at the door."

"Okay." he walks away, and I walked back into the bedroom.

He was still knocked out, and I was baffled that he is getting the best sleep of his life right now. As long as I've known him, he's never slept this heavy. Before I could walk into the room and he would wake up so the fact that he is out like this is crazy to me.

I stand there, and I look at him for a couple of seconds. I'm not having second thoughts about this, but I just really, really wish that things could've been different between the two of us. I believe if we both would have done what we were supposed to do with this situation, then things would've turned out so much more differently. I did some things for the wrong reasons, but my heart, and feelings for him were genuine. I know he loves me and I know that he doesn't want this but as much as we both don't wanna do it, it has to be done because we will just be stuck in this cycle and I want more and better for myself.

I placed a folder on my pillow and then I walked to his side and I picked up both of his phones and I put both of them on DND. I sent them back on the nightstand and then I took my ring off and put it on top of his business phone. I stare at him for a couple more seconds, before I leave quietly, closing the door behind me.

What are your honest thoughts on this chapter??