This is a long chapter. I didn't realize it was so long, almost 5000 words. So happy reading!!!

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Shawnie's POV

"What was that about?" Dori asks

"Nothing." I start to get up but she stops me by grabbing my hand.

"Don't tell me nothing. I know it's something." She says. "What's going on with you two? For real. Don't lie to me."

"Okay...Joe and I have kissed a few times and we came very close to doing more than that when we were in Vegas."

"Fuck him." She says with a shrug.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"For one, I don't want to complicate our situation."

"Oh honey, it's already complicated."

"I know, I'm trippin. I should've have said anything. I don't know what me problem is." I say. "Secondly, I know I'm not ready for someone like him. I have too much shit that comes with me, and I feel like he's too good for me. I think I would fumble him big time."

"Don't say he's too good for you because he's not. If it's meant for you it would be. Remember that." She says. "You like him, don't you?" She asks

"There's something there, but I'm not gonna say yes." I sigh. "I was doing so good. I need a drink."

"Doing good what? Hiding it?" She asks

"Avoiding it." I say

"Oh. You don't need a drink. We had enough tonight already.  Come on, let's go to bed." She stands up and takes my hand.

"You staying? I don't want to sleep in that king size bed by myself."

She smiles. "I'll stay with you."

We stayed up talking until we fell asleep. Which wasn't long after.

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

I had probably been asleep for a couple of hours and I heard my bedroom door open. I thought it was Dori leaving, because she ended up staying with me so I paid no mind. I turned over to my stomach to adjust my position and saw she was sleeping on the other side of the bed. I popped my head up to look at the door and I saw Joe closing the door lightly.

"What's wrong?" I whisper

"Nothing." He walks over to the bed. I notice he doesn't have on a shirt, or pants. Well he had on pants but they were pjs.

"Then why are you here?" I ask, remembering I was mad at him.

He doesn't say anything. He pulls the blanket up and scoots in the bed, making me slide over to make room for him. He pulled me to him, making me lay on his arm and he wrapped the other around me.

"I didn't sleep with her." He whispers in my ear. "I wasn't going to. That was the furthest thing from my mind. And after our little argument, I couldn't stop thinking about you and that made me disinterested in her..."

I smile to myself but don't speak, I just continue to listen.

"...I'm sorry I left." He says, then moves my hair and kisses the back of my neck.

I turn over to face him and respond but he doesn't let me. His lips attach to mine and we make out for a few minutes. After a few minutes, I begin to feel his erection poking me. We were pretty into it, then he broke the kiss.

"I'll put a condom on right now if you want me to."

I shake my head and go back in to kiss him. "I still don't want to cross that line, and have sex with you. This is spray hard enough."

"Then we won't." He says and I lay my head on his chest. "Go back to sleep."

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

The next morning, I woke up still in Joe's arms but Dori was gone. I was assuming she went home but I heard talking coming from the living room. I moved to get up but Joe held me in place and kissed my forehead.

"Good morning!" He says, removing his arms from around me.

"Good morning." I slide off of him and sit up. I look around from the middle of the bed, as I try to catch the other voice in the living room. "Who is that?"

"I don't know. Mercedes? One of Dorian's friends?"

"I'm gonna see.." I climb out of bed and go into the bathroom. I brush my teeth, wash my face and brush my hair back. Joe did the same. I threw on a robe, Joe put a shirt on and we walked out the bedroom.

"Good morning, sleepy heads!" Dori says

"Jey? What you doing here?" Joe says, walking to him and giving him a hug.

"Surpriiiise!" Dori says, throwing her hands up.

I laugh.

"You're surprising me?" Joe says

"Yeah. Well, both of you."

"I guess it's safe to say you guys stayed in touch." I say

"Yeah, he loves me." She smiles, then reaches over and pinches his cheek.

Jey smiles, "...we haven't gone a day without talking since Vegas."

"That's so cute!" I say. "What about Trey?"

"He's cool but Mercedes and I decided she could have him because we both think he likes her a little too much." She explains, "So, I thought we could have the day and chill together. Jey's never been to Toronto, I wanna show him around."

"That's nice of you but I have to get back to the kids. This was an in and out kinda trip."

"Oh, well it's me and you then." She says to Josh.

"I'm good with that." He says

"It's good to see my cousin though, even if it's for a couple of hours."

"Oh, um, Shawnie, you might wanna check your phone. A new story came out about an hour ago." Dori says

"I just don't have the energy..."

"No ma'am." She says, "You might wanna see this one."

I exhale loudly. "I don't care about Aubrey..." I go to get my phone. I see the story and I just laugh, but it's not funny. It's actually a little alarming.

DRAKE SEEN DRUNK, FALLING DOWN IN CLUB W/PORNSTAR SOPHIE BRUSSAUX.

It's the fact that he's slowly hurting his own image. It's clear it's becoming harder and harder for him to keep it together with all of this going on. It could be something else but it seems this is linked to our problems.

"Drake was spotted dancing, drinking and falling down in a nightclub in Turks and Caicos. Sources say they saw him cuddling up with pornstar Sophie Brussaux earlier in the night and they left together. This is odd because this is on the heels of the divorce announcement filed by his estranged wife, Shawnie Roberts. Seems Drake is having a hard time accepting the news...or happy about the announcement. Sources close to both sides claim he's been wanting to get back together and wants to work on the marriage but this isn't giving those vibes. Seems Drake is living his best life."

I sigh, "I have no words." I say

"Yeah..." Dori says. "Maybe you should call him."

"For fucking what? My lawyer thinks it's best if we don't speak. And I don't have anything to say to him. I hope he gets better. Anyway, we have to get ready to go. I have to get to the kids, and I have other engagements I need to attend."

"Damn you don't even care to at least give him a call. I mean it's pretty obvious that he struggling with this too." She says

"I'm not calling him." I say, "And if you ask me, he's coping pretty well... He's out with a porn star. She can help him cope with the lost of his marriage."

I didn't say anything else, I didn't have to. Everyone knows why I'm like this towards him now. It's well deserved. He put me through a lot and he might've not been whooping my ass. Every chance he got, but I was definitely abused. I have tried so hard to move past the whole drowning me in the bathtub incident, but I just can't. I'm more angry with him now than ever. I've had a lot of time to process a lot of the shit that's been going on in my marriage, and outside my marriage and although I do have feelings for him, I'm tired of his shit. He's put out many stories that have been inconsistent and just flat out not credible. Crazy enough, people believe Aubrey is making up lies. They know from previous stories that he's a certain way. His plan backfired on him. I didn't come out looking bad, he did. And what's even crazier is people were on my side.

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

Chris' POV

I only had one more show left, and that show was taking place in LA. Everybody was coming out to the show including Shawnie and she was bringing Gen. I know she's young, but my daughter has never seen me perform before and I know she's not gonna understand exactly what's going on but I'm excited. She's turning two next month and we have been planning her party to take place at my house and even though Jasmine wasn't talking to me, it was a pretty good time for me.

I love seeing Shawnie side stage. It just does something to me. I know she's on her whole finding herself journey, and wants to date and be single, but I still firmly believe that she will be my wife. I think we'll get it together one day. I'm excited to see her, I haven't seen her since Las Vegas. Of course, we've talked over the phone and through FaceTime but not face-to-face. 

I was a little nervous though. Shawnie hasn't been on stage with me in years and neither has Diamond. She wasn't bringing the baby though, she was just coming. I was hoping Jasmine would be there but I know she's not. I wanted the three of them to come and support me, hang out with each other and just see each other. Not gonna happen, it'll just be Shawnie and Diamond, how it's been recently.

Everything was super chill before the show. As usual, Diamond, Shawnie were getting along, and I was spending time with Genesis. We were getting ready to have her birthday party in a couple of days and I'm kind of still in shock that I have a daughter, who's about to turn 2. That's crazy. It seems like it was only a few months ago that we had her. Having my daughter has really changed me and I could definitely say she's changed for the better. Before I make stupid decisions, I think about how my daughter would think about me and it snaps me back to reality. Quick.

There wasn't anything I could complain about. The show came and went, and it went off without a hitch. Everything was perfect. That's rare because there's almost always something happening but I can say tonight was a really good night. After the show, I had the meet and greet, and then we all went out. Everyone got along and there was no drama. It was a very simple night, but it meant a lot and the only thing I can say is it was perfect.

**********

Shawnie's POV

It had been two weeks since Joe and I went to the hockey game, and Aubrey made Amanda put out the story that I was cheating on him. I think it's actually pretty funny because it kind of backfired on him because three women came out and said that he had been messing with them. Also, let's not forget about the porn star he's been spotted with. Such an embarrassment.

I haven't talked to Aubrey. We have been communicating with Christina as a go-between for us to get our son from one parent to another. I personally think this is absolutely ridiculous, but he is being very petty and childish now. I was refusing to talk to him at first and now he is refusing to talk to me. This has been happening ever since I showed up at the hockey game. I'm being advised not to talk to him as well, but I am willing to break those wishes because I feel I need to speak with him about our son. I was all for it in the beginning but now I see that it's ridiculous. We have a whole child together and we can't speak about pick ups and drop offs.

So that's what I'm going to do. Fuck all of this bullshit that they're talking about. I think it's so stupid because we should be able to communicate even if it is arguing. I don't care anymore. I'm about to end all of this.

I called Aubrey and the phone rang and then it went to voicemail. Of course he's not gonna answer. I'm not mad at it. I guess he is either busy or really not talking to me. Oh well. I haven't talk to him since I called the police on him and that's been a couple of weeks.

A couple of seconds later, my phone rang, and it was Aubrey calling me back, so I answered.

"Hello?" I answer

"You know we're not supposed to be talking." He says

"Fuck that. After all of the back to back calling you did, now all of a sudden you wanna listen? We have a son together and we should be able to communicate when it comes to him. All of that divorce shit has nothing to do with Atlas." I say

"I agree. They don't want me to talk to you, so I was just going by what my lawyers and everyone was saying, but I don't agree with it. I should be able to talk to you about whatever issues we have going on, especially when it comes to our son." He says

"Good. I'm happy we could agree on something." I say

"Listen, I want to address the shit that's been coming out about me. All of that is the result of all of this going on with us. I'm reeling a little bit. I'm sorry you have to read this shit." He says

"A lot." I corrected him. "You are reeling a lot. But I don't care about that. How you cope with things is how you cope with it. I just don't want my son around your hoes."

"I wouldn't do that." He says. "I'm sorry for embarrassing you."

"Anyway..." I dismissed his apology. He isn't sorry he did the shit on purpose.

"Why are you being so short with me?"

"You know the answer to that. Anyway, as you know, our lawyers have been in communication with each other, and they wanna do mediation. I am down for that, but I think we need to discuss some things before we get in front of these people."

"Like?"

"Well, first, I actually do have some things I wanna say." I say

"Shoot." He says

"You did all of that hooping and hollering about being Mr. Perfect and not wanting to ruin your reputation and you were out there cheating this whole time? Like, the whole time."

"Maaaaan."

"I know you don't want to talk about what you did, but I have to say, you really had me convinced at one point. You swore up and down that you were not cheating on me, that you would never cheat on me, and that you only wanted me. All of that was a crock of bullshit."

"Shawnie..."

"I'm not mad, I am just shocked and in disbelief. I just have to say... You wanted everyone to believe that I was cheating on you the whole time, but you were actually the one who was cheating... The whole marriage. You let several different women gather information on you, save it for a rainy day, and that day was two weeks ago when they came out on your ass to say you had been with them."

"They lying on me." He says and it sounds like he's not even trying to convince me.

"They not because I personally talked to five other women in Toronto, and I paid them to leave us alone. There were three women that came out and none of those women were the five I talked to. Did you even love me?" I ask

"Yes." He says

"I find that so hard to believe."

"I know you do, and I'm sorry. I put myself in situations where people could lie on me, or take pictures of me doing some shit and that's my fault because I should be more aware of shit going on around me. I did, I do love you. Despite all of my shit you're the only one that I really want to be with and I tried to tell you that, but like you told me many times it was too late and I regret it."

"All of that may be true, but it really has nothing to do with what I'm saying. it sounds to me like you're upset that you got caught. I really wish you would've come to your senses a lot sooner, because I was happy to work things out with you after all of what you did to me. But whatever, we're over. I need to know what you're gonna do as far as the proceedings go." I say

"You already know. I told them to give you whatever you requested. You will get the money. They're going to open a bank account and your money will be there. I already ordered you a jet and the only thing I am asking for you to rethink is for me to keep the hockey team. You have no interest in that. I don't know why you're coming for it. Showing up at that game was bullshit and you know it."

"It got your attention, didn't it? You left me alone after that." I say

"Yeah, that was bold of you to do that. Showing up as owner after the details of the divorce came out was somewhat of a power move. I understand." He says. "But can you not fight me on that? I want to keep the team."

"Whatever. You can have it." I say nonchalantly. "I don't want it anyway. I'm going to make money off of that regardless."

"What about my house?"

"What about it?" I ask

"I bought that house long before I met you. You're not entitled to that regardless of what these lawyers say. You're going to get the house because I know exactly how they're going to argue this. They are going to say that I spend most of the year in Toronto and I'm there less than six months. Then they're going to say I made you sell your house and move in with me. I can't fight that...I can but I won't win. I'm asking you, can I please keep my house. I will buy you whatever house you want so you don't even have to touch your money, but I just want to keep my house." He pleads with me.

I sigh. A wave of emotions come over me, because even though all this bullshit is going on, just talking to him, like this, him being super calm, not being disrespectful towards me or anything, is really making me feel bad for our situation. I don't need the house, I don't need the team, he can have those. I don't even need the money. I can always say that he wants to make sure I am taken care of and he's going to go above and beyond to make that happen but I just really feel bad for us right now.

"You can have the house." I say. "I'll start looking for houses in Calabasas. Aubrey all I wanna do is hurt you as much as you hurt me. The only way I can do that is through things.."

"Being out with someone that is supposed to be my boy ain't hurting me?" He says

"....... I wasn't in Vegas with him. He was just there and I already had the trip planned. We ran into each other and he invited me to the pool party and to the strip club. I wasn't on a secret vacation or whatever bullshit the media was trying to say." I say

He exhales loudly. "Aight, whatever you say Shawnie. Even if that's the truth, seeing that shit killed me."

"Clearly it didn't, you're still breathing. And don't you think all of the things that you've done to me didn't hurt me? Aubrey, you tried to drown me, tried to end my life and scare the shit out of me because you were jealous. You've choked me out numerous times. Are you fucking serious right now? You're mad because I was seen out at the same place with someone you know? They don't even compare."

"The last three weeks have been hell for me. I went out to Turks but I couldn't even enjoy my stay. I'm not in a good place. I'm only back here because I know we have mediation. I don't even understand why we need to do it. I'm giving you everything you want. You want all the money, you got it. You want to split custody, you got it, you want spousal and child support, you got that. What is there to mediate?" He says

"I appreciate your honesty and I'm sorry, but this is just what has to be done. I feel bad about the situation. I feel bad that you are having a hard time with this. I'm having a hard time as well but I know that I have to do this for myself. I'm standing on this and I am not changing my mind about it." I say

"But I was there for you and I was giving you everything you needed. Everything."

"But you weren't giving me the you that I fell in love with. I understand your career and I understand that that's all you have but what you didn't understand is you had your career but you also had a family and you had a son that you needed to spend time with. I'm not saying you're a bad father because you're not, but I'm just saying you needed to spend more time with your family. I didn't ask you to retire, nor did I ask you to step away for years at a time. I just asked for more time spent with us. Meaning, don't schedule so many out of town appearances. You lived your life as if it was still just you, and not four of us."

"I get that and I tried to fix that and that's why I announced my retirement. I was going to give you guys a good five years. My plan was to take that time away and come back when he was older to where if I had a go out of the country he could come with me, or whatever the case was. That was my intention. I realized what I was doing and I realized it too late. I know that, so I was trying to make this shit right." He explains

"I appreciate all of that, but there is no way that you are going to talk me out of this divorce."

"Shawnie..."

"Listen, I want you to work on your anger and just do whatever it is you need to do to fix the things that you have going on in your head. You have a lot of rage in you and I don't know why you're so obsessed with the relationship that Chris and I have but that is always going to be something that threatens your sanity. I know that's the reason why you lashed out a lot of the times and I think if I just remove myself and Chris from this entire situation then that will give you time to reflect. If I am not yours for you to get upset about that, you have no reason to come at Chris or get upset with me because I'm spending time with him. I know you're gonna feel a certain way every time you see us together but it's not going to be the same because I'm not married to you anymore. I need to work on myself and I need to know what being single is like. Married life isn't for me."

"You just wanna fuck other people." He says

"No. I felt like I have lost who I am. Between my relationships with you and Chris, I was all about y'all and I became engulfed in you guy's life, and I just wanna have my own identity again. Yes, I want to date. That doesn't mean I want to sleep around."

"I don't wanna talk about this bullshit anymore. I'm giving you what you're asking for. I'm tired of talking about it." He says in a disrespectful manner.

Ladies and gentlemen, Drake has entered the building.

"I don't want to hear about you wanting to date and be with other people and just throw me to the side. You have alotta fucking nerve. I made you." He spits

He has lost his damn mind.

"Excuse me? You didn't make shit. You must've forgot that I didn't want any of this. And if you want to get technical, Chris made me." I say, purposely pushing his buttons.

He scuffs. "Aight. Is there anything else?" He asks

"Nope."

"Well, I'ma go. Love you." He hangs up.

I don't even know what to say after that conversation. I really thought things were going in a good direction, but then he just completely flipped the script on me. Whatever, I'm happy I'm not gonna have to deal with that anymore. His ass is worse than Chris.

I put my phone down on the table in front of me. I was trying to take a second to calm down and relax but the phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw it was Aubrey calling back.

"Awww shit! Here we go." I say to myself, picking up the phone. "What?"

"I'm sorry." He says. "I just don't know how to deal with this. I'm mad and I don't want to blow up on you, and I'm trying to keep my cool. But I'm sorry that just happened." He spoke in a calm tone. I could tell he was being genuine and honest. He seems like he's trying to work with me.

"I know it's a lot to handle right now. Going through a divorce is a lot and it's emotional." I say. "I didn't think it would be like this."

"I miss you." He says. "Before this is all over, I want to see you."

"I don't think that's a good idea." I say

"I know it's not but we control what's going to happen with us so we should do whatever we want. I'll come to you, I need to see you. That would make me feel better." He says

"What about making me feel better? I don't know how seeing you would make me feel." I say

"Please." He pleads. "I need closure."

I think about it for a minute and I think we should. It's really not my place to give him closure, I don't owe him anything, not after what he's done, but I think I need a little bit of closure too. This should be good for us. We haven't seen each other since he showed up here unannounced and I had to call the police on him. Maybe we should do this.

I roll my eyes like he can see me. "Fine, but you come here and we can meet somewhere." I say

"Private." He says

"Of course."

"Thank you." He says. "I'll leave within the hour. I'll shoot you a text as soon as the wheels touch down."

"Okay." I say then end the call.

I go downstairs and see Joe sitting outside on the patio. I need to tell him what's happening so he can prepare if he needs to.

I walk outside and sit next to him. He puts his arm around me and pulls me close to him.

"What are you doing out here?" I ask

"It's nice out, thought I'd enjoy it. What's up with you?" He asks

"I'm meeting Aubrey."

"No you're not." He says

"We have to talk about a couple of things so he's coming here. I'm going to set up a meeting at Hard Rock. I figured I can get a suite where you and his security can be there and we talk in another room. We both need this to be as private as possible. No cameras anywhere."

He lifts his arms from around me and sits up, basically pushing me off of him.

"I don't think you should do this. My sister was meeting with her boyfriend one last time and he fucking killed her." He says

"Joe, this isn't the same situation. Aubrey isn't going to kill me. You will be there with me. We're just going to talk."

"What do you need to talk to him about that you can't have a phone conversation?"

"We need closure." I say

"Closure is bullshit. Give me another reason."

"Listen, I know how you feel but you know I'm going to do what I want." I say

"Yeah...just like my sister. I'm not knocking you for wanting closure. I just think that that excuse is bullshit. He just wants to see you." He says

"I know, but if anything goes wrong you're there." I smile

"Yeah. I don't want you alone with him." He says

"Joe, just please don't give me shit about this."

"I'm not trying to.. it's just you were doing so well."

"And I still am. I don't plan on doing anything to change my mind. I'm divorcing him."

"Okay. It's not my decision to make. I don't like it, but I'll just do what I'm told and shut up about it." He stands up and walks away.

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