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Mercedes POV

Shawnie had just got done telling me everything. She also told me how she and Joe had sex, which I already knew. Her underwear has been sitting on the island for hours. She must've forgotten about that. I could say if she would've moved them Drake wouldn't have known about it but he heard them. But now what's going through my head is they had sex in the living room... Where? I don't want to be sitting where they were doing it.

Drake Drake Drake. That motherfucker needs to let it go. I don't understand why he's holding onto something that has been over since before it even started. She doesn't want him anymore and I see it being a major problem when she actually tries to move on. I feel he's going to be worse than Chris. When she first broke up with Chris, he was in shambles just like Drake is but Chris eventually toned a lot of his psycho bullshit down. I don't think Drake is capable of that. He's already broken her down so much that she sees him, and just doesn't know or see anything but him. But if he is successful and getting back with her, I don't think she would be able to leave him again. But I am ready for when he decides to step it up a notch with his crazy because I'm probably gonna have to call an old friend of mine, and officially end it. That's going to be fun.

I walked out into the living room to meet Dori. She was going to tell me about the conversation she and Joe had. I felt this whole thing was a little weird because I think Joe is stupid for leaving. How the hell is he going to let Drake run him off? I feel like he's being a coward and he's leaving my cousin open for whatever Drake decides he's gonna do to her. I think this whole situation can be avoided if they just talk, but on the other hand, I don't know what exactly happened and what's going through his head. So that's why I want to talk to Dori so I can get his side of the story.

We both come out of the rooms at the same time and lock eyes. Something is up.

"What?" I say

She just shakes her head.

"Is it that bad?" I ask

"He's leaving. I tried to talk to him, but there's nothing I could say to change his mind." She says

"Do you think it's something I can talk him out of?"

"No. I think he needs to do this for himself. He says he's going to leave for a week and he's going to call her and we'll see after that." She says

"Damn. Okay. So what is she supposed to do until then?"

She shrugs.

"We can stay here with her. She's moving into her house soon, hopefully things will be back to normal by then."

"What if it's not?" She asks and I don't have an answer for this. This is such a mess. For him to just leave her like this and we have to pick up the pieces and scramble to fix is is so fucked up. But he has to do what he has to do.

Just then she walks out of her bedroom.

"Y'all can stop whispering about me." She says as she walks into the kitchen.

"We're not whispering about you, we're trying to figure out what to do." I say

"Yeah, we're going to stay with you so you're not by yourself." Dori says

"Shawnie, we need to get on the phone with Chris." I say. "We need him to talk to his manager for you. You need security. Now that Joe is out, you're very open and as soon as Drake finds out, he'll be back."

She walks over to us. "I don't want to get him involved. He's gonna wanna know why Joe is gone. That's going to be another whole conversation I don't want to have."

"It's not like you have an assistant to take care of this, otherwise they could do this and we wouldn't have to call Chris." I say

"But I don't."

"Right, because Drake made sure you didn't have anything for yourself and he had you use his team. Now you're forced to do things on your own...so this is what we have to do." I say

She doesn't say anything.

I just shake my head. "He was really trying to tear you down. I'm happy you got out of that."

"I see that now, and he's still doing it. I feel like he's running people out of my life one by one. I feel like he did this with Joe. If I would've stayed strong against him this would've have happened."

"But your human and you made a mistake." Dori says. "It's okay. Well find out a way to fix this." She assures her.

We hear Joe's bedroom door open and he walks out with luggage.

"Not that I was eavesdropping, but it's not like you guys were whispering either... but this situation isn't all his fault." He then looks at Shawnie. "I'm leaving because I need a break."

"A break?" She says shocked.

"Maybe break isn't the right word for me to use but I'm doing all of this because I need to. I need to take a step back and see everything for what it is. To be honest, I need to make a decision about if I want to stay in this situation with everything that's going on. I don't regret any of this and I don't want you to think that. I don't even want you to think any of this is your fault. It's based on me and how I feel and how I have been reacting to things. It's just not in my character. I'm calm, I always think things through, I don't react off of a lot of emotion... I did all of those things with Drake and I'm just not feeling it. It's not you Shawnie, it's me. Don't be sad about this."

"You're literally my security blanket. What the hell am I supposed to do?" She says, pleading with him.

My cousin is scared. I feel so bad because as soon as she got out of the bad situation she was in, this happened. I see this is going to take a toll on her.

"Well Shawnie, I think this is a time where you need to really contemplate on what you want to do with all situations that you have going on right now. You can't rely on him anymore." I say

She doesn't say anything. She just looks at Joe.

"I don't like this." Joe says, "...and why are you looking at me like that?"

"Can we talk?" She asks

"Shawnie....I can't talk to you. This is already hard for me. I don't want to make this harder..." he says

"Please, Joe."

"I can't." He says

She just stares at him. She wants to cry. This is hard to watch.

"This is bullshit. Whatever... just go." She says. She's hurt, she's not mad.

"Aight." He says, then he walks over to her and hugs her. He kisses her on the top of her head, picks up his things and leaves out.

She went into her room.

I didn't know what else to do so I called Chris. I told him everything that happened and asked him for info on getting her a manager and security. He said he would take care of it. He also said he would be over later tonight.

Dori and I ended up sleeping on the sofa. We wanted to give her time alone.

**********

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. It was like 8 am. Shawnie hadn't come out of her room for hours and I wasn't going to bother her so I answered the door.

When I opened the door I saw Drake and four Beverly Hills police officers and his security standing behind them.

"What are you doing here?" I ask

"Where's that bitch?" He says, walking in but the police officers stay outside of the door.

"Who are you talking about?" I ask him but he doesn't respond. "What's going on?" I ask the police.

One officer speaks up. "We're here for Joseph Anoai. We're here to ask him some questions about what happened between him and Drake. Drake claims he got into a physical altercation with him and wants to press charges, so we're only here for questioning."

I look at them shocked. This motherfucker brought the police here? He is unbelievable. What a bitch move. I can't have the police all in my space.

"Officer I've been here all day and no such thing has happened." I say. "Joe isn't even here."

"Is his Mr. Grahams wife here?" One officer asks

"Yes, his soon to be ex wife is. You know, this is ridiculous and a waste of your time. He's losing his mind." I say

"Can you get her and bring her to the door?" He asks

"Sure." I turn around and she's walking out of her bedroom with Drake. "Shawnie, would you tell them Drake is flat out lying about this. I tried to tell them I've been here since last night and nothing happened."

I hope she catches on because if she fucks up this lie I'm gonna beat her ass myself.

"Yeah, I don't understand what's going on." She says

"Shawnie?" Drake says

"What? You brought the things I left at your house, we talked and you left." She says. "What the hell did you bring the police here for?"

"What?" He says in disbelief. "You're trying to say I'm lying?"

"What are you trying to say?" She asks, Drake.

"He's trying to say he got into it with Joe." I say

"Joe isn't even here." She says

"Exactly." I say.

"How did his ribs get injured?" A different officer asks.

"I don't know." She says, then looks at Drake. "How did you injure your ribs?"

He just looks at her for a few seconds and he just shakes his head. He looked disappointed in her. I think he thought she was going to side with him, but she didn't and he didn't like it. 

"Fuck it!" He says, then walks out.

"Are we done here?" She says to the police.

They really don't say much but one gives me his card and tells us to contact him if we remember anything. He knew we were lying and he also knew that we weren't going to say anything. They were only here because "Drake" told them to be. And this isn't even how shit works. This visit was bullshit, and they knew it was. There wasn't anything they could do about it so that's why they left.

Shawnie went back into her bedroom and I didn't see her until later the next day.

***********

A few hours later, Chris and his manager, Anthony, came over. Chris said hello to Dori and I, then he and Genesis went into Shawnie's bedroom. I was left to talk to his manager. Never seen or talked to this man before but I guess we're gonna start today. We had small talk until he actually told me what they were there for. It was so nice because they actually went through the process of hiring security, and finding an assistant or her. I thought they were just gonna pass the information along but Chris actually did it for her.

They brought over two guys, Kevin and Ben. Kevin didn't talk much. He seems all about business. He looks like him and Joe run in the same circle. Ben was cool. He was more talkative and asked a lot of questions. Both guys were previously in law enforcement and had a lot of training. So far I was satisfied but we needed to make sure Shawnie was okay with this change. Joe has only been gone for a day, so we didn't know how she was going to take this.

The assistant that was hired was highly recommended by Chris' manager. Her name is Olivia. After going over some of the people she's worked with and her skills, I felt she would be a good fit for Shawnie. Of course all of this really isn't my decision but I'm just trying to help her out. She has the last say in all of this but she's been locked in her room so I think it's time to drive her out of there.

Shawnie's POV

"So he's just gone?" He asks

"Yes." I say playing with Gen. I don't want to get too much into details because I don't want him to feel like he has to stick around. This isn't his problem, it's mine.

"I know there's more to the story that you don't want to tell me and that's fine but I just want you to know that Anthony and I hired an assistant for you and two security bodyguards."

"Two? First of all Joe is gone but he still works for me. He's just taking a few days for him to get his mind right and then he's coming back. I don't understand the point of even hiring these guys, let alone two." I say

"We don't know if he's coming back."

"He's coming back." I say

"Okay." He says, "I think it's better for you to have two. And it's going to take you twice as long to get comfortable with them. I know how comfortable you were with Joe, but I always had a problem with you having just him anyway."

"So now I have to have two random people living with me?"

"They don't have to live with you. You make that decision. My security doesn't live with me but I'm also not a woman so if you want them to just stay around that would be fine too, but ultimately, the decision is yours." He says

I understand where he's coming from. I'm just not fond of the idea of having two bodyguards. I think Joe is enough. Joe is still here and I just don't see a reason for them to be here at all. Joe is all I need.

"Aight. Whatever." I say

We hear a knock at the door, and Mercedes pops her head in. I just look at her. I guess she took that as an invitation to step inside and close the door behind her.

"Mercedes, thank you for taking charge in this situation. I don't feel that we should've hired two security guards when Joe is coming back." I say

"We don't know if he's coming back. If he is, we will go through that when we get to it. The fact is he's gone right now and we don't know how long he's gonna be gone. We can't have you going out with no security. Drake is still too active right now. He could do anything. I don't put shit past him."

"I just won't go anywhere." I say

"You can't just stay in. You have things you need to do. You're about to move into the house. You have kids. You can't just stay in the house and you can't just be out. This is what we decided to do. As I'm sure Chris told you, he's taken care of everything and you have an assistant now. We're only trying to help you out. You have a lot going on right now and the fact that you have a crazy ex-husband running around, who's bringing police to your doorstep, you have to be secured. I know you love having Joe but it's time to let professionals take over now."

"That's true." Chris says. "If they were in charge, he wouldn't have even been able to get into the building." Chris says

"We're only looking out for you so you can learn to live with it but I don't care if you're upset. This is for your safety. So come out here and meet the guys. I think you'll like them. I think you'll like the way they look. They look like two Joe knock offs." She laughs.

"I understand what you guys are saying, and I know it may not seem like it right now, but I appreciate you guys. I am still in shock. To be honest, I'm a little depressed because I don't know how I'm going to manage right now. I didn't realize how much I put into Joe, so it's just taking me a little time to process."

"It's okay." Chris says. "Plus I'm about to go out of town and you know I'm gonna be uneasy. So I had to take care of this."

"What do you mean you're going out of town?"

"Jasmine and I are going to London for a week and then we're gonna be in Paris for a couple of days after that so I'll probably be gone for a max of two weeks depending if we stay a couple of days extra."

"When are you leaving?"

"I'm leaving tonight. That's why I'm dropping Gen off."

"Wow. You should've given me a day or two notice but whatever. Have fun. Happy you guys are doing well." I get up and walk past Mercedes and out into the living room.

I look at the two guys sitting on a sofa, and I understand why Mercedes made that comment. I don't know how much I like them. One looks like he doesn't know how to say no to tattoos and then the other one... I don't know. He has a little innocent look to him, but bad ass at the same time. His eyes have a lot to say if I had to choose one of them, I would pick the smaller one.

"Hello, I'm Olivia." A brown skin woman stands up extending her hand to me.

I shake her and say hello. I really don't have much to say. It's just been a lot of information these last couple of days and I guess I'm still trying to process everything.

"Do you have anything you want to say?" Chris asks

"No thank you." I say then walk back into my room.

Chris' POV

I just watch as she goes into her room. I've never really seen her be rude like this to anyone, we'll anyone that works for her, but for some reason I don't want to call it rude. I know she's pretty down about what happened with Joe but these guys didn't do anything to her and I don't necessarily know how to take her reaction to them.

"It's been a lot going on. I apologize but I think we're gonna have to do this another day. Um, Olivia, we will be in touch and security, I guess you guys can just sit outside the suite." I say

"Yeah, whenever you guys need something, just knock. I'll check on you guys and if you guys want to leave and get something to eat that's fine too. I just don't want both of you to leave at the same time. I'm going to talk to her and figure everything out and see what she wants you to do." Mercedes says

Mercedes, Dori and I watch as they all leave and my manager walks Olivia out.

"So should I go back in there and talk to her or should you?" I ask

"I'm not talking to her. She's in one of her moods and it's clear that she wants to be by herself so let's just leave it alone." Mercedes says

"Well, she's gonna have to get over it because Genesis is here and she has to take care of her." I say

"She's going to be fine. She's not depressed or anything. She's just in one of her moods. You know how she is." She says

"Yeah, I do know and that's why I'm a little concerned. She gets like this every now and then and I understand that but I also can see how her being like this can slip her into depression. I don't think it's just Joe. I think it's a mixture of all the Drake shit and the situation with him leaving didn't help."

"She's very comfortable with Joe and to be honest I don't see her having that level of comfort with these new guys. I did see her expression change when she looked at Ben but I don't think they will be around long."

"So is this motherfucker coming back or not?" I ask

"I honestly don't think so." Dori says

I let out a side of frustration. "I'm supposed to be leaving for two weeks and I know I was trying to get all of this situated before I left but I don't know if I can go with her like this."

"We will take care of her. Go on your trip and have fun and spend time with Jasmine or whatever y'all are going to do. I'll check in with you and keep you posted on everything that's going on here but don't cancel your trip. I know you're worried about her but she'll be fine. Plus Uncle Steve is flying in to help with moving."

"Aight. Well, call me if you guys need anything. I'm leaving out tonight and just keep me posted because if I need to come home I will."

I say my goodbyes to everyone and I leave.

Thoughts?