𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝟏𝟐: 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 - 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐔𝐩 𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝

February 27, 2023
5:52PM

"I'm actually surprised you didn't flake on me earlier" Cara pulled her scarf from around her neck and started to unzip her coat. Her and Dee arrived in Beersheba, Tennessee late last night and despite how tired they were, Cara made it her priority to convince Dee to go skiing with her the following day.

After showing successfully showing him a various amount of ski videos on Tik Tok this morning, the two of them set out to drive up to Gatlinburg which was about three hours away from the cabin they were staying at.

In her mind it was one of the best things the two of them had done together. Since they both were homebody's and didn't really like to do anything in the public because of blogs and fans.

"Yea, you lucky I really fuck with you because I usually dont do anything like that" He walked up behind her kissing her neck.

She grinned "You know I like the fact that you never say no to me. I can say let's go walk in the woods and you'll be like okay"

He stopped kissing her neck and unzipped his coat. "Nah that's dead. Ian walking in no woods for you."

"Stop the cap Deion Banks" She turned to look back at him with a smirk on her face. He hated when she said his full name. "I'm just playing. But whatever you wanna do tomorrow I'm all for it"

"Anything?" He had a few things in mind but just wanted to see how to rest of their day played out before deciding.

"Mhm as long as it's legal" She pointed at him.

"Well damn that's gone cancel out nine of the ten ideas that I was thinking about" He shook his head. Trying to be calm and good for Cara was taking a toll on him. The greatest way for him to stay calm was if he could smoke and even that wasn't enough. He needed to get his hands dirty asap! As of now he had something planned for when he got back home.

A few hours later

Cara rested her sore body next to Dee's, who was busy smoking. The main purpose of this getaway was to get more time together and that was exactly what they were sticking to. The no phone rule applied unless it was important or work related. Dee looked down at Leo who got comfortable on the other side of him. "I think yo dog high" he laughed.

Cara picked her head up to see Leo who looked very relaxed. "He seems to really like you now"

Dee shook his head "He iight, I guess"

Cara turned to her side so she was facing him and propped her elbow up so the upper half of her body was slightly propped up. "Where do you see yourself in the next five years?" In Cara's mind she had her entire life planned out but of course this wasn't a fairytale and nothing in life is guaranteed.

Dee reached over and put his blunt out. "Ion know probably done rapping to be honest. Investing in shit, making more money of course. In a bigger house than the one I got now and with you by my side. How about you"

Cara smiled. "That lil ending you added was cute but I guess reaching my goal of possibly having my own Real Estate Business. Maybe still living outside of the city or maybe even further I really like secluded areas, you know my own space. I would hope that we would be by each other's side. I don't know though you be giving me headaches" she playfully rolled her eyes.

"But yeah and I would want to be healed by then" She closed her eyes and nodded at the thought of not needing to take pills, or wonder what her mood would be whenever she woke up. "I also want a lot of kids too but that can happen a little later"

"How many?" Dee sat up with his back against the headboard. He thought Cara was too busy in her life to want kids even though she was super good to Rubin.

"Mmm maybe four or five I don't know yet. I just want to be the best mother if I can do that"

Deion's ran his left hand up and down her back as he listened to her talk. "I know you gone be good don't even trip. You passionate as hell already, you pay attention to almost everything and you strive to make everybody around you happy"

Compliments, were Cara's favorite thing to hear. She especially loved to hear it from Dee since he was so quiet and recluse. "You're so nice when you aren't around other people."

"Well I don't wanna be with or around other people so."

Cara's eyes lit up"Aww that's so cute you like being with me"

He looked down at Cara's free hand that interlocked with his. He wasn't sure if she was really picking up on what he was trying to say "Yeah however I do wanna really be with you though..like"

She sat up from her position now "Ohh you want me to be your girlfriend? Of course" her cheeks would burst if she smiled anymore harder. It's been a minute since Cara was in a relationship but she would one hundred percent on board with jumping in a new one with him.

"If we being forreal I already claimed you but I had to ask because I know how serious you are when it comes to shit like that so" he shrugged and looked over at his phone picking it up. He spent a few seconds typing something and then turned it off for the night. Throughout the entire day he would do that which worried Cara. She knew he was a busy person but he would repeat the same routine.

Cara couldn't help but ask."Why do you keep doing that? You working?"

He shook his head and pressed his lips against hers thinking that she would just let it go. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, she was still curious. "That's cute but answer my question"

He ignored her and laid his head on her shoulder while closing his eyes. "Im too high right now I can't hear you"he laughed when he felt her move her shoulder up and down. Cara was slowly growing irritated.

"Deion! Forreal" she whined.

He sighed and reached over and grabbed the phone off of the dresser and turned it back on.Cara patiently watched him as her anticipation grew stronger and stronger. Was it another woman? Why is he not focusing on their getaway? Was she boring him? Her head was bombarded with questions.

Dee pulled up the notes app on his personal phone and went to the last one that he had opened. Without looking at her he held his hand out so she could grab it.

Cara smacked her lips at how low his brightness on the screen was. "Damn vampire" she pulled the control center tab down and raised the brightness before swiping back over to the app.

The note was currently at the ending and it was obvious the last thing he had wrote was today's date. Cara scrolled to the top and her mouth slowly fell open. She started to slowly read over the listed quotations, dates, and facts. He recently created this idea of writing down everything Cara had said that either made her happy. Her favorite movie, songs, activities and even people. The quotations in the note were the things of affirmation she had voiced to him.

Cara was honestly speechless she hadn't think he was even paying attention to her this much. What stood out the most were the dates, all of them being important. From their first date, the first time they had sex, the time she agreed to go through this journey with him, and the day they made it official.

"Why you not saying anything? It's weird huh?" He wasn't ashamed he just thought that it would be something that would be look at as weird or maybe even obsessive.

Cara locked the phone and gave it back to him. "I wasn't saying anything because Im shocked. I feel so appreciated..I want you to stay this way forever" she smiled putting her hands on both sides of his face moving it closer to hers. "It's no going back from here you know that right?"

It was now almost five in the morning, the darkness still covered the sky and the sunset was barely getting ready to rise. Cara couldn't sleep her tossing and turning in the bed only ceases for about an hour before she was back doing it again. She sighed and sat up and slowly took removed the cover off of her.

Leo who was so attached to her opened his eyes when he felt the bed shift. Cara commended herself for doing so well without her phone the past two days. The goal of this trip was just about there.

Cara closed the bathroom door behind her and turned the sink on as she started to brush her teeth. Once she was done she looked in her makeup bag and pulled out the pill bottle, it was a little early to be taking it but she knew she wasn't going back to sleep. When she looked up at the mirror she nealy jumped out of her skin. Her mother leaned against the wall staring back at her.

Not wanting to be bothered she opened the pill bottle and shook one into the palm of her hand.

"Wait Cara.. I'm proud of you, You found someone to keep this going. Get in his mind "

Cara frowned and swallowed the pill dry. She grabbed her water bottle and took a sip. "Change of plans Ma"

"Are you serious? How dare you put him over me"

"I'm not putting him ov-" she stopped speaking when she heard Dee knock on the bathroom door. "Come in" she looked away from the door and back at the mirror, her mother was gone thankfully.

He looked around the bathroom and then at her "Is you cool?" he brushed past her to stand in front of the sink so he could now brush his teeth. Cara just nodded and left out of the bathroom.

"When you done meet me downstairs. I wanna do something" she grabbed her ugg slippers and robe then headed downstairs to the first level of the house. The first thing she did was light the log in the fireplace and then went to go grab two pens out of her bag and some paper from the writing pad that she found.

Dee came downstairs and looked at the fireplace thinking that maybe she was just cold. "Okay what we doing?"

Cara sat the items down on the floor and sat down right next to it. She pointed to the open space near her so that he could come join her. "Come on so I can explain it"

He hesitantly walked over to where she was but he stood up instead of sitting down. He thought about all the sacrifice movies he'd seen before as he side-eyed her.

Cara pushed some of the pieces of paper and pen towards him as she sat the remaining in front of her. "I want to do a Burning Ceremony. It's good to start our relationship like this, letting go of the past, grudges, anger, and whatever else you feel like you need to disconnect from.

She wanted to do this for a long time now and for some reason today at this very moment felt like it was the greatest time. "The fire in the ceremony symbolizes purification, a complete cleanser." Making him comfortable to do this was very important because this was something that took a clear mind to be successful.

"We are going to pretty much write down whatever it is that we want to you know get rid of, let go or however you want to put it. But it has to be something you really honestly want to go through with so nothing you are second guessing or will regret in the future."

He just looked at her "Are you a witch Cara?"

Cara put her head back and laughed out loud. Meanwhile Dee had a straight face he was so serious. "Im deadass Ion play with witchcraft"

"You out here slashing and dashing people but witchcraft is where you draw the line, Okay Dee." She calmed down from her laughter "And no I'm not a witch. If you don't want to do it you can just watch me"

Deion picked up the paper and pen as he sat next to her. "I'll do it" he had a long list of things that he could burn and let go off.

"Okay so first we need to state our intentions such as what we want to gain from this ceremony or how you would want to feel as a end result. I'll go first" she thought about what she wanted to say and then exhaled. "I want to find my inner peace"

Deion had a lot of intentions now that he was choosing what to say. "I want to release all negative aspects in my life" he looked over at Cara who was pleased with what he said.

"Okay so now you will write those things down that you want to release. For example I said I wanted to find my inner peace so I will write down things that are in the way.You'll do the same" Cara grabbed her pen and began writing away.

The silence between them was well needed since concentration was a key factor. No one else's opinion matter when it came down to your own intentions for the ritual. Cara wrote a few things such as her anger, family trauma, and her mom. Dee on the other hand very carefully chose a few things some being his mom as well, his menacing behavior, and his trauma.

When Cara noticed that he was done writing she explained the next step to him while grabbing a lighter. "So you will repeat what you are letting go and then burn it. You aren't directly saying it to me but more so to yourself. It could be a whisper or even out loud."

Cara then proceeded by ripping off a piece of the paper she had with something written on it and then mumbled to herself. He watched her do her second one and then started speaking for him. "I want to let go the attachment my childhood trauma has on my current life" he used the light to burn the end of the paper.

It felt like the flame moved across the paper slowly as if it didn't want to go. Once the flame increased he threw the piece of paper in the fire place in front of the them.

The two of them kept going until they started to get closer to their last two pieces of paper. Cara looked between the both of her pieces and folded one up, sliding it under her. She hoped he didn't notice what she did.

Deion was so caught up and fascinated with this whole thing that he didn't pay her any mind.He felt so strong about his last piece that he just stared at it. You would've thought that maybe the fire was spreading as his body temperature became hotter.

"You okay?"

He tossed the paper in the open flame and looked at Cara "Yeah I'm good" he wasn't frowning but he also didn't look too happy. He finally took his eyes off of the fire once the paper had completely turn to ashes. He then turned to Cara"If I turn into a chicken or any other animal in the morning I swear ima haunt the fuck outta you"