𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝟐𝟎: 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐳- 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝

11:20 AM

Ari frowned as Bari continued to laugh. Everyone was pretty much chilling inside of Cara's house as they prepared to get on the tour bus. For the past ten minutes Ari had been trying to figure the riddle out that he asked  her.

"Gang. Listen to it one more time" Bari stopped laughing so he could ask her again. "You in a dark room. You got a candle,  a gas lamp and a stove. You only got one match left. What do you light up first?"

Ari irritatedly rolled her eyes. "My answer is the same, the candle...or lamp" she looked around for validation of her answer. Cara just shook her head and then looked down at Demi, who was Dayvon's daughter, one of Dee's closest friends. Cara had been holding the little girl since they first arrived and had no plans on giving her back until the guys were about to leave.

"Alright I give up since I'm wrong. What's the answer?"

"You have to light the match first, Ari..." Katie finally answered correctly.

Ari kissed her teeth. "Whatever. You know what I meant" she mushed Bari while walking past him. Ari stood next to her best friend, wondering why she had been quiet the entire morning. The only few words everyone heard from her were either "Okay" and "Yeah". The only person she really had a conversation with was Demi and that didn't count since it was just baby talk.

Everyone could feel that her energy was off but were also used to giving her some personal space first before questioning her. "Are you sad because you can't go?"

Cara shook her head. "Nah I was never sad. Mad? Yeah but I got over it. Maybe we need a quick little break from each other"

Ari placed her hands on her hips and straight faced her friend. "Now you know y'all can't be away from each other for more than twenty-four hours. Stop it Cara" The both of them laughed.

Dee from across the way looked up when he heard them laughing. He was busy talking with Monica but his mind was focused on Cara. She was being very distant with him the past few days and this morning she barely said anything or acknowledged him. He planned to come see her everytime they had a three or four day gap in between some stops, that is if he didn't have any hostings or meet and greets.

When him and Cara's eyes met he motioned for her to come over to where he was. He watched as she gave Demi back to Von and made her way over. "What's up?"

He pulled her closer to him and she she immediately wrapped her arms around his torso. "Everytime I call you better pick up your phone. I don't care if you're in the middle of your performance you better tell them they have to wait"

He nodded and kissed her forehead "Anything for you Cara"

•

Katie got comfortable on the sofa. "Oh right! Back to that topic. That night once we went back to my house she was acting so strange and then all of a sudden she called her daughter down and told her that they were leaving. It was so random. Did Dee saying anything?"

"I asked him if he knew her and he said no. He said he never seen her before" Cara shrugged.

"Do you believe him or you think it's a lie?" Ari butted in to the conversation. "What who is this person yall are talking about?"

Cara sighed. "I definitely want to believe him because he usually doesn't keep important information or things away from me. I guess it's just because this person just popped up out of nowhere it makes it hard to understand what's going on"

Cara stretched her body out dramatically. "I miss my man yall"

"Girl it's only been two hours" Katie chuckled and got up to head to the kitchen. "Ouuu let me tell yall about what this man did this time"

Ari nodded. "Mhm let me order some wine right now. I know it's going to be a long night" she laid back on the sofa.

Cara didn't say anything she pulled out her phone and went back to the Instagram page of Karin she had found. Nothing was unusual on her page. She posted her daughter a lot and some of her family members. Cara was about to swipe up and leave her page but one of the pictures caught her eye. It was obviously an older picture of her and Keisha when they were younger.

Three Weeks Later

The long nights in the office were starting to become a norm for Cara's weekdays. It eased her mind and also kept her busy so her days could easily go by. With it being Friday she decided to wrap up as soon as possible so she could meet up with her friends.

She neatly moved all of her documents to their proper files and put away anything else that she wasn't going to take home with her.

A few other people seemed to be in the building as well but she just walked past their offices, going straight to the elevator. While waiting there she glanced down at her phone again and seen that she didn't have a call or text from Dee.

He was supposed to come back home soon but she also just loved talking to him before his shows. It was her way of thinking she was his good luck. Cara could feel somebody's presence next to her as she quickly looked up. She rolled her eyes and wished that the elevator would hurry up.

"Nice to see you too Cara" Michael smirked.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned.

Michael shrugged. "Well when you pulled that little stunt with your boyfriend I reached out to another agent from here just for a creative collaboration"

Cara side eyed him. "Out of all of the agencies in the state of Illinois, you decided to continue working with us?" She got on the elevator as soon as the door open and he did the same.

There was a complete silence as the both of them looked straight ahead.

"You know Cara you shouldn't be dealing with someone like that. You're better than that I know you are and I can't wait till the day that he gets his karma" Michael broke the silence.

Cara furrowed her brows. "What are you even talking about?"

He chuckled at how clueless she was acting. "You know what I'm talking about Cara" He let her step off of the elevator first and kept a nice amount of space between the two of them.

Cara quickly walked to her car and got in. She didn't start it up just yet as she sat there thinking about what he could've been up to. Why was he all of a sudden starting to come back around more often.

She knew that anyone who wasn't a agent parked two levels above the level she was currently on. Cara pulled out the pocket knife from her glove compartment and got out. She effortlessly poked her front tire with the knife and then closed her driver seat door. She leaned up against the door and waited to see Michael drive by.

A few minutes later his car was slowly passing by and he drove past her. She smirked when she seen his brake lights and then reverse lights come on.

You would've thought that he would know the right choices by now. "You good?" he asked as he rolled the window down.

Cara shook her head no. "I have a flat tire. I'm just going to wait on someone to come get me"

He waited a few seconds before telling her to get in. He could see that she was about to say no but he continued to insist that it was the safest thing for her to do. It was late at night and not too many other cars were around.

Cara sighed and grabbed her purse out of her car before getting into his. "Are you sure? You don't have to drop me off" the first thing she noticed was his phone sitting in the cup holder.

He waved her off and asked for the address of the place that she wanted to go. Most of the ride was quiet as he occasionally looked over at her. Cara smirked and crossed her legs while fixing her skirt catching his attention.

"You could've had a completely different life Cara. Never have to work just sit around and look pretty yet you decide to-" he cut his sentence short when Cara broke out into tears. She used her hands to try to wipe the tears as quick as she could.

Michael who felt like he had successfully broke her silence pulled up to the nearest Walgreens parking lot. He parked and then turned to her. "You good? You can talk to me Cara"

Cara went quiet as she sniffled trying to get herself together. "I just need a Kleenex do you have one?"

He looked in the center console and then ran his hand over his pocket for his wallet. "I'll be right back" he got out and started walking to the entrance of the store.

Cara stopped fake sniffling and grabbed his phone from the cup holder.  "This shit too easy" she mumbled to herself.

There was a four digit code as she assumed it would be. She first tried his birthday, which wasn't it. She then tried the four digits of his address. That wasn't a success either.

She sat back in the seat so she could think to herself. She tried to remember all of the past conversations the two of them had. "Oh wait" she tried the numbers '0305' and smiled when she was able to get in the phone. Thankfully she remembered that he was from Miami aka the 305.

Cara didn't have much time so she went to the messages first just to see if anything out of the ordinary was there. Plenty of work messages appeared as she continued to scroll. She then glanced up to make sure he wasn't coming and then went to his camera roll.

Nothing out of the ordinary so far until she kept scrolling up she seen pictures of herself in his phone. Lots of pictures of her most of them were from her social media while the others were pictures of her while she was out and about and unaware that someone was watching her. She wasn't sure if he had took these himself or if someone else had been following her.

There was one other picture that caught her eye and it was the one she had seen of Keisha and Karin except this time it was the full picture. On the other side of Keisha was Dee which meant two things. Karin cropped him out on purpose and that Dee lied about knowing her.

Why would he lie to me?? Cara thought to herself.

Cara took multiple screenshots of some of the pictures and sent them to herself. Once she was done she permanently went to delete the thread and the screenshots. Her timing was impeccable because as soon as she was done Michael was leaving the store. She placed the phone back in it's original spot and sat back in her seat.

"My bad it took a while there was a line" he noticed that she wasn't crying anymore. Instead she looked pissed.

"You're fine. I realized I was just having a moment" she gave him a fake smile as he started his car up again.

He gave her a weird look and slowly nodded before pulling off. "Okay"

Cara was a bit more talkative now since she didn't want him to suspect anything. Once they arrived at the destination Cara collected her things and opened the door for herself. She didn't have the patience to wait on him to come over to open it for her. "Thanks so much Michael. You just don't know how much you've helped me out tonight"

Her smile dropped as soon as she turned around. She twisted the knob to Ari's front door and went in, making sure to lock the door behind her.

Both Ari and Katie's eye's were wide as Cara scrolled through the screenshots.

"I can't believe you just be breaking into people houses and phones Cara.I swear if I ever need to get into something you'll be the first person I'll call" Katie laughed and then stopped when she seen how serious her friend was.

Ari grabbed the phone and went through the pictures again as she shook her head. "Cara these are like some super private investigator type pictures especially the ones with you and Deion. Are you sure you haven't seen anyone following you?"

Cara uncrossed her arms from over her chest and downed the rest of her drink that Katie made for her. Her nerves were really getting her now. She hadn't thought about a investigator or anyone in fact following her. "Following me for what though?"

"Maybe they aren't following you. Maybe they are following Dee. You said you didn't see the person that recorded yall after the club right?"  Ari gave her friend the phone back.

Cara nodded. "Yeah i was thinking maybe it was maybe a fan or something I don't know"

"Seems like more than a fan" Katie added.

All three of the girls looked at Cara's phone as it rang in her hand. Cara just stared down at it looking at Dee's contact name. "Should I answer?"

"Uhh yes why are you even asking that you know if you don't answer he will probably fly out here to check on you" Katie pointed to the phone.

Cara answered the phone "Hold on" she looked at her friends as she slipped her shoes back on. "Ima talk to him outside" she made her way to the back door.

Katie and Ari waited thirty seconds before going near to backdoor to eavesdrop. Katie pushed Ari's head "Damn move your big ass head she will see the damn shadow in the window"

"Shut up" Ari shushed her and they both put their ears to the back door. "It sounds like she out there yelling. Nah this deeper than some damn pictures"

On the other side of the door Cara lowered her voice. "Dee I'm just saying why would you lie to me? I asked you did you know that bitch and you sat up there and said no" she looked at him crazy through the camera.

Deion sat there unbothered. "I don't know her and if I do I just don't remember her"

Cara went on to send him the picture she now had in her own camera roll. "You remember her now?"

Dee squinted at the picture and then ashed the blunt in his hand. "Where you get this from?"

Cara froze up she didn't want to say she was with Michael. "I got it fro- wait why does it matter. Answer my question!"

Before he could answer the production crew came in his dressing room. "We need you on stage in two minutes." A few of the other members came in to check the ear piece and microphone for him.  "Cara Ima call you back as soon as I get off stage"

"You better off talking to your dead homies before you think Im answering my phone later. I don't have shit else to say to you" She hung up the phone and clutched it tight in her hand. Cara sat there questioning herself as to why he felt the need to lie. She left nothing but open room in their relationship for honesty.

She just brushed the feeling off and turned to go back inside. She smacked her lips when she seen Ari's shadow and heard Katie's voice. As she stepped in she had no choice but to chuckle when Katie and Ari attempted to act like nothing was happening.

Katie pointed at the window seals. "See this is where I want them to do some renovations Oh! Hey boo is everything okay?"

Cara smiled. "Yeah I'll be fine I honestly needed that conversation"

Katie's door bell rang and their heads snapped in the direction of the front door. "Damn what now!?" Cara threw her hands up in the air, completely over the entire day.

Katie pushed Ari towards to door. "Go open it"

"Katie it's your house" Cara mushed her.

"So.. You know Ari ass acts tough let her go open it"

Ari flipped her off and walked to the door. She looked through the peephole and then moved her head away "Awww Hell Nah!"