♫ "I'm off to better things. I'm doing shit that's going to make me elevate. Only want people around that's gonna' make me better. It's the mhm. They ask how I get that ohh." ♫

As Nikki cruised down the street of her neighborhood she sung along to Coi Leary's latest hit. She didn't see the reason as to why some people panties were in a bunch over it. Calling it "played out" or "annoying" , Nikki loved the overall message within the song.

She was off to better things.

But she couldn't lie to herself. Sometimes she still thought about that day Melanie came over. It worried her at times that she had let vial information out but she understood Melanie was in trouble. Taking that she didn't see her on the local news for murder gave her a sign of relief. Hopefully Melanie had listened and drugged King and his mystery women.

In fact Nikki was shocked herself. She knew blaming the baby on King was a bit much, but hell King going out his way to cheat was more than she expected. Deep down no matter how much Nikki wanted to lie to herself she knew King loved Melanie. She seen it the first day he introduced them.

**********

"The answer is not 69!" Nikki giggled as she erased the foolish answer from her paper. This was her third time attempting this difficult math problem and sadly she was giving up. But luckily she had the best boyfriend in the world to help her out.

Notice how she didn't say smartest.

"Baby I did it twice and that's the answer. If my help isn't going to be appreciated I can meet the gang over at Deezy's." King suggested taking a few of her Skittles while she wasn't looking. The boys had decided that tonight was going to be game night. Everyone bought one game for the crew to play. Each person would battle each other out or everyone would play at once. Snacks were suggested but they already had someone out doing that.

"This is how I know your lying King." Nikki started taking a Skittle out his hand. "69 isn't even one of the answer choices. So tell me why your really saying that?" Nikki wondered shaking her head as she giggled. King was just a person full of surprises when he wanted some.

"I thought two minutes ago you would have seen that. But now since we're both on the same path." King corrected her removing the notebook from her lap. Pulling her on top he made sure she sat in the right spot. "The answer is one-thirty six but subtract sixty-seven and me and you could sixty-." But suddenly he was cut off by the buzzing sensation in his pocket. Pulling his phone out he read the screen.

Aggy ❤️
would like to FaceTime.....

Quickly accepting the call King waited as connecting stayed across his screen. For a second King didn't have any words because he knew Nikki would be upset. Looking up from the screen for a second he seen how Nikki had quickly grabbed her phone to distract herself. But he knew she was listening and was upset.

"King?" Melanie almost screamed as her forehead could be seen glistening in the sun. From what he could see she seemed to inside her car.

"Wassup Melanie?" He questioned placing his hand behind his head. His other hand could be found smothered underneath Nikki's private but Mel didn't need to see that.

"Okay so let me-. Hold on." She started as she began to exit the car. From the sound of things Melanie seemed to be on a busy interstate or road. But why was she calling him instead of driving? "I know y'all see it's missing what do y'all want me to do go around!" She yelled as she began to wave the phone in the air.

"Mel what happened?" King wondered starting to get a little worried.

"Wouldn't you love to know." Nikki smartly mumbled as she removed his hand.

Smacking his lips he shook his head at Nikki's smart response but he wasn't about to let her get to him.

"Okay so like I was saying King. You know how I had that interview today for that office job. Well I needed to stop and get some gas so I decided to go to Benny's since it was closed. As I'm slowing down I go to turn and my whole tire comes off. Now my tire is in the-."

"Where are you? And are you okay!?" He interrupted nearly throwing Nikki against the wall. He could hear her swearing and smacking her lips but right now he didn't care. His friend was in trouble ,  how could he not help?

"Umm I think this may be 23rd. I'm not sure." Melanie stated a bit sad. "Do you know who I'm suppose to call? Like a towing company I'm assuming." She whined.

"There's no Benny's on 23rd your talking about the Benny's right before you get to The Valley." King corrected her as he began to find his shoes. He knew Melanie was never good with direction nor sense of location. And The Valley wasn't the best place to be wether it was early or at night. "Stay right there and don't move. Go inside of Benny's if you need too. But call your roadside assistance that you have. I'm about to be there in like five minutes." He explained slipping on his last shoe.

"The Valley Benny's is an almost hour drive from ESU so how are you going to be there in five minutes, but I forgot everything moves different for her. Just go." Nikki said agitated as got up and headed into the bathroom.

"Baby why are you doing that? I would do the same for you or anybody that called me. Stop act-."

"Leave King. Melanie's waiting for you anyways." She said disappointed as she slipped past him. Soon he hear the shower head turn on.

"Was that Nikki?" Melanie asked unaware of the situation she had started. "Tell her I said hey." She demanded him blind to the drama. Due to King putting her on mute every time Nikki said something.

"She said hey but look I'm on my way. Stay safe for me okay." King said grabbing his keys from off her desk as he smoothly exited the door.

"Okay I will but I have to go my mom is calling and you know how she is." Melanie added laughing a bit.

"Alright. Love you." King said smiling a bit. It was something he started sneaking into their conversation. It was called their "Friend I love you"

"Love you too best friend."

And with that the call ended and for some reason King found himself stuck at the top of the stairs. Melanie never really said it back but this time she did. And for the first time again his heart stopped like the day he first met her.

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

Trying to forget things Nikki lowered the music as she pulled into her drive through. Switching the car to park she blew a breath of relief. She had a stressful day at work and right now all she wanted to do was kick off her shoes and relax her feet. Undoing her seatbelt she turned the engine off and examined her house.

The grass was getting a tad bit too high for her liking she needed to remind Karter to cut it soon. And from the looks of it Trey had enjoyed a little outside time assuming that the football, and basket ball was laid across her yard.

Boys, she thought to herself as she began to exit the car. Almost forgetting her purse Nikki quickly grabbed her Coach purse before slamming her door. Making her way up the driveway she started to fan herself. She knew everyone had complained about the winter before but they didn't ask God to make it this hot.

Opening the door Nikki was fairly shocked. To say she had left her son and boyfriend home alone and the house was still in two pieces she was proud. Trey sat on the couch writing away at his math notebook. Whereas Karter remained in the kitchen cooking God knows what. But she had both her boys here so she was happy.

"Hey mama!" Trey exclaimed happy to see his mother. He threw down the pencil that was once in his hand as he made his way around the couch to give her a big hug.

"Don't try to sugar up your mom now." Karter warned laughing a bit as he flipped what seemed to be bread in the skillet.

"Sugar me up how?" Nikki asked as she pulled Trey's big head away from her. "And what are you burning up in my kitchen?" She wondered.

"Trey wanted a snack before you got back so I'm whipping up some grilled cheese for us. Want one?" He asked pointing the spatula towards her.

"I'll pass."

"And by the way Trey is just trying to butter you up because the book fair is coming to the school tomorrow and he's trying to get him something. I gave him eighty dollars already. So he's trying to swingle you out just a little more. Don't fall for it baby." Karter explained shaking his head.

"Eighty dollars that way more than enough. You know how much Gigi Marie gave me. Twenty dollars and I had better made it work. And she wanted her change back." Nikki said laughing at just the thought of hearing her mother say that.

"That's half the price of one book mama. But no there's going to be a whole fidget toy section coming and I really want to get some." Trey vouched giving his mama the best smile he could.

"Don't forget to tell her how you want to buy one for Briana." Karter ratted laughing a bit to hisself. He knew how Nikki felt about Trey and little girls.

"Who is Briana sir?" She questioned Trey as his smile soon went away.

"Mama she's my girlfriend but that-."

"She's your what? Trey your a child you are not allowed to start dating until when?" She giggled shooing him to the couch. Trey followed her lead as he plopped down next to her.

"Eighteen but mama I really like her. You can even meet her if you want. You too dad." Trey begged nearly getting on his knees. He just knew that one day Briana was cute and she made him feel fuzzy. Or more like he wanted to give her a hug whenever.

"Woah slow your road player. We don't need to meet her yet. It's okay I understand I had little crushes back then too." Karter explained plating their food.

"Was mama your crush in high school?" Trey asked picking back up his pencil.

Nikki eyes immediately met Karters. But the last thing she wanted to do was give Trey the truth on how he was created.

Karter took a moment to answer but soon he appeared from around the corner with two white plates with grilled cheese on them. He sat one down in front of Trey and one in front of him. "We'll actually your mother was my best friend. She was the most annoying female I knew but I enjoyed every second of it. But then one day I got that fuzzy feeling and I knew I liked her. We made a couple mistakes here and there but one thing we never did was loose the love for one another. So in that sense she's more than my crush." Karter finished as he starred directly into her eyes.

Nikki had never heard Karter say something like that in fact the only thing she could remember were the fights they had. But she couldn't argue with him on this one at the end of the day Nikki and Karter loved each other.

But why couldn't she let go of King. Maybe she was too afraid to admit that she was one of those people that had let a good one go. And no matter how much she tried King was wrapped around Melanie's finger.

"We'll does that mean that I can buy the toy for Briana mama?" Trey asked not even acknowledging the sob story his father had just gave him.

Rolling her eyes Nikki reached into her purse and fumbled around a bit. She could feel the loose bills shift around her fingers. Taking a guess she collected two bills and quickly pulled the out the dark whole.

"Here's forty now after this don't ask me for no more money. Understood?" She stated shaking her head.

"Clear as day." Trey responded grabbing his notebook and heading upstairs. Karter turned to Nikki and shook his head.

"I hope your enjoying your son becoming a ladies man that quick." Nikki mentioned laying back against the soft cushion. She swore headaches from work were worst than normal ones.

"I guess it's true when people say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Karter mentioned shrugging his shoulders. He too leaned back into the cushion relaxing a bit.

"I hope your talking about y-."

Suddenly there was a loud knock to the door causing both Nikki and Karter to become startled. Confused the two shared a look of concern as they both worried if they had invited someone over.

Suggesting that they took to long another loud knock to the door came. This time Nikki wasn't waiting around to play the guessing game. Fixing her scrubs she hurried to the door.

"Who is it?" She asked nicely as if the person could or would care about the tone in her voice.

"ES Police Department!" The deep voice answered causing Karter to almost give hisself whip lash.

"What the hell did you do?" Karter mouthed afraid if he whispered the now known officer would hear him.

"Shut up! Coming!" Nikki shouted as if she wasn't standing directly behind the door.

Opening the door Nikki's face immediately put on the fakest smile she could pull out. Her eyes quickly met with the tall, dark skinned man. If she could've put an age on him she would guess around his mid forties. He was bald but still kept a well maintained beard that seemed to be full.

"Good afternoon to y'all." He greeted them with a warm but stern tone.

Karter never let his eyes leave from in front of him he simply gave the officer a quick wave, all while attending to his phone.

Nikki could feel her words chocking her as if she had two strong hands wrapped around her throat. Her grip on the door seemed to get tighter as she still tried to present this innocent smile.

"Hi, what can I do for you today officer?" She questioned.

"I'm looking for a Nikki Shores?" He mentioned moving his hands to the front of his belt. He rocked hisself on his heels a bit as he waited for an answer.

Nikki couldn't see but Karter had blew a breath of relief as he replayed Nikki's name being asked for.

"I'm she. What seems to be the problem?" She wondered extremely confused as to what he could have possibly want with her.

Reaching into his back pocket he pulled out a folded up stack of paper. Despite it being a stack Nikki could see that it couldn't be no more than five pages. "Your being served. There has been an restraining order placed against you. You are to appear at court on the following date. If not a warrant for your arrest will be put out ma'am."

"A warrant?!" Karter nearly shouted turning his attention away from the television. Despite Martin reruns being on right now Karter was more worried about Nikki.

A warrant was a serious matter, Karter thought to hisself. How had Nikki managed to get herself into something so stupid?

"A restraining order? A warrant? Sir I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job but you have the wrong person. Have a nice day." Nikki reassured him as she began to shut the door. But without a second thought the officer's hand quickly stopped the door.

"Ma'am if I was you I wouldn't do that." He warned withdrawing his hand back to his belt. His left hand rested on top of his taser. Using it was not in his plans but running off wasn't in the plan either. He simply wanted to do his part and return back to the office. "Now I asked you a couple seconds ago was there a Nikki Shore here."

"Hey sir look shouldn't you have a warrant or something before invading someone's home. Our child is home and your here busting our door down practically." Karter chimed in as he now stood on side of Nikki.

"Your wife or spouse is the one that tried to shut the door when I'm trying to issue out important papers. So let's be real here who's in the wrong. Now you don't have to physically take these papers but they will be left with you. Like I stated previously Mrs.Shore." He paused as he removed his eyes from Karter to Nikki. "You are to appear at the following court date if not a warrant for your arrest will be placed. Now you two have an good evening." He continued before placing the papers on the nearby swing Nikki had on the porch before walking off.

Nikki and Karter both shared a look of confusion as they watched the officer back out the driveway. It was like her feet wanted to walk towards the paper but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Grab the papers Nikki!" Karter yelled frustrated that she was just standing there dumbfounded.

"Don't yell at me! I was just about to get them." Nikki shouted back as she scrunched her eyebrows. She couldn't understand how the main person who needed to be in cuffs or with a warrant wasn't getting threatened.

Never mind he's one traffic light away from being gone, Nikki thought to herself as she snatched the papers up and marched back inside.

"And close my door since you want to yell at people." Nikki instructed as she plopped down on the couch.

"You need to be worried about those papers. Who would put a restraining order on you?" Karter mentioned smartly as she stepped over Nikki's feet. Sitting down next to her he grabbed the remote and turned up the volume again.

"If you let me read maybe I could find out." She mumbled as she began to scan the papers. Of course she would have to wait til she was alone to really read deep into it but right now she needed to know 'who?'

Yes she understood she had enemies and an ongoing beef with Melanie but she knew for sure they were good enough. Hell she had helped to cover a whole murder so turning on her wasn't in the picture.

"It should be somewhere in the beginning or like the third paragraph." Karter said pointing at the papers before returning his attention back to the television.

Taking a moment Nikki looked at him. "And how would you know that?" She wondered.

"Before I got serious with you my ex tried to place one on me but I beat it. I proved to the judge that I was the one that actually needed one. She completely forgot that I had documents of the damage she did to my car, clothes, etc. Was a waste of a court date to me. Here let me see it."

Nikki truly wondered on why she picked Karter sometimes. She didn't know whether she was disappointed or just over right done with him that she didn't know how to leave. Listening she handed him the paper as she pulled out her phone.

Something made her want to text Melanie but what would she say. Hey did you accidentally put a restraining order on me when we were beefing? Nikki thought to herself.

"It's King." Carter said blankly.

Nikki didn't let the words register at first because she knew for sure that Karter was messing with her. "Karter I need you to stop playing for once. You never take anything serious and I'm getting sick of it. Give me my papers back if your going to be-."

"Kingston Wright. In bold print." Karter interrupted her as he held the paper up to her face. Making sure his finger stayed on the fine print that read King's name.

For a second Nikki felt the world pause. Things seemed to move in slow motion, her heart rate dropped as if she wasn't breathing at all, and her vision became fuzzy. There was no way in hell that King could scoop that low. And she knew for sure Melanie had handled him!

Snatching the papers out his hands Nikki quickly stood up. She begin to pace back and forth as she cursed under her breath. Her fist were clinched as her heart began to almost beat out her chest. From Karter's view it seemed like steam could be seen blowing out Nikki's ears. But in his eyes he didn't see why Nikki was upset she literally stalked the man for the last five years plus. Not to mention his