𝗲𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀..

"Baby?" Kori called me causing me to look up from my phone.

"Hmm?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Can we talk? "He asked

"About what?"

"The argument that we had a couple of weeks ago... it's been on my mind a lot and I feel like we need to address it. " He spoke.

I sighed before locking my phone and putting it on my dresser. "What is there to talk about?" I asked.

"Baby you spazzed on me... the argument was petty-

"It wasn't petty, I was expressing my feelings to you and you just brushed me off like it was nothing. I would go insane if I lost you, so that's part of the reason why I got so upset... I felt like you weren't taking me seriously." I defended.

"I was Dior, but it's not easy for me to just up and change my lifestyle like that"

"I'm not finished.. what put the icing on the cake was you trying to control me... you were trying to control me while belittling my feelings all in one and it reminded me of" I stopped talking as I felt a lump in my throat, I shook my head shamefully before wiping my tears and continuing.

"It reminded me of how my ex used to treat me and it triggered me... being triggered mixed with anger issues didn't help, which caused me to spazz." I finished.

"I'm sorry okay, I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I love you girl" Kori said before pulling me into a hug.

I'm a very understanding person, I don't judge people and what they do at all, I just wish that they could make better decisions. Kori doesn't understand that no matter how much money he's making with distributing drugs, there will always be a bad outcome.

"Wow, that's crazy..." I said as I looked at our bedroom TV.  There was now a search going on for someone named Tamir Oaks who happened to be gon missing for the past two weeks now.

"I feel so bad for his family, I would be devastated if that was my son" I shook my head.

"Who?" Kori asked before facing the TV, and as soon as he looked, he hurriedly hopped out of the bed and slipped his sneakers on.

"Wha-where are you going?"I scrunched my face up as I watched him grab his keys.

"Baby I'll be back, I have to handle some things," He said before kissing my forehead and leaving out.

I scoffed before grabbing my phone and calling Harlym, but she didn't answer.

———

I sighed heavily before getting out of my car and walking up to Kai and Kori, who were both standing outside of their cars.

"What's going on? This shit better be important because I ended my getaway for this" I rolled my eyes once I made it to them.

"They're doing a search for that nigga Mir's body" Kai spoke.

"Okay? Kori handled it, so there shouldn't be anything traced back to us" I shrugged.

"I didn't handle it.." Kori mumbled.

"Huh?" I scrunched up my face.

"This is what happens when y'all try to do shit on y'all own, I could've handled that nigga myself once I was recovered. Kori basically didn't clean up after himself." Kai shook his head.

"Kori I thought you said that you had everything under control?" I asked him.

"I did, but I wasn't thinking at the time... especially with you passing out and shit" Kori put his head down shamefully.

"This nigga buried the man...the police could easily find his ass. You moving real sloppy my nigga, and I don't like that shit" Kai spat. "Now I have to clean up this fucking mess before yo stupid ass end up in prison" he continued.

"My nigga maybe if you'd watch your surroundings we wouldn't be in this situation, I was trying to help you out" Kori defended.

"I didn't ask for any fucking help! They caught me lacking, not y'all so, therefore, I could've handled that shit on my own" Kai said.

"I understand where you're coming from but they said they would do the same to Kamari next, I couldn't risk that. Not only that but he tried to kill me, so either way his ass was bound to die" I reasoned.

"Aight man fuck it, it's done and over with. You might have to get a room tonight, or you can go back to Kori and them house with Dior. " Kai said causing me to nod, I didn't plan on going back to my old apartment anyway.

"I'll see you later, aight?" Kai before kissing my forehead as I nodded.

After telling them goodbye I hopped inside of the car and made my way to Kori and Dior's place. When arrived I knocked on the door twice before Dior finally opened it.

"Omg, when'd you get back?" She asked excitedly before stepping out of the way so that I could come in.

"Like an hour or two ago, I missed you pooh," I said before sitting down.

"I missed you too, I thought that you had two days left, why are you back so early?" She asked.

I sighed before telling everything from the time we found out that Kai had been shot up until today.

"Y'all kept all of that shit from me?" She scoffed.

"It was intentional, we just didn't want you involved, it was bad enough that I was" I tried to reason.

"Either way y'all should've told me, that type of information is important Harlym. I'm not too upset, it just sucks because I thought that we were better than that" she shook her head.

"We are, it was just a lot and it totally slipped my mind. It's part of the reason why I went to NYC, I was overwhelmed." I sighed.

"I understand.. this is a lot" she nodded before looking away.

"What's wrong?" My eyebrows furrowed.

"Harlym I feel like I'm slipping back into depression... I got pregnant last month..." she said before looking down at her fingers.

"Really? That's great, our babies can be-"

"I lost it" she blurted as tears fell from out of her eyes.

"Oh my goodness," I said before quickly sitting by her and pulling her into a hug.

"It hurts so bad Harlym, I was so excited about my baby" She sobbed loudly into my chest as I rubbed her back.

"Let it out" I whispered as tears fell from my eyes.

I felt horrible because I've been constantly coming to her with all of my issues, and I never got the chance to talk to her about her own.

I feel like sometimes we as people tend to forget that we aren't the only ones who go through shit in life.

"The doctors said that it was from stress, I've been so worried about Kori's ass that I forgot about our baby" she sniffled.

"Don't blame him, I understand that you're hurting right now but he didn't know that you were pregnant. You guys need to grieve together, not apart." I said.

Right now Dior is feeling a lot of emotions, and anger is one of them. I would hate to see her blame the death of their unborn child on Kori because he didn't even know that she was pregnant.

"It just sucks, I've always wanted a baby." She sighed.

I didn't say anything, I just let her vent so that she could get everything off of her chest.

"Are you going to tell Kori?" I asked once she finished venting.

"What's the point? It's not like I'm pregnant anymore" she shrugged as she wiped the tears that were left.

"Dior that was still his baby too, y'all both created it so he deserves to know. As I said, y'all should be grieving together" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Yeah I guess you're right, I'll tell him when he gets back" she mumbled before standing up. " The guest room is set up now, so you can sleep in there. I'm about to go to sleep" she told me before yawning.

"Okay..." I nodded before she walked away towards her room.

I sighed before rubbing circles on my stomach, this situation alone made me appreciate my pregnancy even more. I would lose my mind if I ever lost my baby, even though I haven't met it, I still feel this strong connection.

——

"Hello this is a prepaid collect call from Kiyane, to accept these charges please press zero"

"Mommy?" I answered after I pressed zero

"Hey bug, I missed you" she cooed into the phone causing me to smile, I haven't spoken to her in three weeks.

"What's going on? Why haven't I heard from you?" I questioned.

"I had got into it with some ladies in here so I was in solitary confinement for two weeks" she sighed.

"What? Are you okay?!" My eyes widened.

"Yes I'm fine, these bitches can't handle me" she chuckled causing me to roll my eyes at her antics.

"Where is your brother? I called him twice today" she asked.

"I'm not in Atlanta anymore, I went back to LA with my dad" I sighed, I really missed my brother and Harlym.

"Why? I thought you were staying for the summer?" She asked and I could tell by her tone that her eyebrows were furrowed, that was her signature facial expression.

"Well, Kai was sho-"

"He was what?!" She basically yelled.

"Inmate calm down before we take you back to your cell!"

"Yeah, someone came and shot him while I was asleep. He's okay but he and dad decided that it would be best for me to go back until things clear up." I shrugged.

"This shit is crazy man" she sighed.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure it's more to the story, but they never tell me anything" I rolled my eyes.

"How have you been holding up? Nobody should have to experience the shit that you've been experiencing lately. I'm sorry that I'm not there to comfort you baby" she sniffled.

"I'm hanging in there, I don't really know how to feel at the moment" I shrugged, after time went by I started to feel numb, it was even harder for me to express my feelings.

"Well-"

"You have 1 minute remaining"

"I swear I hate that bitch" she huffed causing me to chuckle.

"I love you, baby, I'll call back later and tell your brother to be on the lookout for my call!" She rushed.

I said I love you too before the phone call disconnected, I really missed my mom.

"How she doing?" My dad, who was driving asked.

"She's doing fine, she got into a fight, that's why she hasn't been calling. She was in solitary confinement" I shook my head.

"I'm pretty sure she held shit down, she always does" he chuckled.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I loved it when people told me about old stories.

"Your mom used to fight so much that she actually enjoyed that shi- mess. She wasn't a bully or anything but she didn't tolerate any bs and she never backed down from a fight." He smiled.

"Wait I thought that mom was getting her life back together when you two met" I scrunched up my face, the two met when my mom was in nursing school.

"Nobody knows this but her real friends but your mother and I actually grew up together, in fact, we were kind of like best friends" he shrugged.

"So basically you had feelings for her but she never noticed because she fell for Kai's dad who was a thug and you were the athlete with dreams?" I assumed.

"Yeah you watch too much TV child" he shook his head. "Like I said we were best friends! Nowadays you kids don't know what that title stands for, out here calling niggas best friend just so that y'all can start a relationship" she shook his head causing me to bust out laughing.

"We had our own thing going on growing up, I had a girlfriend and she ended up having a boyfriend which was Kai's dad. It wasn't until later on that we fell in love" He finished.

"How sweet, but where we going?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Job hunting, you getting the hell out of my house" he laughed causing me to frown.

"Work? For what?" I scoffed.

"It'll teach you responsibility, and I don't know some other skills that you need. Yo mama and brother spoiled your ass rotten, I'm going to still support you financially but I want you to know how it feels to have a job and make your own money, I promise that you're going to love it" he smiled.

"Okay... but where?" I asked.

"A close friend of mine owns an Ice parlor called Diana's Treats. Its summertime so you'll be making 13-15 dollars an hour, she told me that we could come in and fill out your application, you be scheduled for an interview by tomorrow" he explained causing me to nod.

When we arrived at the Ice Cream Parlor the drive-through line was semi-long, the set up was beautiful. The colors were brown, pastel pink, blue, and purple.

"Good evening, Welcome to Diana's Treats. I'm Carter, how can I help you today sir?" A deep voice spoke causing me to look up from my phone causing me to choke on my own saliva.

"Damn girl, you good?" My dad turned and looked at me as I tried to play it off.

"Yeah I'm wonderful" I cleared my throat before looking back up at the guy who stood there smirking.

My dad looked at me suspiciously before turning back to Carter. "Uhh yeah I'm here to fill out an application, well she is " he pointed towards me causing me to look away, he's so embarrassing.

"Okay here you go, and you can sit anywhere that's empty while you fill out the application"'Carter said before handing me the application and a pen.

"Oh and is Diana in?" My dad asked.

"Yes she is, do you need to speak with her?" Carter asked.

"Yeah, tell her that Jay is here" my dad nodded before leading the way to an empty table.

As I followed him I turned back meeting eye contact with Carter who shook his smirking. Before I could smirk back, I walked into a table causing me to trip.

This is exactly what my ass gets for trying to be cute.

"Damn girl, hell wrong with you?" My dad scrunched up his face before helping me up. "Your little ass can't be falling like that, gon give someone a heart attack," he said causing me to roll my eyes.

I was so embarrassed that I didn't even look back to see if Carter saw anything, I was humiliated.

(A/N: Kamari is so dramatic, I love her boujie ass😭😭)

After filling out my application, my dad took up there to them so that they could turn it in because I was too embarrassed.

Diana ended up leaving before we arrived, Carter just didn't know she had left so left after we turned the application in.

I don't really like this chapter 🥺 but anyways thank you for 200k views!! Go check out my new book alson❤️

Carter?

Kori?

Dior?

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