A/N: YOOOO! Guess who came out with a new story? Hint: it was me. But first, a wee bit of story time: For all my people that read Heaven or Las Vegas (go read that, btw if you haven't...) and I put at the end that I had a new story and it wasn't going to be like Chicago Hope? Okay, I lied. It's pretty much CH, but idk, this chapter is a little angsty. For those who don't know: back in the day, when Not Just Friends was a new story, I decided to write a story that's basically this. Buuuuut, eventually I wanted to focus on my energy on NJF, so I deleted CH, and pretty much the rest is history: Not Just Friends turned into the story that launched my fanfic writing career, and Chicago Hopeturned into the Story That Could Have Been. But now, I've sorta planned it out, and I think this will be here for good. If not, well... maybe I should give up writing this lol. Hopefully, people will like this and now I'm going to work on the others that need my attention.

Don't forget to Read&Review!

Chapter One

Goddamn.

Strippers were unappreciated. First of all, it took a lot of skills to do all the flips they do on a metal pole and still look sexy while doing it. And most of them were paying for college or whatever so it wasn't like they were planning on being strippers as if it was their life's goals.

Yeah, Riley appreciated them very much.

Lexi wasn't a stripper though. She did, however, acted like one. Her favorite thing to do was shake her ass, which is, incidentally, what Riley loved to watch girls do. And she shook it for whoever, whenever. Usually the whoever was Riley, but there were others. There were always others with Lexi.

He couldn't blame Lexi because technically they weren't exclusive. No girl he was with ever got the title. Not since her.

"You likely?" Lexi purred as she moved her hips in a circle. Riley nodded dumbly, keeping his eyes fixated on her lower half. Lexi either had to be an angel or the devil in disguise. Whichever one she is, he loved it.

She smirked and jumped into his lap. Oh my God, she was the devil. Definitely the devil. Riley exhaled sharply and sunk deeper into his seat as she started to grind on him. "Damn." was all he could mutter out.

"Papi, I'm gonna give it to you… Just the way you like it," she whispered into his ear, making him shiver with anticipation. She bit her tongue as she stripped him of his shirt. "Yeah, Reezy. I want you right here, right now."

Right now?" he questioned. He looked around his surroundings. He was in the living room, and although he would prefer to be in his own room giving her the business, he wasn't going to deny her request for sex.

That definitely wasn't part of the game.

She took off on top and smirked and Riley. Every time he saw her, she never ceased to amaze to him. He brought her closer to his body and kissed her all around her face and neck.

He wondered how long can go on with this. He was going out every night, sleeping with any thottie with a body, and going through the whole process again. Drink, fuck, repeat. Drink, fuck, repeat. It was an endless cycle that defined him the most.

Was Lexi really different? Sure, they've messed around longer than any of the others, and her head was definitely top five. But she was the same: a ho, a slut, a freak. She was the girl, but she wasn't the girl. Lexi wasn't wifey material, and he sure as hell wasn't hubby material. Would he ever escape this lifestyle?

"Reezy! Stop thinking about shit and fuck me!"

Well, it was worth a try.

He dropped onto the couch and positioned himself between her legs. He smirked as he looked down at her. He was ready for this. "Lexi, baby, I'm bout to be that—"

"Beat what up?"

Riley sighed heavily and buried his head into the crook of Lexi's neck. He finally faced his brother, who had the tiniest smirk on his face. "Ah, shit," he muttered under his breath.

"Okay, next time Huey," Jazmine yelled from down the hall. "I'm gonna need you to carry the heavy stuff up first, so I won't have to do it." She walked into the apartment to see Riley and a naked girl on her couch. In her living room. "Really?"

Lexi sat up to see two other people staring the back at her half naked body. Jazmine clenched her teeth together and immediately covered Huey's eyes. "I think I should…"

"Go? Yeah, probably," Jazmine spat out.

Lexi hurriedly put on her shirt and grabbed her things before she headed out the front door. She turned around to face Jazmine and Huey. "Listen, I am so sorry about every—"

"I'm sure you are," Jazmine commented as she slammed the door in the girl's face. "Seriously? I've seen her naked way more that I need to."

"Come on!" Riley huffed. "I don't ever cockblock to you Huey when y'all ready to fuck!" He picked up his shirt from the floor. "Why can't y'all at least warn a nigga before you come in and ruin the mood and shit?"

Jazmine snickered to herself before walking over to the kitchen with bags in hand. "Okay," Huey began. "Raise your hand if you pay rent, pay bills and/or contribute anything to this household." Both he and Jazmine shot their hands in the air. "Now, raise your hand if all you do is sit on your ass and play video games all day."

Riley only glared at his brother.

"So the people who pay the bills in this apartment are allowed to come and go as they please. If you don't like it, move out," Huey bluntly responded as he walked to his room. "And people sit on the couch! Have some damn respect!"

Riley tongued his cheek as he continued to prove and what Huey just told him. He fell in a kid who just got in trouble with his parents and they just finish yelling at him.

She sighed as she looked towards the bedroom door. "What Huey was trying to say is that… just be a little more considerate to the other people in his house," Jazmine sweetly explained. "Because I don't want to see half naked girls all the time."

This happen often. Huey would yell at him for some reason; Jazmine will try to be the mediator between them. The trio had been doing a very entire relationship, so obviously what would it change when they grew up? Well, now it felt like their parenting him, scolding a child who just broken their curfew.

He scoffed and walked towards his room. "Whatever, man," he muttered under his breath. He slammed the door behind him. As much is he hated living with his brother, again, he had nowhere else to go. He ain't got no job. He ain't got no money. The only reason his brother took him in was because Huey felt bad for him. And although beggars can't be choosers…

Damn, a nigga needed privacy sometimes.

He flopped onto the bed and pulled out his phone. He needed to go out tonight. He needed to get away from the house. He needed to get away from the tension between him and Huey. And he knew just the people to text.

Reezy: we going out tonight or nah?

Within seconds, he got a response.

Hiro: I'm down.

Caesar: Me too.

He smirked to himself. Tonight was going to be a good night.

Riley added the finishing touch to his outfit, and his fitted snapback, and looked in the mirror. Out of all the times he went out, this had to been the time where he looked the freshest. If he couldn't finish would Lexi tonight, he was the least gonna get another girl.

He grabbed his essentials before exiting his room. He made eye contact with Huey, who was on the couch with Jazmine, watching whatever they were watching. Typical.

"Where are you going?"

"Out," he smartly responded. Riley could almost hear Huey rolling his eyes. He laughed. "Ya know y'all got really domestic. I mean, all y'all do is stay at home all the time and don't do nothing for no more. See? This is why a nigga don't want to settle down. I don't wanna do that boring shit all the time."

Huey scoffed. "Yeah, because going out every night is really fulfilling. Don't worry though, one day you're going to be the oldest nigga in the club, wondering if it was all worth it to do the same thing over and over again."

"Maybe it is." Riley turned on his heel, opening the front door. "Don't wait up on me." He closed the door harshly, ignoring whatever so-called advice his brother was giving him. He wasn't the one who wasn't going to throw his twenties away. This was the only time he was going to be twenty-two in his life, and he didn't want to waste it on a girl. Not saying that Jazmine wasn't worth it, because Jazmine was an once-in-a-lifetime girl. But he couldn't see himself doing the same thing. Nah, he liked the life too much.

He stuck a Black between his teeth and as he jumped into Dorothy, he lit the end until a billow of smoke escaped through his nose. He drove with all the windows down, and his music blasting out the speakers. And even though he drove through the nice neighborhoods of Baltimore, he really didn't give a fuck that the white people were giving him dirty looks. He didn't have a care in the world.

He parked two blocks away from the club at an elementary school; it was the only place he can park for free and not get towed. He sat on the trunk and waited for the others to show up. Riley checked his phone to see it takes from Lexi. Like he expected, it was a picture of her chest. He smirked.

He had these bitches whipped.

"Yo, where Ceez at?" Hiro questioned when he parked next to Riley. Riley shrugged in response, still looking down at his phone. "What you looking at man? I wanna see!" Hiro attempted to snatch the phone out of Riley's hand.

Riley immediately snatched the phone right back. "Aye, didn't yo parents teach you not to take shit out of people's hands?" he snapped. "Damn, you see with your eyes, not your hands."

"Can you guys be civil for once? Please?" Caesar inquired as he stepped out of the taxi. He paid the cabbie, and then turned back to his friends. Riley and Hiro were close to laughing. "What?"

"Nigga you got a taxi?" Riley joked.

Caesar rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm not driving tonight, and I don't want to leave my car here. So the only other option is to get a taxi," he explained to the boys. "Watch. You gonna be pissed off when your car broken into."

"Caesar, we've been parking our cars here forever and nothing happened to them," Hiro reminded him as they all walked towards the club. "What makes you think this day gonna be different?"

"Shit don't jinx it Hiro," Riley huffed. "You know I ain't got no money to pay for Dorothy to get fixed."

Hiro and Caesar snickered. "Do you even got money for the club, my nigga?"

Riley glared at the boys. "Shut up. Y'all ain't funny."

The group walked up to the front of Club Paradise, ignoring the long line stretching down the block. Riley teased the patrons in the line; knowing the bouncer from high school had its perks. Already the club was bouncing. Everyone was having a good time and more importantly, there were girls everywhere. Riley was sure he was going home with one tonight.

"Damn it is live tonight!" Hiro exclaimed. He looked around the club until stopped on a girl that was giving him the eye. "Yo, I'll catch you dudes later," he told the boys. He walked up to the girl as she started to go away. "Yo, mamita! Where you going, baby?"

Riley laughed at the scene. "Man, Ceez… Our boy Hiro is—" he turned around to see that Caesar also left him. He sucked his teeth. Ain't this bout a bitch? It wasn't even three minutes they were in the club and already they're looking for bitches. You can blame him though; he was about to scope, too.

He sat down at the bar and signaled the bartender for one. It was a good thing the bartender went to school too; otherwise he would've had to pay for drinks. He looked over to his left and checked out the girl that was sitting next to him. Tight dress, 6 inch stiletto heels, twenty-eight inch stripper weave. Yes, his personal Thot Meter, patent pending, was in the red.

The bartender brought his drink and he took a sip of it. It was stronger than usual. "Wassup?" He finally said to the girl, pretending that he wasn't that much interested. "You here alone?"

The girl looked over at him and she smiled. "Nah, I'm with my bestie!" She pointed over to a girl who was in the middle of the dance floor, who was grinding on another guy. "Yaaaaas, bitch! Work it! You are a baddie!" Riley laughed himself. "What about you? Where yo niggas at?"

"They somewhere." He looked her up and down. As soon as he finished his drink, another one was in its place. "I don't want to talk about them, though. What about you? What's your name?"

She giggled as she took a sip of her drink. "Diamond."

"No, seriously."

"That is my name, silly!" Diamond giggled again. Riley blinked. His Thot Meter was going off the charts. She batted her fake eyelashes. "I bet your name is something sexy… like you."

Diamond already had a few drinks in her. Probably more than she was used to. Unfortunately for her, she was easy target for boys like Riley. He knew this is gonna be easy, almost too easy. But still, he went on with the plan.

He flashed his infamous smile. "Trust me, baby. You'll know it soon enough." He didn't want her to know right away. He wanted her to sweat it out a little bit. Besides, he wasn't fully drunk enough to fuck her yet. A girl of this caliber, he needed two more, at least, to be in the right state of mind for her.

He needed two more drinks to forget about her.

The DJ mixed the current song into another one that Riley couldn't recognize, but by the way that the beat went, he could tell that it was one Diamond liked to dance to. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh… My… God."

"What?" Riley questioned, fearing the worst out of her.

"This…" Diamond started, standing up from her barstool. "Is my fucking song!" She grabbed Riley's hand and dragged him onto the dance floor. As soon as they were in the middle of the crowd of people, Diamond started to grind on him, pushing up against him to the beat of the song.

He loved the club. He loved the drinks. He loved the atmosphere. And most of all, he loved the girls. You never know what type was going to show up. Some days it could be the college girls; some days it's the working girls. You can see the hood girls one night and the next were the good ones. And trust, Riley has been with all of them.

The club was his safe haven. It had never let him down. Whenever he was sad, he went to the club. Whenever he was pissed off at his brother, he went to the club. Whenever he needed his dick sucked, he called Lexi first, then went to the club if she didn't answer. It was almost certain that he didn't leave by himself.

While the DJ changed the song, Diamond and Riley both headed back to the bar. He signaled for another drink for both of them as he watched the girl in front of him fumble around her purse. "I need… something," she giggled. She was slightly thrashed, Riley could tell. "Fuck it I don't remember!"

He downed the rest of his drink. She was ready, but he wasn't. He looked at the drink he ordered for her. He shrugged. She was already fucked up enough; she didn't need another. He finished off her margarita, and smiled at her.

"You wanna dance more?"

This time the song was slow. Diamond still had her rhythm, swaying her body to the beat into him. She put her hands in her hair and really got into the song, moving to a sensual beat only her and Riley knew. She turned around to face him, licking her lips.

"You should go home with me."

It doesn't take long for him to get with a girl. Usually, an hour. Tops. But Diamond was a good, desperate thirty minutes. He knew as soon as she saw him, she wanted to fuck. But he had to put the moves on her, make it seem like she wasn't wanting this. There was a small part of him that was saying no, telling him to reject her.

But he really wanted some ass.

He ignored his inner voice and grabbed Diamond's hand. He shot a quick text to Hiro and Caesar, saying that he would catch up with them in the morning. There were things he had to do. As soon as they were outside the building, Riley hailed for a cab. He may have been fucked up, but he wasn't stupid. They both stumbled into the backseat when a taxi appeared in front of them.

"Take me… to…" Diamond wandered off, closing her eyes. Riley sighed and nudged her in her shoulder. "1721 Willow Bend Street," she finally mumbled out. She turned towards Riley. "I wanna…" She gave him a drunken smile.

"You wanna… what?" He questioned.

She bit her bottom lip and fell into his lap. She fumbled with his belt and jeans button for a minute before Riley realized what she was doing. "Aye girl hold up! Slow down!" As much as he wanted head, he wasn't gonna get it in the back of a taxi, especially with the cabbie glaring at him from the rearview mirror. "Damn you gonna get us kicked out!" he whispered harshly as he fixed his pants.

"I don't give a fuck," she whispered back. Diamond smiled as she exited the cab when it finally halted at her home, deliberately sashaying to the front door. Just so Riley could stare. Goddamn. He was lucky to have grabbed her first.

"Hey kid." Riley snapped back into reality to see the cabbie stared back at him. "The fare is $25.50." Riley sighed and paid the guy in exact change. When the cab driver was looking for a tip, Riley scoffed and closed the door on him. If that nigga thought he was getting some more money after what he had to pay, he could forget it. The nigga was a rip off.

"Damn Diamond, this yo house?" he questioned as he walked up to the front door. He'd never been on this side of town before, and while the neighborhood didn't look too great, at least she had her own house.

She stumbled into the living room. "Nah, it's my mama's," she responded. She pointed him towards the couch. "Wait right here. I gotta go get something." Before Riley could protest, she already made her way up the stairs.

Riley sighed heavily. He knew it. He knew he shouldn't have went home with this hoodrat. He should have taken his chances with another girl. But no. Her ass had him in a trance. He groaned to himself. How can he make the same dumb decision every time? What is he so bad at picking out good girls?

"I'm ready."

Maybe he was being punished. Maybe God is punishing him, because at one point in his life he had the perfect girl, and he threw it away. He has no one to blame but himself. Now he's trying to find the "perfect girl" in bars, clubs, and parties. He's trying to fill the void that she left with the random girls and partying.

It wasn't working.

As much as he hated to admit it, he missed her. He was constantly wondering what she was doing, how she was feeling, if some other nigga was treating her right. Every time when he had to have at least three drinks in his system before he could go home with a girl, it's because of her. He wants to pretend that the girl in front of them was her. Of course, no one could replace her, but he could fake it for a couple hours.

Diamond was Lexi. Diamond was Jocelyn. Diamond was every other girl he's ever been with since her. Huey was right, as usual. Eventually everyone's going to move on with their life, except him. He was going to be doing the same thing, picking up the same girls who are probably going to be twenty years younger than him. Eventually he's going to do this lifestyle because he doesn't know any better.

It's probably four in the morning by now. Diamond was asleep way earlier, around the time that they finished. He didn't want a Diamond. He didn't want a Lexi. He didn't want a girl that was just like thousands of other girls. He wanted a one-of-a-kind, exceptional, wonderful, ride or die girl.

He wanted Cindy.