Gangster Love

by ThatBlackGirl

Huey Freeman is the leader of a gang in the streets of Chicago who never expected a night out would make him meet a girl like Jazmine Dubois. As time goes on, he realises that it's not easy being a gang leader let alone being in a relationship. Especially with a looming threat hanging over them. Can they find a way to work together or is it too much for them to handle?

43. A Piece Of Me

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of attempted s3xu l ssault. When you see *** you can skip until you see the next ***.

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The day had arrived.

The day that the parents of Jazmine Dubois met the parents of Huey Freeman and boy was she scared as hell.

It was weird that she forgot that at some point, the two parents would have to meet but she hoped she had more time to think it through but here she was, doing her make up lightly to be presentable to both sets of parents.

Now Huey's parents were very chill and funny people. Christian made a group chat with his wife, sons and both girlfriends, much to the boys' distaste but the girls thought it was cute. They would talk about random things and her favourite was when they talked about the boy's childhood. They really had a lot of stories, some were the ones you had to be there to believe it. The girls were constantly getting showered with love from the Freeman's and that was the best thing Jazmine could wish for however, she knew that wouldn't be the case for her parents.

Her parents could be uptight when they wanted to. Sarah was always the girl that came from a good and middle-class family while Tom fought his way to the top, almost so high he would forget where he started. He wanted to be the furthest away from what people preserved of what a black man was believed to be that he lost the true culture he came from along the way, which was one of the problems when Jazmine was going through her identity crisis. It was not a nice time for her and neither parent could help. She was glad she had her friends to support her through it all.

She almost jumped out her skin when she heard her phone ring. She looked down and saw it was Huey.

"Heyy." She answered once she put it on speaker to finish getting ready.

"Hello. Jazmine. You alright?" He asked her. She could hear in the background that he was driving so she guessed he was going to pick up his parents.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How you feeling?"

"I'm fine but I know you're lying. You're trying not to shit yourself right now."

She rolled her eyes at how blunt but right he was. She was shitting herself. This was not how she wanted the two parents to meet but here she was, getting ready for them to meet.

"I mean, they could've waited another like 6 months or something."

"I know but let's get it over and done with, I'm pulling up to my parents now." Huey told her before she heard him honk his horn to signal to his parents he was outside. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay. Bye." She hung up for him and pocketed her phone. She had on some smart grey pants with a white turtle neck bodysuit. Her parents were very much suit and tie people so she had to at least put more effort to be formal.

Jazmine untucked the necklace Huey gave her and made sure it was on show before sighing as she looked at herself in the mirror. She shouldn't be this nervous but she was. The only person she could think would calm her nerves wasn't here yet and she had no idea how she was going to be able to calm herself down.

That's when the doorbell rang.

Her eyes grew wide and her heart picked up in pace. Her parents were here. She knew it was them because Huey wouldn't have reached there that quickly.

Not wanting to keep them waiting, Jazmine sprinted down the steps and towards the door. She paused to give herself one last look over at their large mirror by the front door and once she was satisfied, she opened the door.

"Mom, dad! It's so nice to see you again." Jazmine greeted with a smile.

"It really is nice to finally see our daughter again. We have been so busy since we arrived to Chicago, we deserved this night to catch up." Sarah told her daughter as she gave her a hug and a kiss once Tom did.

"Yes, it is nice to have a dinner with you... and boyfriend and his parents." Tom spoke as he looked around the house. It was the first time they had seen the place fully lit and he needed to get a sense at what type of household his daughter had been living in these past few years.

"Speaking about them, when are they going to be here? We don't want to be late." Sarah commented as she looked around too.

Jazmine had to hold her smile. "You guys are 10 minutes early, they will be here soon. You know, at the time we agreed on."

"Right, of course. Oh, where are my manners, here is the wine. The expensive kind for my baby girl." Sarah grinned and handed Jazmine the gold wine bag.

Jazmine had no idea when her mother became like those other rich white mothers you would see in movies and it was kind of throwing her off guard. It was almost worrying because Mackenzie was going to have none of the snarky remakes that could possibly fall out of her mouth.

"So, are you going to give us a tour of the house?" Tom asked his only child, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, right. Well, there isn't much to the house. Four-bedroom, two bathrooms. Living room, kitchen, dining area. That's about it." She chuckled lightly.

"And you can afford this with your um... money?" Tom couldn't even bring himself to say dancing money because to him, what she did was far from just dancing.

"Yes, me and the girls split rent and bills. We still have enough to live comfortable and enjoy our life as we see fit too."

"Hm. I see."

'I see? Is that it?' Jazmine had to stop herself from pulling a face at her father's short words.

"You know what? Let's do that tour." Jazmine agreed because she didn't feel like standing around, just staring at her parents face any longer.

As they went to walk to the living room, she shot a quick text to Huey, begging him to drive quickly but she got an even better message back.

Huey: I'm a block away, sit tight

That was exactly what she wanted to hear.

"As a matter of fact, let's open the wine mom brought." Jazmine suggested, making them stop in their steps.

"What about your guest? Don't you want them to be here too?" Sarah questioned.

Jazmine shook her head. "It's alright. They'll be here soon so it's not like we're going to drink the whole bottle."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not driving anyway." Tom joked. Sarah rolled her eyes will Jazmine forced a laugh.

'Were things always this awkward and weird or is it just me?' Jazmine had to ask herself. It was only now she had started to notice how different things were now. They were distant and different and neither one of them knew how to interact with the other. It was weird but mostly upsetting.

They walked to the dining area where Jazmine had expertly set the table so that everything looked perfect. She even went out to buy some gold cutlery to be used.

Jazmine lifted the bottle out the bag and began to read over the label. It was an expensive kind, that she knew for sure.

"I guess-" Jazmine was cut off by the door bell ringing and she tried her best to hold in her sigh of relief.

"I guess now we won't have to open it without the other guests." Sarah commented as Jazmine moved towards the door.

With the bottle still in her hand, Jazmine opened up the door to be met with the one person she was dying to see. "Huey." She sighed.

He raised an eyebrow before stepping in so he could give her a hug inside and that his parents could come in. He was confused at why she looked so flustered already and the night had just started.

"Jazmine, what did I say about stress yourself out?" He told her.

"You told me not to but-"

Huey leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips, making her instantly stop talking. "But nothing, relax. I'm here now so you won't be so nervous on your own." He reassured her. "Just take a couple of deep breaths to help."

She took a couple of deep breaths with her eyes closed to calm her nerves and it worked. Once she opened it, she looked past Huey to see Mackenzie and Christian standing there with different types of pleased smiles on their faces.

"Jazmine!" Christian shouted her name and held his arms out for her.

Jazmine laughed and walked into his arms to share a hug. "Christian! Its lovely to see you again." She stepped out of his arms to step into Mackenzie's awaiting arms. "And you too Mackenzie."

"Likewise baby girl. Now where are these parents of yours, the one you guys warned us about?" She whispered the last part just in case they were close by.

Jazmine smiled nervously at the long text message she sent the parents about her parents. Riley threated to leave the group chat when he saw the long message Jazmine had sent of her panicking over how different her parents where to the Freeman's.

Jazmine: So, as we've discussed before, you guys will be meeting my parents and once again, I will like to warn you. They are the complete opposite to you guys. They basically controlled nearly anything I did from when I was a little girl and almost considered perfectionist. My mum is the opposite to Mackenzie and my dad is the opposite to Christian. Everyone is going to be opposite which might mean head clashes and so, I apologise in advance. I will also apologise for any argument that may come up during the night. We're working on our relationship for the first time in years so it's going to be rough. Just want to thank you guys for agreeing to come to the dinner and hopefully it doesn't go as terribly as my mind is making it seem xx

"Yeah, you were stressed the fuck out." Christian laughed while Mackenzie rolled her eyes at him.

"Leave the poor girl alone. Let's not keep them any longer, shall we?"

With that, the Freeman's and Jazmine walked towards the dining room to meet the DuBois's. Jazmine quickly grabbed onto Huey's hand and gave it a squeeze before she stepped inside for some type of encouragement and to let her mind know that he was right by her side.

"Mom, dad, meet Huey and his parents, Mackenzie and Christian Freeman." She introduced the older adults to each other.

They shook each other's hands as they gave each other a once over while the children just stood to the side and watched.

"It's nice to meet you two." Sarah smiled as she moved on to shake Christian's hand.

"Likewise." Mackenzie smiled back.

"Um, I'll go dish out the food, I won't be long." Jazmine took the chance to escape the room and Huey was not far behind her.

"I'll help."

That left the two marriage couples in the room with each other so Tom decided to break the silence.

"So, Jazmine didn't tell us what you two do? What is it that you do?"

"Well, we're both sort of retired. We spend most of our time helping our community when needed. Weather it's me teaching languages or my husband teaching people how to use guns safely." Mackenzie answered.

Sarah decided to ignore the last part and smile. "Oh, you teach languages?"

"From time to time, yes I do. Both my children have been bilingual from a young age. Huey knows the most languages out of the two. Fluent in all."

"Wow, you must be very proud of him."

"Always am." Mackenzie smiled proudly.

Before the mothers could go on to talk about their children, Jazmine and Huey walked back into the room with two plates each.

"Dinner's ready." Jazmine announced.

As they went to sit down, Christian pulled out Mackenzie's chair for her before taking a seat of his own at one of the heads of the table.

Sarah saw this and looked over at Tom, waiting for the same treatment but he was already getting into his seat. She should've known better, Tom was less than a man. Maybe she should move to Chicago to meet a man like Christian. They seem to know how to treat their wives over here. She almost felt jealous, even more so that Huey did the same thing when him and Jazmine arrived back with their own plates. She looked at Tom who was pouring out wine. She still wondered about their marriage all the time, all the damn time.

Once everyone had a plate and glass of wine, they all began to dig in, preparing for what was about to come.

Tom looked over at Huey who took a sip of the wine. "Are you sure you should be drinking? Since you're driving and all."

Jazmine internally sighed since she knew that now, the table was open to any and all conversations and questions for the night.

Before Huey could answer, his father did instead. "It's fine, if he doesn't want to drive us back, we're good with just taking an Uber. Anyways, how are you finding Chicago so far?" He diverted.

"It's be nice so far. We haven't been out much, been busy with the big case we're working on."

"Oh is it? Must be stressful being a lawyer and all." Mackenzie smiled, unfazed at how Tom threw in his profession at the end.

Tom chuckled. "Yes it can be." He looked at his only child. "But it wasn't nothing we thought Jazmine couldn't handle, or even a doctor at that."

"Dad." Jazmine warned him.

"Right, sorry, moving forward."

Mackenzie noticed how pink Jazmine's face was becoming so decided to take the attention off of her. "You know how kids are, they never really do what you want them to do. There was a time I told Huey not to get revenge on his brother because he left his bike in the middle of the street and his uncle ran it over but you know, there was no stopping him."

"So what was Huey like as a child? Jazmine has been holding back on all the little details about him." Sarah asked with a smile.

Huey raised an eyebrow but said nothing, just letting the parents talk.

She shrugged. "Like a lot of boys, I guess but with a lot of talent. He liked to play rough. That's all his brother and cousins would do. Very smart, still is. You do not want to get in a debate with him, he will make you doubt every opinion you have." She joked, making the other mother laugh.

"He sounds like he was a good child." Sarah commented.

Christian laughed. "When he wanted to be."

"Still better than Riley." Huey mumbled.

"Right, I remember seeing him when we came that night. He's dating Royalty right?" Tom asked for confirmation.

"Correct. My sons made excellent choices in women." Mackenzie said proudly.

Jazmine saw her parents make a face at that and sighed. Ever since she started dancing, they have never really liked Royalty because they believed it was her fault for Jazmine 'throwing her life away' as they would put it. She didn't see it like that. Royalty was her sister and didn't deserve the disrespect.

"Mom, dad, remember Royalty is my sister."

"Honey, we didn't say anything." Tom tried to reassure her.

"But your face did." Christian shrugged before continuing on. "We told you how Huey was when he was young, what was Jazmine like."

Tom saw it as a perfect opportunity to gloat at how well his daughter was in school. "Where can I start? She was excellent at ballet and gymnastic. Was the captain of the cheer team, had excellent grades, volunteered at the animal shelter in the summers. Homecoming queen for the last 2 years of high school. She accomplished a lot."

Huey couldn't help but smirk. "Prom and homecoming? Wow you really were that popular girl in high school huh."

Jazmine laughed, finally able to relax more. "Hey, the people loved me, I just gave them what they wanted."

"I remember Jazmine showing us old video of her at gymnastics and all that. She really is talented. She's going to be an amazing dance teacher. Huey's little cousins are going to love going to dance classes." Mackenzie told them.

Tom pulled out his phone. "Let me show you guys some pictures of her at home coming and prom."

"Oh no that won't be necessar-" Jazmine tried to stop him but it was too late.

"Found it!" He shouted in triumph. He found those too quickly for her liking, it was as if he had it on standby. "This is her at homecoming junior year."

"Of course you're wearing pink." Huey snorted, making Jazmine lightly hit his shoulder.

"Wow, Jazmine, you look completely different with straight hair." Christian said in shock.

Before Jazmine could express how embarrassing her hair stress phases was, her mother jumped in. "She used to beg me to straighten it all the time when she was younger. It was just too much for anyone to handle so we eventually found a way to get it to be straight."

"I only straightened it a couple of times after that picture was taken, I learned how to handle my afro."

"Well when you have the right tools and knowledge about her hair type, it's easier to manage. Look at my sons, it wasn't just good genes that contributed." Mackenzie pointed to Huey's healthy and high afro.

"You're right Mackenzie. Tom why don't you show Jazmine at her senior prom now."

This time Jazmine had her hair in a slick ponytail and she looked beautiful in her lilac dress but the one thing that caused Huey to raise an eyebrow was that she was standing next to Jayden. Both had big grins on their faces.

"Who is that?" Christian asked.

"Oh, that's her ex high school sweetheart, Jayden. Such a lovely boy and man too. They had broken up by then but as you can see with the crowns on their heads, they won prom king and queen. He was the captain of the football team." Sarah explained.

Jazmine saw the smirk on Christian's face and all she saw was Riley in the smirk. She knew she was about to be teased. "Aww isn't that sweet, high school sweethearts and all."

"Really dad?"

"Shh, let me tease her." He dismissed Huey. "You were holding that from us all this time."

"I wouldn't say holding... I would say I was..." She tried to lie but couldn't think of anything. "Yeah I did."

"After all the dirt I gave you on Huey. I'm offended." He faked being hurt.

Tom looked between her daughter and the other father. "You've gotten very close to the Freeman's I see."

"Well I would hope so from how many times we've seen and spoken to each other within the last month alone. Your daughter is lovely to be around."

Tom watched Huey roll up his sleeve when he noticed a tattoo that stuck out to him which he immediately want to know about.

"Who's Cairo?"

The Freeman's looked shocked and confused at how Tom knew about Cairo until Huey looked down at his left arm and saw the RIP tattoo.

"I see you read my tattoo." He started off, so everyone understood how Tom knew about the boy. "He was my best friend. He was killed when we were 13."

"Oh I am so sorry to hear about that. How did he die if you don't mind asking?" Sarah inquired.

Huey rubbed the back of his neck. "We were shot. He didn't make it."

"So young."

Tom shook his head. "See, I'm sorry but hearing things like this is why I never wanted you to move to Chicago Jazmine. It's too dangerous here, children are getting killed. When you're ready to have children, this is no place to raise them. Woodcrest is the best option."

"And kids there are popping pills." Jazmine looked at him with wide eyes, making him go quiet. "One thing you guys have taught me is to not shelter my children as much as you guys did with me. I know it was for good intentions but having to learn things that I should already know was kind of hard. When I have children, no matter where I live, I will do my best to protect them but we all know that's hard in the world and country we live in."

"Hm that's right." Mackenzie and Christian backed her. Despite what some people believe, they did a damn good job raising Huey and Riley.

"Remember guys, we're trying to move forward and not judge me for the life I choose to live. We spent years apart and that was something neither of us should go through again. I meant what I said on Christmas. Still the same Jazmine that asked for everything pink and shiny for my birthday remember?"

"Yes, we remember."

"Okay, then, I know it's not going to be easy but we have work to do. I only agreed to this because Huey has become very important in my life and along with him, I get the Freeman's." Jazmine reached out to hold onto Huey's hand and smile at his parents. "These are the calmest ones, you are nowhere near ready for the rest."

Christian cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. The way he got serious was something Jazmine rarely saw so she knew he meant business right now. "See, I know you don't particularly like my son. It's evident in the side eyes and little comments, maybe I'm reading too much into it or maybe you feel threatened. Either one, my son and your daughter are together, whether you like it or not. They're grown, they make their own decisions. We also know that you know what type of life we live out here so I won't speak too much on that." He hinted and they all knew he meant the gang lifestyle Huey lived. "He wouldn't hurt your daughter because I would hurt him before he got the chance to, good thing he knows better. Now, I am going to stop talking so Huey can set the record straight, as I said, he's grown." He sat back in his chair and held his hand out for Huey to say his piece.

Huey sat tall and did his best to hold out on the glare that was creeping onto his face. "Now, you may have thought someone like Jayden was your perfect idea of a son in law but sadly, that's not going to happen. I care for your daughter and as much as we tried to stop liking each other, we couldn't. We're both very stubborn people. We may have grown up as complete opposites but as right now, we're doing this shit together. For a long time, not a short time. Now, your permission or whatever is something I don't need but I know Jazmine would appreciate it if you at least started to support her. She's building, opening and running a whole dance studio this year, I'm sure she would like you two to be by her side while that is happening. You two may not entirely like me and I don't really care about that but one thing we can say we have in common is Jazmine is very important in our lives so at least let's get on the same page with that. I know she would want me to try."

Jazmine sat there with a big smile on her face as she watched Huey stand him for their relationship. It was so nice to see and she knew he meant every word.

"Well, isn't this lovely." Mackenzie smiled at the young couple.

Sarah and Tom shared a look. They weren't too sure on what to say about what Christian and Huey had just said. It was certainly not what they expected to be said.

"You can't blame us for the opinions we have." Sarah started off.

"We don't but those can change." Mackenzie shrugged.

Tom cleared his throat. "I guess we can... try and get along with one another." He saw his daughters face light up fully for the first time the whole dinner which was now long ago finished. That smile alone gave him a glance of 10-year-old Jazmine. He had no idea when things sped up but he guessed he needed to catch up now.

"Great, well-"

Jazmine was cut off by the front door knocking so she excused herself to go open it.

The five remanding just sat their quietly, sipping on their wines, waiting for her to come back from whoever was at the door.

"Oh my- Huey!" Jazmine shouted from the front door.

Without a chance for anyone to blink, Huey ran out the room and towards the front door. Mackenzie and Christian were not far behind before Tom and Sarah had finally caught up too.

"I'm sorry- I- it was just the closest house." Huey's little cousin Monique sobbed in Jazmine's arms.

"What the fuck happened?" Huey asked her as his heart started beating fast.

"Hey, it's alright. Just tell us what happened?" Jazmine asked her calmly. She slowly pulled the girl away from her chest to look her in the eyes.

That's when an audible gasp went around the room.

Monique had a black eye, swollen and a busted lip as well as two hand marks. One around her neck, the other around her wrist.

"Oh my poor baby." Mackenzie pulled her niece back into a hug.

"Monique. I know you're upset but you better fucking telling me what the fuck happened to you and who the fuck did this to you." Huey told her as he stopped his pacing to talk to her.

"Huey give the girl a second." Christian told him.

Tom and Sarah just stood back in shock. They looked at the young girl and saw that the t-shirt she had on was stretched out and had some droplets of blood on it. This was not what they expected when they said they were having dinner.

Jazmine rubbed her forehead and in the corner of her eye, she saw her parents standing there with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh. I'm sorry, why don't I call you guys an Uber to take you back to your hotel." Before they could say anything else, Jazmine went straight to the app so that there wasn't here to see whatever happened next.

Huey's fingers were twitched to reach his gun on his waist but decided against it because of the lawyers that were currently present. He needed to keep his cool for at least another minute.

The Freeman's took their niece in the living room to comfort her while Huey waited for Jazmine.

"This was not how I saw the night ending." Sarah whispered as she glanced at Huey who was just glaring a hole into the wall. She shivered. He wasn't even looking at her but it was still chilling to be a witness to.

"No one did. I promise we will hang out again before my birthday, to make up for tonight. I don't want the times we meet its to eat." Jazmine hugged both her parents once she saw the Uber had arrived. "Get back safely."

"Goodnight honey."

With that, Tom and Sarah left, taking a deep breath as they were finally out the tense environment.

"Is this what we're going to expect from the family more often? Just the females being bloody and bruised all the time?"

Sarah sighed at her husband once they got into the car. "For our daughters sake, I really hope not."

Before Jazmine could even close the door, a very angry Huey stomped into the living room, nowhere near looking calm. Jazmine had to jog to catch up to him to at least try and stop him from blowing up.

Monique sat there with tear stains going down her face as she just stopped crying.

Her aunt rubbed her back in comfort. "Would you like to tell us what happened? Or do you want me to call your parents?" She offered.

"You can call them but I might as well tell you, once I tell you, you can tell everyone else. It makes it easier than me having to tell everyone." Usually, when something terrible happens to a person, they rather not have their whole family find out but with the Freeman's there was no judgement, just love and comfort and that's exactly what Monique needed.

"I'll leave you guys to it." Jazmine went to walked away when Monique reached out to her to stop her.

"Wait, you can stay. You're family now."

Jazmine felt butterflies in her stomach at hearing another Freeman say that but didn't say anything, instead, she took the empty seat next to the young girl while the men stood silently with their arms crossed.

"Take your time baby." Mackenzie comforted her. Jazmine held onto her free hand tightly as she took a deep breath to tell her story.

"Me and my girlfriend have been going through like a rough patch or whatever. Jamie, she became extremely jealous out of nowhere, saying I was talking to all these different people and it didn't help when my ex-boyfriend came back into the picture. You remember my athlete boyfriend in high school, Steph. What made it worse, turns out, they were childhood best friends. He would always try and get my attention but I just pushed him away because, I do have a girlfriend but he wasn't haven't it. She saw him talking to me in the gym and later, she shouted at me for 10 minutes straight. After that, she just started moving funny but I didn't think she would do what she did." Monique's eyes started to fill with tears once again as she replayed the events that just happened. "She invited me to her house so I didn't think nothing of it. We went up to her room and toy surprise, Steph was there. I was confused at what was happening so I asked them and she proceeded to say, since I like having all attention on me, then I could have their undivided attention at the same time." Monique started sobbing again, especially once she saw Huey's face getting more angrier by the second.

"Steph came up behind me when I tried to run out and threw me on the bed. They both got on top of me and tried to take off my clothes but I fought them both off. They kept trying for another five minutes or however long it was but I didn't give up fighting, even though they managed to stretch and rip some of my clothes, I didn't give up. Knowing then I wasn't going to give in, they decided to punch and kick me instead, frustrated that I didn't give up fighting. I pretended that I was knocked out for them to stop and go downstairs for a water break, as he said, which was when I jumped out the window and came here. I remember where it was after Huey's birthday and it was the closets place I could think of." She turned to Jazmine. "I'm sorry I ruined your dinner." She cried.

Jazmine frowned at the young girl. She had just been through something traumatic and was here apologising for ruining a simple dinner. "Don't ever apologise for finding somewhere safe to run to. I'm glad you found your way here instead of running to the next safe place."

Monique nodded before slowly looking up at her uncle and cousin. Their facial expressions were now unreadable which was the most dangerous kind, especially when they were just looking anger.

"Huey? Uncle Chris?" She said their names as she wiped away her tears.

"I'm going to kill em." They both said calmly.

"No, please don't-"

"I'm calling the family, we need to handle this asap." Christian pulled out his phone and immediately started dialling numbers.

"I don't want you to kill them!" She shouted at them and jumped up.

Huey looked at her as if she was confused. "Are you serious? Are you really fucking serious Monique?! ¿Te lastimaron y quieres que no haga nada? ¿Me conoces?" He shouted at her fluently.

She rolled her eyes, now taking the argument to a different language. "Sí, sé que me lastimaron, pero no quiero sangre en mis manos por eso."

"It won't be your blood on their hands, it will be ours." Christian answered, which helped Jazmine get up to speed with what was being said.

"Christian, you are not going to do anything." Mackenzie told her husband.

"You expect me to do nothing?"

"That's not what I meant, I meant you are going to let your sons and nephews handle it."

"No puedo dejar que se salgan con la suya." Huey told his cousin. "I am going to handle it."

She sighed. "Lo sé, lo sé. I just wished it never needed to be done."

"No one ever does. I won't tell you anything that is going to happen, just sit tight and don't talk to no one. Especially not those two. I know you're going to hate this but I am going to have to keep tabs on you."

She groaned in annoyance but nodded. "I know. I just don't want anyone questioning me."

"Don't let them. Keep it moving, I got it from here. I'll make sure they never hurt you again." He promised her and from the look in his eyes, they all knew he was very serious about that. "Come, I'll drop you guys home."

Monquie turned and pulled Jazmine into a hug. "I am so sorry agai-"

"I told you don't apologise. It is completely fine. You said before, we're family now, I gotchu. Just think of me as another female cousin you so desperately need." Jazmine joked, making the young girl laugh briefly.

"Yeah, you right. I'll see you around Jazmine." She started making her way towards the door when Huey's parents hugged her.

"Thank you for the lovely dinner Jazmine. We really enjoyed it despite the slight tension. You don't need to worry about your parents any longer, we gotchu, now you remember that." Mackenzie told her as she pulled her into a goodbye hug, Christian following after.

"Thank you guys. Have a safe drive."

Then there was Huey and Jazmine left.

She walked over to him an wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a soft and quick kiss. "Promise you won't kill them please. They're kids."

"I don't give a fuck who they are." Huey glared. He started to soften his glare when he remembered who he was looking at. "They knew what they were doing. It was planned. I promise I won't intentionally kill them." He gave her a kiss, leaving Jazmine shocked at what he just said.

"Huey?!" She called his name as he started walking towards the door.

"I said not intentionally! What happens while they're in hospital is none of my business." He shrugged. "Goodnight Jazmine!" He turned and jogged out the house, leaving Jazmine alone in her home.

She stood there with her hands on her hips, trying to get her mind to catch up with everything that happened that night. "This has definitely been a long ass night." She shook her head and focused on cleaning up because her mind was just doing a whole load of spinning. So much had gone on and she had no idea how to clearly think so instead, she cleaned. She just hoped the poor girl got the help she needed.

---

The following weekend, Jazmine was once again was getting ready for an eventful night, only this time, alcohol, short clothes and music was involved.

"It's my fucking birthday guys!" Raven shouted with a now empty glass in her hand.

"Wooi!"

"That's right!"

"Birthday bitchhh!"

The girls shouted to her.

They were all in her apartment dressed and ready to go especially after they had their pre party drinks. Raven had everyone dressed in black since that was her favourite colour and went with the 2 names she went by while she stood out in red which left the back completely uncovered, exposing her toned smooth back. Everyone was looking extra sexy for their girl's night and Raven was loving every moment of it.

Cindy checked to see if her ponytail was still slick which it was before turning to the rest of them. "Our uber is 2 minutes out. We should go down."

With that, Jazmine, Royalty, Ming, Faith and Raven all went downstairs, laughing loudly in excitement from where they were going. As they got downstairs, they ran into Riley and Hiro who immediately went over to their girls.

"I don't like that you going out looking fine as hell and this is the only time I get to see you tonight." Riley told Royalty as he stroked her exposed thighs. It was making her hot and ready to ditch her girls but she knew she couldn't do that.

"Hm, I can come back tonight." She whispered to him as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

He licked his lips as he listened to her giggle. "I'll come pick you up if I have to. You said you was coming training with me tomorrow. Remember that?" He raised an eyebrow.

When he said that, the same on her face dropped in realisation. She hoped he would let it go since she was going out tonight but she guessed not. 'Damn.'

"Yeah yeah, I'm still down." She smiled nervously.

"Cindy! Royalty! Stop kissing up your boyfriends and let's go." Faith called them over when they saw the shiny black Mercedes van pulled up. They were going to the club in style.

"Don't get too crazy." Riley told her as he got his last few kisses in.

"No promises!" She shouted to him once she left his arms.

Riley just shook his head as he watched her climb into the van, getting a beautiful view due to her short shorts.

"She is definitely going to be drunk as fuck." Riley chuckled once Caesar walked up to him with a smirk.

"You are so whipped. I never thought I would see the day my brother." He slapped him on the shoulder twice before walked away.

Riley swung his head around and jogged up to him. "I am not!"

Meanwhile, in the car, the girls had gotten a hold of the cars speaker and was blasting music and singing loudly along before Raven stopped.

"Wait wait. I can't believe in my now 27 years of life, I am only just having a girl's night. You guys are seriously the best, I am buying the first round." Raven said to the with a grin on their face.

"Well, we will be sitting in the VIP section so we got our own bar." Faith reviled to her. "Happy Birthday!"

Raven gasped. "Really?! Yes!" She clapped happily.

"You really think you was going to have your birthday in the normal people sections?" Jazmine questioned her. "Hell nah! The Gems are the managers personal favourite when he comes to our club so favour for pleasure."

"He even said he put a little extra treat for us." Ming winked.

"Ahhh! I can't wait." Raven cheered.

They arrived to the location where they saw a good long line outside which they knew meant this club was the one to be at on a Saturday night. Well, besides Empire and The Blue Moon. They walked straight to the front, much to others displease.

Jazmine walked up to the bouncer and whispered in his ear. A few seconds later, he let all six girls in without a blink of an eye.

She smirked as she turned to her friends. "And just like that, we're in."

One by one, they walked into the club and was hit with loud music and flashing lights.

"Our section is at the top." Jazmine pointed to the empty and section off area that had security standing there.

"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" The girls have never seen Raven so excited before which was why they were glad that they were able to get her a VIP section and at last minute. Raven shouldn't be partying with just anyone for the whole night, she deserved her own area.

Once they got past security, they got to their seats and was met with two bottles of champagne in ice.

"Come on Raven! You have to pop a bottle right now!" Ming shouted to her.

Raven didn't hesitate and picked up a bottle. "Here's to the birthday girl, bad ass friends and living her best life with her baby boy!" She popped the bottle, making everyone cheer.

They each grabbed a glass and filled it up with the bubbly drink and in seconds, it was in their systems.

"Alright I am going to orde-"

"Tonight we got a birthday girl in heerree!" They suddenly heard the DJ shout. All six girls turned towards where the DJ was but had to turn away once they saw sparklers coming their way. "Special shout out to Raven who is celebrating her birthday tonight up in VIP! This song is for you!"

The DJ played a birthday song and immediately Raven started dancing, with her friends hyping her up.

She started to twerk which Cindy, Ming, Jazmine and Royalty didn't expect. They have always seen her serious, business like or chill. Never out here twerking on people's furniture but this was exactly what they were happy to see.

"Gems!" They heard once all the girls arrived in their section and the song changed.

In walked the club owner with his arms open and a smile on his face.

"Hello Gary!" They greeted him back. They gave air kisses to him as they usually did to long time and friendly customers.

"Thank you for hooking us up with this section." Royalty thanked.

"It's nothing for my favourite dancers." He waved off. "I am due for another trip down anyway."

"You have missed out on a lot. The birthday girl here is our new boss." Jazmine pointed over to Raven who stood out in her red outfit.

"Good. Louis was always a dick."

"Right?!" The girls agreed.

The older man walked over to Raven and planted a kiss on the back of her hand. "Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy your night at my club as much as I enjoy my nights at yours."

"Thank you. I'll let you know how I feel by the end of it and I should tell you I have high standards. I owe 2 clubs after all." She smirked.

"A business woman... that's something that definitely deserves more hype. Whatever you want, call me." He handed his business card and left, the girls following behind.

"Enough of that." Faith waved off. "While you guys were talking, I ordered two shots for everyone." Right on cue, over came the tray of a total of 12 shots of clear liquid.

"Alright alright. Let's go!" Cindy reached for the shots first, one in each hand and everyone followed suit.

"To a night of blurred memories!" Ming toasted.

"Blurred memories!" They all cheered to before taking the shots, one after the other.

From there, more drinks entered their systems as they danced, sang and rapped along to the music playing loudly in the club.

"I gotta pee!" Raven suddenly shouted once she heard her bladder wanting to empty itself.

"I need to pee too! I'm coming!" Jazmine shouted with her.

Since they were in the VIP section, they had their own toilets which was for the VIP areas only. It made it very convenient since they didn't have to go search for it downstairs.

"Come on let's go." Jazmine pulled her towards the toilet door when Raven paused in her steps.

"Evan?" She called out.

Jazmine stopped too so she could see who Raven was calling to.

A tall man turned around, making Raven's mouth slightly hang open once she knew she was right.

A very handsome dark skin man grinned at her as his eyes landed on her. He stroked his full beard and stepped closer to her.

"If it isn't the one and only Raven. How you doing?" He asked her.

"I'm good but you never looked this fine in high school." She commented as she looked him up and down.

"I was always fine and so were you, and still are. What's got you out here looking sexy as hell? Especially with no man insight."

"It's my birthday and I ain't got no man." She answered.

"That explains while you're in the VIP section. I'm here for my home boy's bachelor party but happy birthday girl." He said to her. Before she could react, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Jazmine gasped louder than she wanted to, reminding them another person was there. "Damn, my bad, I see you're with your home girl."

"Don't mind me, I am enjoying this." Jazmine giggled.

Evan laughed before looking back at Raven whose eyes was staring deep into his face. "Let's exchange numbers. I know you're going to use that very soon." He took out his phone and handed it to Raven and she did the same. They started typing when one of his friends came over looking for him.

"Nigga where you at?!" He called out. That's when he saw Raven and Evan exchanging back their phones. "I see you pulling game."

"Just some catching up really." Evan shrugged.

His friend nodded before looking over at Jazmine in the corner. "Well while they catch up you wanna get to know?"

Jazmine smiled sweetly. "Sorry, I gotta boyfriend."

"Not like he kills niggas. He ain't got shit on me I bet."

Raven and Jazmine burst out into laughter at the irony. "Since his name is Ghost, yeah, yeah he does."

The man eyes grew wide. "My bad girl." He turned to his friend and slapped him on the shoulder. "You know your way back." With that, he turned around and walked straight out the area just before the toilets separated without a second look.

"Yeah I should get back too. Don't be afraid to use that number." He winked at Raven before walking out the same door his friend just went through.

"Ohhh Raven's gotta crruusshhhhh!" Jazmine teased.

"Shh I still have to pee, leave me alone." Raven dismissed her and the two finally went to the toilets.

Time went on, drinks got emptied and drunk texts were sent. Somehow during the time, the bachelor party Evan was with joined the girl's group so everyone got even more drunk since they were now celebrating two things. Gary kept to his promise and made sure that whatever they wanted, they got.

The friend that came to check on Evan was staying clear from Jazmine and the girls all let it be known they were taken which they respected. Of course, the only single one was Raven who spent a lot of time on Evan's lap, much to everyone's excitement.

"I miss my man." Ming pouted. "I'm going to call him." She pulled out her phone and went straight to her phone contacts to call Hiro.

"Girl don't!" Faith slurred. "If you call him, he's going to pick us up and I am not ready to go yet. Dante will drag my ass home."

Ming gasped. "You right you right!"

"You should've said that before!" Jazmine said nervously. She turned her phone around and everyone could see she was on Facetime to Huey. "My bad byeeee!" She hung up on him.

"Now why would you do that?!" Cindy asked her, knowing in her drunk mind what was coming next.

Seconds later, she got a text. "I'm giving you another 30 minutes and then I'm coming for you." She read out loud without meaning to.

"Damnnn. Well I am already drunk as fuck right now!" Raven slightly tripped when she tried to reach for the champagne bottle.

"The club closes in 40 minutes anyway." Evan told Raven as he finished his own liquor, drunk too.

Not one person in the VIP section was sober and it was evident in the unstable walking, slurred speech and uncontrollable movements.

"Okay okay! One more shot might not kill us!" Royalty shouted as a tray of 14 shots came over, one for each person. She was the only one that had plans the next day but here she was, giving everyone one more shot.

"To the groom and the birthday girl!" Cindy shouted.

"The groom and birthday girl!" Everyone cheers with her, downing the shots straight after.

Time ticked by and the club was ready to close in 10 minutes. Right on time, Huey sent Jazmine a text saying he was outside so the girls collected their things and did their best to not trip over their own feet, especially when walking down the steps.

As they got outside, they saw Huey and Dante with disappointed and amused facial expressions. It wasn't hard to tell who had what expression.

"Ayy that's my mannn!" Jazmine shouted before running across the street, not even looking both ways.

Huey's heart dropped as he raced over to pull her out the road before any car came. "That's it, you're never getting drunk without me again."

"Shh." She pushed her finger onto his lip. "We're going to go back to your place and have s-e-x." She spelt out.

"I want sex but Riley is on a no sex rule for his boxing." Royalty frowned next to them, which neither of them knew she was there. Without another word, she opened his car door and sat in the back, waiting to be dropped home. Huey just watched in confusion the whole time before settling on a head shake in disappointment.

"Um who is this nigga?" Dante asked as he saw Raven holding the hand of some unknown stranger.

"A new friend. Now, take us back to the crib. I am not the only one that is going to miss out on getting something right now. I have a dry spell which is about to break tonight." Raven told him.

Dante looked at her with disgust but let them both in the car and went to help Faith get into the passenger seat. Once everyone was in the two cars, they drove off into the night. Huey had hoped that Riley, Hiro and Caesar would collect their own girlfriends because the amount of noise they were making was crazy. Only Dante volunteered to get them but he still ended up with the majority of the girls.

It took about 20 minutes to arrive to their apartments and somehow in the last 5 minutes of the journey, Jazmine was knocked out cold. "Alright everyone get out." He told them.

The three girls collected their things and stumbled out the car as Dante pulled up next to them.

Huey got out the driver's side and walked around to the passenger's seat. He opened the door, picked up Jazmine's purse before carrying her bridal style. He knew she was knocked out cold because she didn't even snuggle up to him like she usually would when he held her. That meant he had to get her undressed and then dressed for her to sleep the drunkenness off. Once everyone was out the car, they all crammed into the elevator, much to Huey's annoyance.

"Well, this is our stop. Girls, we did good with crashing the boat tonight." Cindy waved as she stepped out with Ming.

"Later alligator." Ming threw up a peace sign just as the lift door closes.

Huey looked over at the new person that was in the elevator and glared at him. Feelings eyes on him, Evan slowly turned in the direction he felt the eyes before looking back at the doors.

The doors opened again which meant Faith, Dante, Raven and the new guy all got off. "Huey you need to learn to be nicer." Raven told her friend as she stuck her tongue out. "I'm getting dick tonight!" She shouted to no one who needed to know.

Huey just shook his head as the doors closed once again. That was a painful journey to go through.

"Your brother awake?" Royalty suddenly asked.

He shrugged. "Probably."

She sighed. "Doesn't matter anyway. I'm not getting no dick tonight."

He looked at her in annoyance as she stepped out the elevator and walked towards the Riley's door. That was the 2nd time she mentioned their sex life to him as if he carried or wanted to know.

Huey forgot he had to find a way to open the door so he threw Jazmine over his shoulder and reached for his key. After he successfully walked in, without hitting her head, he walked to his room and carefully placed her on his bed. Somehow, she ended up looking like a star fish.

Smirking at how out cold she was, he got her undressed, remembering she says that there was nothing more annoying than waking up hungover and having a bra on and put on one of his old tops that she took as her own. Once he did that, he moved her up to the pillows and got her underneath the covers. He even found one of his spare bonnets and placed it on her head for her. Doing all of this just reminded him of putting a child to bed while they were sleeping. No help at all.

He looked over at her snoring lightly, not preparing for how much pain she was going to be in once she woke up in the morning. He changed his own clothes, got her a bottle of water to put on her side of the bed and got in, immediately pulling her closer so she could peacefully sleep in her arms. He was glad that she was able to have a good time with her friends, especially with how last weekend went.

She said that her parents didn't bring up the night again but he knew that didn't help their uneasy feeling about his family. He didn't care about their opinions, as long as Jazmine's opinion on him didn't change. People may be wondering what did he do to the people that hurt his cousin but he had already thought that out. He was waiting for the hype around the incident to die down before he made his move. It would be less obvious to who it was connected to then, he didn't want his cousin to get dragged into the cross fire.

One of his people has a cousin that goes to the same university so they have been hanging around and keeping tabs on Monique. She's been able to successful dodge her attackers as much as she could but he knew they were going to come back for her soon but they won't get the chance to, he was going to get to them first.

Suddenly, he felt something wet on his chest and it wasn't until he felt Jazmine's rub her mouth he realised what it was. He smirked hard. He knew she was going to be embarrassed if he told her that she was drooling on him in her sleep. She had nothing to worry about, they've exchanged other fluids many times before.

Not long before the two got into bed, Royalty was knocking on Riley's door normally until she got a rhythm to it. She was just about to get hyped when he swung the door open.

"Girl was you making a beat on my door?"

"Yeah and what about it?" She asked with attitude as she stepped inside.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Where has all this attitude come from? You're never this moody when you're drunk."

"I only gotta attitude because alcohol makes me horny and my boyfriend can't even help me with it. I'm not even at my place to have my toys to help me an-" She was cut off by Riley pulling her into a kiss. He could taste every single drink she had that night but he didn't care, he was getting drunk off something else tonight.

"Who said I can't help you?" Riley questioned her.

Before she could even fix her lips to answer, he scooped her up, each leg around his waist and carried her to his room. Unlike what Huey was doing with Jazmine, Riley threw Royalty onto the bed, high enough so that her head landed perfectly on the pillows.

He stood at the foot of his bed, towering over her as she laid there, mouth open and stuck. Riley peeled off his top and crawled on top of her, capturing her lips in more kisses. Royalty couldn't even get into the kiss because his lips moved to her neck. She could feel him apply pressure between her legs which made the no sex rule hurt her even more. He was doing all this and she couldn't even get the whole thing. He unzipped the front of her top which exposed him to her breast in seconds. He got to work as Royalty massaged his head and pushed up onto his waist.

Riley decided he left enough marks on her and moved his head further down. He removed the final items of her clothing and replaced it with his mouth.

Royalty's breath caught into her throat. This was not what she expected. Her head started to spin and she wasn't even sure what the true cause of it was anymore. She felt more sensitive down there all of a sudden because she felt herself losing it too soon. She forced herself to hold back to let the moment ride out for just a while longer. Riley was putting in the work and the tricks, he knew just how to please her right and it was scary knowing someone had this much power and control over her body. He could feel her clenching so he sped up some more. He knew she liked that because she was about to rip his hair out.

"I- I can't-" Royalty words failed to complete a sentence as Riley reached up with his only free hand to play with one of her breast.

Riley didn't even need to tell her to finish because she did. All over his mouth.

She forgot just how much Riley worked to please her and boy was she more than pleased.

She tried to remove her legs from his shoulders but it was too heavy to do. She was paralysed from the waist down. Riley felt the terrible attempt to remove herself from him and chuckled, making her shiver from the gush of wide she felt. He softly placed her legs off his shoulders and crawled back on top of her. He looked her deep in the eyes and whispered to her, even though it was only them in the room.

"Just because I don't get to cum, doesn't mean you don't have to."

That was enough for her to have another climax. The way he spoke to her was sweet, soft and sexy. This was definitely not the same Riley she thought she was going to mess around with once in the club and maybe twice at his crib and that's it. This was a different Riley. This was a whole different man on top of her.

"Let's go to bed, we got a long day tomorrow." He told her casually as he got off her. He handed her the top he just had on for her to put on herself and got into bed.

Still speechless, she climbed in with him and snuggled up next to him. Within seconds, she was knocked out cold. Riley smirked to himself. He did what needed to be done and it put her straight to sleep. This woman was getting all the best parts of him and he hoped she knew it too. Royalty was seriously something special.

---

Riley turned up to his training session extra pumped today. He was prepared for a hard workout and he also had his favourite cheerleader with him. Only problem was, she was a little hung over.

"Why did I agree to do exercise?" Royalty commented as she walked to the boxing gym with Riley. "Especially the day after I got drunk as fuck."

"I told your ass to stay at home with me." He smirked.

"You know I wasn't missing out on a night out with my girls and new friends." She told him. She drank from her large bottle of water that was going to be her best friend for the day. "If I pass out that's on you."

"Don't over do it and you'll be good. You don't even have to work out." He told her as he reached for the handle to open the door for her.

"You see this fat ass stomach. It's gotta shed. It's disgraceful." She said casually and went to walk in but he stopped her.

"Ah ah. What you not finna do is talk shit about yourself. You fine and beautiful just how you are. Everyone wants to change something about themselves but you don't get to talk down on yourself like that. I don't like how you said that so casually, which means you've been saying it a lot. I personally love any body type you have but if you wanna cut down on your stomach, I will help you but you better not talk down on yourself again. You hear me?" Riley told her seriously.

Royalty looked at him with wide eyes. She sometimes forgot about the serious Riley because when he was, it was all business and you had to listen to what he had to say. She was definitely listening to what he was saying.

"Okay Riley. I hear you." She nodded.

"Good, now gimme a kiss. It's going to be the last one I get for the next 2 hours." He requested so she gave him one.

The two walked into the gym and was already greeted by Jesse.

"Riley! I see you brought your girlfriend back." He grinned.

"Yeah, you remember Royalty right? She's helping and being a cheerleader today."

"I can never forget the girl that got this boy all soft." Jesse teased.

"Hahahaha." Riley faked laughed. "We getting started or what?"

Jesse shook his head but got them started anyway. "Stretches and warm up with the skipping ropes."

They nodded and went over to the mats to grab an area for just them.

"You're not going to have no problem with these stretches." Riley smirked.

"You are disgusted." Royalty laughed.

"I'm just stating what I see."

"Creep."

The two stretched and Riley had to do his best to not get distracted. They've done stretches and a little work out before when they were teaching the girls self-defence but it was different this time. They wasn't training for life and death, they were just training.

"Y'all done?" Jesse called out to the two after 10 minutes.

They were breathing more since they just skipped for a whole 7 minutes. Royalty didn't know about Riley but she was definitely warmed up.

"Yeah." They answered.

"Alright, let's go over to the ring." He told the two. They followed him to the ring and that's when they saw the ropes going in different directions across the ring. "Here, you will need to do different sequences while dodging under the rope. Royalty, it's your first time doing a work out with us so I won't go so hard on you." She nodded in appreciation. "Let's wrap your hands and then you can get started."

With the help of Jesse and Riley, Royalty got her hands wrapped.

"I feel like I am in Creed."

Jesse shook his head. "Kids these days. If you knew real movies you would say you felt like Rocky. Just for that, I should make you go first. Go on, get up there girl."

Riley laughed as she groaned in annoyance. "That was a big mistake."

"I can tell that now." She stuck her tongue out at him. Once Royalty got in the ring, Jesse started the timer.

"Duck." Jesse instructed her. "2 uppercuts. Duck again. Uppercut, jab. Duck. 2 jabs, uppercut. Duck. Again." He coached her. For someone he believed has never done boxing before, she was showing promise. "Remember to keep your body balanced."

After 10 straight minutes, Royalty was finally out the ring, breathing heavy and sweating out her hair. She was so sure the wig was going to slide off by the end of the training session with how hard she was going.

"I feel like I'm going to die." She breathed heavily as she made her way out the ring with Riley's help.

"Stop being dramatic." He shook his head at her as he handed over her bottle of water. "My turn." He jumped into the ring, already bouncing side to side, ready to go.

"You ready?" Jesse asked him. He nodded. "Good. Go." He started the timer. "Duck. Duck. Step back. Right hook. Duck. Right hook. Duck. Double jab, uppercut. Duck." He continued shouting demands over the next 25 minutes without a pause. Royalty was shocked at how well he was able to keep up even though he started to slow in the last stretch. Jesse was tough on the boy, making her wonder how Jesse was with Riley when he was younger.

By the time Riley was coming out the ring, he was already peeling his top off his body and she could see the sweat dripping off his body.

'Hm. He look good.' She thought.

"Ah ah. Remember. Celibacy until after the match." Jesse reminded them once he saw the eye contact they were giving each other. It was as if he could read minds.

"We wasn't doing anything." They said at the same time.

"Hm if you say so." He huffed as he looked them up and down. "Alright, let's move onto the bags. Get your gloves."

"Are there any spare ones I can borrow?" Royalty asked Jesse.

"No need to." Riley went to his bag and took out a pair of gloves that matched his own. "I got you some."

"Awwww Riley." Royalty pouted before throwing her arms around his shoulders. "Thank you so much! You didn't even have to."

"For my girl you never get spares you get your own thing."

Just as they went to kiss, Jesse interrupted. "You can kiss after and only that. For now, we got training to do."

The two parted ways and got back to the task at hand after they shared a look which said they reserved the kiss for later. Once again, Royalty had challenging but easy enough sequences while Riley had to go full out, none stop. Royalty has seen Dion box a little from the day they set up the match and she wondered how good he really was because her man was good. If they were actually the same level as Jesse says, then this was going to be a close match and an entertaining one at that.

"Come on Riley I know you can do better than that." Jesse pushed him.

Royalty listened to the powerful blows that Riley was sending to the punching bag. She would hate whoever was on the other side of those fists but she was also thinking how attractive it was watching him. See his muscles contract and relax after every punch. Even his calves looked amazing.

Never in her dating life has a man done this with her. Taking her to a place that met a lot to him and showed her another piece of him. Even so, to just bring her along while he is doing something he was passionate about. Although he had to do intense training, he still allowed her to join in which is why she tried so hard to not distract him. He needed to concentrate and Jesse was nice enough to let her join in so didn't want to get on the wrong side of him.

A few more minutes later, Royalty handed Riley a towel to wipe his body free from the sweat that was running over his muscles.

"Thanks." He took the towel gratefully and whipped his skin dry from any liquid.

"How you feeling?" Royalty asked him.

"Like imma be sore in the morning." He answered as he tried to catch his breath.

"I can give you a massage-"

"No sex!" Jesse shouted at them as he heard their conversation.

"Its not sex!" Royalty shouted back with a laugh and eye roll. "Its exactly what I said it was. A massage. I just have to pick up a few things and imma need one because I know I'm going to be sore too."

"Bet. We got another 20 minutes here then we can quickly go to the store to get what you need." Riley agreed and that's exactly what they did.

Once they completed their session, they picked up all the oil and any other things they wanted before driving back to Riley's place, showering and then getting into bed naked. The mood was right. The curtains were closed so it blocked out the light with only one lamp lighting up the room. Music was playing softly in the back and they took turns rubbing and massaging their partners sore muscles with not much conversation between the two. They shared a couple of kisses but nothing too deep. By the end of it, they were both wrapped up in the blankets and knocked out cold, fully relaxed and satisfied from their after work out treatment which was very much needed. They couldn't think of anyone better to do it with.

---

Caesar decided to bring Cindy somewhere that wasn't very convenient to bring your girlfriend but he didn't care.

"Welcome to my favourite room ever, my growing room." He introduced her as he swung the door open and held his arms out dramatically.

"Damn, this a lot of weed." Cindy commented as she looked at the rows and rows of plants growing under blue lights. There were a few people in their spraying them with water or cutting off some of the branches but they never paid attention to Caesar's dramatic entrance. It's as if they're used to it. Knowing Caesar, Cindy believed they were used to his dramatic and random antics.

"We're Chicago's main supplier of weed. Even then we get orders from out of city so we always gotta be stocked up. Your friends Ed and Rummy seem pretty interested in expanding to your hometown too."

Hearing this made Cindy stop and turn to Caesar. "When did they say this?"

"That time when we were supposed to go to the motorbike shop. They helped us handle our business and wanted to see if they could get their hands on some more of what we have to offer."

"I'm surprised they wanted to. They have Woodcrest in the palm of their hands. They do robberies all the time and all they get is a slap on the wrist. They would be arrested then released, all charges dropped." She explained.

"Damn it's like that?"

"Its like that." She nodded.

Caesar nodded too before getting serious. "Look, I understand that their your bros or whatever but we gotta know who wants to go into business with us. We can't be having no fuck ups or slip ups because some crazy rich white folks wanna be dealing with Chicago weed."

She couldn't help but laugh at the last part. They were some crazy rich white folks. "Alright, what do you wanna know?"

"What drugs are they into? How many times have they gotten out of trouble with the law? What do they actually do?" He listed the questions to her.

"Damn the 3rd degree is serious." She commented before answering. "I'm not going to lie, they dabble in other drugs but they're not hooked or anything. They've gotten out of trouble too many times for someone to count and from different reasons too. Assault, robbery, all those and that's what they do. Do whatever they feel like to get money. Even though they have it." She shrugged. "Look, I know you're all cautious when it comes to your shit but those 2 are loyal to the end. Never been snitches or flakes. They're real ones. I believe going into business creates a trade you wouldn't get even from the rich side of Chicago. The people in Woodcrest are desperate for anything. They will throw whatever price they want to give them a buzz." Cindy went on to explain, Caesar listening intensely. "When I moved here and brought weed for the first time, I feel like it was from you guys now thinking about it, that shit was premium shit. They weren't making it in Woodcrest like it is here. I would have to smoke 2 blunts to feel something and with your shit, I can get through half and already be buzzed. That's something they need. High prices they can easily pay and will buy like nothing. It's a good investment."

Once she finished, Caesar looked at her with wide eyes. "You wanna say that shit again but this time lemme record you so I can show Huey."

She playfully rolled her eyes. "I ain't saying all that shit again just power phase it for him."

"Well you've sold me on that idea. I will definitely pass it on to boss." Caesar reassured her. "And you never wanted your family's business? You pretty good at persuasion and selling an idea."

"They're doing architecture. What the hell am I meant to do with that? I don't know shit about buildings. If you wanted to ask someone about that, ask Ming, she was always a good designer. I guess she's moved from the outside to the inside." Cindy shrugged.

"My bad, just wondering." Caesar held his hands up in defence. "Wanna meet the plants?"

"Sure, why not." Cindy shrugged.

Caesar walked her around the room and showed as well as told her every type and flavour they had. She didn't even realise how much there was until he explained it all. He told her that it took him at least 5 months to perfect a new strain. He had to make sure it was all hitting the right spot before they started selling. She smelt a lot of them and that just put her in the mood to smoke so he cut one straight from the plant its self and rolled it up for her.

She knew how to make a blunt but she was amazing with the way Caesar did it so effortlessly. It was second nature to him and he did it so quickly.

He lit it for her and let her take the first hit before she past it back. It took them less than 5 minutes to go through more than half the blunt which was when they started feeling the effects.

"You know, it's funny how I didn't pay you any piece of mind when we first met." She randomly commented.

"And now, you can't get enough of me." He pulled her closer but that wasn't enough for him. He tugged on her arm and she got the message, she stood and moved to sit in his lap. They wrapped their arms around each other and just sat there comfortably.

"That is true. I got lucky." She sighed. "We all did. We managed to find a friendship group of four single men that matched perfectly with us and our hectic lives."

"Yeah that's true." Caesar said but was stopped but Cindy's phone ringing.

She pulled it out casually but jumped when she saw the caller id. "Oh shit! My dad."

"I forgot he was even here." Caesar told her truthfully.

Cindy answered the phone and then put it on loud speaker. "Hey dad, you're on loud speaker. I'm with my boyfriend Caesar."

"Hello Mr McPhearson." He greeted.

"Please, you make my daughter happy. Call me Paul."

Caesar nodded respectfully. "Alright. How you holding up Paul? Hope the Chi is treating you good."

"I mean it's been pretty good out here. Would be better if I had my daughter with me like she said she would be." He chuckled.

He didn't sound serious but she still felt bad for flaking on him. "I'm sorry dad, I got a little caught up." She apologised but then she remembered she was an adult so decided to tell him the truth. "We legit just got high."

Paul let out a full belly laugh. "Damn and you forgot about your old man? Sad. I guess you can make it up to me by bringing me whatever you're getting high on." He told them which surprised them both.

"Dad! You smoke?!" Cindy asked shocked, not sure what the answer would be.

"I did in my younger days and only recently been thinking about trying it out again. See what you kids got going on." He explained.

This is where Caesar saw an opportunity to jump in. "Well your daughter is currently with the best weed supplier you could ask for. Don't worry, we'll be there in 45 with some good shit."

"It better be!"

"See you soon dad." Cindy hung up the phone before really thinking about what was said. "Are we really going to give my dad weed?"

An hour later, Paul was high from the weed that Cindy and Caesar brought for him. Caesar rolled it up for him and Paul was impressed. It was the first time he has seen it so perfect and Caesar had explained that it was years of practice.

It was even Caesar's first time meeting Cindy's dad and here they were, high as fuck together.

"You know what I can do with? A pizza." Paul nodded in thought.

"Already beat you to it." Caesar turned his phone to show he was already looking online for the best pizza shop around the area. "They never have good shit around the rich parts."

"Well how long will it take for some good shit?" Paul asked.

"About 45 minutes to an hour."

"Dammit." Paul cursed. "I guess we just have to wait. Get a pepperoni son."

Caesar nodded and put in the order quickly so they didn't have to wait long.

"I never realised how hungry I am until now." Cindy commented as she rubbed her stomach.

"And here's me remembering when I had to bribe you to finish your dinner."

Cindy rolled her eyes at her father. "That was a long time ago. I like food now."

"You mean up until you was about 13 and I had to tell you your mom wouldn't let me bribe you anymore."

"More of a valid reasons as to why I'm a daddy's girl."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Because I bribed you?"

"Precisely."

Caesar chuckled. "Yeah those daddy girls are nothing to play with. I got 2 sisters so I've seen it first hand."

"I remember Cindy mentioning that she spent Christmas with your family. How did they take to my daughter?" Paul asked curiously.

"I mean she won over my dad by talking about sports. The two was going at it for roughly an hour." Caesar laughed. "It was a good day. We're due back for another visit anyway."

"I like that you're all getting along. I apologise if you feel as if we haven't been very present with Cindy and her relationship." He apologised.

Caesar waved him off. "I understand. Cindy explained everything to me."

"Yeah, it's been a tough few years." Paul sighed. "I love my wife but she just needs to accept that Cindy wasn't going to follow in her footsteps. I've had to bribe Cindy since she was 5 for so many things just to make her mom happy. We made an agreement that I would teach Cindy how to play basketball and build her a court if she agreed to wear dresses when we went to events which was a lot. I didn't like doing that but, in the end, I always made it up. Now I see it still wasn't good enough. You didn't deserve that."

Cindy looked at her dad and sighed herself. "Mom was very controlling when she wanted to be. I couldn't be the girly girl she wanted me to be. A young Jazmine was exactly who she wanted me to follow but I just couldn't."

"And you don't need to be disappointed about that. Just remember this when you have kids, what they will want to be is not what you expect them to be and to never expect them to be what you imagined. Your mother and I made that mistake and even though we imagined two different futures, we still didn't let you fully be who you wanted to be and for that I apologise." He told her sincerely.

"You don't need to apologise because you still introduced me to a sport that I've loved ever since." The two smiled at each other, happy that they were able to have a real conversation without Cindy's mother voicing her negative opinion about her life. She could always count on the support from her father.

"Um as much as I hate to ruin this moment, as beautiful as it is, our food is here and I know we all are ready to eat." Caesar told them as he showed them his phone.

"About time because I am starving now?" Paul chuckled as he patted his stomach.

"You think so? Time went quick for me." Cindy shrugged.

"Ite, I'll be back." Caesar went downstairs to retrieve the pizza before coming back up and everyone devouring the 2 boxes of pizza and the sides that came with it. Paul spent the time getting to know Caesar better and saw that his daughter had made the right choice being with him. He was a good man and showed he really liked Cindy and he treated her with the upmost respect and he knew it wasn't just an act. The smile on her face just said it all. He was happy to get this moment to see them together, he was glad they found each other.

---

On the complete opposite side of the fancy hotel Cindy and Caesar were at, Huey had just pulled up to his warehouse with Jazmine who had finally recovered from her hangover.

"You guys got a toilet in there right?" She asked.

"Yes we do. I told you not to drink so much before we got anywhere because now you're dying to go." He pointed to her crossed legs that was squeezed tightly together.

"Well I had to rehydrate from all that throwing up- can we go now?!" Jazmine didn't know how much longer she could hold onto her bladder and she refused to wet herself in front of her boyfriend in his car.

Huey smirked. "Come on."

The two jumped out the car and made their way inside. Jazmine saw Mirror, the same girl that was helping them with self-defence walk past who Huey just happened to call over.

"Yes boss?" Mirror answered respectfully.

"Show Jazmine the bathroom and then bring her out back." He instructed her before turning to Jazmine. "Mirror will take care of you while I get some stuff ready alright?"

"Yes yes, bye!" He seemed to have forgotten how much she needed the bathroom. "Girl let's go!"

The two jogged away to the bathroom while Huey walked off to where he was taking Jazmine.

Once Jazmine finally released her bladder and was washing her hands, Mirror asked her a question.

"So you and Ghost right?"

Jazmine looked up at her through the mirror before looking back at her hands. "Yeah." She kept her answer short, not knowing what she was asking or wanted to know.

Mirror nodded. "Lucky as hell to have a man like that. I know he take good care of you." Jazmine raised an eyebrow, making Mirror continue to her point. "I'm just saying. There are men in this business that don't treat their woman right, especially in his position. We all know Ghost, Reezy, MC and HO got you girls covered. So damn lucky."

Jazmine nodded. "Yeah I guess we are."

"Yeah. You do know that puts you all at a higher rank than me, that's crazy. Anyways, lemme get you to boss now before he starts tearing up the place looking for you." Mirror told her once she dried her hands.

They walked the rest of the way in silence and once Mirror dropped Jazmine where Huey was, she left.

"You feeling better now?" He asked without taking his eyes off filling the clip with bullets but still had an amused look on his face.

"Much."

Jazmine started looking around the room. Huey told her that he had a gun range room but didn't understand why she was so surprised at what she saw. When he said he was gonna teach her how to shot, she expected them to have random glass bottles being shot at in the woods. Not a whole soundproof room with 6 places for people to practice their shooting, like a regular gun range but much neater. This place continued to surprise her.

"What don't you have in this place?" She asked shocked.

"A bowling alley." He answered sarcastically, making her face go straight.

"Really? You know what I meant. You have a shooting range, a weapons room, growing room, a tech room and a training room. What am I missing? Because I know there's more."

Huey thought about it for a few seconds. "I mean we have a holding room but you wouldn't know that."

"Yeah and I do not want to see it."

"I wouldn't even take you there anyway." Huey let her know. A lot of souls were lost in there and he didn't want her around that feeling. His friends, family and Raven all believed that if it wasn't for Aunt Cookie's hard prayers of protection, the souls would surely be haunting them. "Ready to get started?" She nodded. "Okay at first, I'm going to give you headphones but then as we get into it, you're going to have to take it off so you get used to the actual sound of a gun going off as sad as that sound. It's not something everyone wants to be constantly reminded of."

Jazmine nodded once again in understanding. She knew if she ever did have to use it, she didn't want to be startled by the actual sound of a gun going off. "How long did it take you to get used to it?"

He sighed. "Unfortunately, I grew up hearing it. The only difference is, my heart no longer goes into overdrive when I hear it and I usually add to the sounds after."

There were times like this that made Jazmine realise how different they grew up from each other. What did she know about growing up in the environment Huey did? Basically nothing and she never truly would.

"Alright, we're going to start with a pistol then work our way up. You are less likely to use the bigger ones but I will feel comfortable knowing I taught you a range of guns." He explained. He picked up the gun and placed it in Jazmine's hand. He supported her as she lifted it up and took on the stance needed to fire correctly. "Keep your hands as steady as possible... when you're ready, wrap your finger around the trigger and pull it."

Jazmine took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. Once she felt ready, she pressed down on the trigger and even with the headphones, she heard the loud sound of the bullet escaping the chamber. When she looked at where the bullet went through, she saw it was around the stomach area.

"That was a good shot. Let's do some more." He encouraged her. She nodded and pulled the trigger again and again. Huey decided to let her try without his help so removed his hands and stepped back. "Now try without me."

"Okay." Jazmine focused on trying to perfect her stance without Huey's help and pulled the trigger again. This time it hit right where the heart would be located, which made her turn pale at the thought of her instantly killing someone. Huey noticed the look in her face and placed his hand on the gun, slowly lowering it and removing it from her hands so that neither of them were in harm's way.

"Jazmine. You don't need to feel bad about this. You're learning for defence purposes not for the intent to harm or kill. When you pull that trigger at someone, it will only be to protect you and the ones you love. Nothing else." Huey explained to her.

Jazmine hated the thought of the need to protect herself with such a violent weapon. It wasn't just because her boyfriend was a feared gang leader and was kidnapped before, it was also because at the end of the day, she was still a woman. In this world, women don't get protection like they should so have to go to such extreme measures to make sure she stays alive. It was scary to think like this but she had to, she was mature enough now to understand that this world wasn't fair. If you had asked her 10-year-old self, she wouldn't talked about such a perfect world she lived in. Oh, how naïve little Jazmine was.

"I know. It's just sad that I have to do this." Jazmine told him. "Which reminds me, what's happening with your cousin, Monique? It's been some time no?"

Huey got the next gun ready for her as he went on to explain. "I wanted to lay low for a bit but don't worry, they'll be dealt with."

"You're not gonna kill those kids are you?"

"First of all, they're not fucking kids, they knew what they were fucking doing. They invited her to the house to hurt her, they planned it."

"You're right, you're right." Jazmine agreed before letting him continue.

"I won't kill them but I have something for them very soon." He smirked to himself.

She looked at his smirk and saw nothing normal about it. "You know what, I am not gonna ask any further."

"Smart idea." He agreed. "Alright let's go."

They spent the next hour teasing and shooting at targets. Huey was surprised that by the end, most of her shots ended up being on target. If she was just any other female, he may have looked to recruit her.

"Well, that was more fun than I expected." Jazmine confessed as they walked into his office.

"Did I tell you that you looked fine as hell shooting like you was?" Huey suddenly confessed as he shut the door.

Jazmine raised a cheeky eyebrow at him as she notices his voice deepen as he looked at her. "It was? Did it turn you on?"

"Sure as hell did." She giggled as he pulled her close to his body and started placing kisses all over her face before she directed him to her lips. As they made their way over to the desk, she pushed him down in his chair before getting on her knees. Huey immediately knew what was about to happen and couldn't help but smirk.

She undone his belt and button and pulled everything down which left him exposed. She grabbed him first before lowering her wet mouth onto him, making him hum in satisfaction already. He never thought he would have Jazmine on her knees in his office but he was glad to experience it. He started to massage her head as he watched her bob her head up and down and could feel her tongue all over him.

"Fuck." He whispered under his breath. His leaned his head back and closed his eyes, making Jazmine grin and cause her to tease him a little by stretching out his pleasure.

Just as they were about to get into it, there was a knock at the door.

"Fuck." He mumbled but this time it wasn't for pleasure but annoyance. "Ignore it." He told Jazmine who looked up at him.

As she was about to do it so, the door knocked again but this time more rapidly and louder.

"Ugh. What?!" Huey shouted in frustration but somehow the person took it as an invitation to walk in.

"Ghost!"

"Oh shit." Jazmine ducked under the desk as Huey leaned forward to cover his naked bottom half.

"Layla, you're really starting to get on my fucking nerves with you interrupting and shit." He glared at her.

"I'm sorry. I heard you was here and needed to tell you something." She told him.

Ghost took a deep breath to calm his nerves but it didn't help. "Just because I said what doesn't mean it was a fucking invitation. What do you want and what could it be that you come bursting in here like some feds?"

Layla cleared her throat. "I heard that the Russians has been applying pressure on the corner boys by the old gas station." She informed him.

Ghost raised an eyebrow. "Why you coming with me with that shit? They know what the fuck to do."

"I was just checking in." Layla suddenly noticed a lump of bright coloured hair under the desk and looked down in confusion.

Jazmine, now annoyed she was still under the table, pushed her way out from under there just at the moment she was noticed and looked over at Layla with a straight face. "Girl. I'm trying to do something with my man right now. Can you please leave?" She asked politely as she sat on his lap, noticing he was now soft. Even after all that hard work she put in.

Layla had to hold in her glare. 'That should be m- I mean Erica there.' They still were planning to get Ghost and Reezy but it was hard to get close to them these days. If they were working on their business then they were with their girlfriends which was very annoying to witness.

"You're not my boss. Respectfully." Layla told her.

"Respectfully my ass." Jazmine mumbled with an eye roll.

Layla squinted her eyes at her. She honestly didn't care that she was sitting in Ghost's lap right now, she would drag her across the table like she did with any bitch that crossed her. "Well let me-"

"Layla that's enough." Ghost glared at her. "You can leave now and don't come back unless there's a shootout happening. Can't be running in my shit unannounced. I'm giving you a warning. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes boss." She answered. Even though he was telling her off, she was turned on by how dominate he sounded. She always loved a good dominate man.

"Leave. Now." He instructed her.

Jazmine waved and smiled not so sweetly as the girl turned and left the room, leaving them alone again.

They both sighed.

"I guess the moment is ruined now." Jazmine said.

"What makes you think that?" Huey asked her.

Jazmine moved so that she was sitting on his desk facing him. "Because your dick is soft now."

Huey looked down and smirked, already feeling as if it could get hard already. "For you? It will always get hard."

"Oh really?" Jazmine bit her lip. She didn't mind putting in the work once again.

"Foresure." She didn't even notice his hands were wrapped around the waistband of her leggings and was waiting for the green light to release her from these items.

"Show me then."

That was all he needed. He swiftly took her leggings off and pulled her into his laps and started kissing her with passion. She reached between them and stroked him until he was hard, which she then helped position to her entrance. Jazmine sunk down and gasped at the feeling before immediately moving her hips against his. They created a rhythm together and kept to it.

"Hm-" Jazmine was speechless and couldn't form even a sound to express her desires. Huey could feel her coming to the end so decided to switch positions. He moved anything behind her out the way before standing up, having her laid out across his desk with her legs in the air. "Huey!" That was the only word that was in her vocabulary currently.

The room was filled with applause and neither cared if anyone outside heard them. They were way too into the moment to care about others at the moment.

"I need... to pull out..." He grunted as he felt her seconds away and him a few strokes way from releasing everywhere. He didn't feel like cleaning up his office from himself but if there was any other way to stop that from happening, he would be happy to hear.

"Plan... b." Was all Jazmine needed to say.

They both let go and just stayed in the same spot panting once they did. Not one of them was ready to move from where they were, it was very comfortable how they were and they barely had any energy to move.

"You... buying it." Jazmine told him with a smirk as she slowly put down her shaky legs from his shoulders.

He smirked. "You asked for it." He pulled out and handed Jazmine her clothes before pulling up his boxers and joggers.

"In the moment, it felt absolutely right."

Huey sat back down on his chair and Jazmine followed by sitting on his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head down on him, get comfortable instantly. What neither of them realised was how risky they have been lately, there may be a time the pill would just not be enough.

Interrupting their moment of silence, his phone began to ring. "Your work never stops does it."

"No it does not?" He sighed before answering. "Yeah?"

"Ghost. There's a track practice today. I heard they're planning on going back to her house after. It will be easier to pick them up when they leave campus." The person on the other end answered.

Ghost nodded. "Good. I'll send you the number of the people that are going to pick them up. Remember, don't let Monique know anything."

"Gotchu."

Huey hung up the phone and turned back to Jazmine. "You hungry?" She nodded. "We can pick up some food and head back to my place." He suggested which she happily agreed with.

"And pharmacy." She added.

"Yeah, can't forget about that. Come on let's go."

The two made their way out hand in hand towards his car. They got looks but didn't care. They were sure a few heard but once again they didn't care, they were grown.

They passed Layla who was staring at them. Jazmine grinned as she saw how mad the girl looked. She knew her man was the real thing and people would kill to get the opportunity to get close to him. Unfortunately for them, she was there and there was no way she was going to die any time soon especially over a man.

"Stop giving evil eye." Huey told her as he noticed the shared look.

"Tell her to stop." Jazmine said back.

Huey saw that it was fair enough, knowing that Jazmine would only do it if someone did it to her first so he turned to Layla and gave her a slight glare, making her instantly turn away. "We good now?"

"Yup. Let's go get food."

Layla glared at the back of Jazmine's head as she walked out hand in hand with her boss. That girl just screamed naïve, she had no idea what Ghost saw in a weak girl like her. She was a stripper, a hoe, who would want to wife that?

Lily, the other girl from the self-defence training the dancers had, cleared her throat, making Layla take her eyes off the couple just as they walked out the door. "If I was you, I would stop trying to glare a hole in the girls head."

"I wasn't do-"

"You so were doing that." Lily shook her head as she trying to deny it. "I know I'm not the only one that noticed it too. Now what if someone goes and tells boss that you're glaring at his girl?"

"But he wouldn't do anything just because of that." Layla tried to say.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to give you some insight since you're new around here. Ghost has never, when I say never, I mean never! Had a girl come around his line of business. As in ever. This girl has her own personalised password and is out here holding hands with him. Plus, I know you heard him drilling the shit out of her not long ago." She did. She waited to see if Ghost would come out to say something else or even apologise to her but he didn't. All she heard was rustling, scraping of the desk across the floor and moans as well as other things she wanted to erase from her memory. It wasn't fair.

"So?"

Lily wondered what was so good about her to be in the gang but just had to think at whatever usefulness Ghost saw in her. "Soooo leave her alone. You won't win and he might kill you over her. No hesitation. That goes for Reezy, MC, and HO. Don't say I didn't warn you. Whatever you choose to do next is up to you and the death wish you have." She walked away while shaking her head. The younger girls sometimes didn't think clearly and with the business they were in, they had to think very clearly. Dumb shit like this could get them killed and she wasn't thinking about that and everyone could obviously see that Ghost was not playing about this girl, not one bit.

Layla sighed in frustration, not liking what she was being told, before going outside and pulling out her phone to dial a number.

"Hello."

"Erica, I'm sorry I can't get Reezy. I want Ghost."

"Ugh, cut it out with the gang nicknames. Its Riley and Huey." Erica rolled her eyes. She knew them as that so was going off of what she knew. "And we've been through this. He's mine and you never even tried with Riley."

"Have you seen how fine Ghost is? And Riley is just too much to handle eventhough he's just as fine as his brother."

"Yes! Yes I have bitch! That's the whole point I want him!" She shouted on the phone.

Layla shook her head even though she couldn't see. "It doesn't matter. My number isn't the one blocked from his phone and I see him way more than him."

"Well I told you to give me his schedule so I could coincidently run into him but you won't give it to me."

"I barely know that shit. Anyways, he was just here fucking that bitch as if I'm not right here for him to fuck."

Erica laughed. "Ha! At least I've fucked him and multiple times too. You will never get the satisfaction of being satisfied by Huey motherfucking Freeman. That man knows what he's doing!"

"I will soon."

"Sure bitch, you will have to go through me first."

"Fine."

"Fine. I guess we're onto the next stage of getting Huey. We just need to get that yellow hoe out the fucking way and we're good to go. Fair game then but I will still win while you continue to be 'fascinated' by him." Erica laughed once again, using the word Layla used to describe Huey the first time she showed interest of him.

"Let the best woman win." They both made a bet again, clearly annoyed that neither of them has managed to successfully gotten to the man. They were going to apply pressure now and was ready to get the man they believed they deserved.

---

As the night rolled on, Ming looked at Hiro in caution.

"I have never been on one of these before but you do know people call this a death trap." Ming told him.

Hiro chuckled. "Everything is a death trap. Even cars."

The two were currently in the garage arguing about getting on the motorbike that Hiro recently purchased. He was yet to go on a late-night ride and he wanted Ming to join him, only thing was she was scared.

"Okay but still." She tried to defend.

"Would I ever hurt you?" He started off.

"No."

"Would I ever ask you to do something that would put you in danger?"

"No."

"Do I love you?" He asked her.

"Yes." She mumbled.

"Do you trust me?" He asked the big question.

Ming looked down at her helmet. He brought one specifically for her to match his own and his bike. He was so sweet. She looked him in the eyes before sighing. You only live once right? "I do. Fine, I'll get on but if I get helmet hair I'm blaming you."

"I'm good with that. As long as you get on."

He helped her get her helmet on correctly then told her how to hold onto him. Ming felt as if she was shaking but she trusted him enough that she still got on.

Hiro started up the bike and it roared to life. As soon as it started moving, Ming tightened her grip.

"You ready?!" Hiro shouted over the noise.

"I guess so!" She shouted back.

With a chuckle, he started off slow to get out the garage, then once he was out, he picked up speed down the road.

Ming could feel her ponytail flowing in the wind on her back and her stomach started to turn as he turned. At first, she kept her eyes closed but eventually she slowly opened them and she didn't regret doing so.

The city of Chicago speeding past them at night just looked completely different from when you're in a car. You don't feel the wind actually on you and you hear more. She leaned off Hiro's back to get a better look at him. He looked very much in control the whole time. Not a swerve no nothing. The control he had on the vehicle was very attract to her actually.

Hiro could feel Ming loosen her grip and was glad she was able to relax a little. It may have seemed as if she was forced by throwing in that he loved her and if she trusted him but that wasn't case. He just wanted her to feel the rush he felt when he was on a bike. He would never use that in a malice way to get her to agree to what he wanted to do. Hiro had a feeling she would get comfortable with the idea of being on a motorbike and wanted to show her that she can always be safe with him.

He rode for what felt like hours but it wasn't even close to 1. He just circled the city on his bike and Ming was glad he convinced her to come along. After some time, they found a place where they could get food and sit outside to just relax and talk.

"How do you feel after your first bike ride?" Hiro asked her.

Ming thought about it for a second. "It was actually more relaxing than thrilling surprisingly. After I got comfortable, I felt peaceful."

"So does that mean you'll be riding with me more?" He raised an eyebrow hopping for a yes.

"Don't push your luck baby." She stopped him, causing them to laugh. "It won't be a regular thing."

"Fair enough, fair enough." He admitted in defeat. "You excited to be leaving the club? It is coming up soon."

Ming thought about it before answering. At the end of the month, Cindy and Ming were leaving the club so they could focus on a new chapter in their lives. Jazmine and Royalty planned to leave at the end of April to start their new chapter in their lives. Once Ming and Cindy left, they could focus full time on building up the gym. It was going to get their undivided attention and hard work once they left and it was going to be day and night work. They had to complete stripping the gym first before even thinking about putting a paintbrush on the wall. They needed the extra time so hopefully they could at least be close to done so Jazmine could start building her dance studio not long after.

"I guess you could say its bittersweet. Like we made a lot of memories there, we've been there for a good few years and have made a name for ourselves but we always knew it wasn't permanent. We just have enough money, knowledge and confidence to start what we really wanted, even after having our parents not talk to us for a very long time."

"Yeah how is that going again?"

Ming shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. "We haven't talked since I saw them in Woodcrest but my male cousin reached out to me recently saying that he's being put forward to take over the business which is good for him I guess."

"Damn, I'm sorry." He apologised.

"No need. I never wanted it. I'm starting my own shit anyway so I'm contempt with that discussion." Hiro nodded in understanding. "I've even been thinking about running my own kick ball team here in Chicago."

"You are?"

"Yeah but it won't be until a couple of years from now. I miss the sport and it will be good to introduce the sports to kids in Chicago and have them travel for matches and tournaments. Plus as me as coach they are sure to win."

"Well if you do it you might wanna have Huey as a co captain. He was briefly on a team before they were underfunded but he already made an name for himself for how good he was." Hiro suggested.

"I don't see him working for anyone but himself." She chuckled and Hiro couldn't help but agree. "Also I think it would be nice to carry over something from my grandfather."

Hiro saw the slight frown on her face and reached out to hold her hand. "You guys were close I guess."

Ming nodded. "Yeah, enough to give me 70% of his inheritance."

"You're saying it like you just found out." Hiro raised an eyebrow, especially with how much it sounded.

"You could say that. My grandfather has 4 grandchildren but we were the closest. He was the reason I've been so many places. He had a hard exterior and was strict but he always had a soft spot for me which no one understood. The last thing he said to me was that he was proud of me and I've held that on ever since as well as him saying I'm like a dragon which is one of the reasons I have it tattooed on me. With the inheritance now, his lawyer reached out to me when I turned 25 to tell me my grandfather has allowed me access my inheritance now, which means my cousins now too. They noticed how small their shares were and had a feeling that I took the rest which they're mad about understandably so maybe that's his way of getting something for himself, by going through the company my parents wanted to give me." She shrugged. "I don't care though."

"So what are you going to do with the inheritance?" Hiro wondered.

She gave a little shrug. "Well, us it to quick start my kickball team, that way the families that are struggling won't have to pay so much just to keep their kids in the sport. It will pay for practices, equipment, uniform, trips. All of that."

"For someone who seemed to have just figured all this out, you have it pretty much all planned."

"I like to plan and have things figured out, especially to be an interior designer. I need to have things mapped out to be able to correctly make a room look good." Hiro just stared at Ming for a few seconds before she noticed and started looking behind her before picking up her drink. "You alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm just thinking of how lucky I am going to be when our kids become intelligent like you."

Ming paused in her sip and looked at him with wide eyes. "Kids? As in multiple?"

Hiro shrugged. "Like 2."

Ming let out her sigh of relief. "Okay cool, I was thinking you meant like 3 or 4. I always said I will have 2 kids max. I would even be contempt with one."

"I've more or less thought about that too. Who do you think out of our group will have the most kids?"

The two thought about it for the moment, thinking about their friends specifically. For Hiro, Caesar always loved kids and they always loved him, no matter who they were or how long they have known him. Riley was irresponsible and has been sex crazy for years. That's all Hiro had to say on him. Then there was Huey. Someone that will never talk about having kids to anyone besides whoever he was serious with (in this case Jazmine) and despite not being a very affectionate person, his little cousins loved him so he was definitely going to have a couple.

Ming went down her group too. Cindy wasn't fussed about having kids, if it happened it happened. Royalty always talked how she wanted to have her own big family to add to her already big family and she wanted to see if she could have twins since she had a good few in her family. Finally, there was Jazmine who loved kids and was great with them. She just knew how to interact with them.

"Royalty."

"Riley." They answered at the same time and they just had to laugh. The youngest ones were always the craziest ones.

"Our kids are gonna be sick of us." Ming spoke about the whole group while shaking her head.

"Very sick of us." Hiro chuckled. "You ready for the rest of the ride?" He asked once he noticed everything was done and they had been there for a while already.

Ming smiled. "Yeah, let's go."

---

Ed and Rummy sat in the car waiting for the two people they have been tasked to look for. They have only been waiting for 20 minutes and were expected to see them in the next few and hopefully it was soon because they would get tired of waiting.

"Man this shit is better than what has happened in Woodcrest in a long fucking time." Rummy commented from the driver's seat.

"And the women are even finer out here. Look at this shawty in my messages right now." Ed turned his phone to show who he was talking to.

Rummy gave him a nod in approve. "I give you that. You think Jazzy's man will let us be partners to start selling in Woodcrest?"

"He better because it's a great fucking deal. Rich white people love that shit." Ed laughed. "How much longer are we going to be waiting out here anyway?"

"By the looks of it, not long." Rummy quickly pulled out his phone and compared the photo to the two people walking up to their car. "Yeah, its them. Let's go."

They both pulled down the balaclavas that was given to them and jumped out the car. They wasted no time and ran up on them, being warned that they needed be quick since they were athletes. Ed and Rummy managed to grab their arms and quickly covered their nose and mouth with the chloroform-soaked rag, causing them to lose consciousness in seconds.

"Glad I did have to run them down because I would've been pissed. I ain't got the energy to be chasing no one down." Ed commented.

"Come on man let's just get them to the location we were given." Rummy told his friend.

They lifted a body each and threw them into the car after zip tying and putting duct tape over their mouths. They should be knocked out for a good while but long enough to get them to the location they needed to go. Ghost would be happy about this one.

---

I just wanna start off by saying I AM SO SORRY! I didn't mean for this to take so long to come out, I hope you're not disappointed. I really have no idea why I couldn't even finish this chapter for so long but I guess it's mainly because life is kicking my ass. Plus I am preparing for a 5 week holiday which starts very soon and then preparing for university when I come back from it but trust me when I say I am not leaving you guys hanging. This story will continue and I won't just leave you high and dry, I know how much you guys love it.

I did have someone ask if I'm strictly on Wattpad (under my old name of ThickBlackGirl) since I have been dropping chapters of my other Boondocks story on there quite often but that's not the case. Its just on that app it easier to do shorter chapters quicker and this story has a whole lot of layers to it so it needs to take time to be made. Ugh I really do miss posting. I am even need to get onto my other story on here, Life Isn't Easy. That has been neglected for even longer.

Mauriah Milton: We all knew the Gems was going to show them who runs shit.

Briana13: Sorry for going a bit MIA again but I hoped you wasn't disappointed with how the dinner went. Not exactly the crazy you was expecting huh?

RuffinNoRelation: I won't! I love how much I have grown with writing by giving you guys more details and interesting plots while also trying to make sure its not too confusing, I hope its not at least. I try and give Ming, Hiro, Caesar and Cindy their own little scenes since the main focus is on the other four but don't want them to feel neglected so I hope you enjoyed this Hiro and Ming scene.

RabbitMelody: My soul is crushed lool. Now it's turned to working 6 days a week and 5/6 of them are 9 hrs shifts. Pray for me guys!

GREENPEACE1990: Ed and Rummy are definitely doing some mixing now.

Chel29: Girl all I am is tired! That's what I wanted to show. How the girls have started to come to terms that being with them is still going to be wild and crazy but they could work through it the right way. They just have to be smart about it and same goes for the guys too.

Bulmas Ego: Sometimes Huey just has to let loose and let the influence do the talking. The skankies is back! You actually reminded me so I threw their ass back in so they plotting even more rn. Look at you smh creating more drama for Juey. I don't wanna say TOO much but I have a plan for Raven, you got a little glance at in this chapter too. I did think about the idea with Sarah but I feel like after this dinner, that an argument along those still happened once they got back to the hotel.

Guest: Unfortunately there won't be a Christmas scene for Ming and Cindy as we have passed that time now.

I have been seeing a lot of new followers lately and I wanna say welcome to this crazy ride of a story. I appreciate every review I get and I even incorporate some of the things my followers have said into the story which is why I always show my love by replying to them at the ends of chapters.

Make sure you leave a review especially since its been so long since I have had any new ones from a new chapter. I love you all fr.

Until next time

-TBG