Chapter 6 Essence POV: August 4th My alarm clock blared angrily, groaning I rolled over and peaked at the clock to see if I can get a few more minutes of sleep, but it was six forty-five a.m. which means my clock said, “if you don't get your ass up you're going to be late for class, so it's above me now I have done my job.” Then my second alarm goes off and says, “get the hell up before you're late for the very first day of college.” Whining as I got up, looked for my robe, finding it on my love seat. I went into the kitchen, turned my oven on three hundred degrees, grabbed some biscuits out of the fridge, then grabbed a cookie sheet. I place a biscuit on the sheet and put it in the oven before walking out of the kitchen. Then I headed to the shower while my biscuits baked. My cell started to ring with the sound of DMX you're gonna make me lose my mind. I answered without looking because I already know who it was. "What the hell do you want Kiki?" I asked? "Rise and shine
Chapter 7 Three weeks later: “Where the hell is this dude?” I said to myself. This tutoring session was supposed to start at six thirty and it’s nine forty-five. I still had an assignment I needed to complete for my marketing class, that was due tomorrow at eight a.m. So I already know, I'm going to be up late to finish my own assignment. Last week the dean’s secretary text me with, the dates and times of my first tutoring session. “Hey, are you Essence Nelson?" A tall, sexy, light skin guy with curly hair asked me, as he walked up to my table. Lord let me tell you, this man is fine, fine. Realizing I was still sitting with my mouth gapped open and staring, I snapped out of the lust fog I was in. "Yeah that's me.” I said in response. "I'm Trenton, but most people call me Trent. Sorry I'm late, practice went over the usual time." He said putting his books on the table with a thud. I was trying to be understanding, but he still smelled like outside, because of practice, and
Chapter 8 The Kickback at Syncere and Shawn's house:Syncere's POV: 9pm "Baby can we please hear anything other than rap. I mean damn females are in here too." Jazz said with a whine as she handed me my Henny and Coke. Me and Shawn were having a kickback at our spot for our teammates and a few friends. It was nothing major just some snacks, drinks, with the music playing, while we hung out, played spade, and Pity Pat for money of course. Right now I was kicking everybody's ass in Pity Pat at five bucks a game, my pockets will be looking right this weekend. "Damn nobody wants to listen to that soft shit, Jazz." Shawn said before I could answer. "Shut up Shawn, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Syncere. This is not just your spot, it's his spot too, so shut the fuck up with your nasty ass." Jazz clapped back with her nose turn up in disgust. I Interrupted them before things got out of hand. "Will yall just chill out damn. Jazz, you can change the
Chapter 9The Kickback at Syncere and Shawn's house:Syncere's POV: continued After the miscarriage Jazz was an emotional wreck, so I made sure I was there for her. I didn't want to abandon her when she needed me most. I stayed around to make sure she was good and before I knew it a couple of months, turned into three years had passed by, and we were still together. Shawn had his doubts about the whole baby thing. He thinks she fake the pregnancy and miscarriage to keep me around. But I nipped that in the bud, when I told him I had seen the test myself. But he wouldn't let it go, we actually got into a heated argument about it and didn't speak for a while. A few weeks later, we squashed it because we were teammates with the same dreams of being drafted to the NBA. Shawn apologized and agreed to never bring up the pregnancy situation again. I told him that I knew he was just trying to look out for me because being on the same team makes us brothers and that was t
Chapter 10 Essence's house:POV: Sunday Afternoon "I know you fucking lying?" Kiki yelled after I told her what happened last Thursday. "The fuck if I'm lying. If I'm lying I'm flying and my ass ain't grown wings yet." I replied. "That mother fucka thought I was some flunky that lose their mind when they see him and he show them some attention." I bust that fucking bubble real fast. He was fine but NOT the I'm going to do your homework fine." I said laughing. "Why do everybody think we have low self-esteem I mean we sure don't act like we do. Hell we have been called high maintenance a time or two, Although I don't agree, but I definitely can't claim that low self-esteem bullshit. Because I'm something kinda sexy." Kiki said doing a model walk then bust out with a twerk at the end. laughing out loud I said. "You ratchet as hell boe." "I know you ain't talking with how you be rolling your hips and doing splits and all. So I'm not the only one who's ratchet. B
Chapter 11Syncere POV: “Yooo! This shit is for the birds. The coach was going hard today he had us doing every play he has ever done in his entire life. Now we got to do weight training.” I said wiping the sweat off my face. “I legit thought I wasn’t going to make that last drill I feel like we did it no less than thirty times. I’m going to be doing that play in my sleep.” Shawn said shaking his head walking towards the gym. “It’s going to be an early night for me. I was going to ask Jazz to come through, but hell no I’m going to take a shower then hit the sheets.” I said opening the doors to the gym letting my teammates in first. “Oh shit that’s old girl that was supposed to be my tutor. Yall remember the girl I told you about the other night. I hope she doesn’t see my ass in here.” Trent said with a whisper. We already know who he was talking about, because we had already met the duo before he did.“ Shawn had already made a bee line heading towards the girls.
Chapter 12Essence pov: 6:25pm “You sure you don’t want me to stick around just in case it’s another asshole that you have to deal with?” Kiki asks. “Absolutely not you have work you need to do and I can handle myself, you already know.” I answered. “Okay, but you better call me as soon as you get home.” Kiki said, getting up from our table at the pit. After the gym we decided to head over here for a smoothie, and chill until my session started. “You already know I’m going to call your ass.” I said rolling my eyes at her. “Yeah I know, alright I’ll talk to you later.” Kiki said walking to the exit. It's now six thirty p.m. glancing at my cell, it was starting to look like I had another Trent who will show up late and think I’m supposed to be doing his work while he does nothing. I was getting mad all over again. “What are you doing here?" Syncere asked from behind me. Smiling, I turned to face him, damn if he ain’t fine. Did I tell yall he had dreads, sm
Chapter 13 Syncere POV: Monday 10pm “Damn I still can’t believe Essence is tutoring you. You’re lucky because it could have been somebody that you couldn’t get along with.” Shawn said as he passed me a beer. We were watching a game on TV, when I told him about Essence being my tutor this semester. “She was skeptical at first, she didn’t want to have any run-ins with jazz and Leah, because of how they acted when they met them. Which didn’t end well, but I told her Jazz was cool and she didn’t have to worry about her because she knows my situation. Jazz knows what I need to do to keep my full ride and get drafted, so she won't fuck it up for me.” I said, taking a swag of my beer. “Ha, do you really believe that about jazz? You know damn well Jazz is going to flip the fuck out, when she finds out. Like you said they already had a run-in with them, so she is going to make you find another tutor.” Shawn says seriously. “I’m not doing that, Essie knows what she’s do
Jazz's Dorm: ContinuedSyncere and Jazz: Jazz smiled and snuggled into him, she hoped that once he forgave her about earlier, maybe she could convince him to stay or take her to his place. She had loved living with him while she recovered from her accident, it felt like they were already married. She knew she had to do damage control, it would be best if she spoke first. Syncere sat at her desk chair and not next to her, that made her frown and become even more nervous. “Baby, I want to apologize for telling everyone about our engagement. I know we promised that we would only tell everyone once we graduated, but with the shooting it was like my life flashed before my eyes. Either one of us could have died and no one would know that we were engage. No one would know that we loved each other so much that we had taken the steps towards solidifying our relationship, by getting engaged. We knew we were it, for each other, that we were soulmates.” “Jazz, please just stop, I came
Outside Jazz's Dorm:Syncere: Syncere sat in his truck as he tried to gather his thoughts on everything he wanted to say to Jazz. He knew that what he was about to do will hurt her, which is the last thing he wanted to do to her. They had been through hell and back and stuck together, he would be lying if he said he didn't love her. But the truth is, it wasn't the kind of love that went with being in love with someone. He had to face the truth that he and Jazz formed a trauma bond because of the loss of their baby. He was going to try and do this with as much patience and understanding that she will be hurt and grieving all over again. He also admitted to himself that she wouldn't be the only one feeling the pain of their breakup. He knew Essence was right that he would need time to get himself mentally together before he could step to her. A knock on his truck window scared the shit out of him. “Damn Shawn what the hell man, I almost had a heart attack, w
Leah's RoomShawn and Leah: `` Shawn stormed into Leah's room, it was completely dark, he felt around for the light switch. When he finally found it, he spotted Leah laying on the floor flat on her back. Her night gown was up around her waist, blood was seeping through the top of her shirt. “I'm so sorry Shawn, I didn't want to call the ambulance because they would call my parents. I just need to get to the bathroom and check my wound. Then you can go back to whatever you were doing.” Leah said as she cried. “Damn it Leah, why the hell are you trying to do this shit by yourself. You're going to mess around and end up in the hospital with some kind of infection.” Shawn said picking her up, taking her to the bed, he ran to the bathroom and got a wet cloth and a fresh towel. When he got back to the room, he stopped in his tracks seeing Leah with her shirt lifted revealing her breast. He was just now noticing that she was completely naked underneath her gown. Alt
Leah's Dorm Room:Leah and Shawn: “I'm sorry Shawn I told my roommate not to call you, I am trying to do this on my own. My parents would make me leave school if they found out that you had to come all the way over here because I fell in the bathroom. I don't know what happened I was trying by best not to wet my wound, that I didn't see my body wash was leaking on the floor, and the next thing I know I slipped. I didn't think it would be this hard, then I have this ugly scar from the operation, everything is just so messed up.” Leah said crying as Shawn stepped into the shower, getting wet as he turned the shower off and picked Leah up off the floor. his hair and clothes were now wet from the shower and Leah’s wet body. He quickly grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her and walked out of the community bathroom. “You got shot a few days ago and had major surgery, and you left the hospital against the doctor's orders. He told you that you can't do this
Chapter 108The Cleanup:Essence's apartment: “What type of cockamamie stuff was that? I have never seen such shameless young ladies like that before. The fact that their mothers just stood there and allowed their daughters to come into this house and disrespect the owner, that's the devils work right there. I'm glad I live in a town where we know better than to disrespect a person in their home, because that's the fastest way to get a buck shot to the ass.” Momma Nelson said putting her jacket on as Kiki's dad carried their luggage to the rental car, they had to catch their flight back to South Carolina. After everyone left, they put the food in the freezer and clean the house. Unique had stayed around trying to get some alone time with Essence, but Momma Nelson always found something for him to do. After about an hour, Anthony said they had to leave because Sundays were early nights for the football team. “Momma, ever since I been here, I have seen and hea
Chapter 107If what could possibly go wrong was a person: Syncere was pissed, what the fuck was Jazz thinking. He couldn't believe that she would bring that shit up without talking to him first and what would possess her to do this shit at Essence's house. “Baby, I know it's a surprise, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. This is a new start for me; getting shot really made me put everything in perspective for me. I don't want to keep secrets from our family anymore. I hope you're not upset with me.” Jazz said crying when she saw Syncere was staring at Essence. “Hold on, I don't care about none of the crap you just said, who the hell gave you, my address? I didn't invite you and yes me and you don't get along so you knowing my address is a problem especially if it was given without my permission. Sorry for cussing momma.” Essence said interrupting the congratulations party. Her momma looked at her and saw her feelings were threatening to come out so s
Chapter 106Sunday Dinner: ContinuedThe Living room: “Jazz, Leah, what the hell are you doing out of the hospital?” Syncere said, with Shawn right behind him. “The real question is how the hel.. I mean how they found out where I live?” Essence said coming to the door also. “Can we please come inside it is a little chilly out here and we can explain why we're here.” Jazz's mother said as she covered her daughter with a blanket. Momma Nelson looked at the weak girls and decided she wouldn't let those girls’ actions send her to hell. She was a caring person by nature and their actions wouldn't change or stop her from doing what's right even, if she isn't fond of them. “You can come in and say what you have to say and leave, and I will tell you the first disrespectful thing that comes out of your mouth will have my foot in your mouths and a belt across your asses even with bullet wounds. You don't believe me try me and find out.” Momma Nelson said as she stepped
Chapter 105Sunday Dinner: The Living room: “Before we eat, I want to welcome all our guest, I am so glad to have met everyone of yall even though it started off on the wrong foot for some of us. Mr. Jamison, I heard it is your birthday and this feast is in honor of you and the fact that you have never had Southern food before, which is a crying shame. But we are about to fix your problem, I must tell you that I am not responsible for any addiction that my food may cause you.” Momma Nelson said with a smile that made Syncere’s mother frown and had Kiki and Essence looking at each other oddly. “Please call me Thomas, and I would like to thank you for this wonderful meal. This is by far the best gift I have ever gotten, and I will walk into this addiction happily with no regrets.” Mr. Jamison said smiling like a fool. “Uh, how about let's say grace so we can eat because I don't know what is happening.” Essence said as Kiki's father said a prayer. Essence and her mother
Chapter 104Sunday Dinner:Essence's Bedroom:Syncere and Essence: He had only seen the bruises on her face when they were at the hospital. “I didn't say anything because I didn't want my mother and brothers to worry, and it's none of your business. You made it clear where your concerns lie, so stick with that and leave me alone.” Essence said, knocking Syncere's hand away from her, his touch made her skin burn and her body crave him. Syncere looked at Essence as she headed back into her closet. If she thought she would get away with what she said just now, she made a big fucking mistake. He thought as he went to her door and locked it, before storming into the closet to confront Essence. Syncere stormed into the closet as Essence was on her tip toes trying to reach the top shelf. She hissed again when she tried to do a little jump to reach it. Syncere reached above her easily and grabbed the tablecloth, and walked out of the closet. Essence followed with an atti