I woke up rolling all over in Adrian's bed. He was already up I heard him shifting things around downstairs. I stayed in bed a little longer thinking about last night —well and this morning. This was everything I imagined it to be and more. I can't believe this is my reality now. It feels more like a dream. I closed my eyes for a bit replaying every position, every feeling, all of it.

After a few moments more I got up and picked up all the used condoms and wrappers from the floor and discarded them. Also I noticed our clothes strung out everywhere, I placed them in the hamper. I looked at my phone it was almost noon.

I smelled food cooking so I went to the bathroom to get myself together for the day. I found myself staring in the mirror for what seemed like hours. I looked down at all the love marks on my body, smiling and admiring them.

After getting myself cleaned and dressed in a fitted white tee shirt and joggers I slowly eased my way downstairs.

"Hi." I spoke, smiling at my man as he transferred food to a plate. I walked over to him.

"Hey baby." He leaned down to kiss me.

"You sleep ok?"

"Sure did." I smile.

"Go ahead and have a seat I'm just finishing up."

"Ok." I walked over to one of the stools. "You want me to get our drinks?"

"No, I got it baby. You sit."

I carefully sat down watching him, I was sore as hell. He sat my plate in front of me then fixed himself some. He got both of us a bottle of water and some crangrape juice. I was truly smittened.

He said the grace then we dug in. He made waffles and homestyled potatoes, paired with some spinach eggs with mushrooms. Everything look so elegant, he's really commited with this cooking thing. I don't know about these eggs, but I'll try it.

"How are you feeling?"

I smiled, with my eyes closed. "Amazing."

"I saw you took your time getting on that stool, you alright?" He asked with concern, he glance at my neck.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to get some Derma-blend for all these blood sucking hickies on me," I laughed. He smiled then bit his lips staring at me before looking away.

"Oh my bad." He sheepishly chuckled.

"Especially this one." I pointed to the one he kept glancing at on my neck.

"Yeah, it's kind of purple." He rubbed his finger across it. I shook my head at him.

"Ok, so I admit I got a little carried away." He smirked.

"Vampire, you're trying to kill me." We both laughed then finished our food. It was actually really good, including the eggs.

"I figured out why you call me Munch." I cheesed, he laughed.

"And why is that?"

"It's because you like to Munch all over me."

"Nope not quite but you're close." I looked at him furrowing my brows, because I thought I was spot on with this one. It made sense to me.

"I started calling you that because I was craving you, I wanted to munch on that one specific spot in particular. I finally got to do that last night."

My eyes widened, I tried hiding my smile. "Hmm. So you like doing that?"

"I do, I love it." He nodded, serious with his gaze still on me.

"Oh, cool." I nodded nonchalantly trying to hide my excitement. He peeped though.

He laughed. "Where do you get the Derma stuff from?"

"I have some at home. I use it sometimes to cover my scars."

He dropped his smile. "We can go get it, but I don't want you doing that anymore. You're beautiful. I saw you completely naked Rai, so don't cover your scars. That's done, that's over."

I looked at him looking at me, he was very serious so I nodded. "Ok."

"I opened the envelope and started reading some of the letters. Thank you again for that."

I smiled. "You don't have to try and read them all at once, I know it's a lot. Some of it's very deep, about my past. I know you weren't able to hear the full story, specifically about the night I was raped. So if you have any questions at all I don't mind answering them. I know I've been recently speaking out about it but I wanted to make sure you had all the details."

He nodded. "Rai, baby I love you so much."

"I love you too." I leaned in and kissed him.

We talked a little longer then got up to clean the kitchen. We hung around the house lazily for a little while until we decided on getting ready to head out. First stop was my house to get the derma blend.

When we arrived to the house we spotted everybody's cars. The crew was here. I wondered what they had going on over here and why weren't we aware of it. I went inside with Adrian following behind me to see what was going on. They didn't shoot us a text or anything. My phone has been dry all night and all morning.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" I asked while entering the kitchen where everybody was. They looked me over. I totally disregarded my purpose for coming here. This is still all new to me, I'm on cloud nine clearly not thinking straight.

"Nothing much really, late last night everybody decided to come over. We had a few drinks and played spades. It was late so they stayed over." Leah answered smiling while wiping KJs mouth.

Mikey stood with a smirk, shaking his head. Adrian stood uncomfortably quiet behind me. Troy looked as if he was holding in his laugh making snorting sounds. Chance and Rita looked at me with their lips tucked and eyes wide. Amina just turned away not able to hide her humorous expression. She joined Troy making snorting sounds.

"Oh, why didn't we get an invite? I know how to play." I asked focusing my attention back to Leah.

Adrian nudged me then mumbled, "babe can you go ahead up stairs and get the stuff?"

I gasped, looking around at everyone. They busted out laughing. I smacked my teeth hurrying upstairs. That was my dumb moment.

Well this is embarrassing.

I heard them still laughing and making their little jokes. I applied the derma- blend covering all the visible marks. Then checked myself in the mirror. I still couldn't get over my night, my perfect night.

Joining them back downstairs I found my man he was with my brother viewing something on his phone. I went over to see KJ.

"Hi my sweet boy."

He handed me his book he's been reading. KJ loves stories, he's now reading The Hunger Games series. I enjoy our time spent together. He's one amazing kid. He has his first little gig coming up. Some of the teachers at his school were raving about how quick he picked up the piano. He's booked to play at the school recital. Well him and Mr. Xan will be. That dog goes everywhere he does, he was KJs missing piece.

We went over to the couch and of course Xan followed closely beside him. "This dog is so calm." I stated more to myself.

I began reading to them. We were on the part when Caesar was interviewing Katniss in her game changing fire dress. Perhaps we can binge watch the movies after we finish the series. We can all watch and make it a movie day for KJ.

"What up KJ?" Adrian asked walking over to us.

"A3." KJ spoke while staring at the pages, we smiled at him. I light up every time he speak.

"What are you reading?"

"Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins." KJ responded.

"Ok, let me know when you start reading Catching Fire. We can read it together." Adrian said to KJ which made him look to his left briefly then looked back down at the book. He's made so much progress, Adrian and I both shared a look smiling. He wants to connect emotionally and show affection, he just simply doesn't understand it.

"Munch you need anything?"

"No I'm ok. You had plans today?" I waited for his response.

"Nah, I was just gon' play it by ear. They have this comedy show going on tonight. You want to do that?"

"Yeah, we can."

"Did Mike say anything to you about, —you know?" I asked referring to the obvious fact that everybody know we did something last night.

"Babe we're good. I spoke to him yesterday, everything's good. —Besides I'm not looking for approval anymore from him or anybody. Any decisions we make are our decisions. Mike's ok with us anyway, we're all grown now." He tried reassuring me.

I nodded, with concern written all over my face. In a lot of ways I still strongly cared about my brothers thoughts and opinions of me, it matters. I just want him to always be proud of me, something I value.

He leaned in and kissed me. "Stop stressing."

"Ok."

He walked off to join everybody in the basement.

I continued reading. Later there was a knock at the front door. Leah went to the door, she was in the kitchen. So she was closer. Soon after she walked in the living room where KJ and I were, along with KJs father.

"Hey Rai can you go get Michael for me?" Leah asked.

"Ok." I left out to get him. I always get weird vibes from him. He'd stare at me in a creepy way, kind of like staring at prey. It's so weird. I don't know if he only stare at me this way or if this is just what he does. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but my eyes are wide open just in case.

"Hey Mikey, KJs father's here."

He sighed out of frustration. "Aight I'm coming." He handed Troy the game controller then got up.

They've been trying to settle and work things out, outside of court. They agreed to him coming over twice a week. The terms were for him to come there and visit. Tension is high but my brother wants to do everything he can to make this right for KJ.

Leah's been stressed out. Between everything going on with planning the wedding, the studios and dealing with this.

I decided to stay in the basement to give them some privacy. Adrian and Troy was playing the game. Chance, Rita and Amina were laughing about something. I walked over to the couch and sat down. I pulled out my phone to call Sienna.

"Hello."

"Hey Sie, What are you up to?"

"I just left the gym from working out with my mom. She went home and I'm on my way to get my detox green. Where are you?"

"I'm home, here with Mikey and them." I replied.

"Oh, what happened with your plans with Adrian? That was a no go?"

"Oh no, we came over here not too long ago."

"Ohhhhh." She sung.

"What are you ohhhhing about?" I smiled extra hard, catching Adrian's attention. He mouthed, who is that. I did the same mouthing Sienna, he nodded.

"Did y'all had sex?"

I paused covering my phone as if someone could hear or see her. "Hold on, I'm going up to my room so I can FaceTime you."

"Ooooouu, you did. Ok call me right back." She squealed, I laughed.

I ran up to my room and immediately got her on FaceTime. I told her about last night. She screamed and squealed jumping up and down. She finally gathered herself smiling at me.

"I can't believe it you and Adrian, I'm glad everything is working out now. Look at you glowing and shit." She made a silly face, sticking out her tongue.

I laughed.

"That's probably why y'all were upset with each other, sexual frustration. Yup that's all it was." She joked.

"Well we are no longer frustrated." I smiled fanning myself. We laughed.

"Can you walk? You ok? How are you feeling?"

"Girl barely, I'm in so much pain right now. Which is crazy because I want more." I pouted a little.

"You better let that thing cool off." She laughed.

I scrunched my face shaking my head no. "I'll just have to suffer."

"My best friend's out here with her legs open wide." She shouted jokingly, we continued laughing.

"Yeah and now I can't keep 'em closed." I retorted.

"You know we have to go out and celebrate, its tradition." She added.

I rolled my eyes smiling. "We are so weird, celebrating this. —See that's why I love you, we get each other."

"Hmm." She was pondering on some scary adventurous things we can get into. This became a tradition of ours, creating moments to remember. "What about motor speedway?"

"Lets do it." I answered with no hesitation.

"See that's why you're my down ass. You're game for anything. Oooo and we should do a double date too, we can go to top golf."

"Lets run that by our men first, I'm sure that would be fine though. Adrian like hanging around Trey."

"Bet." She nodded.

"How's everything with you, did you pass that exam, I forgot to ask you about it?" I asked her.

"Girl yes, I passed thanks to you. I had you up all night on FaceTime quizzing me."

"You know I don't mind. Gotta make sure we get those degrees in hand and on time."

"Yeah." She smiled.

"When do you want to go racing?" I asked.

"I'll see what they have and I'll text you the details."

"Ok." I said nodding.

"I'll probably call you later today or text you." I added.

"Alright, bye girl. I love you."

"I love you too Sie." I replied before ending the call.

I eased my way back down to the basement so I wouldn't disturb Leah and them. I walked over to Adrian he was now talking to Amina. She looked like she was stressed about something.

"Hey baby, you had a good talk with Sienna?" He smirked.

I playfully scrunched up my nose. "Maybe."

He laughed.

"Hey, Mina. You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm good Rai, we were just talking about Shawnee."

"Oh, — that's still a conversation? Are y'all seeing each other again." I asked referring to her ex, who played her dirty.

"I don't know." She mumbled.

"You want me to give you two some privacy, you look like you need to talk to someone." I furrowed my brows.

"Nah you can stay, you are already know about it. I don't mind talking about it. Maybe a little perspective will help."

"Ok." I nodded taking a seat beside Adrian. He began rubbing circles on my thigh. I figured I would just let them talk and I would listen. If she asked for my opinion then I'll give it. I know how hard it is for her to talk about this, because she love Shawnee so deeply. She was depressed after she found everything out.

"Mina what's really going on with you and her now, she was with you last night at the gym?" Adrian spoke up, asking her.

"Man, you know she's like my Achilles heel and she knows that too."

"You deserve better than that Mina, stop selling yourself short." Adrian expressed to her.

She sat quietly shaking her head.

"Did she ever get married?" He questioned, and I looked on sympathetically. I just want her to find happiness no matter what.

"No but she's still engaged to dude."

"She's stringing you along. Is she she even trying to leave him?" He asked her. Our attention was brought in the direction of the tv. Troy and Chance were playing the game and their laughter picked up.

"I don't know, I just— I know I love her man." Amina stated frustrated, which brought back our focus.

"That shit has to be reciprocated." Adrian got a little louder, twisting his face in to a grimace expression. I rubbed his hand, it was still on my thigh. I tried calming him down. I didn't want him to lose patients and then she shut down. He sighed.

We quieted for a moment.

"I don't know, I don't want to let her go fully. We have this connection and when I'm away from her I miss her. Of all people you and Rai should know what that's like."

"Whatchu' mean?" Adrian asked, I looked on curious.

"Despite the odds you loved her. At the time there was seventeen year old little Rai Rai still in high school. Then there was you, a grown twenty one, —twenty two year old. Plus you're her brothers best friend. All those odds and you couldn't fight it still. Yeah y'all broke up but look at you now. That connection is something powerful, it's hard to let go." I listened to her trying to get us to understand her feelings for Shawnee.