"You strapped?",Marcus asked me as he walked me over to the VIP section. This party was lit by the looks of it. Bottles were poppin, girls were everywhere and they looked good but don't tell my girl that cause she'll flip her Shxt.

"Always",I said to Marcus.

"Man for as long as I've known you, you always carrying",he said handing me a drink.

"I have to now",I said referring to the trouble I got myself with khia's Dad.

"So wasup with yo phone? Cause I was blowin you up yesterday to see if you comin or not",he said taking a seat.

"Man My phone wasn't on me. I was locked up yesterday",I said sitting across from him.

"Locked up? Nigga what?"

"Yeah man long story."

"We got all night man. I knew somethin was up when you didn't show up to work."

"Yea. You know my girl, khia, her pops on some gangsta shxt. We went to go pay him a visit cause Khia spent a week at my crib to get away from him. I got to meet the dude and he already rubbed me the wrong way by the way he was lookin at Khia. He said something and I snapped. We got into a fight and I pulled out my gun, next thing I know we both in handcuffs. I spent the entire day in jail man",I told him.

"Hold up. So you got into it with this girl's dad? Man you supposed to make them like you, not hate you",he said laughing.

"Khia's dad is a whole other case. This dude used to molest her when she was a kid and he tried to do the same thing up until now."

"Damn that's tough. I would've ended that nigga life for good no hesitation."

"Cops interrupted me that's why I didn't end him."

"So why haven't she filed a claim against him?"

"She scared. Her father got goons that'll come for her and she sensitive cause that's her pops so you know that case is sensitive for her."

"Yea that's understandable. Man I had no idea you was goin through that with ol girl. I would've hooked you up with another girl with less problems."

"Man get outta here. Khia just might be the only girl for me."

"So you feeling her that much huh",he said lookin at me.

"Yeah. We came a long way."

"That's wasup. But now we can't hang cause you not bout that single life no more",he said laughing.

"Nah I ain't tryna catch nothin you got, messin with 20 different females", I said drinking and laughing. My boy was a fool talking about single life. Ain't nothing was fun about being single.

Khia

"Honey you haven't eaten anything since you've gotten here",Santiago's mom said opening his room door to find me under covers watching reruns of 'Love and hip hop hollywood'

"No thank you Ms. Rodriguez, I'm not hungry."

"Either something is wrong or your on a diet",she said sitting on the edge of the bed causing me to smile a bit.

"What if I said I'm on a diet."

"Then I'd have to ask you if your lying to me or not."

"What if I said no."

"I already know your lyin to me so don't",she said. I wasn't ready to open up to her about what's been going on lately until Santiago gets back. He was my support system and I needed him before I could tell anybody.

"Okay well since your not ready to talk to me, I'll leave you alone for now only if you eat something. How about I make you some empañadas y pollo. I know you love those",she said. I shook my head in agreeable and hugged her.

"Thank you so much Ms. Rodriguez."

"It's no problem corazón",she said and kissed me on my forehead. If someone told me a few months ago that her and I would be so close, I'd probably laugh in their face but now I could actually see us getting close. She treated me like her own child, meanwhile, my mom was blowing my phone up and I've been trying to avoid her ever since Santiago got out of jail.

Santiago

I let the music drive my mood as I sit back with my boys kicking it in the hookah lounge. Just then I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and seen a unknown number calling me. I knew better than to pick up but it could've been someone important tryna reach me.

"Yo",I answered.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?",the female voice said through the line.

I couldn't hear what they was tryna say over the loud music so I got up and took it outside.

"Yea hello?",I asked.

"Hi may i speak to Santiago please?"

"This is him."

"Is my daughter with you?",it's then i realized it was khia's mom calling me. I don't even know how she got my number.

"no ma'am she told me she's spending the night at Ebony's house",I lied.

"Oh okay. I've been calling her phone but she's not answering my calls. It's unlike her to ignore me, she's been out of my house for almost a month now. I know at first she was with you but now I don't know where she is."

"Oh okay. I'll call her and tell her to give you a call."

"Please do",she begged. After she hung up, I hanged up the phone and went back inside. I ordered another round of shots for my boys and I. I knew I needed to sober up before going out on the road so I eventually stopped drinking.

"Hey. Have we met?",a tall, skinny, redbone girl said sitting next to me.

"Nah not that I know of."

"I mean of course you don't notice me around school."

"I'm sorry?",I asked her confused.

"Your the guy always throwing parties, dated Marisol, birthday is December 12th , born and raised in D.R",she said. I looked at her and laughed out of shock. This girl knew everything about me and I just met her.

"Yeah I know everything about you. I promise I'm not a stalker though",she said smiling. Marcus looked at me and I smirked saying, "Nah it's cool."

"Okay. So since you know nothing about me, my name is Myra",she said putting her hand out for me to shake.

"Now you makin me feel bad. Nice to meet you Myra",I said shaking her hand. She sat a lil closer to me and asked if I wanted to dance but I politely declined.

"Your loss",she whispered in my ear.

"I agree. But I apologize lil mama",I said with a smirk. She smiled and I watched as she walked out on the dance floor.

"Man why you blew that up? You need to let loose",Marcus said.

"Let loose so my lady can come in here and break it off with me? Nah ain't worth it."

"Look at her man. The things I would do to that body."

"She a toothpick. I'd break that girl in half man",I said laughing.

"Khia and her the same size bro what you mean?"

"Khia got a lil meat on her. This girl a skeleton but she not bad on the eyes tho",I said checking her out.

I was debating on if I'd take her up on her offer to dance with her or not the way she was swayin her hips from side to side to the beat.