"I told you that hoe Paris been for the streets. Anytime I saw her before she got with Shooter, she was trying to ride my shit. Foul ass. I'm not surprised she didn't want your son. That's going to mess up her bag. She never had shit going for herself." Von said, while sitting on the couch in Marcus' living room.

"I fucked up. I've been calling Julissa and shit, but she won't answer." Marcus sighed.

"So, how did you get stabbed?"

"Motherfuckers crazy, bro." Marcus shook his head.

"You got beef with somebody? Say the word." Von told him. "Just because I don't live here anymore doesn't mean shit. Motherfuckers know what's up." Von hadn't even thought that Julissa could've been the one behind it.

"Nah, you know I don't be in the mix. I don't hang with anybody aside from Soul, Truth, and Shooter. I be too busy to even kick it with them at times."

"I saw that nigga Soul today. I ain't want to end up on a blog, otherwise I would've stolen off his ass back." Von frowned.

"Word? He hit yo ass? That's why your eye looking all swollen and shit. What you say to him?" Marcus looked at his best friend. He has always been neutral between both. Since Marcus wasn't Priest's best friend, it did not bother Priest.

"He hit like a bitch. Pussy ass. I guess he wasn't feeling what I said about Lil bit—"

"The fuck you say about Cherish? I told you, whatever the issue you have with Soul, better be just that. An issue with him. Don't be adding her in that. Best friend or not, I don't play about that one, and you know it." Marcus told him seriously.

"It wasn't even like that. She single and that nigga think he got some type of claim on her like she a piece of property." Von frowned. "He with a whole bitch and worried about Cherish."

"You still salty she got with him for what reason? I don't know. Y'all wasn't gon' be together."

"That's not your choice to make. You want her with a nigga you said cheated on her?"

"When I say that? The man ain't never cheated on Cherish. He loves her ass too much. I wouldn't tell you no shit like that, anyway. That ain't my business to tell, and it ain't yours to know."

"I thought you said he cheated. Must've heard wrong." Von cleared his throat. "I know the reason she cut ties with me earlier is because of him. That nigga don't deserve her, and you know it." Marcus just looked at Von complain like a female would to her friends. He knew Von was lowkey in love with his cousin, but Marcus didn't want Cherish with him at all.

"She cut you ties with you as in?"

"As in, no more talking or seeing each other. Cherish a real one. She distances herself at times, but she never cut ties with me. I met her to pick up some money for Nehemiah, and that was the end. I didn't tell her, but he's here." Von said.

"Nehemiah is here? What the hell is doing here?" Marcus shook his head.

"He came for her. Said he wasn't leaving until he saw her. You know you can't tell that nigga shit." Von scoffed. Von pulled out his phone, then went to his and Cherish's message thread.

I know you said you need to cut ties, but can we meet later for a drink? You can officially cut me off after that.

𝟼 𝙿𝙼

Julissa was in the kitchen getting her something to drink while Zaiden sat on Cherish's lap. He's been glued to Julissa for some reason and as much as it hurts Julissa she still picked him up every single time he reached for her. This was one of the hardest things she has done, but as she said before, Zaiden is innocent in everything. He didn't ask to be brought into the world. He didn't ask to be abandoned by his mother. Julissa couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want Zaiden. The cutie could melt even the coldest hearts.

"My mommy!" Honesti pouted right as Julissa walked back into the living room. Honesti had noticed Zaiden sitting on Cherish. She watched her mommy make him smile and laugh, which made her jealous.

"Honesti, this is your little cousin. Be nice." Cherish told her, but Honesti tried to move Zaiden off of Cherish. "Stop it, Pooh."

"Noooo! My mommy! Wittle punk." Honesti started to cry. Meanwhile, Julissa was in tears from laughing.

"Did she say little punk?" Julissa tried to stop laughing, but Cherish kids were something else. Julissa knew Cherish had to be the only one Honesti was sweet in front of. Honesti was lowkey bad and the terrible two in Honesti was always popping out. Priest swore his littlest princess was sweet also, even though he would see half the things she does. Malaysia was laid back and the true sweet one. Honesti on the other hand, was another story.

"That's not nice, say sorry, Pooh." Cherish sighed.

"Sowwy. Me tell daddy on you." Honesti cried while running over to her big sister. Malaysia rubbed her back while Honesti continued being in her feelings.

What is your punk ass daddy gonna do to me? Cherish wanted to laugh, but didn't. "Okay, Pooh. Call and tell your daddy."

"You got her so spoiled with her smart self." Julissa smiled.

"Daddy." Honesti cried into Malaysia's iPad camera, where Priest's face popped up on. Cherish and Julissa were cracking up.

"She really called her daddy on you. I am weak. These new generation kids, definitely different and been here before." Julissa chuckled as they listened to Honesti tell Priest a bunch of nothing. Malaysia ended up telling Priest what happened. Priest told them he would be over soon since he was coming to get them anyway, and they were beyond happy, as if they didn't just see him on FaceTime earlier and in person yesterday.

That was what Julissa yearned for. Her own child not getting his or her way, then calling Marcus crying about it. Cherish noticed that Julissa's mood suddenly changed, so did Zaiden. He reached his little arms out and Julissa wasted no time grabbing him. "Are you okay?" Cherish asked.

"I'm not, but I will be one day. This is just one pill I cannot swallow. I love Marcus so much, but seriously? Then it's like I don't want to question God, yet I can't help but think I'm being punished for something. A woman who doesn't want a baby could easily have one, only to toss him as if he's trash. Me? I can't even hold my babies to term. I would've had three kids by now, Cherish. I think about how they would have looked all the time. Maybe it's not meant for me to have a baby at all. The irony of it. We try to have a baby and can't. He wasn't even trying to have one with that H-O-E, but did. How is that even fair?" Julissa spoke solemnly while blinking away her tears. They spoke low, so Malaysia wouldn't hear.

"It's not fair, but it's life. I don't mean that in a harsh way. I just mean sometimes life isn't fair at all. Don't think that you're not meant to have a baby. You can't lose hope. I know it's easy to, but you have to fight like hell to believe you will experience motherhood. Maybe even in a way you hadn't expected." Cherish told her. She was thinking about with Zaiden, but Cherish didn't voice that. "When was your last period?" Cherish spoke lowly.

"Since my miscarriages, my period has been irregular. I doubt I'm pregnant, though. I rather God not put me through the pain of getting pregnant again, only to lose another one. I swear I won't survive the next one. I'm even scared to see a specialist. It'll break my heart to hear that I can't have children of my own, which is what it's looking like." Julissa sighed. "I haven't told my momma anything that happened with Marcus. Not that we're broken up. Not that the wedding is off."

"Is it because you don't want her talking down on Marcus? Or because you're scared there's a chance you're going to take him back?" Cherish asked.

"Both." Julissa shook her head. "It's hard giving up on seven years. This is our first breakup. I won't pretend like my crying isn't partially because I miss him so much. I just feel like I need space to think, and Marcus needs to give me that. He owes me that much."

__

Opening the door, Priest licked his lips while looking at Cherish. She was wearing tight-fitting, crème satin shorts with roses on them and the matching camisole. He would never fully understand that feeling he gets whenever he lay eyes on her. She rolled her eyes at him staring, then stepped to the side to let him in. "What's up, beautiful?"

"Hey." She spoke.

"Where my hug at, baby?"

"Ew, don't be one of those where my hug at ass niggas." She chuckled. There was no point to entertain him calling her baby.

"So, I can't get no hug?"

She tried to walk off, but Priest being Priest pulled Cherish to his chest by her arms. "I said, I can't get no hug?" He spoke while looking into her eyes. She wasn't trying to hug him if she's being honest. Being anywhere near him had her heart going crazy.

"One hug." Cherish gave him a look.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned down and hugged her. His Creed cologne was smelling so good, she enclosed her arms a little bit more around his neck. He smoothly moved his head and buried it in the crook of her neck while inhaling her Vanilla scent. Pressing his lips to her neck, he moved up to her ear. "Damn, I missed you. You smell good as hell."

"You just saw me." Cherish chuckled.

Now looking into her eyes he said, "I saw that nigga Von today. Punched that nigga in his shit."

"Why would you do that? Someone could have taken a picture or a video because he's always being followed. You have to be discreet around him. Like, what the fuck, Priest? You can't go around hitting people."

"You're defending that nigga?" Priest mugged her.

"I don't want anything happening to you. You're not some random, nameless person. You made a name for yourself in the business world. Someone could have noticed you, and then you'd be all over the blogs. It'll look like you hit first, which I'm assuming you did. Don't you get that?" She looked at him.

"You remember when you almost fucked that Uber driver up because you thought I called some nigga to come to get me? You can't be doing that. Von is a petty boots. And not everyone is scared of Soul. The former, whatever they call, people who used to be a drug boss."

"I don't want that nigga to be scared. I wanted his ass to take heed of my warning. I'm not the one to be fucked with, and he can bet his life on that. You knew he was in town?"

Swallowing nervously, Cherish spoke. "I did. I was with him earlier."

Priest took a step back with a small frown on his face, but still held Cherish in his arms. He wondered if there was some truth to what Crystal said. He doesn't know if he'd be able to forgive that one. It's not about her sleeping with another nigga, but Von? "You were with him?" Priest wasn't going to mention anything Von said.

"I know what you might think, but it's not like that. I met with him to talk. I told him it was best I cut ties with him." She told him. There was no point in lying about it.

"You told him that? Why?" With an intense stare, Priest's gaze penetrated her soul. She found herself unable to speak for a moment. He had no business looking at her like that.

"Priest." She spoke softly.

"Tell me."

"My friendship with Von meant a lot... but you mean more to me. Just because I told you to stay away from me and I won't tell you what you want to hear doesn't mean I no longer care about you. If there was ever a choice, I'd choose you in a heartbeat." Cherish looked away from his intense stare.

Pulling her close again, he lifted her head by putting his fingers under her chin. He stared into her eyes once again. She was trying to find her breath because she swore he stole that shit. Moving his hand to her neck, he slid his fingers down the side of it, causing her body to go up in flames. "You did that for me?"

She only nodded in response. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. The feeling was intoxicating, and that dizziness had her thinking she was drunk. She didn't know why she hadn't pushed him back. It's as if her self-control goes out the window when he does things like that. Unlike with Von, Priest brushing his lips against hers had her stomach in knots. He gently tugged her bottom lip between his teeth as she closed her eyes. Pecking them once, he moved to her ear. "You gon' let me slide in that good pussy, baby?"

Just the thought of it had her coochie throbbing. Clearing her throat, she finally pushed him back as he smirked. "This is why you can't be nice and give your ex nigga a hug. They do too much." Turning around, Priest slapped her booty hard.

"Priest, stop playing with me before you get knocked the fuck out like your daddy used to."

Priest busted out laughing. "Man, you got jokes. He ain't never get his ass knocked out."

"Nah, let me stop playing with pops. You'll still get knocked out, though." Cherish laughed.

"What you do to my baby? Hurt her feelings and make her cry again, I'mma fuck you up."

"Honesti don't like no kid who ain't her sister touching me." Cherish shook her head.

"Like her daddy. I don't want no nigga who ain't me touching shit on you." Priest said seriously.

"Pooh! Snuggle-bug! Y'all daddy here." Cherish called out while ignoring Priest. Their daughters came running out of the room like roaches when the lights come on, screaming daddy all dramatically while hugging Priest.

"Daddy, mommy mean." Honesti faked cried while pointing to Cherish. Cherish just shook her head again while chuckling. Priest was really babying her as if she was crying real tears.

"Chileeee." Cherish playfully rolled her eyes.

Priest looked over and saw Julissa with a little boy laying on her chest. One look, and he knew that was Marcus's son, which surprised him that Julissa was even holding him. "Waddup, Julissa."

"Hey, Soul. Came to spend some time with your family?" Julissa teased.

"You already know." Priest smiled. Cherish was looking at something on her phone when Priest gave her the jewelry bag. She hadn't even noticed he had a bag the whole time he was being in her personal space.

"What's this?" Cherish looked at the bag, then back at him.

"Just because gifts. Despite everything, you are a dope as—a dope mother. You raised them right, and I'd never take that away from you. In fact, I love you even more for giving me two daughters. You did say I was going to be a girl-dad, and that's fine with me because they're a blessing. You really are like a superwoman, ten businesses on top of being a mother of two. I tip my hat to you. No matter how mad I may be at you, I don't want you to believe for a second I'd think you're a bad mother because of your choices." Priest spoke truthfully, bringing tears to Cherish's eyes, but she held them in.

"A hood nigga with a soft heart. I love to see it." Julissa sniffled while wiping her tears.

She definitely might be pregnant. Cherish thought.

"Girllllll, be quiet." Cherish chuckled. "Thank you for saying that." Cherish smiled at Priest. "Even though I don't deserve it." Cherish mumbled, but Priest heard it.

Pulling out the small boxes. Cherish was in love with each bracelet. It was just something about color diamonds that she always loved. She wasted no time putting them around her wrist. Finally getting around to the big box, her mouth fell open as she gasped. Cherish ran her fingers against the diamonds. From the bracelets to the iced-out chain, everything was glistening. She was not complaining about no just because gifts. She was used to them the whole time they were together, and before they were official.

"Oh my God! Are these red diamonds real?" Cherish asked, knowing fully well Priest wouldn't buy her any fake jewelry. "My cheeks hurting from smiling because whatttttttt? It's everything for me." Cherish smiled before looking at him. She walked over to him but stood behind him since Honesti was in his arms and Malaysia's head laid on his arm while she was on an educational app on her IPad. Cherish wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you." Cherish said into her ear as he licked his lips. He didn't know if she was trying to sound sexy intentionally, but her voice was so soft and indeed sounded sexy. He wondered if she'll let him slide in that later, but decided to dead the thought for now. Cherish went back to sit on the couch as Julissa smirked at her. Cherish took a picture showing off her new ice, then posted it onto her Instagram story. Normally, she didn't post pictures showing off jewelry, but she decided to today.

Crystal saw the picture because she had Cherish notifications coming to her phone. Her post notifications. Her live notifications. Her story notifications. Von saw the post as well and knew who the post was about. He wondered if Cherish lied about the chapter being closed with Priest. She hadn't texted him back, which told him she wasn't playing around with her decision.

With a frown on Crystal's face, she read what Cherish said on the picture. I love just because gifts. 🥺 Red diamond 🐱. Let me stop talking like that lol, thank you, handsome.

With quickness, Crystal posted a picture she snuck of Priest while they were together and decided to tag Cherish, hoping she would see it. Crystal posted it on her page instead of an Instagram story. She covered Priest's face with an emoji, but his tattoos were visible. In the picture, she was grabbing his hand to apologize, but he removed it without looking at her. She was happy because it looked like they were holding hands. Crystal's caption said, spent the day with my man. Shopping. Out to eat. Jewelry run. He not going anywhere. 🥰

Normally, Cherish wouldn't have noticed, but since she was on the app at the time and was going through recent request messages to make sure she didn't overlook any business messages, she noticed she was tagged in a photo. When Cherish saw the account name crystal_xx, she clicked on the notification, causing the picture to pop up. She'd know those tattoos from anywhere.

So, he was with her AGAIN spending time together, but trying to fuck me AGAIN like I'm a piece of pussy to him. Cherish frowned. Cherish was happy Crystal didn't mention anything about her kids, but at this point, she didn't care who finds out she has kids. One thing she'd do is protect them in any way she could.

"It be the delusions for me." Cherish shook her head while chuckling. Malaysia now had her headphones on. Priest, Honesti, Julissa, and Zaiden were watching the television.

"What happened?" Julissa asked as she and Priest looked at Cherish.

"Girl, Chavonne—"

"Who?" Julissa asked, confused.

"Priest's childish girlfriend. She went from fake pages to being bold on her real account. Had the nerve to tag me in a picture of them together today holding hands. Saying they spent the day together. Shopping. Out to eat. And jewelry run. I'm not even childish, so I will not entertain her lil picture with her man. Don't be associating my name with that mess." Cherish stood up. "If it makes her feel any better, she can fully have you because I don't want you. It be the audacity for me." Cherish looked at Priest before walking off towards her room.