same day

"This isn't even the right tire," Renae giggled.

King smirked, walking toward the back of the garage to grab the right tire, "I was wondering how long it would take you to catch on."

They've been out there for 40 minutes working on that single tire.

"Why did you let me put it on then?" She squinted at him

Chuckling, King began rolling the tire in her direction. "You were focused on making it fit."

"You watched me struggle with all these bolts and lug nuts and whatnot just for a laugh?" She asked wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Maybe." He said, truth was he just wanted to put a smile on her face and so far things have been going well.

"That's mean." She spoke removing the bolts.

"Don't insult me like dat." He said sitting next to her and she smiled shyly.

"Wrong one." He spoke when she picked up the smaller-sized lug nut. "Oh, now you wanna help?" She asked trying not to smile.

"I mean if you don't need my help, I'll go inside and play two k." He stated ready to get up but she stopped him.

Laughing, he picked up the right bolt and handed it to her after putting the tire in place.

"Thank you." She acknowledges.

"Yup," he replied, watching her carefully.

"Ever thought of becoming a mechanic or like running your own car business?" She asked.

"I had my thoughts, I'm just focused on getting back some money I lost. It's expensive as hell to live out here and they pay folks below minimum wage."

"Yeah, that's always been an issue here. Rent is like twelve hundred to sixteen hundred, with jobs only paying seven to ten dollars and most the time they don't even give people forty hours." She told him as she put the last bolt in.

"Guess that's why niggas turn into criminals," he mumbled then cleared his throat, "you ever think about going to college?"

"Sometimes... I just got a lot going on right now... would not be a smart move for me mentally." Fanning herself, she stood up to stretch.

"What would you take up if you did decide to go?" He queried, standing as well and walked over towards the mini fridge grabbing a bottled water.

"Honestly... I'm not sure. I like poetry, I like writing but then again I like makeup and hair."

"What are you afraid of?" He decided to ask while popping the hood to one of Malik's old cars.

"Not so much of me being scared... but moreso of what I'm dealing with."

"Things like what?" He stared at her.

"Some stuff I'm not sure if I'm ok to talk about with you yet," she softly admitted.

King nodded, "You don't trust me?"

"I do... you haven't given me a reason not to... it's just I'm not okay with how my life is right now... tha— that's all."

From the tone in her voice, King decided to leave it alone. "Das' fair, I can be ok with dat, at least I got you smiling a luh bit."

Renae shifted her gaze to the ground.

King stared at her for a moment then smiled, "We gon' work on you shying away."

Renae glanced at him and flashed a quick smile.

King returned the gesture before asking his next question, "So... do you like tattoos or do you just get 'em to cover up your scars?"

Looking down at her nails, Renae shrugged, "they last longer than makeup," she smiled faintly then cleared her throat.

"I ain't mean it like dat Nae, I'm just saying, yo tats are dope and pretty strategic if you ask me." He clarified.

"Yeah..." she inhaled, "I guess I do like them, I mean everyone gets them for different reasons right?"

King nodded, "It's art... but I also feel like.. tattoos... they tell a story."

There was a soft silence between the two as Renae stared at the tattoo on his hand, "You love Louisiana, I see."

"It made me who I am today," he answered then propped the hood up before grabbing his tool kit.

"What are you about to do?" Her brows creased in wonderment as she sat down.

"What are you about to do?" He corrected as he walked over and grabbed her hand.

Renae stared at him confused as he pulled her up.

"You are about to show me where the battery of tha' car is located."

Renae frowned, "Excuse me? I thought we were just changing tires?"

Laughing, King shook his head as he stood next to her. "I stretched tha' truth a luh bit." He smiled goofily and she squinted at him.

"You mean you lied."

"Maybe a luh bit," he laughed.

3pm

"Would you say New Orleans is better than here?" Renae asked staring up at King's ceiling as they laid on opposite sides of his sofa as Bow Wow station played on shuffle on Pandora lowly.

"New Orleans will forever be my first love, but Virginia's a'ight... for now." He answered.

"I don't like it here," she mumbled, rubbing her arm. "So many bad memories," she sighed.

"You can overshadow it with good ones," He reminded but she shook her head.

"My life has been filled with nothing but pain since I left my mother's womb... I'm surprised I'm still alive."

"Because you have a purpose in life ma, you just gotta get over a few hurdles." He told her.

"I've been jumping over hurdles since I can remember, I'm tired of hearing You're here for a reason. All I've known is struggle, struggle, struggle. Not one piece of happiness yet and I'm over it, completely over it."

"Life isn't peaches and rainbows ma, we all are gonna go through trials and tribulations, it's just up to us to remain strong and keep dat shit pushing," he stated.

Renae scoffed, "At least one of us thinks so."

"You never did tell me why you were sent away," he sat up and stared at her.

"I tried to kill myself," she coolly replied.

The room grew quiet; both deep in thought.

"Sometimes I wish there was a way we could see a glimpse of our future... just so I could see if my life is worth it anymore," her words were soft and distant. "Some days I don't even want to get out of bed... most nights I pray just begging God to take me while I sleep, and most times I walk out into traffic hoping that someone will put me out of my misery..."

King shifted his gaze to the wall. He hated the fact that she was supposed to get help but endured more pain than she was already dealing with. The fact that she was comfortable with talking about suicide in front of him had him questioning her family's involvement in her life.

Did they even talk to her?

Do they know about the abuse?

"What was your reason for getting out of bed today?" He asked but got no response. "Renae?" He glanced at her but she was fast asleep.

Standing, he stretched before he walked over and picked her up carefully, "You gotta let me in ma."

Once he reached his room, he laid her in bed sure to place the covers over her. Heading out of the room, he retrieved his vibrating phone seeing that it was Autumn.

Shaking his head, he went and answered the phone. "What do you want?"

"Damn, I thought we were good?"

"We been done, I should've never fucked yo ass dat night. It was a dumbass mistake. You ain't what I need or want, don't call my line no more." Before she could respond he ended the call and put her on the block list.

It was time for a new chapter.

***

"What in the hell were you thinking?!" Egypt yelled at Dajon once they entered their hotel room.

"He put his hands on me first, I been told you that nigga been saying slick stuff about me," he grumbled as he tossed his bookbag on the bed.

Bryson walked in shaking his head, "What happened son?"

"One of the p.e. teachers caught me getting out of the cab and she asked me about it during lunch."

Bryson motioned for him to continue.

"When we got to p.e. dude bumped me while we were doing the walkabouts and when I said something he called me a bum."

"So you punched him? Over a damn word?"Egypt asked but he shook his head.

"Nah, I just told him to watch himself but then he started talking about how he know I don't got a place to stay and that he saw me inside the Salvation Army looking for clothes and stuff like that, at this point the other kids were there. So he got in my face and kept calling me homeless," his expression hardened. "He pushed me and I punched him, he tried to swing but I ducked and punched him a few more times."

"And now you're suspended." Egypt glared at him.

Dajon shrugged, "He should've just minded his business."

"Boy don't test me right now, who the hell gonna watch you while we're at work? Because Renae sure isn't, she's been focusing on dancing and trying to find another job and you KNOW your aunt ain't having that."

"I'll take him to work with me, my boss won't mind." Bryson suggested and Egypt eyed him.

"You sound like you're trying to reward him for his behavior."

"It was self defense, the kid should have kept his mouth closed and if he got a father I'll gladly beat his ass." He told her and Dajon chuckled earning a glare from Egypt.

"You're making the situation worse."

"Go easy on him, did you forget you used to bust bottles in girls faces?" He asked and she squinted her eyes at him when Dajon looked at her stunned.

"Mama you was throwing down like that?"

Ignoring him, she glared at Bryson and he chuckled holding his hands up.

"I gotta go back to work and I know you do to so come on." He spoke grabbing a bottle of Gatorade out the fridge.

"Since you wanna laugh, you can see the bull crap I have to clean up at my job," she snatched Dajon up and he frowned.

"Hold up, dad said I could go to his job." He said.

"Tomorrow, today you gon' see what hard work and underpaid looks like."

6:30 that evening

After talking with his mom, King decided to go wake Renae up so she could come down and eat. It was dark outside and he wasn't sure how late she planned on staying. Once he reached his bedroom door, he opened it slowly before he walked in.

She was still fast asleep.

Walking over towards the bed, he shook Renae gently but she didn't budge. "Nae?" He called shaking her again.

It took a moment before she began to stir. Sitting down next to her, he shook her again.

Rolling over in his direction, she opened her eyes and began kicking and screaming when he moved towards her. She was still slightly dazed, it was still taking her some time to realize she was no longer at the center anymore. Any little thing triggered her.

Confused by what was happening, King quickly cut the light on and held his hands out in front of him for her to see he wasn't there to hurt her.

"It's me Nae, it's me." He spoke calmly as he kept his distance while she rubbed her arm aggressively as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Trying to rid the voices from her mind, her heart began to beat fast.

"Renae it's me." He repeated as he slowly approached the bed but she kept shaking her head.

Tears began to roll down her face and she rubbed her arm faster.

"Nae," he called gently as he carefully placed his hand on her leg but that set her completely off.

"I wanna go home! I wanna go home!" She repeated as she hurried off of the bed in search of her shoes.

"Ok..." King took a step forward, "let me drop you off," he said.

"No!"

"Nae I'm not gonna hurt you." He promised as he reached for her but she jumped back.

"Yes you are!" The tears stained her face as her heart beat wildly in her chest.

"I won't." He assured taking ahold of her hand.

When she tried to pull away he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her protectively as she cried and tried to push him away.

"You don't gotta be scared anymore," he kept telling her as he rubbed her back allowing her to cry her heart out.

She knew it was a bad idea for her to hang around him but she thought she could keep her triggers under control. She needed some serious help to fight those.

************************

Thoughts?

How we feeling?