I wasn't even fucking surprised.

But I would worry about Edwards after I was done with this one.

" Carson let me ex-"

But he doesn't let me. He's focused so much on that damn picture that he wasn't listening to me or thinking straight at this moment.

"Are you fucking stupid?" I flinch at his question as he stares me down. " Is that why you've been so off lately? Have you been off seeing him while smiling in my fucking face ?"

I felt so hurt that he would even believe that I would willingly be sitting down at a dinner with Edwards.

" I have not been seeing him!" I spit as I grab my things off of his bed. "If you would just le—"

"Then why the fuck would you do that, Ayanna?" He shouts angrily as he points to the now black screen. "What the fuck was going through your damn head."

I was getting angry now.

He wasn't letting me talk and he damn sure wasn't about to raise his voice at me without knowing the reason behind the photo.

" I did it for you!" I shouted, shutting him up. " I did it for you and your fucking career! Do you think that I would willingly go have dinner with him just for the shits and giggles of it, Carson?"

He clenched his jaw as I waited for my answer.

When he takes a little bit too long to answer, I feel like my heart is about to crack open in two.

" I have done nothing but love and support you, Carson. So if you open your fucking mouth to say yes, I will leave your ass. Because I have done nothing but be loyal and honest to you." My voice waivers as he shakes his head, advancing for me.

" No. Don't touch me right now," I say as I take a step back. Carson drops his arms to the side as he stands still in front of me. One look in his eyes tells me that he is just as hurt as I feel right now.

" He had a video of you two fighting in that damn parking lot. That's why I had met up with him..."

"To save your fucking ass."

Carson let out a frustrated sigh as he turned around. He picked up the first thing he could get his hands on and threw it at the wall. The object shattered into pieces as I took a step back.

" Carson!" I shouted.

" What Ayanna!" He shouted, causing me to take another step back. As he watched my actions, his features softened and a look of regret washed over him.

" Fuck. I am so sorry." He apologized as he made his way across the room. His hands were shaky as he reached for me, pulling me closer to him.

" Fuck, I am so sorry, Ayanna," he whispered, placing his forehead against mine."I didn't mean to scare you."

Carson pressed his lips against mine softly. " I'm sorry, Ayanna." He apologized again as he pulled away, his hands traveling from my waist to palm my face.

" It's not okay, Carson." He nods his head in agreement.

" I know, I know," he whispered as I sniffled.

"Don't ever do it again," I said as his hand gripped my neck tightly, keeping my head pressed against his as we shared breath.

" It won't happen again. I promise you that it'll never happen again." He promised, his tone genuine as he rubbed my cheeks.

I sighed as I held his wrist in my hands.

" You know that I would never cheat on you, Carson. I would never hurt you like that. " I cried as I shook my head. " I'm not your fucking ex, I would never do that shit to you. Ever."

The fact that he would even doubt me for a second on my loyalty for him, hurt me down to the fucking bone. It made me doubt that our love wasn't strong enough if all it took was a picture with no context to make him doubt me.

I had given him no reason to not trust me in the months that we had been together— none.

I push out of his hold, he staggers for a second as he reaches for me again. " I think," I wiped under my eyes as he stepped forward again."I think we need some space right now. "

And as much as it hurt to say, it hurt me more that he would ever doubt me.

"W-what do you mean space, Ayanna?" Carson's voice cracked as he backed me into a wall.

" I just need a few days," I say as he leans his forehead against the wall behind me. " Just for us both to cool down after this because the words that were spoken tonight," I inhaled as he placed his head into the crook of my neck.

" The words that were spoken and the second you started to doubt me," I cried as I felt his tears drip down my neck.

"It hurt me, Carson, because I've done nothing wrong in our relationship to make you ever doubt me. And if all it took was for a picture with no context behind it for you to doubt me, then maybe you don't trust me as well as you think."

Carson's body shakes as he nods his head," Is this what you really want?" He pulled back, thumbs swiping under my cheeks as I nod my head. His grey eyes well up with tears as he searches my own tear stricken face.

" Just for a few days," I sniffle as his eyes close for a second. He leans his head against mine once as we stand in silence.

" Just a few days," he says before kissing the corner of my lips. I grab his cheeks once more, pressing my lips against his in a quick kiss before pulling away and rushing towards the door.

" I love you," he says, stopping me in my tracks as I reach the doorknob. " And I am so sorry, Ayanna, that I hurt you, that I hurt us."

I twisted the knob as I wiped under my nose with my palm." I love you too, Carson," I say as I head out of his room.

As I walk past Dominic's bedroom, his door swings open and he leans against the threshold with his arms folded.

" What happened?" He asked, stopping me from walking any further.

" Nothing," I say as I put on a smile." We just got into an argument. I'm okay, he's okay," I assure him as he lifts a brow.

" What was the argument about?" He asked as I shot him a glare.

" Are you asking as his best friend or as my step-brother?" I questioned as he leaned his head against the door frame.

" Both," he shrugs, waiting for my response.

I think back and forth between telling him or just letting it go. " It's nothing that you should worry about," I said as I walked past him. " I've got it handled."

Dominic doesn't say anything more as I walk down the stairs of the basketball house. I make it all the way to the front door with no interruptions and no one stopping me.

Once I get into my car, I grab my phone out of my purse and message the one person who could've started all of this shit.

𝐦𝐞: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞.

A few seconds later I received a message knowing exactly who it was.

𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧: 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.

I laugh to myself as I shake my head, my thumbs typing across the screen rapidly as I type my response.

𝐦𝐞: 𝐨𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝?

I waited until his next message came in to send my final response off.

𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧: 𝐀𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭.

𝐦𝐞: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞. 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐧.

With that final message, I blocked the number and pulled out of the driveway.

When I walked into my apartment, I handed Alessandro the device and plopped onto the couch.

" What's wrong?" Skylar asked as she played with Sage's son in her lap.

Don't like kids, my ass.

" When I went over to Carson's, Edwards had sent him some photos from our meet up making it look like something that it wasn't, and we decided on taking some space away from each other after some words were exchanged." I say as Marco abandons Skylar's lap and crawls over to me.

Sage comes over with a bottle and extends it to me as he snuggles into my arms. " You guys will be okay," she says as she runs a hand through his blonde curls. " What is a relationship if there aren't a few downs here and there?"

I knew that she was right.

It was also one of our first arguments but it still didn't take away the fact that he was so quick to think that I would even entertain Edwards without good reason.

" You're right," I sigh as Marco takes the bottle from my grip, holding it by himself as his eyes wander the room.

" He's so adorable, Sage." I know that I've told her that before, but seeing this little baby in person was a whole nother load of adorable.

" And he's a handful," she smiles," just like his damn daddy."

Giovanni chuckled as he pressed a kiss to Sage's cheek. "You already knew that when we found out that he was a boy," he joked as Sage rolled her eyes, playfully.

" Yeah, yeah, yeah," she sighs.

I chuckle quietly as I watch Marco's eyes flutter shut softly and the bottle go limp in his hands as he tries to finish it off. I pried the bottle out of his fingers as he let out a yawn and drifted off to sleep.

I lifted him up and passed him to Sage, who rubbed his back until he burped before laying him down on the couch beside her.

" Okay," Alessandro spoke up as we crowded around his laptop." Is this the video?" He clicked on one of the most recent videos in Edwards history.

Sure enough it was all of us in front of Carson's truck after the game a few weeks ago. Carson could be seen lunging for Edwards, landing his punch before getting pulled back by Dominic. You could see them exchange words as they volley back and forth.

A few seconds later you could see Haze going at it with him, and Jora and Roxy on the side getting in each other's faces before the video cut.

" Damn Jora," Ashanti laughed as Jora studied the screen.

" Nah, I still want to fight that bitch," Jora scuffed before walking off to the kitchen. Once you were on Jora's bad side, you stayed on Jora's bad side.

Well, unless your name was Kyler McKay.

He could do no wrong while doing all the wrong things.

Alessandro chuckled as he deleted the video from Edwards cloud completely and any other traces of it.

" Thank you!" I say as he shuts his laptop down. "Thank you so much! I don't know what I would've done if that video ever got released."

Alessandro shakes his head as if it was no big deal, but it was a big deal.

" Is there anything else that you need?" He questioned as I nodded my head.

" Actually yes."

_________________

" Happy Galentines day!" Jora shouted as she jumped into my bed. Jora, Rhegan and I would be spending Valentine's day together since the others were all coupled up for the holiday.

Rhegan even turned Dominic down for a date, even though I insisted that she go on the date with him. But Rhegan was a stubborn bitch and she insisted on staying home with me and Jora.

Jora handed me a pint of ice cream while Rhegan passed me a spoon. " You know that you don't have to be here, Rhe. There's still time to make plans for tonight with, Dom," I say, bringing the spoon to my lips as she scoffs.

" Do you not want to spend time with me, Ayanna?" She feigned hurt as she clutched her heart.

" No," I answer truthfully." I want you to go on that date with my stupid ass step-brother."

Rhegan sighs as she puts her ice cream on my nightstand," Dominic understands why I'm not with him right now. We made plans with each other this weekend if that makes you feel any better. So can I just be a supportive best friend and boycott Valentine's day with you."

I sigh as I spoon some more ice cream into my mouth."Fine, but I don't want to hear about how you wish you were with Dominic after we finish the fifty shades trilogy."

" Anastasia steele," Jora moans as she pulls the spoon out of her mouth. " Fuck Christian Grey, I would love to have a taste of her."

I hit Jora with a fluffy pillow, causing her to drop her spoon on my thigh, the ice cream coating it as the spoon slips onto my comforter. Jora shrugs as she leans down and slides her warm tongue along my thigh, licking up all of the ice cream residue as Rhegan shrieks.

" That is going on my story!" She laughs as she uploads the story onto instagram.

" Truth or Dare?" Rhegan questions as I start up the movie. We sit in a circle on my bed as we got comfortable.

" Dare," Jora shouts immediately.

" Give Ayanna a hickey on the neck," Rhegan says as sips on her truly margarita. She quickly places the drink on the ground, picks up her phone, and begins to record as Jora settles down into my lap.

I slowly started to feel the buzz settle in as Jora moved my hair to the side of my neck. I gripped her thighs as she pressed her lips to my neck and began to suck softly. Her tongues slid along the spot on my neck as her hands gripped my hair.

A soft moan left my lips as she grazed her teeth over the small bruise that was quickly beginning to form on my neck. Jora hummed in approval as she pulled back and brushed her thumb over the bruise.

" That's some of my best work actually," she says as she hopes off of my lap with a giggle.

I grabbed my truly and sipped on it as I thought of a dare. I didn't want to take things too far because I was in a relationship and Rhegan was in a... well that wasn't really defined.

" Truth or Dare, Rhegan?" I asked.

She sipped on her straw as her eyes widened, "Dare."

Rhegan was so cute when she was drunk, she was a fun drunk but right now she was a tad bit tipsy— we all were at this point.

" Make out with Jojo," I say as I take her phone and press record on instagram.

" C'mere Kitty Kat!" Rhegan curled her finger in a come here motion. Jora smiled as they met in the middle, Rhegan took her face in her hands as they began to make out.

Rhegan bit down on Jora's lip as Jora's hand explored Rhegan's body. Rhegan's hands gripped at Jora's hair as she lost her balance and tumbled on top of Jora as the two giggled.

Yet and still they kept kissing.Jora gripped Rhegan's ass, smacking it harshly as Rhegan slipped her tongue into Jora's mouth, moaning softly as they both went at it.

Eventually Rhegan came up for air with swollen lips as Jora sat up on her forearms. " Okay Jojo," Rhegan said as she climbed over her and scooted back to her spot.

" Dare or Dare?" Jora asked, making it so that we could only choose Dare.

" Dare," Rhegan and I answer as Jora smiles.

" Let's get tattoos," she says as we wait for the twist." Only I get to pick them out for you and the spot.

" I'm down," I said as I headed towards my closet.

" Me too," Rhegan cheers as she flips off of the bed, landing on her feet and flipping her hair as she straightens up. Both Jora and Rhegan exit my room to pick out outfits and get ready.

We all take showers and get ready for our visit to the tattoo shop. Once I'm all dried, lotioned, and I my bathroom is cleared of fog and steam, I scurry back inside to do my hair and makeup.

By the time I start on my hair, the girls come back into my room fully dressed. Jora slapped my ass as she hopped on top of the counter wearing cream colored jeans that were fitted in the thigh area and got loose at the bottom. Her top was one that tied in the back and wrapped around her neck.

" Can you tie my shoe please, Rhe?" She extended her leg to Rhegan who patted her thigh. Rhegan quickly tied the shoe as I observed her outfit.

She wore a sage green lace set. The top was a sheer lace long sleeve that had two buttons holding it together in the front and the matching skirt. She paired it with a pair of white go-go boots.

One thing about Rhegan was that she would wear herself some heels, and she would wear them well.

I finished styling my hair by parting my hair into a side swoop, leaving the back down and straight down my back. I pinned the swoop to the side before gathering two small sections of hair and making two ponytails on the crown of my head.

" Cute!" Jora smiled as I admired myself in the mirror.

" Thanks! You both look hot by the way.," I say before lining my lips with a brown liner and adding a lighter shade of lipstick to the center of my lips.

They both follow me out of the bathroom as I walk into my room. I grabbed my top and slipped it over my head before removing the towel.

It was a long sleeve orange cropped top that had a hook in the center. It covered my chest just enough so that there would be no nip slip happening. I then pulled on my jeans and buttoned them before slipping into my dior high tops. I then spritzed on some perfume as added jewelry before deciding that I liked the outfit.

" Picture time!" Rhegan suggested as she stood in front of my full length mirror. I adjusted the top as I took in my body that was already covered in tattoos before posing for the picture.

" We're so hot," she says before chugging down her margarita, burping as she pulls it away from her lips.

" I think that we should order an uber," I said, grabbing the empty can from her. Jora nods in agreement as we walk out of my room, I grab my phone and purse as we leave the room.

Just as we walk down the stairs and enter the living room, the front door rings causing us all to walk to the door.

I opened it to see a man holding a bouquet of Venus et Fleur Le plein bouquet of red roses, and a cartier bag in his hand.

" Ughhh, delivery for Ayanna Heart!" He says as I take the box from his hands.

" That's me," I say as he hands me the bag.

" Happy Valentine's day!" He says before heading towards the elevator.

I carry the roses over to the side table in the hallway and place them down before opening the bag. I ran my hands along the box as the girls peered over my shoulder.

" Well open it," Jora bounces on her toes.

I take her advice and open the box to reveal a Cartier love interlocking white gold necklace. My breathing falters as I lift it out of the box.

" No," I placed the necklace back into the box.

He'd spent over five thousand dollars on these gifts for me." I can't accept this, it's too much," I chew on my thumbnail as I look at the girls. " Right?" I questioned.

" Well I mean it's not like he doesn't have the funds for it," Jora says as she shrugs.

Yeah, I know that this is pocket change for him.

" Ayanna that is your boyfriend," Rhegan reminds me." You guys may be taking a ' break' at the moment, but I think that it's cute that he's still spoiling you during it."

Jora turns the flower bouquet and plucks the card from the center." There's a note," she hands it to me as her phone chimes.

" The ubers here."

Rhegan reopens the necklace box and hands the necklace to Jora as she holds my hair up. Jora clasps the necklace around my neck, it settles onto my collarbone as I brush my fingers along it.

" It looks perfect on you," Rhegan says before pushing me out of the door with Jora locking it behind her.

We rush down to the front where the uber awaits us and get in. Once we're buckled up, I open the card and began to read it.