"That bitch is not stepping a foot in here," Jora stated as she put the food out for us.

The group chuckled as we tried to come up with a safe place to meet up with Roxy. " I saw a cafe on the way over here," Sade said from Derrick's lap. " Maybe we could go there instead."

I chewed on my thumbnail as I pondered the idea. I had no reason to trust this girl whatsoever. She could be lying and setting me up for all that I knew. But if she has any evidence against Edwards, then I'll need all of it that I can get to build a strong case against him.

The group looked at me as I tilted my head in agreement. " Whatever, that's fine with me," I agree as they take her off of mute. Sade tells her the name of the low key cafe while the rest of us dig into the food really quickly.

" Are we all going?" I asked as I cut into my empanadas after hanging up with Roxy. We agreed on letting up in about an hour, which gave us all enough time to eat before leaving.

" Yeah," Jora was quick to say." I don't trust that bitch as far as I could throw her." The table all mumbled in agreement as we passed around the dishes of food that Jora cooked.

" This is so good, Kitty Kat," Rhegan compliments as she cuts another empanada in half. The boys perk up at the use of Rhegan's personal nickname for Jora. Rhegan was the one who found out Jora's full name somehow.

" Why Kitty K—" Jora was quick to cover Xander's mouth, giving him a sharp warning glare as he closed his mouth.

" Catalina is one of her middle names so I call her Kitty Kat," Rhegan looks up from her food, glaring at the boys."Only I get to call her Kitty Kat."

Yeah— she was still a little bit tipsy.

I slowly reached over and took her margarita, finding it half full. Shrugging my shoulders, I placed my lips to the rim of the can and chugged it down. Feeling a stare on my face, I turn to see Kyler eyeing me with a watchful eye.

" What?" I question as I pat my chest, feeling a slight burn rise. " I need a little liquid courage if I'm meeting up with the devil's bride."

Kyler shook his head in amusement, gaze glittering around the room before landing on Jora who was in deep conversation with Sade. "Where is the bathroom?" He cleared his throat as he stood up.

" There's one down the hall," Skylar answers,"it's the first door on the right."

Kyler thanked her before heading off towards the nearest bathroom. " Sky, can you show him so he doesn't get lost?" Jora asked with an innocent bat to her lashes." You know he's good for getting lost." Skylar removed herself from Marcus's lap and followed behind her brother.

Once she was out of earshot distance, Jora leaned forwards and pulled out her phone."Okay, I already have a club picked out for the twins' birthday," she says as she scrolls on her phone. " Does anyone have any objections?"

All of our phones pinged with a notification from the separate g.c that doesn't include the twins." I also need an estimate of how many people to invite so that we can have enough to rent the whole space out."

We all looked at the club, finding that it was big enough for the majority of the basketball team, their friends, and possibly any other people that find themselves invited.

" That's perfect," Elizabeth says, the rest of us adding in our two cents along with her.

" Great!" Jora squeals," I just need a guest list, we need to contact the party planner, and decide whether or not we're going to hire a catering company or do food trucks again."

Jora went down the list before we heard Skylar's footsteps come down the hallway. We quickly locked out of the g.c and turned our phones off before she entered the kitchen.

" Why'd it quiet all of a sudden?" Skylar questioned suspiciously as she took her spot back in Marcus's lap.

" No reason," Jora says as she gets up and scrapes the contents on her plate into the trash. We all follow suit seeing that it's getting closer to the time that we should meet up with Roxy.

I make my way up the stairs with Carson close behind me. I take the first room on the right which is the room that I normally get. The bag that the girls packed me is already waiting for me on the bed, I reach inside of the bag and pull out a jacket. Carson places his duffel bag near the door as he looks around the dimly lit room.

I walk into the bathroom and look at my appearance in the mirror, finding a few things that need some touch ups done before we leave. Carson leans against the door frame, watching me with arms crossed as I fix my hair.

" Don't forget that we have dinner with my grandparents on Sunday," I remind him in case he forgot over the few days that we had been apart.

" It's saved in my calendar," he says matter of factly.

Of course it is.

" Great," I say as I turn around, my palms face flat on the marble countertop as I face him. " You're sleeping on the floor tonight," I smile as I push off of the counter.

Carson lifts his brows so high that they could reach his hairline. " You're not getting left off that easily, Addams," I pat his shoulder as I pass him, entering the room once again and grabbing my purse and phone.I checked my phone, finding that my phone had fully charged during the time I had eaten dinner.

" Really," he came up behind me, moving my hair to the side as he kissed my shoulder blades. I smile to myself as his lips leave a trail of fire wherever they touch.

"Yeah," I say breathlessly. " You're in the doghouse until I say so."

" But it's Valentine's day!" Carson whines like a child, slapping his arms on his sides as I turn around. I place my hands on his shoulders, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his lips.

" You should've thought about that before showing your ass a few days ago," I whisper against his lips as he frowns.

" Am I really being put on pussy probation on one of the most romantic holidays?" He questioned as I fixed his hair a little, the tops being flat due to him wearing a hoodie over it for the past few hours.

" Mhmm," I hum as I fix his hair to my liking.

" You make dumb decisions to curse your girlfriend out without letting her explain," I squinted as I fixed a tiny hair that was out of place as he studied me." You face the consequences."

Carson hummed as he brushed the tip of his nose against mine. " I'll remember this when you get horny in the middle of the night and ask me to scratch an itch that only I can reach," his tongue flicks out, his teeth scraping his bottom lip as I suck in a breath.

Asshole.

" Yeah," Carson's hand comes up and flicks my nipple before he backs away. " Who are we really punishing here?"

Wanting to get the last word, I turn on my heels and open the bedroom door." You act as if I don't have fingers and a possible vibrator hidden somewhere in this room."

I quickly regret my decision as I come out of my room to see Dominic and Rhegan coming out of hers. Dominic has a mixed facial expression of shock and slight irritation as his eyes zero in on Carson.

" Hey!" Carson holds his hands up as I intertwine my hands with Rhegan." I'm in punishment so don't give me that look. As if you just weren't fucking her best friend an hour before dinner."

"Aht!" Dominic tutted as we walked down the hallway." I finger fucked her an—"

I drowned his next words out, not wanting to hear about how my brother finger fucked and ate my best friend to three orgasms within a few minutes.

I didn't want to throw my food up before it even had a chance to digest— and Jora put her foot into that meal.

It was different when his father wasn't marrying my mother, but now that we are practically family, I don't want to hear about it and neither does he.

" I'm sorry," Rhegan apologized as we walked down the stairs." I know that it's awkward hearing about my sex life since it's with your step-brother now."

I shake my head frantically as we stand in the foyer of Jora's house. " You do not need to apologize for that. It's just that I can relate to Skylar a lot more having to listen to my friend talk about sex with my brother now."

Rhegan laughs as she places her hair behind her shoulders, making her collarbones stand out more. I wrap my arms around her shoulders as she lays her head on mine, her arms wrapping my waist.

" I love you, Yanna," she speaks softly," And I'm glad that you are finally happy and in a healthy relationship. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about canceling this one's future," she jokes.

"It's kind of stressful isn't it," Jora chimes into the conversation as everyone slowly makes their way into the foyer.

" It truly is," Rhegan nods in agreement as the girls and I link arms. We hopped in separate cars, the boys taking Carson's car, and we took Jora's. The boys followed us to the cafe that was about ten minutes away from Jora's house. We found parking spots right next to each other and quickly exited the car.

" Is she here yet?" I asked as I pulled my hair out of my jacket, pulling the hoodie over my head before interlocking hands with Carson.

" Yeah," he says pointing to the familiar black BMW parked in the front of the cafe.

We all walked into the cafe and immediately spotted Roxy in the corner at a table by herself. She checked her phone as she chewed on her thumbnail nervously. I looked her over from head to toe, taking in the black sweat suit, the black snapback hiding her face, and the huge shades she was wearing.

As soon as she spotted us she straightened up and put her phone down. Carson pulled out the chair that sat directly in front of her, allowing me to sit in it before he pulled up a chair next to me.

" Hey," she clears her throat as I place my hands on top of the table. " I didn't realize how awkward this would be," she chuckled as I observed her closer.

She didn't seem like an evil conniving bitch.

" Hey," I manage to get out as she fiddles with her fingers.

" Can we just move this along already," Jora groaned, causing Kyler to shush her. She glowered at him as he smiled innocently at her.

" Right," Roxy reached inside of her purse and pulled out a burner phone. " First I would just like to say," she removed the hat from her head but made no move to take off the shades. " I wholeheartedly had no idea that Sean was your ex until the day of the game."

" But you knew that he had an issue with Carson?" I asked, finding it unbelievable that she didn't know that he was my ex.

Roxy tilted her head slightly as she shrugged her shoulders," I might have," she admits." My therapist told me to block out times in my life where I wasn't the best me."

I shot Jora and Skylar both a glare, practically hearing their thoughts all the way over here. They both silently gawked in outrage towards my actions.

" I really did come to your house that day to apologize, Carson," Roxy turns her attention to Carson who stares blankly at her. " I wasn't the best and most supportive girlfriend and I know that I put you through hell. I am truly sorry for cheating and treating you the way that I did."

Carson studied her silently for a few minutes. Roxy shifted under his gaze as he came to a decision on whether or not he would forgive her.

" Apology accepted," he simply says, dismissing the topic altogether.

Roxy took the hint and faced me once more. " Um, after that night in the parking lot, you had slipped up and almost revealed that he was a drug addict." I nodded my head as she slid the burner phone closer to me.

" I remembered seeing him use this one night when he thought that I was in the bathroom, and when you said that I kind of snooped and found it one night."

I looked at the phone, not wanting to touch it in fear of my fingerprints getting in it. " What is it?" I ask, flickering my gaze back to her.

" It's the phone he uses to contact his supplier. He's still using, had been for a while and I didn't notice it until you said something," she tucked her hair behind her ear as she swallowed.

And that's when it clicked.

Dear fucking God.

" Roxy," I swallowed, closing my eyes in fear of her response to my question. " Please tell me that you are wearing those glasses because you have sensitive eyes and not because he put his hands on you."

I opened my eyes to see her bottom lip wobble slightly as her throat bobbed. " Shit," I sighed as she made no move to answer the question.

" When?" I asked.

Roxy inhaled a deep breath as she slowly removed the sunglasses, revealing her left eye that had slowly begun to turn purple. She winced slightly as the glasses brushed against the bruise ever so slightly.

" Jesus fucking christ," Audrey cursed as we all sucked in a breath. I may not have liked the girl, or her recent actions, but that didn't mean that she deserved a black eye at the hands of a man.

" The first time was the night af-after the game," her voice shook, her eyes welling up with tears as she inhaled a breath. " He was angry at finding out that I went to apologize to Carson, and angry that he didn't get the reaction that he wanted from him."

And what reaction did he want— Carson did end up hitting him, almost risking his career in the end.

" He slapped me as soon as we walked into his room, and yelled at me, calling me every name in the book for just going to apologize to you," Roxy chuckled bitterly as she recalled the events.

" At first I thought that it was my own Karma for how I treated Carson, and you guys that day after the game," I shook my head as she pushed forward. "Bu—"

I reached out and grabbed her hand," That was not your Karma." I squeezed her hand, trying to get my point across." That was the actions of a man who doesn't know how to let things go, and results in hitting women when he doesn't get his way."

"Yeah you may be a bitch," Jora says," But you don't deserve to get hit over trying to fix the mistakes that you made." And I could tell that Jora truly meant that, even if there was a voice in the back of her head that wanted to finish what Roxy started that day after the game.

" How'd you get the black eye?" Carson asked, jutting his chin towards the nasty bruise that looked like it was throbbing painfully.

" This morning, when everything hit the media," she pulled on the sleeves of her hoodie, hiding her hands in her sleeves." He was really fucking mad," she chuckled."He couldn't believe that you would trick him like that."

" And I wanted to leave, because obviously I believed everything that you put out, and he didn't like that."

Of course he wouldn't. Roxy was the fucking cherry on top of the shit sundae he had created for himself over the years.

" He tried to keep me from leaving, which resulted in me slapping him in an attempt to get away—" she pauses as she sits up straighter. " That was self defense," she cleared up." I have never put my hands on another ma-"

" We know Roxy," Elizabeth chimed in," We would've done the same."

She shook her head as she motioned to her eye." I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have due to the black eye that he gave me right after. I can take a punch," she shifted in her seat.

" But that was a fucking punch." It seemed as if the more drugs he took, the more aggressive he got.

" I managed to leave after he left in his fucking rage, but not before grabbing that phone out of his drawer."

" Does he know that you took it?" I took the phone and pocketed it into my purse.

Roxy shook her head frantically," No. If he did he would've blown my phone up with multiple threats against me," she said as she scratched the back of her neck. " Plus my lawyer advised me to cut off all communication with him."

Two cases against him in the span of twenty-four hours.

Both of them being domestic violence cases.

Yeah, he was so done for.

" Can we call our father's now, Ayanna?" Rhegan asked, phone at the ready.

" I'm surprised that you didn't do it earlier," I snickered, nodding my head for them to go and do what they needed to do.

" Well that's all that I have for you," Roxy quickly gathered all of her things, placing the sunglasses carefully over her face as she stood up. " Thanks for hearing me out, I know that I'm not exactly the most trustworthy source, but you probably have a better chance at taking him down than I do."

Roxy made her way past me before I gripped her arm softly. I may be taking a risk here, but I believed her and I believed that she wouldn't do this to herself. My heart is big enough to put petty differences aside and be there for her.

" I'm so sorry that this happened to you, Roxy."

" Same to you," she smiled softly before walking away, only to pause and speak over her shoulder.

" Fuck his life up, yeah?"

I smirked to myself as I nodded my head, " You have no fucking idea."

And neither did he...

Come Wednesday— Edwards would be kicked off of UCLA's team and every one of the scouts that had been checking for him would turn the other cheek. No one wanted a player with two domestic violence cases and a history of drug abuse in their organization.

Sean Edwards was done for, and I would make sure if it.

Heeeyyy besties!!!

Thoughts on this chapter ?!?!?

I've had many ideas for Roxy's character and sadly this was the one that was chosen. But her character was always going to have some involvement with Edwards takedown.

Xoxo, alexis