" What made you blow up on Ayanna that night? Why did you lose your cool?" Dr. Brooks asked, pen at the ready for whatever response I gave him.

I shifted in the leather armchair, my palms flat on my thighs as I thought about my actions from that night.

I knew that Ayanna wouldn't cheat on me, especially with the likes of Sean fucking Edwards. But in that moment, I was blinded by past hurt and didn't give her the chance to explain herself which was wrong of me. I should've handled my cool better with her, but I just got so angry.

And normally I was good at keeping my anger in check but something inside of me snapped the moment I saw that photo. I felt like complete shit when she left, I felt horrible for how I handled the whole situation.

Especially with throwing the glass at the wall and yelling at her.

" I think that I just went back to a time where I found out that I had been cheated on. Finding out that my ex cheated on me with someone I considered my closest friend was heartbreaking, especially when there were clear signs of betrayal from both of them right in front of me."

I guess during that time I was a fool in love. I was so blinded by my love for Roxy that I couldn't see through her lies and betrayal. But I had forgiven her, I needed to move on from the past in order to move on with Ayanna in the future.

" Have you forgiven your ex for cheating?" His mellowed tone kind of annoyed me. I felt like dozing off because of how soft and low it was.

" Umm, she apologized and I accepted it," I say, pausing to think of what to add on. " I have forgiven her, I just haven't told her that."

Dr. Brooks looks at his watch before closing his book. " I'm afraid that that's all the time we have for today, but it was a good end to our session," he says as we stand up." It's great that you were able to admit where you went wrong in the argument."

I nodded as we shook hands." I do want you to tell Roxy that you have moved on and that you forgive her." I might have visibly cringed because Dr. Brooks let out a huff of laughter." You don't have to do it now, but whenever you're comfortable and ready."

I didn't know how long that would be, but I was willing to have a conversation about it.

" Thank you, Dr. Brooks," I say before heading towards the door.

" I know that March is a very busy month for you," he looked up from his desk as I touched the brass knob of the door handle." Whenever you have time, just call and we can make your next appointment."

I gave him a curt nod before opening the door," Have a nice day, Dr. Brooks." I call out over my shoulder before closing the door.

I looked at my phone noticing that I had an hour to get back over to Jora's. It was around three and that meant that traffic would be ridiculous with everyone getting off now. I quickly booked it over to my car, seeing that I had two hours before our dinner reservations.

A thirty minute drive turned into an hour drive with people driving recklessly. Luckily, I was one of the few of my friends that didn't develop road rage living out here.

Once I was off of the freeway and had an easy drive from there. The security guard let me through, recognizing me and my car from the amount of times we'd been driving back and forth throughout the week. I'm pretty sure that he was supposed to be calling but he didn't seem to be top flight security, it was clear he was only doing this job for the check.

And the occasional nap.

By this point I had memorized the route to Jora's even though it would be easy to get lost back here. Even so I still had the map tucked into my glove compartment just in case.

I quickly hopped out of the car and grabbed the clothes that I stopped by the house to get on the way over here.

" Ayanna you can stop stressing now!" Sade yelled as she walked into the living room with a bowl of chips.

I looked at my watch, noticing that I had less than an hour to get ready now. I quickly ran up the steps two at a time, and made it to Ayanna's room.

When I walked inside, the bathroom light was on and I could see her reflection through the mirror as she curled her hair. Her dress was still laid out on the bed, I started taking out the few articles of clothing that I pulled out of my closet in a rush.

" Baby!" I call out to her.

A few seconds later she appears in the door of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of black underwear. "What's up?" She asked as she approached the bed.

I found myself at a loss for words as I stared at her semi-naked body. A million thoughts ran through my mind but I had to contain myself— we had dinner in an hour.

Clearing my throat, I motion to the clothes that were laid out in the bed. Ayanna grabbed her dress and put it in the middle of my tops. I tried my hardest not to focus on her ass brushing against me as she stood up straight.

" Eyes to yourself, Addams," she brought me out of my trance. " And don't even deny that you weren't staring at my ass because your stare feels like a laser carving your name into my damn skin."

Ayanna turned her head before I could avert my gaze from her ass. " Gotta be quicker than that, Addams," she winked before turning back to my clothes and picking out my shirt.

My mind was anywhere but the clothes but she had already done her hair, and she would kill me if my mind was the reason that we were late for dinner with her grandparents. " You're kind of making it hard on me," I whine, fingers itching to touch her skin once more.

" We'll then let me make it easy for you." Ayanna steps into her dress, pulling the slightly roomier sleeves over her arms.

The dress was a slim fitting sweater dress, it hugged her waist and hips nicely, even emphasizing the shape of that ass that was all mine. It had a deep V- neck, somewhat exposing her cleavage but not too much of it. The dress stopped just before her knees, maybe about mid thigh.

" Here," she pulls a few pieces of hair that got stuck between the sweater. " Wear this," I watched her pair a light grey turtleneck sweater with a pair of black jeans, and a black leather jacket.

" Okay," she grabs the outfit and pushes it into my chest."Go get dressed and fix your hair so that we can go." I chuckle as she tries to push my ten times heavier body towards the bathroom door.

" You know what," Ayanna huffs as she pays my back."You have legs, use them," she retreats towards the bed where her white patent leather boots that stop just a little above the knees.

I walk into the bathroom, bellowing out a laugh as she plops her ass onto the bed and reaches for her shoes. Per her instructions, I style my hair a little bit, making it look as decent as possible before getting dressed.

" You look hot," Ayaan says as I untuck my silver chain, letting it show over the material of the turtleneck. I turn around as she approaches me, her arms opening to wrap them around my neck.

I hum, pressing my lips against hers," You look..." I mumble against her lips." Beautiful." Ayanna's answering smile makes my body warm up as I attack her face with a thousand kisses. " Beautiful! I just want you to know!"

Ayanna pushes away from me as she smiles and turns on her heels. " You're my favorite girl!" I playfully scream after her as we exit the bathroom and enter the bedroom.

Ayanna walks over to the dresses and begins to transfer her necessities from one bag to another. " Where'd you go today?" She questioned, clearing her throat as I pulled on my shoes.

I didn't plan on telling her that I was going to therapy quite yet. My plan was to wait until I had a few more sessions completed to tell her about it. At the same time, I didn't want her to think that there was something else going on either.

" I went to therapy."

Ayanna pauses her motions of putting on her necklace, her gaze meets mine in the mirror once she begins to move again. " You went to therapy?" She didn't sound like she didn't believe me, she sounded more shocked than anything.

" You went to therapy for me?" Ayanna turned on around, approaching me as I widened my legs for her to step in between them. She palmed my shoulders, squeezing them as I gaze up at her.

" Well kind of," I shrugged, my hands rubbing her ass softly as she waited patiently for me to keep talking." I went more for myself. I'm not going to ask you to help fix me and my issues that I have, I need to do that on my own."

And I know how Ayanna felt that she was responsible for helping Edwards get clean and better. But she wasn't, that was his responsibility all on his own, and me learning to control and get to the root of my temper was something that I needed to do. I wouldn't guilt trip her into helping me, not like he did.

Ayanna let's out a prolonged sigh as she throws her head back. I furrow my brows in confusion at her actions," Why are you so fucking amazing? Despite your little performance you put on a week ago, you're actually a really amazing boyfriend and I love you so freaking much that it hurts sometimes."

And that's what made me happy— making her happy.

I wanted to treat her the way she deserved to be treated all along. Ayanna didn't deserve to be treated so horribly in her past relationship. She was an amazing girlfriend, daughter, and friend. I don't know the extent of what went on in her relationship with Edwards, but I knew her heart, and I knew that she gave that relationship her all.

If I couldn't control my temper then I might as well be worse than Edwards. And I didn't want to be yet another man in her life that she couldn't depend on, I wanted to be better for her.

Because I did see Ayanna in my future.

I saw her at my games, sitting courtside with the girls as they cheered us on. I saw her wearing my engagement ring. I saw her walking down the aisle in a white poofy dress with that smile that I fell in love with. I saw her having my kids and being my forever person.

" I love you more than words can explain, Ayanna, and I'm trying to show you that you won't need to fix me. I can do that all on my own, you just need to keep loving me," I twist her waist as she nods her head.

" I can do that," she leans down." I can do that very well."

" Yeah you can," I move to kiss her, only to get interrupted by a pounding— not a knock— but a pounding on the door.

" We're going to be late for dinner!" Dominic yells as Ayanna presses a quick kiss to my lips. " Hurry the fuck up horn dogs!"

That's super rich coming from him.

Before Rhegan, he and Kyler were practically in competition with the amount of girls they fucked nightly.

" Shut the fuck up, Dommy!" Ayanna shouted as she grabbed her purse, I stood up quickly, throwing on my jacket and following Ayanna out of the room. " Acting as if he hasn't fucked half of the school, if not all."

We opened the door to see him helping Rhegan put on her jacket.

" So," he stuffed his hands in his pocket once he turned."Rhegan's crashing family dinner."

In other words— He invited Rhegan last minute.

Ayanna leveled a glare at him before flicking him on the forehead," I told you to invite her earlier, you dumbass. Now we have to call mom and tell her to change the number of the party."

Dominic rubbed his forehead, knowing that she was right because now we would have to change the seating at the table. " Let's go Rhegan," Ayanna grabbed her hand, the two marching down the hall leaving us to follow behind them.

" What made you ask her?" I asked as we made our way down the stairs.

" I don't know," he shrugged," I just blurted it out and she said sure. Maybe she said yes because she knows Ayanna's family."

Or maybe she just wanted to spend some more time with you.

" I don't think that you give Rhegan enough credit," I chuckle as I grab the keys from my back pocket. The girls were already standing in front of the G-Wagon by the time we got outside. I unlocked the door as I approached the car and opened the door for Ayanna.

Dominic and Rhegan took the back seat while I took the driver's seat and Ayanna took the passengers seat.

" Where are we going?" I asked, reaching for the gps but she beat me to it before my fingers could even press the touch screen.

"Mastro's," she responds, nails tapping against the touch screen as her eyes revert to and from her phone to the touch screen.

" I haven't had a nice juicy steak in a long time," Rhegan sighs from the back seat as we start to drive towards our destination.

" What do you mean," Dominic starts up," You just had a nice juicy—" Rhegan slaps her hand over Dominic's mouth as her face turns bright red.

"Dominic!" She scolded him as Ayanna shook with laughter besides me. Rhegan leaned in closer to Dominic, whispering something that was barely audible to my ears.

Looking in the rear view mirror, her hands were still covering his mouth but I could see his eyes widening with each word she spoke into his ear.

" Okay?" Rhegan levels a look on her face as if she were speaking to a child. Dominic nodded his head eagerly as she removed her hands from his mouth.

" Okay," he quickly responded as Rhegan smiled, scooting into his side once more.

"Good."

The ride was filled with talk about the twin's birthday party. The girls decided on doing food trucks instead of catering which I thought was a good decision because the guest would get a different variety of choices. Plus that way, we could get all of the twin's favorite food trucks for the party.

" I just hope that everything goes smoothly," Rhegan runs a hand through her hair, making it fall down lazily.

Dominic cleared his throat as our eyes connected through the rear view mirror. " Don't say anything," he starts, a slight warning in his tone."But Kyler's thinking of asking Jora to be his date for the draft."

" When does he plan on doing it?" Rhegan was the first to ask as Ayanna sat quietly.

" Possibly on his birthday," I shrug as I switch lanes." He doesn't think that she'll say yes though."

Ayanna sighs from her seat," It's not that she'll say no, it's that she'll say yes and something happens."

" Or maybe we should just have a little faith in Kyler," I defend him.

Sure he made a mistake— or a few mistakes but he's been doing good. He hasn't brought any girls over to the house, probably because we haven't had time to go out or party. And he's been moping around like a lost fucking puppy dog since he and Jora stopped messing around.

It's kind of sad actually.

" I mean the worst that can happen is that she rejects him on his birthday," Dominic says.

" And she won't do that," Rhegan shits the idea down,"She loves him too much to reject him, especially since it's an important night for him."

It was clear that we were all a little on edge about the idea, but it was just one night...

What could go wrong in one night?

" We are here," I announce as I pull up to the valet.

After grabbing the ticket and exchanging keys with the valet, I take Ayanna's awaiting hand and follow behind Dominic and Rhegan.

" This is kind of like a double date," Ayanna squeals excitedly," Well, a double date plus my family." She laughs cutely, swinging our hands as we walk into the dimly lit restaurant.

A smile spreads across my face as her eyes light up once she sees her grandparents. She immediately drops my hands and runs to the women that could easily pass off as Raven's older sister. Ayanna throws her arms around her grandmother, risking side to side as they embrace in a tight hug. A slightly taller man stands up, resting a hand on Ayanna's back as she pulls away from her grandmother.

" Oh I've missed you guys so much," Ayanna groans into the hug before pulling back. I watch as her grandfather tucks her hair behind her ears and grip her cheeks as he looks her over.

" You look so beautiful and so grown up," he gushed as her grandmother leaned her head into his shoulder." Isn't that supposed to happen with age," Ayanna joked before Rhegan walked over to them.

" Rhegan!" Her grandmother squeals," We haven't seen you in ages!"

" You saw me two Christmases ago," Rhegan says.

Ayanna's grandmother pinched her arm as they pull away from each other," That's two christmases too long if you ask me."

Ayanna then comes over and grabs both mine and Dominic's hand. " Grams, grandpa," she called for their attention. " This is Dominic, Jax's son, and Rhegan's," she scrunches her face as she tries to describe their relationship.

"Rhegan's good friend," she pays Dominic's back as he sends her a subtle scold.

" It's nice to finally meet you Dominic. I'm Amara and this Nigel," she smiles brightly at Dominic. " You can call us grams and grandpa, that's what Ayanna calls us."

Dominic nods his head, putting in his charming smile that used to get him out of a lot of shit when we were younger.

" Grams and grandpa, got it."

" And who is this young man that's clinging to you like a koala, Ayanna?" Nigel questions as Ayanna smiles up at me.

" Grams, grandpa," Ayanna tugs me closer to her." This is my boyfriend, Carson."

" Carson meet my grandparents."

I flash them my best smile— a smile that reads, I treat your granddaughter like the queen she deserves to be treated in front of friends and family, but behind closed doors I treat her like a dirty little slut.

"Hey, it's very nice to meet you."

HEEY BESTIES!!!

TEN CHAPTERS TO GO!!!

Do you guys want to see his interaction with the grandparents or should I just jump to the twins birthday party?

Thoughts on this chapter ?!?!

I love you guys so much, alexis