1 MONTH LATER
Aliyah P.O.V.
"Thank you ladies for coming tonight, be blessed," I handed both ladies there bags full of clothes, as I placed a warm smile on my face, feeling satisfied.
It was finally the night of mama's event that she was having at the boutique, and after spending the past month prepping and preparing for this night, it was finally here, and my heart was so full.
"Excuse me,"
I looked to my right, and smiled a bit more once I seen a lady approaching the check out desk I was standing behind. "Yes?"
"...My daughter wanted to try these on.....can you point me in the direction of the dressing rooms please?" I nodded.
"Right down this way, and then over on your right,"
She smiled a bit. "Thank you.....and when she's ready to check out, how does that work exactly? This is our first time......doing..... this," She said, motioning around us.
"Oh, no worries, the shelter should've provided you and your daughter with vouchers that have your first and last name on it, as well as your room information. All you have to do is turn in that voucher to me, or one of the check out clerks, so we can ring up each item that you would like to take with you tonight, and then the rest is on us, you'll leave with whatever you and your daughter pick out tonight,"
"Okay....and you're sure we don't need to pay for anything at all? I did bring some cash with me just in case we-"
"Oh no please," I said, cutting her off. "That's the point of all of us, everything is on us tonight, please, save your money, and just pick out things you like,"
She hesitated for a second before giving me a slight smile. "....Okay....thank you so much, everyone here is so kind,"
"It's our pleasure," I started. "Take one of these," I reached over pulling a basket from the pile of hand held baskets. "There's also a jewelry rack out back, we also have a perfume bar as well, so pick up anything that you like,"
She smiled at me again. "Thank you.....so much,"
"No problem,"
She took the basket from me before walking away into the crowd of other women that were here.
"How very sweet of you," I heard someone say behind me, causing me to turn around. "You must be Simone's daughter, Aliyah right?'
I nodded. "Yes, thats me, and you are?"
"Sandra," She started. "Sandra Wilden, I oversee the Sunshine Shelter, and a few more in this city, I've been speaking with your mother over the phone for the past month about this event, tonight was the night that we finally got to meet in person,"
Both of my brows shot up. "Oh, it's very nice to meet you, I really love that you and your team decided to do this......Im happy to be part of it,"
"Thank you, and I love that your mother let us use her boutique for this, not too many other boutiques in this area would've been on board with this, giving away clothes for free,"
I shrugged. "It's just clothes, and its such a good cause, I don't see why anyone would turn down the opportunity to help, no matter how much it costs,"
She smiled. "Like mother like daughter I see, your mother has mentioned quite a few times to me about how hands on you've been throughout this past month, helping get things together for tonight, I wanted to thank you personally for all your help, especially after finding out that you're not on the payroll for tonight," I fanned her off.
"You don't have to thank me, really, I volunteered to help, especially after finding out what and who tonight was about.......I can relate to a lot of these women in here.....I was them not too long ago, so needless to say, this has a special place in my heart,"
"I can see that," She started. "I can hear the passion in your voice and see the sincerity in your eyes.....do you by any chance do any community work here in the city?"
"Oh, um, actually, no I don't. This is my first time doing something like this, but I've grown really close to the work within the last month, that I would be interested,"
"Well that's exactly what I wanted to hear, there's some projects within the community that a few of my friends and colleagues need passionate people to help with, and I think you would be a great fit, are you free tomorrow morning? "I smiled. "Yes I am,"
"Great, are you able to meet with me again then? We can talk more about everything then,"
"Yeah, yeah, sure, um, where do you want to meet?"
She reached into her pocket, pulling out her business card.
"My office information is all here for you, meet me around 10am,"
I took the card from her, nodding. "Okay......will do,"
She shot me one last smile before walking away, leaving me alone.
I placed the card in my back pocket, turning back towards the desk, when something caught my eye at the entrance door.
I looked up, and automatically smiled once I seen daddy stepping inside holding two bouquets of roses.
I stepped from around the counter, making my way over to him.
"Daddy? I didn't know you were coming tonight,"
"I wasn't, but I decided to stop by and bring the two most important ladies in my life some flowers,"
He smiled, holding one of the bouquets out towards me.
"Thank you.......how are things with you and mama?" I took the bouquet from him, quickly smelling the roses.
"A bit better, she's finally saying full sentences to me, but she's still distant,"
I sighed. "It's been over a month since everything happened..... I've never seen mama go this long with being mad at you, you must've done something else I don't know about,"
He sighed. "..... There was more to the story about when I went to Atlanta, I never got to fully tell your mom everything because she wasn't talking to me, but she found out about it, so to make a long story short, yeah, I did something else,"
I slightly chuckled, shaking my head. "Well hopefully you learned your lesson from all of this......it's cute that you came all the way here for her though,"
"I came for both of y'all,"
"Uh huh," I started. "You came for mama, and I know it because you're wearing her favorite cologne,"
He slightly chuckled. "Whatever, where is she?"
"She had to take a phone call in her office, if she's not there, then she's helping some of the ladies in the back,"
"Okay..... thank you baby girl,"
"Uh huh," I smirked, watching him walk away into the crowd of ladies.
Marcus P.O.V.
"Third win of the season! Let's keep that winning streak goin y'all boys!! Congratulations!!"
I held my cup up in the air, as everyone around me cheered for our success these last 3 weeks.
"Aye Marcus," Trenton started. "How does it feel to be apart of a winning team finally,"
Some of the guys chuckled, as I threw back the rest of the alcohol that was in my cup.
"Whatever team I'm on is the winnin team, fuck whatchu heard,"
I tossed my cup to the side, as everybody ooh'd around me.
"I like that," he started again. "I fuck with the confidence, we could use more of that around here," He held his hand out, waiting for me to dap him up.
"Who's your friends?" He asked motioning to Will and Chris, as we dapped each other up.
"My brothers," I started. "They been here visitin me, so I brought them along tonight,"
"Oh Ight, the more the merrier then, but aye, all jokes aside, welcome to the team man,"
"Appreciate it," I gave him a slight head nod, as I maneuvered my way through the crowds of people that filled the suite we was in.
I stepped inside the kitchen, looking around for another cup, to make myself another drink, when I heard a voice behind me.
"Looking for one of these?"
I turned around to see a girl, holding onto a stack of plastic cups. "Yeah,"
She smiled, handing me one from the stack. "Sorry, I had to go steal these out of one the closets......I'm Jazlyn by the way....You play for the Raiders?"
"How you knew that?"
"It's a Raiders party," She said in a chuckle. "I'm a DJ at Club Onyx, you must be new because y'all come through my club a lot and I've never met you before, what's your name?"
I sighed. "Yeah, I just got traded, and I'm Marcus,"
"Oh so you're new to LA? Who'd you use to play for?"
"The Georgia Panthers,"
"Damn," she said raising both of her brows. "You came here all the way from Atlanta? Wow, that's a big move......you came all the way out here by yourself?"
"Somethin like that,"
She smirked. "So I guess you need somebody to show you around LA.......I know this city like the back of my hand, I can show you around if you like,"
I poured myself a quick shot, before taking it to the head. "Nah I'm straight, Excuse me,"
I sat my cup down, making my way around her.
I walked back into the living room, looking around for Will and Chris.
Once I found them, I made my way over to them, pulling my keys out of my pocket. "I'm out, y'all slidin with me or takin a Uber?"
"You leavin already?? We only been here for like a hour man," I shrugged. "I'm ready to go, is y'all slidin or not?"
Will sighed. "Yeah, I guess.....you sure you don't wanna stay a little bit longer man? This is me and Chris' first time here in LA, and its our first time at a party like this, I know you ain't tryna kill the vibe for us, we're only here for a few more days man,"
I sighed, knowing he was right. "Ight, another hour tops, but after that I'm leavin, if y'all wanna stay that's cool, you just gotta get a ride back to the Air BnB."
"Deal," Chris said, finishing off his drink. "But aye, who was shorty talkin to you just now? We saw her step to you,"
I sighed, shrugging again. "Ion know, some DJ chick....Jasmine, or Yasmine, or somethin like that,"
He smirked. "Nigga only been in LA for a little over a month, played three games total and already has groupies........she's a baddie though, kinda looks like Normani,"
"Nah I was thinkin more like Gabrielle Union," Will added. Chris nodded."I can see that, what you think Marcus?'
"She looks like a distraction," I said plainly. "I told y'all im not checkin for no broads right now, I did that before, and got caught up with Delilah, and I would be dumb as hell to repeat the same mistakes I made in Atlanta,"
Chris sucked his teeth. "Ight, well if she's free, I'm callin dibs then," He rubbed his hands together, before fixing his clothes up on his self.
"I'll be back,"
Will frowned. "And what about Tanaya? You forgot about her??" He fanned him off. "Man, what happens in LA, stays in LA you feel me? Now if you'll excuse me," He cleared his throat, before making his way across the room to where the girl and her friends were, causing me to sigh.
"He always doin something he ain't got no business doin," Will said in a chuckle. "I'm starting to think he's always gonna be this way, I thought after we graduated college he was gonna change, but nah, same ol Chris,"
I took a seat in one of the chairs beside him, silent.
"You good man?" He asked, looking over at me. "Your energy has been off all night, wassup witchu?"
"Nothin, I'm good, I'm just not in a party mood, that's all,"
He nodded slowly. "We've been here for 5 days, and you haven't been in a talking mood, going out mood, or a joking mood, what's that about? You been puttin a damper on this whole trip, I thought we was gon be out here livin it up since it was our first time visiting you,"
"My bad," I said lowly. "I just ain't been in the best mood since the season started. Between missing my baby girl, and this crazy new work out and practice schedule our coach has us on, it's just been a lot......and it's just harder when you new to a city and don't know nobody either,"
"I feel you, that's why we wanted to come out here, not only to have a good time, but give you some company, since I figured it's gotta be hella boring for you without people you can kick it with,"
"Yeah," I mumbled.
".......Do you think you would still be feeling this way if Aliyah was out here with you?"
I frowned a little, looking over at him, once I heard him say her name. "What?? What kind of question is that??"
He shrugged. "A fair one, considering how you was gonna ask her to come out here with you, I'm just tryna make sure that the reason your bored and lonely isnt because Aliyah isnt here with you, cause we been here for almost a week and you still in this mood,"
I folded my arms across my chest, leaning back into my seat. "Ion even know why you would bring her up, I told you I was leavin that situation behind me, I more so miss my daughter than anything,"
"Ight, I was just checkin, but look, cheer up Ight? Whatever you're going through, you need to shake it off, and re-focus yourself on the game, I know you probably do miss your kid, but remember why you decided to move here anyway, to provide for her, and make a real name for yourself, so do that, put your focus and energy into that man, and whenever you feeling lonely, you can always buy a plane tickets for me and Chris, you know we always down for a free trip," He smiled, causing me to chuckle.
"I hate both of y'all....but I hear you.........I appreciate the advice man," I reached over giving him dap.
"Anytime,"
"Enough about me," I said in a sigh. "How's everything been with you? Ain't Brittany about to give birth soon?"
He let out a nervous sigh, as he nodded his head. "Yeah, next month to be exact........I feel like her pregnancy went by hella fast, we already got the crib up and everything, we just on a countdown now,"
I smirked. "You're nervous, just chill, everything will be fine,"
"Yeah, like you wasn't nervous when Kenzie first got here, I think that's easier said than done,"
I nodded my head in agreement. "I was, and its way easier said than done, but that's because I'm me, and you're you, If anyone out of the three of us has that natural fatherly parental vibe, it definitely you, and If I found my rhythm, I know you will....for sure,"
"I hope so," he said in a sigh. "I'm not as nervous as Brittany is, but I think I'm more so nervous because ion know nothin about raising no girl, If it was a boy, I think it would be easier,"
"Tell me about it," I said in a chuckle. "I know a little somethin somethin from taking care of Bria when she was younger, but thats about it. And seeing the attitude that she has for no reason now that she's 16, lets me know I ain't ready for them teenage years at all,"
"Shit," He mumbled. "I ain't even thought that far, I'm too worried about changing diapers and heating bottles and shit, like ion know nothing about that, it's just the lack of experience with babies thats making me nervous, you know?"
"Nah I feel you 100%, but you shouldn't stress about that too much, before Kelia got discharged from the hospital, the nurse showed us both how to change her diapers at least, cause neither one of us knew how to do it, and as much as her mama gets on my nerves, I was actually glad she was there to show me a few things too, I know Brittanys parents is gonna be there, so just chill, I'm tellin you, you'll be fine,"
He rubbed his hands together nervously. "Man, I hope so, cause this baby shit really got me stressin.......I need another drink," I slightly chuckled, watching him stand up from his seat, making his way over to the table of bottles.
August P.O.V.
I took a deep breath, as I pushed open the door to Simone's office. I put a small smile on my face, as I seen her at her desk on the phone.
She looked up, and slightly sighed, as she held up one finger, letting me know not to interrupt her.
I closed the door behind myself, taking a seat in one of the chairs, across from her desk, waiting for her to finish.
"I would have to discuss this further with my business partner Rochelle, but I think it's a great idea, send me the contact information and I'll look into it,"
"Okay great, we'll speak soon....thanks......bye-bye,"
As soon as she hung up the phone, she took a deep breath, looking up at me. "What are you doing here?"
"Well damn," I started. "Is that how you greet your husband of 17 years?"
She stared at me blankly, unimpressed. "August.....what do you want? I'm busy tonight, and I'm not in the mood for your games,"
"I didn't come here to play games," I said with a frown. "I came all the way here to give my beautiful wife and daughter these," I sat the roses down on the corner of her desk, slightly smiling. "And to say congratulations on the event,"
"....Thank you, the flowers were a nice gesture, and I appreciate you coming to support Aliyah and I...........is that all?"
I frowned again. "Damn baby, im tryin here, I know you mad but goddamn, I feel like you don't even wanna be around me,"
"Because I don't," She started. "You think because you and Aliyah are on better terms, that means automatically you and I are supposed to be. When really, what I'm upset about now, has nothing to do with what happened with you and Li-Li, but everything to do with you lying to me,"
"I know," I said in a sigh. "But look, I also brought this for you too," I reached my hand into the inside of my jacket pocket, pulling out a envelope, sitting it in front of her.
"What is that?"
"Open it and find out,"
She hesitated for a second, before picking up the envelope, opening it up, pulling out the stack of money that was inside.
"That's everything I took out of our account, obviously I'm gonna deposit it, but I wanted to bring it to you so you could see it, and count it if you dont believe me,"
She exhaled sharply, dropping the money on her desk. "You dont get it, do you??"
"I don't care about the money that you took out, it's just as much yours as it is mines, what I care about is that you went behind my back, and took out a large amount of money to give to some young hoe you met in Atlanta, and you weren't ever planning on telling me about it, because our accountant assumed I already knew,"
I sighed again. "I told you that I'm sorry, I promise you I'll never do anything like that again, but I needed to give her something, she wasn't gonna tell me anything without money baby, you know that. And to make you feel a little better, all the money I took out wasn't given to her, I had to pay some other people to help me out with getting me to her, and finding out certain things about her to use to our advantage, it was the only way I was gonna figure out who leaked Li's tape,"
"You shouldn't have been doing none of that, but ima let that go, since I'm not trying to backtrack, but the point still remains that you went behind my back and did all of this, and lied about it all. Even after the fact that everything came out about you being in Atlanta, you never, not once decided to tell me about the money that was missing from our account, I don't know who you think you married, but I'm not stupid August, you should know this by now,"
"And I dont think you are," I started again. "You were already pissed at me for what happened with Aliyah, it just wasn't the right time to tell you, I was gonna wait until things calmed down and you were at least talkin to me again before I told you.......but the accountant beat me to it," I said, mumbling the last part.
"I know I fucked up, but I'm tryin to make it right, you've been givin me the cold shoulder for over a month now......I miss you, I'm lonely.......and horny,"
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Well you should've thought about all that before you went behind my back and did what you did, you better become real acquainted with your hands again, cause I'm not on the menu, and you're still sleeping in the guest room,"
"Come on ma," I said, standing up from my seat. "I'm sorry, what do you need me to do? I'll do anything to get us back on the right track,"
"I don't know," She said in a sigh. "And I can't think about that right now, I need to focus on this event, we can talk more about it at home,"
"Well let's go home right now,"
She frowned. "Did you just not hear me?? This is my event, I can't leave in the middle of it, I've spent a whole month planning this, and im not leaving because you wanna talk, you're gonna have to wait,"
"Ight fine. Take a drive with me real quick, I'll have you back in twenty minutes, Aliyah and the other ladies here can handle things for that long.....just please come with me,"
She looked me up and down for a few seconds, as if she was deciding on what to do next.
"Fine," She said lowly. "Twenty minutes though August, I'm not playing,"
A big smile spread across my face. "I gotchu, come on," I walked behind her desk, pulling her seat out for her, letting her stand up.
She reached out for her purse, but I stopped her. "Leave it, no distractions, just you and me," I reached into my pocket,before pulling out my phone, sitting it on her desk.
"Let's just go,"
I smiled a bit more, before pulling her door open, letting her walk out first. I rubbed my hands together, stepping out of her office.
****************
THE NEXT DAY
Aliyah P.O.V.
"I'm back, and I brought breakfast!" I smiled a little to myself, as I stepped through the front door, carefully holding onto the containers of drinks and bag of IHOP I brought back home.
I stepped out of my shoes, as I tried my best to balance everything, as I made my way into the kitchen.
"Oh," I said with a slight frown. "Good Morning Daddy, I thought I was gonna see mama in here.....what you doing? Please dont tell me you're trying to cook again,"
He chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee. "You got jokes I see, but I'm just making your mama a cup of coffee before I wake her up,"
I frowned, sitting everything down on one of the empty countertops. "She's not up yet? It's like 11:30, shes' usually up before all of us......is she feeling okay?"
"She's fine, she just slept in this mornin'" My frown deepened. "Well that's weird, mama never sleeps in unless she's not feeling good, or it's her birthday, or Mother's Day or something like that.........what did y'all do last night? Because she didn't come back to the event."
He chuckled again. "I know......ion think you actually wanna know what we did last night."
I scrunched up my face in disgust. "Ew, please, I don't wanna think about that," He laughed. "My bad baby girl, but where you been this morning? I ain't hear you leave,"
I smiled. "I had a meeting with the manager of Sunshine Shelter, you know the Women's shelter mama partnered with for the event last night, we met there, and started to talk, and she asked me to meet with her today about some projects she needs help with within the community,"
Both of his brows raised. "Oh really? How did that go?"
"Good, I'm meeting with a few more of her colleagues at the end of the week to see where I can lend a helping hand, so I'm excited.....with all the work we've been doing this past month, it had me thinking, and I have this idea that I want to pass on to Sandra the manager, but I'm not sure,"
"Why not?"
"I haven't really figured out how to actually execute it.......if its execute-able,"
He chuckled. "Well what is it? I'm curious to know what it is,"
I paused for a second. "...So, what I learned about the women's shelter is that most women are there for a certain period of time, as like a transitional period. Most shelters offer like a 6 week period for the women to stay and get themselves together, but just the thought of that doesn't sound realistic to me,"
"I know my situation is way different, but if I didn't have you and mama, there was no way I would've been ready to step back into real life a month and two weeks after what happened to me. So that had me thinking, I feel like there should be a place out there for these women to be able to stay atleast a year, providing them with the resources they'll need to eventually be able to stand on their own again."
"Maybe even have this place have like a onsite therapist for them to focus on their mental healing. I also was thinking since a lot of these women and their children share spaces in the shelter, it would be nice for everyone to have their individual spaces, like individual apartments to let them have more privacy, and really let them feel like their at home.....at peace,"
Daddy nodded his head as if he was impressed. "Wow........and you came up with that all on your own?"
"Yeah," I said lowly. "You're the first person I've told it to." He smiled. "Well I'm impressed baby girl, I think that's a damn good idea, I know your mama is gonna love it too. And you dont have to know the whole entire plan just yet, thats why you consult with other people, and get help along the way,"
"So in other words, talk to Sandra,"
He chuckled. "Yeah, or me or your mama can help you out, I know alot of people, and those people know people, so I'm sure I can get you some help,"
I shook my head. "Thank you, but no thank you daddy, I appreciate it, but this is something I kinda wanna do on my own, without any help from you or mama's connects, it's about time I put this degree to use,"
"Ight, I respect that, but if you do need anything, you know to ask us.....that's a big project Li,"
"I know," I said, nodding my head. "I may need some help in the financial department, but you know,"
He laughed. "I got you baby.....always,"
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Aliyah in the multimedia
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