~Bethany~
Nearly a week had passed since the incident at August's house when someone apparently broke in.
Well it wasn't technically a break in since they somehow used a key.
Anyway, August hadn't spent much time away from Angel and I, as well as Nathan.
We had all been on edge and August and I had definitely been butting heads as a result.
"Ready?"
I glanced up at August then refocused on tying my shoes before replying, "Yep."
"So listen," He said after a moment of silence. "I wanna apologize for being rude the past few days. I know we're all stressed just tryna stay safe, so I'm sorry."
I gave a brief petty nod. I understood where he was coming from so I'd already forgiven him, but I didn't feel the need to give him that pleasure yet.
I did, however, have a question for him.
"What are we gonna do?"
"I already told you," He started; I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, "You break up with Nate, we do our thing, Angel has both parents. Easy."
"Boy. First of all, shut up." I rolled my eyes. "Second, I'm being serious. I meant this whole mess of a situation we're in. It's not just about you and I anymore."
"I'm aware. It's complicated, but just know I'm working on it, aight? I don't want you to worry about it."
I scoffed.
"You expect me to sit and just wait for the men to work it out when the majority of this shit is tied to me?"
"Let me rephrase: I don't want you stressed about it. That's not to say I'm gonna hide anything or keep you out of the loop. My main focus is keeping all my girls safe. And I mean, yeah Nate too I guess, but y'all are always the priority. SO if any shit goes left again to where I had to be separated from y'all, whether that be prison or six feet under..." He paused. "Shit like that upsets me to think about. I'm gonna do everything to avoid that. Trust me."
"It upsets me too August but hell. There's only so much power and control we actually have."
"I know, I know." He nodded sadly, before clearing his throat. "We should go."
He reached forward and helped me put on Ang's other shoe before picking her up, to which she started laughing immediately.
After a quick run to the store with two grown men damn near attached to my hip, we returned to the hotel room.
While we were sitting down eating dinner, Nate's phone rang and he excused himself before disappearing through the attached hotel door into our room.
"Ma."
"Yeah baby?"
Angel shook her sippy cup at me.
I opened the top of her sippy cup and went to pour some bottled water into it when she started whining.
"You already had a whole cup of juice Angel, cut it out." I scolded her, to which her whines grew in volume.
"No ma'am, cut it out like your mama said." August said. "Here."
He filled about half of the cup with some more juice and moved his hand toward me; I filled the rest of the cup with water and he put the top back on before handing it to her.
She huffed but tilted it towards herself to drink it.
"I was thinking, I wanna get full custody of Serena. After all this shit dies down. Sylvia done lost her damn mind."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. I have no doubt she's unfit." I cleared my throat. "I mean that's just my biased opinion but you know."
He chuckled, "I mentioned it cause I was looking for your biased opinion. It was just a kinda thought though, like I haven't started any legal shit yet. But it's definitely on my to-do list."
"Good to know." I took a bite of my burger.
"What about you? Any future plans, outside of Angel and this craziness we're in now. If you mention anything about Nate, I will scream."
I laughed.
"Honestly, I really do enjoy modeling. It pays the bills, and I really have had fun with it. But I don't see it as a long term forever thing."
"So, what's the plan then? Back in the day you wanted to be in the medical field, yeah?"
"A nurse, yes." I nodded. "I'm surprised you remembered that."
"I do. You'd be surprised." He stares at me for a bit. "You'd be a great nurse. Hell you can take care of me now, I'm feeling a little sick.
He gave a fake weak cough and rested the back of his hand on his forehead dramatically.
I giggled, and Nate returned to sit beside me.
We finished our meal before Nate and I went to our room: Angel had fallen asleep laying on her daddy so we let her be.
I started my shower water running before wrapping my hair and putting on my sleep cap.
The moment I bent over to pull my underwear down, the door opened and I heard a whistle.
I winked at Nate before moving towards the shower.
"Mind if I join you?" He asked, and I nodded.
It took him all of ten seconds to strip out of his clothes.
I grinned at him over my shoulder as he stepped in behind me.
.....
That night, Nathan and I laid in bed together, him kissing my neck softly.
He leaned back to stare at me.
"What you starin at me for sir?"
"Girl you know you fine, hush." I giggled as he rained down more kisses.
"But on a serious note, I've just been thinking," He started. "With all this, it makes me wanna be even closer to y'all. When we get back to Atlanta, I'd love to be around more, to be able to help out more however I can."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"Like...like you wanna move in together?" I questioned.
"Well, no not really. I don't think we're ready for that yet. I more so just meant-like, maybe I start coming around more, you know? As much as you want." He rubbed his hand over his head. "I'm overstepping aren't I?"
I laughed softly.
Truthfully, Nathan and I had been spending a lot of time together the past few months.
Really, I had been considering the idea myself of him being around more.
"Fine. I suppose I could clear out a drawer for you or something."
"Bet." He grinned and pulled me in tighter for more kisses.
~August~
I placed a sleeping Angel down in the bed beside me.
A random thought popped in my head and I grabbed my phone.
"Hello?" She answered after the fourth ring.
"Give me his number."
"Excuse me? Who-"
"Terrence. Give me his number. I know you got it."
My phone dinged as she shared his contact.
"August please don't do anything crazy okay? I owe him money, and-and he threatened to-"
"Sylvia, save it." I hung up and clicked on the contact info I was just sent.
"Yo."
"Stay the fuck away from her." I said immediately.
He paused.
"Who the fuck is this?" He questioned.
"It's Yung nigga. Ask bout me. And you fasho gone know me when you staring down my barrel bitch."
He chuckled, "You young ass niggas man, no respect for ya elders. What you don't know is you got no claim to what you tryna defend lil nigga. That's been mine before she even met you. Best be ready to die bout it."
"Fuck you." I spit. "That mouth real reckless. I'll fix that soon ya heard me."
"If you know what's good for y-"
"If you know what's good for you, leave her the fuck alone. Ion just do the phone shit, I'm bout it. Trust."
I hung up before his dumb ass could respond.
A gentle knock sounded on my door.
I stood and looked through the peephole.
I opened the door to Bethany standing in the hall.
"Everything okay?" She asked, looking me in the eye.
"Yes ma'am." I stated, opening the door wider so she could come in the room.
"It's late. I could uh-hear you yelling from our room. What's going on?"
I sighed, hesitated on telling her.
"I just got a little upset on the phone. It's fine, go back to bed."
She stared at me.
"Do I need to take Angel?"
"Nah nah, I'm good. Plus she's sleeping too good." I glanced at my baby on the bed, then looked back at Bethany. "How you doing?"
She shrugged.
"Managing. It's still an adjustment, being back you know? Then, with all the extra drama being stirred back up with my uncle-" She sighed. "It's a lot, but I have you, Angel, and Nathan getting me through it so, I'll be alright."
"You know I'm here if you need to talk about anything right? I know you got Nate but I'd like to think I understand you a lil better when it comes to this shit."
"Boy," She smirked. "Of course you'd say that. And I appreciate that. Same goes for you, you can always here for you August."
I smiled.
"Of course, preciate you. You know I'm tough, and I'm good, but I'll let you know otherwise."
She nodded, then tilted her head like she was studying me.
I avoided her gaze and quickly changed the subject.
"It's late.I don't want Nate ass over here looking for you. Go get some rest mama." I opened the door for her.
"Okay, well goodnight." She turned toward the door, then reached her hand out to me. "We'll talk in the morning."
"Goodnight Bethany." I chuckled and planted a kiss on her hand.
She smiled softly at me before stepping out and making her way back to her own hotel room.
I watched from my doorway to make sure the door shut behind her before closing my own door and climbing back into bed with Angel to try and catch a couple hours of sleep.