I was sat next to the window, staring out onto the street below. It was about 7.30am and I had been awake for about ten minutes.
I had woken up to loads of tweets and instagram requests from random people. It seemed like the war with Mercedes was spreading quicker than I had anticipated.
The picture I had put up of her was all over social media, and everyone wanted to know what was going on. Of course it seemed to everyone that the video she had leaked of her and Kel was recent, but I knew better, and me posting the picture was my revenge.
I had already received a couple of messages from Kyle, telling me I needed to get my priorities straight and that I was becoming a bad mother. How dare he?! I sat up with Kari every night til she slept, I knew what she wanted to eat when she was sad, I put her before everything in my life, I knew I was a good mother and I didn't want or need his validation. He was a weekend dad and now he had moved to a whole other country, not considering how his daughter might be affected. He had no idea at all what it takes to really be a good mother, I had to be strong for the both of us.
I understood where he was coming from, but he needed to tone it down, shut the fuck up and take a seat. Kyle knew better, we both knew that.
Kel was in the shower, I knew he hadn't slept much. He had a lot on his mind; his family were not really speaking to him, our relationship still wasn't on the best of terms and now he feared losing the career he had worked so hard for. I went downstairs and was going to make him breakfast but then I realised there were still no pots or pans.
I sighed and went back upstairs, changing into tracksuit hottoms and a black t-shirt. Just as I put my clothes on, Kel appeared.
"Where are you off to?" He said, drying himself off
"To get us some breakfast and get some food in this house." I grabbed my bank card off of the dresser and put my car keys in my pocket.
"Don't be long, Manny and Cam will probably be here soon." We kissed quickly and then I left.
***
Mercedes had been sending out a steady strenam of tweets about me, calling me fake and saying I was a gold digger and then saying I had saggy breasts and a "worm out" vagina.
This bitch was really tryna take the piss, I wish I had fucked her ass up when I had the chance.
I replied to her tweet: 'lol my vagina is so worn out yet the guy you wanted for his fame and money kept coming back to get it every chance that he couldt? Bitch, you're ignorant AF!'
Then I sent out another: 'as for these saggy breasts you speak of, hoe don't ever get it twisted, my shit is tighter and firmer than yours and you ain't even had no baby! #winning .. Come find me in the master bedroom if you're really 'bout that life. Stay in ya motherfuckin lane bitch.'
I put my phone down and continued drivimg back to the house.
This beef seemed like it was never gonna end, and I didn't even want it to come across like we were fighting over Kelvin, coz I sure wasn't. This tramp hoe was tryna clown me and disrespect me, but she knew if she ever saw me face to face she woukd run.
When I got back, Kel, Mackie and Taylor were sat at the kitchen table, on Taylor's laptop. They were all crcking up at something and when I walked in they began laughing even more.
"Oh shit, the keyboard warrior is back!" Mackie said, laughimg
I laughed then spoke,
"Remove the keyboard and I'll still be that warrior."
I started unpacking the shopping bags and bags of food.
"I can't believe the shit she's chatting, what a fucking loser! She has nothing better to do than try and stir the pot..." Taylor began and was about to continue until Kel interrupted her.
"She's just bitter, that's all. What food did you get?" He spoke, coming over and looking at what I had laid on the breakfast bar.
The doorbell rang before I could say anything, so as I was the closest to the door, I went to open it.
It was Manny, Kel's PR agent and Cameron, his manager. I led them into the kitchen and continued unpacking the shopping.
"So, what's our plan of action? You've really fucked up here, Kelvin. It's gonna take a lot to fix this." Manny said, opening a folder he had put on the countertop,
"I've been speaking to label heads for the last couple of days, they ain't gonna drop you but this next album needs to be some real fire or Trigga's gonna cut you off the roster." Cameron said, looking stressed out.
"I'm already working on it, I'ma deliver, trust me." Kel said with a mouth full of scrambled egg.
"He wants to see you when you land in NYC on Friday morning, before you go down to Miami for that first show-" Cam spoke
"Okay, enough music talk. If his public image is ruined, no-one's even gonna be buying this new album so we need to focus on fixing that first." Manny spoke then turned to me. "And you, end this Twitter beef now. We need to preserve his image and make him look like a nice, wholesome guy. Not a guy who's girlfriend is trading insults with his ex online."
He turned back to Kel
"Which leads me onto my next topic, this sex tape she put up.... What do you have to say about that?"
Kel shrugged and continued eating.
"She's bitter and jealous, not much more to it."
I didn't hear Manny's response coz I went upstairs to get dressed for the press conference.
When I went back downstairs, dressed in one of my church outfits, Manny said - "now that's more like it. You look more like a respectable mother, not some internet bully."
I rolled my eyes and poured myself some orange juice.
About half an hour later, we all left the house and drove to the studio where the conference was being held.
As I sat in the front row with Taylor and Mackie, my phone began ringing. It was Francesca, Kel's sister.
"Hello"
"Are you at the press conference?" She asked, I could hear that she was outside.
"Yeah, it hasn't started yet. What's up? Did you manage to convince your parents to come over?" I asked
"Yeah but my mum is still really mad at him. So you and I will have to play the peace maker's."
One of the producers waved to say filming was about to start so I had to get off the phone.
"Yeah, that's fine. But Fran, the filming is about to start so I will have to call you back."
We quickly came off of the phone and the lights in the studio dimmed a little.
Manny, Cam and Kel were sat behind a table on the stage waiting for their cues.
Manny stood up and began speaking.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Emmanuel Hughes, Publicist and PR representative for Kelvin Sekyere-Pratt, known by his stage name of 'Furie.' Today we wish to answer a number of questions presented to us by members of the press. We will begin with Thomas Ferguson of Channel 4 News." He spoke, and pointed to the guy he spoke of.
The man stood up
"i think the one thing we are all wondering is whether or not you are addicted to cocaine, Furie?" He said, waiting for Kel's response.
Kel had a nervous look on his face and looked over at Manny who made a little gesture.
"No, I am not addicted to cocaine, or any other drugs, I just made some bad choices in a small space of time."
"We've all heard the tales of the rock star style partying you are known to engage in, but you claim to not be addicted to any substances?"
Kel shook his head.
"Just becuase I enjoy the odd party now and then, as do most men my age, it doesn't mean I'm addicted to anything."
"What about this video that has surfaced of you and this mystery girl?"
"That video is old, I might have been 17 when that was filmed. The girl in the video is an ex-girlfriend, trying to get revenge on me for ending our affair and refusing to give her money. I've made a lot of bad decisions but I refuse to literally pay for them, I'd rather be embarassed than pay someone just to keep them quiet."
"No further questions from Channel 4, we will go to Jeremy from EBT News." Manny interrupted
This was getting really intense.
"Did you not think of the potential repercussions that would come from you engaging in hard drug use in a public place? A place with CCTV cameras everyhere, might I add."
"At the time, I wasn't thinking. It was stupid of me to even do the druge, let alone in a public place."
The questions continued for about twenty more minutes until Manny shut it down.
"Any closing remarks from you, Furie?" One of the journalists asked
"Yeah. I just want to apologise to my family, especially my parents, my siblings and my girlfrind, for both embarrassing them and disappointing them. I also wanna apologise to my fans, especially the young ones who might look up to me, and the parents who have allowed their kids to listen to my music and possibly bought my music for them, I apolgoise for letting myself slip so badly. And lastly to my team, who have been like family to me for the last few years. Thank you all for your love and support and I hope each and every one of you will continue to be there."
As we left the studio, there was paparazzi and journalists everywhere, bombarding us with questions. It was so annoying, I wanted to do a Kanye and start spazzing out but I couldn't.
***
Mercedes seemed to have finally accepted defeat, she had stopped tweeting about me so I focused my attention on shopping for some new clothes for Kari.
We were leaving in a couple of days so I also needed to start packing.
Kel and Mackie had been at the studio since we had left the conference so it was just me in the house as Taylor was at her parents' house.
After I finished shopping for Kari, I decided to start shopping for the house as Kel had requested. He had left his card on the side table so I went on the Ikea website and ordered some furniture, kitchen things and some storage boxes.
I went downstairs and cleared up the kitchen a little and considered making dinner but there was nothing to cook and nothing to cook in so I had no choice but to order a takeaway.
By the time the guys got back from the studio, I was asleep so I didn't see Kel til the next morning,
His parents and Fran were supposed to come over for dinner that night so we went and bought some food, plastic plates and cutlery, and some pots to cook the food in.
Fran arrived a little early and helped me finish cooking.
"My dad is permanently in a bad mood, so prepare yourself... Where's that asswipe?" She said as she chopped up some tomatoes.
"Mackie? I think he's with Taylor somewhere, no idea." I said, shrugging
She rolled her eyes
"Well he better stay away, my mum does not wanna see him."
The doorbell rang before I could respond, and Kel got up to open it. He stood in the hallway with whoever was at the door, speaking for a minute or so then they walked into the kitchen.
It was his parents
They walked in queitly and sat at the breakfast bar.
"Hello Ciara." His mum spoke but his dad sat there quietly, like he was observing what we were doing.
I smiled and said hello to both of them and continued cooking.
It was so awkward in the room.
"Dad, did you watch the conference?" Fran asked, trying to break the ice.
She took a bottle of water out of the fridge and poured everyone some from it.
Frank, their dad, shook his head and sipped the water.
"I was at work, you know I was."
I knew his parents had wanted him to be a doctor, like his dad but he had chosen to pursue his music career once he had graduated from university, which they weren't too pleased with. Obviously they were happy for his success but they wanted a more secure life for him.
"Okay, well in that case, Kel has something he wants to say to you both." Francesca said, pushing him towards the breakfast bar.
I kept out of their conversation, I didn't want to influence them or make anything worse. I just hoped they would work it out.
As we ate dinner, the tension seemed to have lessened a little. His dad just seemed to have high expectations for his children, which wasn't a bad thing but maybe he put too much pressure on them.
I knew his dad was a Muslim but. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that the stereotypes were true and even if they were, Kel was a male so I doubted that was why his dad was so hard on him.
Fran had said their mum was pissed but she didn't even seem mad, she seemed normal.
***
We landed in. New York early on the Friday morning and were meant to take a jet down to Miami but Kel had to go and meet Trigga, his label head. So the rest of us waent over to the other airport to wait for the label's jet to take us to Miami while Kel, Mackie and Cam went to meet Trigga at his office.
I had only met him a few times but I knew Trigga was very tough on his artists. His wife Ke'Yoshia was a big pop/r&b singer and the two of them were like the biggest hip-hop power couple.
We sat in the airport for about two hours and then the guys finally appeared. As we walked through the airport to board the jet, Kel told me what had been said to him.
"He just said I need to be on my best behaviour, no hard partying. They're having a big party in Vegas before I do my shows so he wants me and you to pass through. Who knows, maybe you could meet some new clients." He said, as I passed him his passport.
"Yeah, who knows," I said, hoping all the drama was over.
He was performing at a beach festival the next afternoon so once we oanded in Miami we all headed to the hotel before he had to go to a rehearsal.
Taylor was now about three months pregnant and I knew she wasn't feeling too great so I tried to stick by her side and make sure she was okay.
On the morning of the festival, she was theowing up a lot so I decided to stay in with her. Eventually, she began feeling better and we got dressed and got a car down to the beach.
The smell of barbecue was in the air, amd there was huge crowds of people walking around in beachwear and drinking out of red and blue solo cups.
A security guard led us over to the trailer Kel was in and I walked in behind Taylor.
She dropped the bottle of water she was holding and it burst when it hit the ground. I hadn't fully stepped in yet so I was confused, I ran in behind her and was shocked by what I saw.
There was a naked girl laying on the sofa, looking like she had just finished having sex. There was no-one in the trailer except her, then the sound of the toilet flushing came from the small bathroom.
Mackie walked out of the bathroom, pulling up his three-quarter length shorts and was surprised when he saw us standing there,
"Yo Mack, Taylor and Ciara are-" Kel came rushing into the trailer behind us and was surprised to see us standing there.
I looked at Taylor and saw tears in her eyes,
The girl was laying there so casually, all nonchalant, like nothing was going on.
"Did you just fuck her?" Taylor said, her face was red and tears were spilling out of her eyes. I tried to pull her out of the room, but she wouldn't budge.
Mackie looked away and rolled his eyes
"Stop crying man" he said, looking pissed off.
"You fucking promised me, you said you would stop!" She screamed and then flew at him, punching and kicking him.
Kel and I tried to pull her off but she was trying to hurt Mackie for real.
The girl got up off the sofa, and got in between the two of them.
"Bitch, he don't want you!" She said, in an American accent,
Taylor stopped trying to hurt Mackie and she punched the girl in her face. The girl held her lip which was now bleeding.
She stood frozen for a moment and then suddenly threw Taylor into the wall and knee'd her in her stomach, really hard.
I stepped forward and pulled the girl away.
"She's pregnant, you dumb bitch!" I said, punching her in the face, too. She fell back onto the sofa and didn't move.
She was breathing really heavily and began laughing.
"Well, not anymore." She said, pointing at Taylor, she was curled up on the ground, holding her stomach. There was a pool of blood on rhe ground underneath her, and the crotch of her shorts were stained dark red.
"Oh shit!" Mackie ran over to Taylor who pushed him away, and tried to sit up but screamed out in pain.
"Call an ambulance," Mackie said, as someone knocked on the door, telling Kel he had to be on stage in five minutes.
The other girl had gotten dressed and was about to leave.
"Call me," She said, passing Mackie a piece of paper. He scrunched it up and dropped it on the ground.
"I've gotta go, they're calling for me. I'll get them to send a medic in here." Kel said, giving me his phone to call the ambulance.
There was so much blood, it was soaking into the cream coloured rug and looked horrible.
I dialled 911 just as a medic came in.
They took her into the ambulance and as she walked out slowly, a trail of blood was left behind her. I followed her into the ambulance and we were driven to the nearby hospital where she was examined.
About an hour or two later, Kel and Mackie arrived and we all sat there, waiting to find out what was happening.
"You've had a baby, that amount of blood... Is there any way our baby could survive?" Mackie asked me, he looked so upset
I didn't know what to say, I wasn't exactly an expert in these things.
"It's probably unlikely, but I can't say for sure." I said, trying to sound optimistic.
About twenty minutes later, Taylor appeared. Sge was walking very slowly with her head hanging down. She had a small box in her hand, which I guessed was some pain pills.
She stopped in front of Mackie and looked at him. Her eyes were red and full of hate.
"I've had a miscarriage. I hope you're fucking happy. I've gotta take these fucking tablets so my baby will come out and be flushed away like a piece of shit!" She screamed at him, and eveyone in the hospital waiting room was looking at our group.
I pulled her away and we stood outside of the hospital, as she cried. I hugged her, trying to comfort her but nothing was going to make her feel any better.
"It'll be okay, don't worry. Everything will work itself out," I said, rubbing her back
"I hate him! I hate him so much!" She said, crying hard.
The Sprinter van pulled up next to us, and we got in. Neither of us said a word, I just sat holding her hand as she cried, quietly.
Kel and Mackie were sat in the front with the driver, the car was eerily silent. All that could be heard was Taylor crying and sniffing.
We got back to the hotel and she went straight to the room she was sharing with Mackie and locked him out.
I tried to get in but she wouldn't open the door.
I went inti me and Kel's room and kaid down, praying Taylor would be okay.