The last chapter was not part of the four updates. That starts with chapter. Next update tomorrow?
Fact about this story: The original ending of this book was supposed to be 'I Ride For You'. They were both gonna die, but I couldn't do it, so I changed it. And now here we are.
Thank you so much for all the reads and comments! I hope you enjoy the updates!
"Prehia, Niya, lets go!" I yell upstairs, holding Az and Altereak's lunch boxes.
"Coming mommy!" They tell back. Today is their first day of middle school. The twins and Arabella are about to turn two, Santo is twenty seven, I'm about to be twenty six. Yes, we are old.
"Morning, babe." Santo pecks my lips, wrapping his arms around me.
"Morning." I smile.
He gives me a slower kiss, only pulling away when one of the kids groan.
"Morning, buddy." He gives CJ a fist bump.
"Morning, dad. Morning, mommy." He replies. He hugs me quickly, then goes to the table to eat his food. He was feeling sick, so he won't be going to school today. He had a slight fever.
"I'm gonna take the girls to school, I should be home in time to make it to your interview with you and CJ." I tell my husband. I had already gotten the little ones to school. The twins and Arabella were upstairs sleeping.
"Okay, I'll make sure we're all ready by the time you get back." He promises.
I rush to get the girls to school on time, then rush back home.
Then I get home and we all get in Santo's truck. The twins and Arabella in the backseat in their carseats, Santo, CJ and I in the front seat.
"Did you take medicine?" I ask CJ, feeling his forehead.
"Yes, mommy." He nods.
"Are you feeling any better?" I ask.
"Kinda." He nods.
"You're still warm, do you need the blanket?" I ask, already getting it from my bag and covering him up.
"Thank you, mommy." He smiles.
"You're welcome sweetie." I smile back.
I cut on some music, keeping it quietly playing while CJ talks to Santo. "Are you coming to my game in Friday?" He asks Santo.
"You know I am." Santo nods. He never misses anything for the kids.
"Okay."
----
"Good morning everyone, today we have a special guest. The one and only Santo August and his lovely wife, Yn August."
"What's up?" Santo speaks into the mic.
"Good morning." I smile.
"I see you guys brought along some little ones. Which ones are they? I can't tell CJ and Trey apart." The female hosts laughs.
"CJ, the twins and Arabella." Santo answers.
"Ah. CJ looks a little sick."
"I wouldn't send my baby to school sick. He can sleep while he's here." I look over at CJ, who is on the chair, sleeping. He was bundled up in the cover.
"Oh." The second male host says.
"Well, tell us about these rumors. You know you gotta tell us first." The first host says.
"I was not throwing shade at anyone. Everyone I speak to or have spoken to knows exactly how I feel about them." Santo says. "I'll call names, I'm not with the indirect stuff."
"So, who was it meant for?"
"Our so called 'family'." He tells them.
"Gina and them?"
"No, we're cool. It was meant for Ray, Jacob and all them." Santo answers.
"What happened?"
"They got mad because my mom's water broke while we were on tour, that's why I was kicked off of it. They been bitter since then." Santo answers.
I roll my eyes, "And all the stuff they post on social media about us, we're not gonna stoop to their level, but we aren't gonna let people believe lies."
"So, when they said y'all were ungrateful and never helped them, that was a lie too right, because I really don't want to believe it."
"That was the biggest lie they could tell. We all pitched in to get out of Compton, so that wasn't just us. But I've shared everything I've earned with them. We moved to a bigger, better house, they came with us. I made two million and some from my album, we paid to get Ray a new car, we paid Lolo's mom's rent, we paid for Jacob to get a paternity test for his daughter, we paid for the house they're living in now. I brought them on every tour I had so they wouldn't be left out. It was a vacation for all of them. None of them were working when we lived together, Yn and I paid all the bills. But yeah, we're selfish and ungrateful, most definitely." He is sarcastic at the end.
"Mm." The female host shakes her head. "Is this all of them or just some of them?"
"Everyone except for Wayne, Nicki, Chris and Rihanna. I totally understand why I was kicked off of tour, we would have held up the show for about four or five days. It just wasn't the right time for us to be touring, we have no problem with them. But the ones that were supposed to be our family, our friends from the start, turn out to be the fakest people this world has ever seen."
"And it's not all of them. Gavonni is still cool with us, so is Nique, but that's pretty much the only two that still just hang out with me and not ask for money." I add.
"Hm." The first host hums, shaking his head.
"There's always gonna be those few people that try to bring you down." The second adds.
"But I mean, at the end of the day, I'm still making money. I still got my family and my fans, so really, their opinions don't matter." Santo shrugs. "No matter what they say, ain't none of the important stuff changing."
"You think you guys can work it out?" The female host asks.
"It's been two years, and they're still bitter, so probably not anytime soon."
"Now, the next rumor, is Yn pregnant?" The first host switches the topic.
"Not yet." Santo answer, before I could speak.
"Yet?" They all ask.
"We're working on that." He laughs.
"You're gonna have another kid?" The female host asks me.
"Maybe." I shrug. "If God wants us to have another baby then we will, if he doesn't, then it wasn't meant to be."
"What most people don't realize is, we're only twenty seven and twenty-five. She's only been pregnant," He stops and looks up at the ceiling, counting on his fingers. "Triplets, Az, Twins." He looks forward again, speaking into the mic. "Three times." He finishes.
"Four." I correct.
"Right, four." He nods.
I noticed the host have confusion written all over their faces, and I decide to clarify. "I was pregnant once in between the triplets and Az. I had a miscarriage."
"Oh, I'm sorry." The female host frowns.
"It's okay, it was a long time ago."
"I know it's painful though." She keeps her frown.
"It is, but you learn to cope with it. I still love and miss our baby, so does Santo. But he or she is up in Heaven looking after his or her's brothers and sisters." I smile.
"That's a positive way to think of it." She smiles a little.
"It is, and it really does help."
Santo leans over and kisses my cheek, squeezing my hand but remaining silent.
"Awe."
"So, y'all have been together for what? Ten years."
"Nine years, gonna be ten in July of next year." Santo answers.
"But just together in general, going on eleven years." I add.
"That's a long time. Do you guys wish you had some anything different?" The first host asks.
I answer, "No."
At the same time, Santo answers, "Yes."
I look at him with my eyebrow raised. "I wish I wouldn't have cheated on you that one time. You've been faithful to me the while relationship, but because of one very big, drunken mistake, I can't say the same thing." Santo frowns.
"It's okay. We've moved past it." I assure him.
"I know, I still regret it. It makes me sad." He admits.
"Why?"
"Cause I cheated on you. But this isn't a conversation to be having on a radio show, so moving on."
"Right, I've heard that you'll be starting your world tour this summer." The second host says.
"Yeah. I'll have three shows in every state. They will be in different cities so that no one has to drive super far or fly. I'll be in every state in the North and South America, Africa, which I will donate half of the earnings to a few charities. It'll at least be about half a million. Then all of Europe, every where except for Antarctic and dangerous places because the kids and Yn will be with me." He answers.
"And when can we expect the album?"
"Two months and three days, but you can preorder it now." Santo says.
"You heard him." The first host says. "We'll be back in a couple minutes so don't change the station. We'll be answering a few questions so give us a call or tweet them." He gives a number.
On break, CJ wakes up and walks over to me, laying his head on my shoulder. "I'm still cold." He coughs.
"You can't take anymore medicine, it hasn't been five hours." I tell him, patting his back.
"Oh." He shivers.
"You want to try and sleep some more?" I ask, and he nods, going to sit back on the chair, bundled up.
(Should I do a character Q&A?)
"Alright, lets answer some questions." The first hosts says, the on air sign now back on.
"First one, what is your biggest pet peeve about each other?"
"She takes forever to get ready." Santo answers, after thinking for a while.
"And he has a habit of leaving his socks laying." I add.
"That's it?" The female host asks. We both nod.
"Alright, next question, longest you've ever gone without seeing each other?"
"Nine hours." I answer. Longest nine hours ever.
"What about the night before our wedding?" Santo asks.
"We FaceTimed in the middle of the night." I remind him.
"Oh." He nods.
"Alright, who said I love you first?"
"Me." Santo answers.
"Actually, you said, and I quote, 'I think I love you, Yn.'"
He smacks his lips, "I still said I love you first."
"Fine." I smile.
"Alright, next question, what is your most used emoji?"
"The smiley face with heart eyes." I answer.
"That is probably mine too." Santo agrees.
"Y'all just text heart emojis to each other all day?" The second hosts asks.
"Basically." Santo laughs.
Everyone laughs a little and we move on to the next question. "Alright, that's pretty much all the time we have left with you guys, but we will definitely be asking more questions next time." The first host laughs. "Give em' your social media accounts."
We do, and then the show is over and we leave.
As soon as we get home, CJ goes to take another nap, we lay the babies down for naps and start cleaning. We start in the kitchen.
"We need a new fridge." Santo notes, noticing that it doesn't do too great of a job keeping food extremely cold anymore.
"We can order one online later." I tell him.
"Okay." He nods.
I clean the inside of the stove, talking to Santo about random things while he cleans the fridge and freezer. "I told you I bought doughnuts last week." Santo pulls the box out.
"Eww." I laugh.
"They shouldn't be old, right?"
"I don't know." I shrug.
"It's only three in there anyway, I'm not gonna chance it." He puts them with the old few. There wasn't much, just some food from the fast food place that we went to and the kids never finished it. Mainly the two year old's. There was some chicken nuggets and fries.
"I don't blame you." I laugh again.
He starts taking out the shelves and putting them in the sink to wash them. "I was thinking about taking you and the kids up to Disney World for the weekend." He tells me.
"The kids would like it." I say.
"Would you?"
"I'm a giant kid at heart, so yes." I smile.
"Then I'll book the flight for Friday after they get out of school."
"Okay, baby. Sounds great." I tell him.
"And, when we get back, we can go on a date." He promises. "Me and you, no kids. I already made the reservation at the restaurant."
"Awe, babe." I turn, looking up at him. I push my lips out and he walks over to me, leaning down to peck my lips. He helps me up and then gives me a real kiss.
"Love you." He pecks my lips one final time.
"Love you." I cheese.
We get back to cleaning, and in an hour, we're done with the kitchen. Completely done, the floors were swept and mopped, the counter tops were cleaned, all the cabinets, counter tops and handles. The fridge and freezer were both cleaned. Then we move on to the dining room. I get started on the windows while Santo sprays the table with all purpose cleaners and wipes it down. Then he sweeps and I mop.
Santo cuts some music on that played quietly so it wouldn't wake the kids and we start on the living room.
*Prehia's POV*
"Niya, where is the science room?" I ask, so nervous that I couldn't remember.
"This way, Pringle." She points to it.
"Wait, I forgot my notebook." I stop walking, causing the person behind me to walk into me, making me drop all my books. I quickly turn around. "Sorry." I apologize, gathering my books. And my science notebook was one of them.
"It's okay." The person says, their voice a bit deeper, insinuating that it was a male. He holds a hand out for me, offering to help me up. I accept his hand and he helps me up, then I quickly let it go. "I'm D'andre." He says.
"I'm Prehia." I smile shyly.
"That's a pretty name." He smiles at me.
"Thanks." I laugh nervously.
Niya laughs from beside me, rolling her eyes at my shyness. "Where are you headed?" He asks.
"Science."
"Me too. Mind if I walk with you and.." He looks at Niya.
"This is my sister, Aniya." I tell him.
We all walk to science together, and he sits right beside me. I look at Niya, my face hot. She laughs again. "Calm down, Pringle. You're okay."
"So, do you watch sports?" D'andre asks. I nod my head. "Which kind?"
"Football and Basketball." I answer.
"Cool, who's your favorite team?" He asks.
"The Panther's and Golden State." I reply. "What's your's?"
"The Broncos and the Clippers." He tells me.
I scrunch up my nose, "Broncos?"
"Yeah." He laughs. "You like the Panthers?"
"Duh." I nod, gesturing to my book bag and shirt. I go to public school, which means no uniform.
"Major fan." He nods. "Have you ever met them?"
Yes. "No." I lie.
Since I'm at a public school, I don't want people to know I'm Santo and Yn August's child. I want to be treated normally, no special because my parents are famous. The reason I met them is because my dad knows Stephen Curry and Thomas Davis. I've met the Warriors team and the Panthers team. I don't want people to know that, Niya doesn't either. We wanted to be treated like normal people who have friends because people actually like us.
"Really?" He asks. "You seem like you'd be one of those huge fans that go to the games whenever they are in your state."
"Not really." I shake my head.
Class starts and we stop talking because the teacher starts. "Good morning class. I'm your teacher, Ms. Eden." The teacher smiles. She was a short, white lady with grey hair. She looked about fifty years old. "I've been teaching science for thirty years, science is my favorite subject."
"We're going to start by getting to know each other. Tell us your name, favorite subject and something you hope to achieve this year. This class is your homeroom and first period, so you'll be in here for about two hours, but the first thirty minutes is attendance and announcements, so science will be an hour and half, like all your other classes."
"Okay, first on the roll list is Aniya August." The teacher calls, waiting for Niya to stand up.
"Um, I'm Aniya August." Niya starts. "I really like math, I hope that I can make new friends this year."
"Wonderful." Ms. Eden smiles happily. "You can sit down. Next is Prehia August."
I stand. "My name is Prehia August. My favorite subject is ELA(English Language Arts) and I hope that I can make new friends."
"Great." Ms. Eden smiles again. "Next up is Evan Wild."
I don't really pay attention to anyone, I just doodle on my notebook. "D'andre Johnson." Is the name that draws me away from la-la land and back to the real world.
"I'm D'andre. I like ELA the most, I am hoping to make it on the basketball team." He says before sitting back down.
"Wonderful, basketball is a great choice. It's one of the best sports at this school." Ms. Eden smiles again. I'm just glad she isn't a grumpy old person.
Two more people introduce themselves, then it's time to go. Everyone got to introduce themselves today.
My next class is math, which doesn't include Niya, that makes me a little nervous. I'm very shy. "Hey." Some girl says, smiling at me.
"Hello." I smile back.
"I'm Jessica."
"I'm Prehia." I reply.
"That's a pretty name." She compliments.
"Thank you." I nod.
We talk for a little while before the teacher enters the room. "Good morning, class. I'm your teacher, Mrs. Johnson." She did resemble D'andre a bit, maybe they are related. "I need everyone to stand in a big circle around the room."
Everyone stands from their seats, moving to the edges of the room, forming a circle. "Alright, we are gonna toss around the beach ball, it contains six questions, when you get the ball, the question facing you is the question you have to answer." She explains, holding a beach ball in her hands. "But you need to tell us your name first."
"Who volunteers to be first?" The teacher asks. Jessica raises her hand and the teacher toss the ball to her.
"My name is Jessica, the question is, what is your favorite subject?" She thinks for a second. "My favorite subject is math."
She looks at me and I mentally groan, already knowing she's gonna toss the ball to me. And she does. "My name is Prehia, the questions is, what is your favorite time of year? It's summer." I toss the ball to the person across the room from me. Then continue to tune everyone out again.
I wonder if I have any other classes with D'Andre and Jessica. They seem nice, we could be friends.
*Niya's POV*
I talk to the girl sitting beside me, Renee. "So, do you know anyone that goes here?"
"My brother is an eighth grader." She answers. "You?"
"My sister, she's in this grade." I reply. We're in the sixth grade.
"Oh, are you twins?" She asks.
"No, we're only a few months apart though." I answer, and she nods.
The boy that my sister was talking to walks in and sits in the only open seat. Which was beside me. "Niya." The boy calls.
"Yes?" I turn to him.
"What class do you have next?" He asks.
"ELA." I answer.
"Me too. With who?"
"Ms. Turner."
"Oh, that's the same teacher I have. What class does your sister have?" He asks me.
"ELA." I laugh. "With Ms. Turner." Prehia and I are both in math right now, but we have two different teachers.
"Cool." He nods.
I turn back, continuing my conversation with Renee until it's time for class to start. "Good morning." She greets. "My name is Ms. Aaron and I am your math teacher. I've prepared a scavenger hunt. You must find one person in the room with one of these traits and right their name on it. One person can not be on there more that twice."
She hands out the paper and let's us begin.
I get my sheet finished second, then sit in my seat. Renee is finished third so we talk some more while everyone else finishes up.
We end up having to tell the class two of the people on our sheet and what they put their name on. We also have to say one thing we put our name on.
It was pretty easy.
-Skipping to the end of the day-
*Santo's POV*
Yn, the kids and I sit in the car rider line, waiting on Prehia and Niya. Eventually a lady comes and calls their names on a walkie-talkie. They come out shortly after, getting into the van.
On the way to getting the other kids from the elementary school five minutes away, Niya blurts out, "Prehia got a boyfriend." and I almost run off the road.
I quickly pull over, slamming on the breaks. "He's just a friend, dad. Niya is being a drama queen."
"No, he hugged you, and you blushed the whole time you guys talked." Niya laughs.
"No boys. Absolutely not. Not friends. No hugging. No kissing. No boys. Period." I say.
"Dad." Prehia groans, at the same time Yn says,
"Santo."
"I don't want to hear it. No boys."
"Chresanto." Yn looks at me.
"No, Yn. No boys." I look her dead in the eye.
"Sweetie, your father and I will talk to you later." Yn tells Prehia.
"Baby-" I start, but she raises an eyebrow at me and I sigh, closing my mouth.
"Alright. And we will talk about this later." I tell her.
"Okay." She shrugs.
I turn around and start driving again. I quickly make it to the school, and we wait for our other children.
Once they get in the van, and Yn counts them, I drive us home.
The kids go straight to the kitchen to do their homework and Yn and I follow them in there.
"Your father and I have to talk, so help each other and if you are still stuck, skip it and we will help you when we get back down here." Yn tells them.
"Yes, ma'am." All the kids reply.
We head upstairs to our room and Yn sits on the bed while I close the door.
"Baby, I know you don't want the girls dating yet, and I agree. But it is okay for them to have friends." Yn tells me.
"No, its not." I shake my head.
"We have to trust them." Yn stands up, walking to me and taking my hand.
"I do, I don't trust the teenage boys."
"But you know our girls. If they felt pressured they would remove themselves from the situation and tell us." She looks up at me.
"What if something happens?"
"You know they would tell us if they thought someone was acting weird as soon as it happens." She says.
"I still don't trust them."
"You and I were friends before we got together." She reminds me.
"I know, but that was fifteen years ago that we were in the sixth grade. It's changed a lot." I frown.
"There has to be some good guys out there. And you know Prehia. She is a good judge of character, if something were off about them, she wouldn't even talk to them."
"Baby, but remember, after years of us being friends, we started dating. Then a year later, we got engaged. Then a couple's months later, we get married. And nine months later, out comes the triplets."
"Babe." She starts laughing. "But we waited until marriage to do anything intimate, other than kissing and that does count."
I sigh, looking down at my wife. "Babe." I peck her lips. "I don't like it. They're growing up." I frown.
"I know, baby." She pats my back.
I pick her up, laying my head on her shoulder. She laughs a little and plays in my hair. "You'll be okay, baby."
I groan, making her laugh. "Come on, let's go help them with their homework."
I put her down and hold her hand, letting her lead to way to the kitchen. "When do we meet with the social worker about adopting?" I ask.
"Tomorrow." She answers.
"Okay." We get to talk about the type of child we were looking to adopt and meet some of the kids. The meeting is while the kids are at school. Kylie is watching the youngest ones since they can't go.
We get downstairs and help the kids with homework, then Yn and I start on dinner while the kids go in the playroom and play with the toys. None of them have phones yet, they aren't old enough. There are two tablets, each of the kids get thirty minutes a day and that's it. They don't have any social media, but they can play games and watch YouTube, so they don't need it.
"Babe, did you hear me?" Yn asks.
"No, sorry. What'd you say?"
"I talked to my mom." She answers.
"What happened?" I turn to her, stopping what I was doing.
"She apologized." Yn sniffs a little. "It was a fake apology."
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"She needed money. After she apologized, she asks for us to pay for her lights and rent. But she needed us to give her two thousand dollars, she didn't want us to just pay it. She's back on drugs."
I pull Yn into my arms. "I'm sorry, baby." I frown.
My mother and I are actually on speaking terms right now. I guess we can't both get along with our mothers at the same time. I rub circle on her back, trying to keep her from crying.
After a few minutes she pulls away, sighing. "We should finish dinner."
"Okay." I wait for her to go back to cooking. I stand there admiring her for a few minutes before I go back to cutting the potatoes. I'm so lucky to have her.
What'd you think? Vote/comment. Thanks for reading.
Seriously, should I do a character Q&A?
Thanks for all the reads and comments! I hope you liked this chapter and like the ones to come!
~Michele
Next update tomorrow?