NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
BRADLEY HUGHES,
Bradley had Usiah, Posh, and Georgia over for the day. The three were dying to know how things went with Israel's family. As of lately, Bradley was beginning to feel both smothered and stretched thin. She was constantly having to keep Rashad pleased, all the while keeping Sincere, Sway, and Drake pleased by keeping in contact.
Bradley wasn't keeping the act that she reconciled with the guys a secret. Rashad had noticed that her phone had been going off a lot more than usual. He asked about it once and when he got the response along the lines of "Just some friends I caught up with," He let the concern go. At the moment, Bradley's phone going off back to back didn't raise any red flags to Rashad. Bradley was with him all hours of the day, she left her phone laying around—sometimes unlocked, and she wasn't acting any type of way.
Rashad was very clear on signs of cheating since he had to deal with it from Rayven before. Bradley showed no signs of any foul play so Rashad was just going with the flow.
"Brad you're wrong," Georgia shook her head once she got the run down of everything that happened with Bradley's and Rashad's argument.
Bradley gasp finding it unbelievable that Georgia sided with Rashad. "How am I wrong for feeling like I shouldn't have to check with my man to see if I can go somewhere. Baby I am 25 years old, I've been out of diapers for a mighty long time, I don't need a father,"
Georgia nodded. "I get that, but you going after he expressed to you he didn't want you to is wrong,"
Usiah took a sip of his wine before he attempted to make sense of the situation. "Friend, you fucked up for going and he fucked up for trying to make you not go," Usiah clarified. "At the end of the day, you're more wrong than him since you're still lying to that man," It had been two days since Bradley went to go visit Israel's family.
These two days have honestly been the hardest of her life. She had been battling guilt and it wasn't looking two good for her. Part of her just wanted to blurt out that she went against his wishes and went anyway, but the other part of her was scared shitless. She wasn't afraid by how he would react, she was more so afraid of how they would ever return from the situation.
"How come its always a Bradley hate train when it comes to Rashad?" Bradley furrowed her brows questioning her friends.
Posh set her wine glass down and screwed her face up. "How come its always Bradley playing victim when it comes to Rashad," Posh corrected her.
"Oh bitch—fuck you," Bradley stuck her the middle finger.
Posh shrugged. "I'm just calling it how I see it. I can't be your friend if I can't put you up on game about yourself Pooh," Posh reaches up and petd Bradley's head as if she were some child.
"I don't see what you're talking about," Bradley morphed her face into a pout as she rolled her eyes.
"Bitch you know exactly what I'm talking about. You always wanna through a Bradley pity party. I'm sure if the shoe was in the other foot, Rashad pussy sprung ass would've been in that bed with you instead of Rayven's I can see into the future headass family's spot," Posh ranted out.
"It don't matter who was right or who was wrong during the argument. The new issue is, you been fucking lying to the nigga who lays the pipe every night, for the nigga that's laying in a casket," Posh continued. She had a few drinks so Usiah and the girls expected her to go in as such. "No disrespect friend, but you gotta let Ree go. It's been three years and Uncle Shad is making you so happy. Happier than you were with Israel quite honestly. I'm not trying to be the bitch here, but c'mon Brad, if you keep going Rashad is gonna leave your ass for a bitch that ain't hung up on a nigga that's dead and gone,"
Bradley groaned. She felt like she was a record that was constantly on repeat. "For the millionth fucking time, I'm not hung up on Israel. I've accepted that he's dead a long time ago. If I was still hung up on him, I wouldn't even be with Rashad," Bradley explained.
"That's understandable but it pretty evident that you're still holding on," Georgia added.
"How?" Bradley scoffed.
Usiah's eyes widened at the question. "Well for starters bitch, this nigga has a whole room in this condo and he not even helping you pay rent," Usiah pointed out making reference to the room that was solely for Israel's belongings. Bradley had never came around to cleaning it out because she just didn't feel like she was ready. Plus, Rashad still had Haiden's nursery in his place so that made her feel less crazy.
Bradley remained silent with no response. She knew Israel's room was a big red flag but she just couldn't clean it out by herself. Every time she tried, it always ended up with her crying and leaving it as is. "Rashad doesn't even care about the room,"
"It doesn't matter what he thinks Brad, it's about healing and the understanding that Israel can not hold this much leveraged in your life," Georgia told Bradley.
Everyone knew that Bradley was head over heels for Israel and vice versa. Their relationship was crazy, but they loved each other hard. Bradley took Israel's death extremely hard, but no one expected her to still be holding on after three years.
Bradley took in a deep breath. Her eyes began to scorch as tears welled up into them. "Can I tell you guys something?"
"Of course babe, we all you got," Usiah pulled Bradley into his arms.
Bradley tried her best to refrain from crying. Tears still managed to slip from her eyes, but she kept it together and wiped them. "The reason it's so hard to let go of Israel is because I lost two people when he died," Bradley sighed out. Her voice was shaky and airless. This was her very first time opening up about this and she was hoping it would release all of the demons she was constantly in a battle with.
"What do you mean?" All three of her friends looked at her with confused looks sprawled over their faces.
Bradley ran a hand down her bare face. She had been in denial for three years, she owed herself the truth. "I was pregnant, I didn't find out until after Israel died, but it was too late because the stress of him being gone caused me to loose the baby," Bradley confessed.
"Oh Brad," They all sympathized. "Why didn't you tell us," By now, they all engulfed her into one big hug. Their comfort caused a small smile to escape her lips through the tears she no longer with held.
"You guys don't have to do this," Bradley shook her head alluding to them comforting her.
Posh shook her head. "No, we do have to. You can't be strong all of the time Pooh. Even my hard ass know that shit hurt. I can't even imagine going through that alone," At the time of Israel's death, Posh and Bradley were building the tight friendship they had now. At the time, they were working at the same shop as shampoo girls so they bonded. When Israel died, Posh made sure to console Bradley and be there for her. She knew Bradley was alone in New Orleans so she welcomed her as family. If Posh knew Bradley was pregnant, she would have went the extra mile to ensure Bradley and the baby was healthy. She hated that they had to find out under these circumstances
Bradley shrugged and looked down at her feet—like always, whenever she felt overwhelmed with emotions. "Since I took Israel's death so hard, I just denied being pregnant. There was no way I could get through raising a child on my own,"
"When did you find out?" Georgia asked.
Bradley took in a deep breath trying her best to regain her composure and not exploit to many of her emotions and feelings. "I found out a day before I miscarried," Bradley chuckled. She was trying to find some sort of comedic relief, but she was sure she was looking crazy at the moment.
"Satan had it out for you sis," Usiah mumbled causing both Posh and Georgia to stale face him.
"Bitch shut up," Posh smacked Usiah upside his head.
Bradley laughed lightly as she wiped away her tears. This is the main reason she chose these three people to be her best friends, they made any situation better. "He's right though. I lost my boyfriend and baby all in one week. Satan was working hard and expeditiously,"
"So is that why you say you don't want kids until your thirty?" Georgia asked. She knew there was always a reason behind it. Bradley was well off to have kids at any age, but it always confused Georgia why she picked thirty out of all ages.
Bradley nodded. "I already had the fear of having kids since finding out what happened to my mom with me. But once I lost my first child at 22, I was just over it. Everything happens for a reason though, if I would have had that child I could have been in the same situation my mom was in, I just rather not deal," Bradley explained.
"But why 30 though?" Posh asked.
Bradley shrugged. "My grandmother had this logic that if you go through the worst years of your life during your twenties, you're thirties will be nothing but prosperous," Mimi was one to come up with a lot of shit Bradley never really believed. However, this jewel she dropped on Bradley was something Bradley automatically trusted and believed . She didn't know why she believed in it, but she did.
"Oh uh uh, I'm gonna have to have a word with your grandma—" Usiah was getting ready to go on a rant but once again Posh smacked him upside his head.
"Usiah, just shut the fuck up!" Posh ordered of him.
"Bitch you need to pick on someone your own fucking size cause I will stomp your little ass out," Usiah threatened.
Bradley was glad the two were taking all of the heat off of her. She didn't really like dwelling on her struggles. "You guys can we be serious for like two minutes," Georgia straightened the two out.
Bradley sighed. "I promise you guys, it's okay. I'm okay," She assured them. "It was three years ago, I'm over it,"
Posh eyed Bradley. "Are you ready to say that about Israel though?"
Like clock work, Bradley's phone vibrated with text. It was Rashad. Reading the text, Bradley couldn't deny the warmness in her heart and the fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Shad
— I miss you, can't wait to get home to you💙
Received 3:47 PM
Bradley refrained from responding to Posh for a moment while she responded to Rashad.
— I miss you too. I have a surprise for you when you get here. I love you.
Delivered 3:48 PM
Setting her phone down, Bradley looked up at Posh. "Yeah, I am,"
"Like deadass ?" Usiah asked with a raise of his brow.
Bradley nodded with a light chuckle. "Like deadass," She confirmed confidently while getting up.
"Well, we'll let you lead the way," Georgia said while she, Usiah and Posh followed Bradley's lead. She started in the direction of her hallway. When she stopped in front of Israel's designated keepsake room, Usiah and the girls began preparing themselves for Bradley to turn away. Shocking even herself, Bradley opened the door and entered the room, Usiah, Posh and Georgia following behind her.
Turning to face her friends, she began delegating the work that needed to be done in the room "You start over there," Bradley assigned Georgia one corner of the room.
"You start over there," She assigned Usiah another.
"And you can help me over there," She said to Posh.
Afraid that if they didn't act quickly to her request, they would loose all of that courage she had built up, Usiah, Georgia and Posh immediately began moving boxes out of the bedroom and migrating them into the hall. Bradley was set on just taking everything she had of Israel to Papa Gabe's house. He could make good use of it.
"At least keep one thing Brad, just to make you feel good," Usiah tried to convinced while holding up one of Israel's hoodies.
Bradley took the hoodie out of Usiah's hands and gazed at it. Holding up to to her face, Bradley's nostrils filled up with what used to be Israel's scent. It was always a mixture of Old Spice, Dolce & Gabbana cologne, and weed. The three were pretty weird to be all mixed together, but the scent was just so enticing and alluring.
Taking it away from her face, Bradley shook her head no before handing the hoodie back to Usiah. "Put it back into the box," She told him in a light voice.
"Alright then," Usiah did as told.
After a few hours, Bradley and her friends got her car and Posh's car filled up with Israel's stuff. They trailed Bradley all the way to Papa Gabe's house. Upon arriving, Bradley noticed Sincere's Mustang was parked right in the drive way. She didn't want this to be awkward, but she had no where else to put Israel's things and she wouldn't dare throw it all away.
Almost in unison, Bradley, Usiah, Georgia and Posh got out of the cars. "This about to be sudden as hell," Posh announced as if they all weren't aware of such.
"I mean, they should understand where I'm coming from, I couldn't keep his things forever," Bradley stated, her friends agreeing.
Bradley took the initiative of making her way to the door, while Posh, Usiah, and Georgia stayed behind. Taking in a deep breath, Bradley knocked on the door before her courage diminished. She waited for a slight moment before Sincere answered the door. At the sight of Brad, he was in complete shock. The guys and Bradley were both making efforts to keep in touch as much as possible. Sincere honestly had no hope in seeing Bradley again so he was sufficed with texting back and forth.
Seeing her now had him lost. "Miss Houston? What you doing around here again?" Sincere smirked as he pulled Bradley into a hug.
"Uh, I just wanted to bring by all of the things I had of Israel, I know Papa Gabe would appreciate them," Bradley explained as she made notion of the cars filled up with Israel's stuff.
Sincere eyed her. "Word? Your man got something to do with this," Sincere leaned against the threshold of the door.
Bradley rolled her eyes. "He does, and he doesn't. I'm more so doing this for me than for anyone else. It's been three years going on four, I can't keep holding onto everything," Bradley sighed.
Sincere nodded. "Alright then, let me go get Gabe and the guys out here to help," With that, Bradley let him head back inside the home while she headed back to the side walk where her friends her.
"What his fine ass say?" Posh asked with her hand on her hip.
Bradley shook her head at Posh's craziness before summing up the short conversation she had with Sincere. "The guys? Bitch, Drake here too!" Posh gritted out as she quickly let her hair down from the ponytail she had it in. Being the friends they were, Usiah, Georgia, and Bradley quickly fixed her hair so she could look good with it down.
"Duke is gonna fuck us up," Georgia sighed as she tucked a strand of hair behind Posh's ear.
Posh waved her off. "Bitch I just wanna tease, don't nobody want Drake,"
Right after Posh said that, Sincere led Sway, Drake, and Gabe out of the door and to the sidewalk. Sway, Drake, and Gabe greeted Bradley before greeting her friends.
"I know that ain't Posh looking like the last piece of fried chicken at Sunday dinner," Drake licked his lips. Posh was trying her best to act unbothered by his presence and only focus on helping the men get the boxes out of the cars.
Posh rolled her eyes with her half ass attitude. "And you look like the nasty ass vegetables your momma try to spruce up, but people still don't end up touching," Posh retaliated not realizing that Drake was flirting with her instead of insulting her. The girl was horrible when it came to situations like these. She immediately started acting defensive whenever a male got to flirting.
Drake took the box out of Posh's hands and chuckled. "Well damn, all I was trying to say is that you look nice,"
Posh waved him off. "Yeah, my man tells me that all of the time,"
Drake scoffed with a shrug. "You think I give a fuck? Whoever he is could get knocked the fuck out about you, sweetheart,"
Posh rolled her eyes remaining unfazed by his mouth. "Boy gone. My nigga would have you reconsidering having all that mouth. Your best bet is to move these boxes out of my car and go about your business," Posh warned.
Drake and everyone else laughed at Posh's craziness. "You better leave that girl alone," Sway warned Drake.
Drake waved Posh's attitude off. "Posh ain't never been what she be hollering about. If I get her alone again one good time, it's over for her and that nigga," Drake remained arrogant and confident in the fact that he believed he could get Posh back.
"Aye Drake, no means no," Sincere reminded him with a cackle as he bypassed him with a box of Israel's things.
"Posh only saying no so she can act hard for her folks. Let it be just us and she'll be asking me to wife her," Drake smirked.
Posh snapped her head around in the direction of Drake. "Nigga don't ever fix your mouth to say some dumb ass shit like that again. I can have you running laps behind me nigga, and spend every dollar you have to your name without you thinking twice," Posh warned him. Drake was eyeing her down in a pleased manner. Everyone knew he liked to get her riled up, Posh always fell for his antics.
"I can't do that if you don't gimme your number," He smirked.
Bradley felt like this was the right time to cut in. She didn't need Posh falling into her Drake phase again. Drake was a good guy, but relationship wise—the man was confusing as hell. Posh was way better off doing whatever she had going on with Duke. "She's seeing someone and won't be able to give you her number sir," Bradley spoke up for Posh.
By now, all the boxes were in the house and Gabe seemed to stay behind to sift through them. "Your nigga don't let you have old time friends?" Drake slightly pushed Bradley aside and continued his conversation with Posh.
Posh shook her head. "Not ones that use to beg to eat my pussy so their beard could fill up," Posh concludes before getting into her car.
"Damn!" Sincere, Sway, Bradley, Georgia, and Usiah all said in unison leaving Drake looking queasy as hell.
"Well I think that's my cue," Bradley laughed as she began heading to her car with Usiah, while Georgia went to Posh's car.
Sincere and Sway lightly jogged after Bradley and leaned down to the window of her car. "When we linking?" Sway asked.
Bradley sighed. She wasn't really in the mood to be going out, but she did want to have a good times with her friends. "I don't know. How about I treat you all to lunch next week?" She offered.
Sway and Sincere looked at each other before taking her up on the offer. "Can't turn down free food," Sincere chuckled. "We'll see you then Houston,"
"Alright bye," She waved goodbye before pulling off with Posh's car right behind her.
"And for your information I grew this beard after you! You kept stressing me out so it wasn't growing!" They all heard Drake exclaim after them causing them to fall out in hysterical laughter.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
RASHAD FAREWOOD,
Right after training at the facility, Rashad decided to swing by his mother's place. He hadn't seen her physically since Thanksgiving, and he knew she was a little salty about not spending his birthday with her.
Rashad was relieved to see that his father's truck wasn't parked in the driveway. He made his way to the door and rung the doorbell obnoxiously. "Shad will you ever grow up?" Paige asked him with a small smile and a shake of her head.
"Nah, I don't think so," He chuckled as he followed his mother inside. She led him to the kitchen.
"What do you want to drink?" She asked her son while taking a glass from the cupboard.
Rashad replied to a text from Bradley before placing his phone down. "Uh, milk will do,"
"Milk—you guys are on that again?" Paige chuckled while going into the fridge and retrieving the gallon of whole milk.
Rashad nodded his head. "I refuse to let Alex get to 6'7 before I do," He told his mother after thanking her for the glass of milk.
Paige chuckled. "You know Jerome is already 6'6 and a half," She informed Rashad.
Rashad scoffed before waving her off. "Yeah we weren't really talking about Jerome," He muttered.
Paige sighed. "You guys still haven't talked?" Paige never wanted her boys to fall out. She always tried to get them to hear each other out, but they were all head strong and stubborn like their father.
"Nah, I'm not really messing with him like that," Rashad shook his head.
"He told me he reached out and you didn't want to talk?" Paige eyed Rashad.
Rashad scoffed. "Yeah, he lied to you," Rashad was very clear that Jerome had never reached out. He didn't even tell Rashad happy birthday.
"That boy is something else," Paige rolled her eyes.
"Enough about him, how have you been?" Rashad realizes that a lot of the time he and his brothers came to his mother to bare their problems, but never care to listen to how she was feeling.
Paige smiles. She thought it was very thoughtful for him to ask how she was doing. She and Rashad always had the tightest relationship and they grew even closer when Cedonni passed. "Well I've been okay. It's been a little quiet here without Vic. Alex has officially gone back to school so I'm just home by myself majority of the time," Rashad felt bad. Paige had dedicated her life to just caring for them. Track was no longer an option for her anymore and after a while she had gotten sick of the corporate world.
"C'mon mom, you gotta find something to do. These are your years to be having you a hot girl summer," Rashad chuckled.
Paige shook her head with a loud laugh. "I think it's time for you guys to start having babies, except for Alex he's still a baby himself," Paige wanted nothing more than to be a grandmother again. Victoria was full grown now and no longer needed Paige as much as a baby would. Rashad was on the verge of thirty and Jerome had just turned twenty six. She felt like it was time.
Rashad laughed at how slick his mother thought she was. "Little do you know, I've been trying,"
Paige eyes widened. "Really?!" She clapped her hands excitedly.
"Calm down crazy," He eased his mother with a chuckle. "I said I've been trying, nothing is really in motion yet,"
"Well have you talked to Bradley about it?" Paige beamed. Her cheeks grew red and her eyes brightened.
Rashad nodded. "I have, but she says she wants to wait until she's thirty and she just got on birth control so there's no baby booming action going on as of yet," Rashad rained on his mother's parade.
"Bradley's 25, is she sure about 30?" Paige raised a brow.
Rashad shrugged. "We talked about it and she said we can come to middle ground. But I want kids like, now," Rashad definitely wanted to come to a more concrete conclusion of when he could start having kids with Bradley, but she always seemed to steer clear of that conversation. Rashad was hoping the little hints he dropped like telling her she was gonna have his last name and have his kids was enough to give her an idea of what he envisioned of their future.
"Well of course you can't make her have kids immediately, just wait it out with her. Let things happen organically," Paige advised. She knew if she had a choice like Bradley had, she would take it. Paige never imagined having kids—especially not a set of twins. Her career was always her main priority. But things happened
"I know that mom, but sometimes I want to tell her just get off birth control," Rashad chuckled slightly amused with himself.
"How about you slow down. You guys haven't even moved in together," Paige realized all this future talk was coming about way to early. Bradley and Rashad were coming onto a year in a few months so they had all of the time in the world to think about kids.
"I want to do that too, but Bradley is so damn scary. Mom you don't even understand what I have to go through with this girl," Bradley wasn't an issue to Rashad, it was more so her mentality. She over analyzed an negated everything.
Paige chuckled finding Rashad's complaints amusing. "She's just a woman who wants to make sure her life decision are well thought through,"
"Yeah, you're right," Rashad had to realize that his momentum was complete different from Bradley's, and he couldn't force her to live life like he was living.
"Just be patient with her, things will eventually fall into place,"
After a few more minutes of getting advice from his mother, Rashad decided that it was time to head over to Bradley. She had just told him that Usiah, Posh, and Georgia left so he didn't want Bradley waiting for too long. "Alright mom, I gotta get going,"He opened his arms up for a hug.
Paige fell into his embrace and rocked side to side in her son's arms. "Make sure you tell Bradley I would love for her to stop by too," Paige smiled.
"Got it. And find you something to do. Go help dad with the charity event or something, Rashad suggested as she walked him to the door.
"I'll think about it, you drive safe," Saying goodbye once more, Rashad got into his car. His mother watched him make his way out of the driveway before she shut the door.
On the drive to Bradley's condo, he passed by Panera and got them both something to eat.
Arriving to the condo, he went through the elevator and used his key to open up the door. As soon as Bradley caught sight of him, she scurried to the door. "When you said surprise I thought you was gonna have no clothes on when I came in here," Rashad eyed her up and down noticing that she was just in some dark grey leggings and a black tube top.
Bradley laughed at the unimpressed face he was making. "Rashad we had sex this morning, you need to chill," Bradley joked as he sat the bags down onto the counter.
"Alright. So where's my surprise?" He took a look around.
Rashad realized that she was holding up a pair of sleeping blindfolds and he immediately grew reserved and began questioning her. "What you about to do with that?" He pointing to the blindfold.
"Babe, just put it on," Bradley whined. She was getting extremely anxious.
Rashad let out a dramatic huff of air before putting the blindfold on. Now with his eyes seeing nothing but darkness, he felt Bradley's hand nestle into his. "Put my other hand on your booty," Rashad teased.
Although he was joking, Bradley did as told. Rashad heard a door open, before he entered another room. He heard the door shut behind them. He still felt Bradley's hand in his so he was sure that he wasn't alone. "Okay, now take the blindfold off," Bradley instructed.
Reluctantly, Rashad disbanded the blindfold from his eyes. His face flushed with confusion once he realized he was standing in an empty room. "What's this?" He turned around to face her.
"Remember how I had that one room, with all of those boxes," Bradley attempted to refresh his memory.
"Israel's stuff—Brad you didn't have too," He says once he noticed what his surprise was. He didn't want her thinking that in order to please him she had to get rid of all traces of Israel. It was beyond all of the physical things.
"I wanted to. I realized that what I was doing was very unhealthy. I can't heal if I continue with the same habits that got my sick in the first place," Bradley assured him. "This is me proving to not only you, but myself also that I'm ready to move on," With her hands folded right in front of her, she looked up at him with an innocent smile.
Peering down at her, Rashad couldn't keep his smile off of his face. His hands were complacent at her waist, he pulled her closer to him. "You the realest," He craned his neck down kissing her lips.
Bradley smiled through the kiss before they parted from it. "Realest you ever been with or in the whole world?" She teased.
Like a child, he picked her up by her sides and she wrapped her legs around his torso. To support her, he cupped his hand right underneath her rear. "Both," He answered her question with a wide smile. "I love you," He pecked her lips a multitude of times.
Bradley squealed like a little girl, overjoyed by his affection. "I love you too,"